Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 10th, 2018
When you are about to sit down for a comedy with Ed Helms and Owen Wilson, you pretty much know what you’re getting yourself into. Sometimes you just want to watch a movie for a few good laughs; then when it’s over, you return to your day-to-day routine. When it comes to Father Figures, the problem is that the film from the get-go is trying to get you to believe that Helms and Wilson could possibly be fraternal twins. Yeah, we’ve seen this before with the film Twins, only this time around we have a film about brothers attempting to overcome their differences as they work together to find their real father.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on April 10th, 2018
Cinema is a beautiful thing, and it is really special when a film can remind you of its beauty. So often are we blinded by genre conventions: we want to see the gore of horror, feel the laughter of comedy, or the tears of drama. Yes, the films we watch are all indeed beautiful in their own right, but not every film captures the pure essence of cinema. In Search of Fellini delivers that essence on all fronts, whether it be through cinematography, on-location shooting in Italy, stylistic editing, or the fantastic acting. Naming your film after a man who’s widely considered to be a master of his craft sets the bar of expectations very high by default, and this film cleared the hurdle with no problems.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 7th, 2018
Sports movies have been something of a cliché for years now. And it's not really a recent phenomenon. Everybody remembers Ronald Reagan appearing in the Knute Rockne All American as the famous George Gipp. That was 1940, and Hollywood is still selling films that ask teams to "win one for The Gipper". That's exactly what you get in director Sean McNamara's The Miracle Season. Substitute high school volleyball for college football, and you likely already know the story before you even order your popcorn and soda. Of course, even with established Hollywood formula and a well-trodden story, things are never quite that simple.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2018
You might call me jaded, but I am pretty disappointed by the state of horror movies. It's not just the last few years. The truth is I haven't seen 10 really good horror movies in over a decade. Now that I've had a chance to see A Quiet Place, that number isn't going up. A Quiet Place is not a really good horror movie. It ends up making a lot of the same mistakes that filmmakers think define a horror film in the modern age. It relies too heavily on jump scares and characters who do some of the most idiotic things, thus placing them in a somewhat self-created dangerous situation. But I will make the argument that A Quiet Place is still a pretty good horror film because of a rather clever and unique concept and a filming process that allows us care for these characters more than the usual horror film red shirt fodder that too often leaves me rooting for the monster in a Darwin-like weed-out-the-gene-pool kind of way.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 6th, 2018
Ever since Jon Bernthal left The Walking Dead, he has managed to create quite the impressive resume over the years. From having some standout performances in Fury, Baby Driver and recently taking on the role of Frank Castle in The Punisher, he is easily making a name for himself. Now we get to see him take on the role of Sam in the new small town indie thriller, Sweet Virginia. In a film that is filled with well-crafted characters matched with some terrific performances by the cast, it’s a shame the film didn’t reach Blu-ray with more of a buzz around it. From the film’s violent opening, the film percolates with menace and unease to the final climax.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2018
"And so we ran on. Into Summerland and the place they said did not exist. And all the while, wolves were at our heels. Black masks, boots and the one they called The Eye. We had come to do the work that must be done. To strip ourselves of the fog of life before."
If the first season of Legion was intended to lift any fog, it failed miserably. In fact, keeping you in a fog is series creator Noah Hawley’s superpower. He was also the creator of the television adaptation of Fargo, which was often more than a little confusing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 4th, 2018
John Cena continues to attempt to branch out from the WWE, this time with an animated film featuring a peace-loving bull in Spain. Granted, John Cena is not first person I envision when I think about nonviolence, but it is an interesting choice nonetheless. Ferdinand tells the story of a bull raised to participate in the matador competitions featured in Spain. Disney continues to buck against the grain, creating a character that contrasts with his circumstances. Naturally, this is an animated film, and being well into adulthood, I am clearly outside the target audience. However, I am fortunate enough to have a daughter who does fit that demographic, so I enlisted her services for this film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 4th, 2018
When The Sandlot first came out 25 years ago, I connected to the coming-of-age baseball story as strongly as Babe Ruth connected with one of his titanic, 400-foot homers. I grew up in baseball-obsessed Puerto Rico and I happened to be the exact same age as dorky protagonist Scotty Smalls. I’ve kept in touch with the film over the years, but Fox’s new 25th Anniversary Blu-ray re-release of The Sandlot was a great excuse to watch it from start to finish.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 3rd, 2018
Ever since Disney purchased the rights to the Star Wars property, it was no surprise that Disney would take full advantage of it. Between the movies and TV shows it’s fairly easy to get your Star Wars fix, but is too much of a good thing a bad thing? For Disney XD we have the animated LEGO series Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, and though it is targeted towards kids, there is plenty of fun for the long-time fans as well. What I already enjoyed about the series is that instead of following established characters in the Star Wars canon, we get to get a glimpse at the life of the mechanics who repair the ships after returning to battle. Granted, the story seems to always venture off to other planets and many adventures throughout the galaxy.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on March 30th, 2018
Like so many others, when I read the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline I simply fell in love with the nostalgic ride through the 80’s, all thanks to the virtual reality world called The Oasis. From start to finish it was a book filled with pop culture references that would make film and video game geeks squeal with delight, and it was no surprise that the book was a hit and would be turned into a film. There were only two names I could think of that could ever come close to making this film a reality: Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. With Spielberg involved, he was the only person I could imagine that had the clout to get all the licensing rights needed to pull this adaption, but still the biggest question I had was does Spielberg still have it in him?
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