Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 8th, 2015
"Listen, my friend. This is going to be very hard to comprehend, but none of what you are seeing is real."
Of course it's not real. It's not really that hard to comprehend at all. This is an animated show, after all. And the figures look like cut-out pieces of construction paper. Of course, we're talking about South Park. What is hard to comprehend, however, is that we're talking about the 18th season of South Park. Few television shows last this long, and only The Simpsons has been around longer when it comes to scripted animated shows running today. That's rare air, indeed.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on October 8th, 2015
At one point or another, every kid dreams of being a superhero. For me, those flights of fancy took place at age 6 or 7, when I'd put on my Batman pajamas — the ones with the detachable velcro cape — and leap off the staircase inside our home. (When I really wanted to give my mom agita, I'd jump off the third step from the bottom.) Miles Scott — a California boy whose evil nemesis is leukemia — got to live out his superhero fantasy on the grandest scale at age 5. Batkid Begins isn't a great documentary by any means, but it's a cheerful, good-hearted (if saccharine) look at the making of a dream.
The film quickly introduces us to Miles and the rest of his photogenic family. The boy was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia at 18 months old, and the movie chronicles his battle with the disease, which included chemotherapy sessions for several years. One of the things that kept Miles upbeat throughout this ordeal was his unabashed love for superheros. He was particularly fond of Batman because of his ability to do extraordinary things without superpowers. So when his family found out that Miles was eligible to have a request granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation upon completion of his chemo treatments, the boy immediately knew what to ask for.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 7th, 2015
The last decade hasn’t been too kind to Al Pacino. The man is only one of our greatest living actors, but he’s mostly been stuck appearing in forgettable tripe (88 Minutes) or out-and-out atrocities (Jack and Jill) for the last 10 years. So it’s easy to overlook the fact that Pacino is quietly doing really good work again. I say “quietly” because the actor has recently eschewed the “hoo-ah!” tics that turned him into a caricature. This affecting, engaged, and more subdued version of Pacino can be seen in Danny Collins, and he is also front-and-center in Manglehorn, a whimsical, uneven drama that is grounded by its star’s strong work.
Pacino plays A.J. Manglehorn, a shabby, solitary locksmith whose biggest personal connection is with his beloved cat Fanny. As we watch Manglehorn shuffle through each day — which includes hopping in his rickety van to help clients who have locked themselves out of various places — his life starts to come into focus.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 7th, 2015
by Dustin P. Anderson
Scholastic presents the audience with a collection of Halloween themed children’s books to prepare the little ones for a night of fun, junk food, and terror. In this DVD the creators have compiled a slew of short books that range from educational to moralistic, from scary to lighthearted. These books represent different parts of the world and seek to bring such classics as Where the Wild Things Are to life. The first thing I noticed about this DVD was that it needs a different type of review style. In the interest of time and space I shouldn’t go through 20 different stories and give someone a quick review on each while trying to give my overall impression of the DVD as a whole. I also can’t treat this as one big concurrent collection due to changing themes, animation speeds, art styles, the decade in which it was made, etc. So I decided to give you my opinion on a couple of stories that should be appropriate for whatever you want for your child, then give my good and bad about the DVD in the closing paragraphs.
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2015
Anchor Bay has a new science fiction film out this week. It's called The Anomaly and it stars everyone's favorite vampire Ian Somerhalder. It also stars Dr. Who and Star Trek veteran Noel Clarke. Clarke also directed and co-wrote the film about a man who lives life in just under 10 minute segments before everything gets reset. He has to solve a life and death problem before he runs out of time completely. I got to spend over 10 minutes with Clarke and we talked about Dr. Who, Star Trek and his latest film The Anomaly. He managed to last more than 10 minutes and you'll want to hear what he said. Bang it here to listen in on my chat with Noel Clarke. He might have even let slip some interesting news about The Vampire Diaries.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 7th, 2015
“Man, they killed my brother…you think I’m gonna let that slide?”
Even if you haven’t sat through a ton of revenge-minded pulp, you won't be surprised to hear the answer to the above question is a resounding, “No!” The good(ish) news is that Chain of Command manages to stand out from a pretty crowded straight-to-DVD action pack. The disastrous news is that this laughably bad, shoddily-made debacle is likely to stick in your memory for all the wrong reasons.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 6th, 2015
"Meet the Robertson clan. They turned duck calls into a multi-million-dollar empire. But running a family business is tough when the family just wants to run wild."
The Robertson family is quickly becoming the most recognizable family on TV, considering they are flooding the stores with their books, DVD’s, and many other products you can find at Wal-Mart. I can’t help but think this is a family that is doing everything right, and good for them for the success they’ve managed.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on October 6th, 2015
I can't think of a more fitting way to kick off the first Tuesday Round Up of October than with the monster mayhem of Paramount's Penny Dreadful: Season 2. And speaking of mayhem, the Showtime series is part of a whopping 26(!) titles making their debut today that we'll be reviewing on this site very soon. Ok, fine...Disney's Avengers: Age of Ultron technically premiered last Friday, but I felt it was a good idea to mention one of the biggest movies of the year. Warner Bros. shows us where Batkid Begins, offers the royal treatment with Reign: Season 2, and serves up The Leftovers: Season 1. In addition to Penny Dreadful, Paramount is feeling Happyish: Season 1, goes down to South Park: Season 18, digs into the life of Tut, and studies the Greatest Heroes of the Bible. Meanwhile, Cinedigm serves up laughs with Bossip Comedy Series: Part 2, visits Paranormal Island, goes head over heels for The Falling, and keeps 4Got10 in mind. (Be on the look out for an interview or two with the cast and crew of 4Got10.)
We'll also be chatting with Noel Clarke of The Anomaly courtesy of Anchor Bay, which also drops Earthfall. And since you can already win a copy of June from Image Entertainment (which will also release The Invoking 2), why not keep your eyes peeled for our review? Lionsgate takes aim at The Target, gets heated with Ardor, and dines out with Eaters. A&E Home Video quacks up with Duck Dynasty: Season 8 and is out for Blood & Glory: The Civil War in Color. Hallmark gets into the holiday spirit early with Christmas at the Cartwrights and the Best Christmas Party Ever. Finally, MPI Home Video keys in on Manglehorn and Nasser closes things out with Final Girl.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 6th, 2015
All right, my first addition for this year’s 31 Nights of Terror. Always a very exciting time, as ‘tis the season to jump out of your shoes. Unfortunately, that is not the case with The Invoking 2. I know it is bad form to jump into a franchise (assuming that two films can make a franchise) without seeing the film that came before it, sort of like beginning a novel in the middle instead of at the beginning. Have no fear, though, as I suspect that watching its predecessor is not a prerequisite for the watching of this disc. Clearly an anthology series, the runtime is made up of several different tales of death that give off sort of a campfire-ghost-tale vibe. So the premise of this collection is very fitting; it is not, however, scary.
The trouble with anthologies is that they all only have a set amount of time to conclude their story which makes building suspense a bit of a non-starter to say the least. That right there hardens my resolve against the collection; I do so enjoy suspense. Suspense is a much-needed addition in order to play on the audience’s fear. I needed time to let my imagination assume the worst, but with most of the stories told in this film, the conclusion came before my mind could even begin to wonder what was going to happen next. Always I was not very receptive to the varieties of tales that were told. A few showed potential such as the ones that dealt with psychosis. One in particular where the only person feature on screen was one woman, but the story did a good job of prolonging the revelation that she was her own worst enemy.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 6th, 2015
Gael Garcia Bernal and Alice Braga are both substantial screen presences in big Hollywood movies for quite some time now. Braga has been in big films like I Am Legend, Predators, and Elysium, while Bernal has been in a long string of interesting projects too long to mention, so I'll single out two by Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel and Amores Perros. They also co-starred previously in Blindness. Ardor is a much lower-profile movie. It seems like a passion project for Bernal, who is a producer on the project that is meant to be socially conscious and appeal to the South American market. It was filmed in the Argentinian rain forest and is trying to be a modern day western.
Ardor (The Burning) is very much like an old-fashioned western. It is a simple film about tobacco farmers in the wilderness trying to survive the rugged terrain. The complication is that roving bands of men come and slaughter and burn people off their farms in the area. Bernal plays a mysterious stranger who comes out of the forest to aid Braga as her father is butchered by the men. The movie moves with a hypnotic slow pace as Bernal and Braga manage to escape and hide together in the forest. The scenery is monochromatic and uniform, so it is hard to tell where they are. It seems they don't stray far from the sparse farm buildings which we see from time to time. The dynamic between the two hiding in the woods and the greater number of men hunting them does change for long periods of time. It allows the two to bond in the rainforest. Braga does take an opportunity provide a brief sex scene in the rain. It is all very sweaty and rainy. At some points we see a leopard lurking about, which appears to be a spirit animal of Bernal's.
On The Web
Sponsors
