Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 14th, 2014
Nymphomaniac I and II are 117 and 124 minutes, respectively. There is a longer cut that may be released next year closer to 5 and ½ hours. The story is simple. It chronicles a conversation between two people. Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is found bloody and beaten in an alley by an older man, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard). He takes her to his sparse flat to care for her and help her. What takes place is a long conversation full of intellectual digressions about Joe. It slowly reveals what led to her downfall. Seligman is a sheltered bookworm who has a detached curiosity about her story.
The cast is impressive including Shia LeBeouf, Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe, Connie Nielsen, Udo Kier among others. The director is Lars von Trier, the famed Danish auteur and provocateur. Von Trier has always tried to find hidden and shameful areas of human behaviors in his films. Many of his films are rigorous exercises in the depths of human pain. They attempt to push expectations. They explore behaviors that seem too absurd to be real, but that is because most of us refuse to acknowledge certain parts of ourselves.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on July 11th, 2014
"Apes together strong!"
When French author Pierre Boulle first wrote his novel Monkey Planet, I'm sure he never imagined a film like Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. While I was enjoying the five films that made up the original franchise run, I couldn't have imagined a movie like Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. When Tim Burton made his pitiful attempt to revive the franchise, it was downright impossible. In fact, the franchise appeared dead and gone by the time that film ran its destructive course. When I first heard of plans to resurrect the franchise with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, I was quite skeptical and prepared to see my love of those first films once again exploited and tainted. But in 2011, we were all in for a rather pleasant surprise. The film proved to be a hit, and with good reason. It was a wonderful film that paid proper homage to the source material, all the while telling it's own unique tale, using cutting-edge technology in computer-generated images. The star turned out to be Andy Serkis, whom we never actually saw on the screen. Instead the pioneer in motion-capture performance captivated us by bringing real emotion and nuanced performance to what was essentially just a series of 1's and 0's. It was remarkable. It couldn't have gotten better.
Posted in: Site News by Gino Sassani on July 9th, 2014
Normandy's an experienced writer, to be sure. She's the author of Bullycide: To Whom It Concerns as well as many magazine articles, ads for country music stars, children's books and television cartoons. We're excited to have her share her talents with us. We look forward to a lot of reviews in the future. Be sure to follow her work here. Let her know how she's doing in the comments section. I know she'll be happy to hear from you.
Welcome aboard, Normandy.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 9th, 2014
by Normandy D. Piccolo
“She’s the damsel. He’s in distress.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 9th, 2014
With all these found-footage films that seem to be coming out week after week, I wonder just how audiences will react when they finally get a scene that is shot on a tripod. It will be hailed as a revelation, I’d imagine, and finally the world will be able to watch a film without pondering if they should have double-dosed on their motion sickness pills. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Infliction is yet another entry into the canon of found-footage films and is also another example of why it is a style that is not meant for everyone to try or to use as an excuse for a low budget.
Though this boasts that it is a horror film, I can’t help but shake my head and disagree. Is the subject matter disturbing? Perhaps for some. Is it gruesome or violent? Nothing too bad. Instead this film is misdiagnosed from the get-go. This is a family tragedy at best and has some heart to it, if only more attention was paid towards the performances and story, rather than film needless exposition.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 9th, 2014
Few musicians have enjoyed the career that Elton John has enjoyed. From the release of Your Song in 1969, he hasn't seen many years without hit records. He's had number one songs in every decade since that day, and the hits continue to roll in. When the music industry changed, Elton managed to change enough to keep up with the times, yet hold on to the poignant songwriting that has made his songs stand out. I've been a fan since the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road days of 1973. When I was a kid and listening to candy pop, that's what Elton was delivering. As I got older, it appeared Elton's music aged with me. It was the time of classic melodies and thoughtful ballads. As I grow older, I find Elton is still keeping up.
Elton always found ways to reinvent himself. He was introduced to a whole new generation of children with his award-winning songs on The Lion King. He's brought his music to the stage on Broadway and dabbled in the film industry. With a catalog that brings in over $6 million a year without lifting a finger, Elton remains one of the hardest working entertainers in the industry. Now in his 60's, Elton's taken the stage in Vegas. Unlike many of the performers before him who semi-retired in Sin City, Elton continues to deliver the same energy and passion he has for decades brought on the road. I've been to somewhere between 30 and 40 performances, and I've never been disappointed in the performance. His last show at USF had an uncharacteristically bad sound mix, but I know the songs well enough to keep up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 8th, 2014
Anyone who ever sat through an elementary school science class knows that about 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered in water. We've all heard the spiel, but I don't imagine most of us spend much time contemplating how truly staggering that figure really is. Watermark seeks to convey the many different ways humans and the planet's water supply affect one another. The documentary is maddeningly scattered, but it also manages to capture and convey a small part of the world's awe-inspiring bigness.
Watermark is co-directed by documentary filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal and visual artist/photographer Ed Burtynsky. Baichwal previously directed 2006's Manufactured Landscapes, which starred Burtynsky and his large-format photographs. For Watermark, the filmmaker and her former subject have teamed up for a globe-spanning, bird's eye view at H2O.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 8th, 2014
Any time I see a film released with the words Once Upon a Time (insert location), I feel the film is already setting itself up for failure. There are numerous classics that boast that title; Once Upon a Time in the West as well as Once Upon a Time in America are two that come to mind that are classics in their genres. But then you have Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which for me was a lackluster conclusion to the El Mariachi trilogy. Now we have the release of Once Upon a Time in Vietnam and, well, despite its attempts to be a big sprawling epic, the film just doesn’t deliver. Dustin Nguyen puts on many hats in his first feature release, filling in the roles of actor, writer, director and producer. It’s an ambitious undertaking and seems to be a labor of love; unfortunately, it doesn’t always reflect in the film.
Master Dao (Nguyen) is something of a loner, on a quest to find other warriors like himself. What Dao plans to do with these warriors simply depends on whether they are good or bad. In some ways you can see this Dao character in the same vein as The Man With No Name, the similarities are there and are very apparent, but Dao seems to lean more towards the “hero” side, considering he follows in the ways of Buddha. Once he arrives in a small village, he rents out a room from a couple who have a young rebellious child of their own.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2014
by Normandy D. Piccolo
In 2011, four men, Larry Black (big cat expert), Ben Black (cinematographer/Larry’s brother), Budi (a local) and Adi (a government tracker) ventured into the jungles of West Java, Indonesia in the hopes of finding and filming a documentary about the endangered Javan leopard. Unfortunately they crossed paths with something deadlier, and it was all caught on film. The Jungle, a documentary/found footage film, was written/directed/produced by Andrew Traucki. Mr. Traucki’s other works include the ocean thriller, The Reef (2010), which made the sharks in Deep Blue Sea (1999) look more like tame goldfish. He also wrote/directed, Black Water (2007), a swamp saga that had folks bidding a fishing trip in a bayou adieu. The term ‘gator-bait’ pretty much sums it up.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on July 4th, 2014
Here at Upcomingdiscs we’re getting in the spirit of Independence Day by watching China Beach on DVD.
It’s a pretty solid way to remember the men and women who served this country in Vietnam. The series is very much a tribute, particularly to the women who volunteered not to take lives, but to try to save them. The series featured quite a few young actors who have gone on to pretty big things. They include Dana Delany from Desperate Housewives, Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager, Marg Helgenberger from CSI, Michael Boatman from Arli$$/Spin City and Jeff Kober.
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