Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on October 11th, 2013
I remember the day I was watching CNN and they broadcast the news of Captain Richard Phillips being rescued after being held captive by Somali pirates back in 2009. The story of a captain facing gun-toting pirates and being held captive on a lifeboat for four days is a story rich with material that begs to be made into a film. Now four years later, this heroic story comes to the big screen (in IMAX for those lucky enough to have an IMAX nearby) helmed by director Paul Greengrass (United 93) and starring Tom Hanks in what I believe is the performance of his career.
Very little setup is needed as we meet Captain Phillips (Hanks) as he is on way to take command of the U.S. Maersk Alabama to captain the ship around the horn of Africa and through pirate-infested water. All crew members know the risk that comes with taking a position on any ship that travels past Somalia, but there is no other route for a crew to take, leaving them with no other choice but to steer through the violent waters as quickly as they can. Just as we are watching the stern and confident captain plot his route, we are also introduced to Muse (Barkhad Abdi) who leads a crew of his own that has only one intention, and that is to strike pay dirt by seizing a ship on the open sea.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on October 11th, 2013
How long has it been since you've spent some time with Mama? It's hard to believe that it's been almost 25 years. Our good friends at Foundry Communications and StarVista have decided that it's just been too dang long. Of course, we're talking about the television classic Mama's Family staring Vicki Lawrence. We're teaming up to give you a good deal of time to spend with Mama. We're giving away 5 sets of the first two seasons to our lucky followers.
To win just follow these instructions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 11th, 2013
What a great time it was to be a teen in the late 1970’s. No, I’m not referring to disco music. It was a great time to go to the movies. It was the culmination of the perfect date, and Hollywood was riding the beginning of a trend that remains alive and healthy today. I’m talking, of course, about the slasher film. You could argue that Hitchcock started the ball rolling in 1961 with Psycho, but it would be decades before that film would find its true audience and plethora of imitators. Although The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween came before Friday The 13th, can it be argued that any horror film franchise is as widely known? The truth is that even the man behind the film, Sean Cunningham, never really knew what it was that he had. It was never his intent to follow the film with a barrage of sequels. He also scoffed at the idea that Jason could become the centerpiece for future films. By now Jason has become such an iconic character that there is an entire generation out there that doesn’t know that Jason wasn’t the culprit in the first film. Jason’s stature has reached the heights of the classic monsters of the Universal days. While some of us hesitate to put his name and hockey mask up there with the likes of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dracula, and The Mummy, the recognition and sheer dollars generated make it difficult not to. By the beginning of the 1980’s names like Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers would be scaring audiences around the world, rendering the classics somewhat silly in the eyes of a more visceral generation of teens.
Here we are almost 25 years removed from that first Friday The 13th film and the franchise has racked up nine sequels, one remake, a television series and a team-up film with Freddy Krueger...oh my. Of course, not all Friday The 13th projects are created equal, and the debate rages on as to what constitutes official canon for the franchise. Certainly, the television series can be discounted, because it had really nothing to do with the films at all. The title was merely used to cash in on the fans. Still, it managed to last three years and has developed a somewhat cult following of its own. But whatever you consider part of the "true" franchise, it's all found in one place.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on October 10th, 2013
This latest incarnation of “90210” ending in its fifth season means it ran for half the length of the original series (which ran for ten). Like the original, the stories of these sexy Beverley Hills residents began in high school. Now we see the sorts of adults they've become and the absolutely ridiculous success they've had. They all started on the top, and somehow manage to claw their way...to the top. Yup...real growth here.
What is this “ridiculous Success” I speak of? Oh, how about the fact that amongst the main characters is a successful club owner (which would warrants even more bragging rights since it's located in California), a software guru (yes, the word “guru” is actually used) and a freaking movie star whose film is #1 at the box office. Incredibly relatable stuff, no?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 10th, 2013
During his mid-20th century prime, Danny Kaye was one of the greatest entertainers in the world. He was a terrific actor, singer, comedian and dancer. Not bad for a guy who couldn’t read a note of music and never took a single dance class. On the Riviera is not Kaye’s best (nor his best-known) movie; that title belongs to White Christmas, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty or Hans Christian Andersen. However, this soufflé-light musical comedy — now making its Blu-ray debut courtesy of Fox — is a nice showcase for Kaye’s considerable talents.
Kaye stars as Jack Martin, a small-time nightclub performer on the French Riviera. The actor also stars as Henri Duran, a celebrated playboy pilot who just completed a record-setting trip around the globe. Jack notices the uncanny resemblance he bears to Henri and begins impersonating him during his nightclub routine. (The result is a showstopper, and the movie’s best musical number: “Rhythm of a New Romance.”) When Henri is forced to be in two places at once to preserve an important financial deal, Jack is hired to impersonate the famous French pilot during a pivotal dinner party. Can Jack maintain the ruse alongside Henri’s cynical wife Lili (Gene Tierney) while keeping his own girlfriend Colette (Corinne Calvet) happy?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 10th, 2013
“He apparently had a rough childhood.”
Isn’t that always the excuse? Well, in this film it seems like everyone had a rough childhood, everyone from the killer to his would-be victim to the cop chasing him. Based on the Brian Harper novel of the same name, Shiver is horror film with some intrigue. From the moment that I picked the film up and took a look at the cover, the film had my attention, and it didn’t disappoint; the end was bit much and a little generic, but overall the film lived up to its hype.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on October 9th, 2013
This is the third stab at making an animated series about these radical reptiles. This particular DVD set is the latter half of this show's first season. We are privy to a wide array of toys...er, I mean, characters whose stories are firmly established at this point (roughly 13 episodes into a 26 episode season).
This is the first series presented as a 3D computer animation. The graphics are nicely rendered, but are sometimes hard to see since the movements, especially during fight scenes, are incredibly frantic. I certainly hope the fact that I find the pacing too fast isn’t a sign of old age arriving. The animators have clearly gone through a lot of trouble choreographing a fight that can sometimes have at least a couple dozen characters interacting (a very difficult thing to manage) and I’d appreciate it more if the speed didn’t make me feel like I need to feed the DVD Ritalin.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 9th, 2013
"Hi, I'm Chucky. You wanna play?"
When an unexpected package arrives at the home of Nica (Dourif) and her rather crazy mother Sarah (Quesnelle), they have no idea what it is or who might have sent it. We already know what's in the familiar-shaped package. That's right. After nearly a decade absence, Chucky's back.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 9th, 2013
For years it seems DreamWorks Animation has been living in the shadow of Pixar. Sure, DreamWorks has had their success with Shrek and Ice Age, but when you stack the films next to Pixar’s library, you see Pixar just seems to be the best at what they do. That is until The Croods came along; with the new DreamWorks release it would appear the animation studio has stepped up their game and released their best-looking 3D film to date. My expectations were not too high with this release, but I was at least reliEepd I wouldn’t be watching Ice Age Ten: The Ice is Still Melting. With a theater screening filled with what appeared to be thousands of little screaming children (remember in Gremlins when they were watching Snow White?) before the film I had been face- palming myself, feeling this had been a bad idea, but once the lights dimmed and the film began, my worries faded away. The story may be a little weak, but there is something there that hooked me and kept me engaged throughout the Croods’ journey, and it turned out to be good eye candy that the entire family can enjoy.
From the start no time is wasted as Eep (Emma Stone) narrates the dangers of living in this dangerous world. As far as Eep knows, she and her family, the Croods, are the last of their kind. Fearing the night (and everything unfamiliar or unknown) the family takes shelter in a cave until the sun reappears and everything is thought to be “safe” by Grug (Nicolas Cage), the father and leader of the group. Grug is a neurotic, overprotective parent who simply expects at any point something could happen and kill them all, so with the exception of family hunts, they never stray too far from the cave. And as a teenager, living this cramped lifestyle surrounded by her family is becoming overwhelming for Eep, and her sense of adventure (and being a rebellious teen) is just too much. Besides, living in a cave with your overbearing father, mother, brother and grandmother from sunrise to sunset is enough to make anyone want to venture anywhere despite all forms of danger.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 8th, 2013
Caroline Esmeralda van de Leeuw didn’t know she was a jazz singer until somebody told her. Growing up in Amsterdam, she was too lazy and impatient to properly learn how to play an instrument. Fortunately, she was blessed with a sultry, soulful and sassy singing voice. Caro Emerald has used that voice to smash chart records in the Netherlands. Earlier this year, her second album, “The Shocking Miss Emerald”, reached #1 in the United Kingdom. And that’s where she happened to be when I was introduced to her funky brand of jazz.
This Blu-ray captures her performance at the art deco BBC Radio Theatre in London as part of the In Concert series. It’s a relatively intimate, 300-seat venue that suits her music perfectly. In fact, if it weren’t for those pesky seats, I could easily imagine the theatre spontaneously turning into a dance hall with everyone in the audience joining in on the fun. I should mention that, in my former life, I was a pretty avid swing dancer. So I’m always looking for potential places to lindy bomb, and cool new music to dance to.
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