Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on October 4th, 2013
"This is your job. You want a safer job, go work at the post office. You want a clear conscience, go start a charity. But if you want your own island and your boss says you gotta go out there and take a beating, you go out there, take it and come back to work and say, 'do you need me to do it again?'"
This may just be me, but any job that requires me to happily take a beating simply isn’t for me, and no matter how much money is on the line. A movie about a bright kid from a broken family, down on his luck getting taken in by a charismatic wheeling-dealing/sociopathic businessman, and before long finding himself in over his head, sound familiar? I’m sure it does, but what I have come to learn in recent years is just because it has been done does not mean that it still can’t be entertaining.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 4th, 2013
There's a saying that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king. No one would have expected that a one-eyed man could become the king of 3D. But that's exactly what happened with House Of Wax. The film has become one of the definitive films in the 3D format. To look at it on Blu-ray now, it holds up quite nicely in a day where 3D has become almost passé. Still, it's hard to believe that Warner Brothers would choose a man with only one eye to shoot their 3D film. That man was Andre' De Toth, and he was at the forefront of 3D filmmaking. He had written a 1946 article on the potential of the format, and it's likely what got him the job. The result is a horror cinematic masterpiece.
Vincent Price plays Henry Jarrod, co-owner and the genius behind a small wax museum. His figures are so lifelike that patrons almost expect them to reach out and touch them. Unfortunately, the public mind has drifted to the macabre, and the museum is losing money. Jarrod considers the figures to be real enough that he has developed a fatherly love for them, particularly that of his Marie Antoinette. Business partner Matthew Burke (Roberts) has a different feeling for the museum pieces. They are worth more to him burned in a fire for the insurance money. Unable to convince Jarrod, he burns the museum down along with Jarrod.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 4th, 2013
Although he’s only mentioned briefly in the Bible, the man known as Barabbas was a key figure during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. According to the Gospels, Pontius Pilate gave the crowd in Jerusalem the choice of either sparing Jesus’ life or saving the rebel/thief Barabbas during Passover. (No “Spoiler Alert” necessary; I’m sure you can guess which one they picked.) Since very little is known about Barabbas, his life story has basically been transformed into the first documented case of “survivor’s guilt.”
Swedish author Par Lagerkvist won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1951, the year after the release of “Barabbas,” his best-known novel. The book was most notably turned into a 1961 film starring Anthony Quinn and directed by Richard Fleischer. “Barabbas” has most recently been adapted into this intriguing, wildly-uneven (and occasionally painful) two-part miniseries, which debuted on ReelzChannel in March.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 3rd, 2013
It’s only the first of October, and already the Christmas spirit is being thrust upon us. It’s not that I’m trying to be a Grinch about it, but for me my true Christmas is in October when we get to celebrate the ghouls and goblins that lurk in the shadows. But I did what I could not to let the season we’re in get in the way of a movie; after all, Die Hard was a Christmas movie in the summer; same goes for Iron Man 3. Sure, those are action titles, but they are still great no matter what time of year you watch them. So perhaps So This Is Christmas may turn out to be this under-theradar gem that will surprise me.
Things open up with a brief flurry of excitement as a young man and woman are rushed into the hospital suffering from multiple gunshots. Ashley (Lexi Ainsworth) is pulled aside by an officer to get her statement about what she saw; instead of just a statement about the shooting instead her story starts further back, explaining her early party days, and so the story really begins.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on October 3rd, 2013
31 Nights Of Terror is in full swing. That means ghostly giveaways. Thanks to the ghoulishly great folks at Timeless Media Group we have a simply horror-able 4 movie collection to give away on DVD. You get The Face Of Marble with John Carradine, I Bury The Living with Richard Boone, The Four Skulls Of Jonathan Drake with Grant Richards and The Snake Woman with Susan Traver. That's over 5 hours of horror. Chilling isn't it. Are there more contests to come? You're bloody well right there will be.
You can check out other Timeless Media Group collections.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 3rd, 2013
All good things must come to an end, and so it was at Walt Disney Studios. The Golden Age of feature film animation had started with Snow White And The Seven Dwarves in 1937. By the end of the 1970's it was all but gone. As the studio entered the 1980's the things had gone from bad to worse. Walt was gone, and so it seemed was the magic. Most of The 9 Old Men had either retired or passed away. The studio leadership was considering closing the animated studio and moving on to live-action films only. It was a dark time for the artists and creative folks at the Mouse House. A shadow had fallen. Sounds pretty much like the beginning of a Tolkien tale, doesn't it?
Enter a new regime. Michael Eisner became the new head of the company, and Jeffrey Katzenberg teamed up with Walt's brother Roy Disney to head the new studio. The first thing they did was banish the animation studios from the Disney lot and set them up in warehouse-like trailers in the middle of industry nowhere. It looked like the axe had finally fallen. But the exile turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to this new generation of Disney talent. Under the new leadership the creative forces banded together and began to do something they hadn't in a long time. They began to dream once again.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 3rd, 2013
“What makes a song beautiful is not always the quality of the voice but the distance that voice has had to travel.”
Well said, Mrs. Redgrave, well said. I should broach this subject early; I am not a fan of musicals or musically-themed films. That said, Unfinished Song is much more than a musical; it is a tale of an emotionally crippled man who has only formed one meaningful connection and about what you do when you lose that connection: do you lie down and die, or do you find a median to that will allow you to form new connections? As stated above, it is about distance rather than quality; however, in my opinion Unfinished Song accomplishes both.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 3rd, 2013
For a variety of reasons, fewer people seem to be retiring when they turn 65. That’s long been the case for legendary musicians like Bryan Ferry, who was at that milestone age when he filmed this concert in Lyon, France during the summer of 2011. Ferry has always combined his own "old soul" sensibility with a forward-thinking approach to creating music. So this show, with Ferry now an actual senior citizen, turned out to be an ideal time to check in on the former Roxy Music frontman.
Live in Lyon was part of a tour supporting Ferry’s 2010 “Olympia” album, and features music from the singer’s staggering 40-year career. As a result, the show highlights Roxy Music hits from the ‘70s and early ‘80s, as well as a generous helping of cuts from Ferry’s accomplished solo career, which also includes his haunting covers of other artists. (The album that preceded “Olympia” was a 2007 collection of Bob Dylan covers called “Dylanesque.”)
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2013
Time-Life and Star Vista have rescued Mama's Family from home video oblivion. Finally, the entire series is available on DVD. We're going to have more on that later. On Tuesday I had a chance to chat with the show's star. That's right. I talked with Mama herself: Vicki Lawrence. You might remember her from the Carol Burnett Show where Mama first started. You could even recall her talk show a few years back. Most of you will always remember her as Mama. Bang it here to listen to my chat with Vicki Lawrence
Posted in: News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2013
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