Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2013
For adults with kids, there is a great need for animated films to make the family happy. For movie studios, there is a great need for films that the entire family can go to that are not slapped with an R-rating which cuts down on profits. Two recent films recently made films about races, Planes and Turbo, showed a need for speed. More and more, the glut of these movies shows the need for greed. Greed is what makes studios only think about making money and not good movies. I actually did like both Planes and Turbo, which is strange because I absolutely hated Cars 2, which was also a race movie.
Planes is a sequel to Cars, which is odd since it wasn't produced by Pixar but Disneytoons which normally produce a heavy slate of straight-to-video fare. Early reception generated plan to make two more Planes films. Planes takes the world wide race that was tried in Cars 2 and makes it more visually entertaining. One of the most interesting things when watching one of these movies is figuring out the vocal talent. Here the names are not A-list stars, but they serve well. They are Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Cedric the Entertainer, John Cleese, Teri Hatcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Garrett and Carlos Alazraqui. I know. I've never heard of Alazraqui either, but he does a dead-on imitation of Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots. The visuals are the key here. The swooping vistas of flight are always exhilarating. It is still put in the framework of an overly familiar story of a downtrodden underdog.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on August 8th, 2013
The line between hilarious raunchy comedy and over-the-top raunchy comedy is very fine, and We’re the Millers tends to dance on both sides of it. In time such action will be revealed to be both a blessing and a curse, I suspect. With the young crowd, I believe the film will fall right into place with such movies as Horrible Bosses (a comedy which coincidently starred Aniston and Sudeikis) and to be more recent, This is the End. With more mature audiences, the raunchiness may prove to be slightly more than they were expecting to see. With me, I find myself on the side of the young.
David (Jason Sudeikis) is a small town pot dealer in Denver, an occupation he has held since college without moving forward or backward. Hesitant to admit it, he has grown stagnant with the life he’s leading and wants more out of life. Those desires are put on hold after he is robbed, with both his stash and all of his cash including the money intended for his supplier Brad (Ed Helms, The Hangover). Deep in debt with no prospect of paying it back, Brad offers David one opportunity to erase his debt: smuggle a smidge and a half (inside joke, have to see the movie to understand) of marijuana from Mexico across the border back to Denver.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on August 8th, 2013
Where do I begin? The first Harry Potter movie and the first Percy Jackson movie were both directed by Chris Columbus, but he moved on in both cases. The other similarities are substantial, and the studio producing the new Percy Jackson movie certainly hopes it can produce a similar success that Harry Potter did for its studio. There are a whole lot of books that are part of an ongoing story. In fact, there is a new series that moves on from Greek gods to Egyptians. That's right, Greek gods, but not like in Clash of the Titans which takes place so many years ago in olden days. Percy Jackson is right up to the present, and Percy Jackson is a half- blood prince, son of Poseidon. The first movie, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, brought us into the crazy world of satyrs and cyclops and other creatures not entirely human.
Before I finish with Percy, I should discuss Young Adult books. There are more and more, and they are all trying to cash in on Harry Potter mania, and they are all probably going to be made into movies. The Hunger Games is another YA series that has developed a strong audience filling the gap left by Twilight. Divergent is coming, as is The Mortal Instruments. The problem is that if I tried to list all the YA projects likely to head to a theater near you it would be mind-numbing. In other words, Sea of Monsters better hit big, because the competition is heavy. Some popular series only got one shot like the recent Beautiful Creatures and The Golden Compass and A Series of Unfortunate Events. The first Percy Jackson box office results were only OK, but it has been given another chance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 8th, 2013
"With a name like Banshee how can you not be drawn in?"
Alan Ball got my attention in 2001 with HBO's black comedy Six Feet Under. It was one of the most original shows I had ever seen, and to this day I find it hard to characterize the series when asked to do so. It was there that he also introduced me to Michael C. Hall, who continues to amaze me in the role of Dexter over at Showtime. When Six Feet Under left the airwaves, Ball didn't waste very much time in bringing his quirky style back, this time to the horror genre. True Blood would put a rather strange twist on the lovesick vampire craze, and while that show has not kept up the same kind of clever writing and wickedly brilliant stories, Ball has lent his name and talents to another cable show. This time it's on Cinemax, and the series is Banshee. And while Ball is a producer and not the day-to-day runner of the series, it is nonetheless another pretty strange show that defies any particular genre or characterization.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 7th, 2013
For those who don't know, I have been married twice in my life. I am currently going through my second divorce. At nearly thirty eight years old, I have lived the relationship life of arguably several lifetimes but something usually keeps me coming back. Am I done with love? Only time will tell. Today's blu-ray review is about a six year old girl who sees life through the divorce of her mother and father. Something tells me we are in for a very long and bumpy ride.
Susanna (played by Julianne Moore), a mom puts her six year old daughter, Maisie (played by Onata Aprile) to bed. Susan decides to sing "Rock a Bye Baby" to the daughter before breaking out the acoustic guitar and playing a few gentle chords as Maisie slowly goes to sleep. The day begins again or rather we see Maisie paying for some pizza as we hear a heated argument in the background.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2013
The time was that following the death of a good king, England was left without a clear heir to the throne. During the time without a king, England had descended into dark times. Suddenly as if through divine intervention a sword appeared in an anvil of stone. An inscription decreed that whosoever could remove the sword would become king. Think you’ve heard the story before? Well, of course you have. It is none other than the story of King Arthur. Most of us have heard the many stories. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone that Walt Disney himself was quite taken with the tale, when you consider it it’s about as natural a fit as one can find. Disney’s early works were replete with tales of seemingly ordinary people with extraordinary destinies. From Sleeping Beauty to Cinderella, Walt had put his own touch to many such tales.
Our story begins in this England of dark times. A wizard named Martin… eh, that’s Merlin … is sitting in his humble room awaiting the arrival of a special lad. Gifted with the ability to see forward in time, Merlin knows that this lad will soon be arriving, and it will be his responsibility to educate the boy. When the young man referred to as The Wart does arrive, it seems unlikely he could be destined for much of anything. He’s rather physically awkward and appears none too ambitious. Still, Marvin, that is to say, Merlin, takes on the task with an eagerness that becomes somewhat annoying to his companion, the owl Archimedes. The lessons involve for the most part magical transformations and a few catchy tunes. Before long “The Wart” aka Arthur finds and fulfills his destiny. This story is more about the journey than the destination. Arthur doesn’t have his encounter with the sword, often erroneously identified as Excalibur, until the last minutes of the film. There is a hint that more stories would follow, but they never really did.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2013
“Once upon a time in New York City…”
Walt Disney might well have been the storyteller of more than one generation of kids. Is it any wonder that when we think of such characters as Winnie The Pooh or Peter Pan our minds conjure the images wrought by Disney animators and not necessarily the classic literature descriptions? That might not be the case with this Charles Dickens story, retold through Disney’s trademark animal point of view. Oliver & Company doesn’t appear to have had the staying power of films both before and after its time. After watching the film again, perhaps for the first time since its release 20 years ago, I can’t imagine why it has never quite caught on. From a popular culture standpoint the film has all of the elements that have led to other more beloved Disney classics. The Dickens story is a familiar one, read by most literature students as a matter of course. Many of the era’s biggest names lent their voice talents to the characters, including Billy Joel and Bette Midler. The songs are about as catchy as anyone might have hoped for. Just what was it that relegated this little seen Disney adventure to the bargain bin of animation classics?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2013
"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
With the success of Best Of Both Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation would make frequent use of the season-ending cliffhanger. Believe it or not, that wasn't so common in those days. The fourth season ended with part one of Redemption.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 7th, 2013
For over 40 years Aerosmith has been rocking the airwaves, and with over a 100 million albums sold, it is safe to say they are one of America’s greatest rock bands. It had been seven years before that the band previously performed in Japan, and after the devastation the country endured during the earthquake and tsunami in early 2011, the band was inspired to return to Japan and perform. Rock For The Rising Sun is more than simply a documentary of a concert in Japan; instead it is the documentation of the band’s journey that follows them along their stops throughout their tour and their interaction with the fans. For fans looking to get the full concert experience from their living room, this should help satisfy your needs, but this experience does offer more. With footage cut in between songs we get to spend time with the band, though arguably this could have been better suited as footage cut together as a bonus feature instead of getting in the way of the concert footage.
I can appreciate what was attempted here, but I feel it should have been so much more. This was a missed opportunity to see these pop culture icons truly making a difference and helping the country, or at least a few select individuals, but instead we get to see them at Disneyland. Had there been no mention of the devastation the country suffered and the band claiming to go there in support of those affected, then perhaps I would view this a little differently. But to use the tragedy and show nothing of its effects or the band confronting any of the survivors with aid I feel makes this all seems a bit disingenuous.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on August 5th, 2013
The fact that Kumail Nanjiani decided to call his first Comedy Central special Beta Male immediately gives you a sense of his self-deprecating style. Fortunately, the ability to laugh at himself is merely one of many comedic gifts this on-the-rise comic possesses. This consistently funny, frequently hilarious hour-long set — filmed in Austin’s Moody Theater — touches on a wide range of topics, including his Muslim upbringing, cats disguised as pizza delivery men, and outdated rollercoasters.
Nanjiani has made his way into numerous “Comics to Watch” lists, but most audiences probably know him from scene-stealing turns in Franklin & Bash and Portlandia. He’s also got plenty of comedy geek cred, lending his voice to Adventure Time and collaborating with Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black for the short-lived Michael and Michael Have Issues. This is my drawn-out way of telling you Nanjiani’s humor ticks a lot of boxes with audiences.
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