Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 26th, 2013
I tend to shy away from films that have come out before I was born. It’s not a rule, just a habit. The reason for that being because not being from the generation that movie was produced in, I fear that there will be a lot of cultural reference that I will be unfamiliar with and I will have to Wikipedia them all. I also feel that because I am from a different era I am not qualified to render a sound opinion of an older film, because I may judge it too harshly due to my growing up within a time of special effect advancement. Of course I am well aware that this aversion causes me to miss out on quality films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Apocalypse Now, and as it turns out, Zulu Dawn. Thank goodness for this job for introducing me to films I wouldn’t normally see of my own volition.
Zulu Dawn is a war film covering the Battle of Isandlwana, the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and Zulu Kingdom in 1879. The film is told mainly from the perspective of the British soldiers and features Hollywood household names Burt Lancaster, Peter O’Toole, Simon Ward, and Bob Hoskins on that side. The film starts off with Lord Chelmsford (Burt Lancaster, Lawrence of Arabia), a commander of British forces stationed in South Africa who is eager for advancement, and Sir Henry Bartle Frere (John Mills, Ryan’s Daughter), the High Commissioner of South Africa issuing a ultimatum to King of the Zulu Empire, King Cetshwayo: dissolve his empire or face the British forces that were looking to expand the ever-growing industrial economy. The King refuses and rallies his people to prepare for war.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 26th, 2013
“They cry, they plead, they beg, they piss themselves, they cry for their mothers. It gets embarrassing. I like to kill ‘em softly. From a distance.”
Brad Pitt demonstrates that very well during one of his execution scenes. Killing Them Softly is director Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of the 1974 novel, Cogan’s Trade by George V. Higgnins. This film is Dominik’s third go-around serving as both writer and director (the other two times being Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James), and I must say that he seems at home with double the amount of work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 25th, 2013
The great, central joke of Veep — HBO’s sharp, profane political comedy — is that no self-respecting politician aspires to become the Vice President of the United States. (Just like no self-respecting kid dresses up as Robin for Halloween.) It’s no accident the POTUS is completely MIA from the show, leaving his second-in-command and her beleaguered staff to deal with the countless indignities of a job described on “The Making of Veep” featurette as “so close to being important.”
A 15-second graphic at the opening of each episode tidily summarizes the failed presidential bid by Senate rising star Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her subsequent acceptance of the show’s titular position. Veep follows Meyer as she carries out her day-to-day duties with the help of a team that includes devoted chief of staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), sloppy director of communications Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh), clingy personal aide Gary Walsh (Tony Hale) — who may not be willing to take a bullet for Meyer, but he’ll definitely take a sneeze — and no-nonsense personal assistant Sue Wilson (Sufe Bradshaw). The staff often has to deal with smug White House aide/VP liaison Jonah Ryan (Tim Simons), who mentions that he works in the White House every chance he gets. By the end of the first episode, the team has also acquired ruthless deputy director of communications Dan Egan (Reid Scott), who will suck up to (or date) whoever he needs to get ahead.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on March 25th, 2013
It’s tradition. The night before a wedding, the groomsmen throw a party for the groom and the bridesmaids do the same for the bride. Usually, the bachelorette parties are tamer than their male counterparts. Unless, of course, the bride has the absolute worst bridesmaids in the history of weddings; like the ones Becky (Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect, Bridesmaids) chooses for her bridal party in Bachelorette.
When Becky asks Regan (Kirsten Dunst, the Spider-man trilogy) to be her maid of honor, Regan immediately calls her other two friends from high school: airhead Katie (Isla Fisher, Wedding Crashers, Rise of the Guardians) and sarcastic Gena (Lizzy Caplan, Cloverfield, TV’s The Class). Completely enraged that “Pig-Face” — Regan’s cruel high school nickname for Becky — is getting married before her, Regan flips out. Fast-forward to the day before the wedding. Katie and Gena have flown in for the rehearsal dinner determined to liven up the “boring” bachelorette party, with Katie hiring a male stripper and Gena toting a purse full of cocaine. When the drugs and the stripper ruin the party, Becky storms off. Left alone in the bridal suite with champagne and cocaine, the three friends decide to get drunk, high, and generally feel sorry for themselves.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 25th, 2013
Biblical strongman Samson accomplishes many amazing feats and makes many a powerful enemy along the way. None are able to defeat this champion until his action catch the eye of Delilah, and he becomes the target of her affections. Unbenounced to Samson, Delilah has been tasked to discover the source of his supernatural strength. God granted Samson amazing physical strength, but his heart and mind are weak to the machinations of this sly, deceitful woman and it is only a matter of time before she learns his greatest secret.
Hedey Lamarr's Delilah is a character that we love to hate. Her scheming is fused perfectly into her seductive charms. Meanwhile, Victor Mature is rugged as this Hebrew He-Man. Both play well off of each other although many a time they seem to be treading water with melodramatic dialogue that rallies back and forth and only seems to accomplish extending the run time of the film instead of advancing the plot efficiently.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 24th, 2013
"Sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse."
If you are a fan of director Chan-wook Park, you are used to the kinds of bizarre images and somewhat enigmatic story elements that dominate the landscape of Stoker. While none of the images here reach quite into the territory of Oldboy, it's hard not to plug into the disturbed nature of the film's themes and story. I left the movie with more questions than answers and a little bit lost as to how exactly I was going to approach this review. I had not seen Oldboy at the time of the viewing or since. I did go out of my way to get some exposure to the film's famous imagery through clips and stills. Even still, I've never been more confused about a film than I am about Stoker.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on March 22nd, 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 relieved 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 Eve (Emma Stone) narrates the dangers of living in this dangerous world. As far as Eve 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 (Nicholas 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 Eve, 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 sunrise to sunset is enough to make anyone want to venture anywhere despite all forms of danger.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on March 22nd, 2013
“I'm tired of seeing the same thing. Everybody's so miserable here because they see the same things every day, they wake up in the same bed, same houses, same depressing streetlights, one gas station, grass, it's not even green, and it’s brown. Everything is the same and everyone is just sad. I really don't want to end up like them. I just want to get out of here. There's more than just spring break. This is our chance to see something different.”
Somehow I really doubt that Gomez’s character’s desire for something different was quite like what she got. You remember Spring Break, right? A week-long vacation from high school or college, time spent somewhere exotic and with a lowered or no drinking age limit and girls with low inhibitions. Now that is the premise for spring break vacation as I know it; Spring Breakers depicts a slightly different view; a view of drugs, guns, and James Franco in cornrows. Spring Breakers reveals the darker side of Spring Breaks where innocence is lost and the idea of inhibitions is a foreign concept. Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens shed their former Disney Channel personas and get down and dirty in Harmony Korine’s wild tale that makes it clear that returning to Disney Channel is definitely not an option (well, at least for one of them).
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 22nd, 2013
"What's the secret to getting in...There has to be one, right?"
You will probably never look at Princeton University in quite the same way again after you've seen Tina Fey's latest film, Admission. Under the guise of a poorly-played-out romantic comedy, the film offers us much more comedic insight into the mysterious world of college admissions than it does about relationships. The film was actually based on a novel written by Jean Hanff Korelitz and takes us deep into the labyrinth of how a prestigious college goes about accepting its future students. Of course, it's a romp and not intended to depict the actual process. Still, there are moments when you have to cringe and wonder to yourself if they don't just hit too close to home at times. It's that aspect of Admission that has me quite shocked that Princeton allowed themselves to be used as the college in question here. I guess they figure their reputation can take a tongue-in-cheek hit from Tina Fey. Good for them.
Posted in: The Reel World by J C on March 22nd, 2013
It’s like I always tell people, the only thing better than one gloriously over-the-top action spectacle centered around an attack on the White House is TWO gloriously over-the-top action spectacles centered around an attack on the White House. Lucky(?) for us, Hollywood is happy to oblige in 2013. Channing Tatum gets a chance to protect Jamie Foxx from a very hostile takeover in June’s White House Down, but they’ve been beaten to the box office punch by Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart in the junky, wildly entertaining, and more mythical-sounding Olympus Has Fallen.
This one-two punch of presidential peril is the latest, inexplicable example of two films with similar themes being released in theaters within months of each other. In years past, we’ve had dueling volcanoes (Dante’s Peak vs. Volcano) asteroids/comets (Deep Impact vs. Armageddon), Truman Capote movies (Capote vs. Infamous) and, just last year, revisionist Snow White tales (Mirror Mirror vs. Snow White and the Huntsman). It’s an odd group of pairings, but frankly I’m a little surprised it took this long for Hollywood to make what is basically “Die Hard in the White House.”
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