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.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 21st, 2013
Day of the Falcon is a photogenic, lavish reminder that violence and strife in the Middle East existed well before it could be broadcast on CNN. The film — set in the early part of the 20th century — also works as a throwback to the sort of rollicking, epic-scale adventure films David Lean was making at the height of his powers and that no one seems terribly interested in making anymore. Don’t get me wrong: Day of the Falcon is no Lawrence of Arabia or Bridge on the River Kwai, but it’s an accetable 21st century substitute.
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud — who made the great, underrated WWII sniper drama Enemy at the Gates — the movie features a multi-cultural cast and a relatively hefty budget. (Reports put it anywhere between $40 million and $55 million; either way, it’s one of the most expensive films produced by an Arab — Tarak Ben Ammar — which also deals with that part of the world.)
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 21st, 2013
The third season would end up being both the longest season and its final one on television. It was the only year that the show enjoyed the opportunity to spread its wings over a complete run of episodes. It aired an entire season from September to May in 1990/1991. That meant we got a lot of good episodes that are available in this release. Father Dowling and Tom Bosley are both gone now. I can safely say they haven't been forgotten.
Catholic priests are used to hearing confessions, but for one particular pastor in Chicago, the usual confessions about using the Lord's name in vain or stealing a couple of paper clips from the office just weren't exciting enough. Father Dowling loved reading mystery books, and it appears to have sharpened his own powers of observation and deduction. As luck would have it, crimes and mysteries would simply fall into his lap. With the help of Sister Stephanie, better known as Sister Steve, he would step away from his pastoral duties to track down clues that were elusive to the Chicago Police Department. You might just say he was the answer to their prayers. All the while he would attempt to keep the financially-strapped Saint Michael's parish on solid footing.
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on March 20th, 2013
Shadow People is out from Anchor Bay this week. It's a most unusual horror film that blends real documentary information with a standard horror film. At issue is something called Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome. If you want to know more about the syndrome and/or the film, you're in luck. I had a chance to speak with Director/Writer Matthew Arnold. Check out what he has to say about this interesting experience. Bang it here to listen to my chat with Matthew Arnold
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jonathan Foster on March 20th, 2013
Something strange in your neighborhood? Who ya gonna call? Well, if Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are busy and you don’t mind being on TV, you call SyFy’s Ghost Hunters. For eight seasons, the team from T.A.P.S. (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) has gone to various spooky locations to investigate claims of paranormal activity. Led by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, T.A.P.S. takes on a variety of cases in the first part of this season that send the team from a WWII aircraft carrier and a haunted amusement park to Providence’s City Hall.
For those unfamiliar with Ghost Hunters, each episode follows the same pattern. Jason and Grant get info from their client on the eerie goings-on before the team splits up to investigates the location. After the investigation wraps, the team analyzes the audio and video footage they’ve recorded and presents their findings to the customer. While formulaic, I feel it adds an air of legitimacy to the investigations. To see the team use the same equipment and techniques the same way again and again shows that the team has a methodical approach to their work.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 20th, 2013
Well, would you look at that: the sidekicks from previous popular primetime series after each of their shows have ended, banded together to form their own television series. Though it is not uncommon for the supporting cast of a TV show to try to break out on their own either right before or right after their former show receives the axe, it is rare that said show makes it through its first season, let alone gets renewed for a second season; the exception being Men At Work (not to be confused with the film by the same name starring the Sheen family, with which it shares no relation as far as I can tell).
Leading the show is Danny Masterson (That 70’s Show) as Milo Foster, a guy down in the dumps after the recent breakup with his girlfriend of five years, Lisa (Amy Smart, Shameless). His best friends and coworkers Tyler (Michael Cassidy, THE O.C.), Neal (Adam Busch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Gibbs (James Lesure, Las Vegas) take it upon themselves to help him get over the breakup by any means necessary. Ladies’ Men Tyler and Gibbs subscribe to the philosophy that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else. Neal, who has been shacking up with Amy (Meredith Hagner, Royal Pains), the boss’s daughter, for the last two years, believes that Milo needs to go at his own pace until he’s ready, a belief that is openly mocked by the others including Milo.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on March 20th, 2013
Sometimes you really can judge a book terrible movie by its cover. Beyond the awful Photoshopped shot of the film’s stars, the cover art for House Arrest boasts that the movie comes “From a Producer of You Got Served.” That set off a bunch of questions in my curious mind. Why just one producer? Is this really something a person would brag about? Most importantly, where are all the hip hop dance battles?! Worse than all that, the film itself completely muddles a worthwhile message about faith and the importance of family with shoddy storytelling and a steady stream of substandard performances.
House Arrest quickly introduces us to Chanel (Stacey Dash), a spoiled L.A. rich girl living the high life with her boyfriend, DeAndre (Jayceon “The Game” Taylor). You can tell Chanel is spoiled because she even has a tiny dog named Trixie that she carries around in her purse. While out shopping one day, Chanel and DeAndre are both arrested for the robbery of some valuable computer chips. (The crime is so vague and ultimately pointless that they may as well have been accused of stealing a box of vintage floppy disks.) Prior offender DeAndre is sent to prison while first-time offender Chanel is sentenced to house arrest in a much less ostentatious part of town under the roof of grandma Mee-Mah (Bebe Drake) and Chanel’s daughter Autumn (Kiera Washington). Chanel is innocent, but Deandre asks her to take the fall because she’d probably only get a probation — this guy is a real sweetheart — and because DeAndre’s crimes helped fund their expensive lifestyle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 18th, 2013
"My dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. Well, I can honestly say I've told you the truth, but I may not have told you all of it..."
It's hard to believe that it's been a decade since Peter Jackson last brought us to the fantastic lands of Middle Earth. It was one of Hollywood's most ambitious projects ever. Jackson took on the perilous journey of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's famous Lord Of The Rings trilogy, perilous because of the beloved place the works hold in the hearts of those who have read them over the years. There is such a wonderfully detailed world delivered by Tolkien that we already had very vivid ideas of these places and characters. To his credit, Jackson proved to be up to the task and delivered a trilogy that one can only describe as brilliant. The lands and people were just as I had envisioned them since I first encountered them in my own youth. Expanded versions hit the home video market, and about 12 hours of story have made it to our screens. And there it has sat for the better part of that decade.
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