Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on January 4th, 2013
This is the time of the year when everyone is giving their lists for the best films and televisions shows for 2012. It's become almost the "in" thing to do, and we've resisted following such a trend here. The lists are always going to be very subjective and have very little value except a little stirring of the pot. If pressed I could tell you what I thought were the best movies I've seen in 2012. Right now I'm going to tell you about a movie that would top my list of worst films I've seen in 2012. That distinction belongs to Promised Land. I hate films that are pretentious or preach. This does both and doesn't even grant me the courtesy of pretending it's entertaining at the same time. The story is about as predictable as a race between a Ferrari and a sautéed snail. Steve Butler (Damon) and his long-time partner Sue Thomason (McDormand) are the best at what they do. What they do is represent a natural gas company, and they go into untapped towns and buy fracking rights from land owners. The duo is known for getting the rights and getting them cheap. It's all part of a familiar song and dance. The cash-poor landowners are reeled in with the promise of life-changing money. Of course, what really lies in their future is the eventual destruction of their town. They are welcomed with open arms until an old scientist now teaching high school science (Holbrook) brings up some disturbing questions. Matters get worse when Dustin Noble (Krasinski) rolls into town claiming to represent an environmental group that Butler's never heard of before. The visit becomes confrontational, and the town is divided on the issue. Some still welcome the reps, while others want to run them out of town.
The story is certainly an interesting one even if it's been played out too many times before. Promised Land comes with some twists and turns that I'm sure the filmmakers thought were clever and serve a necessary social function. There's no question that the process of fracking has risks and is quite controversial. The film might have accomplished what it set out to do, which was to take a stand on the issue. Unfortunately, everyone here decides to overplay the hand, and the result is such a blatant message that all of the environmental messages are dulled by the attempt. Damon's character has the kind if epiphany moment that borders on the absurd. It comes from nowhere at all, and Damon just doesn't exhibit the acting chops here to bridge the credulity gap. There is another twist which would spoil the film more than the filmmakers have already done. But let me assure you that there are more than enough absolutely crazy plot twists here to make any reasonable audience groan.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on January 4th, 2013
One of the things that HBO does best is to tackle an issue-orientated hot button topic in an adult and in-depth manner. It does this better than big-screen movies, because Hollywood is afraid to do it because it doesn't pay. Hollywood likes to win awards and get Oscars, but it's money first. HBO can do intelligent programs with modest budgets that appeal to their subscribers and fit their format. They know they are the best at a certain type of programing, and they know what they're doing.
Game Change is interesting in a lot of ways. It is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at an important moment in the modern Republican party. The 2008 presidential election is still relevant and in the hearts and minds of most Americans. Game Change gives us a close up of what exactly happened and what we don't know about what happened.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on January 4th, 2013
Enlightened is a new HBO series that tries to find a place in the storied and award-winning shelf of great shows from the cable giant. Many HBO series have had a strong hook to hang on like the gangster epics The Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire. Enlightened is a far more elusive concept. At the center of this series is Laura Dern's character, who is a source of constant angst and confusion. Dern has already won a Golden Globe for her performance. The character is full of contradictions and internal conflicts.
The series starts with Dern having a breakdown at work and leaving for an intensive therapy center in Hawaii. When she returns, she is enlightened, or is she? The first season has ten episodes, and in those episodes we see Dern go through an emotional rollercoaster of highs, lows, and more lows. There are endless conflicts and moral outrages erupting in this character. She works for a vaguely sinister and bland corporate entity that seems to be the source of enormous health problems for the public but about which most of the workers have apathetic nonchalance. But Dern's character has so many outrageous outbursts of issues great and small that most people have dismissed her as crazy and just wish she would go away.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on January 3rd, 2013
On the Tenth Day Of Christmas A&E/History gives to you:
War In HD. This 6-disc DVD collection combines A&E/History's award winning WWII In HD and Vietnam In HD all in one collection. We have two copies to give to two lucky winners at Upcomingdiscs. The footage has all been remastered in HD and much of it unseen until these shows were put together. They tell the brutal story of war in graphic detail. While the DVD's themselves might not be in high definition, these discs provide the best image quality time and DVD technology can provide.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on January 3rd, 2013
In the financial world, the term “arbitrage” refers to the possibility of risk-free profit at zero cost. This seems to be the goal for Robert Miller (Richard Gere), a hedge fund manager desperate to sell his business and retire. The reason for his desperation is that his business is completely broke due to a bad investment. This goal has completely consumed Robert, and it affects everything he does. Robert treats his employees like slaves, is nervous around his family, and regards his mistress as little more than a plaything. One night after the sale suffers yet another setback, he convinces his mistress to come with him to his country cabin. While driving her car, he falls asleep at the wheel and has an accident. Now he has something else to cover up. From then on, there’s nothing he won’t do — no lie he won’t tell, no depth he won’t sink to — in order to keep his secrets and keep his family in the dark.
Arbitrage turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. Gere takes what could easily be a static evil character and really fleshes it out. We may not like the things he does when his world starts falling apart, but we understand and almost — ALMOST — sympathize with him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on January 3rd, 2013
The Hippocratic Oath all doctors take is simple: “First, do no harm.” Dr. Martin Blake (Orlando Bloom) throws that ideal out the window when a young woman named Diane Nixon (Riley Keough) comes under his care. After getting treated like a nobody by his fellow doctors and disrespected by nurses he feels are beneath him, Diane is the first person who appreciates what Martin does and makes him feel special. As he treats her, Martin becomes obsessed with Diane, going so far as to alter her medication to keep her sick. As Martin’s obsession grows, his actions become more and more drastic.
This is supposed to be a dark thriller, and I suppose it is from a script standpoint. The Good Doctor has a decent (if slightly over-used) plot of girl-meets-stalker, with the interesting twist of the stalker being her attending physician. It could have been a good suspense movie like Kiss the Girls with the whole “I’m going to keep the girl I’m obsessed with close to me” vibe had someone given the cast some espresso to wake them up before the cameras started rolling.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on January 3rd, 2013
“For every dark, a light. For every foe, a friend. For every question, an answer. For every key, a lock.”
And for every kid-centric animated program, a lucrative line of tie-in toys. Monsuno borrows liberally — the nicest way I know of saying “rips off” — from previous phenomena like Beyblade, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Though it primarily exists to help sell derivative trading cards and action figures, the show establishes a surprisingly intriguing world in its first handful of episodes.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on January 2nd, 2013
On the Ninth Day Of Christmas A&E/History gives to you:
Ancient Egypt Anthology. Again A&E brings you another best of collection. Here we find the best shows and documentaries on Ancient Egypt. From the pharohs to the pyramids it's all here in this 6-disc collection. We have two copies for two Upcomingdiscs winners.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 2nd, 2013
It’s hard to not appreciate a film that wastes no time jumping into the action, and with a title like Kill’em All you go in expecting the action to be piled on and non-stop. I have to say I’m a little surprised this little film lived up to the title; after all most straight-to-DVD titles seem to be lackluster if not simply awful. I’m also not saying this is a film that’ll be remembered too long either, but it is a B movie that delivers on the action and has Gordon Liu doing what he does best. After watching several of Bangkok’s elite assassins go about doing their dirty work and leaving a trail of bodies in their wake it is quickly followed by their capture. At first when watching this I had thought they were being killed until we get to see them all gathered together in a massive concrete cell. None of the professional killers seem to know one another; only a handful seem to know of one another which I found strange, after all how many elite assassins can one country have? Well, it doesn’t take long till they discover they are all trapped in “the Killing Chamber”, a place where assassins and other people are brought to die. What’s kind of cool is they are given a chance at freedom, but that chance only comes if they are the sole survivor of their captors’ game.
What follows are a series of duels to the death; as the survivors are whittled down, the desperation to survive becomes more intense. The key three assassins Gabriel (Johnny Messner), Som (Ammara Siripong), and The Kid (Tim Man) are the only memorable survivors as they escape beyond the chamber and into a hellish warehouse filled with ninjas and numerous other bloodthirsty killers. The fight choreography is fairly standard but is still fun, especially for those like me who pretty much get excited any time a ninja shows up.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 2nd, 2013
“Have you ever thought for maybe a second that -- that this is it? I mean people that sit at the same desk every day for eight to ten hours a day and then they sleep for nine hours day, and then they truly live their life for maybe I don’t know, five hours at the most. I bet those people would love being here.”
This movie caught me off guard like a right hook to the face, which coincidently is something the main character experiences himself. A directorial debut for Ryan O’Nan (he also wrote and starred), Brooklyn Brothers is an indie film that I had reservations about the moment I picked it up, and yet there was still something that intrigued me about it. Could have been that I recognized Ryan O’Nan from his stint of the short lived television series The Unusuals, or maybe it was his costar Michael Weston gleefully smiling on DVD cover art, holding a crate full of toy instruments. Either way I took a chance with this movie, and I am so glad that I did.
On The Web
Sponsors
