Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 31st, 2009
Open relationships have never really been in my repertoire. I’m a pretty committed guy. I find a girl or she finds me and we stick it out until one or both of us feel otherwise. Some people will argue that it is not natural to simply have one mate, instead we have to find multiple people to share relationships and intercourse with. In the movie Fling, it deals with an open relationship between Samantha & Mason. My money is on the fact that one of them goes too far in their openness and the relationship becomes strained. Let’s see how good my guesses are today.
Sam (played by Courtney Ford) and Mason (played by Steve Sandvoss) are in an open relationship. Sam is looking to open her own business while Mason writes trashy romance novels. They also find time to have relations with each other and anybody else they can shack up with. At a wedding, Sam rekindles a relationship with James (played by Brandon Routh), an old boyfriend. Mason, meanwhile finds out that his best friend Luke’s (played by Nick Wechsler) sister, Olivia (played by Shoshana Bush) is very taken with him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 30th, 2009
Risk taking has never been my specialty. I tend to keep things pretty conservative and never really tried anything out of the ordinary, at least nothing I would consider dangerous. However, I have been interested by many forms of extreme sports. There is skateboarding, motocross, and of course, snowboarding. This beautiful sport combines flawless riders and picturesque snowy landscapes. So how would I take to a movie that tries to make a comedy out of snowboarding? Hopefully well. But then I saw that it included Tom Green and one of the guys from Jackass. This is not off to a good start.
Max (played by Dave England) and Eddy (played by Jason Bothe) are in charge of Team Shred. Team Shred consists of Chris, Tracy & Juice (played by Carlo Marks, Amber Borycki, & Alain Chanoine respectively). Chris is the breakout star of the team while Tracy & Juice are up and coming. However, Max and Eddy only focus on their breakout star as they arrange parties, videos and other events for Chris and only include the other two as a mere afterthought.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 29th, 2009
"Chicano" is a term for a Mexican American (US born with Mexican ancestry).
El Chicano was and is a band that started in the late 60s as club players called The V.I.Ps (playing after hours at a Japanese restaurant in East Los Angeles) who became popular because of their jazzy approach to Latin rock. This musical approach was really defined by this band, as well as by Santana who started about the same time, and their songs became the anthems for the "Chicano Movement" around the late sixties and early seventies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 28th, 2009
Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) have been friends since school, and are now terminally broke roommates. As their utilities are turned off one by one, and they face the prospect of eviction, Zack hits on the idea of shooting a porn flick to get out of debt. They gather together a motley collection of actors and crew, and, letting no setback stand in their way, start making their movie. But the real question is not whether they will succeed, but whether they will come to terms with their feeling for each other.
In his review of the film Roger Ebert writes, “'I don't know bleep about directing,' Smith once confided to me. 'But I'm a bleeping good writer.'” Smith is half-right. The direction here is very meat-and-potatoes, every shot serving little more than to get the actors decently framed. But I can't agree with his self-estimation as a writer. There are some funny lines here, but many of the laughs are due to Smith's stellar cast. Rogen does his usual shtick, but it's still funny, thanks to his appealing naive/cynic vibe and befuddled stoner delivery. Justin Long shows up for a single scene, and walks off with the movie. None of his lines are particularly stellar, but his cameo is hysterical, all of it due to voice and body language. The man could make the yellow pages side-splitting. This is not to say that Smith's script is that dry, but it veers between clumsy earnestness (I kept waiting for the punchline during the final emotional speeches, the clue that I wasn't really supposed to take this hackneyed dialogue seriously, and it never came) and a potty mouth approach that clearly finds naughty words to be funny in and of themselves. You know, like we all did in grade five. David Mamet this is not. But when all is said and done, there's the cast. Determined to save Smith from himself, they make the film a bizarrely endearing and sweet experience.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on March 28th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
What follows is a brief, yet accurate, recounting of the canine endowed cinematic masterpiece, “Marley & Me.” Jennifer and John Grogan (Jennifer Aniston & Owen Wilson) are a newly wedded couple who are enjoying their new life together. John is an up-and-coming journalist whose income allows the Grogans an increasingly comfortable lifestyle. John still hangs out with his old guy pals at the bar and holds on to some of the lighter points of bachelorhood while his married life remains rather carefree. This all changes when his wife's biological clock starts ticking. Grogan's best friend suggests that John get his wife a dog. Following this advice, John drives his wife to a farm (which I can only assume was some sort of “puppy farm”) to pick out their family's newest addition. Being the penny wise, upper middle class folks like they are, the Grogans pick out the least expensive “clearance puppy” and name him “Marley.” Things were fine at first, Jennifer's need to spawn was abated and all was at peace in John's world until they both realize that Marley is really the dog from hell. He chews up furniture, scares neighbors, barks all night, is kicked out of obedience school, and makes life miserable for the Grogan clan. Despite his flaws, Marley appears to have woven some sort of love spell upon the couple, for they now love the now massive pup.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on March 27th, 2009
So, there have been approximately a godzillion zombie movies made over the years, and a goodly number of those just in the last few years. And there have been quite a number of very creative ones (Shaun of the Dead, Fido, 28 Days Later, but no, NOT the remake of Dawn of the Dead). Likely about to disappear from a theatre near you is one of the most interesting variation of late: Pontypool.
Directed by Bruce McDonald (most recently of The Tracey Fragments), and scripted by Tony Burgess (adapting a section of his novel Pontypool Changes Everything), Pontypool takes place in the eponoymous town, somewhere in the snowy wastes of rural Ontario. Grant Mazzy (erstwhile Nite-Owl I Stephen McHattie) is a former shock jock, turfed from his big city job, and now stuck hosting the morning show out here in the middle of nowhere. After a disturbing encounter with a babbling woman on his pre-dawn drive to work, he settles in behind the microphone to start his shift. Little by little, he and the station's crew of two (Lisa Houle and Georgina Reilly) discover that something really, really bad is happening in and around the town. What that bad thing is, of course, is your basic zombie apocalypse.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 27th, 2009
Frankly, if you need any information beyond the title of this release, then it probably isn't for you. It's The Sinful Dwarf, man! But if you really must know more, be it on your head. Mind-bogglingly stupid and broke newlyweds Mary and Peter (Anne Sparrow and Tony Eades, actors of an ineptitude that passeth all understanding) check in to the boarding house of retired (and scarred) burlesque performer Lila Lash (Clara Keller) her son Olaf (children's show host Torben Bille), the titular sinful dwarf. Mary hears noises in the attic, but Peter won't listen to her. He should, as Lila and Olaf keep a harem of women up there as prostitutes, ensuring their submission through forced injections of heroin. Now they have their sights set on Mary...
Whatever you fear or hope about a film with this title, the reality will likely exceed your imagination. “Exploitation†is almost too tame a word to describe the spectacles here, whether we're talking about incessant close-ups of Bille's sweaty, greasy, drooling, leering face, or Keller's disturbing Marlene Dietrich impersonation. If you don't need a shower after watching this, you aren't human. In other words, it's sublime.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2009
His name is Craig, Daniel Craig. Love him or hate him, we have to accept the fact that this blue-eyed rather rugged sculpture of a man is the face of James Bond, now and for the foreseeable future. I’ll admit to being more of a nostalgic Bond fan, and have the image of Sean Connery forever etched into my brain as the quintessential 007. But, it’s not only the drastic change in appearance and demeanor that makes this a hard film for me to embrace. For the first time in the franchise’s 22 film and 35 year history we have a Bond movie that is a direct sequel of the previous one. Certainly characters and elements have carried through from one adventure to the next, and there have been rather strongly linked movies in the run, but never before has one picked up literally an hour from the end of its predecessor. If you haven’t watched Casino Royale, or it’s been a while, you would be best served to acquaint or reacquaint yourself with that film. This one sets a manic pace from the very first frame. There’s no time for even a minimal recap, and Bond’s not in the mood to answer any questions. For the very first time, you need to have seen the film before it in order to be on board for this one. The second departure from the tried and true 007 formula is that this time James Bond is on a mission of vengeance. In Casino Royale’s Bond hooked up with the lovely Vespa, who ultimately betrayed him, but eventually sacrificed her own life for him. Now he pissed, and he’s not waiting around for M or the rest of British Intelligence to get with the program. No question that this type of story is definitely best suited for Craig and his particular take on Bond. But, like it or not, this isn’t your father’s or Ian Fleming’s James Bond.
Just as he was as Casino Royale ended, Bond is on the trail of Mr. White (Christensen). He finally manages to get him and bring him to a British Intelligence safe house, where he and M intend to interrogate him. Both are shocked to hear that there are spies inside of British Intelligence. Bond acts quickly to eliminate an immediate threat to M. Unfortunately, the encounter leaves more questions than it has supplied answers. Bond disobeys orders and heads out to root out the organization behind these plots. Through a case of mistaken identity he hooks up with Camille Montes (Kurylenko). It seems that the rather attractive Camille is on a revenge mission of her own. Together they track the bad guys to the doorstep of industrialist Dominic Greene (Amalric) who has tried on more than one occasion to eliminate the young lady. Greene heads an organization that on its surface appears to be a non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of global warming. The Al Gore clone delivers speeches and provides the structure for this apparently “clean” organization. But Greene is meeting with General Medrano (Cosio). The general is plotting to take control of his country, and with Greene’s help, he will succeed. Greene seeks certain lands as payment for his help. Greene’s plot is to hold a drought ridden country hostage to his demands once he controls the entire water supply. Of course, it’s up to Bond to stop the plot and restore order to a raging country, while seeking a little payback on the side. Felix and his CIA buddies are token characters here, intended to provide a little question as to Bond’s loyalties. There’s a little bit of Bond going rogue here, but I’m not sure anyone really believes that he has. It’s summed up pretty well when M welcomes him back to the fold, so to speak, and Bond replies, “I never left”.
![Quantum of Solace [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/quantum-of-solace-blu-ray-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2009
On January 23, 2002 Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and eventually killed by terrorists while working in Pakistan. A Mighty Heart is based on this true story. The narrative comes from the book by his wife Marianne Pearl. While this is certainly the tragic tale of a murdered reporter, this film is more the story of Marianne and her struggle to locate Pearl in the 10 days from his capture until a video tape surfaced depicting his beheading.
A Mighty Heart begins with us getting to know Daniel Pearl (Futterman), and it quickly takes us through the events leading to his capture. From here on out the theme shifts to the massive investigation to find him. Various American and Pakistani agencies come together to track down every lead in a relentless search. We are cleverly kept bonded to Pearl through well placed flashbacks mostly dealing with intimate moments shared with his wife. Her memories keep Pearl alive for us as they must have for her during those trying times. Of course, if you are at all familiar with these events, and who isn’t, you already know that this film has no happy ending. There aren’t even any satisfying answers left to at least leave you with some feeling of closure. You will leave, perhaps, with more questions than when you started. But there are no easy answers to be found here, and any attempt to provide them would not be honest if the film intends to make an impact as this one does. There are no apologies made, nor should there be for the brutal way the terrorists and their pursuers are portrayed and the culture in which they thrive.
![A Mighty Heart [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/a-mighty-heart-blu-ray-large.jpg)
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