Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 25th, 2008
Director David Cronenberg’s masterpiece, A History of Violence catapulted him to the upper-echelon of today’s directors. Until AHOV, he’d previously worked on offbeat films that got mixed reviews, like Crash (1996), eXistenZ, and Spider, with the occasional brush with “commercial” films like The Fly.
His follow-up to AHOV is Eastern Promises, which features the same actor from AHOV (Viggo Mortensen) in another mysteriously dark role that has earned the actor a well-deserved Oscar Nomination for Best Actor although he will almost certainly lose to frontrunner Daniel Day-Lewis of There Will Be Blood.
Posted in: Bitchy Rants by Archive Authors on January 24th, 2008
We reported a couple weeks ago that Warner Bros Home Entertainment was going Blu-Ray exclusive once their contract with the HD-DVD collation was up. Despite Warner’s move HD-DVD is far from dead. Though HD-DVD is precariously on the edge of “losing” the HD disc format war. Even if one format wins out we should ask the questions: “Will the HD market go physical or broadband? If HD-DVD wins, will the lower priced players and uniform spec make the market successful? Can Blu-ray make the market better? Or are the IPTV technologies too attractive to keep HD discs strong?
Despite losing Warner HD-DVD still has Universal and Paramount. While both studios have declared their ongoing support since Warner’s announcement, Universal and Paramount have also neglected to state that they will remain exclusive to the format. Despite the situation with the studios HD-DVD is still the most affordable HD format currently available and has benefitted from a finished spec. Having all players work basically the same and have similar components has allowed HD-DVDs to have a much more unique and fulfilling home experience. Having a finished format with quality titles should be a great formula for calling in the SD-DVD format hold outs. The only hitch is the growing problem of selection. HD-DVD as of this article’s publishing has 366 titles available(39% of those being from Universal alone). The catalog of titles varies from classics like The Shining to sci-fi cult favorites like Serenity. The majority of HD-DVD’s selection seems hand picked titles chosen to garner the most in sales. Despite this, Blu-ray has been leading in sales both in hardware and in software.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 24th, 2008
I understand that The Game Plan was never intended for adult audiences. So I tried to make allowances by remembering that the film wasn’t targeted at me specifically. Even knowing all of that going in, I found The Game Plan a really hard film to watch. If you’ve read enough of my reviews you already know that I can enjoy a kid’s film as much as anyone else. The problem is I don’t think I would have enjoyed this movie even when I was 8 years old. The first problem is the little girl. While I’m sure that Madison Pettis is cute as a button and probably says the dandiest things, she was entirely too annoying for most of the picture. I found her tone to be simply grating. The next issue is going to sound sexist, and perhaps it is, but if you want a football film to connect with the guys out there, don’t hire three women to write it. Nichole Millard, Kathryn Price, and Audrey Wells might be great writers, but they don’t know football, and it shows. I have to say this was about the most unrealistic football action I’ve seen in a movie. I get better stuff off my Madden 08 and my Playstation. Everything looked like it was happening in slow motion and lacked any kind of grit and guts I expect from my football. The Rock does about the best he can with the role. It’s true he did play some football in college at the Mighty “U”. There he played on the defensive side of the ball and lacks credibility here as an elite QB. I get this picture of Peyton Manning or Dan Marino laughing their collective behinds off watching this sad excuse for football. In the extras we hear they hired “real” football players…out of the Arena League. What a joke.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2008
Let me start off by saying that if you are a Neil Gaiman fan, you likely should skip this review. I’m going to take the probably unpopular stand in this review that the film was not a very good one. I did not ever read the book that this world and characters come from, but if the film truly represents that world, I think I’ll pass. To begin with, the idea had tremendous potential. I liked the overall concept, and hopefully that is more Gaiman’s doing than the film’s. I entered this land with the expectation that I would be swept away by a larger than life epic tale of fantasy. What I got instead was a script and collection of performances that fought me the entire way. Each time I attempted to embrace this universe, something rudely pulled me back.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 23rd, 2008
”A philosopher once asked, ‘Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?’ Pointless, really...’Do the stars gaze back?’ Now that's a question.”
They do more than gaze in Stardust, a quirky, enjoyable film that’s not the epic tale it’s made out to be. The film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel of the same name, Stardust is a tale about a young man from a small English village who gets caught up in a magical adventure in another realm. With evil witches, fratricidal princes and a cross-dressing sky-pirate, there’s a lot of fantasy in Stardust, but director Matthew Vaughn’s penchant for Lord of the Rings-style sweeping cinematography creates a canvas much too grand for this simple fairy tale.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on January 23rd, 2008
Xbox is Crack, SNK breaks out the catalog, and Counter-Strike deemed not Brazilian friendly? - Welcome to the column that keeps living in the past as long as it can keep making money in the future known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. My new router is going pretty well. Speed has picked up a good deal, however I still feel the pain when I'm doing something at peak hours. WoW is much improved as is the Xbox Live Marketplace. I actually sat down to play a little WoW even though Guild Wars is still my choice of poison. I have a level 11 Troll Rogue(Lantanador/ server: Killrogg if you want to look it up), thanks for asking. I still like my Guild Wars, but I can understand why some WoW players are paying their monthly tithe to play their characters. It's very addicting, thankfully I've learned to control myself due to years of gaming and realizing that each game, while maybe fun isn't the cure to living a rich and full life. Unless that game is the original Metroid or Legend of Zelda. I lived on those.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2008
Have you ever walked down the street and heard a chorus of “Five Oh” making the rounds? In street lexicon that means the police. It’s a warning to the drug dealers and any other illegal activities that the police are on the way. That’s just one of the ways that
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2008
What started as a Neil Simon play and eventual film became one of ABC’s most endearing comedies of the 1970’s. One could credit the clever premise of putting a neat freak and a slob under the same roof. One might look to the fact that both the film and play were considerable hits to explain the success of the series. The truth is, it was none of these things. Plenty of hit films have spawned crappy shows. Remember That Big Fat Greek Wedding? Even Neil Simon plays have been the starting point for bad television. Remember Barefoot In The Park? My point exactly. Even The Odd Couple was attempted again in the 1980’s with Ron Glass and Demond Wilson. If you remember that one, you should get some help for those bad dreams you’re having. The simple truth is that it was Tony Randall and Jack Klugman that made this series fire on all cylinders. Before watching this set, I tried to think back on my favorite episodes, and I made a rather interesting discovery. I couldn’t remember even one plot. What I could recall were many moments between these two gifted comedic actors. Long after the stories themselves had been forgotten, it was Felix and Oscar, Tony and Jack that remained. It’s almost too horrific a thought that these were not the actors the show was created for. It was Art Carney and Martin Balsam that were expected to fill these parts when Gary Marshall began to construct The Odd Couple for television. Whatever happened, I don’t know the story; what I do know is that the television gods intervened and what was likely going to be a one season and out comedy ended up lasting 5 seasons.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2008
Shattered, whose original (and more original) title was Butterfly on a Wheel, presents us with the household of Gerard Butler and Maria Bello. Life seems idyllic. They have a nice house, a lovely little girl, and the money is flooding in as Butler rises in his career (though his tactics don't always seem entirely fair). Into their lives erupts Pierce Brosnan, who kidnaps their daughter, then forces the couple to perform one strange act after another, each event destroying their lives further.
Butler's accent is erratic, but he does well as the rather too self-concerned husband. Bello turns in another performance that specializes in resiliance showing through extreme stress and distress, and Brosnan is clearly having a fine old time as an out-and-out villain. The scenario is, of course, utterly preposterous, but it trips along in a quick and entertainingly outlandish manner. Then the ending arrives, shattering the prepostero-meter with several twists that undermine much of came before. Oh well.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 22nd, 2008
I don’t particularly care how many times filmmakers recycle old tales, so long as they produce enjoyable films. The Invasion revisits sci-fi scribe Jack Finney’s “The Body Snatchers” for the fourth time on film, following in the steps of the original 1956 film and the ’78 and ’93 remakes. Dave Kajganich wrote the screenplay, and Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Downfall) directed. Then Warner hired the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix) to rewrite some scenes and inject more action into the film, and James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) to direct the re-shoots.
So is The Invasion a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, or just the right creative balance to bring Finney’s classic horror tale to life in the new millennium?
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