When you hear that a classic true story that is beloved in Japan was re-imagined in a westernized setting and released straight to video… What immediately comes to mind? The original story always pulled at my heart strings and was about one of the most loyal dogs around. Does this new film breathe new life into the actual dog’s tale or is it another sugar coated Hollywood cash grab?
“Promise me no one will get hurt.” “No one will get hurt, I promise.” Once those two sentences are uttered near the beginning of Armored, you knew just how this film was going to unfold and that despite the promise, there will be quite few fatalities. Armored, the subject of today’s review, is a heist film that is rather formulaic and predictable. Be that as it may, is is still worth a look on Blu-ray? Sort of. Read the full story
As a film reviewer, it is almost embarrassing to admit that I have viewed none of the films created by directors in the French New Wave. In my defense, I can offer that this “new wave” took place before I was born, and that by the time I was able to cultivate a taste for movies, many of the “new wave’s” inventiveness had already been co-opted by others.
This led me to two important questions I hope to answer in my review. Firstly, if subsequent movies have taken advantage of a once-new filmmaking technique, does this make the originating movies any less relevant? And secondly, can entertainment value survive in what is considered “experimental” cinema? Although films can have artistic merits on their own, they must still be accessible to the common movie viewer. Read the full story
I will admit that I did not know what to expect when Broken Embraces arrived for a review. The fact that it stars Penelope Cruz was a good sign. That plus the fact that it was directed by Academy Award winning writer and director Pedro Almodovar was even better given his past track record. I had also heard some good critical buzz about the film but have found in the past that good critical buzz is not necessarily a harbinger of an enjoyable film or one that would be assessable to a mass audience. Thankfully, Broken Embraces, merits the praise that has been heaped upon it by the trade press and contains yet another in a string of amazing performances by Penelope Cruz. Read the full story
I guess with the economy being what it is, I can’t begrudge anyone for taking any job they can get to get by. The difference between Hollywood and the rest of us is that when actors take whatever is offered irrespective of quality, millions of dollars are involved. There is nothing like cashing in on your name in Hollywood to fatten up the old bank account. Exhibit A of such a practice is the subject of today’s review, a mildly humorous and forgettable comedy starring Robin Williams and John Travolta, Old Dogs. Read the full story
Reviewing one of the most respected films of all time is a bit daunting. I hadn’t seen the Godfather trilogy in years so when it came time to review Godfather II I immediately went out and purchased the trilogy in order to refresh my memory… That’s how important these films are. Do they still hold their ground now though?
Making a movie out of a popular book is hard enough. Having the condense several hundred pages of text into a coherent two hour film can be quite a daunting task. The list of great books being made into mediocre films is long indeed. Even more difficult I would imagine is taking a very popular short illustrated children’s book and fleshing it out into a full length motion picture, while keeping true to the spirit of the book. Well that is just what director Spike Jonze has accomplished with the subject of today’s review. Where the Wild Things Are. Read the full story
I was somewhat surprised to see the movie Halo Legends in my docket for upcoming review. As a long-time Sony and Nintendo gamer, I had never played any version of Halo, and saw no need to, based on my age-related dislike of first person shooter games. Really, my complete knowledge of Halo could be summed up as there was a green armored guy named Master Chief, and you use him to shoot lots of aliens.
As a general rule of thumb, movies based on video games tend to well, lets say, not quite meet expectations. Although there are exceptions to the rule (like Pokémon, or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), for each good movie there is three or four bad ones (like Street Fighter or Super Mario Brothers). Read the full story
One of the problems with the study of history is that it can get rather dry when you limited yourself to the printed page. Movies on the other hand, can really help to bring historical characters to life, offering a glimpse into the lives of those figures that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see, even though films often times take a bit of liberty with the facts for the sake of a more interesting film. Such is the case with the film that is the subject of today’s film, Amelia, which gives us a glimpse into the life of the famous aviator, that one may not have been able to appreciate from the pages of history. Read the full story
The old joke about The History channel was that the H stood for Hitler, as it seemed that every time you turned on the channel, there was a show about World War II. Recently, the History Channel has changed its focus, from actual history to what I will charitably refer to as pseudo-history. One of the staples of that “pseudo-history” is the fixation with end of the world prophecies, and in particular, the claim that the Mayan calender ends on 12/21/2102 and that somehow, this fact portends the end of the world. Read the full story
Being one of the few people I know who is not a huge Star Wars fan, only seeing the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace, I was pretty bewildered when I heard that not only was there an animated film that was made to fit within the new trilogy, but there was an entire television series that predated the film… And this isn’t even that series! This is a new unrelated series that takes places throughout the Star Wars chronology at different times. Confused? Let’s see if it’s worth figuring out.
I guess you can say that I am in the very distinct minority in the US when it comes to soccer. I love it, especially English football, which has a rick, deep and at times, crazy history. Teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forrest, Reading and Derby Country, just to name but a few. Even the names of the stadiums evoke the richness of that history, with monikers such as Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Anfield and Craven’s Cottage immediately coming to mind! Better than the Wachovia Center don’t you think? Read the full story
My first brush with Greek mythology happened early on in my life, during the summer of 1981, with the theatrical release of Clash of the Titans. Although I was a mere 7 years of age, I remember the experience fondly and all the countless hours of enjoyment the movie’s action figures gave me as I bashed them around in my Little Tikes green turtle sandbox. Now, almost 30 years later, a new generation of fans will be able to not only experience the mythological adventure in an all-new take on the story (this April’s Clash of the Titans CGI spectacular featuring Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson), but also they will be able to re-live the original film in all its splendor with a new digitally remastered presentation on the Blu-ray format. But before we start talking about how it looks and sounds on its new Blu-ray release, I wanted to spend a few moments reflecting on the film itself and whether or not my recent viewing was as memorable and magical as it was when I was a little tike. Read the full story
Steven Soderbergh’s films are if nothing, very complicated, with layer upon layer of intrigue. From Ocean’s 11,12 and 13 to Traffic it can get to be very difficult to keep up with the action and figure out where the film is heading. Dealing with an actual historical event and the lives of real people, it is a bit easier to follow a film as you already know the actual outcome. Making these characters and these stories into a great film is much more difficult than with works of pure fiction. Which brings us to the subject of today’s review, The Informant. Read the full story
The pairing of Jack Lemon and Walther Matthau was a staple of 70’s and after the two had basically been declared retired from acting; they headlined Grumpy Old Men together. Surprisingly it became a financial success and was received fairly well among critics. The film gave new life to their careers and the pair went on to make a series of films together, including a sequel to ‘Grumpy’; Grumpier Old Men. How do the two films hold up on Blu-ray and is this double-feature release a worthy representation of the milestone in these actors’ classic filmography?
As mentioned in my review for The Princess Bride, it is nice to see older titles now being made available on Blu-ray at attractive prices. Not only does it allow the collector to affordably upgrade their collection, it also allows them to fill in holes where they’ve missed a movie in a previous format.
There are some actors who are natural born bad guys, a real heavy, ones that just have that edginess that makes you believe that they are ready to step over the edge and do something very dangerous. I can’t say that I ever thought of Meg Ryan as that type of actress. However, that is the type of role she is cast in in the film that is the subject of today’s review, Serious Moonlight. Can she pull it off? Read the full story
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