Into the Blu

Friday Night Lights

Posted on 04. Jan, 2009 by Brian White.

I really did not want to like this movie.  The thought of anything non-NFL-related usually turns me off right from the start.  You can ask anyone that knows me.  I have never watched a full college football game, whether alone a high school football game.  I went into this late-night viewing of Friday Night Lights (on a late Saturday night) with absolutely no expectations whatsoever, and to say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.  This movie has heart where it counts the most.  It’s not about winning or losing…it is about playing the game you love and knowing that you did your absolute best.  This is the modern day story of David vs. Goliath…this is Friday Night Lights. [...]

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Mamma Mia! The Movie

Posted on 24. Dec, 2008 by Brian White.

Mamma Mia! The Movie was slated to be second on my to-do agenda after my next Blu-ray review was finished.  With repeated requests from my mother to finally write this review I decided to bump this one up on my list of reviews to get done.  Like all good stories there is a prologue.  My parents came over the evening December 13^th to watch The Dark Knight on Blu-ray.  After being overwhelmingly satisfied with The Dark Knight my mother petitioned for an encore Blu-ray presentation.  She eyed the Mamma Mia! The Movie Blu-ray she saw sitting on my media shelf, still sealed in the retail shrink-wrap, knowing full well that she would get to see her favorite movie of the year before its video release date.  I was reluctant to follow-up The Dark Knight with a screening of Mamma Mia! The Movie, but I pondered why not, I had to watch and review it sometime.  I figured at least if I did not enjoy it someone else would.  So without further ado here is my initial Blu-ray experience with Mamma Mia! The Movie. [...]

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Casino

Posted on 22. Dec, 2008 by Gregg Senko.

I can’t believe it’s already been well over a decade since the 1995 release of Martin Scorsese’s Casino. As they say though, time flies when you’re having fun and Casino is indeed one fun ride.  Scorsese’s mid-90’s masterpiece was based on true events surrounding real life figure, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, known in the film as Sam “Ace” Rothstein played by the irrefutable Robert De Niro.  Rosenthal was a numbers guy of very respectable stature in the gambling business and speaking of the gambling business, being a numbers guy didn’t mean he was a good accountant.  Quite the contrary, Rosenthal garnered more than enough attention and respect to become one of the most notable oddsmakers in the country.  After all, no one rigs your car to explode if you’re a nobody.  [...]

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Serenity

Posted on 21. Dec, 2008 by Brian White.

Want to talk about a huge gamble? Serenity is based off the short-lived 2002 television series Firefly. Firefly barely lasted half a season on television. However, Firefly became a huge seller on the DVD format when it was released. I am still scratching my head about this one. So Universal Studios thought it was worth the gamble to invest money in a defunct television show hoping for some box office magic as they green lit Joss Whedon’s screenplay. Serenity opened in 2005 to mostly positive critical reviews but fell short in earnings, failing to cover what it cost to make the movie. Despite the lackluster success at the box office, Serenity went on to receive much praise as it won many awards in the sci-fi community. [...]

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Burn After Reading

Posted on 14. Dec, 2008 by Brian White.

Burn After Reading was written and directed by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan. Do their names sound familiar to you? They should! The Coen Brothers walked away with the Oscar last year for No Country For Old Men. Burn After Reading features an all-star cast with such names as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, J.K. Simmons, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton. The film opened up in the United States on September 12, 2008 to generally positive user reviews, but it received mixed critical reviews. [...]

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Death Race

Posted on 12. Dec, 2008 by Brian White.

If you are a fan of the Twisted Metal video games, then I can guarantee you will love the movie Death Race. It is the closest thing I have ever seen to bringing the carnage and destruction of the video game to real life. With that being said, Death Race is not based on the video game Twisted Metal. I am just trying to paint a visual portrait of what to expect hoping that you actually know what I am talking about. In reality, the film is a remake of the 1975 movie Death Race 2000, based on Ib Melchior’s short story “The Racer.” [...]

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Wanted

Posted on 11. Dec, 2008 by Brian White.

“Who’s the man?’ “I am,” (words of actor James McAvoy) as I sit here writing the review to one of the hottest action-packed vehicles of the past summer; Wanted. This was definitely on the list as one of my must-see movies of the year. Wanted was marketed very aggressively and the trailers played up the proverbial hype. I must admit to not being the biggest Angelina Jolie fan in the world, but she portrayed her character flawlessly as an a#%-kicking heroine throughout the film and left me “wanting” more. It is an adrenaline-filled thrill ride for the action junkie in all of us wanting to escape our everyday mundane lives. Do I even need to elaborate more on that last comment? [...]

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Jet Li’s Fearless

Posted on 11. Dec, 2008 by Brian White.

Not being the biggest Jet Li fan, I was kind of relieved back in 2006 when Fearless was billed as his final film. What ever happened to that? I don’t know. I referred to him as the Brett Favre of the Silver Screen but I think I was just hearing what I wanted to hear. Later I learned that it was supposedly marketed as his final martial arts epic. So I guess that does free him to do other movie projects without being labeled a liar, as long as they aren’t coined as “epics.” [...]

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The Incredible Hulk

Posted on 26. Oct, 2008 by Brian White.

On many levels, I am still trying to cope with the sheer disappoint that was Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk. I guess I can pretty much give up on the open case I have with theatre management for getting my money back after suffering through that movie. I could not understand how they could screw up a movie about such an iconic and powerful character as the Hulk. I mean, they have the successful longevity of the comic book series and the cult television series to reference and they still got it wrong. I suppose you can say I was a bit reluctant when I heard about the Hulk reboot that Universal was planning. [...]

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Doomsday

Posted on 09. Oct, 2008 by Jamie Shuhyta.

Take a little Mad Max, add a little Escape from New York, mix in some 28 Days/Weeks Later, and what do you get?  A fun little movie entitled Doomsday. Doomsday was released in 2008 and for the most part was not a box office success. The film was a British production, which may have actually hurt its sales because it was not marketed very well in the US. Doomsday is written and directed by Neil Marshall, who has brought us such gems as Dog Soldiers and The Descent, so my expectations were high when I first watched it in theaters. Today I will review Doomsday on Blu-ray, also note this is Universal’s first entry into the Blu market. [...]

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The Mummy Returns

Posted on 15. Aug, 2008 by Gino Sassani.

“That’s always the way it goes”.

When The Mummy broke the bank in 1999, a sequel was more than assured. Today it’s very common that participants are signed to multi-picture deals to assure the ability of doing a swift return to the cash cow. All of the first film’s characters, at least those that survived the first go around, have returned. Some of the actors had gotten a bit better known in the 2 years between the films. Oded Fehr was starting to get a lot of both television and film work fresh off of his Ardeth Bey performance. Rachel Weisz wasn’t yet the Oscar winner she would be from The Constant Gardener, but stints in Enemies At The Gate and Beautiful Creatures made her far more familiar between these films. [...]

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The Mummy

Posted on 15. Aug, 2008 by Gino Sassani.

It’s interesting that I’ve gotten these Mummy films at the same time that I was finally able to break out of here and see the third, and most recent, entry into the Mummy franchise. I rather enjoyed the new film, but after rewatching the first one again I can’t help but notice how much better it really was than either of the other two. At first I thought it might have something to do with the anticipation of that first film along with the general “newness” of it all. Now that I’ve seen the first one several times over almost as many formats, I know I couldn’t have been more wrong. [...]

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The Scorpion King

Posted on 06. Jul, 2008 by Jeremy Frost.

The Mummy franchise spins off into what is clearly meant to be the first of another franchise, with The Rock as an Ancient Egypt version of Conan. Many a bloody swath is cut in this action fest. If you thought The Mummy and The Mummy Returns were cheesy… wait until you see this masterpiece. The action is over-the-top and the acting is weak – sounds like two key elements to any modern day action films.  While some might like this film from an entertainment value point of view (especially if you are a fan of The Rock), it did not live up to the original Mummy films that preceded it.

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