Film

So it all came full circle when last week UPS left a package outside my office.  Inside it I found a Blu-ray review copy of…you guessed it…Dark Skies.  I remember seeing the previews before in the theater, but thought very little of it at the time.  The film kind of came and went in the theaters and truth be told, I pretty much forgot all about it.  Actually, I know this sounds sad, but I had to check on Flixster to watch a trailer for the film to remember what it was.  And then I was like oh yeah…I remember this one.  I checked online and pretty much saw reviewers split in the middle across the board so I thought to myself, let’s give it a chance.

As I mentioned before, Dark Skies pretty much came and went in the theaters.  It was released February 22nd this year and grossed about 18 million.  Considering it only had a 3.5 million dollar budget, I’d classify it as a winner winner chicken dinner.  Don’t forget, we still have home video sales yet to accumulate too.  Hey Bob and Harvey Weinstein, pick me!  Pick me!  I have good, low budget screenplays to produce too.  I can make you a lot of money.

The film was both written and directed by Scott Stewart.  It stars Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kadan Rockett and even J. K. Simmons.  And if some of the producers names sound familiar on this title, they should as they are the same ones that did Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Sinister.  And I could be wrong, but I swear the same house they used in Paranormal Activity 2 is recycled here.  I don’t mind, but it’s sad in my opinion that it was that easy to pick out.

Dark Skies tells the story of an unlucky, “chosen” suburban family, couple Daniel (Hamilton) and Lacy Barrett (Russell) and their two boys, Sammy (Rockett) and Jesse (Goyo).  When strange and unexplained things start happening in the Barrett household, as you can imagine, emotions start to escalate.  Family members become split and start to grow apart.  What’s going on in the house?  Is it a ghost?  An alien?  A furry little mouse?  I’ll never tell you.  When things go too far and their sons’ safety takes top priority, Daniel and Lacy quickly regroup and become determined to find out what deadly force is at play here and most importantly, how to stop it at all costs.

I think Dark Skies has a lot going for it.  It’s creepy and suspenseful.  You want to keep watching it.  You want to know how it resolves itself.  However, it feels awful conventional and formulaic in its trapped horror genre script.  I suppose you can say it plays it safe.  It’s more interesting and satisfying, in my opinion, than a Paranormal Activity film (after number four I will never see another one…I hope), but I guess I just wanted more or something strikingly different to separate this one from all the others.  That’s not to say this is a bad movie, it’s just my way of warning you that there’s nothing you haven’t seen before here so I wanted to make sure I didn’t get your hopes up or anything.  Like the million and one other reviewers out there, I’m split down the middle on this one, hence my 2.5 score.

Video

Dark Skies graces the Blu-ray format with a safe 1080p AVC MPEG-4 transfer.  It comes complete with a widescreen presentation of 2.40:1.  Things never look bad here, in fact things look great in outside shots such as the killer outdoor pool scenes, but I wanted more.  I saw halos and some crush.  Come on.  This is a Blu-ray release not a Digital Download.  You can’t have that.    Or at least you shouldn’t have that.  Black levels weren’t always the deepest either.  Other than that, things looked up.  Colors were natural and vibrant when needed and you could count individual strands of facial hair and see textures in things you and I most always take for granted in the real world.  There are no visual blemishes, specks or dirt in the print.  It’s a great presentation, just not a reference one.

Audio

Things go bump in the night here, as expected, but for the most part this one’s a heavy front dialogue piece.  Unfortunately never once did the audio get carried away.  The 5.1 DTSHD-MA lossless surround track kicks in at all the right moments, but it’s not fully engaging like say an Insidious or a Sinister presentation is.  But you can only judge it in regards to what you are given to work with, not what’s missing.  I had trouble understanding dialog a few times, but for the most part words were intelligible and clear.    The fact that I can’t even remember the film’s score now while thinking about it probably means it wasn’t that memorable, huh?  I guess I just wanted an extremely immersive experience or at least more so than I got.  Available in the disc’s main menu are selectable options for English and Spanish subtitles (labeled Captions in the disc’s menu system).

Extras

Well, let’s be honest.  There’s not much here to be found here folks.  Yeah, we get the seemingly obligatory commentary track, but really all we have in the extra department is a handful of deleted scenes that barely run 14 minutes in total length.  Had it not been for a portable UltraViolet code and DVD disc, the score would have been a lot lower here.  Oh well, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.  Let’s take a closer examination of what you’ll find as far as extras on this Blu-ray release.

• Audio Commentary – Here we have one feature commentary track that includes commentary from Writer/Director Scott Stewart, Producer Jason Blum, Executive Producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Editor Peter Gvozdas.
• Alternate & Deleted Scenes (HD, 14:22) – We have about 14 minutes of deleted scenes here complete with optional commentary from Writer/Director Scott Stewart and Editor Peter Gvozdas.  The alternate scenes, as they appear on the disc include “First Tone,” “Second Tone,” “Sammy Outside With Neighbors,” “Alarm Tech No. 2,” “Daniel in Backyard with Neighbors,” “Daniel Takes a Walk,” “Lacy’s Brand,” “Daniel Yells at Neighbor” and an “Alternate Ending.”
• DVD – A second disc is included in this Blu-ray package…a DVD disc!  It contains a Standard Definition version of the film.  Surprise, surprise!
• UltraViolet – Included in the Blu-ray set is a leaflet with an UltraViolet code to redeem online and take this film along with you on all your favorite portable devices.  I’d rather have an iTunes file, but that’s my problem, eh.

Summary

So I don’t like spoiling things for folks, but I can’t help being honest either.  People have compared this film to Signs, but I don’t think that’s fair comparison to make.  The family dynamics and breakdowns are there, but I thought Signs was a heck of a lot more creepy and tension filled.  I mean remember when there was that movement in the corn fields that made the hair on your arms stand up?  I never experienced that here.  I’d put this on par with your Paranormal Activity films and definitely notches below the brilliant Insidious.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the original screenplay took only six weeks to write.  I don’t know, but to me…that’s not nearly long enough.  You need to vet these things out.  Six months, yeah, but not six weeks.  That’s like asking a baby to spell.  Oh well, not my problem.  For anyone who is interested, I’d recommend a rental first.  This one comes out on May 28th.  If you want it asap, make sure you pre-order it now.  And as always thank you for supporting our site and enjoy…or at least make every effort to do so.

Christopher Pike:  Do you know what a pain you are?  You think the rules don’t apply to you. There’s greatness in you, but there’s not an ounce of humility.  You think that you can’t make mistakes, but there’s going to come a moment when you realize you’re wrong about that, and you’re going to get yourself and everyone under your command killed.

Despite the mystery surrounding the plot and characters in this film, Star Trek Into Darkness has a pretty simple story, which is bafflingly stretched into a 132-minute film.  A terrorist attacks Starfleet, which leads to the deaths many people.  Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is angered by this and has his chance to take the USS Enterprise to the Klingon home world of Kronos, where this terrorist is hiding, with a directive to terminate.  We come to learn that the terrorist, known as John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), has a larger agenda in mind, which will continue to challenge the Enterprise crew and others to no end.  Loyalties and bonds are tested, namely between Kirk and First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto), as everyone’s favorite Starfleet team are taken into darkness and forced to fight for their lives.

I only want to touch on a few points, but at the same time, I want to assure everyone that I am not trying to be the guy who sat with his arms crossed, instantly disapproving of the film.  I came in open-minded enough, which, if anything, gave the film the chance to really impress me.  While it certainly is impressive from a visual standpoint (IMAX seems like a must for those who really are excited for the film), I also can’t say that the sense of awe provided by the filmmaking made me overcome my predilection towards being indifferent to the franchise.

Still, as far as the positives are concerned, this movie looks fantastic.  Director J.J. Abrams puts all the money on screen and the film has plenty of exciting visuals to enjoy throughout, particularly the opening sequence, which has a wonderful use of crimson landscapes, matched with an exciting chase sequence, as a volcano is about to erupt, establishing a sense of urgency.  The action is strong in the film, regardless of how much action may seem like too much.  Additionally, the creative use of sets, particularly when the Enterprise’s gravity goes offline, was a nice piece of entertainment.  I can also continue to admire the use of humor in these films, as the cast has a nice level of chemistry that makes this work, keeping the film from ever becoming too dour (it doesn’t hurt that Kirk seems like less of a dick this time around).

Getting to my issues with the film, which I think can honestly be justified for anyone, regardless of their thoughts on the franchise, Star Trek Into Darkness does seem to be more about being a bigger film, as opposed to a true move forward.  Many characters are relegated to the background, as the film focuses on Kirk, Spock, and John Harrison.  Sure Zoe Saldana’s Uhura is featured, but does she really do anything, besides whine about her relationship with Spock?  Even a pivotal scene involving her skills are pushed aside to make room for action with the guys instead.  Simon Pegg maybe comes off the best here, as far as the rest Enterprise crew goes, but at least my favorite character of this franchise, Bones (a character I literally had no knowledge of, before the 2009 film, played by Karl Urban) had some fun lines.  Also, don’t get me started on Alice Eve, who has rightfully become the most meme-worthy aspect of this summer.

Really, shoving the others to the background would be less of a concern if the film had a lot of interesting things for the core three featured to do as characters, but what do they really accomplish, aside from moving the plot forward?  Kirk is less arrogant this time around, but Pine only does so much with the character that has not seemed to evolve much since the fist feature.  Spock fares better, as Quinto really sells this part to me, given the conflicted state of his being half human.  And then you have John Harrison, and it’s a great pleasure to see Cumberbatch delivering menace on screen in the most evilly British way possible, even if the actual character he is playing is very thin.  He is very angry and has one of those Hannibal Lector scenes that every villain seems to have these days, as he carefully calculates his next action from an imprisoned state.  But what is his overall goal?  Along with the recent Iron Man 3, I continue to be underwhelmed by these villains who raise the stakes without delivering a clear endgame that expands upon one or two sentences.

This brings me to why the film stops short of being nothing but spectacle (and I will completely accept being called a hypocrite, if I end up writing a review that praises Fast and Furious 6 next week).  I think the film falls victim to not bringing real surprises to its viewers in terms of the major twists that occur.  Now, I hesitate in saying that from a general point of view, but hear me out.  As a frequent filmgoer, I can understand why it would be easy for someone like me to know who the bad guy is, based on casting alone (and I’m not talking about Cumberbatch here).  At the same time, the climax of this film features a character making a certain choice that leads to a certain level of drama that could be surprising…except this comes in the form of massive amount of pandering to an audience that more or less gets the idea.  I say “pandering”, because even I, who is not all that familiar with the universe, could easily recognize exactly what J.J Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were doing in its botched third act.  As a result, the dramatic weight, which could have been quite interesting, feels undermined, given the adherence to mixing up concepts of what fans have seen before.  I realize how vague this statement is, but fans of the series can likely understand what I am referring to.  With that said, it is a moot point for those who are otherwise unaware of this franchise’s history, however, being that I have so little connection to the franchise, it seems notable that I can call out said pandering so easily.

The interesting thing to consider is what if J.J. Abrams decided to handle marketing this film differently?  Rather than go with his super secrecy tactic, when it comes to allowing people advance insight into what is going on his upcoming film, what if the word was out on one of the presumed secrets of the film.  This could have taken some of the weight off of the expectation versus the reality, when it came to said time to reveal pieces of information in the film and in turn created more of an impact for the other aspects that this film presents, which are less based on details purposefully being hidden and more on what it means in conjunction with what has already transpired in the film.  This is all subjective speculation of course, but given how much the “surprise” aspect of this film fell flat for me, I am more curious for what could have been the case.

Let me wrap up with some more niceties, because the film is one I would still easily recommend people to go see in IMAX (as it features large scale sequences shot with IMAX cameras), despite all my pussyfooting around actual straightforward praise.  For fans of J.J. Abrams’ take on the franchise, they should at least like this movie, even if they don’t think it’s better than the first.  For people simply seeking spectacle, it sure is pretty damn spectacular in moments that really count.  And just because I need to say it somewhere, Michael Giachinno’s score for the film is all kinds of awesome.  Star Trek may just not be my bag…baby, but the effort is there and the movie is fine as crowd-pleasing entertainment, though I still have issue with how much pleasing for which crowd this movie tries to do.  Regardless, for a movie that I had no strong desire to see, compared to other films this summer, the obligation certainly did not harm me in any way.  I may have remained indifferent to the franchise, but I saw some cool stuff and got to put out a piece of writing that I was happy to boldly go forward with.

John Harrison: No ship should go down without her Captain…

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

NEW COLOGNE, SAME NEWS TEAM. 

NEW ANCHORMAN 2 : THE LEGEND CONTINUES TRAILER.  ITS KIND OF A BIG DEAL.

WATCH NOW:
http://youtu.be/mZ-JX-7B3uM

IN THEATERS THIS DECEMBER 
WWW.ANCHORMANMOVIE.COM

And if you wanted to pick up the Blu-ray of the first film, you can do that here:

So this time out, J. J. Abrams returns to helm the USS Enterprise once again with a script written by Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.  The cast from the 2009 hit film returns with a few new faces.  John Cho, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Peter Weller and Anton Yelchin comprise the star-studded cast, sadly minus my girl, Rachel Nichols.  And in the grand scheme of things, this is actually the twelfth film in the Star Trek series, but make no mistake, this is a direct sequel to the 2009 flick.  Thanks be to God because the other franchises bore the bejesus out of me.

Unfortunately, although the film is heavily promoted as a 3D release, it’s only a post-conversion one in reality.  That’s disappointing to me because in my eyes it really only means money grab.  It fails in comparison to the marvelous 3D presentation of The Great Gatsby I witnessed last week, but quite surprisingly, it’s probably the best post conversion job I have seen done yet.  Although people deserve to get their monies worth, Hollywood, I really don’t have any quips with saying why not, check this one out in 3D if your wallet allows.  However, I have a sneaky suspicion that you’ll like this one regardless of what kind of presentation you see it in, that is if you like non-stop action and a bikini clad, for no reason at all, hot Alice Eve.  Do I have your attention now?  Good!  Read on by all means, please.

What seems like a long road since the first film’s 2009 release, May 16th is finally here!  With no colons in the film’s title, it’s set after the events of the former film and we immediately find ourselves amidst the heat of the action as the USS Enterprise and its heroes, namely Kirk (Pine) and Spock (Quinto), attempt to save the inhabitants of Planet Nibiru from a volcanic eruption that threatens to wipe out civilization there.  Picture Raiders of the Lost Ark right here.   We open brilliantly in the middle of a high speed foot chase through what almost looks like an exotic pink forest with a hurried sense of urgency and nostalgia that magically transported me back to 1981, watching Indiana Jones flee from the natives in the jungle after taking the golden statue.  Hopefully you’re picking up what I’m dropping here.  I can’t think of a better way to open up a film than to drop you right in the heat of the action and let you catch up to it while your adrenaline pumps away.  Bravo J. J.!

However, no matter how heroic the actions of James T. Kirk were in the very beginning of this movie, as usual, he is scolded and eventually reprimanded for his inability to follow the rules no matter how successful he is, time after time.  He’s labeled as arrogant and sadly demoted to First Officer under the TLC care of Christopher Pike (Greenwood) who re-assumes responsibility of the Enterprise.  Simply put, Kirk isn’t ready for the chair yet.  Boo hoo.  Without dishing any spoilers, we all know this will change.  And change it does after a short B-story plot involving a certain family and a mysterious man unravels and results in an Enterprise facility in London being attacked (more like annihilated) and Federation officers being targeted.  It isn’t too long until Kirk and team are sent on a radical, secret mission to a planet far off that I think, deep down inside, every Trekkie wanted to see played out on the big screen once again.  Come on.  You know you did!

So on the surface, sure Star Trek Into Darkness is a blockbuster, popcorn film.  However, to me it’s much more than that.  It’s a rousing visual and riveting space adventure that grabs ahold of you from the beginning and truly never lets you go.  Sure there’s no reason to see Alice Eve’s character bikini clad, but so what if we do?  Those three seconds of beauty were needed to tell this tell of bravery, camaraderie and leadership that touches all too sharply upon the fragile nature of our world currently, namely the fear we live in of terrorism.  Truly no one’s safe.  And wouldn’t it be grand to know that there’s a Federation out there devoted to peace keeping and procurement of aiding lifeforms to ensure their survival?  I think so.  And make no mistakes ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t your father’s Star Trek, but it is mine and I love it.

I can’t really talk in depth about the film’s story without ruining any of the secrets, so I’ll keep a tight lid on it just like Disney did with Iron Man 3’s villainous one.  But I will go on record by saying the following.  All the chemistry and humor the majority of us loved about the first film and its tangible character relationships/developments are here once again.  But the stakes are higher.  They’re bolder.  And more importantly, more mysterious.  What’s really the purpose of this secret mission Kirk is sent on?  Is it really to capture this terrorist or is there a hidden agenda the Federation isn’t letting anybody in on?  I’ll leave you to think about that.  That’s all I can say other than I think fans of the original Star Trek films will be relatively pleased at the revelations and events that unfold here.  Please keep in mind that these new Trek films are a reinterpreting of a legendary past franchise, not a butchering or a mockery of them.  This is a Star Trek universe for a brand new generation.  Keep your grumblings to a minimum and enjoy it for all its marvel and spectacular.  And if you have kids into sci-fi, take them too.  Build memories.    Forster relationships.  Grow those bonds.  This is why these movies are made…to bring us all together.

In conclusion, all I have to say is this is how you do a summer blockbuster, not that lame a$$ Shane Black Iron Man 3 outing.   Star Trek Into Darkness is a ferocious and unforgiving frenzy of action, mayhem and most importantly a heaping serving of fun.   All I could hear in my head last night were the lyrics to that one pop song that goes something like this in a rhythmic fashion.  “This is how we do it.”  You hear that Aaron?  This is is how you do a summer blockbuster!  So drop what you are doing right now and go see this.   It doesn’t matter all that much if you haven’t seen the 2009 film, although the references may be helpful, or even if you are not a Star Trek fan in general, because I’m not.   You’re guaranteed to have a rowdy, hooting good time with this one.   And if you don’t, see if you accidentally checked your soul in at the door because this one’s a blast.   No time traveling.   No long introductions.   A pure blast of adrenaline from the start to a knockout finish.  This is how you do it, indeed.

This review in its entirety is dedicated to reviewer WSB Aaron Neuwirth.

Frank:  Why are you scared?

The film takes place on the streets of downtown LA.  Elijah Wood stars as Frank, a serial killer with a penchant for stalking female victims and taking their scalps.  Following these murderous nocturnal activities, Frank attaches the scalps to mannequins he keeps in the back of his store, an antique mannequin shop.  Frank is challenged by a new person in his life, once the photographer/artist Anna (Nora Arnezeder) takes an interest in the non-creepy work Frank does out in the open of his shop.  Of course, Frank’s murderous ways, amplified by hallucinations involving his prostitute mother, keep his more raw emotions bubbling at the surface and on the verge of spilling out onto his regular life, just as it does during the night.

Take away how this film stacks up to the original (which is good in the eyes of some, as opposed to all) and the flaws are quite clear.  Maniac may deliver the goods when it comes to gore effects, but it is also very repetitive.  We watch Frank stalk a woman, he does so, he sneaks up or chases after her, kills her, scalps her, and then goes home to get into a lot of weirdness with his mannequins.  This is fine a couple times, given that it is essentially what the audience is expecting, but one really has to be on board with this film, in order to not grow tired of what the film continues to present.

Fortunately, I was able to look past this aspect to an extent, because the film’s technical aspects impressed me.  As mentioned, this version of Maniac is almost entirely shot from Frank’s perspective, and I mean that very literally, as the camera is a literal point of view of the character, allowing the audience to see what he sees, placing us within his mind, as he deals with his murderous activities, witnesses eerie hallucinations, and suffers from painful migraines.   Director Franck Khalfoun clearly created a challenge for himself and his crew, as you can tell how difficult it would be to make a film with that constant perspective, given how much of Wood’s character we get to see.  The visual and practical effects in general are quite good overall, even as it relies on a high level of graphic violence, because a film tends to have an effect on me when I see something that I can’t exactly figure out how it was accomplished on my first viewing.

Another key aspect to making this film tolerable is Elijah Wood’s performance.  As Frank, without having too much of himself to put onto screen, Wood’s constant dialogue and narration is effective enough to keep the film’s creepy/darkly amusing atmosphere intact throughout.  This is easily the darkest role Wood has played, even more so than his small part in Sin City, and he shines with the material that he has to work with.  I cannot say the same about the other members of the cast, despite how limited their work may be, but Wood really sells this role.

Then you have the score by Rob.  The score for Maniac has the right kind of feel to really establish a certain mood for the film that evokes 80s horror.  More interesting, however, is that it really makes the film sync up with something like Drive of all films, which can be considered a comparable feature, given the nature of the characters involved and what you can decipher from both protagonists, given what they do to people and how they act under normal circumstances.  Regardless, score can go a long way in making a film work better than it should, and it certainly helps a lot in Maniac.

To appreciate Maniac, you basically have to accept the film for what it is:  a fairly standard slasher picture, with an intriguing take on perspective, as we follow along from a cleverly framed point of view for the majority of the film.  In terms of story, the film does not break any new ground, but from a filmmaking standpoint, there is a lot to admire in this film.  Elijah Wood’s dark turn was also an interesting performance to watch, even if his actions become quite repetitive, as the film goes on.  Not a huge success, but a more interesting horror remake than many that are made.

Frank:  Please don’t scream, you’re so beautiful.

Learn more about Hero Complex Film Festival 2013 by clicking on the poster below:

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Film  

Beautiful Creatures takes place in the southern town of Gatlin.  It is said that the only two types of people in Gatlin are the ones too stupid to leave and the ones to stuck to move.  Ethan (Alden Ehrenrich) has lost his mother to a car accident and his father is uninvolved in his daily life.  Things never seen to change much in Gatlin, but Ethan is clear from the beginning that he wants to get out.  He is applying to colleges everywhere that’s far away from Gatlin. But one day, something different comes to Gatlin.  That something different is a young girl named Lena (Alice Englert).

Lena is the niece of the town’s resident rich but creepy old guy (Jeremy Irons) who people know to fear but can’t put their finger on why.  It turns out that Lena and her family are all Casters, a term preferable to witch. Every Caster must be claimed for the light or the dark.  Although Lena’s uncle is a dark Caster, he has chosen the light and is trying to help his niece.  Her sixteenth birthday approaches and that is the time at which female Casters are claimed for one side or the other.  Unfortunately for females, their true nature comes out and they have no choice in the matter.  If they go dark, they stay dark.

With just months until her sixteenth birthday, Lena finds an intense connection with Ethan.  Eventually it is revealed that they have been bound to each other since the days of the Civil War.  Lena’s ancestor used a forbidden spell to save a loved one inadvertently cursing herself and her descendants.  As Lena desperately wants to remain in the light, she has to make the tough choice to decide who and what she will give up to break her family curse.  Right off the bat, it strikes me that Beautiful Creatures would make a really good read.  The film has a very rich, unique texture and I can only imagine what elements the director could not translate to the screen.  The special effects, specifically related to the supernatural powers make the Caster world believable.  The immortal world seamlessly interacts with the mortal realm as Ethan realizes the magic that has been all around him.

With dual roles as a bigoted southern church goer and the mother of evil, Emma Thompson is believable as both characters.  Jeremy Irons, who is on my top ten list of creepy people that are probably very nice, also adds a lot of authenticity to the story.  You’re never really sure if he’s good, evil, or a little of both.  From the beginning narration I wondered if the actor who plays Ethan was actually southern.  The accent sounded a little too thick.  Watching the special features, I realize he does not have a southern accent, but as the movie continued, the overdone accent failed to bother me.  The real life accent of the actress who played Lena did bother me.  It was a very good choice to give her a somewhat generic “American accent” as her true accent made her sound a little bit sinister.

I have a tendency to watch, and enjoy movies that were originally books that were intended for teenagers.  I never get around to reading the books, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed films such as the Harry Potter series, the Twilight Saga, and The Hunger Games, so I had similar expectations for Beautiful Creatures.  As far as the story goes, it’s not the most original idea – a young Caster that could go dark or light, but it did manage to stay interesting, for me throughout.  The film is as much about the magic as it is the love story between two teenagers and I was compelled to find out how it ends.  The ending is not simple, and it is not wrapped up in a nice little bow.  I like stories that don’t end with all the answers.  Clearly, the filmmakers left it open for the possibility of more films – but even if this is the only film made, I appreciate a little ambiguity.

Video  

Beautiful Creatures is presented on blu ray in 1080p high definition with a 16×9 2.4:1 ratio. The film is visually rich and nearly always interesting to look at. There are countless special effects related to the environment, the weather, and the characters. The detail on the various costumes is immense and palpable. It feels as though the color palette is very specifically chosen and the interior and exterior shots all look good.

Audio  

Beautiful Creatures offers more of a chance for your surround sound to shine than other teenage supernatural flicks in recent memory. The whirling wind, the growing vines, and the other Caster fabrications translate well in this DTS-HD Master Audio English 5.1 soundtrack. Dialogue is not overwhelmed by the supernatural effects and conversely volume does not need to be adjusted down for yelling and angry spell casting. The blu ray also contains either Dolby Digital 5.1 French (dubbed in Quebec) or 5.1 Spanish tracks with subtitles in English SDH, French or Spanish.

Special Features  

I applaud the fact that the Blu-ray cover explains each special feature.  You don’t always know what a feature is about before you watch it and if you were looking for a specific topic, this would really help you out.  The most interesting part of the features for me was hearing the actor who plays Ethan speak without the southern accent used in the film, and the actress who plays Lena with her native British (I think) accent.  As you play each behind the scenes featurette, they start to get old.  They are the kind of things that would make you want to watch the film if you hadn’t planned to but don’t really add much to the viewing experience once you’ve seen the film.

• Behind the Scenes: Book to Screen – Learn how the filmmakers adapted this wildly popular book series into a film. Authors, filmmakers, and cast discuss what drew them to the project and what changes were necessary when bringing the book to life.
• Behind the Scenes: The Casters – Find out who is Light and Dark, who has control over the elements and who has the power of manipulation. A brief discussion of the immortals, without any substantial additions to the information learned from the film.
• Behind the Scenes: Between Two Worlds – See why the sleepy town of Gatlin is the perfect backdrop for this supernatural love story. This feature didn’t really explain much, if you ask me.
• Behind the Scenes: Forbidden Romance – Explore Lena and Ethan’s romance and how outside forces threaten to separate them. Again, no information not found in the film, just a few minutes focused on the main character’s relationship.
• Behind the Scenes: Alternate Worlds – Director Richard LaGravenese and the VFX team show how the Casters live along side humans but in their own worlds. The visual effects are one of the more interesting topics and this one is worth exploring.
• Behind the Scenes: Beautiful Creatures:Designing the Costumes – Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland and the cast explain how wardrobe influenced the tone of the film. Another feature worth watching, as the wardrobe is visually very complex and interesting.
• Deleted Scenes – Ridley Entices Link, Ethan Calls on Emily, Caster Party, Movie Theater – It’s unique to see deleted scenes that aren’t actually just a scene from the movie with a few seconds chopped off.  These are truly deleted scenes that you don’t see in the movie and are rather interesting as far as the additional information they provide.
• Film Trailers – Two trailers plus the New York Comic Con Trailer and a Pedigree TV spot.
• ICONS by Margaret Stohl – A book trailer – Aside from the fact that “your heart beats only with their permission” this trailer doesn’t provide much detail for the book but it looks creepy.

Final Thoughts  

Beautiful Creatures was more enjoyable than I expected in many ways.  I enjoyed the fact that it was as much as simple love story between two young people as it was about supernatural powers.  The film has quite a cast, and I couldn’t believe how much Emmy Rossum has grown up since seeing her in The Day After Tomorrow.  Male fans of Emmy Rossum will want to be sure to watch the deleted scenes to catch a glimpse of her in black lingerie.  The special features get a little repetitive, but it’s good to see a lot of them. So many blu rays seems to be skimping on the features these days, I’m glad to see Warner Bros. putting in the effort – even if they did break down one long behind the scenes feature into many featurettes.

I will watch the film again, but this isn’t one of those films that I’ll re-watch in the coming weeks (I do back to back viewings often).  I do however feel like a little distance between the first and second time viewings will increase my enjoyment overall.  For a film I wasn’t sure I wanted to see, I was pleasantly surprised and it’s a movie that I would recommend.  As always, I suggest viewing with an open mind and without unreasonably high expectations.  I’m curious to find out how fans of the books feel about the movie and how true to the source it was.  In general books are rarely outdone by movies, so for that reason I’m glad I started with the film.

 You can click on the link below to order this film today!

Anchor Bay Films announces the May 21st Blu-ray™ and DVD release of Myriad Pictures’ A COMMON MAN. Oscar®-winner Ben Kingsley (GANDHI, the upcoming IRON MAN 3) stars as a seemingly average citizen who plants five powerful bombs in different locations around a major international city and threatens to detonate them unless his sole unconditional demand is met: The simultaneous release of four of the most deadly international terrorists from government prisons. In an urban landscape already gripped by fear, what could be the real motive behind a cunning madman’s ultimate plan?

Ben Cross (STAR TREK, CHARIOTS OF FIRE) co-stars in the film, which has been named a finalist at this year’s New York Festival. An explosive thriller about duty, justice and the never-ending cycle of terrorist violence – all of which begins and ends with A COMMON MAN.

A COMMON MAN, screenplay written and directed by Chandrum Rutnam, from the story by Neeraj Pandy, was produced by B.S. Radha Krishnan, Manohan Nanyakkara, and Rutnam of Asia Digital Entertainment. Paul Mason and Jonathan Sheinberg served as executive producers.

For your chance to win A Common Man…

Send us an email to webmaster at whysoblu dot com (piece that together) with…your name, full U.S. mailing address (NO PO BOXES), the name of the contest (Common Man) and hit Submit and BAM… you’re automatically entered.  As a caveat…please also tell all your friends to follow us on Facebook and Twitter too.  Could it be any simpler?  Three lucky readers will be randomly selected on Tuesday, May 21st and will be notified via email.  Again…continental US entries only.  Only one entry per person.  Good luck!

* Any entires that don’t follow the rules set forth within this paragraph will be instantly dismissed *

For those unaware, The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth are perhaps the best films that Guillermo del Toro has made so far.  I appreciate and really love some of his commercial efforts, Blade 2, Hellboy, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, but ‘Backbone’ and Pan’s Labyrinth are features that really feel like something special, as they bring forward interesting ideas and visuals, while also working as films that can connect on a more personal level.  It is not too surprising that they are very personal films for Del Toro.

Both films feature young children dealing with something of a fantastical nature, while in the midst of the Spanish Civil War.  In The Devil’s Backbone, after Carlos, a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War, arrives at an ominous boy’s orphanage he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets that he must uncover.  In Pan’s Labyrinth, a girl in 1944 Spain, fascinated with fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of the labyrinth.  This faun tasks her with quests to fulfill in order to prove herself as a true princess.

This Q&A features Guillermo del Toro talking heavily about both films, along with his work on other films and how his personal life and relationships have made an impact.  The Q&A is a little spoiler-ish for the films screened that night and also features plenty of F-bombs from the always colorful Del Toro, so be aware of that.  Also, once again, I did my best to tweak the audio recording to sound as best as possible, but the environment I was in only allowed me so much clarity.  I should also note that this Q&A begins after the audience was given an exclusive look at the newest upcoming trailer for Pacific Rim.  Regardless, please enjoy this fun conversation!

Here are a few tidbits for those who did not want to listen to the complete Q&A:

• Much of Guillermo’s inspiration for these films came from his childhood.
• Guillermo was bullied in school and “became fat” in order to be strong enough to beat up his bullies.
• Guillermo loves the idea of spreading more awareness about the Spanish Civil War, which is why he has it as the backdrop in both films.
• Guillermo really did not have a great time making Mimic.
• Guillermo learned a lot from making Mimic, including how to work in and outside of the studio system.
• Making The Devil’s Backbone after Mimic was a huge relief, as he had creative control.
• Guillermo owes a lot to Pedro Almodovar, who gave Del Toro plenty of creative freedom and advice, as he grew as a filmmaker.
• Guillermo was inspired by his daughters in many ways as a filmmaker, including having the guts to stand up to studio execs.
• Guillermo’s father was kidnapped right after he finished Mimic.
• The Devil’s Backbone was made with a lot of different themes in mind, which included thoughts from a political standpoint.
• After 9/11 occurred, Pan’s Labyrinth afforded Guillermo the chance to really delve into his thoughts on that subject and relate them, to an extent, through film.
• Guillermo is quite fond of working with child actors, but knows how to pick them.  He looks for children that do not “act”, but instead “look”, react to scenes naturally.
• Guillermo and Ron Pearlman have a friendship that seems stronger than most.  They have worked on five films together and have an incredibly shorthand.  Guillermo would take a bullet for Ron and knows more than most about him.
• Guillermo has a “man cave” which contains a treasure trove of movie art, props, and who knows what else.
• Guillermo is super excited about Pacific Rim and ensure people that if he only showed “money shots” from the film, it would be a “70-minute orgasm”.
• Guillermo’s wife and daughters have a big crush on all the robots in Pacific Rim.
• Pacific Rim is the most satisfied Guillermo has ever been, while working on a studio film.
• Guillermo is excited to see to see Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla film in 2014.  He loves that concept and loved Edwards’ film Monsters.
• Guillermo has big plans for Justice League Dark and plans to include Deadman, The Spectre, Swamp Thing, Constantine, Phantom Stranger, Zatanna, Zatara, Sargon the Sorcerer and Etrigan the Demon.
• Every film that Guillermo has done is a film that he wanted to do, including Mimic.  He is proud to have worked on everyone, regardless of its quality.

The Devil’s Backbone will arrive on Criterion Blu-ray this coming July.  Pan’s Labyrinth is currently available on Blu-ray.  Feel free to order and pre-order those items here:

Check out the trailers for both films:

Learn more about Hero Complex Film Festival 2013 by clicking on the poster below:

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

For those unaware, The Mist is an adaptation of an old Stephen King novella about a freak storm that seemingly leads to a heavy mist covering an entire town (if not more of the country/world) and within it, many bloodthirsty creatures thrive.  A small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.  While the creatures within the mist are deadly, it is the pressure that builds between people that causes even more tension.  The film was written and directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) and stars Tom Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden (among other Walking Dead actors), Toby Jones, and Andre Braugher.  While the film was not a smash success at the time, it was made for a reasonable budget that managed to combine the ambitious nature of the filmmaking with the old fashioned, Twilight Zone-like nature of the story and turn it into something of a success within the horror crowd.  I personally love the film and appreciate the ideas that it presents, despite some issues with how it all comes together at points and some of the more overt digital effects present (the Blu-ray’s inclusion of a B&W version of the film actually rectifies my quibbles with the SFX).

One of the more notable aspects of this film is its ending, which is actually how the Q&A begins (This means the Q&A is SPOILER HEAVY for those who haven’t seen The Mist).  Check out the following YouTube video below to hear the entire conversation about The Mist, which features Frank Darabont and Tom Jane trading stories about how the film came together.  Please note that the recording is a bit rough.  I did my best to tweak the audio, but the acoustics were not the best for my recording device.  Also note that this is an uncensored conversation, if that mattered to you.  Enjoy!

Here are a few tidbits for those who did not want to listen to the complete Q&A:

• Darabont originally came up with the ending for the film, which is different from the novel, back in the early 80s, when he originally read the story.  It was based on another story by King that he had read.
• Darabont had Tom Jane in mind for the lead role.
• The budget was quite low, due to the dark ending everyone on the cast and crew wanted to have and keep intact.
• Not the best reaction to releasing the film on Thanksgiving.
• Darabont had a love for “pressure cooker” type movies, which is what attracted him to this story, as he found it similar to something like Night of the Living Dead.
• Darabont is also not ashamed of talking about the political message that can be associated with this film.
• The camera crew worked in an improvisational manner.  Darabont’s time directing an episode of The Shield led to him taking that team and having them use handheld cameras to move all over the place during the many long takes the cast would go through.
• Darabont does not believe Deccard is a Replicant.
• Darabont, at one point, took the giant creature out of the script.  Everyone else in the cast rejected this idea and he put it back in.
• Darabont directed two prison movies because he liked the material.  Stephen King wrote The Green Mile and brought it to Darabont’s attention.
• Stephen King also initially went to Darabont to adapt The Dark Tower.
• Darabont is currently working on a 40s crime drama for TNT and chose not to watch Gangster Sqaud to avoid similar ideas.  He also loves LA Confidential.
• Tom Jane worked with acclaimed movie poster artist Drew Struzan to make his artwork technique in the film look authentic.  Struzan still thought Jane looked like an idiot.
• Walking Dead trivia: Tom Jane originally brought the property to the Darabont’s attention in an attempt to have HBO turn it into a series.  Darabont had Jane in mind for the Rick Grimes role (he would have been perfect!).  Due to Jane’s commitment to Hung, he could not pursue the part.  Hung has been cancelled; The Walking Dead is a ginormous success.
• Tom Jane turned down a role in ­X-Men.
• Tom Jane is a huge comic book and graphic novel geek and owns many pieces of comic art.
• For Darabont, the right choice at the end comes down to the viewer’s interpretation of the scenario.

The Mist is currently available on Blu-ray.  Feel free to order your copy here:

Check out the film’s original trailer here:

Learn more about the Hero Complex Film Festival 2013 by clicking on the poster below:

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Happy Mother’s Day From Monsters University!

Like MONSTERS UNIVERSITY on Facebook: http://facebook.com/PixarMonstersUniversity
Follow Disney/Pixar on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DisneyPixar
Tweet the official hashtag: #MonstersU
Visit the website: http://www.Disney.com/MonstersU

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY releases in theatres in 3D on June 21, 2013!

Ever since college-bound Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) was a little monster, he has dreamed of becoming a Scarer—and he knows better than anyone that the best Scarers come from Monsters University (MU). But during his first semester at MU, Mike’s plans are derailed when he crosses paths with hotshot James P. Sullivan, “Sulley” (voice of John Goodman), a natural-born Scarer.  The pair’s out-of-control competitive spirit gets them both kicked out of the University’s elite Scare Program. To make matters worse, they realize they will have to work together, along with an odd bunch of misfit monsters, if they ever hope to make things right.

Screaming with laughter and oozing with heart, Disney•Pixar’s “Monsters University” is directed by Dan Scanlon (“Cars,” “Mater and the Ghostlight,” “Tracy”), produced by Kori Rae (“Up,” “The Incredibles,” “Monsters, Inc.”) and features music from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and award-winning composer Randy Newman  (“Monsters, Inc.,” “Toy Story 3”). The film opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2013, and will be shown in 3D in select theaters.

Notes:

• “Monsters, Inc.,” originally released on November 2, 2001, was nominated for four Oscars^®: Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing and Best Original Song—“If I Didn’t Have You,” for which it won.
•  “Monsters University” will hit U.S. theaters nearly 12 years after the original “Monsters, Inc.” theatrical debut.?         Billy Crystal is known worldwide for his film roles in “When Harry Met Sally…,” “City Slickers,” “The Princess Bride” and “Analyze This”; his 2005 Tony®-winning Broadway show, “700 Sundays”; as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live”; and as the nine-time host of the Academy Awards® ceremonies.
• John Goodman’s current film projects include Ben Affleck’s drama “Argo,” which premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival; the Robert Zemeckis thriller “Flight,” which premiered as the closing-night film at the New York Film Festival; and Clint Eastwood’s sports drama “Trouble with the Curve.”
• Helen Mirren won international recognition for her work on stage, screen and television. For her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in 2006’s “The Queen,” she received an Academy Award®, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® and BAFTA Award for best actress. She was also named best actress by a multitude of critic’s organizations from Los Angeles to London.
•  Oscar®- Grammy®- and Emmy®-winning composer/songwriter Randy Newman contributes his unique musical talents to his seventh Disney•Pixar film. The 20-time Oscar nominee’s wins include “If I Didn’t Have You” for “Monsters, Inc.” and “We Belong Together” for “Toy Story 3.” He will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2013.

Film 

Quite honestly, I can’t believe what I have just seen.  It has left me flabbergasted to say the least and I’m not sure quite where to begin other than the obvious structure I usually adhere to within my reviews.  It kind of feels like I should take a day to let it all seep in and digest the content I just got done viewing, and if time permits, perhaps another viewing this week to “really” sit back and take it all in.   However I proceed, please make a note that this is not one of those film you simply watch once and forget about.  This one beckons you, haunts your world and begs to be watched again.   And trust me, these symptoms I just mentioned happen immediately after your first viewing so be prepared.   Don’t plan on watching this in installment and/or chunks.  Carve out three hours from your busy schedule and devote yourself to this one.  It’s calling you.   You hear it?   The wind of change is upon us.  Now’s the time to rise up and act upon it.  Confusing, huh?  Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.   I promise.

So lets get the formalities out of the way real quick so I can truly blow your mind.   What say you?  Let’s see, where do we start?  Going in, other than seeing the trailer and hearing the positive praise for the film, I knew little to nothing about it.   I turns out that Cloud Atlas is a best selling novel by David Mitchell.  Where have I been?  It was adapted and directed by acclaimed filmmakers Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski.   I’m sure to at least three-fourths of the reading audience here, those names look pretty familiar to you.   And if they don’t, they’d bloody well should!

So this is where it’s going to start to get a little confusing.  I’m going to introduce to you the cast of Cloud Atlas, but bear with me here.   Each member of the ensemble cast appears in multiple roles (sometimes male and female) as the story transcends through time, but not exactly in a linear fashion.   Confused again?   Good!  You should be.  Academy Award winners Tom Hanks and Halle Berry lead a stellar international cast consisting of Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant.   Can you say wow?!   Of course you can!

So Warner Bros. lists the official synopsis of Cloud Atlas as the following.  “From the acclaimed filmmakers Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski, the powerful and inspiring epic drama Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future.  Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire revolution in the distant future.”  I included this here in the review because I am not ashamed to admit that writing this review is a very daunting task.  The movie’s a hard act to follow.  More appropriately, it’s very intimidating to follow up with a thorough and properly justified review after viewing something so complicated, bold and ambitious as Cloud Atlas is.  So you have my word that I’ll do my very best, but bear with me please in case I stumble.  After all, I’m only human and as far as I know there’s only one of me.

So as I mentioned before and as I will again and again, Cloud Atlas is a tale of 6 multiple plotlines set across 6 different eras with the same actors also portraying multiple characters.  Do you think an ambitious plot like this would have trouble securing financial support?  You betcha.  From what I heard it took nearly four years to raise the $102 million dollar budget effectively making the film one of the most expensive independent films of all times.  But I gotta say, if I had to visualize $102 million dollars, this movie looks like every penny of it.  It’s breathtakingly bold and beautiful in every which way.  And honestly, when I heard about this film, I thought how stupid.  I had zero interest in seeing the same actors play multiple different characters.  I thought to myself that’s never going to work.  These are the times in life when I love to be wrong because it worked orgasmically.  Never once, even when men were portraying women, did I flinch, grow frustrated or lose that most important aspect of movie watching…the suspension of disbelief.

Now the story…well that’s a whole other subject.  Thankfully, the multiple storylines were interesting enough to the point where I got involved in all of them and instead of breaking this movie into separate viewing segments like I thought I was going to have to, I sat wide eyed throughout the film’s 2 hour and 51 minute runtime without a single visit from the Sandman.  You may laugh, but for me that’s saying a lot.  I’m not sure I could accomplish that with let’s say a Lord of the Rings feature or something along those lines.  Anyway, you get the point.  The running time, for me, wasn’t an issue.  You just have to be patient.  Don’t force yourself to like it.  Just get lost in the story and it will find you.  Trust me.

I think the main takeaway here is yes, you are going to want to watch this over to see and connect ALL the dots you may have missed the first time around.  This film is very dialog heavy so you really need to take it all in and possibly even require a day or two to absorb and digest everything you have seen before revisiting it again.  But I guarantee it, if you liked it, then you’ll want to watch it again.  Others…well…there will be no replay value for them.  So I took all of this into consideration when settling upon my final film score.  I liked it…yes.  But how often will I watch it?  Well I know it won’t get nearly as many repeat visits say like Django Unchained or Silver Linings Playbook has for me in the past several weeks.  So I had to kind of draw a fine line between how much I liked it and how much replay value it will have in my life.  I am definitely looking forward to watching it again very soon, but other than that…it’s not going to be in constant rotation.  But what I do want to focus on is the screenplay.  God, I want to get my hands on that manuscript and take in/study the sheer brilliance of it all.

So remember when I said there were 6 distinctive time periods.  Well I lied.  In actuality there are a total of 7.  And being the nice guy I am I thought I would spell it all out for everyone in case you want to go into this feature prepared for what’s to come.  If not, feel free to scroll down below to the Blu-ray disc vitals and all the extras you’ll find on this set.  Think of these as like Cloud Atlas Cliff Notes for your soul in chronological order by dates.  And don’t worry…I’m not spoiling anything below.

• 1849 – South Pacific Ocean – This is the tale of an American lawyer and what he eventually becomes.
• 1936 – England and Scotland – This is a story of two lovers separated by distance and the making of beautiful music.
• 1973 – San Francisco, CA – A journalist will stop at nothing to expose the truth.
• 2012 – United Kingdom – This one is probably the most humorist with a former publicist, nursing home escapee.  Haha.  Vroom he goes!
• 2144 – Neo Seoul, North Korea – Ah.  Here’s where it gets really complicated.  What is really going on in this Matrix-like world?  Is there a new Messiah on the verge of making n astonishing discovery/proclamation?
• 106 Winters After The Fall – The Big Island – And probably the most puzzling piece to me, what the heck is happening here?  Humanity has fallen.  Where did it go?  Who do you trust?  I wish I had a beach ball named Wilson.  LOL.  Don’t worry, you’ll get it!
• 3 Decades Later – The Big Island – Think of this section as bookends to the film and I shall say no more except…you’re welcome.

Video 

Warner Bros. brings Cloud Atlas to the Blu-ray format with an Earth shattering 1080p MPEG-4 AVC video codec perfectly framed in a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio presentation.  And when I say Earth shattering, I mean Earth shattering.  There’s nothing wrong here.  This is reference.  The source material is pristine and it shows in this gorgeous Blu-ray transfer that perfectly compliments the harmonious and ever-changing storyline, not to mention geographic locations.  What a way to show off the breathtaking cinematography on display here!  The picture, under a very thin layer of cinematic grain, illustriously shines with rich black levels, warm , vivid and natural colors alike and a grandiose ordeal of three-dimensional quality bake in.  Also, in your face is the film’s utter sharpness and inconceivable clarity.  From the razor sharp grains on the sunny, sandy beaches against the bright blue ocean waves to the pores and creases in the makeup of the tribal cannibals, things are marvelously impeccable like a chiseled rock formation.  My attention span never strayed as I was mesmerized throughout in the sheer radiance of this Blu-ray’s video quality through both the past and distant future landscapes alike.

Audio 

Although your surround sound system won’t get a full, robust and completely exhaustive workout with this title, there’s no denying the charisma and depth Warner Bros. breathes into the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track they provide here.  Since this isn’t exactly billed as a booming action piece, you can’t expect the world here.  Okay you can, but you shouldn’t.  Instead we are treated to an atmospheric presentation that brilliantly captures and recreates the soundscape.  The rears kick in when needed for echo of dialog in a certain character’s head, panning moments and action scenes.  However for the most part, this is a highly frontend dialog driven beast given the character study nature of the film.  I don’t think you’ll argue with me that hearing dialog in this film is of utmost importance to understanding every event that’s unfolding rapidly and sporadically out of order here and thankfully Warner Bros. does not let us down in that department.  Every spoken word and whisper is faithfully reproduced in this soundtrack.  Dialog remains clear and intelligible throughout and the times when the rears do kick in, you’re already completely immersed in the narrative so you never knew what was missing.  It’s not perfect, but I feel it’s a beautiful representation of the huge journey you are about to embark on upon viewing this feature.  Other audio formats on the Blu-ray disc include French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks.  Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French languages.

Extras 

I know, I know.  It’s kind of disappointing for such an epic release like this to see such few in the way of extras in this supplemental package.  This one begs for an audio commentary if for nothing else to help viewers connect any of the dots they may have missed.  What?!  No directors’ commentary?  Sadly, no.  But you got to take the good with the bad, right?  I mean look above.  We have a stellar film that will keep you thinking for days on end that demands a re-watch, reference video and a very capable surround track.  Let’s just be happy with what we have and embrace the 7 little featurettes below that are called Focus Points on the Blu-ray disc.  Can’t we all get along?  And look on the bright side, instead of Warner Bros. opting for a second Blu-ray disc for a wealth of extras they generously have provided a DVD copy of the film for your minivan enjoyment.  Isn’t that thoughtful of them?  Haha.  Here’s all you will find here.  Eat them up!

• A Film Like No Other (HD, 7:15) – The cast and crew talk about the uniqueness of this film in the science fiction community.  LOL.  I love how Tom Hanks said the script didn’t make sense to him after reading.  Hey!  At least he’s honest.  Haha.
• Everything is Connected (HD, 8:00) – Here’s one that is probably blowing your mind after viewing this.  THis one looks at the many overlapping characters and how they are connected.  It’s almost like Cliff Notes, huh?  I suggest watching this one.
• The Impossible Adaptation (HD, 9:07) – They said it was impossible to cohesively film David Mitchell’s novel, which I hear is a complete mess to begin with, but they were wrong.  I’m only going by what I heard.  As I stated above, I have never read the book.
• The Essence of Acting (HD, 7:20) – Here the actors discuss the many different roles they undertook and how they kept them separate.  It’s really kind of interesting.
• Spaceships, Slaves & Sextets (HD, 8:08) – The cast and crew discuss the broken plot of the six stories that are going on at once.  I can’t help, as an amateur screenwriter, being fascinated by this one.  How do they do it?!
• The Bold Science Fiction of Cloud Atlas (HD, 7:14) – What’s more ambitious and bold than this story?  I know!  Not too much.  Well, that conversation can open a whole can of worms.  I don’t want to do that.  Instead you should watch this one as they talk about the sci-fi story-lines here and everything that goes hand-in-hand with them.
• Eternal Recurrence: Love, Life and Longing in Cloud Atlas (HD, 7:39) – The cast and crew recount the stories of romance and fate within the film as it’s laid out over the years amongst the fractured plot.  Am I confusing you yet?  Haha.  This is one complicated film…IF you let it be.  Don’t be intimidated.  Go for it!
• DVD (SD) – For your minivan enjoyment, here’s a DVD of the film included on a second disc.
• UltraViolet Digital Copy – I am not a fan at all of UltraViolet and their technology, but in case you care there’s a digital code provide on a loose paper inside the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack.  Give me an iTunes code any day, but what am I going to do with an UV one (insert sad face)?

Summary 

Are you still with me?  Grand!  I’m glad to see you survived this journey of a review with me.  It’s quite a cluster-f#$k, huh?  I mean, that’s what you get when you try to combine 6 full functional stories that all span different time periods, future and past, and geographies, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, and actors all playing different roles throughout, some even bending the gender rules/boundaries.  Wrong!  If you have faith.  If you believe in an idea that’s larger than yourself.  If you’re willing to take bold and ambitious risks in life, it can be done right and you can overcome the hypocrisy and overturn the naysayers’ ill-informed logic they try to force down your throat.  If you stick with it, Cloud Atlas will bring a smile to your face as you connect all the dots together and maybe even a few tears if you’re human.  You already know this is a Blu-ray worth purchasing so I’ll skip my usual sales pitch and leave you with a quote from one the film world truly misses.  Legendary film critic Roger Ebert calls Cloud Atlas “Daring.  Visionary.  One of the most ambitious films ever made.”  Do I even need to say more?  Oh yes I do!  It was WAY BETTER than Life of Pi and make sure you pre-order your Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack today!

Cloud Atlas available on Blu-ray Combo pack, DVD and Digital Download 5/14

Nick Carraway: Who is this Gatsby?

For those unfamiliar with the original novel, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) is an aspiring bond broker in 1920s New York.  Living in a quaint home on the outskirts of town, he re-establishes a friendship with his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton).  Nick also befriends golfer Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki), who is pressured by Daisy to begin a romance with Nick.  Jordan informs Nick of his neighbor, the rich and mysterious Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is famed for staging large, flamboyant parties for the region’s elite.  While getting to know Gatsby, Nick learns of a love affair between Gatsby and Daisy that ended, due to the First World War.  Nick has also learned of Tom’s ways, which involves his various affairs, most notably with Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher).  Caught in the middle, Nick gets to observe all that comes with a life of greatness; however it may have been obtained.

It was strange to me that I had some difficulty in really pinning down my feelings on this film.  I was happy to see this film and knew what I was getting into, the ‘Gatsby’ story is one that I have read and am familiar enough with, and Baz Luhrmann has made films that I enjoy.  Still, while I was not actively trying to find things I disliked about The Great Gatsby, I did leave the film without being completely blown away by it.  I more or less had the same reaction that I had to a film like Iron Man 3 the previous week, where I feel like I got what I wanted, but without this bold, new vision of ‘Gatsby’ really raising the bar in any manner.  In fact, compared to other Luhrmann films, ‘Gatsby’ was a bit restrained in favor of really putting Fitzgerald’s story on screen.

Perhaps it has to do with my relationship to the source material.  I am not about to criticize the work of an author such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, because who am I to tell him what’s what, but I am not the biggest fan of “The Great Gatsby” as a story.  While it presents a very colorful setting and has the Gatsby character, who is all kinds of interesting, the way the romance story is handled has never really been something I was able to grip onto with a whole lot of interest.  This is mainly due to female characters that I see as fairly weak in comparison to the others in this story.  Because of this, given that a lot of the back half of the film is dependent on Daisy’s relationship to everyone else, the movie falls flat for me.  Presentation can only go so far and for all that Luhrmann has to offer, I am still seeing the same old ‘Gatsby’ story.  With that, while I will next describe how much I admired the stylized nature of this film, I will also say that having the Carraway’s narration beat us over the head with redundant statements was not exactly the best way for me really digest the story that I already understand too well.

Daisy Buchanan:  You always look so cool. The man in the cool, colored shirts.

Putting this aside, The Great Gatsby is still a feast for the eyes and the ear.  The lavish art direction, production and costume design, and visual effects all utilized to create a fully realized version of 1920s New York is pretty fantastic in a stylized way.  Very true to Luhrmann’s type of bravura, the film has this aggressive directorial style that makes sure to put the viewer in the moment and if that was not enough, he has even filmed the whole thing in 3D.  While I can certainly take or leave the format in most cases, the use of 3D in this film is quite good and I can see how it works here, given the way that Luhrmann’s very theatrical designs for his films provide the type of atmosphere that really grabs the viewer already.

On top of all these elements that make up the stylized visual aspect of the film, the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby is wonderful.  Using a mix of musical scoring by Craig Armstrong that is appropriate for the time, with lots of contemporary music tracks, music supervision was handled by Jay Z in this case, The Great Gatsby is just a flurry of wild musical arrangements that go well with the direction of the film.  This is easily the most significant of stylistic choices to be made for the film, but I really feel that it was the most appropriate course of action, given how insistent the film is on having you accept its look already.

Arriving at the actors, Leonardo DiCaprio shines in the part of Gatsby.  This is a man who is increasingly complex, as we learn more about him, and DiCaprio is able to balance the smooth cool of the character with the tortured soul that lurks beneath.  He fittingly plays up his movie star image in a way that is completely in step with the type of character that Gatsby wants others to see.  Given that I already have some issues with Daisy as a character, I can say that Carey Mulligan is fine in the role.  I already find her to be quite the actress, so I am aware that she finds the way to play this character effectively enough, even though she gets to a point where being fickle borders on irritation.  I could say similar things about Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanon, as the character is already a pretty obvious villain and Edgerton does not get a whole lot to do in really broadening this person.  In the lead up to this film, I have joked about how Tobey Maguire is ideal casting for Nick Carraway, because it is a fairly boring actor playing a boring character (slightly unfair, as Maguire can be very good in the right role), but it did end up feeling just that way.  Aside from some humorous reactions, Carraway is the audience’s gateway character that really does not have much to offer.  Really, the biggest surprise was newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker, who may not have a whole lot to do, but seemed to hold my attention every time she was on screen.

If one already really loves “The Great Gatsby” story and is willing to go along with the stylized take that this film adaptation delivers, then I really cannot see someone not enjoying what this film has to offer.  It is a big, extravagant version of the classic story that has style equal to what was described as a party at Gatsby’s house.  The film looks and sounds great and features a pretty solid cast who do their best to represent these characters.  Some are certainly more effective than others, namely DiCaprio, who is always bringing his A game to the proceedings, but I still wish I could have really latched onto the relationship aspect of this film in a way that was more than just superficial.  Still, while I was maybe a bit distant from some aspects of the film, the notions of making this film feel larger than life was accomplished in my eyes and that makes this a film version of “The Great Gatsby” that is worth checking out.

Nick Carraway:  And so we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past.

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Frances Ha

Frances:  We’re going to take over the world.

Greta Gerwig stars as Frances, a 27-year old woman living in New York.  Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but is struggling to really break out on her own.  She begins the film living with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner), but once Sophie leaves for a nicer apartment, which Frances cannot afford, the film becomes a mini-odyssey of sorts, as Frances attempts to sort out her life.  The film has Frances moving around between different apartments, taking unnecessary travels, and stubbornly making decisions that she knows won’t help her.  The fact that she continues to simultaneously alienate and befriend different people only adds to the mini chaos that is her life.

Gerwig is very good in this film.  Essentially being the queen of indie film, after presumably taking the crown way from Chloe Sevigny, it is easy to see how she would play well in a film like this.  She knows how to make a character seem realistic and make irritating decisions, yet still remain endearing for an audience.  Last year Gerwig attempted something similar in the indie film Lola Versus.  That film was less of a success, as we were not presented with enough of what was real about the Gerwig character, settling instead for a lack of struggle, except when the plot required it.  Frances Ha does a better job of challenging us to accept Frances, as the plot is more malleable to how Frances is continually all over the place.

The rest of the cast aids in all of this.  Characters may behave a certain way to serve as a foil for Frances, for example, but no one feels like an archetype.  Along with Sumner, the supporting cast is made up of recognizable faces, such as Adam Driver (from Girls) and Michael Zegan (from Boardwalk Empire and Rescue Me), and many theater actors.  It is not so much that I liked all of these people, but there is an implied authenticity in the feel of the film, given this group of people that I am spending time watching on screen.  Given how quick-paced the film feels, the tight scripting combined with a very natural feel for the film really adds a level of zip that I quite enjoyed.

There really is not a lot of down time in Frances Ha, as it had a way of frequently jumping forward in time, sometimes with longer spans of time between scenes.  I have mentioned the quick pace already, but it really does feel like there is no fat on the bones of this film that does not lend in some way to the characters, story, or humor.  Best of all, Frances Ha finds Baumbach not reveling on the depressing aspects to the lives of these characters – namely Frances.  While she is certainly struggling and makes a few frustrating choices, the film never betrays its energetic spirit and rely on meaner qualities seen in some of Baumbach’s previous films.  Regarding his recent films, The Squid and the Whale does rely on this at many points, but at least that film is very successful in what it is trying to do.  Margot at the Wedding failed in that regard, despite some strong work by the actors.  I really did like Greenberg, but I can see the same irritating attitude working its way into there as well.  So now, with Frances Ha, it is almost as if having Gerwig as a co-writer allowed Baumbach to dial it back and make something that could, frankly, play more broad.

With that said, this is still a black & white movie about young adults living their lives as ‘artists’ and writers in New York.  It is not exactly going to bring in the general romantic comedy crowd, but it is a generally pleasing film to watch.  While the actual story may resemble a sped up version of the first season of HBO’s Girls, it still introduces us to a character that we want to follow, in an environment that has a trendy veneer, with more going on within it.  The highlight is Gerwig, who I find to be delightful in most things, but really enjoyed her here, both as an actress and as a writer who has rubbed off on Baumbach quite well.

Frances:  Sometimes it is good to do what you’re supposed to do when you do it.

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

So I guess it goes without saying that you all already know that The Great Gatsby is an adaptation of the classic novel of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Although I can’t remember back that far, I’m sure most of us have fond childhood memories of reading this one back in school.  So while the nucleus of the story may not have changed all that much, the look and feel of the source material sure has thanks to the unique pioneership of Mr. Baz Luhrmann.  And while I may not like everything the man has made throughout his illustrious career, there’s certainly no argument to make that this guy’s a visionary and is able to bring extraordinary things, high concepts and raw emotions to the big screen and by golly The Great Gatsby ain’t no exception to his craft either.  The 3D period romance was both co-written by Luhrmann and directed by him.  I say, respect the man.  He’s got mad skillz.

Fitzgerald’s novel gets energized and breathes new life into the silver screen with performances by crowd pleasers such Leonardo DiCaprio (you know he’s going to always bring his A-game), Tobey Maguire (he’s Spider-Man no more) and Carey Mulligan.  Much to my surprise, Joel Edgerton also stars in this one.  Ever see The Warrior?  If not, make sure to do so!  This guy, much like the other aforementioned leading men, demands your attention.  The Great Gatsby rounds off with performances by Elizabeth Debicki, Jason Clarke and the beautiful Isla Fisher.

Much to my chagrin with the early reviews from the critics out there, I have nothing but praise and good things to say about this Luhrmann production.  From the unbridled energy and the exhumed emotion to the stunning 3D visuals and images, Baz brought the literary masterpiece to life on the big screen like only he can deliver the goods.   Think Moulin Rouge on steroids!  I can’t imagine this one not finishing on my Top 10 list of films this year.  If it falls off, I’d be shocked.

I don’t feel like I’d really be spoiling a lot in regards to discussing the plot since the majority of us were probably forced to read this one at one point in time anyway, but for the sake of my review audience I’ll stick to my moral reviewing code of not spilling any beans as I tread on here.  So in a nutshell, I guess you can say The Great Gatsby follows the life and times of the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio) and his poor neighbor, Nick (Maguire), who recounts his engagements, dealings and associations with Gatsby in the 1920’s.  Essentially,Maguire’s character is the narrator here as he is encouraged to write everything down…hey…much like McGregor’s character in Moulin Rouge!!!

As Maguire’s character, Nick Carraway, settles into his new humble abode on the outskirts of New York City, conveniently located right next to Gatsby’s monstrous place, he rekindles a friendship with his cousin, Daisy (Mulligan) and her husband, Tom Buchanan (Edgerton).  At this point not much at all is known about Gatsby other than his large, flamboyant and over-the-top parties he throws every week.  The weird thing is you don’t even need an invitation to attend, but why did Nick receive one?  That’s odd, huh?  Well, for lack of a better term, Nick and Gatsby form quite the bromance as the pair looked like they were best friends all throughout life.

 But what about that invitation?  That still bothers me.  Does it bother you?  It should!  Do you think there’s a possibility that Gatsby might want something from Nick?  I think so!  Use the Force and search your feelings you shall.  Haha.  So needless to say, parties go by, celebrations are had, but Gatsby has a master plan he obsesses to achieve, a love of his life that he once let slip away and he’ll stop at nothing to reclaim her and recreate the past.  Now here’s a delicate subject.  As I sat back and digested the film last night, I thought about this in my mind.  What’s so difficult about recreating the past?  Everything!  Even though it sounds so easy, we as humans often inadvertently forget about the ripples caused in time gone by and ultimately can’t deny the way certain events went down, words that were said or just about anything else no matter how hard we try to shut them out.  You have to live and accept because there’s no such thing as complete forgetting until they invent a voluntary clinical amnesia treatment in the medical field that is.

So where were we before I went off on a tangent?  Oh yeah!  We were talking about how The Great Gatsby is an irresistible feast and orgy of sight and sound and how all the other critics and naysayers are dead wrong, have no culture or all of the above.  Make no mistake, Baz is a visionary.  If his dialogue doesn’t touch you, then his raw energy and emotion he expresses through his visuals and sound will.  From the high octane, crowd pleasing songs to the roar of the 1920 auto engines racing through the digital landscape, Baz crafts a world that I want to be part of, whether it’s Moulin Rouge or The Great Gatsby, he had me at hello.

Now going into the screening last night I only had about 3.5 hours of sleep registered from the night before so I was mighty intimidated by the film’s 142-minute runtime, but time never flew by so fast…at least for me.  I was giddy as a school kid as I felt like I was re-living the magic of the master piece Baz created with Moulin Rouge all over again.  From the elaborate digital sets and grandiose party scenes to the erratic camera pans and zooms I never wanted to leave Baz’s world.  Sure by midpoint the energy and excitement started to dial down a bit as we learned precisely what made Gatsby tick and dived deeper into his psychosis to gain an understanding of his story arc, but the slower pace never dissuaded me in anyway because if there’s one thing Baz knows how to hone in on like no one else in the industry it’s that eternal love story with the utmost of intensity.  And he knocks it out of the ballpark here, in my opinion.  And before I forget to mention, bravo on the use of 3D technology.  I haven’t been that impressed since seeing Avatar.

So I said it before and I’ll go on record saying it again.  Baz Luhrmann brought Fitzgerald’s literary classic to life on the big screen in such an exuberant and larger-than-life fashion that only he could have pulled off and I mean that with the highest of compliments.  Like the height of roaring 20’s that this period piece was set in I’m roaring to see it again some day soon.  From the chemistry of the cast to the raw energy and emotion that propels this nocturnal love story forward, I see the green light across the water and I want to touch it again.  Label me a pessimist or whatever you want, but I’m a firm believer that nothing Baz does will ever top the magic of Moulin Rouge, in my opinion.  However, The Great Gatsby finishes a close second to me in his catalog of works.  And if you want further proof, the 7-year old boy, who sat next to me during the screening, never once got restless, bored or fell asleep for even a second.  He remained attentive and studious throughout.  Now if that’s not proof of a summer blockbuster, then I don’t know what is.  Remember…the all seeing eye sees it all…and so should you this weekend.

The Great Gatsby opens up in theaters nationwide, this Friday, May 10th.  Go out there and get some culture and enjoy this one!

Oh!  I may have forgotten to mention there’s a wonderful soundtrack to boot too!

Preview the album below!

Film

I must confess to being a virgin when it comes to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (now is that the most inappropriate sentence you’ve ever read or what?).  I can’t tell you what the whole Jungle Fury spinoff series was all about, or what makes the original MMPRs that different from the Power Rangers “Super Samurai.” But, on the theory that if it goes on Blu ray, it’s gotta be good (editor’s note: Charles is sometimes quite stupid), I gave this series a look.

It’s actually a wrapup to the Power Rangers Super Samurai cycle, which, has been going on since I don’t know when and which actually sired a Christmas special (!?).  Saving grace, I suppose, is that by now the Japan-American translated kid-kitsch can’t possibly be taken seriously by anyone.  Oh, I guess down the line Christopher Nolan or someone will do a Power Rangers Noir, you know, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and getting away from the campy, silly Power Rangers of the 60s and back to the original, dark, brooding, psychotic Power Rangers of the 30s and 40s. But for the time being, dig the candy-colored costumes, bad-pun dialogue and ritualized episodes for the post-ironic silliness that they are.

The Story So Far (I guess). Grotesque monsters from some nether dimension are called Nighlok, and their regular invasions of Japan are fought by the teen descendants (almost none of whom are visibly Japanese) of elite mystic Samurai warriors. The team of Rangers assemble in each episode (now with heavy CGI assist, of course) to battle a particularly grotesque Nighlok and their “Mooger” henchmen, with a new Red Ranger, Emily, in control of the team. I’m told this who-is-the-real-Red Ranger stuff is long-running backstory. Hey, I didn’t even invest in following Lost, so don’t bust me on missing the epochal drama over this one.

The main Nighlok is a spiny creature called Master Xandred, who was badly wounded by the Power Rangers Samurai in a previous episode arc and spends most of this one in semi-invalid state, in a cool Flying Dutchman-from Pirates of the Caribbean ship, on a mystic river that supposedly influences human despair (oh, I’ve heard of this river; it’s called the `Japanese economy’ I do believe).

Xandred keeps sending guest Nighloks with weird powers (gluing people together; duplicating itself; causing others to eat uncontrollably) into the human realm, and they temporarily stymies the Power Rangers, until they fight back with “BullZord” or “LightZord” or some kind of ultimate weapon (which looks suspiciously like it might be selling now at toy stores). Early in the series another Nighlok, calling himself Serrator, shows up out of nowhere to kowtow to Xandred and offer his own brand of Nighloks, but [spoiler alert you could've seen miles away], Serrator is just a usurper after Xandred’s top-monster rank.

Ultimately there’s a showdown of good-vs.-evil (you probably can guess who wins) that closes this particular chapter in Power Rangers history, and I guess fans will appreciate that. Meanwhile, the Power Rangers’ longtime American producers (mainly Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, if I’m not mistaken) can count their yen gleefully. I heard a long time ago that the Power Rangers moguls were so savvy that they’d mapped out long-range plans for the franchise, charting the initial boom, the inevitable backlash, the loss of the viewer interest…and the eventual nostalgic revival for aging fans, probably now with bratty kids of their own. Really, they predicted it all. Forget Paul Volker, put these guys in charge of the Federal Reserve or something. They’d end the Great Recession in 20 episodes.

Are you still reading this? I kind of hope not, but if you are, know that there’s a subplot in which Antonio, the Gold Power Ranger, survives having his consciousness temporarily transferred to a dead fish and coming close to being eaten by a domestic cat. From this he suffers the equivalent of Power Rangers Traumatic Stress Syndrome. That idea is almost worthy of Robot Chicken, though it’s probably meant to be taken rather seriously here as one of the typically corny Life Lesson things offered continually throughout the franchise.

Still, imagine: whole VA Hospitals filled with deranged-psycho ex-Power Rangers, confined for constant domestic violence, or severe Mooger injuries, or drug-fueled combat flashbacks, or memories of burning down innocent Nighlok villages of women and children, or tormented by avenging conscience for abusing Rita Repulsa at Abu Ghraib. Now there’s an idea for the next series.

Video 

Those cheesy miniatures and creature suits of yesteryears’ Power Rangers may be history, but the fancy new digital stuff and crature costumes can look just as endearingly garish, in a 1080p HD picture.  Things look crisp and clear, just not perfect.  DVD and Blu-ray versions are sold separately.

Audio 

You can listen to the Power Rangers (or the non-threatening Nighlok squid-sidekick Octaroo, who speaks in rhyme) making bad puns in French or in Spanish in Dolby Digital 2.0.  Guess a Japanese dialogue version was outlawed by that treaty signed by General MacArthur, or something.  The English version is a rocking DTS 5.1 Master Audio.  For some reason there’s also a sub-setup that allows you to mute the audio or adjust the volume on the fanfare that plays during the menus.

Extras 

Extras are two lackluster music videos. One, for what it’s worth, actually a record of live Power Ranger floor show at some Comic-con or other; gotta hand it to the troupers who drilled to perform that.  Wonder if they had a “we went to Julliard for this?” moment.  A “Train Like a Ranger” segment has the various PWs lead kid viewers in basic calisthenics exercises and maybe a yoga pose or two.

Summary 

Come on, it’s Power Rangers, what did you expect?

Disney Proudly Celebrates the “Winnie The Pooh” Movie that Started it All! 

Beloved Original Animated Classic Debuts for the First Time on

Blu-ray™ and HD Digital – August 27, 2013

BURBANK, Calif., May 3, 2013 – Whether we’re young or forever young at heart, the Hundred Acre Wood calls to that place in each of us that still believes in magic. Share all the fun, whimsy and wonder of The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh in this amazing original Disney classic – now digitally restored and remastered in high definition to thrill a whole new generation!  Available August 27^th for the first time on Blu-ray™ and HD Digital with a variety of bonus features, a whole new generation will fall in love with Pooh and his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood.

Stuffed with extraordinary bonus features including the beloved theatrical short film “A Day For Eeyore,” five “Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh” shorts, Disney’s groundbreaking “Intermission” activity and much more, The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh: The Original Classic will make fans of all ages shout “Hip Hip Pooh-Ray!”

The extras

Blu-ray

• NEW! Disney Intermission - Press “pause” during the movie and find out what happens!  The narrator invites younger viewers to play along with the Hundred Acre Wood friends in a variety of engaging activities.
• NEW! Pooh Play-Along – In this bonus feature, the narrator invites viewers to play along with Pooh and his friends.
• NEW! 5 “Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” Shorts: “If I Wasn’t So Small,” “Piglet’s Drawings,” “The Expedition,” “Geniuses” & “The Honey Song”
• LEGACY  “A Day for Eeyore” – Classic Animated Short
• LEGACY  “The Story Behind the Masterpiece” – Making of Featurette
• LEGACY  “The Winnie the Pooh Theme Song” – Performed by Carly Simon

DVD

• NEW! Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Short – “Geniuses”
• LEGACY  “The Winnie the Pooh Theme Song” – Performed by Carly Simon

Order your copy today! 

CULVER CITY, CALIF. (May 6, 2013) – Academy Award^® winner Halle Berry (Best Actress, Monster’s Ball, 2001) stars as a veteran 911 operator who takes a life-altering call from a kidnapped teenage girl, played by  Academy Award^®nominee Abigail Breslin (Best Supporting Actress, Little Miss Sunshine, 2006), in THE CALL, debuting on Blu-ray^™Combo Pack and DVD with UltraViolet^™ June 25^th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. When a terrified kidnap victim (Breslin) calls 911 from the trunk of a madman’s car, Jordan (Berry) realizes she must confront a killer from her past to put an end to the serial killer’s haunting rampage.  THE CALL also stars Morris Chestnut (Identity Thief, Think Like A Man), Michael Imperioli (The Lovely Bones, TV’s “The Sopranos”), Michael Eklund (TV’s “Alcatraz”) and WWE star David Otunga.

The Blu-ray Combo Pack exclusively features an alternate ending, deleted and extended scenes, Michael Eklund’s Audition Tape, and two all-new featurettes taking viewers behind the scenes for set tours and stunt breakdowns.  Both the Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD come with a making-of featurette, as well as commentary by Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin and filmmakers.

Synopsis:

In this heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thriller, veteran 911 operator Jordan (Academy Award® Winner Halle Berry,Monster’s Ball, 2001) takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl (Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine, 2006) who has been kidnapped and thrown into the trunk of a madman’s car.  But with the clock ticking, Jordan soon realizes she must confront a killer from her past to put an end to a serial killer’s haunting rampage.

THE CALL has a running time of approximately 118 minutes and is rated R for strong violence, language throughout and brief sexual content/nudity.

Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Materials Include:

• Emergency Procedure: Making the Film featurette — A look at every aspect of the making of the film, from Richard D’Ovidio’s experience writing the screenplay through the final days of production.
• Commentary with Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin and Filmmakers

Blu-ray Exclusive Bonus Materials Include:

*All DVD content plus:

• Alternate Ending
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Michael Eklund Audition Tape
• Two Featurettes:
  • A Set Tour of The Hive and The Lair – Director Brad Anderson gives viewers a tour of the Lair and the production designer gives a tour of the call center, also known as The Hive.
  • Inside the Stunts – Stunt coordinator, pyrotechnics experts, actors and stuntmen discuss filming the gas station fire scene.

THE FUGITIVE CELEBRATES

20^TH ANNIVERSARY SEPTEMBER 3

New Blu-ray™ Edition Chock-Full of Special Features Including New Featurette with Harrison Ford and
Tommy Lee Jones Interviews

Burbank, Calif., May 6, 2013
The Fugitive 20^th Anniversary Blu-ray will offer even more excitement with a new featurette, The Fugitive: Thrill of the Chase which includes interviews with Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, director Andrew Davis and more.  Based on the 1960s classic TV series, the motion picture; The Fugitive, garnered seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. In 2001, The American Film Institute also listed it as one of the 100 Most Thrilling American films. Additionally, Andrew Davis was nominated by the Directors Guild of America in 1994 for his work on the motion picture, known for its spectacular stunts, including the devastating bus-train collision and a breath-taking leap down a huge waterfall. Besides Ford and Jones, the film features a fine ensemble including Sela Ward, Joe Pantoliano, Andreas Katsulas, Jeroen Krabbé, and Julianne Moore.

Special Features:

• New Featurette The Fugitive: Thrill of the Chase featuring Andrew Davis, Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones and more
• Introduction by Andrew Davis and Harrison Ford
• Commentary by Andrew Davis and Tommy Lee Jones
• On the Run with the Fugitive Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
• Derailed: Anatomy of a Train Wreck Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
• “The Fugitive” [2000 WB Pilot] New to Release!
• Theatrical Trailer

Order your copy today!

Film 

So as I mentioned above…like it or not…buy it or not…Texas Chainsaw continues the legendary story of the homicidal Sawyer family, picking up where the 1974 classic left off…blah, blah, blah.  Many, many years later after an extensive Act 1 flashback scene that tied in the events of the 1974 classic with what the town folk really did to the Sawyer family we finally meet Heather, Alexandra Daddario, who discovers that she has inherited a huge estate in Newt, Texas from an unknown grandmother.  Now let me stop right here for a brief second.  You all know where I’m going with this.  You can’t tell me you didn’t see my score for the film above.  Alexandra is the best thing about this movie.  If nothing else, she is pure eye candy and I’d watch just about anything to see her again.  Now with that being said, the rest of the movie is complete shite.  I wish I could just stop the review right here, but alas…it’s my job and civic duty to be a verbal guardian of justice and deliver you this Blu-ray review.  Oh how I could just wish I could deliver you from evil, spare your pain and save you from wasting your time on this one.  Let my words be my hammer, my truth and ultimately your deterrent.  I pray for you.

So where was I?  Oh yeah!  To claim her estate, Heather goes on a road trip with three other friends that you couldn’t care less about to discover her inheritance, a Texas mansion.  But like most of us, even ones born with silver spoons in their mouths, Heather quickly discovers that wealth comes with a few strings attached and a very high price tag.  She and her dumb a$$ friends eventually discover the horror that has been waiting a long time ago in the basement cellar.  Let the fun begin.  Hooray!  Hoorah.  It’s like lighting a firecracker and nothing happens.  What a dud!

Really…what it all boils down to is this.  My score of 1.5 above essentially equates to the following.  Alexandra’s presence scores the film a point.  And I’ll give half a point for the filmmakers successfully getting this out in the theaters.  They have to be the smartest men in the world to get people to waste their hard earned money on this garbage.  I didn’t buy into the hype and all the negativity regarding this film when it was released theatrically.  In fact, I was bummed that I missed the press screening for it.  How’s that for irony?  However, I did hear rumblings that there was a twist involved in the film that some filmgoers actually liked.  I was curious about that.  Again, let me be the guardian of the galaxy for you my dear readers.  The twist in here isn’t all that.  You probably have seen more drama and suspense in a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  If you have any sense, you’d stop reading this review right now and take up knitting.

So I wouldn’t really be doing my job if I didn’t at least mention the filmmakers and who’s who in all this mess.  The butchery of this film lies with the script written by Debra Sullivan and Adam Marcus.  I’m not kidding you when I say this is something that I, as the amateur I am, could easily write in a night or two.  It was directed by John Luessenhop and I guess is the seventh film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, this time in gimmicky 3D.  In addition to Andrea it stars a bunch of people you’ve probably never heard of such as Dan Yeager, Tania Raymonde, Thom Barry, Paul Rae, Tremaine Neverson and surprisingly, Bill Moseley.  And thank God for the 3D gimmick as the ticket sales actually covered the film’s 20 million dollar budget.  Sheer brilliance!  Let’s write a horror film that’s “horrible” and slap 3D on it and make some money.  Heck…now that I think about it that way, why not?  Easy money, yo!

I guess I should also mention that 1974 veterans Marilyn Burns, John Dugan and Gunnar Hansen, the original Leatherface, make appearances in this one too.  But so what?  They don’t make it any better.  Poop is poop.  You can spray all the deodorizer on it you want, but it’s still going to stink at the end of the day.  Hey now, maybe that’s why they didn’t release this in the summer.  Can you imagine the smell of poop on a hot summer day?  I know I wouldn’t want to.  There simply were no scares, the kills were all too sudden and boring and quite honestly, and I mean this with all respect, Leatherface was an old fart.  It was like seeing Rocky Balboa as a boxer again at age 70.  Hey now!  Maybe that is possible for Rocky, but no one wants to see that.  Ha ha.  Okay…maybe I do.  At the end of the day it all boils down to this.  Say what you want about the Michael Bay production in 2003.  I know this in my heart to be true.  That is an absolute masterpiece and holy shrine compared to this one.  Maybe we need a breath of fresh air in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.  YOU THINK?!!!  Are Christopher Nolan and David Goyer available?

p.s. There is an after credit scene and actually…it’s probably the best scene in the film.  LOL.  No kidding.

Video 

Things get downright mean, gritty and visceral on this 1080p MPEG-4 AVC video encode from Lionsgate.  But relax!  I mean that in a good way!  Detail and sharpness are not always the best they can be in this 2.4:1 aspect ratio presentation, but I was very pleased with this video transfer, unlike the film itself.  I don’t have technology that’s capable of 3D playback, but you can definitely see what scenes were meant for the 3D format.  You can’t tell me that chainsaw thrown at the camera was deliberate, can you?  Haha.  Skin tones all looked natural, colors, although muted at times, popped off the screen throughout and black levels all appeared acceptable.  The print was free of debris, noise and artifacts.  My only complaint was some halos in the red colors you saw on the walls down in the cellar.  You normally see them on HD Digital Downloads, but rarely this obvious on the Blu-ray format.  That’s the only reason why the score isn’t the highest it can be here.  And oh…did I mention that every scene that Daddario is in is Blu-ray at its finest?  Well, I did now!

Audio 

The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround track is a loud, ferocious and aggressive one as can be expected from a horror title like this, especially given the subject matter, but I had one minor complaint.  It was hard to hear dialog a few times and as a result I feel I could not warrant a perfect score.  How about a near perfect score?  The fact of the matter is the surround audio was more atmospheric and scary than the feature film itself.  It rocked in all aspects as it put you in the middle of the action, no matter how minimal and downright dull it was.  And the chainsaw!  Aw the sound of that sweet sweet chainsaw.  You have to love it.  The ferocity of the gas-propelled chainsaw was what kept me in the film.  Hearing that revving noise was like the sound of beautiful orchestra music to this horror hound’s ears.  If Texas Chainsaw was just Leatherface running around with a running chainsaw for 90 minutes, then maybe it wouldn’t have been that bad.  I’m kidding.  Haha.  Or am I?  You can also find Dolby Digital 5.1 in Spanish and English and Spanish subtitles too.

Extras 

Oddly enough, say what you want about the film itself, there’s no denying it shines in the A/V departments and also in the Special Features too.  Now I have a bone to pick.  I can’t get enough of the constraint supply of extras on my favorite Blu-ray release of the year, Django Unchained, but you mean to tell me for a stinker of a movie like this we have the extraordinary plethora of supplements as listed below?  Not fair!  Not fair at all.  Okay.  I feel better.  I just had to get that off my chest.  All in all this is quite an impressive package below.  You have two separate audio commentaries, digital copies, a 3D version and more docs than you may know what to do with.  Enjoy these!  They are better than the film.  That’s for sure!

• Audio commentary with producer Carl Mazzocone and filmmaker Tobe Hooper – It’s interesting hearing Tobe Hooper speak, but do you really want to sit through this again?
• Special “Chainsaw Alumni” audio commentary with stars Bill Moseley, Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns and John Dugan – Like I said above, ditto.
• Texas Chainsaw Legacy (HD, 6:46) – This featurette takes a look back at the history and 40-year legacy of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series with the brilliant Tobe Hooper.  I do admit to liking this one as he talks about the film he made when I just came out of my mom’s womb that year.
• Resurrecting The Saw (HD, 9:13) – This featurette gives us an inside look at the development of the film with drector John Luessenhop, producer Carl Mazzocone and all the contributing writers.
• The Old Homestead (HD, 14:50) – Here’s where we get to take a look at the re-creation of the shooting location from the 1974 film with crew, cast and series alumni.
• Casting Terror (HD, 12:18) – Here we have interviews with the cast.  Can you guess which one I only care about?
• Leatherface 2013 (HD, 14:53) –Here we have an interview with Leatherface actor Dan Yeager on his interpretation of the iconic role and a look back at the creation of the costume, mask and chainsaw.
• Lights, Camera, Mayhem (HD, 11:31) – I found this one to be interesting, but only because I’m looking at it with a filmmaker’s eye.  It kind delves deep into the subject of 3D and the challenge of shooting scenes that way and the respective gear.
• It’s in the Meat (HD, 7:49) – It’s a curious title, isn’t it?  Here we have a look at the film’s special make-up effects.  However, as we all know, even great effects can’t make a bad movie good.
• On-Set Short Subjects: Five Minute Massacres (HD) – Here we get what it’s like to actually be on set and see everything unfold.  If you’re a filmmaker, you’ll actually like these.  They include Burning Down The House, Trapped in the Van, Carnival Time, Leatherface in Action, Bloody Good Times and Hot Times in Louisiana.
• Alternate Opening (HD, 3:21) – Yep!  You guessed it…an alternate opening!  It’s actually a little bit more humorous, but of the same subject matter as our film we are discussing today begins with.
• Theatrical Trailer (HD) – You really need to be reminded about what you just watched?
• Blu-ray 3D – Oh yeah, in case I forgot to mention, there’s also the 3D version of the film housed on the same Blu-ray disc that everything else is on too.  How wonderful!
• iTunes Digital Copy – Yea!
• UV Digital Copy – Boo!

Summary 

Let’s put it this way.  If poop had a younger brother it would be called Texas Chainsaw.  Did you notice they didn’t even put the word “massacre” in the film title?  To do so, in my humble opinion, would be an absolute massacre and insult to the 1974 legend.  Thank the Gods they had enough common sense in that regards.  Right?

So I have seen my share of bad horror movies this year and it goes a little something like this.  With Lords of Salem being the worst and Mama being third worst, this one claims my coveted second place finish.  Good work Texas Chainsaw.  You’ve earned it.  It’s not easy to suck that bad.

And ordinarily this is the section in the review where I try to sway you and encourage you to support our site by clicking the pre-order link below; I don’t want your money.  Keep it for some toilet paper or household goods that you may need.  There’s nothing you need to see here.  These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.  However, since the studio obligates me, there is a link below…if you so choose.  The fourteenth of May can’t come fast enough.  Not!  SKIP IT!  BURN IT!  SHOOT IT!  Whatever you do, DON’T WATCH IT.  You’ve been warned.

Starring  Sean Wright, Aaron Fink and Salim Lemelle.
Directed by Liz Manashil.

Tony Stark: You know, it’s times like these when I realize what a superhero I am.

Iron Man 3 begins with our roguish hero Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) delving into his past to introduce us to some people that will be important later, before catching us up with where he is at now.  Following the events of The Avengers, Stark is seemingly busier and more isolated than ever.  He is spending all of his time developing new ways to keep himself in the armor suit that he believes to give him the power he needs.  A wave of bombings launched by an international terrorist known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) eventually makes things quite personal for Tony, who does his best to threaten back, only to find himself backed against a wall and with none of his usual tools at his disposal.  In order to stop the Mandarin and anyone else involved in these terrorist acts or making Tony’s life miserable, he must now rely on his smarts to power him back up.

The film also stars returning players Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony’s girlfriend and the head of Stark Industries; and Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes, Tony’s best friend and operator of the other armored suit known as War Machine Iron Patriot.  New additions include Rebecca Hall as one of Tony’s past flames, who has also designed a way for damaged organisms to repair themselves; and Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, a scientist who has created something known as Extremis, which has the power to both create and destroy.

Stepping up to the director’s chair this time around is Shane Black (who also co-wrote), the man responsible for writing and re-writing many successful action screenplays from the 80s and early 90s (Lethal Weapon comes to mind), as well as bringing in his sharp sense of humor to his various projects.  That seems very clear here, as anyone who is familiar with Black’s past work could easily spot where his sensibilities are now latching themselves onto a superhero film.  With that said, Black also makes a pretty good case for himself as an action director.  While he surely had other units work on developing and filming the large scale action sequences, the film does deliver quite well in the action department, creating a lot of inventive ways for Stark to face off against his foes, whether or not he is being aided by his suit or at least pieces of it.  In terms of blockbuster filmmaking, I was pretty satisfied with how Black handled things, just as how Joss Whedon managed to do a ton of good with The Avengers.

One of the key concepts for this film was to get Tony back to his roots.  As producer Kevin Feige has described in the past, the first film dealt with Tony getting himself out of an impossible situation by building something in the desert, with scraps.  This time around, the film does manage to make some of Tony’s situations seem quite dire.  While his health is not failing like in Iron Man 2, he does have a lot of mental duress from his experiences at the climax of Avengers that give you an idea of where his head is at.  Combined with a deadly threat the forces him into unfamiliar territory, with only his wits at his disposal, I did enjoy how this film managed to play with what Tony would actually be able to do on his own again.  Still, given all the characters to contend with, Stark’s engaging personality, even as he deals with his issues, can only take you so far.

My biggest critical note about this film may be its lack of AC/DC on the film’s soundtrack.  I am kind of joking about this, but at the same time, Iron Man 3 does have to face up to its identity crisis.  The previous films were both directed by Jon Favreau, who does still return as Happy Hogan.  All three films have different credited writers.  And the series has also been scored by three different composers (four if you count Avengers).  The point I am aiming at hear is that the Iron Man series, beyond the characters, seems to be lacking a uniting thread that could put in on par with Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy for example.  I find that important because I left the film feeling more like I got to see a new (and exciting) spectacle film, rather than one that really felt significant.  Yes, this chapter in the Iron Man film series brings a certain level of closure to the character, but the story tries to land a lot of elements and not all of them stick.  That could be due to its scripting, but it could also be a factor of a new group of people making this film their own.  This is not always a bad thing, but c’mon…no AC/DC?

Creating a fitting villain is always important in these superhero films and to Iron Man 3’s credit, he is not just facing off against a new, bigger Iron Man this time around.  The story provides us with a villain that actually feels like a threat, given certain actions that are taken, but I do not want to say more, in an effort to preserve spoilers.  Instead, I will just reflect on the portrayal of said characters, namely Ben Kingsley (since we all know he’s at least one of the threats), and how I was disappointed in his handling as the Mandarin.  It is not at all about what the film does with the character versus the comics, but more in how reveals about him left me underwhelmed.  All else I can say about the villain plot in general, is that I found there to be more questions in my mind concerning motivation and overall goal than satisfying answers.

The story for this film really does try to accomplish a lot.  We are not really dealing with a ton of characters, but there were points where the film’s energy could not quite overtake the leaps taken to make sure everyone was still involved.  As a result, Pepper, for example, does not get a ton to do (and that’s a shame, as Iron Man seems to be the only time people enjoy seeing her these days), and Rhodey (a comic character I love) is relegated to being more comic relief than anything.  It also does not help that certain plot beats felt really telegraphed, given some casting choices and basic superhero movie logic.

Iron Man 3’s greatest asset continues to be Robert Downey Jr., who brings so much charm to the role he seems to have been born to play.  While one can argue how much more grounded this film is than the others (I would say it is the most comic booky of the three), Downey Jr. does know how to make the character work for an audience.  Given that we are dealing with terrorist attacks, it is a large credit to Downey Jr. and Black that they handle the tone of the film so well.  The movie has its share of drama, but it is really funny as well.  A large sequence of the film revolves around Tony, on his own being Batman doing detective work and he is aided by a tech savvy child.  The dialogue between the two is pretty fantastic, full of Black witticisms, and a further example of how the Stark character is just as entertaining without his armor on.  That said, while some of the characters were not necessarily handled the best, the verbal sparring between everyone, which remains a highlight of the series for me, is incredibly delightful to watch.

It is fitting that this is an Iron Man film, as the very concept echoes a lot of what I felt about the film.  On its surface, there is a lot to enjoy about all that this film has to offer.  It looks great, the action has an appropriate scale to establish stakes, the film features a great cast, and it will probably stand as the funniest action blockbusters of the year.  Yet, underneath the armor, just like Stark, the film has its share of problems that mainly revolve around the plotting, some murky motivations, and at least one character that was not particularly well handled.  So it really comes down to how much the outer sheen of the armor, i.e. the general entertainment value of the film, really plays for the audience.  I certainly had a lot of fun with the film and it is hard to resist the charms of Downey Jr.  There may be a couple previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that outshine Iron Man 3, but it is still an easy recommendation to catch on the big screen.

[Obligatory 3D Note:  I wish I could have seen it on an IMAX screen in 2D.  While The Avengers had decent 3D as well, it was at least a brighter film to enjoy in that regard.]

Tony Stark: I have a lot of apologies to make… I’m so sorry for putting you in harm’s way… I’m going to find out who did this…

The Iceman (Movie Review)

Here is a description provided by the NBFF regarding The Iceman:  Appearing to live the American dream as a devoted husband and father, Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) lived a double life as a ruthless killer-for-hire.  When he was finally arrested in 1986, neither his wife (Winona Ryder) nor daughters had any clue about his real profession.  In a film inspired by actual events, follow the infamous career of a notorious contract killer from his early days in the mob until his arrest for the murder of more than 100 men.

For a film that can be eventually caught only in limited release, the cast is quite solid, as it also includes Ray Liotta as a mob boss who sends Kuklinksi on the majority of his hits, Chris Evans as a rival button man who operates out of a Mr. Freezy truck, David Schwimmer in the unlikely role of a sleezy mobster, Stephen Dorff as Kuklinski’s imprisoned brother, and even James Franco turns up in a bit part as a mark for Kuklinski.  The film was adapted from Anthony Bruno’s book “The Iceman:  The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer” by screenwriter Morgan Land and director Ariel Vromen.

It is unfortunate that this movie is not better.  For all of the potential this film has, given the material to work with, the setting, and the actors involved, The Iceman really never goes anywhere beyond the path of a straight and narrow crime drama, that happens to be based on a true story.  Sure Michael Shannon is terrific (and I’ll get to that), but the film is awfully ordinary in presentation.  Yes, the setting looks nice and the film is unapologetically violent, in order to truly depict the nature of what these men are doing, complete with some dark humor to make sure you know that Goodfellas continues to leave its mark on fact-based mob movies, but there is nothing all that innovative going on in this film.

The near saving grace of this picture is Michael Shannon’s performance as Richard Kuklinski.  Rather than really delve into this man’s psyche via flashbacks or loads of exposition, we simply get to watch this man act around others, reveal his emotions internally, and keep his image highly reserved, while he either stares down the barrel of a gun or participates in heinous criminal acts.  There is a level of intensity in what Shannon is doing that continues to prove that he is one of the best actors currently working and it completely informs the performance that he gives in The Iceman, despite the film not having much else to say.  To give credit where it is due, I will say that Liotta, while playing a character he knows how to play very well, does continue to do that here; and Ryder is also quite good as Kuklinski’s wife, with an impressive evolution of her character as the film moves forward.

It is disappointing that The Iceman is not better.  Everything is there for this film to capitalize on, but Vromen’s directorial touches do not do enough to really bring out the material to a higher place.  Shannon is certainly the reason to see this film, if any, but not quite enough for me to say you should race to the cinemas and watch it.  For a film based on the fascinatingly dark story of a hitman known as “The Iceman”, the film left me pretty chilly.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Ghost Team One (Movie Review)

Here is the humorous plot synopsis for Ghost Team One:  In early 2012, filmmaker Billy Chen answered a Craigslist ad looking for someone to document possible paranormal behavior.  What he found were two sexually retarded friends (Carlos Santos and J.R. Villarreal) scheming to impress a beautiful woman (Fernanda Romero) who believed their house was haunted.  They were willing to face their darkest fears to get in her pants, but found themselves much closer to a demon whore than the woman of their dreams.  Warning:  This film is not for those with weak hearts or strong genitals.

I remember hearing about Ghost Team One and how it premiered at Slamdance this past winter, but was not sure what it was, aside from knowing that it won over its audience.  Learning that it was essentially going to be ‘Harold and Kumar’ meets Paranormal Activity, I had a general idea of what I was getting into, but still not quite sure how I would respond.  To some surprise, this was one of my favorite films of the festival, simply because I laughed out loud a lot during this film.  I saw a few nice comedies throughout the week, but none of them made me laugh as hard as Ghost Team One did and I give this film a lot of credit for being able to do so, especially since I was practically burnt out, after a week of screenings.

For those concerned by either the premise or the humor, I can say that even the most jaded person that dislikes all the Paranormal Activity films may be one over by what Ghost Team One accomplishes.  It very much follows the same formula, but the humor is fully capitalized on and handled greatly by actors who seem to bounce very naturally off of each other.  From what I understand, while the story beats were in place, the script essentially allowed for a lot of improv between the two lead characters, Sergio and Brad, along with all the other cast members that bounce in and out of the story.  As a result, the film feels very authentic and while a lot of the humor is very R-rated and, at times, very juvenile, it reflects the kind of people that actually exist and could act in this heightened sort of way.

Another surprise was the horror factor.  While Ghost Team One is very much a comedy, I was quite pleased at how the film actually has some good jumps in it, complete with the ability to establish a fitting level of atmosphere to keep things tense.  Achieving the balance of humor and horror can always be tricky, but the film does a very good job at making it all work.  Writers/directors Ben Peyser and Scott Rutherford manage to get a lot out of making a low-budget found footage film (that could be a redundant piece of phrasing), utilizing a lot of different types of handheld cameras, and making the most with the effects and settings at their disposal.  If there is one thing to knock against the film, I would say that it does not quite know how to wrap itself up the most effectively, but it is really a minor point, as the film is so much fun throughout that the energy really carries it through.

In a year where there seems to be nothing at all appealing about films like Scary Movie 5 or A Haunted House, which are attempting to do the same sort of thing, to an extent, I am so happy that a film like Ghost Team One exists and can only hope that it finds an audience.  While very funny (and actually scary at points) on its own, the film would play so well with a large audience in a large theater.  I can only hope that the buzz gets built and pays off in the long run for everyone who actually does get to check it out.  Ghost Team One was a great time at the theaters and a great way to close out my experience at the film festival.

Check out the film’s unrated trailer here:

This completes my coverage of the 2013 Newport Beach Film Festival.  Thanks to all who followed along throughout the week.  You can click the poster below to learn more about the festival and you can find all of my coverage of the festival HERE.

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Liam James stars as Duncan, a teenager currently facing his worth nightmare – spending a summer with his mom, Pam (Toni Collette), her dickish boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and Trent’s daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin), at a summer home, away from all his friends.  Duncan, not being the best at opening up and constantly clashing with Trent, finds it very hard to enjoy himself.  He soon manages to find himself at a local water park, away from everyone else, where he befriends the parks manager, Owen (Sam Rockwell), and gets a job, with a lot of the other fun folk that get to work around water slides all day.  Despite occasionally having to deal with the family drama back at the house, Owen gains a lot from his experiences in his secretive life as an employee at Water Wizz.

The Way Way Back features a large ensemble cast as well.  Allison Janney, Rob Corrdry, and Amanda Peet all co-star as the local neighbors, who are happy to share their wackiness in the midst of summer fun.  Maya Rudolph is one of the employees at Water Wizz, who is tired of how childish Owen tends to act, rather than be a responsible manager.  AnnaSophia Robb plays the next door neighbor who is happy to try and befriend the reluctant Owen, as she can clearly see how isolated he initially feels.  Lastly, the writers and directors of this film, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, also star as other employees at the park.

I want to start with Faxon and Rash, who are somewhat fresh off of their Oscar win for adapting the screenplay for The Descendants back in 2011.  I do not know if this film is semi-autobiographical not, but I would not be surprised if it was, which also apparently proves that many writers all had a memorable summer that involved them becoming well-regarded in some quirky job, while going through family drama.  Regardless, the template for this film is incredibly familiar, but the duo has still managed to develop a film that is immensely likable and funny.  Some of that has to do with the casting and some of it has to do with how certain characters function in the story.  While the actual direction of the film is not at all that flashy, it feels similar, in a good way, to other films that rely on the same sort of story and themes.

To speak of what is somewhat fresh or different about this film, I can start with AnnaSophia Robb.  The next door neighbor girl generally has a quirky quality of her, which has made this character one of the bigger clichés of any coming-of-age film.  I would not say that Robb’s performance is outstanding, but I would say that she was refreshingly regular.  As Susanna, Robb plays a character with no quirks to make her truly standout, yet she is not boring.  If the idea was to create a likable character, without being suckered in by some special talent she may have, than the film definitely succeeded.

On the other end of the spectrum, Steve Carell is very good at playing against type as an unlikable jerk.  It is not so much that he is a terrible person (though the argument could be made), but it is quite clear that Carell is playing up a character who is quite complex, were one to think about what it was that brought him to be who he is.  In fact, for a film ostensibly about a teenager making friends elsewhere, the adult relationships are handled with true honesty; establishing the messiness of them and the idea that people are quite aware of willingly entering into complicated/bad relationships, based on their current status and options.

Getting back to the fun, comedic side of things, Sam Rockwell is unquestionably fantastic, once again, in a role that is a pure joy to watch.  As Owen, Rockwell gets to be as fun and charming as a character such as Bill Murray in Meatballs, which was played as funny, clever, too cool for school, but receptive to the feelings of a kid who needs a friend.  Rockwell hits all the right notes and the friendship he develops with Owen is incredibly endearing.  Really, all of the characters working at the water park are fun to watch, which is obviously the idea, and a winning success for the film.

Where the film slightly flutters is in two areas.  The first is with Liam James as Duncan.  Now I am not saying that James is bad in this film; quite the opposite actually, as I think he displays a lot of talent at playing a very realistic teenager (it helps that he is one).    The only issue I foresee is that all audiences may not be as taken with him, as he is pretty down in the dumps for much of the film, which could potentially make him difficult to root for.  His charisma is not as inherent as the role may require for some to accept.

The other issue is how the story plays out.  All of these types of films have a pretty clear arc, which requires an introduction to the characters at the beginning of a summer, the new characters we begin to interact with, the meandering through good and bad times, and the ultimate resolution that signals the end of the summer.  Some films accomplish this basic arc way way more effectively than other films, but The Way Way Back does not quite nail the landing.  It could be a credit to how engaged with the characters I was, but the film only amounts to about 90 minutes and I wish I could have seen more.  It ends up feeling a little rushed in its ending, which slightly set things back for me.

These minor quibbles are just that however – minor.  The Way Way Back is still a highly enjoyable feature with a wonderful performance by Rockwell, as well as the rest of the cast (I did not even get the chance to emphasize how funny Allison Janney is).  It is a familiar story for sure, but a proven formula nonetheless.  The writing is strong, the setting is fun, and the long summer went by like a breeze.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Film 

Film 

The Last Stand was written by Andrew Knauer and directed by Kim Ji-woon.  As I mentioned above the film is the governor’s first lead role since 2003′s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as well as the first American production for the South Korean director Kim Ji-woon, cinematographer Kim Ji-yong and composer Mowg. Sounds exciting, huh?  Something fresh?!  Well…it is!  And we’ll talk about it some more in detail, but essentially the film focuses on a small town sheriff and his deputies (think Jackass’ Johnny Knoxville here for a moment) who must stop a dangerous drug lord driving through town in a very, I mean VERY fast car from escaping to Mexico.  Sounds easy enough, huh?  Sure!

So in addition to everyone’s favorite Austrian, the film features notable appearances by funny man Johnny Knoxville, Forest Whitaker, Zach Gilford, Jaimie Alexander, Genesis Rodriguez and more.  The Lionsgate flick made its go around in theaters on January 18th, just covering its 30 million dollar budget.  But I have a feeling it will do pretty good on home media formats in a few weeks.  So let’s take a closer look at the story now.

So initially, our story is all over the place as Act 1 serves to introduce us to all the characters, their problems and the various fires they are putting out.  We meet Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold) living the life in quiet Sommerton Junction, Arizona and learn a little about his former LAPD life he left behind.  We also meet all his deputies and the one man I wish we saw more of in the film, vintage arms collector Lewis Dinkum (Knoxville).  We are also treated to the daring and mostly thrilling escape of international drug lord Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) from FBI custody in a breathtaking brightly light night time sequence in downtown Las Vegas.  Good God…how I love the Vegas nightlife and night time cinematography shots within feature films.  I love those lights!

So Arnold’s character, I guess you can say, loves the quiet life in Sommerton Junction, Arizona where nothing too out of the ordinary really happens.  His young deputy Jerry Bailey (Gilford), on the other hand, feels very different as he longs for wild action and excitement in Owens’ former stomping ground, Los Angeles.  I think before moving on I should also make mention about three things regarding Cortez’s escape.

1. Gabriel Cortez escaped the custody of FBI Agent John Bannister, Forest Whitaker’s character.

2. He takes the beautiful FBI Agent Ellen Richards (Genesis Rodriguez) with him.

3. And last but certainly not least, he drives one of the coolest, fastest and loudest cars ever to grace the silver screen…a modified Chevy Corvette C6 ZR1 complete with night vision that’s able to top speeds of over 200 mph.  Vroom!  Talk about cool!

So eventually the multiple storylines converge and what we’re left with is one hell of a showdown…or should I say throwdown?  All that’s left in the way of speeding villain Cortez is an old Sheriff and his misfit band of deputies, which at this moment in time also includes Knoxville’s character.  Do they have the skills to pay the bills, or in this case the ability to stop Cortez and his army?  Oh yeah.  I said army.  I did not mention that before, did I?  Well Arnold and his boys better bring the fire power.  It’s going to be one hell of battle!  And that you can take to the bank and cash…even in this bad economy.

So let’s be honest.  Let’s talk about the “real” star of this flick.  Let’s talk about that car…or should I say cars.  Not since I saw Cage’s Eleanor in the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds have I drooled over an onscreen car so much.  This Vette is an absolute monster.  Wait until you see what it’s capable of.  Also impressive is this red Camaro SS in the film, but it fails in comparison when talking about this Vette.  That’s like talking apples versus watermelons.  However, the two cars do provide one heck of a romping car chase that takes you through a certain terrain you’re not normally accustomed to seeing cars race through on purpose.  I must admit though that the diehard Mustang fan in me wanted to see a Cobra in there too, but I was just as happy with these two Chevy vehicles as well.  Nah I’m lying.  I loved them!

And the main reason we are here is to talk about the man, Arnold’s comeback feature.  I have to say that it’s painful at times watching his elder body move and speak, but also very welcoming too.  I really missed his onscreen charisma and charm these past ten years of life.  But man does he ever resemble Clint Eastwood now in his elder years.  To me, the resemblance is uncanny.  And the rest of the cast, while forgettable, seems to be having a good time with this action vehicle and I’m also A-Okay with them all too.  Just wish Knoxville had more screen time, dammit!

I think my only nitpick here is that damn digital blood.  I know they also used squibs throughout, but that damn spray of digital blood took me out of the element every time, not to mention this one bullet hole effect they had in a baddie’s forehead.  Boo.  It reminded me of that horrible Stallone film Bullet to the Head, which also came out this year.  Now with that being said, I will say this.  I really enjoyed the action in this one.  Yes, it’s embarrassing seeing an elder Arnold fumble and look all awkward, but the fighting style and action sequences on display here were all done semi-realistically given Arnie’s limited range of motion now and not unbelievable like say a 70-year-old Indiana Jones taking on men one-third his age.  So I applaud that.  There was nothing too over-the-top in regards to the hand-to-hand combat and fighting scenes that Arnold partakes in save for him falling off a roof.  LOL. But even then he had a hard time getting up.  Love it!  Ha ha.

So now that you know what to expect from the film, let’s say you and I take a closer and more detailed look at the A/V vitals of this iTunes HD Digital Download and everything you can expect to discover in the Extras section so there are no surprises should you decide to purchase this weeks before its Blu-ray brother hits the scene.  What say you?

Video 

Being an HD Digital Download, things looked relatively well here.  Of course, there’s always room for improvement, but I was quite happy with what I saw.  My biggest nitpicks would be the sharpness.  I have seen much sharper pictures in a HD Digital Download, but having never seen this one theatrically I can’t comment on whether it’s inherent in the print or a result of compression.  Speaking of compression, I saw very little of that here.  Thank baby Jesus!  The colors, although not the most vibrant, looked natural throughout.  Black levels were always deep.  Skin tones were accurate.  The sandy/dusty and sun drenched landscape of Arizona made me feel like I was there…and also very thirsty.  So all in all, I think this video transfer did it’s job efficiently.  It’s the little download that could so to speak.  Ha ha.  I saw no instances of any ugly artifacts or noise in the picture.  Like the film, it’s decent, but not perfect.

Audio 

While the video was almost perfect, the audio is what really engages you in this film.  It’s wildly fantastic and over-the-top ferocious.  And I mean that in a very good way.  From the constant barrage of gunshots to the VROOM of the muscle cars SPEEDING by (and I mean s-p-e-e-d-i-n-g), my rears and subwoofer haven’t got this much work in a long time.  And that’s good.  They needed their exercise.  My neighbors on the other hand, I don’t think are too happy with me today.  Oh well.  So I guess it goes without saying that I was literally and audibly blown away by this Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track.  I think I’ll press play on this title every time my surround speakers need a good workout.  I was that impressed.  And of course, let’s not forget the dialog.  I never once had any problems understanding a word or any Arnoldism.  Now that’s truly important…not to miss any Arnoldism.

Extras 

In the infancy of these HD Digital Downloads, you have to take what you can get.  In our case, we are treated to two rather beefy, for a Digital Download that is, featurettes plus Lionsgate trailers and chapter/scene selections here in the iTunes Extras department.  There’s not too much to brag about like there would on your typical Blu-ray release, but if you like the feature, I think it’s “warrants” look.  Get it?  Warrants!  LOL.  I crack myself up.  So let’s take a closer look, boss.  And don’t forget, unless you have the ability to beam it to your HDMI connected Apple TV, which you should, the below supplements are only available for viewing on your Mac and unfortunately your PC.

• Not In My Town: Making The Last Stand (28:12) – How about that?  Finally!  It’s an iTunes Extra with some girth and meat.  I’m so used to the lean.  It’s like you don’t even need a reason.  Can I get a hell yeah?  Cast and producers talk about director Kim Ji-woon and how’s he able to make the simple rich.  Kim dons a pretty cool hat throughout.  They also touch base on how this was a good role for Arnold to come back on.  Arnold says he picked this film because it was a fantastic script.  The cast all talk about how surreal it was to share the screen with Arnold.  Aw.  Why am I the one blushing?  They pretty much all grew up watching the man.  And wow!  I’m impressed seeing Arnold doing as much as the stunts as he did.  Arnold really does bring in a lifetime of experience as they say.  But truth be told, I don’t know how they all did it since Kim doesn’t speak English.  That must be one hell of a good translator on set.  That’s all I’ll say.
• The Dinkum Firearm & Historic Weapon Museum (11:23) -If you love guns, then you’ll love this featurette.  Make sure you check it out for the Smith & Wesson 500 alone.  Wow!  So the cast and crew basically get together here and talk about the firearms, the training and the authenticity of it all, including the museum.  Good stuff though!

Summary 

So yeah!  I was surprised to like this one as much as I did.  I had fun with it.  It was a trip down memory lane.  And Gerard Iribe was relentless in encouraging me to watch it so I thought what hell…I’ll give it a “shot.”  And I’m glad I did.  It’s not the greatest script to ever be produced, but unlike Mama or the Ghost Rider films, it’s actually an enjoyable good time that I highly recommend giving it a chance for a nonsensical evening of action enjoyment.  You can enjoy it now on iTunes or you can wait for another three weeks for The Last Stand to make its “stand” on the Blu-ray or DVD format on May 21^st.  Enjoy!

Go Deeper Into the Spectacular Land of Oz 

Disney’s

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

 New To Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, Digital and On-Demand – June 11, 2013

BURBANK, Calif. May 1, 2013 — Disney’s “Oz The Great and Powerful” will once again provide audiences with a magical entertainment experience when it debuts for in-home release on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD, Digital and On-Demand, June 11, 2013.  A must-own for any home entertainment collection, the Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) of “Oz The Great and Powerful” brings the epic adventure to life with its vibrantly colorful picture and sound, and boasts a sensational variety of never-before-seen bonus materials including: “The Magic of ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ Second Screen Feature” that provides viewers with an immersive opportunity to journey into the fantastical lands of Oz; James Franco’s personal story of his journey to the land of Oz that is produced and directed by the Oscar® nominated star himself; Golden Globe® nominee Mila Kunis’ makeup metamorphosis which is hosted by Academy Award®-winning makeup artist Howard Berger; A back-stage journey through each of the visual effects process that brought China Girl to life including an interview with Joey King; and much more. Additionally, all Blu-ray and DVD products include a digital copy of the film allowing consumers to watch “Oz The Great and Powerful” at home, in their car, and/or anywhere they go.

The film is directed by Sam Raimi who helmed the record-crushing “Spider-Man” trilogy, and produced by Joe Roth who fashioned Disney’s billion dollar-plus earning “Alice in Wonderland.” “Oz The Great and Powerful” boasts a stellar cast that includes Academy Award nominee James Franco (“127 Hours”) as Oscar Diggs, the predestined wizard; Golden Globe nominee Mila Kunis (“Black Swan”) as the tormented young witch Theodora; Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz (“The Constant Gardener”) as Theodora’s older sister, Evanora, the witch who rules over the Emerald City; and three-time Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Blue Valentine,” “My Week with Marilyn”) as Glinda, the Good Witch. 

• The Magic of “Oz The Great and Powerful” (Second Screen Experience) – An immersive Second Screen experience that details all things Oz.  From an interactive map full of secrets and surprises, to an inside look at the spectacular world of Oz. All fans need to do is download the special “The Magic of Oz The Great and Powerful: Second Screen” App (which is free and currently available for immediate download at the iTunes Store for iPads) which provides fans with infinite opportunities to remain connected to their favorite film, its cast of characters and to dive deeper into the magical world of Oz. This App provides exclusive access to invigorating and exclusive content including:
  • The Enchanting Characters and Creatures of Oz – From Munchkins and Tinkers to good witches, bad witches, and flying baboons, this piece follows each character and creature of the Land of Oz from inspiration to final outcome.
  • The Sounds of Magical Oz – What adds fragility to the sounds of China Girl’s footsteps; ferocity to the tornado; or weight to the flutter of Finley’s flapping wings?
  • Sleight of Hand: Zach Braff Puppet Theater – Actor, and voice of Finley, Zach Braff introduces viewers to the Finley mockup.
  • Mariah Carey Music Video
  • Bloopers
  • My Journey in Oz by James Franco – A personal story produced and directed by James Franco.
  • Mr. Elfman’s Musical Concoctions – An interview with composer Danny Elfman unveils his inspiration in scoring “Oz The Great And Powerful.”
  • China Girl and the Suspension of Disbelief – This feature uncloaks the several forms of movie magic employed to bring China Girl to life, from the initial artwork and character design, to the on-set puppeteering during filmmaking, and finally, through each stage of the visual-effects process; and includes an interview with Joey King, the voice of China Girl.
  • Before Your Very Eyes: From Kansas to Oz – Production designer Robert Stromberg takes viewers through the set design of the Land of Oz, from sketching his original ideas on a napkin, through to the final set pieces and the accompanying visual effects.
  • Mila’s Metamorphosis – Lead makeup artist Howard Berger expands on one of the oldest, most tried-and-true forms of movie magic: makeup design and effects.
  • Walt Disney and the Road to Oz – It is well known that Walt Disney had a fascination with the Land of Oz since he was a child.  See how that fascination grew into inspiration as he began planning for his own adaptation of the stories in the classic Baum books.

DVD:

• Bloopers
• Walt Disney and the Road to Oz

 Order your copy today!

Geography Club (Movie Review)

Before I go deeper into my thoughts on Geography Club, here is the NBFF’s plot synopsis for the film:  Welcome to Goodkind High’s Geography Club.  Only it’s not what you think.  This secret society – with a name so nerdy it keeps the curious away – is actually a covert classroom refuge where a group of outcasts are about to navigate the clique-mined social terrain of the American high-school . . . and the not-so-straight-forward map to fitting in, coming out, first loves and last hopes.  The sign on the door might say Geography Club, but its members are actually exploring the perilous and sometimes hilarious landscape where sexual identity, attraction, peer pressure, parent problems and the awkwardness of Health Class all converge in a head-spinning maze.

That description more or less sets up the concept of the film, but its main concern is for Russell (Cameron Deane Stewart), a smart high school student who is struggling with the fact that he is gay.  Russell and the quarter back for the football team, Kevin (Justin Deeley), who is also secretly struggling with his feelings, end up together, only to be caught by one of the people from the Geography Club.  The plot is set in motion from there.  What I liked is that the story is very unassuming.  There are not necessarily any big surprises, but the film also does not go overboard with how the story eventually plays out, to the point of which I was quite pleased with its final moments that relied on who the characters were, as opposed to big, dramatic revelations.

Based on a novel by Brent Hartinger, written for the screen by Edmund Entin, and directed by Gary Entin; Geography Club is clearly a film from a group of early filmmakers (I did see this at a film festival, after all), but has the right kind of energy to make this movie work.  It is fun, has a number of likable characters, some of whom grew on me, and a firmly established level of drama that the filmmakers know how to achieve, without betraying the overall tone of the feature.  There are times when the weight of the story that needs to be told feels a little lighter, based on some of the better performances in the film, but I could not help but see a few moments where the film stumbles.

As Russell, Cameron Deane Stewart is likable enough to be given a pass for moments where he does not quite deliver on the dramatic scale.  Some of the issues come from us never really seeing where he’s coming from.  We do not meet his parents, whom we are told are pushing him to be a great student so he can get into Yale and are just kind of thrown into the idea of seeing him begin to act on who he really is.  Now I would not say an extra amount of time devoted to developing the character more would have necessarily helped, given the breeziness of the film, but I would say I was more able to understand the character based on my own filling of the gaps, rather than the performance of the lead actor in the film.  I would be a little harsher on the Kevin character, played by Deeley, as he definitely seemed a little wooden in spots, but let’s focus on some of the other characters.

Geography Club definitely incorporates a lot of standard characters, including the shallow girl, the bullied, shy kid, and the portly best friend, but some of these stock characters worked for me.  Andrew Caldwell played the best friend character, Gunnar, who was too obnoxious for me to handle at first, only to develop into a very likable character as the film carried on.  A bit part by Anna Gastayer as a teacher also worked quite well, not to mention Scott Bakula, who’s character introduces a whole other element to the film, which could have been explored to its benefit.

There are a few bumps along the way, but Geography Club is a nice film overall that clearly has its heart in the right place.  It is made effectively enough and has a simple arc that is fitting for the kind of film it wants to be.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Paris Manhattan (Movie Review)

The next film of my Wednesday night screenings at the festival was Paris Manhattan.  Here is the NBFF synopsis for that film:  Alice (Alice Taglioni) is a Parisian pharmacist with a huge Woody Allen fixation.  She has a huge portrait of him in her bedroom from which she seeks advice on life, and even hands out DVDs of his films to her customers as medicine for their ailments.  Her parents have a sense of urgency for her to find a man, but, in Alice’s mind, none can match Woody Allen.  When she meets Victor (Patrick Bruel), the pharmacy’s security alarm serviceman, the two grow close as they embark on a series of misadventures involving Alice’s colorful family.

The story is incredibly straightforward and at barely 80 minutes in runtime, it wastes no time in accomplishing what it set out to do.  The added benefit is that the film is very enjoyable and full of charm.  Writer/director Sophie Lellouche uses the novel concept of incorporating Woody Allen into a film that is very much inspired by Allen’s work.  She uses dialogue clips from films by Allen to work as a way for Alice’s inner monologue to converse with Allen, and that remains quite amusing throughout.  The idea of her suggesting Allen films to watch to her customers, rather than prescribing actual medicine is a little much, but fits the quirkiness that the film is going for.  Even in a scene that involves a burglary, the film does not attempt to go dark with the material.  It is all about having a fun time.

Both Alice Taglioni and Patrick Bruel are very good here.  They have great chemistry together and benefit a film that needs to show why these two people should be together, even if they try to convince themselves that they are not right for each other.  Taglioni, in particular, is wonderful as the lead character that seems like a real person that has a lot of hang-ups preventing her from being in a serious relationship.  We get to watch her interact with her family and can see how she is a bit different, given how she addresses others and speaks her mind.  Bruel, on the other side of things, is pretty charming as a slightly older suitor for Alice, despite still playing things very smooth.  It is his unassuming, genuine nature that makes him quite charming and a good foil/love interest for Alice.

It is because the story is so thin that the film does not reach a higher grade.  There are points where certain elements seem thrown in just to prolong the feature in an effort to make it feel like a full film, rather than a lengthy short film.  Perhaps a lot was cut out (though I would be surprised at that) for the sake of keeping everything as simple as it seemed, but regardless, there was not too much depth to Paris Manhattan, despite being so charming.  I will say that the end really won me over though.  As contrived as it could be considered, I fell for certain coincidences that occurred, most likely because the cast had already won me over and I enjoyed the film’s general optimism.

Paris Manhattan does not break a whole lot of new ground, but Woody Allen rubbed off on France enough, after making Midnight in Paris, that the tale of Alice’s adventures now exists and I was happy to watch it.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Like everyone else around here, we all started and worked our way up from the bottom up.  Yeah that’s right.  That means covering the Blu-ray titles that no one else wants.  Hey it comes with the territory.  Sean, Gerard, Aaron and myself know it best.  I started out on a little site named Into The Blu back in the days and I watched crap that I still can’t get out of my head in the name of establishing myself in the industry.  I think this was the worst of the worst though.  Want more proof?  Sean once covered Troll 2 here.  It’s the first film I ever saw with a ZERO rating.  He’ll never let me forget that one.  LOL.

So if you’re interested in being part of the magic around here, below are some of the basic requirements we are looking for in the right person.

1. Hard working and able to meet any imposed deadlines.  We can’t tell you how many times we have heard it before.  Everyone thinks how cool is it to write about movies and such.  They beg us for a chance to write.  We give them a shot.  They may write one or two kicka$$ reviews, but then they quickly grow lazy and consistently miss deadlines.  That’s disappointing.  And guess what?  That makes us look bad in the eyes of the studios and marketing people that entrust us with their products and coverage.  If you are not passionate about writing or the core interests of this site, please do us all a favor and don’t inquire.

2. Ability to abide by any and all embargo dates.  This quite simply means that if we tell you something can’t be published by a certain date because the studio says so, well obey that request please. I think that’s pretty simple, don’t you?

3. Ability to use and work in WordPress and understand very basic html coding.  Programming knowledge is not required, but basic html knowledge is helpful in troubleshooting scenarios.  We will hold your hand the first couple of posts and show you the ropes, but we would expect you to become self-proficient at learning how to self-publish on the site.  Basic photo editing and cropping skills will be helpful to have as well.

4. Proof that you can write.  Do you have any published reviews or writing samples you can share with us?  I’ll pass your samples around to the team members and we will all take a quick vote on who we think would fit in the best based on their writing skills and most importantly…proper use of grammar.  So if you can’t spell or form full sentences, no thank you.

5. If we select you, your first Blu-ray review will be tackling a film called A Common Man (see here) and another one of our choosing.

6.  And yeah…that brings me to my next point.  You must have three things in your possession in order to qualify for writing reviews.  Well…okay four!  A HDTV capable of 1080p, a Blu-ray player connected via HDMI and a surround sound receiver, which does lossless audio playback.  And oh yeah…a computer or Mac to type this stuff up on and post it.

7.  This one is optional, but if you happen to live in the Austin, TX or Cleveland, OH markets, I may be able to hook you up with attending exclusive, advanced theatrical press screenings for review coverage.  So keep that in mind.

If i missed anything, please let me know.  SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY.  This is not going to fund your lifestyle or family.  Contact me only if this is going to feed your passion and excite you like it enthralls us!  If you’re still interested and good with everything above, please contact us at webmaster at whysoblu dot com (you’re smart enough to figure that email address formatting out).  We look forward to hearing from you!

Rushlights (Movie Review)

Rushlights plot summary goes a little like this:  Two delinquent young lovers from the suburbs of Los Angeles (Haley Webb and Josh Henderson), traveling to a small Texas town to falsely claim a dead friend’s inheritance, wind up in a nightmare of greed and betrayal in the twisted and bizarre underworld of Tremo, TX.  When the nature of an estate owner’s death is called into question, things start to get complicated, and the grifters find themselves caught between the local sheriff (Beau Bridges) and a lineup of other claimants to the fortune.

The film wishes it could be as clever and well-made as something like the Coen Brothers films Blood Simple or No Country for Old Men, but it instead feels like a complete misfire, more easily comparable to the sub-par Oliver Stone film U-Turn.  Both of these films are twisty crime thrillers set in the Midwest, but at least with a forgettable film such as U-Turn you have good actors to pick up some of the slack (Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thorton, etc.).  Rushlights is not so lucky, as many of the performances register as way too over the top or too bland to really make you care.

In the realm of over the top, Beau Bridges and Aidan Quinn battle over who can deliver the better country drawl, while Crispian Belfrage does his best to provide the most over-the-top English villain that has not been in a Harry Potter film.  On the bland side, Josh Henderson (of the current version of Dallas fame), in the leading male role, does little to have us care about how this character comes out of the mess he gets himself into.  Only Haley Webb comes out on top here, as her performance at least had something that seemed to work for the film.

As far as the story is concerned, Rushlights does not really rise to the occasion when it comes to setting up and delivering upon the surprises supposedly in store for the audience.  It is very easy to see where everything is going and actually becomes laughable when certain big scenes happen (the use of a shotgun made me laugh out loud twice).  One could argue that the film, given the visual style and handling of the tone in spots, was going for playing itself as big and as theatrical as possible, but then the issue comes down to how that plan suffers from a cast that does not pull this off and a story that is not interesting enough for me to care how it was put onto screen.

I knew the basic details of what kind of film I was getting into and expected Rushlights to maybe come off as a decent B-movie thriller.  Instead, a much lower grade came to mind, as I tried to stay awake throughout the film that seemed to be in no rush to make me bored and looking forward to my next screening.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

The Hunt (Movie Review)

Jagten (or The Hunt) is a Danish film, starring Mads Mikkelsen (currently seen on NBC’s Hannibal), who won the Best Actor award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for his work in this film as Lucas.  Here is the NBFF summary:  A disturbing depiction of how a lie becomes the truth when gossip, doubt, and malice are allowed to flourish.  Lucas is a highly-regarded school teacher who has been forced to start over having recently overcome a tough divorce.  However, his life is soon shattered when a hideous, untruthful accusation ignites a witch-hunt that threatens to destroy his life.  The lie is spreading quickly through the small community, and Lucas is forced to fight a lonely fight for his career, his family, and his dignity.

I have mainly seen Mikkelsen in roles that require him to either play a villain or some sort of character with darker intentions.  It is incredibly impressive that Mikkelsen is not only playing a good person, but makes you feel utterly sympathetic for him.  Given the issue that turns Lucas’ life into a living hell, it would be hard to not sympathize with anyone that were to be in the same situation, but to put credit where credit is due, Mikkelsen is fantastic in this film.  Every chance he is given to express some type of emotion, whether it is bewilderment to others in regards to his situation, love for his son, or justified frustration at what is transpiring, based on false accusation, Mikkelsen nails the way to play it.

The story itself is very hard to take in at points, given the way characters go about with their choices.  Things escalate to an out of control level very quickly, despite having originating elements that could have been cleared up in five minutes, were certain people not acting in an incredulous manner and handling the situation with more tact.  However, because of the wrong choices being made, nearly all of Lucas’ friends and acquaintances become callous and belligerent, leading me to become incredibly frustrated with the situations presented.

There are two films that came to mind as I watched The Hunt.  The first was a film I was only okay with, and that was 2011’s We Need To Talk About Kevin, which starred Tilda Swinton in a great performance.  Similar to that film, The Hunt had me so fed up at points, given what I knew to be true versus what others were refusing to comprehend, that I had a hard time not squirming in my seat at points.  I believe The Hunt succeeds over ‘Kevin’ for me, because I guess I was just happier knowing that something could presumably be done to solve the situation at hand, even if I have to wallow in a lot of drama, before reaching that point.

The other film that came to mind was the wonderful 2011 drama A Separation, which had a lot more in the way of presenting a moral grey area in regards to who was in the wrong for that story, but still presented a fascinating character study, with little in the way of anything else aside from strong acting and writing to really sell what is happening.  The Hunt is very similar in that regard and had me just as compelled, despite the seemingly little that was going on in scenes, aside from characters arguing.

Perhaps the argument can be made that The Hunt borders on misery porn, as we keep seeing things become darker and darker for a character who certainly does not deserve this kind of trouble in his life, but I was so compelled by where the story was going, which eventually led to an ultimate conclusion that was not as neat as it initially may have seemed.  It did not hurt that a bit of a break in the story was given about midway through, as the perspectives slightly shifted and other characters provided a bit of relief amidst the continual drama unfolding.  Regardless, I was already fine with the dark path we were going down, even if I was ready to yell at certain characters in this movie.

The Hunt is a fine piece of filmmaking.  With minimal score, imagery set around only a few locations, and a handful of main characters, director Thomas Vinterberg does a fantastic job with a well throughout story that is not the easiest to watch unfold.  Mikkelsen is fantastic in the lead role and does such a great job at keeping you invested just to see if he is able to come out of this whole ordeal in one piece.  For those in search of a good foreign drama, The Hunt is definitely a strong film to consider.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Starring  Kevin Taft, Brenna Smith, and Rachel Appelbaum.
Directed by Sean Wright.

Space – the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Star Trek universe. As its on-going mission approaches its 50th anniversary, we do a special retrospective and a preview of Star Trek – Into Darkness.

WATCH US ON PBS SOCAL Saturdays at 6PM or pbssocal.org/justseenit

Starring Brenna Smith, Salim Lemelle and Scott Mantz.
Directed by Amy Taylor.

Sound like something you’d be interested in?  Well, I hope so because Well Go USA has kindly provided us with some Blu-ray copies to give away to several lucky WSB readers.  Sound good?

For your chance to win The Assassin’s Blade…

Send us an email to webmaster at whysoblu dot com (piece that together) with…your name, full U.S. mailing address (NO PO BOXES), the name of the contest (Assassin’s Blade) and hit Submit and BAM… you’re automatically entered.  As a caveat…please also tell all your friends to follow us on Facebook and Twitter too.  Could it be any simpler?  Several lucky readers will be picked on Tuesday, May 7th and will be notified via email.  Again…continental US entries only.  Only one entry per person.  Good luck!

*** Any entires that don’t follow the rules set forth within this paragraph will be instantly dismissed ***

Wasteland (Movie Review)

Wasteland was a hip take on a gritty British heist film.  Here is the NBFF description of the feature:  Battered and bruised, Harvey (Luke Treadway) sits in a police interview room facing interrogation.  Clutching a stack of eyewitness statements, the detective on the other side of the table (Timothy Spall) has no doubt about Harvey’s part in a foiled robbery and his subsequent attempted murder of a local businessman.  Denying everything, Harvey agrees to tell his version of events in full.  What unfolds is an exhilarating, moving and hilarious story of loyalty, jealousy, friendship, revenge and the pursuit of happiness.

I am not sure if every one of those adjectives is delivered upon in Wasteland, but I did find the film to be a strong effort with a lot of energy to make it a worthwhile feature.  The best thing about it was how it kept getting better as it went along.  The film is at first trying to find its footing by establishing what kind of film we are in.  It then does its job of setting up the characters.  Then the film begins to pay off the story beats it has set up.  I have continued to describe the heist film plot as one of the easier ways to get an audience excited about how everything will work out, because even if you are not too invested in the characters, there tends to be an inherent need to see the plan succeed, rather than watch everyone get caught.  Wasteland manages to pull that off quite well, due to its very entertaining third act, with the added bonus that the four main friends are a fun group of guys to watch.

In the lead role, Luke Treadway (who co-starred in Attack the Block, one of my favorite films of 2011) does a very nice job as Harvey; presenting us with an everyman character that was wrongfully imprisoned and is now seeking justice.  He has the most work to do here and he does a good balancing act of showing us who this character is, what he is holding back, and what he wishes he were capable of.  It was also nice to see Harry Potter’s Neville Longbottom, Matthew Lewis, get his own role in this film, as he continues to be a likable presence whenever I see him.  Iwan Rheon was quite entertaining too, as Harvey’s best friend.  And it was also quite nice to see Timothy Spall in a contemporary film, as I practically did not recognize him without having some kind of period attire or makeup on.

The film was written and directed by Rowan Athale, who did a fine job with balancing out the various characters, setting the stakes for the film, and keeping the script fairly tight.  Wasteland moved at a pretty zippy pace and I was pleased with how it treated the characters as real people, meaning that the heavy accents and camaraderie added to the film, with only a few moments of dialogue that felt a bit precious (mainly in the use of voiceover).  Still, in terms of filmmaking, I enjoyed the way the film came together, without utilizing too much in the way of stylish camera tricks, but enough to give the film its own identity.  The fact that it was also quite humorous at times only went further in making this work better as an enjoyable comedic crime thriller.

Wasteland is essentially joining the ranks of the many British crime films, without breaking a whole lot of new ground.  With that said, the likable cast, well-managed scripting, and overall successful mood in capturing the spirit of the heist genre, made it a worthy feature to join said ranks.  It may not be as auspicious as something like Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, but it is still a fun flick.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Fruit of Labor (Movie Review)

I should say something about the short film, Fruit of Labor, even though I generally do not like to expand too much on these types of features.  The film stars Vincent Kartheiser as Alfred.  Alfred desires to be taken seriously as a fashion photographer and, with the assistance of his homicidal wife (Erin Cummings), pushes his would-be-models to the brink of hysteria in order to capture the perfect photo.

The film only lasts 19 minutes, but it is a neat little experience with a surprisingly strong cast.  Along with Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser, Chi McBride also pops in for a small role.  Fittingly, the film was written and directed by La Monde Byrd, who once had a recurring role on Mad Men.  Byrd does well with providing an interesting setup for the film, delivering some neat visual tricks, and getting a lot of good work out of Kartheiser.  My only real fault is that the ending does not quite deliver.  I can see what the film was trying to go for, but I do not feel that the execution was as effective as the middle portion of the film that built up to it.

Not wanting to discredit short films that I did find to be interesting, I will say that Fruit of Labor is an interesting experience and not at all too lengthy (hence my vague descriptions, as one could easily view the film for themselves and learn what I am referring to).  Given that filmmakers often start out with shorts such as these, it is indeed worth watching this feature just for the sake of supporting talented young writers and directors hoping to make more films in the future.  Fruit of Labor may not have ultimately won me over, but I found the effort to certainly be there.

Check out the film’s brief trailer here:

Gus (Movie Review)

The other full-length feature I was able to see on Monday was the comedy-drama Gus.  The NBFF description is as follows:  Unable to conceive, Lizzie (Radha Mitchell) desperately longs to start a family with her husband Peter (John Dore) and gets the chance of a lifetime when her single best friend Andie (Michelle Monaghan) gets pregnant from a one-night stand and offers to give Lizzie the baby. Reluctantly, Peter agrees to be the child’s father, and before he knows it, Andie has moved into the guest room for the duration of her pregnancy.  When Peter also invites his ne’er-do-well brother (Michael Westin) to the house, chaos ensues, testing the limits of friendship, family and a marriage.

There is not a whole lot of new to be seen in a film like this.  I have seen many features, large and small, that are based around the idea of a lead character acting as one who is willing to give up their child to someone else, with varying levels of success to follow through on that promise.  Gus does get some credit for having an eventual conclusion that was messier than some of the more average attempts at this story, but it does take its time getting there.

Following my screening of Gus, my friend describe the film as “emotionally wrought” and I have a hard time disagreeing with that notion.  This felt especially true in the case of Mitchell and Dore’s characters who constantly argue over the concept of children, their adorable dog Joyce, their responsibilities at home, and the presence of other people living with them.  That is not to say that either of these actors are bad, although while Mitchell is quite good, Dore is a bit of a dud from a character standpoint, but it does present a challenge for the actors, given that the script relies on old tropes to get through many of the emotional beats in the story.

Written and directed by Jessie McCormack, the film is structured to have us follow along with the story, based on the progress of the pregnancy, but the stops along the way work best (or at least is most entertaining) with the single characters.  Both Monaghan and Westin are very good in this film.  Monaghan is a wonderful ball of comedic energy, who delivers lots of great comic dialogue throughout and brings a sense of humor that I have seen her display before quite effectively here.  Westin gets points for playing a character that has been in and out of rehab, only to seem like the most balanced person in the cast, and not making it stand out as such.  That is the idea with this character, but I like how the film uses this character and addresses his past issues.  For the most part, it is a credit to the film that the humor was able to fit the tone as effectively as it did.

As I wrap up, I do have to shout out the overall production of the feature.  Not a lot is going on, but Gus does make good on its small budget by using its LA locations effectively and sporting a solid soundtrack (complete with backing vocals by Mitchell in some cases) that really puts a nice bow on the feature.  A good score can go a long way and for Gus to have the feeling of a lightweight drama with some very familiar story elements, I was pleased enough to go along with it.

The film does not yet have a trailer, but I did learn that it was picked up for
distribution, which is good news for any independent filmmaker.

Click on the poster to visit the Newport Beach Film Festival website,
and be sure to check back to Why So Blu throughout the week
for more of my coverage of the festival!

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Greetings from Tim Buckley (Movie Review)

Following The Searchers, my first screening of a new film on Saturday was the music-based biopic Greetings from Tim Buckley.  Set in 1991, this is the story of a young musician named Jeff Buckley (Penn Badgley), who rehearses for his public singing debut at a Brooklyn tribute concert for his father, the late folk singer Tim Buckley (played by Ben Rosenfield in flashbacks).  Struggling with the legacy of a man he barely knew, Jeff finds solace in a relationship with an enigmatic young woman working at the show, Allie (Imogen Poots).  As they explore New York City, their adventures recall glimpses of Tim’s own 60s heyday, as he drives cross-country with a girlfriend and finds himself on the verge of stardom, despite having a newborn Tim left with his mother back at home.

I enjoyed the way the film crosscut back and forth between Jeff and Tim Buckley.  It made for an effective way to tell the story, shedding light on a character that we otherwise would not be able to see and the one who has grown up to be just as talented as his father.  This transition never felt forced and always seemed to come at the right time in order to break up the action going on in the film’s present.  Since the film largely capitalizes off the idea that Jeff is playing in a concert for a man he has never known, it works to see him battle his feelings about the situation, while we get an actual glimpse of a guy who had a complicated situation of his own to deal with.  Tim Buckley was clearly not ready to be a parent and was literally breaking through the barrier with his music.  This is not to say that his actions are justified, but I liked how the film put this on display.

There really are a lot of nice aspects to this film.  The performances are solid, with Penn Badgley making a good impression on me, given that I am not too familiar with the work he seems to be better known for (Gossip Girl).  I also continue to find Imogen Poots to be a young actress destined for good things, as she pops up in small roles and always seems quite effective.  I would say that the film, for being about more important things, does use a fairly clichéd romantic angle in order to drive the story forward, but the actors are very likable and that goes a long way.

What really matters is the fantastic soundtrack heard in this film.  I am not sure who is actually singing, but the type of music that the Buckley’s play is very folksy with a lot of other elements such as rock, jazz, and blues.  We get to hear a lot of music throughout this movie and it really makes it worth it.  I would say that the pace is a little slack because of this extended musical focus, but if one is really in the mood to see a slice of the lives of Tim and Jeff Buckley, then this movie is a nice place to turn to.  Greetings from Tim Buckley is a strong feature overall, with some great sounds to really dig on.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Isolated (Movie Review)

The next feature I had a chance to see was one of the features from the NBFF’s Action Sports series of films, a very good documentary titled Isolated.  Here is the exciting film synopsis provided by the film festival:  A group of merciless surfers and modern day explorers embark on a journey to search for one of the world’s last undiscovered waves in the journalist dead zone island of New Guinea.  Their adventure becomes all too real as they encounter real life cannibals, uncover governmental genocide, expose a highly unethical gold mining corporation, and are followed by the military only to be later kidnapped by the rebel freedom movement.  Isolated features never before seen footage of a dying aboriginal culture as well as one of the most epic wave discoveries of the past 20 years.

Now the synopsis makes this sound like it could practically be a Hollywood thriller, but it is in fact a really strong documentary that starts off as an entertaining surfing doc, only to have a twist related to the humanitarian efforts sought out by the surfers involved.  You are almost getting two films in one here, with a lot of great surfing footage (this is the second time in recent months that I want to mention how awesome an IMAX surfing doc would be) making up a large portion of the film and the sad facts about what is going on in New Guinea making up another portion of the story.

What I enjoyed is how the film seemed very genuine in how it transitioned over to this dramatic angle.  It seems very apparent that the goal was to initially make a surfing doc about finding isolated waves in unexplored areas, only to find a number of isolated groups of people that are going through a lot of political turmoil.  Given that the explorers and the filmmakers spend time with random tribes of people out in the jungles of New Guinea, it is hard to argue against anything that they have to say here.  A lesser film could seem very shallow in bringing up an agenda, but Isolated has been effectively put together to remain entertaining throughout its relatively short runtime, despite the shift in what topic is most important.

Director Justin Le Pera has worked well with his crew to dig through the 100s of hours of footage that I imagine were at their disposal and did a fine job of making an effective documentary that shifts gears completely and still remains an absorbing watch.  For those who want a solid feature about surfing, it is in Isolated.  For those who want to see a documentary that is not too heavy, but still has a nice level of substance within it, Isolated works on that level as well.  Given that I try to come in as fresh as possible for the features I see at the film festival, I was very happy to not get what I was expecting with this film.

Check out the trailer below and visit the website
to learn more about the film’s cause – www.isolated.tv

Welcome to the Jungle (Movie Review)

The last film I got to see at the film festival on Saturday was actually the world premiere of the comedy Welcome to the Jungle.  Nearly the entire cast and crew were on hand to present the film to a packed audience in Newport Beach’s Lido Theater and I was happy to not be disappointed.  The film is a comedy that has some very familiar beats in it, but works due to many of the comedic performances on display.  It really worked as the kind of film that would be nice to end a long day of screenings on.

Welcome to the Jungle revolves around a group of office workers sent on a team building exercise on a tropical island.  Adam Brody stars as Chris, the workplace weakling who is regularly bullied by Phil (Rob Huebel), the office loudmouth.  This team building exercise is headed up by Storm (JCVD himself, Jean Claude Van Damme), an unhinged ex-Marine, who really gets a kick out of these extreme activities.  However, Phil quickly assumes leadership after the pilot of the plane who flew the office workers to the island is found dead and Storm is attacked by a wild tiger (just one of those days, I guess).  As Chris is much more qualified to lead, it quickly becomes a battle for supremacy, which comes at the risk of everyone remaining stranded on the island.

It really is the cast that makes this film work.  Along with Brody and Huebel, the film also stars Kristen Schaal, Dennis Haysbert, and Megan Boone, among others, and everyone really does a good job of balancing out the laughs.  Huebel is easily the best comedic weapon this film has to offer however, as he brings the right level of dickishness and ridiculousness to the role he is playing, as the film veers into being a twisted and raunchier version of Lord of the Flies with regards to how he leads the group.  Van Damme is notably quite funny in this film as well, but it is not so much that Van Damme’s comedic timing is very good, as it is just kind of jarring to watch the Mussels from Brussels play around with his image.  Obviously that is the point, but it does feel like the film tries to get more out of the fact that it is Van Damme playing this part rather than suggest that Van Damme is a comedic talent finally being tapped (although he is hilarious in Expendables 2).

The premise is a good one.  Playing around with the idea of team building exercise, the concept of being stranded on an island, and turning it into a workplace comedy gone off the deep end is a fairly fresh concept.  That said, I would easily recommend Severance for those who want this sort of comedy with a little more edge thrown in.  Still, Welcome to the Jungle is pretty funny.  It made me laugh quite a bit, even in the midst of seeing where a lot of the punch lines were going to come from early on.  Again, in a case like this, it comes down to the kind of energy a film has in getting across its goal and I was happy to give in and smile, while watching this film.

No trailer yet, but here are a couple clips from the film:

Click on the poster to visit the Newport Beach Film Festival website,
and be sure to check back to Why So Blu throughout the week
for more of my coverage of the festival!

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Blood Type: Unknown (Movie Review)

Blood Type: Unknown is the story of freshman college student Caitlyn Landale (Jenna Kanell).  She has just left for college and intends to study hard.  Upon arriving, Caitlyn is instantly at odds with her roommate, Alice (Leanna Pareja), but that doesn’t stop her from going to a party and learning of the mysterious Adam Godfrey (Doug Penikas).  Caitlyn later gets involved in a heated discussion during her creative writing class with Adam, only to develop a new relationship with him.  Her life is forever changed as she uncovers a secret Adam has kept for centuries.

The movie does get points for holding my interest, as there is a central mystery that kept me curious about the film’s enigmatic Adam character.  I wanted to know what it was that made him different from the others and the film does a good job at playing that aspect up, before revealing all the details that really need to be known.  At the same time, Caitlyn is a rather likable girl who opens up as the film goes on.  As Caitlyn is the lead, we have to see her go through a lot and I did like that the character earned a full arc over the course of the film.  Additionally, Jenna Kanell has a nice level of chemistry with Doug Penikas, which somewhat helped the film, despite its issues.

Unfortunately I did have a lot of issues with the film as a whole.  A lot of this is due to the energy, as I found Blood Type: Unknown to not have much of a pulse.  While I do think the leads were good overall, the film had an issue with presenting a story that was truly engaging because of everyone involved and how some of it felt a little amateur, regardless of some of the story developments and the core relationship between Caitlyn and Adam.  It got to a point where everything started to feel pretty spelled out, as I was about one step ahead of every conversation occurring.  Along with that, a whole can of worms seemed to be open in regards to who Adam is, which could seemingly be explained away by the fact that the themes of the film revolved around love and soul mates, but still left me unsatisfied in regards to a few characters and actions that occurred in the film.

It is tough to be vague, but the twist of the film is quite specific and I do not want to spoil it, even though I was not a big fan of the film.  Blood Type: Unknown has its share of issues, but I will say that for a debut film (star Doug Penikas also wrote, directed, and produced), I did find there to be a lot of good filmmaking on display.  I also found the conclusion to be quite effective on an emotional level, given what the film was going for.  Hopefully Penikas will have the chance to make a livelier and better scripted film the next time around.

Check out the film’s trailer:

A Single Shot (Movie Review)

The second film of the night was A Single Shot, which I was happy to be much more receptive to, despite being a much darker tale.  This film tells the sad story of John Moon (Sam Rockwell).  While stalking a deer out of season, John accidentally shoots and kills a teenage girl.  While trying to dispose of her body in an abandoned container, he stumbles upon a large sum of money.  John of course feels the guilt for what he has done, but also sees this as an opportunity to help his family, despite the fact that John’s wife, Moira (Kelly Reilly), recently left and took their son with her.  Unfortunately things become much more complicated as John gets caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse with hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.  Moon now must outsmart those hunting him down to save himself and his family.

My main thought in regards to this film has been to describe it as the darker version of a film like Fargo. It has a familiar type of story and motifs, but it is played completely straight.  Characters in this film do bad things and are punished for them.  Greed is not so much a motivating factor for John, but it certainly serves as a way to balance out the weight of his other sins.  As for the other characters, well let me just say that there are very few people to root for in this film.  Not everyone is evil here and the film actually does do a good job of rounding out the supporting cast with significant characters, but for the most part we are dealing with some pretty ugly individuals, all living in what appears to be both a beautiful environment and a location that is distanced from seemingly everywhere else in the world.

Seriously, this film has great atmosphere.  While there are constant shots of the forested landscape and countryside that these characters are living within (the film was shot in Canada and said to take place in Montana, I believe), the actual town is a place seemingly stuck in time.  There are farms on the outskirts of town, local diners with regulars that look exactly like regulars, and no one who has likely sought out to come to this place for living on purpose, unless they just got back from The Road.

It is a fitting environment for the cast of characters we meet.  Sam Rockwell is fantastic in this film and continued proof that he is great in just about everything.  He can be the funniest guy in the room, but in this film he dials everything back to a restrained performance that has him working so well simply with his gestures and expressions.  Additionally, the supporting cast has veteran character actors including Jeffrey Wright, Ted Levine, Jason Isaacs, W. Earl Brown, and even William H. Macy as a local slimy lawyer.  This is a film very much about gruff men with backwater town accents, but no one feels like a caricature here.

A Single Shot is very much a drama, with some thrilling elements.  I have already mentioned Fargo, but A Simple Plan would be a good comparison as far as the overall mood of the film is concerned (more people should see A Simple Plan by the way).  It is very dark, very deliberate in pace, but very well acted and plotted out in a convincing manner.  There may not be much room for levity in a film like this, but between the atmosphere and the fine performances from the cast, I am definitely glad I did not miss this film.

Check out the film’s trailer here:

Click on the poster to visit the Newport Beach Film Festival website,
and be sure to check back to Why So Blu throughout the week
for more of my coverage of the festival!

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Arthur Newman

Mike:  You really think you’re the only person with someone else’s ID?

Colin Firth stars as a man who is seemingly done with his current life.  We understand that he has an estranged son that hates him and a girlfriend, Mina (Anne Heche), who is likely bored of him.  This man gets rid of his life by creating a scene that looks as if he died, while he has in fact purchased a new identity and sets out on the road to pursue his new life as Arthur Newman.  During Arthur’s travels, he connects with another lost soul.  This is Mike, played by Emily Blunt.  As Arthur and Mike begin to travel together, they begin to take on the identities of others by breaking into their homes and wearing their lives for a few hours.  It is a wild sort of road trip for a man who has seemingly never really lived.  Of course, these types of fun times are never meant to last.

Arthur Newman tries very hard to be likable, quirky drama.  It has a mismatched duo, a beautiful girl who is a mess inside, a particular skill for our hero, an odd set of circumstances that bring the two together, and other things that factor into this story, which has one inevitable place to reach by its end.  These are not bad ideas, the film just does not quite find a way to make them either more interesting or more consistent in tone.  The humor peppered throughout the film does not really amount to much in the way of relief.  The drama is more interesting, but the film, which only lasts 96 minutes, takes too much time in between major story beats to have really kept me engaged.  What is worse is the fact that a few aspects of the story felt underdeveloped, which is a shame, as the downtime could have provided more interesting avenues for this film to take, which would have led to a more cohesive story.

The saving grace of the film is that it has very good actors in the lead roles.  Colin Firth does not have to do a lot to make me understand Arthur, even if the film only does so much to get me to look past the fact that this seemingly good man has abandoned his child.  Firth does a good job of playing a man trying to convince himself that he is someone different, even though he is aware that he is not having an easy time doing it.  Blunt is quite good at playing a damaged character, which could easily be dismissed as saying she plays someone that cries a lot, but I found there to be a lot of playfulness in her performance.  Lastly, I will speak up for Anne Heche, who is a bit of a problem, as the film does not really find an overall use for her.  Throughout the story, we check back in with Mina, as she goes through “Arthur’s” things and learn more about a person who she thinks is dead.  Heche also gets to interact with the son, who opens her up a bit, but it is a shame, because it is a good performance that goes wasted.

Thinking back on the film more, there really is a lot of awkwardness in what it was trying to do.  It tries to become a sexy road movie midway through, leading to a montage that basically falls flat, as there is so much more to the poignancy seen in revealing who these characters are.  The cuts to back with Anne Heche’s character do not end up amounting to much.  Some of the revelations involving Arthur are actually kind of confusing, which may be more due to how disinterested I eventually became.  And the ending of the film felt more like a stop sign halting the audience, rather than suggesting we’re reached our destination.

I would have liked to have been able to recommend the film based on the performances alone, as these are good actors showcasing their skills.  Unfortunately, the film is not very good.  The story is not as defined as I would have liked and spends too much time in the sand trap, rather than sticking to the green.  This golf reference would be clearer, were the film to have utilized this aspect of the story more effectively (I am very purposely mentioning it just now for the first time), but it doesn’t, which is why I have to come down on the film.  Being quirky and different was not enough this time around.  Arthur Newman needed to find more footing before taking on this life.

Arthur:  Stay with me.  We can both have the lives we want.

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

Film 

Well, I guess there’s no sugar coating it since the score I awarded the film precedes this paragraph.   While Mama is certainly not the worst movie that I’ve ever seen, I was very disappointed by it.  What started off as a really cool concept and beginning just ended up being the same old contrived horror movie we have seen time and time again.  Yawn.   And that ending.   God was it silly.   Was it supposed to be a comedy?  I was never scared throughout.  I was bored.  But I’m a reviewer, and I’m here to do my unbiased job, so lets get to it.

Mama was co-written and directed by Andres Muschietti.  It was based on his short film, a 2008 Spanish language short film of the same and that ladies and gentlemen is what captured the attention of Guillermo del Toro.  As a matter of fact, as I kind of mentioned above, del Toro ended up serving as an executive producer here.  Hey Guillermo, my writing partners and I have many scripts that are better than Mama that we are shopping around.   Just saying…

The film we are gathered here today to discuss revolves around two young girls who end up being abandoned in a forest cabin.  How they survived is the real mystery here to me, but we are led to believe they were fostered by an entity they call Mama, who eventually follows them to their new suburban home after being rescued by their uncle, Game of Throne‘s “king slayer” Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and his girlfriend, Zero Dark Thirty‘s Jessica “No Emotion” Chastain, who sports a horrible, short black wig and a fake sleeve of tattoos.  We are supposed to believe she’s a punk rocker.   Maybe if she showed a little more “emotion” in her roles, I might have actually bought that.  I’m not dissing here beauty.   God no.   I just haven’t seen her in anything spectacular recently to prove otherwise that she’s worthy of my praise and undivided attention like I would give to an actress of Ashley Judd like caliber.   And yes I know.   I’m completely in the minority here regarding here Zero Dark Thirty performance.

Now I’ve grown quite fond of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau lately, but this one’s not going to be any spectacular or noteworthy resume builder for him, in my opinion.  Go see Oblivion instead if you want to actually see him in a good movie.  So anyway, I guess you can say that once we get home here, so to speak, that’s when all hell breaks lose and the fun and games, if you can call them that, begin in Act 2.  And that’s fine, but it’s also where everything starts feeling mundanely familiar and ultimately unravels and leads us to one hell of an unspectacular Act 3.

I should also make mention that many people have gone on record in reviews complaining about the film’s ending.  That was not the problem in my opinion.   I felt it was very well handled.   It was everything else.   The film’s low 15 million dollar budget definitely showed throughout and the Mama ghost…heck I’m still not sure if she was meant to be scary or comical.   I definitely felt the latter by my sarcasm if you can’t tell.  I’m more scared of Pinocchio than Mama.

In addition to Jessica and the king slayer, the film also briefly features two of the cutest young girls I have ever seen played by Morgan McGarry and Maya Dawe.  They are later replace by the actors who play Victoria and Lilly throughout the rest of the film, Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nelisse.  And they are actually really good and believable in their roles.   They’re not as cute as their younger counterparts, but they single handedly carry the weight of this film on their shoulders nonetheless.   Heck, they are the only ones who showed up in this feature.  The rest of the cast, with the exception of Daniel Kash as Dr. Dreyfuss, are barely worth talking about and their performances are rather quite forgettable.   Hey go figure.   I forgot what I was going to say about them.   Ha ha.

So while I can go on and on about the many flaws and faults I find with this film, I think I’ll rest my case and hit the pause button here.  This one’s definitely a feature that will divide audiences.   You’re either going to love it or you’re going to hate it.  I don’t believe there’s any in between here.   In regards to everyone on iTunes that wrote reviews about how scary this film is I have two questions to challenge you with.   What was so scary about it?   And have you ever seen a horror movie before?

Video 

The same things that you can find fault with in regards to Mama on the Blu-ray format also haunt this HD Digital Download.   They include edge halos, crush and some moments of sightly compression, the latter as a result of it being a Digital Download.  Now with that being said, not everything’s imperfect here.   Despite the film’s suppressed color palette, I was quite impressed by the contrast, the flesh tones and the deep black levels.   Details in the sets, the fabrics and the shadows that haunt the foreground are all quite strong and remarkable.   There are no noticeable blemishes, noise or artifacts in the print and the cinematic grain is never obtrusive.   It’s not a bad transfer, just not perfect.   You’ll have that and it’s definitely nothing to complain about.   My job is just to report the obvious in these categories. 

Audio 

This is the section I’m most impressed here with Mama…the download’s 5.1 Dolby Digital track.   You want haunting and brooding?   Well, you go it here.   Things go bump in the night.  Yes.  But it’s what lurks in the shadows all around you that pulls you in and this surround track makes impressive use of the rears in achieving that spacious depth of reality.   Also equally impressive is the track’s dialog levels.   Everything down to the quietest whisper is intelligible and clear throughout.   That’s usually tricky to achieve with whispers, but they nailed it here, I’m pleased to report.  The LFE channel completes this seductive and haunting soundtrack and puts you effectively in the middle of the suspense.   It’s just too bad the film was a stinker or I’d be really raving about this fact.   Oh well, you’ll have that.  And let’s not forget about the score.   It also sounds stellar here, but completely out of place in my opinion.   It draws too much attention to itself and took me out of the moment more than a couple of times.  But that’s that.  Lets say we move onto the bonus goodies, huh?

Extras 

You’ll probably notice the generous score here in this section.   Well, lets be completely honest with each other.   There’s usually not much here in the way of iTunes Extras with these downloads so when there are we need to embrace them, take note and rejoice in the fact.   Let the celebration begin!

• Original Short: With Introduction by Guillermo del Toro - Guillermo del Toro introduces the original 5-minute Mama short film, which enameled him and drew him to the project.  I was very interested to check this one out.
• Deleted Scenes – We are treated to approximately 8-minutes of deleted scenes here featuring the following selections: “Honey, I’m Home,” “Not Raised by Animals,” “Doll Parts,” “Conversations with the Wall,” “Lilly in the Garden” and “A Discovery in the Closet.”   For me, I can easily overlook these as I’m not a fan of the film, but for those of you that are (you know who you are), it’s good to know they’re available here.
• The Birth of Mama – Guillermo del Toro and the filmmakers track the progression of how the film went from a short to its transition to a feature film.  I smell a sequel.  Anyone else?

Summary 

I honestly can’t recommend this one as I didn’t care for it, but it’s nice to know that if you did, you can have it now as an iTunes HD Digital Download and can be enjoying it as you read this.   For everyone else that wants to wait until the conventional Blu-ray and DVD release or even the iTunes rental, you’ll be able to take it all in on May 7th.   And if you do find yourself curious or are a fan of this feature, please help support our site by ordering here or clicking on one of the links below.   Your support is very much appreciated and I’m sorry that I can’t say anything else more positive about Mama to sell you on it.   I’m just not a fan and I would feel very bad about misleading you.   Until next time…

This is from NBFF’s official synopsis for Broadway Idiot:  Filmed over four years with rare access behind the curtain, this film gives you a front row seat as Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of the world famous band, Green Day, ventures from rock and roll into the strange world of Broadway.  It is not just Green Day’s mega hit album – American Idiot- that is transformed in the process – Billie Joe is too.  American Idiot debuted to great success, winning two Tony Awards and has now been taken on the road around the world.  This is a journey from a Green Day concert at Madison Square Garden to the Great White Way – only ten blocks away, but worlds apart.  Will Broadway, or Billie Joe, ever be the same?

Clocking in at only 80 minutes, the doc really travels fast with providing a ton of highlights for what was apparently a four year period of filming.  For the most part, we are given plenty of the basic information needed to have a grasp on where Green Day was coming from following the release of American Idiot, their most successful album; where the notion to turn this album (which was a concept album, designed to play as a rock opera) into a musical came from; and how it had an effect on the band.  That is quite a lot to cover in a brief documentary and I am sure a lot was left out, which is an issue I will address later, but the film gets a lot of mileage out of its entertaining approach to presenting all of these aspects of the story.

While I have not seen the show, the best part of this documentary was seeing how some of the various musical numbers were created.  There are several instances where the songs are presented to us in their original form, followed by new adaptations, with added vocal segments and melodies, suitable for the stage, rehearsal footage for the show, and what the final version on stage looks like.  One does not necessarily get the full message of what Green Day was going for with the songs, but the film is not so much about the meaning as it is the presenting of the creation of the stage adaptation, the people involved, and the reactions of Billie Joe Armstrong and the others.

I mention the others, but that is an aspect that was kind of missing from the documentary.  Billie Joe Armstrong is definitely the most outspoken band member in this film, as we get interviews almost exclusively from him and hear very little from the other band members Mike Dirnt or Tre Cool.  I suppose if this was a documentary about the messages of American Idiot the album or a film that was specifically about Green Day, more could have been seen of them, but I was still curious as to what the other 2/3rds of the band was thinking in regards to this stage production of their biggest accomplishment as a group.  That said, Broadway Idiot does tease the idea that Billie Joe made a new discovery about himself and how success has changed his life.  I just wish this was a clearer aspect in the story as well.

Broadway Idiot begins with a flash-forward to Billie Joe being a part of the stage performance in some manner, leaving us the rest of the film to figure out how he got to that point.  The problem is that the film does not make too much of an arc out of this.  Now, real life can’t exactly be shaped into a traditional three-act structure all the time, but director Doug Hamilton and his editor Rob Tinworth tried their best to throw in some bookends on the film that unfortunately did not quite resonate as effectively as I would have liked.  The film had so much going on within its short span of time that it didn’t quite find the best way to juggle every aspect.  Beyond the idea that ‘American Idiot: The Broadway Musical’ was happening, we only get a handful of perspectives and not a clear gage on how long this whole process took and when things were happening.

Looking past these problems, however, there were a lot of likable qualities to the various threads that we continued to see throughout the film.  Watching the various people involved with the production talk about their excitement to be a part of something unique was quite enjoyable.  Seeing the process come to life and learn about the initial performances for smaller crowds, only to see footage from the Grammys, where the Broadway announcement was originally made was quite neat to behold as well.  If there was a lot more to the footage shot, than what Broadway Idiot has been edited down to certainly emphasizes the enjoyable triumphs.

Focus-related issues aside, as far as fun, music-oriented documentaries go, Broadway Idiot is a very enjoyable feature.  It does have its heart in the right place and the people involved in the creation of the musical, as well as Billie Joe, are quite endearing to watch.  The film effectively provides the basics in what the musical production of American Idiot entails and how it came to be, without going too in depth.  And If you like the music by Green Day, then you are in for quite the treat as well, as its pretty much nonstop in that department.  For those seeking an entertaining look at how one of the most successful albums of the 2000s became a full-on Broadway production, Broadway Idiot is perfectly acceptable.

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were two of America’s greatest film critics. In this special tribute to them, we honor their memory with review of their favorite movies.

As a resident of Southern California and one who is apparently eager to lose a lot of sleep for the sake of film, I plan to attend the festival, hopefully gaining access to many different screenings of films that I have my eye on.  I will do my best to provide reviews for films that have both been making there rounds through festivals and ones that are making their debuts at the NBFF.  I do plan to try something a bit different this year in terms of how I handle my coverage, so hopefully I will be able to provide even more information, while still in a timely manner.

Anyone with further interest should make sure to visit the Newport Beach Film Festival’s official website.  Furthermore, anyone who is actually in the Southern California area should try to make an effort to come down and be a part of the festival.  Having gone through this before, I can safely say there are many interesting and exciting films to check out, let alone plenty of stars and filmmakers currently hanging out in the area, so you never know who you might run into, let alone how much you may end up appreciating some of the films you see.

Here is the official press release:

2013 NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES WORLD PREMIERES, SEMINARS AND NIGHTLY EVENTS

THE 14th ANNUAL NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL RUNS

FROM APRIL 25 – MAY 2, 2013

Celebrated as one of the leading lifestyle film festivals in the United States, the 14th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival (www.newportbeachfilmfest.com) brings the best of classic and contemporary filmmaking from around the world to Newport Beach for eight spectacular days, April 25 – May 2, 2013.

The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) will showcase more than 350 films from 50 countries and host nightly special events, red carpet galas, compelling conversations with filmmakers, international spotlight events and seminars. The Festival offers filmgoers unique opportunities to mingle with celebrities, filmmakers from around the globe, and film industry professionals in a beautiful seaside locale.

OPENING & CLOSING NIGHT GALAS

The Newport Beach Film Festival will open with the West Coast Premiere of the documentary BROADWAY IDIOT which takes a behind-the-curtain look at how Green Day’s punk rock, blockbuster album American Idiot, became an acclaimed musical. The red carpet screening of Broadway Idiot will take place on Thursday, April 25th, 2013 at 7:30pm at Edwards Big Newport (300 Newport Center Drive) followed by a gala reception at Fashion Island (401 Newport Center Drive) where American Idol winner Taylor Hicks will perform.

On Closing Night, NBFF proudly presents the West Coast Premiere of THE WAY, WAY BACK starring Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, AnnaSophia Robb and Toni Collette and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. The film follows 14-year-old Duncan spending his summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and his daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in the gregarious manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through their funny, clandestine friendship, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world – all during a summer he will never forget. The closing night film and party will take place at Via Lido Courtyard (3417 Via Lido, Newport Beach, CA 92663).

WORLD PREMIERES

The 2013 Newport Beach Film Festival will screen over fifteen world-premiere feature films including AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR starring Parker Posey and Bruce Greenwood, B-SIDE; THE GOLDEN SCALLOP starring James Cosmo; I AM I; IN LIEU OF FLOWERS; IN SECURITY starring Michael Gladis and Ethan Embry; LET’S ROLL; THE O’BRIEN’S; TOUCHDOWN NEWPORT; WALK ON; WE’VE GOT BALLS; WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE; and A FISH STORY.

SPOTLIGHTS/FEATURES

Highlights of this year’s festival include 40 feature films including Australian Spotlight DRIFT, starring Sam Worthington, Lesley-Ann Brandt and Xavier Samuel; A SINGLE SHOT starring Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy and Ted Levine; SOME GIRL(S) starring Adam Brody and Kristen Bell; WHAT MAISE KNEW starring Alexander Skarsgard, Steve Coogan and Julianne Moore; THE ICEMAN starring Michael Shannon, Chris Evans and Winona Ryder; STUCK IN LOVE starring Greg Kinnear, Logan Lerman, and Jennifer Connelly; WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE starring Adam Brody, Kristen Schaal, and Jean Claude Van Damme; THE EAST starring Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgard and Patricia Clarkson and I AM I starring Simon Helberg, James Morrison and Jason Ritter.

ACTION SPORTS

The NBFF Action Sports Film Series, an international showcase of films celebrating athletes, visionaries, filmmakers, cinematographers, pioneers, environmentalists, entrepreneurs, artists and designers who have shaped the action sports culture and cultivated its progression with their innovation, energy and creativity. Co-produced by the Newport Beach Film Festival and Orange County-based production company ChopShop, with support by SKATEBOARDER Magazine, SURFING Magazine, the NBFF Action Sports Film Series will spotlight 18 films from around the world including, BIRDMEN: THE ORIGINAL DREAM OF FLIGHT, a documentary about wingsuit skydivers; ISOLATED, a film about a group of intrepid surfers searching for the world’s last undiscovered waves, narrated by Ryan Phillipe; and THE MOTIVATION, a chronicling of eight of the world’s best pro-skateboarders as they prepare for the upcoming Street League Championship in New York City, starring skateboarding headliners like Rob Dyrdek, Paul Rodriguez and Ryan Sheckler.

ART, ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN

NBFF’s award-winning Art, Architecture + Design series will showcase 10 films from around the world including: 16 ACRES, the story of how and why the historic rebuilding of New York’s World Trade Center came to be; BENDING STICKS: THE SCULPTURE OF PATRICK DOUGHERTY, focusing on one man’s artworks consisting largely of bending and shaping sapling trees; COAST MODERN, which takes a look at Modernist architecture on the west coast, traced from 1926 to the present; and IF YOU BUILD IT, a heartwarming film about a duo of design professionals who use their teachings and compassion to help a struggling North Carolina school district.

COLLEGIATE

The Newport Beach Film Festival will present a Collegiate Showcase featuring fresh cinematic works produced by collegiate filmmakers from our eight partnering SoCal Institutions: USC, UCLA, CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, Chapman University, Orange Coast College, Saddleback College, and CalArts. Each year the Festival gives students from these Southern California colleges and universities an opportunity to showcase their short films on the big screen and engage in post screening Q&A sessions with the filmgoers. The Festival offers students an opportunity to connect with film industry professionals, new audiences, alumni, media and other filmmakers.

DOCUMENTARY

NBFF Documentary Film Series will showcase 19 films from around the world, including: LOVE, MARILYN featuring Elizabeth Banks, Lindsay Lohan, Evan Rachel Wood, Ben Foster, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Viola Davis, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Burstyn, Adrien Brody, Marisa Tomei and Glenn Close; TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY APPLY; OUT OF PRINT narrated by Meryl Streep; CASTING BY starring Marion Dougherty, Woody Allen, Jeff Bridges and Robert Redford; HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS from Executive Producer Adrian Grenier starring 50 Cent, David Simon and Russell Simmons.

SHORTS PROGRAMS

The Newport Beach Film Festival continues its proud tradition of hosting some of the best shorts filmmakers in the world with its numerous and genre-spanning shorts series. Uniquely curated into thematic programs, the Festival will screen over 200 short films in categories ranging from romance to animation, from comedy to documentary.

ENVIRONMENTAL

The Newport Beach Film Festival partners with many local environmental organizations to raise awareness of important issues affecting our environment through cinema. The Festival’s “Eco Spotlight” is REVOLUTION from Director Rob Stewart and Executive Producer Gus Van Sant. Other highlights include CRITICAL MASS; THE FRUIT HUNTERS and LA SOURCE. All films in this series cover a wide spectrum of eco-conscious topics including water quality, natural resource preservation and the the effects of globalization.

MUSIC

The Newport Beach Film Festival’s highly popular Music Series continues to expand for the Festival’s 14th year. The Music Film Series features 9feature narrative and documentary films that put music center stage highlighting musical performances, historic headlines and the unique stories behind struggling musicians. The punk band, Green Day, is featured in two documentaries: the Opening Night Film BROADWAY IDIOT and ¡CUATRO!, the documentary exploring the making of Green Day’s latest studio albums. Other highlights include GREETINGS FROM TIM BUCKLEY a narrative about both Tim and his son Jeff Buckley; SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION documenting the disco era; IN YOUR DREAMS: STEVIE NICKS Directed by and starring Stevie Nicks. In addition the Festival’s newly created Music Video Program, designed to showcase the medium’s unique partnership of film and music, will feature 18 music videos from artists around the world including No Doubt’s SETTLE DOWN and The Black Keys’ THE BADDEST MAN ALIVE.

FAMILY & YOUTH FILM SHOWCASE

The Newport Beach Film Festival’s Youth Film Showcase consists of 18 short films and features. Highlights in the Family Program include SHORTS FOR SHORTIES, a collection of short films; CHUCK JONES SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS, Chuck Jones Center for Creativity brings some of Chuck’s most beloved and rarely seen works to the Newport Beach Film Festival. In addition to projects from the iconic cartoonist, the program will also include a selection of animated shorts playing at this year’s Festival; WIENER DOG NATIONALS, after a family adopts a runt of a dachshund from a shelter, only time will tell if little “Shelly” and her new family are up to the challenge of entering the nation’s greatest wiener dog race; and HENSON PUPPET DREAMS a collection of live-action puppet short films curated by Heather Henson.

SEMINARS

The City of Newport Beach Arts Commission and The Newport Beach Film Festival will present a series of interactive panels that focus on the art and process of filmmaking. The free educational event will feature talented and distinguished film industry professionals. The Festival invites the audience to go behind the scenes with some of the industry’s leading filmmakers as they share their extensive knowledge and insight into the business and art of today’s entertainment world. This year’s series includes a Film Music panel featuring Oscar nominee Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible, Rush Hour, The Amityville Horror) and Mark Isham (Once Upon a Time, The Lucky One, Invincible) and a film editing panel featuring Oscar winner William Goldenberg (Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, National Treasure) as well as other panels throughout the weekend.

RICHARD BARE CENTENNIAL

The Newport Beach Film Festival will celebrate the career and 100th birthday of legendary Director and Newport Beach native, Richard Bare. On Sunday April 28th, Mr. Bare will host a moderated discussion and screening of some of his most famous projects including several iconic TWILIGHT ZONE episodes (Nick of Time and To Serve Man) as well as select short films from his SO YOU WANT TO series. The Festival will also host a special screening of Mr. Bare’s cult-classic film WICKED, WICKED, shot in the innovative DUO-VISION.

DISNEY RARITIES

In honor of the 25th anniversary of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, the Newport Beach Film Festival will present a special screening of the groundbreaking film and a pre-film Q&A. Legendary Disney producer Don Hahn will lead the discussion alongside panelists including Charles Fleischer (voice of Roger Rabbit), Joanna Cassidy (Dolores) and Dave Bossert (Special Effects Animator).

The Newport Beach Film Festival is proud to present a special screening of DISNEY RARITIES on Sunday, April 28th with Academy Award-winning producer Don Hahn and Director/Producer Dave Bossert. The program includes a sneak peek at rarely seen treasures from the Disney vault.

I will be posting reviews, updates, and whatever else I have time to write about throughout the week.

Here is the promo for this year’s festival:

One of the most meaningful films of our generation,

Film   

The fact that this movie exists is a perfect example of how much one man can make a difference and if multiplied several times over, it can start a chain reaction whose influence can be felt forever.  It all started with Oskar Schindler who over the course of time, decided to forgo his Nazi profiteer ways in order to save as many of his Jewish workers that he could and in the end, he saved over 1,100 people from certain destruction.  One of those people, Poldek Pfefferberg was so grateful that he was saved by Schindler that he spent the rest of his life trying to show his gratitude by telling everyone he met about Schindler in the hopes that something could come of it.  As he later said, “Schindler gave me my life, and I tried to give him immortality.”  His plan eventually worked when he met writer Thomas Keneally who decided to write a novel about the story and called it “Schindler’s Ark.”  Pfefferberg didn’t stop there as he reportedly called Steven Spielberg’s officer every day for eleven years in an attempt to convince him to direct the movie.

Spielberg went back and forth on whether or not to direct it (he even offered it to Martin Scorcese) before deciding to do it himself.  And the chain reaction continued when  the experience making it, along with what was going on in the world instilled a desire in Steven Spielberg to remind the world that the Holocaust really happened and just how brutal and devastating it was.  To achieve that, he launched the USC Shoah Foundation to videotape interviews with survivors and other witnesses that escaped Hitler’s Final Solution.  That’s impressive enough, but the Shoah Foundation has also made the almost 52,000 interviews available to the public through its IWitness website which allows schools and individuals to search for specific points of interest and to learn the truth about Nazi Germany’s attempt to exterminate every Jew and any others that selected for the death camps.  And with every person that learns more about what happened through the foundation, Pfefferberg’s goal of immortality for Schindler becomes possible and each of these acts of kindness will continue on forever.

The film brilliantly tells the story of how a Nazi war profiteer named Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) gradually came to listen to his conscience when the brutality and inhumanity around him finally made him pick compassion over profit.  It wasn’t an overnight change as for a long time he went out of his way to ingratiate himself with Nazi leadership through parties, women, gifts and more.  And it all works.  He is given more leeway than most businessmen and he is able to get a factory as he plans to start producing mess kits for the army.  He quickly discovers that while he’s great at the schmoozing and the big picture, he’s terrible at managing the small details needed to run the factory.  He convinces an official from the local Jewish council, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to not only join him, but to also be a liaison to other Jewish businessmen.  In exchange for money, Schindler offers them manufactured goods that they can barter with in the  Kraków Ghetto.

With their capital, the factory is up and running and staffed with Jewish Poles and despite not having trained workers, they do all right until the sadistic SS-Lieutenant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) arrives in Kraków to build the new Płaszów concentration camp.  Once that’s completed, he orders the liquidation of the ghetto where his men round up the healthy men and women for the camp and killing the sick and the old and anyone that resists in any way.  Schindler witnesses the entire event and whatever reservations he had about helping his workers disappeared.  It’s only now that the enormity of just how evil the Nazi war machine is actually sinks in.  Before this, he was able to dismiss bad behavior as a product of war, but the escalating horrors around him finally show him the inescapable truth.  Knowing that he must do something to save as many of his workers as possible, Schindler begins a dangerous game of slowly trying to convince the suspicious Goeth to help him in exchange for bribes.  To save them, Schindler will have to bargain for them one at a time as quickly as he can before he runs out of money or before they fall victim to Hitler’s Final Solution.

Watching Schindler’s List is an emotional experience that leaves viewers shell shocked when it’s over which it should.  I’m sure that gut punch is exactly what Spielberg wanted to achieve.  As moving as it is for viewers, it was even more taxing on Spielberg who had to struggle to get through the filming of it while at the same time approving special effects shots for Jurassic Park.  Talk about a dichotomy!  One on hand he’s putting his heart and soul into adding every shred of verisimilitude he can into Schindler’s List while working on the perfect escapist summer movie full of special effects and rampaging dinosaurs.  In fact, Schindler’s List was only green-lit on the condition that he did Jurassic Park first, a fact that he later said was smart as ”He knew that once I had directed Schindler I wouldn’t be able to do Jurassic Park.”

Spielberg also abandoned his traditional methods as he strived to make it feel like a you are there documentary by primarily using handheld cameras.  He also had a limited budget and a short shooting schedule of only seventy-two days which he later said, gave the film “a spontaneity, an edge, and it also serves the subject.”  It was a huge gamble for Spielberg who had always enjoyed using the tricks of the trade on all of his blockbusters to not use any of the tools in his toolbox.  As he later said, he ”got rid of the crane, got rid of the Steadicam, got rid of the zoom lenses, [and] got rid of everything that for me might be considered a safety net.”

Even twenty years later, Spielberg recently said, ”When I went to Poland to start working on Schindler’s List, I quickly realized after a couple of days of filming that this just wasn’t a natural reflex of my film-making instincts — this was going to be something that was going to change my life.  I still feel that Schindler’s List is the film that has made the most amount of material change in the world.  The shelf life of Schindler’s List has renewed my faith that films can do good work in the world, but it’s up to people to allow those images to be impressionable, to last and for people to do something about it.” By stripping all of his signature style from the picture, it really brings the movie into stark focus and it seems like we’ve traveled back in time to bear witness to this unfathomably evil chapter of history.

Another reason that this movie is perfect can be attributed to the cast that couldn’t have done a better job in their roles. Liam Neeson gives a wonderful performance as the very complicated Schindler and brings out every layer of the man.  He believably shows us how a Nazi profiteer of slave labor can change when faced with such horror.  Ben Kingsley is also great as Itzhak Stern, a quiet man that has to hide his all of his emotions lest he be killed too.  In this death camp, it doesn’t take much to be killed, especially when it’s run by the amoral Amon Goeth played brilliantly by Ralph Fiennes.  Goeth kills for the fun of it and has no compunction about who it is as he is an equal opportunity murderer.  The fact that he forcibly takes a Jewish girl to be his servant and mistress against his party’s wishes only makes him more vicious when it makes him feel conflicted.

There’s so many unforgettable images in this movie that will resonate with me for the rest of my life.  Whether it’s a small boy taking refuge in the bottom of a latrine to avoid death, or the sight of terrified prisoners forced to run nude into a shower that may or may not use poison gas on them, to the constantly glowing furnace that showers the area with human ashes like snow, it all just leaves you feeling angry and helpless as you wish you could have done something.  While there’s nothing that we can do about the past (other than learn from it), the film can still serve as a catalyst for people.  While there’s no denying that Schindler’s List as a film is simply a masterpiece but it’s impact also goes beyond the cinema. Thanks to the Shoah Foundation (sfi.usc.edu), people can learn about how intolerance almost eradicated an entire people and perhaps might learn to avoid the mistakes of the past.  After all,  as George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Video   

Much like the stellar effort that Universal put into the recent Blu-ray release of JAWS, this film got the same amount of love and attention.  This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer has been lovingly restored under the personal supervision of director Steven Spielberg and the results are outstanding.  This restoration really makes Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography work shine as the black and white images look fantastic.  Detail is very sharp as you can see every texture on the uniforms and especially during the close ups which look amazing crisp and detailed.  The white, grey, and black levels all look distinct and accurate with the black levels looking especially good and solid throughout the film.  I didn’t notice any digital defects or other issues to detract from this glorious picture quality.  If you thought it seemed like you were there when you saw this in a theater, you haven’t seen anything until you see this on Blu-ray!

Audio   

Schindler’s List’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix was also supervised by Steven Spielberg and it is just as good as the video quality.  For a movie that has such a wide spectrum of sound and dialogue, this mix does the job admirably.  Whether it’s the roar of machine guns ripping apart the hiding places of families or the hushed terrified whispers of prisoners wondering if they were about to die, this mix delivers on every front.  The LFE output really packs a wallop when it needs to and the front channels offer crystal clear dialogue even during the chaos of the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto.  The rear channels offer quite a bit of ambiance and accurate directional effects that really add a massive amount of immersion into the film. This is simply an incredible mix that puts you right in the middle of the action for better or worse.

Extras  

I have a long history of wanting more extras from each Spielberg film such as director commentaries but despite that, each of his movies usually have some really good behind the scenes extras that help ease my wanting.  For this film, there’s even less than usual which I’m guessing was a deliberate decision by Spielberg to force the viewer to focus on the movie and not be distracted about how it was made.  I can understand that but I still wish that the extras were commensurate with the stature and impact of the film itself.  That’s not to say these limited extras aren’t good as they are fantastic, but I still wish we got more.  In another puzzling move, the extras that are here have been added to Disc Three which is a DVD instead of being included on the Blu-ray of the movie or a bonus BD disc and they are all in standard definition.

Here’s what is included:

• Voices From the List - At almost an hour and twenty minutes long, this powerful documentary really puts the whole experience into perspective.  Spielberg let’s us know how the movie changed his life and deepened his faith and how the experience made him understand “how one person, not an army, but one person could make a difference.” Which is exactly what he did when he started the Shoah Foundation.  Out of the almost 52,000 interviews already done, we get to see a collection of them here, all of them being firsthand accounts from witnesses who survived to tell their stories.  These are powerful stories and I’m glad that they were recorded before the effects of time erased what happened.  These stories need to be remembered and learned from.
• USC Shoah Foundation Story with Steven Spielberg  – This is a quick five minute talk with Steven Spielberg who lets us know how making the film inspired him to continue his efforts once it was done by creating the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit effort to record as many firsthand accounts of genocide as possible.  
• About IWitness - This is a short look at IWitness, which gives teachers and students access to the recorded histories and stories that have been collected.  I thought it was interesting that the Shoah Foundation has expanded its focus to also include other areas that have suffered from genocide such as Rwanda too.
• Digital Copy of the film (HD)

Summary  

This film is a masterpiece on its own merits, but it’s also culturally and historically important too.  With this film, Spielberg reminded us of the depths of humanity and a history that many would like to forget about or dismiss.  Using every bit of his considerable talent, Spielberg shone a white hot spotlight on this chapter of time and there’s no escaping it – and there shouldn’t be.  Considering that genocide is still happening around the world even today, this film isn’t just a look at our world’s misguided past but is instead a timeless reminder of why that kind of intolerance needs to be stopped right away before it escalates into something like the Holocaust.  This Blu-ray serves as the perfect vehicle for that message with it’s stellar video and audio quality and it’s limited but powerful extras from the people who lived through it all.  In my humble opinion, I think this movie should be in everyone’s collection!

Order your copy today!

Starring  Leah Aldridge, Kevin Taft and Liz Manashil.
Directed by Sean Wright.

Henry wants his son Dean to take over the family’s farming business.  But Dean prefers the thrill of being a race car driver. As Henry comes under investigation, the two unite to save the farm.

Starring  Salim Lemelle, Aaron Fink and Jami Philbrick.
Directed by Matt Breault.

Pain & Gain

Daniel Lugo:  My name is Daniel Lugo and I believe in fitness.

Set in mid-90s Miami, Florida, the film stars Mark Wahlberg as Daniel Lugo, a bodybuilder looking to become a much bigger success in life.  While he has had trouble with the law before, Lugo currently works at the Sun Gym, where he develops a scheme to kidnap gym regular and spoiled businessman Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub).  Along with his friend Adrian (Anthony Mackie) and a recently released criminal, Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), the three go through with kidnapping, torturing, and extorting money from Kershaw.  The plan is not at all flawless, which eventually leads to a private eye, Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris), working to catch the Sun Gym Gang.  Regardless, these bodybuilders never learn their limits, leading them down darker paths in an effort to take more of what is not theirs.

This is the messiest, darkly comic, crime caper I have seen since Tony Scott’s Domino, which told the story of real life bounty hunter Domino Harvey.  This is not a complaint, however, as these are both messy films that I enjoyed, with the flaws of the film being associated more with certain filmmaking decisions, rather than the story itself.  Having read the lengthy magazine articles, also titled “Pain & Gain” by Pete Collins, composed of all the facts and testimonies given by the actual people associated with the crimes, it is a credit to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely that they were able to structure the elements of the true story into the parameters of a film.  The story is certainly sprawling, but there is an absorbing aspect to what we are being shown and told is happening to the various characters, as things go from bad to worse, in terms of the events depicted.

Last week I had to, for whatever reason, defend the stardom of Tom Cruise in my review for Oblivion.  This week may be a tad more difficult, given that I have to speak up for Michael Bay.  While Bay is not a favorite director of mine, he has certainly established himself as an auteur.  He has an established and recognizable style that he is able to bring to the screen on his own terms.  Regardless of the films he has made that are less than…well good (though I will standby in saying that The Rock is one of the best action films of the 90s), he continues to make crowd pleasing spectacles (from a general audience and box office-related standpoint), despite being the punching bag of many critics.  With Pain & Gain, it is clear that Bay wanted to make something smaller and different from his other films.  However, despite the heavily reduced budget compared to his last giant f’ing robots movie epic, a Bay film still looks very much like a Bay film.

Pain & Gain is not at all short of excessive visual flourishes, the sheen of stunning car/lingerie commercials, plenty of lens flares, slow motion, and more.  Does this aid the film?  Well, it does and it doesn’t.  On the one hand, the film practically could have been shorter if the exaggerated style and slow motion shots were dialed back a notch.  On the other hand, that is kind of the point, based on the plot of the film.  While I would not say that Bay is parodying himself, based on him doing very Bay-like things in a film drastically different than his others, I would say that having Wahlberg, Johnson, and Mackie existing in a world where they are literally stealing the American dream and trying to become something they are not has a kind of fitting balance with the film’s overreaching visual style.

The real issue is similar to problems that many Bay films suffer.  He does not know when enough is enough.  The plot and characters that exist in real life and in this film are compelling and darkly comedic in their own right, yet we once again have a lot more forced humor, which seems to have been done on the fly.  It is a shame too, because one thing that Bay is constantly able to do is have great casts in his films, give or take a few comedic actors that people may be hot or cold on, but only some seem to nail their roles.  Tony Shalhoub, for example, has a lot to work with and plays well with making a dislikable person tolerable, given the torture he is put through.  Ken Jeong, on the other hand, seems like a person that Michael Bay just really likes to laugh at, so he has him filling in screen time for no real reason.

All three leads (who are huge in this film) are at their best, as they have the right kind of charisma to be playing the characters that commit deplorable acts throughout.  Wahlberg is usually most effective in roles that require his earnestness and comic timing, which is on display here.  Dwayne Johnson is just immensely likable already, but he is given the chance to be all over the place as a former cocaine addict who was born again and does not want to hurt people.  And then you have Anthony Mackie, taking a chance to get very beefy and play a very dim criminal to comedic effect.  Michael Bay may never reach the wittiness of the films he enjoys from the Coen Brothers or Tarantino, but you can clearly see their influences on this film, as the characters here remind me of many I have seen in films like Fargo and Pulp Fiction and the outlandishness of the story is unfolded in a familiar manner.

So what Pain & Gain amounts to be is a series of highs, met with some issues that keep it from joining the ranks of more well-loved comedy capers, regardless of how dark they may be.  The story very juicy, as you have a real life tale to tell that actually had to scale back the absurdity to fit the structure of a film.  There is also a great cast here, reveling in the chance to play in a film that skirts into very dark territory by lacing itself with a humorous touch.  Then you have Michael Bay’s ultra-stylish hand at play, which leads to a combination of great imagery and directorial touches that bring forward some of Bay’s less than enjoyable tendencies.  This is Bay’s small film that features big men, and while it is quite messy, it still knows how to pull its own weight.

Daniel Lugo:  I’ve watched a lot of movies Paul, I know what I’m doing.

Read the actual story and learn all the real life details HERE

Aaron is a writer/reviewer for WhySoBlu.com.  Follow him on Twitter @AaronsPS3.
He also co-hosts a podcast, Out Now with Aaron and Abe, available via iTunes or at HHWLOD.com.

House of Cards

“…an outstanding, even addictive enterprise.” 

–Associated Press, Frazier Moore

Starring Two-Time Academy Award^® Winner Kevin Spacey,
Robin Wright, Kate Mara & Corey Stoll

Written by Oscar^® Nominee Beau Willimon

Executive Produced by David Fincher & Kevin Spacey 

HOUSE OF CARDS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON  

Available to Own on Blu-ray & DVD June 11^th  

Season One Features Special Collectible Packaging – Perfect for Father’s Day

CULVER CITY, CALIF. (April 23, 2013) – Witness the power plays, sex and greed that motivate some of Washington’s most powerful decision-makers when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases Media Rights Capital’s HOUSE OF CARDS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON on Blu-ray^™ and DVD June 11^th.  This smart, dark and hard-edged thriller tells the story of political revenge, starring two-time Academy Award^® winner Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, Best Actor in a Leading Role, 1999; The Usual Suspects, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, 1995) as ambitious and ruthless Democratic Congressman Frank Underwood, and Robin Wright (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as his equally focused wife, Claire. Based on the classic ‘90s British mini-series, the first season in this modern-day political series also stars Kate Mara (TV’s “American Horror Story: Asylum”) and Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris).

Just in time for Father’s Day, all 13 episodes will be available on the four-disc Blu-ray or four-disc DVD set for HOUSE OF CARDS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON with stunning collectible packaging on both releases, mirroring the series’ brilliant stylistic quality.

HOUSE OF CARDS, from David Fincher (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Social Network”), award-winning playwright and Academy Award^® nominated screenwriter Beau Willimon (“Farragut North,” “The Ides of March”) and Academy Award^® winner Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump,” “Munich”), also stars Michael Kelly (TV’s “Person of Interest”), Kristen Connolly (The Cabin in the Woods), Sakina Jaffrey (The Domino Effect) and Constance Zimmer (TV’s “Entourage”).  The series is executive produced by Fincher, Willimon, Roth, Joshua Donen, Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti, Andrew Davies, Michael Dobbs and John Melfi. The one-hour drama is produced by Donen/Fincher/Roth and Trigger Street Productions, Inc. in association with Media Rights Capital.

Synopsis
Ruthless and cunning, Congressman Francis Underwood (Spacey) and his wife Claire (Wright) stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama penetrates modern Washington D.C.’s shadowy world of greed, sex, and corruption. Kate Mara and Corey Stoll costar in the first original series from David Fincher and Beau Willimon.

SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is a Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) company.  Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com/.

MEDIA RIGHTS CAPITAL

MRC is a leading independent film and television studio, specializing in the creation of premium entertainment content in partnership with the industry’s foremost creative talent and distributors.  In film, MRC has financed and produced 16 films distributed by Universal, Sony and Warner Bros., as well as leading international distributors.  MRC’s most recent film Ted is currently the #1 highest grossing R-rated original comedy of all time worldwide.  In television, MRC’s projects have been licensed to a number of broadcast and cable networks including ABC, HBO, Netflix, Lifetime, Comedy Central and CBS.  MRC’s latest series “House of Cards” premiered on Netflix on February 1, 2013. For more information, visit www.mrcstudios.com

House of Cards: The Complete First Season arrives on Blu-ray on June 11th.

Pre-Order Your Copy Here:

Link: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/marvel/thorthedarkworld or http://youtu.be/cltIcTPrHQk

Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself.  In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, from a story by Don Payne (credit not final) and screenplay by Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (credit not final) and is based on Marvel’s classic Super Hero Thor, who first appeared in the comic book “Journey into Mystery “ #83 in August, 1962.

“Thor: The Dark World” is presented by Marvel Studios. The executive producers are Alan Fine, Nigel Gostelow, Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Craig Kyle. The film releases November 8, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Like Thor on Facebook: Facebook.com/Thor
Follow Thor on Twitter: Twitter.com/ThorMovies
Tweet the official hashtag: #ThorDarkWorld
Visit the website: Marvel.com/Thor  

THOR: THE DARK WORLD releases in theaters on November 8, 2013!

Film

Obviously, and just in case you did not notice, the film stars action vehicle Tom Cruise.  In addition to him, you can also find such household names as Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins (he’s everywhere nowadays isn’t he?), David Oyelowo, Robert Duvall and Werner Herzog.  Jack Reacher, not to be confused with the main character’s name here, is an adaptation of Lee Child’s 2005 novel, One Shot.  It was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.  And surprisingly, it was all filmed in one location.  You ready for this?  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Love it!

One Shot, or as the film is titled Jack Reacher, tells the tale of five conceivably random murders achieved with only six shots accomplished by an expert sniper.  The police are able to quickly identify and arrest a suspect.  They think it’s a done deal, case closed…that’s all she wrote.  But don’t the easy things in life always turn out to be the hardest?  I like to think so due to my life’s many erratic ups and downs.  So when the accused man claims he’s innocent and utters only one sentence, you have to wonder.  What’s that sentence you ask?  Well none other than “Get Jack Reacher.”  And that starts it all ladies and gentlemen!

The only problem is that no one knows how to “reach” Jack Reacher.  This is when the audience is semi-clued into just who the character of Jack is and we get to find out a little backstory on the man.  However, just when you think all hope is lost, it isn’t.  The police don’t have to search exhaustively for Reacher at all.  He just shows up out of the blue.  How convenient, huh?  Well we quickly find out that there’s a reason why he inexplicably shows up all the sudden and I’m not sure I should share that here with potentials viewers who haven’t seen the feature just yet.  Let’s just say after some careful examination of the crime scene and possible vantage points, Reacher isn’t convinced the police have the right killer and he is hired by Rosamund Pike’s character to uncover some dirt that certain people in the town really don’t want uncovered.  Surprise, surprise, huh?  And one thing leads to another as Jack Reacher seeks to uncover the truth and others try to bury him and his many attempts/pursuits.

I’m conflicted with this one.  I feel indifferent in many ways, much like I did with my review of Broken City over here.  Like the aforementioned film, I felt there was great potential here, but in the end it felt a bit flat and second rate.  I think it really depends upon the individual viewer though.  I know some who say this flick was excellent, some who say it was okay and others who have no affinity for it at all.  I kind of fall right in the middle here, hence my score.  To me, it just felt like a long two hours.  There’s not much action here.  It’s akin to watch a Sherlock Holmes film.  The acting and subject matter was plausible, but the film moved along at a sluggish pace, at least for my girlfriend and I.  But that’s not to say it’ wasn’t any good either.  It’s just not everyone’s cup of tea.  Weird, and I’ll get to it below, but I had much more appreciation for the film and Tom Cruise after watching the special features.  I did, however, enjoy seeing the familiar landscapes of Pittsburgh and surrounding communities.  I enjoyed that very much.

Like usual, Tom Cruise tackles the titular role of Jack Reacher with great enthusiasm and spirit.  And you can never fault Richard Jenkins, can you?  Many fans were thrilled to see Werner Herzog in this feature.  And then yeah…there’s that lovely Rosamund Pike.  And yes…there are some nice twin pikes, I mean “peaks,” to take in here…if you know what I mean.  So in essence, the acting, the choreography and stunts are all done well and are acceptable to me.  I think it’s just a matter of what pacing you like in your films.  Like Aaron Neuwirth once said, he knew I would love the muscle cars and car chase.  However, he also knew I would find fault and grow tired with the film’s pacing.  The story just felt a little familiar to me, but all in all, I’m happy to have this in my Blu-ray collection and once I get around to it again (as free time permits), I’ll be giving this one another viewing soon.  So all is not lost on me.  But let’s take a closer look at why you are all here today…the Blu-ray’s A/V specs!

Video 

I don’t think, since i’m the reviewer here, that I need to defend myself, but I gave Jack Reacher a score of 5 here because there simply wasn’t anything I could point out that was wrong about it.  The 1080p AVC MPEG-4 video codec is perfect in every which way.  Paramount brings the title to the Blu-ray format with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and what I first noticed about the transfer were the colors.  Things are bright, vibrant and natural underneath the thin veil layer of cinematic grain from the beautiful 35mm print.  And most importantly, whether it’s a closeup or a longshot, things are incredibly sharp and detailed.  Everyday objects like the fine grooves in parking garage cinder block walls to the lively veins on fall colored leaves, everything is in check here with the three-dimensional properties and qualities that we have all come to love about the Blu-ray format.  What more could you want?  This transfer is free from blemishes, noise and artifacts and the black levels and skin tones alike are all spot on and natural.  Jack Reacher may not be the perfect film for everyone’s tastes, but there’s no denying it’s beauty and visual superiority on the Blu-ray format.  So let’s take a look at the audio section next.

Audio 

Like the video section discussed above, I really can’t find any faults with the audio section here either.  The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless surround track accurately captures every exciting moment and nuance of Paramount’s crime thriller.  The first thing I noticed was the well balanced score flowing gracefully behind me followed by the accuracy and raining of gunfire that can engulf you at times.  But that’s not all.  They take it a step further in this Blu-ray transfer.  Not only do you have a bird’s eye view of what it’s like to be a sniper and look through the spyglass, but you also hear what it’s like to be a sniper from dialing in the scope to the breathing behind the scenes.  It’s all brilliantly captured here.  And for the muscle car gearhead in me, you can’t find fault with the car chase scene and sound of that Chevy Camaro driving by either.  Vroom!  Paramount does a bang up job in faithfully reproducing atmospheric elements like music in a bar to squealing of tires and bombastic moments in gunfire ringing loud, fighting and crashes.  The dialogue is all loud, clear and even throughout in the center channel.  All in all, I have no complaints.  It’s no King Kong or Avatar, but everything is up to par here and on display in sheer perfection.  You’d be hard pressed to find a better sounding crime thriller elsewhere.  Bravo, Paramount.  Now how about bringing Double Jeopardy to the Blu-ray format in the same fashion, eh?  In addition to the lossless track, the Blu-ray disc also features French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 51. Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

Extras 

While it may not look like much upon first glance, there’s actually a wealth of extras to uncover and talk about here.  So instead of wasting anymore proverbial breath and nonsensical metaphors on you, let’s take a closer look at the crime scene and discuss everything in detail that you’ll find here under the Combo Pack’s slipcover.

• Commentary by Tom Cruise and Director Christopher McQuarrie – I’m not usually a fan of listening to audio commentaries unless it’s a movie I really really care about, but take heed…you can learn a lot from this one.  Tom and Chris discuss it all!  Everything you wanted to know about the conception, making of, casting and much much more is talked about here.  Who needs a making of featurette when you have this commentary track?  LOL.
• Commentary by Composer Joe Kraemer – This is mostly an isolated score presentation and Joe comments occasionally.  Stick with the commentary track above.  Trust me on this one.  Save yourself some time.
• When the Man Comes Around (HD, 26:49) – It was interesting to learn how this project came to be as it was brought to Tom’s production company 6 years ago.  Cruise was actually the one who expressed interest in playing the character if he had Lee’s blessing, which he did.  Lee called Cruise the greatest actor to ever live.  Wow!  That’s a huge accomplishment.  Lee wanted a real actor first and foremost rather than just finding someone with the character’s 6’5” physical attributes in his books.  Looks like he found him, huh?  And the one final thing I found really interesting about this featurette was the fact about how they talked about the challenges of writing a character with no arc since from the beginning, Jack Reacher knows it all.
• You Do Not Mess with Jack Reacher: Combat & Weapons (HD, 10:27) – This one was also quite interesting as the subject of the streetfighting and how designing the real and visceral choreography was birthed.  They didn’t want fancy editing.  It was based upon a Gypsy in Spain fighting style where it proclaims you come into my space and I will destroy you.  Ha ha.  I love it!  They also examine the humor in the tight bathroom scene, the finale, the sniper training and the fact that Tom Cruise once again did all his own stunts.  The man is an animal!  Go Tom!  Go!
• The Reacher Phenomenon (HD, 11:10) – Lee talks about the freshness of the Reacher books he writes because the character is not grounded or rooted anywhere and he can move around freely anywhere he wants creating new settings and environments.  That makes his stories dynamic and as a result…always fresh!
• DVD (SD) – The feature film is in standard definition on the second DVD disc in this collection for your minivan backseat viewing pleasure.
• UltraViolet  and Digital Copy – So I’m happy to say…really happy by the way…that the film’s presentation in the iTunes Digital Copy format is in glorious High-Definition.  The UV copy was not accessible as of this writing so I can’t comment on that yet.  Thank you Paramount for the inclusion of a 5+ GB version of the feature film in HD on iTunes.  I’m very appreciative of that!

Summary 

So while I haven’t heard anything about any sequels as of yet (although I really didn’t research that fully), there’s no denying there’s a wealth of source material out there should there ever be one, two or fourteen more Jack Reacher’s.  But anyway, for fans of the books or this movie in general, this Blu-ray should be a no-brainer purchase.  You should pass Go right now, collect your $200 and pre-order this May 7th title right here.  The audio and video presentations are as good as it comes and the supplements more than nicely round out the tight package.  So what are you waiting for?  You don’t need to be told what to do again, do you?