Archive for the 'Editorials' Category
May 4th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Tuesday night for the Newport Beach Film Festival was an international showcase night, featuring films from countries including France, Sweden, Australia, and Switzerland, which is the country where the filmmakers responsible for Der Sandmann have come from. Once again, I have chosen wisely, as Der Sandmann is a wonderful film that managed to bring a fantastical element into the realm of a romantic comedy. It is a sweet and funny film, but also charming in the way this fantasy element adds to the film’s imagination and spirit. Settling into strange territory, this is the kind of romantic comedy that I can enjoy; one that is original, with interesting ideas that are well thought out, while still maintaining the right kind of emotional backing. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Der Sandmann (The Sandman)’
May 3rd, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
It was a Monday night Asian showcase on May 2, 2011, for the Newport Beach Film Festival. The films featured as spotlight screenings were all products of Asian filmmakers. To continue to mix up the types of movies I have seen so far, I chose Redline, the first anime film to be featured as a Spotlight Screening for the NBFF. I ended up making a fantastic choice, as Redline was a hugely entertaining film. The film is a sci-fi auto racing-themed work of art, featuring incredible animation, a knowingly over-the-top style & story, memorable & hilarious characters, and some slick animated racing action. I had a ton of fun watching this film, especially in my drive to appreciate anime more. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Redline’
May 2nd, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
Serving as a warm-up and placeholder for the upcoming Avengers movie, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes airs on the Disney XD channel and has now been released on DVD. This action-packed superhero series features Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Ant-Man, Wasp, Black Panther, Nick Fury, and The Hulk. There’s also appearances from the Fantastic Four and some of the other heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. These two volumes offer a continuing storyline and true to character portrayals. While the animation could be better, this new series is the best animated show Marvel has released to date. Continue reading ‘The Avengers – Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Volumes 1 and 2: Heroes Assemble/Captain America Reborn! (DVD Review)’
May 2nd, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
For my screening on the fourth night of the 12th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival, I managed to be pleasantly surprised by A Bag of Hammers. Going into the film, I was expecting to maybe have a good laugh at a simple comedy; however, I was delighted to see that the film not only accomplished having a comedic touch, but found very solid footing in balancing what turned out to be a comedic drama. This was a very good film that I was happy to have enjoyed deeply and I attribute many of the film’s charming qualities, such as its strong writing and dialogue, solid performances, and great chemistry between all of the actors, to that conclusion. While the film may reach a few points of being a tad too dark, with a story that is not entirely unpredictable, these minor issues hardly effect a film that is very well crafted and highly entertaining. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: A Bag of Hammers’
May 1st, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
The 12th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival’s screening of Project Nim was one of the screenings I was most anticipating. Project Nim is the new documentary from director James March, who previously made the Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire. Since Man on Wire was both an incredibly well crafted documentary and also one of the most enjoyable docs I had ever seen, his latest feature about Nim, a famous chimpanzee from the 70s, was one I was going to give the benefit of the doubt to and hope for the best. Once again, Marsh has made a film that is incredibly well crafted, but the enjoyable factor is replaced by a story that is somewhat comic, but more revealing, and fairly unsettling at times. All of this is to say that Project Nim is another great film from Marsh, not as a crowd pleaser, but as an emotional journey. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Project Nim’
April 30th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
The 12th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) has begun, and with that I have now been to my first screening. Friday, April 29, 2011, saw the west coast premiere of the film Lucky, starring Colin Hanks, Ari Graynor, Ann-Margaret, and Jeffrey Tambor. Lucky is a comedy that relies on two very quirky performances from its leads, Hanks and Graynor. The story involves a shy man (with a secret) who wins the lottery and the results it has once a girl he’s had a crush on factors more heavily into his life. While I certainly found there to be humorous things about this film and its concept, I had a lot of issues with the tone and handling of these characters. I did not want to end up with negative feelings about this film for my first screening review, but unfortunately that has to be the case here. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Lucky’
April 29th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
This is more of a preview of things to come, but I just wanted to point out that from April 28th to May 5th, 2011, the 12th annual Newport Beach Film Festival will be in full swing. The festival takes place in Southern California, within the city of Newport Beach. About an hour away from Hollywood, this beautiful coastline city will be a wonderful place to find classic and contemporary cinema being shared by both accomplished and new filmmakers to the public. Over 350 films from over 40 countries will be screened during the week, in addition to 17 spotlight and special events, including discussions and Q&A’s with directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, and more. Continue reading ‘The 12th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival Has Begun’
April 29th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
This DVD set marks the beginning of a series of episodes that were later combined into films, that tell the tale of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower, a fictional Royal Navy officer whose exploits were spread across eleven books. This set contains the first two adventures which were The Duel and The Fire Ships. Starring Ioan Gruffudd (The Fantastic Four), Robert Lindsay (Wimbledon), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), and Paul Copley (Queer as Folk). These first two movies show the start of Hornblower’s career as a seasick midshipman who later becomes a decorated Admiral. Forester’s Hornblower character was also an inspiration for Gene Roddenberry’s own Captain James T. Kirk for the Star Trek series. Continue reading ‘Horatio Hornblower – The Original Adventures (DVD Review)’
April 28th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
I missed this one in the theaters, but I know my wife really wants to see it because of Nicolas Cage. You’ve got to hand to Cage for starring in so many genre films despite the odds against them. This time, he also has another genre favorite with him as Ron Perlman stars as a fellow soldier who helps transport a woman who has been accused of being a witch. This movie is being billed as a supernatural action adventure but the trailer for it seemed to be marketed differently. This film also marks another collaboration between Cage and director Dominic Sena who last directed Cage in Gone in Sixty Seconds. Here is the early notification of the movie’s release: Continue reading ‘Season of the Witch is Coming to Blu-ray June 28th!’
April 27th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
Back in 1984 a television program came out in Britain called Playing Shakespeare and it starred some of the stars from the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) including Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, David Suchet, Ben Kingsley, and more. It also featured the co-founder of the RSC, John Barton who hosted the program and helped educate the general public and aspiring actors on how to perform a Shakespearean play. Nineteen years later, a sequel of sorts called the The Shakespeare Sessions came to be except that this time, the actors are American and it was filmed in New York City. Helping Barton this time around is Kevin Kline, Cynthia Nixon, David Hyde Pierce, Charles S. Dutton, Lynn Collins, Liev Schreiber, and Dustin Hoffman. Continue reading ‘The Shakespeare Sessions (DVD Review)’
April 26th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
One of the biggest movies in Disney history, Beauty and the Beast is now in 3D and finally coming to Blu-ray in a new Diamond Edition release! If you are interested in the non 3D version of the film, you can read my review of that set right here. Beauty and the Beast is the only animated movie to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for eighteen years until the Disney/Pixar release of Up. It did however win a ton of awards including Oscars for its music and the first Golden Globe Best Picture (Comedy or a Musical) win for an animated film. Continue reading ‘Beauty and the Beast 2D/3D Five Disc Combo Set is Available to Pre-order!’
April 26th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
The highest grossing hand drawn animated film in history, The Lion King is now available to pre-order from Amazon! The Lion King is the 32nd animated film from Disney and was a huge critical and commercial success and it won two Academy Awards, and the Golden Globe for Best Picture (for Musical or Comedy). It also benefited from a great soundtrack from Elton John and Tim Rice and a score by Hans Zimmer. The movie was also the start of a new direct to video franchise with The Lion King II and The Lion King 1 ½, which are also included in the Trilogy Box Set as well as both 2D and 3D versions of the original film. Hakuna Matata! Continue reading ‘The Lion King 2D/3D and the Lion King Trilogy Box Set is Now Available to Pre-order!’
April 23rd, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
After showing the world what he could do with Henry V in 1989, Kenneth Branagh returned with another Shakespearean movie with Much Ado About Nothing, which was filled with a ton of talented people. Some of these people like Denzel Washington, Emma Thompson, and Michael Keaton were perfectly cast while others such as Robert Sean Leonard, Kate Beckinsale, and especially Keanu Reeves were horribly miscast. It’s a credit to his talents, that Branagh’s comedic film about warring sexes still works as well as it does despite the miscasting. Once you add in this cast, and the beautiful surroundings of Tuscany, and a nice score by Patrick Doyle, you have a winning combination that makes Shakespeare more appealing to modern audiences and a fresh, cheerful, and fun film in its own right.
Continue reading ‘Much Ado About Nothing (Blu-ray Review)’
April 22nd, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
I generally try to avoid reality television shows but when I was asked to review The History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers, I decided to give it a shot and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, which you can read about right here. When I was offered the spin-off program Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads, I was curious enough to check that out too since the danger level has escalated quite a bit since the dangerous roads the truckers now have to survive are in the Himalayas. As dangerous as the roads in Alaska can be they are nothing compared to the one lane roads with hardly any safety barriers to prevent you from falling thousands of feet.
Continue reading ‘Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads – Season 1 (Blu-ray Review)’
April 21st, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
When I heard that there was a new Peter Weir movie that starred Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, and Mark Strong I was immediately interested. What made it even more appealing was when I heard that the The Way Back was also a prison escape movie which sealed the deal. I then discovered that our own Aaron Neuwirth had caught this movie in the theaters and his review only added to my anticipation for the movie. Weir has an incredible track record with movies such as Witness and Master and Commander, so I knew that had to be a pretty good movie especially with this kind of a plot. While this is a prison break movie up to a point, this is more of a celebration of the human spirit and its ability to endure even in the face of terrible odds. Continue reading ‘The Way Back (Blu-ray Review)’
April 15th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
The third Narnia film based on C.S. Lewis’ imaginative novels, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has a lot of expectations to live up to. The first movie in the series The Lion, The With, and The Wardrobe, has some nice effects and a great trailer but was disappointing for fans of the novels. The second movie, Prince Caspian seemed more mature and had some action in it, but it was only marginally better than the first. This third entry is the first one produced by Twentieth Century Fox after Disney decided the costs weren’t worth the return and let the rights go. Does Dawn Treader succeed where the previous two failed or does it tread water? Read on and find out… Continue reading ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Blu-ray Review)’
April 14th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
Lately, I’ve been reviewing a lot of World War II films including: The World at War (see my review here) and Victory at Sea (here) and my recent review of Apocalypse: World War II that you can read here, but this two disc documentary varies from all of those because the focus on the war is from the German people’s viewpoint. And that doesn’t necessarily mean from the Nazi point of view either, since many Germans were opposed to Hitler and his policies. This documentary covers a lot of the how and why the German people allowed Hitler to seize power and eventually lead them to ruin. Continue reading ‘The Third Reich (DVD Review)’
April 12th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
For those of you that aren’t aware of the show, The Universe is a documentary series that premiered in 2007 on The History Channel that explains astronomical concepts and objects through the use of computer generated graphics and a group of experts whose expertise includes astronomy, cosmology, and astrophysics. The Universe does a great job covering many aspects of science and future possibilities and making it accessible for average viewers. This sixteen disc mega-set contains all five seasons of this fantastic show.
Tuesday night for the Newport Beach Film Festival was an international showcase night, featuring films from countries including France, Sweden, Australia, and Switzerland, which is the country where the filmmakers responsible for Der Sandmann have come from. Once again, I have chosen wisely, as Der Sandmann is a wonderful film that managed to bring a fantastical element into the realm of a romantic comedy. It is a sweet and funny film, but also charming in the way this fantasy element adds to the film’s imagination and spirit. Settling into strange territory, this is the kind of romantic comedy that I can enjoy; one that is original, with interesting ideas that are well thought out, while still maintaining the right kind of emotional backing. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Der Sandmann (The Sandman)’
