‘Billy Lynn’s Long’ Walk Away From Cinema (Movie Review)
In addition to being a talented journeyman director, 2-time Oscar winner Ang Lee has shown a profundity for technical ambition in his films. 2003’s Hulk, flawed as it, could still be considered one of the more ambitiously made superhero films of the modern age. Life of Pi is one of the few films in this post-Avatar world to properly utilize 3D as more than just a monetary-based gimmick. Now we have Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, a dramatic satire focused on a young Army specialist and how he deals with newfound fame back in 2004 America, following a heroic act while fighting in Iraq. For this, Lee went with the whole shebang, shooting at 120 frames per second in 3D at 4K HD resolution. That is wild just to think about, but the results are a film that is not only overly familiar from a story standpoint, but lacks the essence of what makes me appreciate cinema.
Continue reading ‘‘Billy Lynn’s Long’ Walk Away From Cinema (Movie Review)’
Still in the midst of catching up on end of the year fare (saw a whopping six movies previously missed in the last few days alone!), there’s only a trio of flicks up for dissection this week. (The Edge of Seventeen and Nocturnal Animals were not made available to yours truly, but thankfully covered by my fellow website cohorts!) So keeping a few indie nuggets alive are a dramatic doc, a strange thriller and a revenge flick that’s not standard stuff. Check out the Encapsulated Movie Reviews of Peter And The Farm, The Similars and Elle below! 
Four weeks to go until we see the first of the three planned Star Wars “spinoff” films, Rogue One. This film about the band of Rebels and spies that steal the plans to the Death Star, kicking into motion the original film, is the kind of spinoff I’m more eager to see from these than younger versions of characters’ we’ve spent many films with origin stories (Though I must say, the Han Solo film is doing and saying all the right thing and seems to be having all the right people). This one features some good footage and behind the scenes, and while being a bit of a softball, still manages to get me really pumped for the film. This is a film that has a lot of questions as what its going to be like. For instance…how does the film open? An opening crawl? They’ve said there’s probably not one. So, then how? These and more questions will be answered on December 16th (But, lets not be silly, we are all going to see it on the 15th). 
Barring some sort of super late rush surprise announcement, 2016 for the year of Blu-ray is pretty much in the books. And as always, looking back, it was another terrific year. Many more Wishlist films from years’ past were granted on Blu-ray and some that were being prepped for this list got announced before it was time to write it and publish it (Punch Drunk Love and Duck Soup, for example-yes, I have this article in mind year round). There were also many other great surprises. 2016 also brought us a new format, 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, which I’ve been fortunate to have been able to dabble with in year 1. Its far too early and easy to do a wishlist for that format, we’ve still got plenty to do for good ‘ol Blu-ray. This year’s list will be only 10 films because I had to scale back at some point, the years are counting up too high! While the picks aren’t all this way, I found myself getting slightly more filmmaker focused this year. Some great directors are missing films from their filmography on the format and would be a great addition to work to complete their catalog and just good movies in general to have on the format. 
Here’s one I saw in the theaters and I liked quite a bit. So this is what it’s all about. Questioning everything she knows, a woman must face her terrifying past in the wake of a darkly mysterious event to piece together the truth in the provocative thriller, The Girl on the Train. Based on USA TODAY’s 2015 Book of the Year and the #1 New York Times Bestseller by Paula Hawkins, the suspense comes home when The Girl on the Train arrives on Digital HD January 3, 2017 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand January 17, 2017 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and DreamWorks Pictures. 
Nocturnal Animals is a flick I knew nothing about weeks ago. I never heard of it before so when the press screening invite arrived in my inbox it was very much a surprise to me. I saw that Amy Adams was in it and decided to give the trailer a spin. She has been in everything else this year (
Drop the microphone! The movie event of the year is coming to home media next month! Bring the Squad home when “Suicide Squad” arrives onto Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD. From director David Ayer (“Fury,” “End of Watch”) comes “Suicide Squad,” starring Oscar nominee Will Smith (Best Actor, 2002, “Ali,” Best Actor, 2007 “The Pursuit of Happyness,”), Oscar winner Jared Leto (Best Supporting Actor, “Dallas Buyers Club,” 2013), Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Focus”), Joel Kinnaman (Netflix’s “House of Cards”) and Oscar nominee Viola Davis (“The Help,” “Doubt”).
Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and his boys are back to “ball out” in Season 2 of the hit HBO comedy Ballers from the team behind the HBO classic Entourage. Johnson showcases his “movie-star charisma” (The Hollywood Reporter) in the series that looks at the whirlwind lifestyles and real-life problems of former and current football players in sun-soaked Miami. Ballers: The Complete Second Season will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on January 31, 2017 and includes “Inside the Episode” bonus segments that give the play-by-play on all 10 episodes, featuring interviews with executive producer Evan Reilly, star Dwayne Johnson and more. DVD and Blu-ray versions also include a Digital Download. 
Before the highly-anticipated final season kicks off this winter, check out the “spectacular” (Vulture) fifth season of the Emmy®- and Golden Globe-winning HBO comedy Girls. Starring and created by Lena Dunham and executive produced by Judd Apatow and Jenni Konner, the hit series follows the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their mid-20s—each facing new challenges in life and love. GIRLS: The Complete Fifth Season will be available on Blu-rayTM and DVD January 3rd, 2017. The Blu-rayTM and DVD sets both feature a free digital download of all 10 episodes, plus exclusive bonus content including more than two dozen never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes. 
Academy Award
Personally, I’m not familiar with either of these going in, but The TAMI Show and The Big TNT Show sound like they were a big step and sort of monumental in terms of the concert film. Both movies are just some concerts with big names, but it was something of an event, lots of player, lots of hit singles. Shout Factory is using its Shout Select label to bring this film and its sister film, The Big TNT Show to Blu-ray for the very first time. Mastered from a new High-Definition transfer, The T.A.M.I. Show / The Big T.N.T. Show Collector’s Edition brings both of these history-making films to life in a definitive set that no fan or scholar of rock and soul music will want to be without. It will be available December 2nd! 
William Friedkin suffered the same kind of fate many of his 1970s breakout director contemporaries did, they started to sort of fall off their super high pedestal in the 1980s. Now, with Friedkin, I think a lot of his work during this time was actually good quality, it just wasn’t catching on or becoming a hit with audiences and/or critics just weren’t ready yet. To Live And Die In LA was seen as a sort of “return” for him as he finally put out a film with both critic and audience approval. He had been on a run of bombs and reviled movies like Sorcerer (Which is a MASTERPIECE) and Cruising (HIGHLY underrated, bold film). This was seen as a return to his roots of sorts, akin to finding himself a new French Connection. It was also the last loudly heralded film of his all the way until Bug and Killer Joe in the more recent years here. Shout Factory is labeling it under its Select series and giving it a Collector’s Edition that builds and improves upon the previous Blu-ray release on November 22nd. 
J’accuse, director Abel Gance’s (Napoleon) indictment of war, is a tale of romance and idealism in the tradition of Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion. Abel Gance would revisit his 1919 epic J’accuse with the 1938 reimagining, this time with sound and a score by his The Woman Thief collaborator Henri Verdun. Gance’s film stars Victor Francen (A Farewell to Arms) and Jean-Max (Satan’s Paradise), J’accuse features supporting performances by Line Noro (Pépé le Moko), Paul Amiot (Le Cercle Rouge), André Nox (Savage Brigade) and Marie Lou (The Woman Thief). Directed by Abel Gance, J’accuse (which used his epic 1919 silent screen version as a template) is both a stirring indictment of man’s inhumanity to man and an ode to man’s capacity for love and compassion. The film is coming to Blu-ray from Olive Films on November 15th. 
