Archive Page 410
April 28th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
I only checked out one film on Sunday, for the Newport Beach Film Festival, but it was an interesting Australian crime drama serving as a morality tale and a showcase for the three lead characters. Felony features some strong performances, with Tom Wilkinson, in particular, making a good case for why he is almost always enjoyable in whatever role is given to him. The idea of seeing not just two, but three sides of the law makes for an interesting story to be told and Felony works that angle about as far as it can go, before settling in a way that left me satisfied.
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Continue reading ‘NBFF 2014 Review: ‘Felony’’
April 28th, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
My favorite PR person in the world comes through again for us as she single-handedly saves humanity from ultimate destruction and in doing so awards two lucky Why So Blu readers with Blu-ray copies of the Anchor Bay horror sensation, Mr. Jones, which makes its debut on the format May 6th. So just in case you don’t know what the terrifying tale of Mr. Jones is all about I have posted a quick little synopsis down below as well as the film’s trailer. If you only care about how to enter our contest to win yourself a copy, rest assured, you’ll find that below too. Thanks…good luck…and enjoy! Continue reading ‘Mr. Jones Blu-ray Giveaway Contest!’
April 27th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
Saturday Night at the 15th Annual Newport Beach Film Fest was another challenging scenario, as a number of films were showing and I had to consider how to best spend my time. Fortunately, the two movies I was able to see were both quite good. Teacher of the Year is my favorite film of the festival so far (granted I have only seen a small percentage of what has been available), as it was funny and heartfelt in the right ways. Obvious Child was fine too, given that it fits in the realm of quirky indie comedy, but has a sort of truth to it that puts it slightly ahead of typical indie fare. There continue to be plenty of exciting options though and Saturday just fit as another strong night for the fest and what I have ended up choosing.
Continue reading ‘NBFF 2014 Reviews: ‘Teacher of the Year’ and ‘Obvious Child’’
April 27th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
In the high stakes world of espionage, one Russian FSB operative will do whatever it takes to crack an international money laundering operation and American banker, Alice, is the key. The only problem is that he isn’t the only one after Alice. Now he must find out who he can trust and use everything he knows in order to get to the truth and bring down a powerful Russian oligarch.
Continue reading ‘Möbius (Blu-ray Review)’
April 26th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
Friday at the Newport Beach Film Festival found me with a lot of options to choose from. While I had heard many good things about a number of the films featured and had considered attending at least four different films playing around the same time, I ultimately chose to go with Cheatin’ and The One I Love. One is an animated feature from famed cartoonist Bill Plympton, the other was a romantic comedy-drama with a unique twist that I do not plan to spoil here. I found both to be worth watching, especially those in the mood for something a bit off center from the norm.
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Continue reading ‘NBFF 2014 Reviews: ‘Cheatin’’ and ‘The One I Love’’
April 26th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
2014 is the year of Hercules. We’ll have Hercules starring Dwayne Johnson in the titular role, which will be directed by Brett Ratner. For now we have The Legend of Hercules starring Kellan Lutz and directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Goodnight). You know, the more the merrier, I say, since I am a fan of Greek mythology, I do like when films depict the subject. Most of them do not get it right but one can’t say that they’re not at least sort of interesting. Let’s give The Legend of Hercules a spin and see if the film is at least a little bit interesting. Shall we begin? Continue reading ‘The Legend of Hercules (Blu-ray Review)’
April 25th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
A series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course: the father of the latest victim now out for revenge, a vigilante police detective operating outside the boundaries of law, and the main suspect in the killings – a religious studies teacher arrested and released due to a police blunder. Quentin Tarantino called Big Bad Wolves the best film of the year (2013) . Okay, I’m in!
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[ Continue reading ‘Big Bad Wolves (Blu-ray Review)’
April 25th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Star Trek: Enterprise‘s fourth and final season not only was the end of the show itself’s run, but more importantly hailed the end of an era. From 1987 until 2005, there was always going to be a new episode of some form of Star Trek on the horizon. For 18 years, through The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, the extended world and characters of Gene Roddenberry’s creation became a television staple like a Law & Order or CSI in its own right. From syndication to network Star Trek always had a spot on the airwaves. Sometimes even two shows were running at the same time. Enterprise ended up being the shortest of those ending on its fourth season while the others went on for seven each. UPN canned it after four seasons, making it the shortest series since the Original back in the 60s, to which many thought were premature and that the show was finally realizing its potential. Continue reading ‘Star Trek: Enterprise – Season Four (Blu-ray Review)’
April 25th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Magnolia Home Entertainment is releasing the action-packed adventure, Journey To The West, on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27. I was a fan of both Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, so I’m interested to see what Stephen Chow brings to the table this time. I never saw CJ7 so I really haven’t seen anything from the guy since 2004 with Hustle. Anywho, this one drops on May 27 and I’m looking forward to it. Info on the release provided by Magnolia as well as a pre-order link are in your future if you keep scrolling on down this page (or if you on the front page, click the link to jump over). Continue reading ‘Action-Packed Adventure JOURNEY TO THE WEST Arrives On Blu-ray May 27 From Magnolia Home Entertainment’
April 25th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
Opening night at the 15th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival was a nice start to what should be an exciting festival to keep track of. Given the difficulty I have had at nailing down exactly which films to check out on what days, due to interest in so many, it seems like I am in for a lot of good, interesting, or at least entertaining features. With that in mind, I was happy to find the opening film, Lovesick, to be enjoyable enough, for what it is. I say this because the opening night film tends to be a more palatable feature, in an effort to please the general audience as a whole, given the crowded attendance in the Big Newport Theater on Opening Night. The film is simple enough, but the cast makes it a bit more appealing.
Continue reading ‘NBFF 2014 Review: Lovesick’
April 24th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
The cops can’t control him. The mob wants him dead. And time is running out. Donnie Yen is Detective Chen Zilong but the criminal underworld knows him as Dragon Chen, a dangerous but effective enforcer. When rivalries explode with the reappearance of an old enemy and a brutal murder, the Triads close ranks and unleash a series of executions with Chen at the top of the list. Undercover and under attack, he has no choice but to rely on a new partner (Jing Tian) and his knowledge of the streets to get out alive. It s the only chance he s got.
] Continue reading ‘Special ID (Blu-ray Review)’
April 24th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
An assumption about The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is that it appears to be a light-hearted adventure comedy made for a trendy crowd, due to the use of various elements in its trailers. I would not necessarily agree, but that seems to have inspired a lot of ire in the film from some, for reasons that are beyond me. Having seen the film a couple times now, I was very happy to enjoy it for what it manages to accomplish. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a film about one man’s journey that may not have a whole lot of depth, compared to the scope of the film or others like it, but it worked for me in a very crowd-pleasing kind of way and I liked that. Now the Blu-ray is available for people to enjoy the journey at home.
Continue reading ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Blu-ray Review)’
April 24th, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
Danny Trejo (Machete) and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon) deliver twice the Bad Ass action in this hard-hitting, butt-kicking sequel to the original cult favorite! Vietnam vet Frank Vega (Trejo) now runs an East L.A. community center where he trains young boxers to survive in and out of the ring. But when his prize student falls in with the wrong crowd and turns up dead, Frank teams up with his pal Bernie (Glover) to take matters into their own fists and prove that justice never gets old.
] Continue reading ‘Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses (Blu-ray Review)’
April 24th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
Three grown woman find out they are sharing the same guy and become friends with a mission to have their silly revenge. Admittedly I do not have a whole lot of tolerance for these kinds of movies. I am not talking about ‘chick flicks’, as there are plenty of ‘chick flicks’ that I enjoy and would recommend. I am talking about dumb movies that exist to provide some laughs, maybe, but are instantly forgotten and have only one real trick up their sleeve and that’s to convince movie goers to have spent their money on it to begin with. To be completely fair, The Other Woman has a big enough performance from Leslie Mann to likely elicit plenty of smiles and make it feel like harmless fun, but also keep in mind that this film that features three female leads that never stop talking about boys. There are also all the slow-mo boob shots and poop jokes too, which the movie definitely enjoys featuring.
Continue reading ‘The Other Women…I mean ‘The Other Woman’ (Movie Review)’
April 23rd, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
I guess I’ll go on record by saying Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is probably one of my most anticipated flick’s of the year. I don’t know whether it’s going to be good or bad, but what I have seen thus far has not disappointed me. Quite the contrary! All the footage I have seen just gets me more pumped about this August release starring the likes of Jessica Alba, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mickey Rourke, Juno Temple, Jaime King, Rosario Dawson and many others all in 3-D! The Robert Rodriguez production hits theaters on August 22nd and provided I’m not on call that week my a$$ will be in a theater chair fo sho! You can take that to the bank and cash it! I guess you can say this movie is sort of like a 40th birthday present for me. Yep. That’s right! The big 4-0 and I have so much left I want to accomplish yet. Please God help me! LOL. Oh yeah…the new 60-second trailer! Continue reading ‘Frank Miller’s ‘Sin City: A Dame To Kill For’ New 60 Second Trailer’
April 23rd, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
Between love, destiny and darkness comes “Winter’s Tale,” arriving onto Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD on June 24 from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures. Marking the directorial debut of Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (“A Beautiful Mind”), “Winter’s Tale” is the perfect love story. Based on the acclaimed novel by Mark Helprin, “Winter’s Tale” stars Colin Farrell (“Saving Mr. Banks”), Jessica Brown Findlay (TV’s “Downton Abbey”) and Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”), alongside Jennifer Connelly (“Stuck in Love”), William Hurt (“Bonnie and Clyde”), Eva Marie Saint (“The Legend of Korra”), Mckayla Twiggs (“Orange is the New Black”) and Ripley Sobo (“Team Umizoomi”). Continue reading ‘‘Winter’s Tale’ on Blu-ray & DVD June 24th!’
April 22nd, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
Here is something I have been really enjoying:
COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY is the spectacular follow-up to Carl Sagan’s award-winning series that explored the remarkable mysteries of the cosmos and our place within it. This thrilling, 13-part adventure transports viewers across the universe of space and time, bringing to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and a deeper understanding of nature. With an updated Cosmic Calendar, dazzling visual effects, and the wondrous Ship of the Imagination, fans will experience an unforgettable journey to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest and smallest scale. On June 10th, everyone will be able to pick up a copy for themselves. Read on to learn more about this upcoming release.
April 22nd, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
From what I can tell, both Comic Con and WonderCon have proven to be great venues to debut the latest DC Universe Animated Original Movies and I am sure the other cons do it too. The past few years have seen the debut public screenings of films such as Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and Superman: Unbound, among others. It makes perfect sense, as the people attending these cons consist of the exact type of audience that would seek them out. For WonderCon 2014, audiences were treated to the debut of Son of Batman, which was screened on Friday and had an encore screening on Sunday. The film introduces the Damian character, the child Batman learns he has, which leads to a battle with some old and new foes. As a Batman fan attending WonderCon, I of course had to check this out for myself.
Continue reading ‘WonderCon 2014: Son of Batman (Movie Review)’
I only checked out one film on Sunday, for the Newport Beach Film Festival, but it was an interesting Australian crime drama serving as a morality tale and a showcase for the three lead characters. Felony features some strong performances, with Tom Wilkinson, in particular, making a good case for why he is almost always enjoyable in whatever role is given to him. The idea of seeing not just two, but three sides of the law makes for an interesting story to be told and Felony works that angle about as far as it can go, before settling in a way that left me satisfied.
