Out Of The Furnace (Blu-ray Review)
Coming in late last year, with some small hopes at awards possibilities was Scott Cooper’s Out Of The Furnace. The Crazy Heart director followed up his Oscar winning film with a gloom and doom tale regarding a family of mill workers in North Braddock and an underground illegal gambling fight scene. The film surprisingly (in this day and age) had an opening weekend all to itself upon release. However, it was caught during a juggernaut run of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen dominating the box office and barely made a spark. And come awards time it received no recognition. Although, I’ll argue below, that Christian Bale was far better here than he was in the film he was actually nominated for in the Best Actor category of the Oscars. Continue reading ‘Out Of The Furnace (Blu-ray Review)’
Here’s an article that just came across my desk and I wanted to share it with all my readers here while the buzz is strong this week in Austin, TX. Of course, I’m talking about a sore subject of mine since I’m not there the second straight year in a row, but nonetheless…SXSW! SXSW is without a doubt one most exciting festivals in the world, previewing cutting edge technology, the latest music and of course showcasing the newest and the most exciting movie releases. So the below infographic takes a quick look at the top 10 most discussed films trending out on social media attributed to SXSW. Enjoy! 
I have to say this one looks kind of interesting and intriguing and if you live in New York City consider yourself lucky because IFC Midnight will release Zack Parker’s Proxy theatrically in NYC first at The IFC Center and on VOD April 18th. Supposedly it will also roll out nationwide shortly after. However, until it does, let’s have a look at the trailer for Proxy. Sound good? Of course it does! Enjoy! 
Olive Films releases one of the landmarks of American cinema, The Pawnbroker on Blu-ray™ and DVD April 22nd. Directed by Academy-Award®-winner (Honorary Award 2005) Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon) and released in 1964, it was the first cinematic exploration of the darkest memories and feelings of a Holocaust survivor. Filmed in stark black and white, it was also the first film approved by the Production Code that contained nudity. Newly remastered in HD for this release, The Pawnbroker is also being honored with a special screening as part of the 2014 TCM Film Festival. More details and pre-order link follow down below. 
While I was invited, but I wasn’t able to cover it being way down here in lonely Austin, TX, I do live vicariously through other people’s pictures. After all, they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words anyway, right? Right! So these below images just hit my inbox this morning courtesy of Walt Disney and I thought I would share them with all our WSB readers here because like me, I’m sure you’re all pumped for next months premiere of Captain America: The Winter Soldier! Am I right? Heck yeah! I knew I was! So sip your favorite beverage as I share with you a couple of the highlight photos from last night premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Enjoy! 
Alright, let’s set the record straight. I like Aaron Paul. I like his work in Breaking Bad and the remake of The Last House on the Left, but I have my reservations going into Need For Speed last Thursday evening. For starters, it’s based off of a video game. Now let’s all be honest with ourselves here. How many great films are there out there that are based off of a video game? The only ones that I can think of that are remotely successful are the Resident Evil films, but to call them good would be a huge stretch. But hey…I understand. You got to capitalize while the property is hot and while I’m not a huge fan of the Electronic Arts need For Speed series, there’s no denying their presence and domination over the competition throughout the lifespan of the last three generations of major gaming consoles. So what the hell. I’m a sucker for car flicks. And when I found out that the new 2015 Ford Mustang would be making an appearance in here I said where do I sign up? 
Bad Words will not be an Oscar contender. The casting was a bit predictable and the storyline was borderline cheesy. This sounds like the build up to a horribly disappointing movie, but there is one aspect that is done to such perfection that it makes this movie just brilliant. Even at Jason Bateman’s worse, he never disappoints with his sharp wit and sarcastic repartee, but in Bad Words he takes this one step further. Bateman delivers brutally vicious insults with utterly offensive conversation to dark humor perfection. And this movie doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that. The plot is simple and simpler yet are the subplots without a trace of pretension coming anywhere near the film. Personally, I feel that what the film lacked was partly intentional as to allow the limelight to shine that much brighter on the content that mattered most—disgustingly darker than black humor. 
After being down here for over a year, in my opinion, there’s not a heck of a lot going down in Austin, TX more than what was happening up in the frigid land of the North I’m from, but at least there’s always SXSW to keep a fellow Texan on their heels. And that’s exactly what Paramount does with their brilliant marketing strategies, in my opinion, as the world’s first combination news/food truck was unveiled at SXSW in Austin, TX on Tuesday, March 11th in celebration of the Digital debut of the blockbuster hit comedy Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. The “AnchorVan” will make stops throughout the country en route to its final destination in New York City on April 1st for the film’s Blu-ray arrival. Check out the full press release below! 
Ketchup Entertainment is proud to announce the world premiere of the powerful and uplifting documentary NEXT GOAL WINS, directed by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, which will kick off the Tribeca Drive-In® series at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival on April 19th. The film follows the American Samoa soccer team — FIFA’s* lowest ranked team for 17 years – which had not won a single competitive game and scored only twice in nearly two decades. Dutch coach Thomas Rongen takes on the daunting challenge of leading the team to the grueling 2014 World Cup Qualification matches with the hope of finally winning their first ever competitive match. 
This week’s is our first pick that isn’t of the film medium, but comes from that of television. And if you pay attention to anything at all in the goings on of film and TV, this pick is going to be super duper obvious.
At last, after months of waiting since last Christmas, I was able to view my favorite movie of last year, Wolf of Wall Street, in the privacy of my own home. As expected, once again, it did not let me down. I re-experienced 3 hours of pure enjoyment. That’s right, I said 3 hours of enjoyment once again!!! Even without popcorn and an Icee! Martin Scorsese has truly outdone himself with this film. Clocking in at an impressive 179 minutes, Wolf of Wall Street has set a record as Mr. Scorsese’s longest fictional film by beating out Casino by a mere one minute. Wolf is, in my opinion, by far the director’s most exciting film in years. Second runner up would be The Departed, but that’s a different story and review all together. Looking back, how this film did not get a NC-17 rating is beyond me as Scorsese has pushed the boundaries of the R-rating to the absolute limits with a combination of drugs, strippers, sex, depravity and oh so much more. 
