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Twisting and turning its way onto Blu-ray is Anchor Bay’s Pawn. It’s a film that lives on the plot twist, double cross and connectivity between characters. With so many new revelations and turns through the film’s runtime, this film should be a mess. However, it’s not clumsily handled, not expertly either, but well enough to make for an entertaining jaunt through its runtime. Continue reading ‘Pawn (Blu-ray Review)’
A long time ago, in a faraway land, legend tells an extraordinary tale of courage and friendship…. Get ready for swashbuckling adventure, unforgettable characters, memorable music, and lots of laughs in Disney’s Disney’s Robin Hood, one of the most cherished animated films of all time. Heroic Robin Hood — along with his trusted companion Little John and his devoted band of merry men — conjures up one famously funny and daring deed after another to outfox greedy Prince John and bring happiness to the residents of Sherwood Forest. Disney’s Robin Hood: 40th Anniversary Edition also features a forest full of merriment with a never-before-seen stoyline, an alternate ending, games, and Disney Song Selection, plus a new digital transfer, 5.1 Surround Sound, and much more! Continue reading ‘Disney’s Robin Hood: 40th Anniversary Edition Finally Arrives on Blu-ray this August!’
Experience a magical adventure, filled with friendship, fun and “paws-itively” cool music in the new 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray of Walt Disney’s Oliver And Company: 25th Anniversary Edition — featuring tail-wagging bonus and new digital mastering! Oliver, a feisty young cat, explores New York in this thrilling animated classic cleverly based on Charles Dickens’ timeless story, “Oliver Twist” — featuring unforgettable songs performed by musical greats Billy Joel, Huey Lewis and Bette Midler! Joined by a pack of hilarious characters — dogs Dodger, Tito and their pals — Oliver knows he’s found a lifelong friend and a real home. The new 25th Anniversary Edition includes Oliver’s Big City Challenge Game, the Academy Award-winning animated short “Lend A Paw” (1941, Short Subject, Cartoon) and much more! Hightail it to your home theater for a fun and exciting movie-watching experience your family will enjoy again and again! Continue reading ‘Disney’s Oliver And Company: 25th Anniversary Edition Makes its Debut on Blu-ray’
Humor, spectacle and magic rule in Walt Disney’s legendary classic tale The Sword in the Stone — now celebrating its 50th Anniversary with exciting new bonus features! Embark on an adventure-filled quest for an unlikely hero! According to legend, only someone with honor, decency and inner strength can claim the throne of England — by pulling out the enchanted sword that lies locked in a massive stone. Many brave knights have tried, so it seems impossible that a young apprentice known as Wart could succeed. But with the guidance of the wizard Merlin, help from some hilarious friends and true strength of character, Wart just might become England’s greatest king. There’s even more wizardry fun with marvelous new bonus features including the all-new Merlin’s Magical Academy game, animated shorts, Disney’s song selection and much more! The Sword in the Stone: 50th Anniversary Edition is a magical experience your whole family will want to share again and again. Continue reading ‘Disney’s The Sword in the Stone: 50th Anniversary Edition Announced’
See how the Muppets began, with the nearly 35th Anniversary Special Edition of the original, classic that started it all—The Muppet Movie, produced by the cultural icon and Muppet creator himself, Jim Henson! Witness the hilarious origins of everyone’s favorite Muppets–Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Animal, and the rest—as they embark on an inspirational and laugh-filled road trip to follow their Hollywood dreams. And now for the first time, you and your family can see the Muppets make the “rainbow connection” in vibrant Blu-ray Hi-Def. Continue reading ‘The Muppet Movie: 35th Anniversary Special Edition Arrives on Blu-ray this August!’
Black Rock is an incredibly simplistic thriller, which finds three women fighting for their lives after circumstances lead to them to dealing with some deadly individuals. The film is not terribly deep, as it is basically an extended period of setup, followed by standard chase thriller plot machinations, but it does reach points of effective, high stakes drama, matched with adequate filmmaking. Having females working together and playing against certain standards in regards to these types of films is notable as well. However, there are also many other genre stereotypes at play, along with a lack of logic in some instances. Given how minimal the story is overall, it works on an overall level of satisfaction, but I have seen other, similar films (The Decent), which make much better use of the ideas on display.
Continue reading ‘The Ladies Of ‘Black Rock’ Fight For Survival (Movie Review)’
Alain Delon (The Leopard) was at his most impossibly beautiful when Purple Noon (Plein soleil) was released and made him an instant star. This ripe, colorful adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s vicious novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by the versatile René Clément (Forbidden Games), stars Delon as Tom Ripley, a duplicitous American charmer in Rome on a mission to bring his privileged, devil-may-care acquaintance Philippe Greenleaf (Elevator to the Gallows’ Maurice Ronet) back to the United States; what initially seems a carefree tale of friendship soon morphs into a thrilling saga of seduction, identity theft, and murder. Featuring gorgeous on-location photography in coastal Italy, Purple Noon is crafted with a light touch that allows it to be suspenseful and erotic at once, while giving Delon the role of a lifetime. Continue reading ‘Purple Noon: Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
While this summer is packed with superhero and comic book movies, including Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, there still is room for Hugh Jackman to reprise his role as one of the most popular mutants around, Wolverine. The Wolverine is the latest adventure for old man Logan, taking place after the events of all of the previous X-Men films and setting itself in Japan. The story is based in part on one of the most famous comic arcs for the character, developed by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. While X-Men Origins: Wolverine left many fans disappointed, The Wolverine looks like a step in a much better direction. Continue on to see the new trailer as well as a batch of very cool, character-based posters.
Continue reading ‘Hey Bub, Watch This New Trailer For ‘The Wolverine’’
Many people have thoughts on how accurate the Oscars are. Many people wish certain things could have happened differently on Hollywood’s biggest night. Many people are also unaware of how much history repeats itself. Author Robert James has taken it upon himself to provide a very thorough look, from his perspective, at the history of the Oscars with his book, WHO Won?!?: An Irreverent Look at the Oscars, which is just Volume One of a multi-volume book series. It should honestly not have taken me so long to finally let more people know about this book. Call it a busy schedule and obligations regarding my weekly movie reviews, but as both a film fan (to say the least) and a history lover (it was my major), I was really happy to dive into this book and take in a lot of insight in regards to where the Oscars began and what can come from a detailed analysis of every winner and nominee, from a much more current (and humorous) point of view. Continue on to learn more about the first volume of Robert James book series, WHO Won?!?
Continue reading ‘WHO Won?!?: An Irreverent Look at the Oscars: 1927-1943 (Book Review)’
Bruce Willis reprises his iconic role as police detective John McClane in A Good Day to Die Hard, set against the backdrop of deadly corruption and political vendetta in Russia. McClane arrives in Moscow to track down his estranged son, Jack, (Jai Courtney), and is stunned to discover he’s working undercover to protect a government whistleblower, Komarov. With their own necks on the line, the McClanes are forced to overcome their differences in order to get Komarov to safety and thwart a potentially disastrous crime in the most desolate place on Earth – Chernobyl. Keeping audiences on the edge of their seats for 25 years, this latest chapter of the popular action franchise delivers the thrills and the ultimate father-son action duo as A Good Day to Die Hard debuts on Digital HD on May 14 three weeks before the Blu-ray and DVD release on June 4 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Continue reading ‘A Good Day to Die Hard (DigitalHD™ Copy Review)’
As I watched A Common Man, I wondered if Ben Kingsley knew or will ever find out what the other side of this movie looked like. The film is a clear case of throwing all the money in a super low budget film at a big name to shoot for a couple of days to hopefully sell your movie better. Slap his name above the title, prominently display him on the cover art with a misleading fiery explosion in the background and hopefully someone is going to pick this up thinking at the very least they’ll get a solid B action movie. Sadly, its far from as it looks as if almost every dollar went to Kingsley for a day or two’s shooting some boring scenes while the rest of the movie suffers from being a, at all too few times laughable, poor production. Continue reading ‘A Common Man (Blu-ray Review)’
Mud is the latest film from writer/director Jeff Nichols, who previously made Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter. It is a nice change of pace, as Mud is the Nichols’ film with the most humor so far. With Mud, Nichols continues to make wildly different films, despite setting them in the same type of locations with the same types of people. He has a knack for this sort of representation of Americana on film, with these stories set in rural and swampy areas, mainly because he gets great work from the people cast in his films. Matthew McConaughey is indeed fantastic in Mud, just as the rest of the cast is, given that no one feels out of place. The title may literally sound dirty, but it is a film that is a big success, given it feels both familiar and unique in the way it presents its story.
About three weeks ago I received a weird unmarked postcard in the mail. It was black with strange red symbols and the only text to be found on it were the words “Were You Chosen?” I snapped a photo of it and texted it to my girlfriend and Gerard Iribe. Neither one knew what it was. Gerard saw the Texas address on the reverse side of the postcard and said that’s Scott Wampler’s address. At first I was like wow, this must be a wedding invite from the man. I can’t believe I got one. I felt honored. But wait! That was my address! LOL. So I did what any rationale person would do after exhausting their lifelines. I “googled” it! It turns out that was a slogan for the newest Weinstein product, Dimension Films’ Dark Skies. And that was the end of that. I tossed the postcard aside disappointed it wasn’t anything more. I want adventure in my life. If it’s not, don’t waste my time. Continue reading ‘Dark Skies (Blu-ray Review)’
I have honestly not tried to make a big deal out of this more publicly, but my interest in Star Trek as a franchise is almost non-existent. Do I respect what it has brought to the world? Sure. Do I enjoy the work of many involved in the making of this newest entry? Of course. Do I begrudge anyone for liking this series? Of course not. My relationship to Star Trek is similar to food I don’t like, because of the taste. It may not be bad for me and others may enjoy it, but it just isn’t my thing. Do I need to be as clichéd as possible to state that I’m a Star Wars guy? I would not think so, but it is true, and even my father informed me that ever since I was very young that was the case, after I rejected a Starship Enterprise toy, because it wasn’t something Star Wars. So with this ridiculous disclaimer out of the way, my assessment of Star Trek Into Darkness is pretty simple – it’s fine. If you like what J.J. Abrams did with the 2009 reboot, than I would say that ‘Into Darkness’ offers a lot more of the same, except bigger.
Continue reading ‘Star Trek Into Indifference (Movie Review)’
Not a whole lot of new to share with this one, but Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is arriving this December and I can only imagine more clips of the film will begin to flood the internet soon enough. With that said, posted below is a new teaser trailer, which resembles the first, but with some alternate lines of dialogue. It is humorous enough, as I enjoy these characters and am hoping that these guys are smart enough to know how to make a sequel that is less a repeat of the first film (ahem…Hangover Part II) and more of something completely different, as well as completely ridiculous. Regardless, the film arrives this winter and you can check out the new teaser trailer in this post.
Continue reading ‘NEW ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES TEASER TRAILER’
Being a huge Star Wars fan all my life who frequently has called Star Trek boring, dull and lifeless with the exception of The Next Generation episodes Ashley Judd appeared in, I was astonished by how much fun I had with J.J. Abrams fresh take on the franchise back in 2009. In my opinion, he resuscitated the franchise, made it enjoyable and brought much needed life and energy back into it, not to mention some really humorous moments too. And for that, I appreciated J.J. Abrams even more as a filmmaker and didn’t even bat an eye when this sequel was announced back in 2011. I have actually been anxiously awaiting its arrival in theaters. I was so thrilled and taken aback by the first one, 2009’s Star Trek, that I have actually been genuinely pumped, geeked and excited for this next chapter in what I would presume to be a trilogy, Star Trek Into Darkness. And quite honestly, I never thought I would ever utter those words that I am excited for something Star Trek. It feels like a betrayal to everything Star Wars and that goes against all my rooted values, but sometimes you need to spice life up and stop being a hater, right? Different is good! Sometimes. Continue reading ‘Take The Journey With ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ (Movie Review)’
Following the special screenings and Q&As for The Mist and the double-dose of Guillermo del Toro features, I was then able to catch a screening of the horror remake Maniac at the Hero Complex Film Festival in LA. Maniac is a remake of an 80s horror feature of the same name and features the same basic story of depravity, as we follow a serial killer around and watch him scalp his female victims. The separating factor for this version is how stylish it is. Along with the 80s synth-infused soundtrack, Maniac is almost completely shot from the perspective of the killer, bringing a lot of credence to the challenging filmmaking techniques used to accomplish this. However, deciphering between which is great, the style or the overall effectiveness of the film, is where the challenge in accepting Maniac really lies.
Continue reading ‘Hero Complex Film Festival: Maniac (Movie Review)’
A supernatural love story set in the South, Beautiful Creatures tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man longing to escape his small town, and Lena (Alice Englert), a mysterious new girl. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town. Oscar nominee Richard LaGravenese (“The Fisher King,” “P.S. I Love You”) directs from his adaptation of the first novel in the best-selling series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. The film stars Alden Ehrenreich (“Tetro”), Alice Englert,(“Ginger & Rosa”) Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons (“Reversal of Fortune”) Oscar nominee Viola Davis (“The Help,” “Doubt”), Emmy Rossum (TV’s “Shameless”), Thomas Mann (“Project X”) and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (“Howard’s End,” “Sense and Sensibility”). Rounding out the cast are Eileen Atkins, Margo Martindale, Zoey Deutch, Tiffany Boone, Rachel Brosnahan, Kyle Gallner, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Sam Gilroy.
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