Archive Page 520
April 12th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
I am not one to normally post trailers on the site, given that we are more focused on the review side of things and the in-depth coverage that goes along with that; however, when I was covering WonderCon 2012, I made mention of the film Looper, a new time travel flick that I am really excited for. At the time, there was nothing available in the way of posting, beyond my description of the panel and a few images. Now, in the past week, a trailer and a poster for the film have debuted. Given that I stated I wanted to provide an update when a trailer was made available in this article HERE, now is the time I fulfill that promise. Again, Looper is the new time travel film from writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), which stars Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt. While there are plenty of much more high-profile films coming very soon and throughout the summer, Looper is a fall release that is very high on my list of films to see as well. Continue on to see the trailer and the poster for the film. Continue reading ‘‘Looper’ Has Its Trailer Debut’
April 12th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
As soon as the marketing for The Cabin in the Woods finally started to kick into gear for this long-delayed release (MGM went bankrupt and the flick was left in limbo), I went on media blackout for it. Having heard for so long that the movie is quite good and clever (which it is), but also works much better if one goes in completely fresh, I avoided all trailers (not an easy task) and saw the movie with no knowledge of what it was, beyond some of the cast and crew that was involved and understanding that it takes place in the woods, within a cabin. Now I am tasked with describing why this film is worth your time, while also needing to hold back from revealing any of the surprises. And that is what I intend to do, so from this point on, while The Cabin in the Woods is certainly a great ride to jump on, I will refrain from any true spoilers. Continue reading ‘‘Cabin In The Woods’ Teaches An Old Dog New Tricks (Spoiler Free Review)’
April 12th, 2012 by Sean Ferguson
War Horse, the Academy Award-nominated Best Picture, is a story of incredible friendship, loyalty, courage, hope and tenacity. Based on the Tony Award-winning play, and set against the sweeping canvas of World War I, this deeply heartfelt tale begins with the remarkable friendship between a feisty colt named Joey and his young trainer Albert (Jeremy Irvine). When they’re forced apart by war, the film follows Joey’s extraordinary journey as he changes and inspires the lives of everyone he meets. No matter where they go or what they experience both boy and horse keep forging ahead, driven by devotion and the hope of returning home. Filled with spectacularly rich visuals, War Horse is one of the most powerful and moving stories of friendship and love ever filmed. Continue reading ‘War Horse (Blu-ray Review)’
April 11th, 2012 by Blu-ray Brian
I have to admit. I know it sounds cheesy, but this film really was an adrenaline rush from start to finish for me. I’m talking about the Denzel Washington/Ryan Reynolds vehicle, Safe House, that is. I actually saw it twice in the theaters. Unless it’s The Dark Knight, that’s something I usually don’t do, but I will be breaking that tradition with another screening of Cabin in the Woods this weekend. But anyway, the year’s most explosive action blockbuster will be available on Blu-ray Combo Pack with UltraViolet and Digital Copy (I love that Universal provides you an option here) as well as DVD and On-Demand on June 5th. I can’t wait. The film has some minor flaws, but it’s a Day 1 for me! Check out the full press release below from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and pre-order your copy today! Continue reading ‘Safe House Explodes Onto Blu-ray This June!’
April 10th, 2012 by Gerard Iribe
Here’s a bit of “shock and awe” brought to the world of Blu-ray in the classic A Trip to the Moon conceived and executed by Georges Melies back in 1902. If my math is correct that would mean that A Trip to the Moon is 110 years old. It’s about time the Blu-ray Gods rained down some releases of this caliber and Flicker Alley has done the film world a great service by presenting A Trip to the Moon in the highest possible quality for the consumer. A massive restoration took place by various companies working together with original elements to bring the luster back to a film that had seen better days. Not only that, but Flicker Alley has thrown in some special features, an awesome tin case, and more. Entrez! Continue reading ‘A Trip to the Moon (Blu-ray Review)’
April 10th, 2012 by Sean Ferguson
Jaws comes to Blu-ray for the first time ever on August 14th, 2012 and features an all-new, digitally remastered and fully restored picture, as well as 7.1 surround sound. The film is one of 13 classic Universal films selected to be digitally remastered and fully restored from 35mm original film elements as part of Universal’s ongoing 100th Anniversary celebration. Directed by Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg,
Jaws set the standard for edge-of-your seat suspense quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon and forever changing the movie industry. When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town’s chief of police (Roy Scheider), a young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again. Featuring an unforgettable score that evokes pure terror,
Jaws remains one of the most influential and gripping adventures in motion picture history.
Continue reading ‘JAWS Finally Makes It’s Way to Blu-ray this August!’
April 10th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
So last year, director David Gordon Green released two films. One was the R-rated fantasy/comedy Your Highness, which was mostly hated by everyone except myself and a few others. The other was The Sitter, a confusingly unoriginal and bland film, which was mostly hated by everyone including myself. David Gordon Green came from directing fantastic indie dramas for the most part (All the Real Girls, Undertow), thought of by some as a young Terrance Malick. Then he directed Pineapple Express (another film I actually really enjoy quite a bit), which some are saying “broke” him as a director. Regardless of where Gordon Green’s career may go (for the record, he has also done excellent work on the HBO series Eastbound & Down), The Sitter still stands as a bafflingly bad movie, featuring Jonah Hill in his final “hefty” performance. Continue reading ‘The Sitter (Blu-ray Review)’
April 9th, 2012 by Gerard Iribe
Academy Award® winner Nicolas Cage (1996, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Leaving Las Vegas) is back as Johnny Blaze in Marvel’s action-packed 3D sequel GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE, unleashed June 12th on Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™ and DVD – all with UltraViolet™ – from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. In this thrilling follow-up to the worldwide, box-office hit Ghost Rider, the world’s darkest hero takes on the ultimate bad guy: the devil, himself. The sequel is directed by acclaimed action filmmakers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank series, Gamer), and co-stars Ciarán Hinds (John Carter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2), Violante Placido (The American), Johnny Whitworth (Limitless, 3:10 to Yuma), Christopher Lambert (Highlander, Mortal Kombat), and Idris Elba (Thor, Takers). Continue reading ‘‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance’ on Blu-ray June 12th’
April 9th, 2012 by Gerard Iribe
On May 8, get ready to venture to your voyeuristic side when Magnolia Home Entertainment releases Playback under the Magnet Label on Blu-ray and DVD. Based on the prequel novella, “Playback: Light and Shadow,” the “original and entertaining piece” (Gashe.com) features Christian Slater (Bobby, Very Bad Things), Johnny Pacar (Wild Child, Discovery Kids’ “Flight 29 Down), Toby Hemingway (Black Swan, Feast of Love), and Amber Childers (“All My Children”). The unnerving film follows a group of high school students who begin to dig into their towns infamous past and unwittingly unlock a dark secret that has been kept hidden for years. Now an evil spirit has awakened and will stop at nothing to get what it wants. Continue reading ‘‘Playback’ on Blu-ray May 8th’
April 8th, 2012 by Sean Ferguson
Chipmunks ahoy! It’s a tidal wave of toe-tapping music and unforgettable fun for the whole family as Alvin and the Chipmunks return in their greatest adventure yet! While on vacation aboard a luxury cruise liner, Alvin, Simon, Theodore and the Chipettes can’t help rocking the boat with their unique brand of ’munk mischief. But things get really squeaky when the gang winds up stranded on a remote island — and they soon discover their new tropical playground is not as deserted as it seems. Continue reading ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (Blu-ray Review)’
April 8th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
So unrelenting is the word I would use to describe The Divide, but I don’t use that in a very good way. Similar to another particular nasty film that is also not particularly good, Blindness, The Divide is a film focused on showing how ugly humanity can be, when all notion of hope is practically lost and people are pushed to the brink of survival. It is a depressing, ugly film, with a lot of unlikable characters played by actors giving pretty over-the-top performances. It also features moments of unneeded cinematic slickness, put up against a plot that is both predictable and too drab to be more interesting. Despite bits of intrigue set up early on, The Divide did not really give me much to latch onto, but read on to learn more about this Blu-ray release. Continue reading ‘The Divide (Blu-ray Review)’
April 6th, 2012 by Sean Ferguson
On April 14, 1912, just before midnight, the unsinkable Titanic struck an iceberg. In less than three hours, it had plunged to the bottom of the sea, taking with it more than 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers. In his unforgettable rendering of Walter Lord’s book of the same name, A Night to Remember, the acclaimed British director Roy Ward Baker (Don’t Bother to Knock) depicts with sensitivity, awe, and a fine sense of tragedy the ship’s final hours. Featuring remarkably restrained performances, A Night to Remember is cinema’s subtlest, finest dramatization of this monumental twentieth-century catastrophe. Continue reading ‘A Night to Remember: The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
April 6th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
These American Pie films have never been shy about wearing their hearts on their sleeves and their hard-ons in plain sight. I can admit that I was joining in on the joke of regarding this sequel as an easy way for all of the original actors who have mostly gone nowhere (not entirely true) to cash in on their biggest success; however, I have also enjoyed the previous entries in this series (not counting the direct-to-video spin-offs). While feeling a bit overdue and being more of a film designed to remind the fans of the series how sweet and funny the guys in this film can be, opposed to making way for new fans, it still is a film that does manage to be successfully sweet and funny for the most part. It’s also still plenty raunchy as well (though little room is left for pie). Continue reading ‘The Gang Returns For An ‘American Reunion’’
April 6th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Few filmmakers have been able to take a huge chunk of money, spend it on an epic adventure in filmmaking, riding through waves of bad publicity and production troubles, only to create a huge blockbuster success as a result. James Cameron has done it twice. Recently, he managed to shatter the record for biggest film of all time with Avatar, but the record shattered was that of his own previous film, Titanic. Titanic is a film that by all accounts should not have worked. A romantic/disaster drama with a huge budget, where everyone already knows the ending, and has no chance of being made into a franchise is not exactly the kind of film studios would want to get their hands on, but Cameron was able to do the impossible and have it succeed. Now the film has been re-released into theaters with a new 3D conversion, heavily supervised by Cameron, providing audiences with another chance to view the film on a big screen. My friend and fellow film critic Scott Mendelson has done a job of capturing all of my thoughts regarding Titanic’s legacy HERE, but having now seen this new release, I can still provide some of my own thoughts the conversion and the film, as it stands today. Continue reading ‘The King of the Format Dives Back Into The Deep End: ‘Titanic 3D’ Thoughts’
April 6th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
I believe San Diego Comic-Con has gained enough relevance in the cultural zeitgeist where people are at least aware of its existence, regardless if they truly know what it is or what it used to be. In the documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, Morgan Spurlock attempts to pull back the curtain on what Comic-Con used to be about, what it is about now, and what it means to the various people that attend. At least one of these themes is best explored, but at least it is the area of the film that provides the most stakes cinematically. As a whole and as a person who has been attending Comic-Con, I think this documentary skirts past some of the more interesting and important aspects of the convention; however, I think the overall tone of the doc is lighthearted enough to certainly make it enjoyable overall. Continue reading ‘‘Comic-Con’ Gets Its Own Lighthearted Documentary’
April 5th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Even with all of the other redundant shows that currently exist on television, there are still plenty of really quality TV series in existence as well. Louie is, in my opinion (and many others), one of the best shows on television. Despite serving as a “comedy” or sorts, overall, the show is so ingeniously scripted, performed, and thought out that it is beyond the realm of comedy and simply a genius show all together. I was already a huge fan of the first season, but Louis C.K. managed to do even more with the second season, bringing in all sorts of broadly comic moments, darkly comedic moments, scenes of surreal absurdity, and moments that contain pure poignancy. Having C.K. in complete control of his own show, which he writes, edits, and directs himself is a great joy to behold and soon the complete second season will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD; June 19 to be exact. Read on to find out more about this upcoming release.
Continue reading ‘Louie Season 2 Debuts On Blu In June’
April 5th, 2012 by Gregg Senko
With all the stories that have been written in the comic book world, it can sometimes be difficult to wonder what else is left. Well, how about this? Take the two biggest heroic forces in the Marvel Universe, and pit them against each other in a massive slugfest for the ages. Sound good? Or does it sound like a potentially epic story that also doubles as a fanboy’s dream come true? This eruptive combination came to reality yesterday, April 4th, as the two super teams dropped the gloves in issue #1 of Avengers vs. X-Men. Continue reading ‘‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ Makes Explosive Debut’
April 4th, 2012 by Gregg Senko
Navy SEALs. Is there anything these guys can’t do? I mean one minute we see them on CNN picking off Somali pirates on a moving boat from a few hundred yards, the next they’re taking out Bin Laden with the garbage. Even amidst an unconventional day at the office, these guys find the time to…star in a movie? You got it. In case you missed the high octane film in theaters this past winter starring active duty U.S. Navy SEALs, you’ll have the chance to catch it on Blu-ray and DVD very soon. If Infinity Ward’s highly successful ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ video game franchise were ever to make a transition to the big screen, this is what it would look like. Check out all the details here…
Continue reading ‘‘Act of Valor’ Makes Tactical Arrival to Blu-ray This June’
I am not one to normally post trailers on the site, given that we are more focused on the review side of things and the in-depth coverage that goes along with that; however, when I was covering WonderCon 2012, I made mention of the film Looper, a new time travel flick that I am really excited for. At the time, there was nothing available in the way of posting, beyond my description of the panel and a few images. Now, in the past week, a trailer and a poster for the film have debuted. Given that I stated I wanted to provide an update when a trailer was made available in this article HERE, now is the time I fulfill that promise. Again, Looper is the new time travel film from writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), which stars Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt. While there are plenty of much more high-profile films coming very soon and throughout the summer, Looper is a fall release that is very high on my list of films to see as well. Continue on to see the trailer and the poster for the film. Continue reading ‘‘Looper’ Has Its Trailer Debut’
