Archive Page 551
August 31st, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
I guess I have to start this off with mentioning how biased I am on this, Swingers is one of my favorite movies. Regardless of whatever flaws some may see in it; be it the meandering plot, the balance of not having Mike seem too annoying, or its popularizing of common phrases such as, “Vegas Baby!” or, “You’re so money,” I unabashedly love watching Swingers. It’s incredibly funny, features great turns from younger, skinnier versions of Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, has a great sense of capturing the Hollywood nightlife scene thanks to the visual eye of Doug Liman, and is all around lots of fun to watch. Now the Blu-ray is out, which made me plenty anxious to revisit the film once again. Given the film’s low budget, it was interesting to see how the high def format would work for the film. Fortunately, it is suitably money. Continue reading ‘Swingers (Blu-ray Review)’
August 31st, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
Venture behind the true story of one of the world’s most famous assassinations as Oscar-winning director Robert Redford (Best Director, Ordinary People, 1980) gives viewers a front-row seat in the thrilling courtroom battle waged against Mary Surratt (Golden Globe nominee Robin Wright), the only female charged in the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. The film costars Golden Globe nominee James McAvoy as the attorney who reluctantly takes on Surratt’s defense, and who becomes her biggest ally as government forces align to bring her down. Featuring an all-star supporting cast including Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda), Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Evan Rachel Wood (HBO’s “True Blood”), Justin Long (Going the Distance) and two-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, The Conspirator is now available on this Deluxe Edition Blu-ray.
Continue reading ‘The Conspirator (Blu-ray Review)’
August 30th, 2011 by Gerard Iribe
Bring home acclaimed writer/director Terrence Malick’s (Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World) thought provoking film experience THE TREE OF LIFE, available exclusively on Blu-ray Disc Combo Pack October 11 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Through stunning cinematography and raw emotional power Malick’s hymn to life excavates answers to the most haunting and personal human questions through a kaleidoscope of the intimate and the cosmic, from the raw emotions of a family in a small Texas town to the wildest, infinite edges of space and time, from a boy’s loss of innocence to a man’s transforming encounters with awe, wonder and transcendence. Continue reading ‘‘Tree of Life’ on Blu-ray Combo Pack October 11′
August 30th, 2011 by Gregg Senko
Last night MTV featured the premiere episode of the new horror-comedy Death Valley. Take a little True Blood, some of The Walking Dead and a pinch of Underworld, then mix it with a whole lot of Reno 911…Viola! A perfect formula for comedic success, right? No.
Continue reading ‘‘Death Valley’ Makes MTV Debut’
August 30th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
Academy Award winner Yul Brynner stars in the landmark Western that launched the film careers of Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. Tired of being ravaged by an army of marauding bandits, the residents of a small Mexican village seek help from seven American gunfighters. The only problem? It’s seven against 50! Also featuring Eli Wallach and Robert Vaughn, and set against Elmer Bernstein’s Oscar-Nominated score, director John Sturges’ thrilling adventure belongs in any Blu-ray collection. Continue reading ‘The Magnificent Seven (Blu-ray Review)’
August 30th, 2011 by Gerard Iribe
The animals at the Franklin Park Zoo break their time-honored code of silence and reveal that they can talk in the family-friendly comedy Zookeeper, coming to Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, single disc Blu-ray, DVD and Digital October 11 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Kevin James (Grown Ups, Paul Blart: Mall Cop) is loveable zookeeper Griffin Keyes, who finds true love with a lot of help from his talking animals. Zookeeper also stars Rosario Dawson (Seven Pounds) and Leslie Bibb (Iron Man 2). The bonus features on the DVD include deleted scenes, a blooper reel and multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes, including “Creating the Visual Effects,” which shows how filmmakers created talking animals. The Blu-ray Disc™ contains everything included on the DVD, plus additional featurettes, including “The Cast of Zookeeper,” a look at some of the star voices in the film, including Judd Apatow, Jim Breuer, Jon Favreau, Faison Love and Maya Rudolph, as well as movieIQ+sync. The Blu-ray Combo Pack includes all the added value from the single DVD and Blu-ray versions. Continue reading ‘‘Zookeeper’ Arrives on Blu-ray, Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack, DVD and Digital October 11′
August 29th, 2011 by Brian White
If you have not seen a single episode of last year’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand, then you’re in the right place. Keep your eyes glued to your iPad, iPhone or iMac screen (of course I’m assuming because you are reading about this incredible show here that you are cool and down with the Mac family of products) and get your trigger finger ready to click that “pre-order now” link below. Yes! The following television show I’m about to drop in your laps is the sh!t and anyone that thinks or tells you otherwise, although your entitled to your opinion, is just blatantly mistaken about everything in life. There are no if and or buts’ about it and speaking of fine a$$es…Spartacus: Gods of the Arena people! Continue reading ‘Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (Blu-ray Review)’
August 28th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
If A Fistful of Dollars began the Eastwood legend, then its sequel, For a Few Dollars More, cemented it. Clint Eastwood makes his return as “The Man With No Name,” this time teaming up with a rival bounty hunter (Lee Van Cleef as “The Man In Black”) to take down a ruthless outlaw and his band of renegades. But all is not as it seems in the hard-hitting second installment of Sergio Leone’s trilogy starring Eastwood as the famed “Man With No Name.” This gritty, western masterpiece would be followed one year later by The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to complete director Sergio Leone’s brilliant Spaghetti Western Trilogy. Continue reading ‘For A Few Dollars More (Blu-ray Review)’
August 27th, 2011 by Sean Ferguson
A lone gunfighter, the man with no name, rides into town on his old mule. He’s a cynical loner with a clouded past and a cigar hanging out of his mouth. He’s as fast as the devil with a gun and he kills for money. But this isn’t the ideal town to ride into. Two rival families are against each other in a cut throat war. The one is led by their powerful mother mostly and the other by a blood thirsty criminal, Ramón, who has kidnapped a local man’s beautiful wife, Marisol. When the steely blue-eyed mercenary arrives in the dusty border town where these two rival bands of smugglers terrorize the impoverished citizens, he pits the gangs against each other in one of the most influential westerns in cinema history. Can the stranger remain neutral, or will he end up doing the right thing and helping the town? Oscar-winner Clint Eastwood blends a quiet steadiness with a palpable ferocity as the iconic gunslinger “The Man With No Name” in Sergio Leone’s first gritty “spaghetti Western.”
Continue reading ‘A Fistful of Dollars (Blu-ray Review)’
August 27th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
In Our Idiot Brother, Paul Rudd is able to do something few actors can in the opening minutes of the film. He makes us instantly like him. His character’s hippy-ish, Dude-like persona is non-grating and adorable, despite the fact that his character, Ned, makes some poor choices. It is just too bad he has to deal with three nearly-shrewish sisters. Ned’s siblings tend to make him a punching bag of sorts in a film that is not quite biting, but is certainly meaner in spirit than it is in actually watching it. The film does manage to be quite funny and features a great cast, but its incredibly laid back attitude and willingness to rest all of charm on Rudd’s shoulders makes the film a bit uneven. Our Idiot Brother has a very 70s way of keeping its meandering story watchable, even when its fairly trite wrap-up comes into play. Continue reading ‘‘Our Idiot Brother’ Is A Pretty Nice Guy’
August 27th, 2011 by Gerard Iribe
Having Norwegian Ninja arrive for me to review was a surprise, because the only thing I’d really heard or seen of the film was one single trailer with English subtitles. The trailer looked hilarious. Why? It’s in the title! Norwegian Ninja! How could I not be impressed with it? The trailer looked like an extremely low budget flick with crappy production values. I was so in! Then the DVD copy arrived and I was…even more in? Yep, Why So Blu is proud to present (wait for it) the DVD review of…NORWEGIAN NINJA!!!! Continue reading ‘Norwegian Ninja (DVD Review)’
August 27th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
The haunted house horror subgenre has seen resurgence lately; with films like Paranormal Activity and Insidious providing fresh and clever takes on material that has been done quite a bit in the past. Hell, even last week’s Fright Night, a vampire film, managed to provide a house of horrors for its characters. Don’t be Afraid of the Dark is a new horror film produced and co-written by the horror/creature-obsessed filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. His idea was to remake the original made for TV film of the same name, as it terrified him as a child. With plenty of options at his disposal; a talented cast, a great setting, Del Toro’s own eye for creature design, and a malicious cold open, it would seem that this film has everything set to provide for a spooky story. Unfortunately, even with a solid bag of tricks, the magicians at work didn’t make their illusions at all spectacular. Continue reading ‘You Can Keep Your Eyes Open, ‘The Dark’ Isn’t Very Scary’
August 27th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Colombiana is the latest action/thriller from French producer Luc Besson. For those unfamiliar, Besson was the director responsible for wonderful action films such as Leon (The Professional) and La Femme Nakita, but has since been known for producing a slew of slick and simple action films such as The Transporter series and Taken. As usual, it seems as if Besson simply had an idea during a meal and wrote it down on a napkin, only to have one of his French protégé’s develop a whole film around it. Colombiana does not win many points for originality, but it does manage to be a serviceable action film with the great presence of Zoe Saldana in the lead role. Continue reading ‘‘Colombiana’ Is Sexy, Violent, And Average’
August 26th, 2011 by Brianna Reagh
In all honesty, I am afraid of the dark. Let’s just get it all out there. I am a perfect candidate to assess the sinister atmosphere of a movie and be successfully disturbed, because a lot of things scare me. I am a baby, I have no shame. I had no idea what to expect when seeing Don’t be Afraid of the Dark, other than there was some sort of scary creature(s), so I had no mental preparation giving me preemptive stability. From the opening credits, the movie seemed like it could have had a curious blend of Tim Burton in the directing, for there was a twisted, childlike terror to the feel of the vision of the film so I couldn’t tell what I was getting into.
Continue reading ‘I Won’t Be Afraid of the Dark…’
August 25th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Saturday’s panel, “Building Worlds: Inside The Walt Disney Vault,” at Disney’s D23 Expo has already been the source of some exciting and interesting upcoming films from the Mouse House, including Pixar’s Brave, John Carter, and of course, The Avengers. The last film I want to touch upon is the upcoming animation project from director Tim Burton. Back in 1984, before Burton’s first feature film (Pee Wee’s Big Adventure!), he made a short family film, titled Frankenweenie, which was a parody/homage to the original Frankenstein film. Given that this was a fun, personal project stemming from the more family friendly mind of Tim Burton, he has now been given the chance to remake Frankenweenie as a full-length, stop-animated film and he has brought along plenty of Burton regulars to help out. Read on to learn more about the next Burton-style family film. Continue reading ‘D23 Expo: Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie’
August 24th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Continuing the coverage of what was a pretty excitement-packed Saturday morning at Disney’s D23 Expo, Director Andrew Stanton and the cast of John Carter made an appearance as well. This took place at the D23 Arena panel known as, “Building Worlds: Inside The Walt Disney Vault,” which was a place for all the upcoming Disney projects to be shown off or announced to the crowd. Just as audiences were treated to sneak peeks at films such as The Muppets, The Avengers, and Pixar’s Brave, everyone was able to see a behind the scenes look at the upcoming film adaptation of the famed pulp novel hero. Read on to find out more about the heroics of Tim Riggins and the height requirements for Willem Dafoe in John Carter. Continue reading ‘D23 Expo: John Carter’
August 24th, 2011 by Blu-ray Brian
Here’s another press release hot out of my email inbox from my favorite PR person in the world. Anchor Bay Entertainment is proud to release the highly anticipated Starz Original series CAMELOT- THECOMPLETE FIRST SEASON on Blu-ray and DVD September 13th. The 3-disc set contains all ten episodes of the Arthurian Legend with a kingly lot of bonus features including never-before-seen featurettes, bloopers, behind-the-scenes (including a unique on set visit with actor Paul Mooney), character profiles and easy access episode recaps. How’s that for your Blu-ray bucks? Check out the video below and pre-order your copy today! Continue reading ‘Blu-ray Extra Clip From Camelot: The Complete First Season’
August 24th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Mahna Mahna…excuse me, Saturday at Disney’s D23 Expo was a big day indeed. I have already covered The Avengers presentation, which was a way for plenty of people to geek out. I have also written about Pixar, which has big, ambitious plans for their future as well. This whole film presentation was a part of the D23 Arena panel, titled “Building Worlds: Inside the Walt Disney Studios,” which was a way for Disney to bring out the various cast and crew members involved in all of their upcoming films and show new footage. Among those was a sneak peak at the upcoming Muppets film, due for release this Thanksgiving. Given my belief that Muppets can bring out the joy in practically anyone, I was plenty happy to learn even more about this film. Read on to find out when it will be time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight. Continue reading ‘D23 Expo: The Muppets Take The Stage’
