Month: November 2014

 

New in Home Entertainment

 

November 25, 2014

 

The Expendables 3
Rated PG-13 for violence including intense sustained gun battles and fight scenes, and for language. Also includes unrated edition.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Sylvester Stallone’s third soiree into the 80’s action memory lane arena brings back most of the cast from the first two films and adds in Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes and Antonio Banderas. You cannot argue that the casting on this thing is tremendously impressive. While the story isn’t nearly as good as the second outing, there is still a lot of fun to be had. Throwing a young and unknown team of actors into the mix might not have been the best idea (honestly – there is such thing as too much), but one of the biggest mistakes was a PG-13 rating that really feels out of place for such a project. This home release includes the “unrated” edition, but a few more F-bombs and blood splatters isn’t the remedy for what ails it. If you are in the need for a truly mindless action film with a lot of familiar faces, and you can manage to put down a couple of drinks while watching, it might be an entertaining experience for you. B-

What If
Rated PG-13 for sexual content including references throughout, partial nudity and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Daniel and Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan star in this sweet, innocent, and unnecessary romantic comedy that plays Radcliffe as a bloke who is in love with a girl with a boyfriend and is willing to become friends with her in the hope of something more. It’s not a horrible film, but the dialog isn’t as clever as it thinks it is and the whole thing is quite boring. One of the things that probably didn’t help the project is that many of the beats felt completely contrived. I got the feeling that writer Elan Mastai found a theme and then tried so hard to revolve everything around it that he forgot to create a credible and natural story. But while the story doesn’t really work that well, I really like Radcliffe and Kazan and would love to see them in a better rom com. Both have a wonderful comic sensibility and a more than decent chemistry is seen regardless of the words coming out of their mouths. C+

 

New in Home Entertainment

 

November 18, 2014

 

22 Jump Street
Rated R for language throughout, sexual content, drug material, brief nudity and some violence
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Beginning where 21 Jump Street left off, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum move onto college to solve another drug investigation. I have to admit that I loved 21 Jump Street. I found it to be fresh, wildly creative and extremely funny. That being said, I liked this adventure even more. The comedy is pretty broad here and really anyone can enjoy the hijinx, but for those that understand screenwriting and movie formulas, the film is extended to new heights. Here they essentially take the Romantic Comedy handbook and attempt to recreate the beats, all the while telling you they are doing it. Personally I found this to be both clever and intellectually stimulating, neither of which is a word I would have ever thought could describe a Jump Street film. It knows it is stupid, and revels in it. It parodies not only other buddy, college and rom com films, but finds a way to parody itself at the same time. This makes for one heck of an entertaining farce. A-

Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For
Rated R for strong brutal stylized violence throughout, sexual content, nudity, and brief drug use
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s second outing into the Sin City universe follows heroes both old and new in violent and somewhat filthy adventures about the mythical city’s underworld. Out of place is the title character, played by Jessica Alba, who is just not sordid enough to be playing this kind of depraved character. On the other hand, Eva Green is perfection as the conniving and manipulating witch that takes on more than she can handle. I really liked the first Sin City but honestly, this one just feels like more of the same. What I did really love here was the 3D which looked amazing in the theater and pops even better at home. Visually, this movie has got it going on. C+

The Dark Half
Rated R for violence and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Twenty-one years ago Night of the Living Dead director George Romero took on Stephen King’s twisted book The Dark Half and it is finally making its blu-ray debut this week. Timothy Hutton is Thad Beaumont, best selling author of horror books he has written under the name George Stark. When he decides to kill off Stark as a publicity stunt, Stark literally comes to life in an attempt to take over his own fate. To this day this is still one of the scariest books I’ve ever read and although I haven’t revisited the movie since it was in theaters a half of my lifetime ago, I still find it a chillingly good time. A-

It Happened One Night: Criterion Collection
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Only three films in history have won the top five Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay): 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, and this little gem from 1934 directed by Frank Capra starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in one of the first and still one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. While it’s nice to have some of the new special features you would expect from a Criterion release, what matters most is the beautiful 4K digital restoration. The loving spit and polish applied here gives a magnificent version of the film like you’ve never seen it before. It almost makes it hard to believe that the movie is eighty years old. A+

 

New in Home Entertainment

 

November 11, 2014

 

Jersey Boys
Rated R for language throughout
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Since Rob Marshall took home the Oscar for Chicago a decade ago, we’ve seen many of our favorite Broadway musicals hit the big screen. Continuing with that trend is this Tony-winning musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their rise to stardom in the ‘60s. Directed by the iconic Clint Eastwood, you would think that this was a home run waiting to happen, but unfortunately something just feels flat throughout. On stage this musical is pure dynamite, not at all similar to many of the juke box musicals we’ve seen staged recently. But that magic proves difficult to bottle here as the movie lacks energy and power and ultimately bogs down under its own weight. Perhaps Eastwood was the wrong choice for such a high profile project or maybe it is just entirely miscast, but something just doesn’t feel right when watching. C

Tammy
Rated R for language including sexual references
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Melissa McCarthy headlines this wannabe comedy about a loser who goes on a road trip with her grandma, played by Susan Sarandon. Directed by McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone, the movie sells itself as a comedy but there is little laughter to be had. The characters are so desperate and sad that the film actually comes off as more pathetic than anything. Tammy is like a SNL character that might be interesting in a five-minute sketch, but this ninety-six minute movie is a miserable experience. D

True Blood: The Complete Seventh Season
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
For the first five seasons of this naughty Lousiana vampire saga, I was quite taken. Then came the less than stellar season six and now the deplorable seventh and final season. Packing 4 episodes worth of material into 10 episodes was such a bad idea for HBO as each hour passed in misery. First a major character would die, then we would spend the next episode talking about it. I almost stopped watching but I wanted to see how painful it would get, and boy did it hurt. If you are new to true blood, stop with season five and you’ll be in much better shape. F

UHF: 25th Anniversary Edition
Rated PG-13
Available on Blu-ray
Now that “Weird Al” Yankovic has finally scored his first number one album, its time to celebrate his storied career as a master of parody. This movie from 1989 tells the story of a weirdly creative and lovable loser who takes over a small UHF station in town. Creating original and whacky programming, he quickly becomes a target for the big networks. While extremely dated, I still laugh at the same jokes I laughed out when I was watching back in High School. And for you Seinfeld fans out there, this film practically launched the career of Michael “Kramer” Richards who turns in an absolutely brilliant physical comedy performance here as the lovable janitor Stanley Spadowski. A-

The Bruce Lee Premiere Collection
Rated R
Available on Blu-ray
While this collection of martial arts masterpieces starring the legendary Bruce Lee is getting a blu-ray release here, there is a lot to be desired. Containing The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death, the set is a nice cross-section of Lee’s work, but the films are in desperate need of remastering. They don’t look much different from their DVD counterparts and the language tracks need some extreme re-working. If you’ve never seen, it might be good enough, but if you are a big fan, get ready to be disappointed. C+

New in Home Entertainment

 

November 4, 2014

 

Maleficent
Rated PG for sequences of fantasy action and violence, including frightening images
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
I expected the worst when seeing this new Disney spinoff starring Angelina Jolie as the popular Sleeping Beauty villain. To me the idea felt more like a gimmick then a story I wanted to see. Once again, I love being wrong. Turning Maleficent into a hero turned out to be a fantastic idea for Disney and Jolie is perfect in the starring role. Sure the king comes off as a tad too evil and young Aurora as almost a simpleton, but the story is interesting and the special effects and overall pacing add to the enjoyment. I especially loved the lush score from James Newton Howard. B+

Planes: Fire and Rescue
Rated PG for action and some peril
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
Another Disney film that I had the lowest of expectations for is the newest pic from the Planes franchise. Unfortunately, the film met them. I’ll admit that this is a better project than their initial outing, which just seemed like the same old race picture we’ve gotten too much of. But even though the setting is different and the story is somewhat novel, the jokes are still stale and the whole project seems like more of a money grab than the typical Disney storytelling we know and love. C-

Hercules: Extended Cut
Rated PG-13 for epic battle sequences, violence, suggestive comments, brief strong language and partial nudity
Available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D
This Hercules for the next generation stars Dwayne Johnson as the legendary hero who is more of a smart salesman than a supernatural demigod. Selling his services to whoever can pay for them, he and his crew must fight their way out of cruel trap. The plot is interesting at least and has its fun moments throughout. Johnson is at his charismatic best and even his henchmen (and woman) are entertaining. Unfortunately the script is weak and the dialog is laborious when it shouldn’t be. Had the adventure been better written, this could have been a much better film than what is seen here. C

A Most Wanted Man
Rated R for language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In one of the final projects we’ll get to see from him, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a German secret service agent who tries to thwart an attack from a potential Islamist threat that has just entered Hamburg. Based on the John Le Carre novel, the film is intricate in plot and extremely well written. It’s also incredibly relevant and even eye-opening. Hoffman’s performance is brilliant and the rest of the talented cast follow suit just fine. It never pretends to be a Bond film, but rather it’s more of a thinking man’s spy thriller. A-

The Dog
Unrated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This fantastic new documentary from Drafthouse Films follows the life of John Wojtowicz, the real-life inspiration for Al Pacino’s character in Dog Day Afternoon. When you hear the phrase “it takes all kinds” this guy now comes to mind for me. While I would never want to meet him, he certainly is an interesting and peculiar little dude who comes off here as more of a freak show than the anti-hero Pacino portrayed in the 1975 Sidney Lumet classic. And while I was deeply disturbed by most of this guy’s life, I also couldn’t stop watching it. Almost like a perverted and criminal version of Honey Boo Boo. A-