Review: A Prophet (Now Out on Blu-ray and DVD)

08/04/2010 by 1 Comment

Making my Best of List for 09 earlier this year I never properly reviewed A Prophet.  So to build awareness of this excellent film’s release on DVD and Blu-Ray I will give it the proper review it deserves.

Review: A Prophet

A Prophet might be the best crime film of the last decade and is a near perfect film on almost every level.

Malik, 19, arrives to prison ready to serve a 6 year sentence for beating up a cop.  A repeat offender, this is the first time that Malik has committed a crime of the age to be sent to the real prison and things don’t start off well for the young inmate.  Illiterate and uneducated, this half French/half Muslim kid is despised by both factions that the prison naturally split into based on ethnicity.  After getting pushed around a bit, like every new inmate seems to be, Malik’s situation gets dire in a hurry. A group of Corsican gangsters who run the prison, led by César, “volunteer” Malik to kill a Muslim inmate that is going to testify against the Corsican’s on the outside.  If Malik isn’t up to the task, the Corsican’s will kill him instead.

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Rental Review – When In Rome

06/26/2010 by 2 Comments

A fountain of love is something I would definitely be happy to come across.  But as hopeful as a girl can be about finding one my expectations aren’t that high, so I will settle for watching a good romantic comedy about a fountain of this nature instead.  Unfortunately after watching When In Rome I have been made aware that neither exists.

They say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”  Unfortunately for Beth she doesn’t really know what that entails. While visiting for her sisters impromptu wedding she fails to break the ceremonial vase, her speech is hindered by her total lack of Italian language skills, and worst of all, she doesn’t know the myth about a certain fountain. Legend tells that if a person removes a coin from the fountain, the person who threw it in will fall madly in love with the thief.  And seeing as this is a romantic comedy, this legend just happens to be true.  Now Beth must deal with four random strangers chasing her around thanks to her drunken mistake, as well as the possibility that the one guy she actually likes may be suffering from the spell as well. [Read more...]

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Rental Review – Fame

06/15/2010 by Leave a Comment

2009’s Fame may hit on some of the best parts of the entertainment industry with performances of music and dance, but all of this being crammed into one film leaves little room for an actual film to really form.

The New York Academy of Performing Arts is apparently the place to be for upcoming, high school aged artists of all types.  Auditions are brutal, classes are challenging, and you have to be just as studious as you are talented.  This film follows a group of kids who are lucky enough to be accepted into the school during the four years of their lives spent fine-tuning what they do best.

With the massive popularity of singing and dancing on TV and in films today, Fame is not the film that is going to shine above the rest as something truly memorable. [Read more...]

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Rental Review – The Time Traveler’s Wife

04/06/2010 by Leave a Comment

The Time Traveler’s Wife may be about a man who uncontrollably jumps around within a certain span of time, but at its basic level it is a love story.  A love story that unfortunately takes a rocky start with its depiction on screen in concern to dialog and pacing, but eventually it finds itself and the tragically beautiful love story is able to unfold.

When Clare Abshire was 6 a man spoke to her from the trees asking if he could borrow her blanket seeing as he seemed to have forgotten his clothes. Before disappearing again he promised to come back to see her.  Ah the creepy start to a beautiful relationship.  Years later after she has grown into a woman she comes across Henry DeTamble, the same man from the tree-lined meadow, but this time around he knows nothing of her.  The problem is that at this stage in his life he has never come to visit her in that meadow because he is a time traveler, and thus Clare has already fallen in love with a man who she has known all her life but who has never met her before.  Good thing time can fix that. [Read more...]

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Rental Review – The Hurt Locker

04/02/2010 by Leave a Comment

The Hurt Locker may be a beautifully shot film, but it is far from the perfection I was expecting after all the hype it has been drenched in, especially post Oscars.

To sum it up, I think the best way to describe the movie is to compare it to the subject matter of the film, bombs (this seems like a really great and creative idea at 4 AM, so I’m just gonna go with it and see how it pans out).

Defuse Attempt: The Hurt Locker follows a team of three Army bomb squad members who are brought in to keep the ridiculous amount of bombs found in and around the streets of Iraq from exploding.  These scenes may not be as crazy and up-tempo as the bomb defusing scenes of the MacGruber SNL skits, but honestly the best scenes in the entirety of the film are those spent simply waiting.  The passage of time is marked with a countdown of days left until these men are home free, but its presence is more foreboding than it is hopeful.   [Read more...]

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Rental Review – The Blair Witch Project

03/21/2010 by Leave a Comment

As many of you may know by now (considering I have said this on numerous occasions) I love horror films.  I love them so much that in the past I have gone to the movie theater on my own to watch them (and sat as far away as possible from the only other person in the room / creepy man in the front row) because none of my friends like the genre, and I am not opposed to watching them at home alone in the wee hours of the night with all of the lights off.  Well, I may have to stop doing this because I just found out the hard way that some movies really are a little too scary for those viewing conditions.

For those of you who don’t know, The Blair Witch Project follows three student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams) in the woods as they hope to get footage for their documentary about the myth of the Blair Witch. [Read more...]

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Rental Review – Resident Evil: Degeneration

03/18/2010 by Leave a Comment

Resident Evil: Degeneration is an animated film that takes place within the timeline of the game franchise, and it probably would have worked as a game, but unfortunately it comes up lacking as a film.

Picking a new hub for a zombie outbreak, RE Degeneration takes on a whole new level of failed security and terrorist attacks at an airport.  For starters, a random zombie makes his way through the terminal, making his first meal out of a security guard.  Within seconds people are being turned left and right, and just when things seem to be as bad as they can be, a plane crashes into the side of the building, with even more zombies that were turned by one passenger pouring out of the planes door (how they got it open is still open for debate).  After a rescue mission is set into motion to save a few survivors trapped in one of the lounges in the terminal, it becomes clear that this incident is just an indication of what is to come. [Read more...]

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Rental Review – The Stepfather

03/04/2010 by Leave a Comment

Though I am happier than ever that my mother has remained married to the same non-crazy man for all of my life after watching this film, the concept behind The Stepfather has a much greater impact on this feeling than the film itself, which doesn’t even live up to the other “horror” films of the same caliber (e.g. Disturbia. Yes, I realize that comparing these films may annoy many a film watcher. Let me just stop you right there. I know that both films are remakes and that one came before the other. But just look at them; if you only consider these two remakes then, in a nutshell, the movies are freakishly similar in look, story elements, and bikini-clad girls… This just doesn’t have the comedic power of Shia LeBeouf. Or tension. Now breathe and read the rest of the review when you are ready).
Following the murder of his family, David Harris is in the market for another family to get to know and kill. While perusing the selection at the grocery store, he comes across a family of the perfect quality with Susan and her two children. The next time we see them Susan and David are quickly heading towards the altar and/or a massacre, and Susan’s eldest son, Michael is returning home from military school. [Read more...]

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Rental Review – Couples Retreat

02/26/2010 by Leave a Comment

No matter who you go with, when it comes to vacations some fighting and mishaps are bound to happen, but usually there are enough good moments to balance out, if not overpower, the bad. Couples Retreat tries to show these moments of both ups and downs (well, mainly downs), but in the end the trip is far too painful to enjoy.
Of the four couples, Jason and Cynthia are the most willing to admit their relationship has problems. After many years and unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant the stress of the situation has finally reached its peak, and they are contemplating divorce. Feeling that this is their last hope, Jason and Cynthia ask their fellow couples, Dave and Ronnie, Joey and Lucy, and Shane and Trudy to go with them to Eden West, a couples resort on a beautiful, tropical island. When they arrive they are forced to partake in couples counseling, and those couples that assumed they would be spending a vacation having fun in the sun are finding that maybe they have more issues than they thought bubbling under the surface. [Read more...]

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Queue Review: Black Dynamite

02/19/2010 by Leave a Comment

Scott Sanders and Michael Jai White have teamed up on Black Dynamite to make a spoof/homage of black exploitation films of the 60’s and 70’s and the results are a fun and often hilarious movie that hits all the right notes.

The year is 1972, and Black Dynamite is the baddest mother on the streets, kicking ass, taking names, and bedding women of every race, ethnicity, and color (at once) is not one to be crossed.  But when he learns from an old CIA buddy that his brother has been killed in a drug deal gone bad, Dynamite vows to hit the streets and get to the bottom of this mess leaving everyone dead in his wake behind.  His investigation takes him to the crime underground dealing with pimps and hoes, drug lords and enforcers, and goes even deeper that anyone can imagine.

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Queue Review: Bronson

02/18/2010 by Leave a Comment

Nicolas Refn’s Bronson is a portrait on Britain’s most dangerous inmate who is portrayed in an incredible performance by Tom Hardy through a journey of solitude and violence told with incredible style.

Bronson or Charles Bronson is our title character, but not that Charles Bronson.  Our portrait is of Michael Gordon Peterson who adopts the name Charles Bronson after, yes, that Charles Bronson.  Peterson’s first trip to prison came after robbing a post office as a young husband and once incarcerated that is where his story began.  Peterson claims he always wanted to be famous and since he didn’t have any traditional talents he would have to take a different path to fame; that being a violent and antagonizing prisoner that does nothing but raise hell.  Peterson’s fame at first is contained to his inmates who love him for his physicality towards the guards but the wardens get to know him so much they start sending him off to another prison to get him off their hands.  His life includes countless beatings, both delivered and received, a trip to a mental institution, and lots of time alone. [Read more...]

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Queue Review: The Cove

02/18/2010 by Leave a Comment

This documentary on the dolphin slaughter in Taijii, Japan is an informative and eye opening story that is all together thrilling and exciting as the attempts to get footage of the slaughter in the cove unfolds.

What started as an ocean degradation documentary by Louie Psihoyos and members of the Ocean Preservation Society (OPS) quickly turns into a more focused affair after the film meets Rick O’Barry.  O’Barry is an anti-captivity activist who started his career as one of the trainers on Flipper and helped create the mess he so wants to stop now by creating the desire and passions of the public to see these beautiful sea creatures up close.  Swim with the dolphin’s facilities, Sea World, and countless other attractions have since sprouted around the world and regulate these animals to live in captivity and O’Barry will do anything to right his self perceived wrongs.  His focus has shifted from freeing animals around the world though and his eye has been set on this one cove in the small town of Taijii.  In Taijii they round up dolphins into this cove, a bunch of trainers come in and pick out the ones they wan to send off around the world into captivity and the rest are brutally slaughtered and their meat sold into the markets in around Japan.  The secrecy around this highly defended cove is alarming in that they won’t allow anyone to see how they kill these dolphins and if they did that people would want to put a stop to it since it is so inhumane. [Read more...]

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Two Weeks Put Off By Mass Effect (AKA Reviews of Monsters vs Aliens and Moon)

02/08/2010 by Leave a Comment

For those of you who pay any attention to my postings then you may have noticed that there has apparently been little going on in my life, cuz let’s face it, we are not all as cool as Zac.  I mean, I didn’t even have one thing to put in a suggestion box last week. Well I can explain. You see, this little game came out a couple of weeks ago called Mass Effect 2, which you may have heard something about. Anyway, for the most part my waking hours not dedicated to “healthy” activities like school, sports, and eating (well, and TV, but I don’t think my attempts to spin that one will make it “healthy”) have gone to fighting baddies throughout the universe. With that said, I did manage to slip two movies in there a while back that deserve to have a few words said about them. [Read more...]

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Queue Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

01/25/2010 by Leave a Comment

The newest animated tale from Sony Pictures Animation is an entertaining and fun adaptation of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs that successfully appeals to all audiences but doesn’t do anything particularly special to launch itself into the upper echelon of animated works, especially this year.
Our story follows Flint Lockwood a loner scientist who has spent his whole life inventing little odds and ends to try and better his life and the worlds. His latest project turns water into any food you can imagine and is built with the hope that it will help his little island town have a variety of food options as they are left with nothing to eat but sardines as their economy struggles after the Sardine company that gave them purpose has shut down. When Flint unleashes the invention onto the world it shoots itself into the atmosphere and begins to cause a weather phenomenon where it rains whatever food Flint transmits to the machine. Giving him a brief bout of popularity the situation soon becomes dire as the fate of his town becomes at stake. [Read more...]

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Queue Review: Sugar

01/24/2010 by Leave a Comment

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s second picture is another low budget indie effort that is all at once a fantastic portrait of both the Dominican baseball path, the pressures of the minor leagues, and immigrant life in America.
Sugar is a member of the Kansas City baseball school that farms players into their minor league system with hope of finding the next big star. We get a brief look at his life and relationships in the Dominican before he is called up for spring training and is given a chance to make it into the minor leagues. Where he is comfortable and familiar back home Sugar and most of his Hispanic speaking transplants are instantly thrown into a life of poor communication and awkwardness that is an almost unimaginable burden to even imagine. Making it by on French toast at the local diner Sugar is called up to the Single A team in Iowa leaving behind all his friends that came to the States with him and becoming even more of an outsider in as foreign of a place as he has ever been. Paired up with a host family and one of two rookies to make it to Single A out of spring training Sugar is not only given a chance to prove his worth at a high level of play but there are a lot of people that believe in the talent of his pitching arm. [Read more...]

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