SAFE HOUSE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 10:25 am

There’s no problem with delivering a solid action thriller that doesn’t reinvent the genre, but Safe House goes through the motions without an ounce of creativity or flavor.  It’s the bare minimum of what an action movie should be and marches through gunfights and car chases because that’s what the genre requires, not what makes the film exciting.  Denzel Washington doesn’t add much by doing a tamer retread of his Training Day performance, and Ryan Reynolds is the film’s redeeming aspect as he tries to bring a little nuance and shading to his character.  But the main fault lays with director Daniel Espinosa, who knows how to make Safe House loud, but not much else.

MALCOLM X Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 5:00 am

Spike Lee’s Malcolm X is twenty years old, but the controversy surrounding it still feels fresh. At the time, Lee was considered a dangerous filmmaker, and no one was sure how the film would be received and if it would start riots. And Lee made it of the moment; he opened with the Rodney King beating, which now may have no context to younger viewers. But now, it’s simply a great movie that is saddled with a bio-pic structure. Denzel Washington gives a career best performance as the criminal transformed into a great leader and thinker. Our review of Malcolm X on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS Blu-ray Review

by Seth Oyer    Posted: February 8th, 2012 at 5:45 am

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when my 4-year old daughter and I “popped” in Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  As I’ve mentioned before, I have kids now so I see a pretty full spectrum of movies for children.  Popper’s stars Jim Carrey, which could be a make-it-or-break-it for many decision makers.  I myself am a fan of Carrey, especially of older work like Fire Marshall Bill (In Living Color), Ace Ventura, and Me, Myself and Irene.

It is pretty well known that Carrey has tried his hand at several other types of roles like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show, The Number 23, etc.  Some people have different perspectives on how successful he has been at these but I mention it because I would say that Popper’s is a return to form for him.  My review of the Blu-ray after the jump:

SHARK NIGHT Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: February 7th, 2012 at 6:00 am

There are a number of things to recommend about Shark Night, which is unfortunate. Had there been a little more care in the first act, had there been nudity and had the majority of the shark effects been practical, they might have had an engagingly stupid B movie on their hands. Alas, the film comes close, but there is no cigar. Sara Paxton, Donal Logue, Joel David Moore and a bunch of random teenagers star in Shark Night, and our review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

ARCHER Season Two Blu-Ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: February 6th, 2012 at 10:28 am

Adult Swim created a new language for cartoons. From the style of animation (which combined old school cell animation with new digital technology) to the nonsense plots that would often run for fifteen minutes or less, it’s a formula that has become something of a standard – until then, animated shows often went The Simpsons route. Archer, the FX adult cartoon show, is a mixture of both, but with a lot of that Adult Swim style. It’s no surprise that creator Adam Reed also worked on Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Sealab 2021.

The show stars H. Jon Benjamin as Archer, the would-be Bond spy for ISIS, a spy organization run by his mother (Jessica Walter). There he works with fellow spy Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler), desk girls Cheryl Tunt (Judy Greer) and Pam Poovey (Amber Nash), and with Lana’s former lover Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell). The show mixes spywork with the clash of office mates, most of whom are functionally insane. Our review of the second season of Archer on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

ICE AGE: A MAMMOTH CHRISTMAS Blu-ray Review

by Seth Oyer    Posted: February 6th, 2012 at 5:00 am

Let me start by saying that I have not seen the entirety of the Ice Age movies.  I have seen small parts at a time but this was my first full experience with these characters.  I watched it with my 4-year old daughter as well, so I can offer some of her perspective (if it seems more mature than mine, I am sure it is simply an error in reading skills).

It had been a long time since I had seen a “new” animated Christmas special.  My daughter and I regularly watched animated holiday videos this season like Charlie Brown, Rudolph, and Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas (which I believe still holds up). Hit the jump for my review of Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas on DVD.

50/50 Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: February 5th, 2012 at 6:00 am

How do you deal cinematically with cancer? That’s the question of Jonathan Levine’s 50/50, which was based on the experiences of its writer Will Reiser. It’s a tough subject matter because cancer touches so many lives and rarely offers happy endings. But 50/50 manages to be charming, and more about friendship and family in crisis than just pain. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars with Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anna Kendrick in this warm dramedy. Our review of 50/50 on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

CHRONICLE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 2nd, 2012 at 12:38 pm

The cinéma vérité style can easily go astray. It can be used more as a lazy way to put the viewer closer to the action without worrying about thoughtful cinematography or good performances.  Chronicle avoids the pitfalls by coming up with a good reason why its story should take a found-footage approach instead of a half-assed reason why a character should carry around a camera.  Rather than throw non-actors into the fray for “raw” performances (i.e. sloppy), the film places its trust in lead actors who give good performances.  There are times when the movie can no longer hold its fake documentary conceit together and at the climax it loses the character drama in favor of a big action scene, but Chronicle manages to be not only a good found-footage movie, but a good movie period.

ABDUCTION Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: February 2nd, 2012 at 11:30 am

Abduction was supposed to be Taylor Lautner’s coming out party as a leading man. Post-New Moon (where his part was more than a brief walk-on), he got a lot of heat as the third member of Twilight’s love triangle, and studios and projects were being thrown at him. Sure, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart couldn’t bring the twi-hards in to their work outside of Forks, but perhaps Lautner was different. And in Abduction he proves how he really is different from those two: he can’t act. Abduction misfired at the box office, and has hurt Lautner’s post-Twilight chances, which is probably for the best. Jason Isaacs, Mario Bello, Lily Collins, Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina and Michael Nyqvist co-star in this John Singleton film, and our review of Abduction follows after the jump.

THE THING Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: February 2nd, 2012 at 5:00 am

We’ve seen many of the great horror films of the 70’s and 80’s remade and yet few if any have lived up to their predecessors. So remaking John Carpenter’s The Thing must have been a tempting but dangerous proposition. The film is considered one of the greatest horror films of that or any time, and a remake might aggravate fans (even though the 1982 film itself was a remake), on top of the knowledge that the Carpenter film was a flop when released. To circumvent that they made a prequel, which copies the original in a lot of ways, and takes place days before the original remake. 2011’s The Thing stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, and Eric Christian Olsen as the victims, and our review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Sundance 2012: Matt’s Review Scorecard and Wrap-Up

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 31st, 2012 at 12:39 pm

Like I did last year, I had a great time at the Sundance Film Festival.  It’s tough to complain about weather conditions or getting around when you have the privilege to watch and discover new movies all day.  Even better, plenty of Sundance 2012 films turned out to be pretty damn good.  For me, there weren’t any quite as excellent as Martha Marcy May Marlene or Project Nim from last year, but those movies set an incredibly high bar.  Many of my peers felt they saw something truly special with Beasts of the Southern Wild and I can understand the love even if it didn’t hit me with as much emotional impact.  Most of my peers also loved Liberal Arts and Sleepwalk With Me, and I’m sorry I missed those.  But all in all, the festival ran as smoothly as last year, the volunteers (especially those in the press tent) were awesome, and it’s always a joy to hang out with people from other movie websites.

Hit the jump for my festival scorecard where you can see an organized list of my ratings for the movies I saw (although I highly encourage you to read the full review rather than just glance at a letter).  While this is my wrap-up, Steve will be posting his Sundance interviews throughout the week so keep an eye out for those.

Sundance 2012: SIMON KILLER Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 31st, 2012 at 11:50 am

Antonio Campos‘s Simon Killer is an amusing film both unintentionally and unexpectedly.  The film is rarely meant to be comedic and it rarely enters into so-bad-it’s-good territory.  What makes the film so amusing is how hard Campos is trying to make it exciting.  It is the definition of overcompensating as the aggressive direction, bizarre cinematography, and melodramatic performances try to convince the audience the dull plot and pathetic characters are worth caring about.  There’s even a moderately intriguing idea at the center of the protagonist’s motives, but it’s buried under meaningless sex, violence, and introspection.

THE IDES OF MARCH Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: January 31st, 2012 at 6:00 am

George Clooney’s The Ides of March is exactly what you’d expect from Clooney (as a filmmaker) at this point. It’s smart, smooth, well cast and put together. If there’s a modest hesitation, it’s that it’s a very small movie, and perhaps one that has delusions of profundity. Ryan Gosling stars as a campaign manager for one of the leading presidential contenders (Clooney). But to get the nomination, Gosling finds that he’s embroiled in double crossing by friends and foes alike. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffery Wright co-star in the film, and our review of The Ides of March on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM and DEAD POETS SOCIETY Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: January 31st, 2012 at 4:55 am

Will there come a time when people look back on the career of Robin Williams and wonder “was everyone who liked him on drugs?” Williams was championed as a great comic actor by the likes of Pauline Kael, but perhaps years of his schtick has turned it into a cliché. Or perhaps it’s living through the period where he eventually wore out his welcome as a comic performer, with films like Father’s Day, Hook and Jack ruining a lot of his goodwill. Fortunately he transitioned into a more serious actor, and films like Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society helped with that transition. Our reviews of both on Blu-ray follow after the jump.

Sundance 2012: COMPLIANCE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 30th, 2012 at 4:17 pm

In recent memory, only last year’s Martha Marcy May Marlene made my skin crawl and stomach turn like Compliance.  In some ways, Compliance is far worse since it goes beyond two people and instead casts an accusatory finger at humanity and asks, “How easily can you be tricked into dehumanizing another person?”  Craig Zobel‘s incredible script and brilliant direction slowly puts you in a chokehold until you’re struggling to breathe and begging to be let go.  Compliance is almost impossibly difficult to endure and it only eases up when Zobel makes a minor mistake in casting, explanation, or resolution.  But these are small missteps in a film that sickens you to your core.  And then it gets worse when you remember that the story is based on true events.

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