James Rebhorn

REAL STEEL Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 7th, 2011 at 6:09 am

The greatest achievement in Shawn Levy’s Real Steel is building the world of robot boxing.  The term “robot boxing” sounds incredibly stupid when you hear it and flashes of Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots and the failed TV show Battlebots come to mind.  But Levy does a tremendous job for showing not just the hi-tech wonder of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), but he takes us to the back-alleys, run-down theme parks, and country fairs where a punching robot and its owner can make some cash and win some glory.  Paired with well-choreographed fights that wisely make heavy use of animatronics and practical effects, Real Steel almost has an unbeatable combination.  But the clunky storytelling and awful performance from child actor Dakota Goyo stop the movie from landing a knock-out punch (I promise I’ll try to keep the boxing puns to a minimum).

First Trailer for Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s New Comedy Central Sitcom BIG LAKE

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: July 31st, 2010 at 2:29 pm

We just heard that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are developing a new comedy series for HBO with Lizzy Caplan, but on August 17th yet another comedy series from the Anchorman collaborators will debut on Comedy Central with back-to-back episodes. Big Lake is a new half-hour sitcom about a big city banker, played by Chris Gethard (The Other Guys). He loses his job, his father’s nest egg, and retirement fund, then moves home to his parents’ couch in Big Lake, Pennsylvania, where Saturday Night Live alums Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz are already waiting for him.  Hit the jump for more details on the new series including an extended trailer for your viewing pleasure.

CARLITO’S WAY and SPARTACUS 50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Reviews

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: May 28th, 2010 at 6:32 am

Between Carlito’s Way and Spartacus on Blu-ray we see the greatness and weakness of Blu. When it comes to modern films – and with more films shot digitally – you don’t find a lot of recent films that look bad on the format. And even if a film is still shot on film (even 16mm, as with The Wrestler) the material is supervised by the makers, and the source material is going to be pristine. But when it comes to older films, the material can be lacking, and decisions can be made to smooth out or remove grain. With many of the creative team behind these films no longer with us, you could argue there’s no right answer, just preference. And then you have the case of The French Connection where the director changes the color palette on what appears to be his whim. No one’s going to complain about Carlito’s Way’s transfer, but a number of people are pissed off at Universal for the Spartacus Blu-ray, while others think it looks fine. My reviews of Spartacus and Carlito’s Way on Blu-ray are after the jump.

THE BOX Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: March 17th, 2010 at 6:11 am

Richard Kelly made a great name for himself with Donnie Darko, but his follow up films show a great visual talent, and someone who gets easily lost in his own ideas. The Box is no exception, though it’s tighter and smarter yet less fascinating that his previous fiasco Southland Tales. James Marsden and Cameron Diaz play a married couple given a gift: a box with a button in it. Frank Langella plays the man who tells them what it’s for: if they press the button, someone they don’t know will die, and they will be given a million dollars. My review of Richard Kelly’s The Box after the jump.

5 Movie Clips from Writer/Director Richard Kelly’s THE BOX

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 30th, 2009 at 10:31 pm

Opening next Friday is writer/director Richard Kelly’s “The Box”. The movie is set around a deceptively simple moral dilemma.  An average couple is offered an opportunity to get themselves out of financial difficulty: a million dollars, in exchange for the knowledge that their acceptance of this gift will result in the death of one person somewhere in the world – someone they don’t know.  The big question is, “What will they do?”  But writer/director Richard Kelly is also asking, “What would you do?”

So to help promote the film, we’ve been provided with five clips from the movie.  If you want to stay spoiler free, I strongly suggest not watching these clips.  But if you’d like a taste of Richard Kelly’s next film, hit the jump and take a look.

Finally, hypothetically speaking…if I were to have seen “The Box”…I might say it’s infinitely better than “Southland Tales” and it’s worth checking out next week.  Hypothetically speaking of course…

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