All Articles by Rob Vaux

LET THE BULLETS FLY Blu-ray Review

Posted: May 11th, 2012 at 10:33 am

You won’t see many Chinese movies as irreverent, mischievous or iconoclastic as Let the Bullets Fly. The nation is better known for works of gravitas and dignity: celebrating its rich history or exploring serious aspects of the human condition. Bullets is more Hong Kong than Beijing, with Stephen Chow its obvious spiritual kin. The distinction doesn’t necessary make it a great movie, though it certainly helps it to stand out from the crowd. Hit the jump for the full review.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Blu-ray Review

Posted: February 24th, 2012 at 5:12 am

Sometimes, a spookhouse is just a spookhouse. Creators of those Halloween haunted houses that spring up every year sometimes try to attach a story or characters to them, but that’s not the purpose of their existence. They’re here to give us some old-fashioned jolts: the kind that come when a guy in a mask leaps out of the shadows shrieking like a loon. We jump, we cry out, and we giggle at the relived realization that nothing bad actually happened. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Paranormal Activity movies exist as unfiltered embodiments of that ethos. Just as certain comedies can be gauged solely on how often they make us laugh, so too does this found-footage horror series live and die by the amount of popcorn flung reflexively in the air. The first film raised that equation to near-art. The second tried to regurgitate rather than recreate and suffered accordingly. Now comes Paranormal Activity 3, a film that more or less rights the ship even as it extends the dubious premise of ongoing (and unnecessary) sequels. Hit the jump for my full review.

BOARDWALK EMPIRE Season One Blu-ray Review

Posted: January 2nd, 2012 at 7:00 am

HBO’s Boardwalk Empire follows in a long line of prestige series produced by the cable network, which actually works against it a little bit. It’s hard to get excited about yet another must-see series from them, especially after the infamous letdown of The Sopranos finale and the way the network botched other great shows like Deadwood and Carnivale.  One hopes, however, that those harsh lessons have been well-learned, and with Boardwalk Empire now a bona fide hit, HBO has a chance to capitalize on the very high standard that the first season sets. The new Blu-ray collection does the show justice, and makes an exquisite New Year’s present for faithful fans. Hit the jump for my full review of the first season of Boardwalk Empire on Blu-ray.

PULP FICTION Blu-ray Review

Posted: November 9th, 2011 at 8:21 am

What is there to say about Pulp Fiction that hasn’t been said before? Quentin Tarantino’s postmodern masterpiece arrived like a bolt of lightning in 1994 and the cinematic world hasn’t been the same since. It survived a rash of poorly conceived knock-offs, the nearly lethal overexposure of its creator, and a snubbing at the Oscars that ranks among the worst miscarriages of justice ever perpetrated by the Motion Picture Academy. Now, 17 years later, it finally arrives on Blu-ray; time has not tarnished its appeal one iota. Hit the jump for our review of Pulp Fiction on Blu-ray.

ANGELS MEMORIES, THE ANAHEIM ANGELS 2002 WORLD SERIES COLLECTION, and YANKEEOGRAPHY COLLECTORS EDITION DVD MEGASET Reviews

Posted: November 8th, 2011 at 6:31 am

With the Fall Classic rapidly coming our way, A&E productions has foisted another series of nostalgic baseball DVDs upon us. As usual, the Yankees take center stage, but this time at least, they’ve left room for another team of note to share the spotlight. That would be the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels, one of the most snake-bitten franchises in baseball without even the cold comfort of a famous curse to fall back on. The Angels celebrated their 50^th anniversary this year, which A&E properly notes in a pair of DVD sets… as well as delivering another gorgeous piece of Yankee porn to keep the pinstriped faithful warm after their disappointing playoff departure this year. Hit the jump for my full review of Angels Memories, The Anaheim Angels 2002 World Series Collection, and Yankeeography Collectors Edition on DVD.

PLANET EARTH: SIX-DISC SPECIAL EDITION Blu-ray Review

Posted: October 20th, 2011 at 6:00 am

The BBC’s Planet Earth series is nothing less than pure eco-porn: a stunning and gorgeous look at the world’s great ecosystems using some of the most incredible footage ever put to film. That in and of itself justifies a purchase, but the Blu-ray transfer makes the new edition an absolute must-own. No Hollywood production can match the beauty it depicts and even people who don’t care for nature documentaries may find themselves seduced by it.  Hit the jump for my full review of the six-disc Planet Earth: Special Edition on Blu-ray.

SKATELAND Blu-ray Review

Posted: October 17th, 2011 at 5:55 am

Many films embrace nostalgia, but few are swallowed whole by it the way Skateland is. It bends itself towards evoking the late 70s/early 80s in painstaking detail and then – having achieved the illusion – doesn’t have the first idea what to do with it. It mistakes pointless meandering for slow meditation, spinning a single dramatic event into an endless stumble through parties, parking lots and rehashed American Graffiti tropes in a vain effort to evoke a specific mood. Hit the jump for my full review of Skateland on Blu-ray.

THE FOX AND THE HOUND 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Review

Posted: October 16th, 2011 at 7:00 am

Animated movies have undergone a sea change since The Fox and the Hound was first released in 1981. Disney was on its last legs back then: wallowing through decades of ennui that wouldn’t end until The Little Mermaid in 1989. In a lot of ways, The Fox and the Hound is a perfect example of how that creative malaise affected the Disney brand. It’s simple, straightforward and earnest: focused solely on small children without worrying about whether their parents were entertained or not. Its story presents a lovely lesson about prejudice and growing up, married to threadbare particulars that complicate its noble intentions. The sparkling animation arose between a clash of old and new, with members of Disney’s famous “Nine Old Men” battling interminably with upstarts like Don Bluth and Tim Burton. Indeed, the history behind the film is far more interesting than the film itself: a decent piece of second-tier animation utterly eclipsed by the Golden Age that followed it. Hit the jump for the full review.

STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA Blu-ray Review

Posted: October 6th, 2011 at 10:45 pm

It’s been a couple of weeks since the release of Star Wars on Blu-ray, and we’ve all said our share of “NOOOOOO”s over the whole “NOOOOOO!!!” unpleasantness. Once again, fans lamented the further erosion of their beloved franchise thanks to an owner/creator who now seems to view it all less as a cinematic classic and more as an extended game of chicken between him and the audience. The nine-disc Blu-ray set continues that grand tradition… and once again, after swearing that they would stand firm, the fan base caved. The set appeared to record sales, and complaints about the new changes were quickly drowned out by the sound of cash registers.

With that in mind, the question now becomes whether the fans have bought a bill of goods: whether the Blu-ray set delivers nothing but another box to sit on the shelf and gnaw at the souls of true believers. I’m happy to report that – unwelcome tweaks notwithstanding – Lucasfilm delivers a magnificent set that does justice to the iconic saga. Hit the jump for the full review.

DYLAN DOG: DEAD OF NIGHT Blu-Ray Review

Posted: September 26th, 2011 at 9:09 am

I’d love to chalk the failure of Dylan Dog: Dead of Night to vampire fatigue, and indeed that’s part of its problem. So inundated are we with tales of bloodsuckers and the secret lives they lead that a movie needs to really deliver something original if it wants to stand out. Dylan Dog doesn’t, content instead to regurgitate tired old clichés about evil vamps in Armani suits who hang out in trendy nightclubs and plot to destroy the world in some damn way or another. That creative laziness expands outward to engulf every moment of the film, from the shockingly by-the-numbers detective voice-overs to the very notion of a supernatural detective. Hit the jump for my full review.

ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE III Blu-ray Review

Posted: August 9th, 2011 at 4:00 pm

I can’t imagine what an alien visitor, new to our culture, would make of the Robot Chicken Star Wars series. It steeps itself so deeply in Lucas minutia – relying so completely on our innate pop culture knowledge of that galaxy far, far away – that non-fanboys will likely find themselves more baffled than amused. If you understand the phrase “Han Shot First,” however, or know the difference between Tatooine and Dantooine, then the latest Robot Chicken Star Wars special may be the funniest thing you’ve ever seen in your life. Hit the jump for the full review.

THE WARRIOR’S WAY Blu-ray Review

Posted: August 4th, 2011 at 5:32 am

No one in their right mind would call The Warrior’s Way a good movie, but if you’re in a properly goofy mindset, it’s sure a lot of fun. That certainly requires a fair amount of audience goodwill. The CGI-heavy environment smacks of undue slickness, counting on a high concept gimmick to pull it through instead of story or characters.  Most of the stars – including Geoffrey Rush, Kate Bosworth and Danny Huston – are madly slumming, and use the opportunity to attain Maximum Ham as often as they can get away with it. The plot is a grab-bag of pop culture references, drawn from Chinese wuxia, Sergio Leone westerns and that period in Fellini’s development when he completely lost his shit and dove head-first into self-indulgence. But if you can forgive all that or indeed, find it all kind of funny, then the pleasures rarely get guiltier. Hit the jump for the full review.

RANGO Blu-ray Review

Posted: July 29th, 2011 at 8:50 am

Rango may be the most original film to be released this year… and if that doesn’t hold some significance, you haven’t been paying attention. We’re inundated with remakes, reboots, adaptations and regurgitations, driven by a psychotic fear of anything new (and hence unknown). In their relentless search for reliable moneymakers, the studios have seemingly forgotten how to tell their own stories… unless they’re trolling for Oscars, in which case a simple “based on the amazing true story” will do just fine. And yet in the middle of it all, there sits this strange and wonderful flight of imagination: from a director best known for bringing a theme park ride to the screen, no less. Miracles still happen… even in Hollywood. Hit the jump for my full review.

Director Rupert Wyatt and Andy Serkis Talk About the Motion Capture Technology Used in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Posted: July 11th, 2011 at 7:11 pm

Primatologists, professors and filmmakers gathered at CalTech in Pasadena this past Thursday to discuss 20^th Century Fox’s new film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Apes director Rupert Wyatt headlined a panel that included visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri, Diane Fossey Foundation representative Clare Richardson and CalTech professor of philosophy Steve R. Quartz, as well as actor Andy Serkis via Skype from London. Their discussion centered around Fox’s re-imagining of their venerable Planet of the Apes franchise, the role of motion capture technology in the film, and its implications on the status of the great apes in our world today.

Hit the jump for a recap of the panel that includes quotes from both Wyatt and Serkis. Starring James Franco, Tom Felton, Freida Pinto, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, and the aforementioned Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters on August 5th.

THE HUSTLER Blu-ray Review

Posted: July 10th, 2011 at 5:49 am

We may never understand why Paul Newman had to wait nearly three decades to receive his Oscar for playing “Fast Eddie” Felson in The Hustler. The Oscar went to Maximillian Schell that year – a strong performance that really should have been in the Supporting Actor category – and Schell didn’t create an icon the way Newman did. His belated Oscar for Scorsese’s not-quite-a-sequel The Color of Money felt almost like an apology, and with The Hustler now available in glorious Blu-ray, it only confirms just how terrific he was. Hit the jump for my full review.

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