Ridley Scott’s newest film, American Gangster, is set to hit DVD this week and will surely give Scarface fans something new to marvel at. While it’s not as violent or profane as De Palma’s film, it’s just as drug-induced and lengthy. And the soundtrack is way better. Read the rest of this entry »

George A. Romero has dedicated his life to the zombie (though he rarely uses that word) genre. It began in the late 60s, with Night of the Living Dead, a film about a group of survivors trapped inside of a big farmhouse as the walking dead. The film wasn’t just about that though. There was a subtle amount of satire tossed in that gave it a bit more resonance than your average horror film. The next time he brought the living dead to screen was with Dawn of the Living Dead (1978) and had an even bigger amount of social satire that almost made it more of a comedy than anything else. Read the rest of this entry »

Having the ability to transport wherever you want whenever you want sounds like the greatest thing ever. Broke? Teleport into a bank vault and your problems are solved. Hate someone? Take them to the middle of the Antarctic and return without them. Life would be so much simpler then. Or would it? Read the rest of this entry »

Modern day children’s fantasy films, usually adapted from books, always include most elements found in any fairytale of old and The Spiderwick Chronicles is no exception. Mallory (Sarah Bolger), Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore) Grace are a trio of siblings who have just moved into their crazy aunt’s creepy house with their mother. As expected, this home houses some incredibly out of this world creatures. What follows is an exciting and refreshing adventure that’s shorter (and less melodramatic) than another Harry Potter film. Read the rest of this entry »

Elizabeth: The Golden Age picks up shortly after where Elizabeth (also directed by Shekhar Kapur, 1998) left off. It’s 1585 and Roman Catholic Spain is the most powerful country in Europe. That is no good for England, with its Protestant nature, or Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett who is once again brilliant in the role). King Philip II of Spain intends to take over the English soil no matter the cost, so he can then appoint his own daughter, Isabella, the Queen of England upon Elizabeth’s destruction. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a sad day when you learn yet another cast member from Jaws has moved on from our world. Roy Scheider, aged 75, passed away yesterday due to cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

How is possible to fuck up another version of Jack Finney’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers? This classic story of our world being taken over by planted copies of ourselves has been beaten to death in the film world - but they were all tolerable adaptations. Director Don Siegel began it in 1956 with his version, cleverly titled Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which starred Kevin McCarthy, and still remains the best of the bunch. Philip Kaufman tackled it again, in 1978, and delivered a film quite worthy to the original and its source material. Hell, even Abel Ferrera directed his own version in 1993 that was just as entertaining as the rest. Read the rest of this entry »

You know who you are… Don’t worry, they’re coming. I’ve just been super lazy getting to the post office. Next week, they will be shipped. I promise.

It’s hard to try and figure out what words to put together in order to accurate describe this latest Martin Lawrence comedy that haven’t been said before. Even talking about Martin himself is a bit of challenge. He had a relatively solid start, appearing briefly in films like Do the Right Thing and the first House Party, before going the way of Eddie Murphy with crap like Black Knight and Rebound. Lawrence was responsible for a few chuckles in the Bad Boys films but that wasn’t a singular effort. It was mostly due to his chemistry with Will Smith. Read the rest of this entry »

The official title of Andrew Dominik’s (Chopper) newest film is a lengthy one - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - and stars Brad Pitt as James himself. Though the film focuses on the last days of the most infamous outlaw of the west, it’s not nearly as action packed as some would think. This isn’t your traditional western, however, but a slow, dark and moody character study about the man and his killer. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2002, Oxide and Danny Pang’s The Eye made its way to our American shores from Hong Kong. I’ve never understood why this film’s title was singular when it actually deals with both eyes. The story follows a blind girl as she gets an “eye transplant” to replace her bad eyes with a set of good ones. Only her new eyes still have memories from their former host. They can see dead people and such, so the girl embarks on a quest to figure out what they are trying to tell her. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a while since we’ve posted a commentary here but we’re back and in full effect. This week, James Gregory and Michael Ferraro tackle Mark L. Lester’s infamous 1980s classic, Commando. The film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as a caring father who rescues his daughter from a man who wears a tank top and chain mail. Did I mention his daughter was played by Alyssa Milano? 80s action doesn’t get any better than this.

 

 B5 Commando Commentary [89:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1706)

Strange Wilderness is the newest comedy from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company that fails worse than anything Rob Schneider could ever churn out. Scene after scene, it feels more like a compilation of skits from a failed comedy show. So it’s no coincidence that the film is actually about a failing television show - a wildlife show to be exact - struggling to stay on the air. Read the rest of this entry »

Making its way around the festival circuit is the Butler Brothers’ newest brew, Confusions of an Unmarried Couple. Co-director Brett Butler himself stars as one half of the film’s cast, the mostly shirtless and degenerate Dan, who spends his time sitting around his apartment drowning in cans of beer. This guy is like Jeff Lebowski’s younger brother. His problem? He can’t quite get over his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Lisa (Naomi Johnson). What follows is an almost faux-documentary style film examining this relationship and what made it fail. Who doesn’t like peeking in at the failures of other people’s relationships? This may very well be the film for you. Read the rest of this entry »

It was only a matter of time before the sports genre got its own spoof. The good news is that this movie is better than other of its ilk - like Epic Movie or Date Movie - but that really isn’t saying all that much. In fact, it’s not saying anything at all. An aborted fetus could make a better film than all three of these flicks combined. But the real shame of The Comebacks isn’t the quality of writing or filmmaking; instead, the dread lies with its main star, David Koechner. Someone finally awarded him a much-deserved starring role. Unfortunately for the film community, none of his true talents shine here and his charm can’t help save this picture. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Gorak’s debut feature-length film, Right at Your Door, is an interesting look into post-9/11 America’s obsession (and paranoia) towards terrorism. During a typical weekday morning, a dirty bomb goes off in the middle of Los Angeles and spreads about a cloud of terror. Caught in the middle of traffic is Lexi (Mary McCormack), who was on her way to work when the bomb blew. At home, Brad (Rory Cochrane), hears about it on the news and panics. What became of his wife? Read the rest of this entry »