Dumb and Dumber To Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle

Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Ultraviolet, Color, Widescreen

Language: German (DTS 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: Spanish, French, German, English

Dubbed: Spanish, French, German

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Universal Studios

Release Date: February 17, 2015

Digital Copy Expiration Date: May 2, 2016

        Dumb and Dumber was the first film from the Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby, and quickly established them as a force to be reckoned with in the world of comedy. As significant to 1990s gross-out comedy as National Lampoon was in the 1980s and Judd Apatow in the 2000s, the Farrelly brothers brought the raunch back to the genre. Although it may have helped their careers advance by not making a sequel to Dumb and Dumber at the height of its popularity, it does nothing to help the filmmakers who have been on a quick descent these past few years.

 

Rosewater Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Gael Garcia Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Haluk Bilginer, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Golshifteh Farahani

Director: Jon Stewart

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Ultraviolet, Color, Widescreen

Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)

Subtitles: French, Spanish, English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: R

Studio: Universal Studios

Release Date: February 10, 2015

Digital Copy Expiration Date: May 2, 2016

 

        After announcing his retirement from “The Daily Show” the same week as the DVD and Blu-ray release of his directorial debut, one cannot help but wonder if Rosewater was just the beginning of a career in filmmaking for Jon Stewart. Based on the confidence in his debut feature, this could be a worthwhile venture for him and for audiences alike. Far from a perfect film, Rosewater does carry over the same ability that Stewart has employed on his comedy news show for seventeen years. While never diminishing the seriousness of the subject, Stewart is able to allow humor to exist within the lunacy of the narrative.

 

No Tears for the Dead Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Jang Dong-gun, Brian Tee

Director: Kim Jung-beom

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen

Language: Korean

Subtitles: English

Dubbed: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: CJ Entertainment America

Release Date: February 17, 2015

Run Time: 116 minutes

 

 

        From the director of The Man From Nowhere comes another story involving a regret-filled professional killer utilizing his skills to protect the innocent. South Korea seems to be flooded with this particular narrative, with stylistic choices being the element which separates the mediocre from the great. Although No Tears for the Dead is mostly forgettable, there are sequences within the generic storyline which make all of the rest worthwhile.

 

The Lookalike Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Gillian Jacobs, Justin Long, Jerry O'Connell, John Corbett, Luis Guzman

Director: Richard Gray

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, THX

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: February 10, 2015

Run Time: 100 minutes

 

        Good direction can often improve a poor screenplay, just as bad can have a devastating effect on a good one. The Lookalike is a mess of a screenplay which has its awfulness enhanced by director Richard Gray. Not improved, mind you, but enhanced with excessive slow-motion photography and a manipulative soundtrack to cue the audience’s every emotion. It is a bad script that is over-directed, rather than improved upon, which may have something to do with the writer being the wife of the director.

 

The Song DVD Review

     Actors: Alan Powell, Ali Faulkner, Caitlin Nicol-Thomas

Format: Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Korean, Portuguese Brazilian, Thai

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: February 10, 2015

Run Time: 116 minutes

        The Song is a faith-based film which tries a bit too hard to stay ‘middle-of-the-road,’ but by attempting to please everyone, first-time filmmaker Richard Ramsey has made a rather bland piece of entertainment. I would still take this over most Christian-made films like Fireproof, but there is still a ways to go before faith-based films are successfully integrated into mainstream. While far from perfect, films like When the Game Stands Tall, Moms’ Night Out and The Song are a step in the right direction; that direction being as far from Kurt Cameron and Sherwood Pictures as possible.

 

The Remaining Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Johnny Pacar

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: January 27, 2015

 

        The independent horror film industry actually shares a great deal with the field of faith-based films. Both tend to have poorly written dialogue, delivered by amateur actors and directors with a preoccupation with other elements in the filmmaking process. Horror directors want the scares and gore to overshadow the cheaper production values, while Christian filmmakers are often more interested in the message than with quality. By making a film which fits into either category, The Remaining somehow manages to bring along the worst from both.

       

Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Billy Zane, Dee Wallace, Brian Anthony Wilson

Director: Harrison Smith

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Release Date: February 3, 2015

Run Time: 104 minutes

 

 

        Ever wonder what happened to Mischa Barton? Yeah, I didn’t think so. But just in case you wanted to know if she is still a terrible actress now that her youth and beauty cant be relied on, the answer is clear with every terrible line she delivers in this typically awful low budget zombie film. Barton fits right in, though her career is so pathetic that even her role in this piece of garbage is small and insignificant to the film’s plot. It almost feels as though she were merely crammed into a small role for the ability to add another former star to the credits. Make no mistake, Barton’s name plays more significance than her performance does in this poorly-made production.

The Color of Time DVD Review

     Actors: James Franco, Zach Braff, Henry Hopper

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

DVD Release Date: January 27, 2015

Run Time: 76 minutes

 

        It would only take slight changes in tone for The Color of Time to feel like a spoof of Terrence Malick’s recent filmography, specifically Tree of Life. This would not be difficult, because even Malick’s own films seem ready to slip into a parody of themselves at any moment, but The Color of Time is completely humorless and the imitation is done with complete sincerity. All of the twelve filmmakers credited as writer/directors do their best to copy Malick, without a hint of irony or the ability to realize how transparent this imitation is. They approach the material with the kind of painful sincerity and poisonous pretensions that could only belong to a film student, which is exactly what they are.

 

Kink DVD Review

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