Desert Island Films: Alien Invasion Films

 

 

The alien invasion film appeared in the United States in the early 1950s, coinciding with the Soviet Union’s shift from a wartime ally of America to a nuclear-armed international rival. In “The Horror Film: An Introduction,” Rick Worland estimates that the alien invasion film as began. Whatever the precise moment to inspire this sub-genre was, it clearly coincided with the rising fears of a nuclear war and a technologically superior enemy.

 

Alien invasion arrived on American movie screens in 1951 with two films that explored the possibilities of the unknown; in one they would arrive in peace, while the other with only destructive motives. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) presented a superior intelligence, though they arrive with a positive message for humanity to learn from. In the other alien invasion film of 1951, “Dracula became a blood-sucking vegetable from outer space in The Thing from Another World (1951)” (Maddrey 31).

 

Throwback Thursday Review: According to Greta

 

Actors: Hilary Duff, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Murphy, Evan Ross

Director: Nancy Bardawil

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

DVD Release Date: January 19, 2010

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

        Teen melodrama at its worst is rampant in According to Greta, a film which seems intent on making Hilary Duff out to be some kind of admirable rebel. Music video director Nancy Bardawil frames her protagonist as if she were the star of just that. Music videos are about making the key figures look good rather than real, and that is exactly what Bardawil does with this predictable teen drama. What is most interesting to me is the fact that Bardawil’s name is completely missing from the DVD, which instead focuses on the cast and Duff’s producer credit. There is no director as far as the DVD is concerned, and the movie has that same feeling. It feels more like a vanity project for Duff than a complete film.

 

        We’ve seen this story before with Lindsay Lohan and numerous other bratty teen stars. Greta (Duff) is a troubled seventeen-year-old with a quick wit and rude manner. In other words, Greta is trying as hard as she is to be a clone of Juno. She is sent to live with her grandparents (Michael Murphy and Ellen Burstyn) in New Jersey while her mother works on yet another failing marriage. Being the unwanted teenager is supposed to justify Greta’s reasons for deciding to commit suicide by the time she is 18, but mostly she just comes off as melodramatic and whiny.

 

The To Do List Blu-ray Review

Actors: Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: November 19, 2013

Run Time: 104 minutes

 

       

        I almost liked the To Do List, despite having an aversion towards the monotonous comedic style (if you can call it that) of Aubrey Plaza (Funny People, “Parks and Recreation”). Though it seemed that the ending was heading towards the typical coming-of-age lessons that are synonymous with the sex comedy over the past three decades, I was mildly amused. Then the filmmaker threw a different message into the ending, leaving me with a disgusted feeling about everything I had watched. Without giving too much of the pointlessly degrading film away, it should be known that the message of the film is that all teenagers should understand that sex is just sex, which is not serious or complicated in the least. It is the feelings that are complicated, so just make sure to have sex without caring about the person and you will be great! If these statements anger you in the least, the flippancy of The To Do List will be unbearable to endure.

 

        The vulgarity of The To Do List may have been forgivable had the film accomplished its main goal, but I did not catch myself laughing once during this supposed comedy. My biggest issue with Plaza is her inability to hide her reactions underneath her performance. Whenever saying a line or doing something that is meant to deliver a laugh, Plaza has a noticeable smirk that always seems just below the surface as if anticipating the laughs that she will achieve. Those laughs never came. Fortunately, this is an ensemble cast, and there are many other actors to depend on for failed jokes.

 

Magic City: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Review

Actors: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Danny Huston, Olga Kurylenko, James Caan, Esai Morales

Format: Blu-ray, Box set, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 3

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Release Date: November 5, 2013

Run Time: 411 minutes

 

 

        After the success of Mad Men, it was no surprise that suddenly there were a lot more period television series, such as the unsuccessful “Pan Am,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and now “Magic City.” This series takes place at the Miramar Playa Hotel in Miami Beach in 1959, making it feel like a cross between “Boardwalk Empire” and “Mad Men,” especially when criminal activity is what helps to keep the hotel alive during Castro’s occupation of Havana. Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is willing to do anything to keep his hotel safe from the hands of the Chicago mob.

 

        When Ike becomes involved with Ben “The Butcher” Diamond (Danny Huston), he changes the direction of his business for both him and his sons. The changes are small at first, but soon they are tangled up with a man whose name is a direct result of his vicious nature. Matters are made even worse when one of Ike’s sons begins an affair with the young and beautiful wife of “The Butcher,” leaving us to imagine what would happen should he get caught. The entire first season built up the reputation of this villain, and season two shows with painstaking drudgery that he is much more bark than bite. Danny Huston is frightening in the role, but the series drags story elements out far past being interesting or compelling, and eventually it becomes clear that “The Butcher” does not live up to his reputation.

 

Ambushed Blu-ray Review

Actors: Daniel Bonjour, Gianni Capaldi, Dolph Lundgren, Vinnie Jones, Randy Couture

Directors: Giorgio Serafini

Format: Color, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

Release Date: November 12, 2013

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

       

        My mind goes numb trying to think of an original way to criticize yet another terrible low budget action film with a supporting cast of unreliable aging action stars who repeatedly display their willingness to participate in the creation of just about any piece of garbage for a paycheck. I feel like I have reviewed this movie ten times this year already. However slight the variation in plot and cast, it always feels like the same torturous film to sit through and review. Dolph Lundgren has a Masters degree in chemical engineering and received a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT. He isn’t a stupid man, which leads me to believe money is the only reason he continues to make stupid movies.

 

        Despite the cover art, Lundgren is not the star of this film, nor is Vinnie Jones or Randy Couture. The story eventually involves them all, but the anti-hero protagonist and cheesy narrator is Frank (Daniel Bonjour), a rising drug dealer and club owner with his ruthless partner, Eddie (Gianni Capaldi). When they steal drugs from Vincent (Jones) it involves them in a more dangerous world, including a dirty cop named Reilly (Couture) and an FBI agent named Maxwell (Lundgren) on their tail. The story is over-complicated while including underwritten dialogue that sounds like something a seventeen-year-old might think up.

 

Ip Man: The Final Fight Blu-ray Review

Actors: Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Gillian Chung, Jordan Chan

Directors: Herman Yau

Format: Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen

Language: Cantonese

Subtitles: English, Mandarin Chinese

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: November 12, 2013

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

        My biggest mistake in watching Ip Man: The Final Fight was my confusion with which franchise this was the conclusion to. There have simply been too many attempts at a biographical film about the legendary grandmaster of Wing Chun in the past years. Edmond Wong made the high-octane biopics Ip Man (2008) and Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2010), with a third film looming as a possibility and Donnie Yen in the title role of the first two. Wong Kar Wai also just released his take on the life of the man who would eventually train Bruce Lee with The Grandmaster (2013). This film, however, is a follow-up to Herman Yau’s The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010).

 

        Anthony Wong takes on the title role for the biopic about the later years in the martial arts grandmaster’s life in postwar Hong Kong. This film lacks a clear antagonist for much of the film, waiting until a final climax to show any true spectacle in the fight sequences. In short, there is far more biopic and far less action film in this film, and it is done in a worshipping manner that sees its protagonist as being without fault. This can be trying to sit through. It is easy to idealize an action hero, but somehow it comes off as a bit more false when they stop fighting.

 

Passion Blu-ray Review

Actors: Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace

Directors: Brian De Palma

Format: AC-3, Blu-ray, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English, German

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Entertainment One

Release Date: November 5, 2013

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

 

        There may be some stylistic reminders that Passion is directed by Brian De Palma, but the faults riddled within this nonsensical film make that revelation more depressing than deserving of praise. In his earlier career De Palma was accused of constantly being an Alfred Hitchcock copycat, but this latest endeavor is too unfortunate to even be compared to De Palma’s earlier work, much less anything from the master of suspense. Passion is an unfortunate film on many levels. Despite the polished look of the movie and a solid cast, there is hardly a glimmer of originality in the story itself. Suspense leads to a series of sadly unimpressive twists and reveals, ultimately leaving the audience with nothing more than any hour-long murder mystery show could provide in half the time.

 

        Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace are two executives working at the German division of a successful advertising agency, backstabbing each other as they scramble to the top of the food chain. Christine Stanford (McAdams) runs the agency, though she is eager enough to receive a promotion to the head office in New York that she is willing to steal credit for the work done by her protégé, Isabelle James (Rapace). Isabelle also has a protégé, named Dani (Karoline Herfurth), and it would appear that the female debauchery in the workplace is passed on from one female co-worker to the next.

 

The Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Review

Actors: Michel Simon, Gerard Philipe

Directors: Rene Clair

Format: Blu-ray, Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: October 29, 2013

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

 

        The Beauty of the Devil is a serio-comic approach to the classic German fable of “Faust,” utilizing French filmmaker René Clair’s tendency to make films with socio/political satirical humor at the expense of upper class mores. Focusing on the humor rather than the tragedy, The Beauty of the Devil allows for a lighter approach to the tale while still remaining true to it. The performances take front seat in importance over any type of stylistic approach to the fantasy elements of a deal with the devil.

 

        When a well-respected professor of alchemy finds himself nearing the end of life without accomplishing the task he has been working on for much of his life, the temptation for a chance at youth is too great for Professor Faust (Michel Simon) to resist. The devil (Gérard Philipe) appears with a deal to give the professor everything he has wanted, including youth and the chance to finish his goal of creating gold, with his soul demanded in exchange. Faust is given a young new body, while the devil takes his own, leading to a series of tricks and manipulations.

 

Desert Island Films: Creature Features

 

        With the invention of cinema, there were two notable pioneering filmmakers who experimented in remarkably different ways with the medium. The Lumière brothers began making some of the first films by simply setting up the camera in various settings, the very first being footage of employees leaving a factory. They were also the filmmakers who shot the film of the train arriving at the station, which frightened audiences as was shown in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. Even as they went on to make films of staged actions, the Lumière brothers stayed grounded in realism, while George Méliès can be said to have shaped the future of cinema upon its initial experimentation by taking a particular interest in the fantasy elements. While the Luis Lumière and his brother pioneered the technical aspects of cinema, it was Méliès who would show what the medium was truly capable of with A Trip to the Moon (1902) and countless others. Among them was the first monster movie ever made.

 

In 1907 Méliès created a parodied version of Jules Verne novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in a short film, thus creating the first creature feature. It was later adapted into a feature film in 1916, featuring the first underwater photography. Even more significant was the giant octopus which is essential to the film. There is nothing monstrous about the octopus in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, except for the size of the beast, presumably due to the extreme depths of the ocean the submarine has submerged.

 

Desert Island Films: Vampire Horror

 

 

        The success of the vampire as portrayed in popular literature and film throughout history has often been contingent upon his ability to remain in the shadows, feeding discreetly in order to remain undiscovered. The most powerful of supernatural abilities the vampire has as weapons is the ability of seduction, causing humans to give their lives willingly. Sexuality has been linked with vampires from their original conception of the vampire’s mythology, and this did not change when the bloodsucker was adapted to celluloid. The story which first ushered the vampire onto film was "Dracula," the 1897 novel written by Irish author, Bram Stoker; first with the unauthorized silent German adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), and then with the Universal classic, Dracula (1931).

 

Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula was a monster equipped with a powerful ability to seduce, and though this sexuality was toned down in the production of the original film, Francis Ford Coppola was more explicit in exposing the monster’s utilization of sex in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Other vampire films followed in this tradition,[1] and the blood-sucking monster was often associated with seduction and sexuality.[2] In Once Bitten (1985) the vampire must feed from the blood of a virgin, combining the narrative with the teenage male anxiety of remaining the last to lose his virginity.[3] Even when the antagonist only believes he is a vampire, as is the case in George A. Romero’s Martin (1977), sexuality is still retained in the narrative as he often rapes his victims before drinking their blood. Sex is also used to lure victims in many vampire tales, including the topless bar which doubles as a lucrative vampire lair in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) or the whore house which is occupied by vampire prostitutes in Bordello of Blood (1996).[4]

 

Throwback Thursday Review: Accepted

 

Actors: Justin Long, Blake Lively, Lewis Black, Jonah Hill, Columbus Short

Directors: Steve Pink

Writers: Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Mark Perez

Producers: Tom Shadyac, Michael Bostick

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Universal Studios

Release Date: 2006

Run Time: 93 minutes

 

 

Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) isn’t accepted into any college, but to avoid angering his parents he makes up a college and forges an acceptance letter. Things begin to spiral when his parents want to see the college and meet the Dean. After fooling the parents with a fake website and an abandoned mental institution Bartleby thinks things are under control, but suddenly other students begin arriving. They have all been accepted because there is a button on the website that says acceptance is one click away. This doesn’t explain how they received acceptance letters without anyone sending them, but this is just one of many holes in the plot.

 

The plot devices used in Accepted may seem familiar because they have been used many times, and recently by a much more successful college comedy; Old School. A snooty Ivy League villain wants to take control and buy the location of the fake school, ultimately foiling our “heroes” of their scheme. The problem with our hero is that he is a bit of a tool. We are supposed to root for the leading guy to win the girl, and as is often the case “the girl” is already dating an extremely handsome and popular frat guy. The difference is that he seems to be a sincerely nice guy until our “hero” is a complete jerk to him in order to make the girl laugh, which she does. This also makes the leading girl seem shallow. It is almost as if we are just expected to be on the side of Bartleby merely because he is the main character, even though he is not very likable.

 

White House Down Blu-Ray Review

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx
Supporting actors: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, James Woods, Nicolas Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Michael Murphy, Rachelle Lefevre, Lance Reddick, Matt Craven, Jake Weber, Peter Jacobson, Barbara Williams, Kevin Rankin, Garcelle Beauvais, Falk Hentschel
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number of discs: 2
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Run Time: 132 minutes

 

 

        White House Down is the second of the two action films about the invasion of the president’s home this year, and easily the more accessible of the two. Rather than Gerard Butler repeatedly stabbing terrorists in the skull with a knife in the same poorly-lit hallway set of the White House, White House Down has the young star power of Channing Tatum and buddy-action elements inserted with a PG-13 rating and Jamie Foxx as the leader of our nation. The action is almost completely bloodless, the strong language is doled out in moderation for the most ideal moments of impact, and the logic of Roland Emmerich’s direction is questionable at best, but White House Down is still a far more enjoyable film than Olympus Has Fallen.

 

        The plot is filled with absurdity around every corner, beginning with a scenario that puts Capitol Policeman John Cale (Tatum) and his daughter (Joey King) in danger alongside President James Sawyer (Foxx). After a failed interview with a colleague (Maggie Gyllenhaal) for a job with the secret service, Cale is given the chance to prove that they made the wrong decision. A highly-armed group of mercenaries overtake the White House, ironically led by the head of the secret service (James Woods). When Cale is separated from his daughter in the chaos, his main goal is making sure he finds and protects her, though the president becomes a secondary concern when they cross paths.

 

Byzantium Blu-ray Review

Actors: Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley, Jonny Lee Miller, Daniel Mays

Director: Neil Jordan

Writer: Moira Buffini

Producers: William D. Johnson, Sam Englebardt, Stephen Woolley, Alan Moloney, Elizabeth Karlsen

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Rated: R

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

 Release Date: October 29, 2013

Run Time: 118 minutes

 

        Byzantium is like Twilight with more brutality, or Let the Right One In (or Let Me In, for you English-only film viewers) with more teen angst. However you examine it and whatever recent vampire film you most associate it with, Byzantium has few new ideas to be brought to the vampire genre. What it does have is a strong visual style and narrative with the kind of focus which could only come from a director such as Neil Jordan. However unoriginal much of the material may be, it is done with such confident filmmaking that it is easy to get swept up in yet another vampire love story.

 

        This contemporary gothic thriller follows the exploits of a pair of female vampires as they hide out in a former hotel resort called Byzantium. Clara (Gemma Arterton) and her forever teenage daughter Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) are constantly on the run from someone chasing them, leading to endless new homes. Eleanor has grown tired of the routine they have carried out for 200 years, and finally begins to discover the truth about her mother. Clara is a compulsive liar, hiding the truth about their reasons for running.

 

As Cool As I Am Blu-ray Review

Actors: Claire Danes, James Marsden

Directors: Max Mayer

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rated: R

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: October 22, 2013

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

        A film like As Cool as I Am is contradictory in its construction, filled with the type of self-indulgent naivety only a teenager the age of the protagonist would likely find relatable while also containing enough explicit content to receive an ‘R’ rating. Even more significant with this coming-of-age tale is the lack of focus when it comes to tying together the film’s themes and ideas. Rather than making any real statements about adulthood or the journey towards it, this is just a film about a lot of random decisions made by a teenager surrounded by people just as immature as she is, despite her impressive vocabulary and propensity for culinary arts.

 

        Sixteen-year-old Lucy Diamond (Sarah Bolger) has horrible parents on polar opposite scales, but has somehow managed to become mature and responsible. Then there are moments which throw all character development out the window and have Lucy acting as irresponsible as possible in ways that nearly guarantee she turns out just like her unhappy parents. I suppose this could be construed as accurate in its inconsistencies for the mere fact that the main character is a teenage girl, but the logic of the narrative’s direction was also lost on me. Based on the book by Pete Fromm, Virginia Korus Spragg’s scattered screenplay lacks focus, direction, or purpose.

 

The Way, Way Back Blu-ray Review

 Actors: Liam James, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet

 Directors: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Fox Searchlight

Release Date: October 22, 2013

Run Time: 104 minutes

 

 

        The Way, Way Back is a film entirely dependent upon its cast, which makes sense considering the fact that it is the brainchild of two successful character actors. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash both have the ability to appreciate the benefits of a strong supporting cast, having often filled those roles themselves as they display with minor bits in The Way, Way Back, which they also co-wrote and co-directed together. It is a directorial debut for both, and while at times their story seems to lack focus, it is their ability to get out of the actor’s way that cultivates such a rich viewing experience. Each character has unique personality flaws, and paired with their very human shortcomings in the screenplay is a masterful bit of casting in this ensemble dramedy.

       

        Liam James heads up the cast as our awkward teen, Duncan, a fourteen-year-old being juggled between his two divorced parents. With a recently remarried father, Duncan is forced to spend the summer with his mother (Toni Collette) at the beach house of her arrogant new boyfriend (Steve Carell). Despite an attractive girl next door (AnnaSophia Robb) and a house on the beach, it looks to be a miserable summer for the introverted Duncan until he makes an unlikely friend in an irresponsible water park employee named Owen (Sam Rockwell). Owen’s over-the-top confidence has an impact on Duncan’s demeanor, which is apparent to everyone around him, from the cute girl next door to his mother, even though he keeps his time at the water park a secret.

 

Just Like a Woman Blu-ray Review

Actors: Sienna Miller, Golshifteh Farahani

Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Format: AC-3, Blu-ray, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: October 22, 2013

Run Time: 120 minutes

 

 

        While it is no surprise that Just Like a Woman takes a female perspective in the storytelling, it is amazing how much the film stacks elements against the fairer sex. The victimization of the protagonists is not enough to inspire any empathy, however, especially since the screenplay has little interest in anything else. Every male character is immediately dismissible as weak or cruel, and tragedies befall the two women as if they were cursed. In truth, it is just cheap filmmaking attempting to force an emotional response without putting in the effort of character development which would have made the payoff sincere.

 

        With a plot too similar to Thelma and Louise not to mention, but dissimilar enough to disappoint any fans using Ridley Scott’s estrogen-fueled thriller as a reference point, Just Like a Woman has little going for it in terms of story. It is ultimately a road trip movie as two women who are little more than strangers get to know each other in a common goal of escaping their bleak lives, though we must endure an insufferable amount of that existence before the film takes off. They remain victims the entire film, but the first fifteen minutes lay it on so thick that it comes off as false. These women are saints while they are constantly treated like garbage.

 

Desert Island List: Danish Cinema

 

 

        A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with Danish filmmaker Adam Neutzsky-Wulff, writer and director of The Stranger Within. He had a great deal to say about the Hollywood films which influenced him, in addition to his Scandinavian roots as a filmmaker. This got me thinking about the Danish films to which I find myself personally attached, and a fitting opportunity for examining the history of this specific Scandinavian national cinema.

 

Prior to the advent of sound, country of origin was all but insignificant to a film’s international success. The introduction of dialogue into film, however, had the significance of God’s intervention on the Tower of Babel, forever altering the universality of the medium. Some countries spend all resources attempting to duplicate Hollywood success, whereas the Danish film industry has instead spent decades defining their own national cinema in a way that is self sufficient. For this reason, Danish filmmakers often have less incentive to work within the confines of the Hollywood system.

 

The first film exhibition in Denmark took place in June 1896 at the Town Hall Square in Copenhagen. Not long after, it was photographer Peter Elfelt who made the first Danish film. Elfelt produced around 200 documentary films on life in Demark between 1896 and 1912, establishing realism in Danish cinema from the beginning.

Throwback Thursday Review: Above the Law

 

Actors: Yuen Biao, Roy Chiao Hung, Cynthia Rothrock, Wu Ma, Melvin Wong

Director: Corey Yuen

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Weinstein Company

DVD Release Date: May 29, 2007

Run Time: 96 minutes

 

The Weinstein Company spent so many years collecting the rights to release many films and have kept them in their grips till recently, which may explain the release of this 1993 action film from Hong Kong, Above the Law. Although a release in 1993 would have made little sense, it is surprising that this film is only now seeing a proper DVD release considering the director is Corey Yuen. Yuen may not be a household name, but after directing The Transporter he should have had enough credibility for people to begin viewing his earlier films. Still, Above the Law is available finally on special edition from Dragon Dynasty.

 

When it is obvious that the law is not able to protect innocent people thanks to a corrupt judicial system, a renegade prosecutor sets out to take justice into his own hands. Each case he builds against the local mob is destroyed when his witnesses are brutally murdered, and it seems to be someone within the police force as well. What begins as one murder turns into an investigation and plenty more deaths to cover the first. Soon an intricate plot blurring the lines between good guys and bad guys takes place. 

 

Giveaway Contest: Diana Prize Pack

 

The only thing more incredible than the life she led was the secret she kept.

 

The highly anticipated film, DIANA, which takes audiences into the private realm of one of the world’s most iconic and inescapably public women, Diana, Princess of Wales, will be in US theatres November 1st.  In support of the release, we have 3 prize packs available for giveaway. Prizes include a mini movie poster and the book which the film was based on, Diana: Her Last Love.

 

 

There are two ways for entry in the contest: email ryanizay@yahoo.com or be the first to comment on the all-new Real Movie News Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Real-Movie-News/150844041763126


DIANA takes audiences into the private realm of one of the world’s most iconic and inescapably public women -- the Princess of Wales, Diana (two-time Oscar® nominee NAOMI WATTS) -- in the last two years of her meteoric life. On the occasion of the 16th anniversary of her sudden death, acclaimed director Oliver Hirschbiegel (the Oscar®-nominated Downfall) explores Diana’s final rite of passage: a secret love affair with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan (NAVEEN ANDREWS, “Lost,” The English Patient), the human complications of which reveal the Princess’s climactic days in a compelling new light.  Hirschbiegel directs from a screenplay by award-winning playwright Stephen Jeffreys, inspired by the book Diana: Her Last Love by Kate Snell, which was in turn drawn from extensive interviews with close friends and confidantes. The result is a window into the tumultuous, change-filled period from 1995-1997, in the wake of Diana’s shattering divorce from Prince Charles, and at the moment when she stood on the cusp of a different life, evolving into a global humanitarian, a master of maneuvering fame and becoming her own woman.

 

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Resolution Blu-ray Review

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: Unrated

Studio: New Video Group

Release Date: October 8, 2013

Run Time: 93 minutes

 

 

        Resolution has elements of terror, but is hardly a horror film. If anything, it fits more in the small sub-genre of independent time-travel science-fiction horror. Even without having elements of time travel, it is Timecrimes, Triangle, and Primer that this film most resembles. Rather than providing thrills which fall apart upon further examination, as most spectacle-filled horror films excel at doing, Resolution is a slow-moving film filled with occasional eerie sequences between extended scenes of naturalistic dialogue between two characters in a cabin.

 

        When Mike (Peter Cilella) receives a mysterious video via email from his meth-addicted friend, Chris (Vinny Curran), he plans a forced rehabilitation. Mike finds Chris squatting in a cabin on the edge of an Indian reservation, forcing him to quit cold turkey. There are many obstacles from Chris’s druggie lifestyle which Mike is forced to handle, including money debts and permission to stay in the cabin for a limited amount of time. There are also many reasons to leave the cabin as quickly as possible, including mysterious pictures and videos of tragic death stories left in and around the cabin for Mike to discover. There is something unique about the cabin which is as much a mystery to the audience as it is the two men residing within its walls.