Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses Blu-ray Review

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

Language: English (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: April 8, 2014

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

        Saying that Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses is better than Bad Ass offers little promise of quality; enduring the small-stature bravado of Danny Trejo’s persona is far less believable when forced to watch him attempt to act. Never before have I longed so desperately for Robert Rodriguez to swoop in and make light of bad filmmaking and horrendously contrived melodrama. Trejo really never belongs in a leading role, unless it is a film which is based entirely upon a joke premise that allows him to revel in bad acting. Bad Asses is nowhere close to the Machete franchise, but at least throws logic and common sense away in the climactic sequences. The absolute absurdity makes these moments unbelievable and campy, and this is almost bad enough to save Bad Asses from itself and its stars. 

 

Most Hated Movies: Frances Ha (2012)

 

        To my dismay, this film was met with an array of critical praise while I found it difficult not to throw items at the screen while enduring its minimal running-time. I suppose it should come as no surprise that the critics loved this film, as it is a house built upon nepotism and egos that most would rather not disturb. I could give a fuck. On that note, let's get started.

 

47 Ronin Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi, Ko Shibasaki

Director: Carl Rinsch

Writers: Chris Morgan, Hossein Amini

Producers: Pamela Abdy, Eric McLeod, Scott Stuber, Chris Fenton, Walter Hamada

Format: Color, Widescreen

Language: 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: French, Spanish, English

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Universal Studios

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Digital Copy Expiration Date: May 2, 2016

Run Time: 138 minutes

 

        Perhaps it is my developed love and understanding of samurai films which helped appreciate at least a portion of what 47 Ronin was attempting to do, because I can’t quite fathom why certain critics hated this film so much. Even Keanu Reeves does little to destroy this solemn story. While it is certainly not without faults, there are as many clear assets in the filmmaking and the well-told tale to be ignored. Along with classic cinematography and an age-old story from 18^th Century Japan, this film is a sincere attempt at a Hollywood samurai film. Like The Last Samurai, it falls short in the insistence of doing certain things the ‘Hollywood’ way.

 

Most Hated Movies: Cavemen (2013)

     Actors: Chad Michael Murray, Skylar Astin, Camilla Belle, Alexis Knapp, Chasty Ballesteros

Director: Herschel Faber

Format: Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, THX, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: April 8, 2014

Run Time: 88 minutes

        Romantic comedies are built upon formulas, allowing the laziest of screenwriters to rely heavily upon the work of past filmmakers, adding very little of themselves into the artistic process. Writer/director Herschell Faber somehow left me wishing that he had inserted less of himself in this indulgent piece of shit film, while Cavemen simultaneously has a narrative so predictably emotionally manipulative that it left nothing to be unknown. I am angered at the fact that this film was ever made, and the only glimmer of a silver lining in my viewing experience would be this opportunity to steer anyone and everyone from watching this example of artistic ineptitude.

 

Knights of Badassdom Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Peter Dinklage, Steve Zahn, Ryan Kwanten, Summer Glau, Danny Pudi

Director: Joe Lynch

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Entertainment One

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Run Time: 86 minutes

 

 

        I don’t know if this was a saving grace or fatal flaw, but Knights of Badassdom is such a brief film experience that I never had time to decide whether it was going anywhere before it was done. On one hand, the filmmakers removed the possibility of audiences growing tired of the single-joke premise, but the double-edged sword never allowed anything more than that gag in the 80-some minute running time. We are ultimately left with a film that seems as though it could have either been a lot funnier or a lot worse with fifteen minutes more, but instead feels like the shell of a film that doesn’t satisfy or offend.

 

Here’s Lucy: The Complete Series DVD Review

      Actors: Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon, Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr.

Format: Box set, Color, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 24

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Run Time: 4320 minutes

 

 

        Everybody with a television in the last sixty years is sure to know the television show “I Love Lucy,” because it has remained in syndication with very few series before color television. Despite being in full color and far more recent in production, only those who remember it when it originally aired are likely to be familiar with “Here’s Lucy,” although it was CBS’s number one show in the early 1970s. Lucille Ball had several shows that followed the success of “I Love Lucy,” and continued to utilize the slapstick humor she became known for. “Here’s Lucy” followed “The Lucy Show,” and in the 1980s there was “Life With Lucy.”

 

Giveaway Contest: Angry Birds Toons: Season One- Volume Two

Welcome Back to Piggy Island!

 

 

ANGRY BIRDS TOONS:

SEASON ONE - VOLUME TWO

The Angry Birds are Back on Blu-ray^™ & DVD April 15 

 

Bonus Materials Include Never-Before-Seen

Meet the Characters Pods, Four Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes 
& an Easter Holiday Special

 

       Just in time for Easter, the fan-favorite birds are back with more exciting animated adventures as ANGRY BIRDS TOONS: SEASON ONE - VOLUME TWO soars onto 
Blu-ray^™ and DVD April 15 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Fans of all ages can join Chuck, Matilda, Red, Bomb, the Blues and Terence as they attempt to foil the sneaky scheming of the Bad Piggies in 26 entertaining episodes, incorporating more than 80 minutes of Angry Birds fun.

Special Event Coverage: Make Your Move Red Carpet

 

The latest season of “Dancing with the Stars” is underway, and following the taping of an episode on Monday night many of the cast members made their way to Pacific Theaters at The Grove in Los Angeles for a special fundraiser premiere of the dance film Make Your Move. The special event screening was in order to support The Dizzy Feet Foundation, a non-profit organization which provides scholarships and funding for dance education programs in the U.S.

 

Most Hated Movies: At Middleton

    Actors: Andy Garcia, Vera Farmiga, Taissa Farmiga, Peter Riegert, Tom Skerritt

Director: Adam Rodgers

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Run Time: 100 minutes

 

        If I weren’t so irritated by At Middleton, I may have no choice but to be impressed. If only accidentally, there are usually at least a few things that even the worst films manage to get right. At Middleton is the most impressively atrocious attempt at filmmaking that I have seen in a long while, made even more nauseating by the fact that it is headed up with two actors who should know better. The film by  relies almost entirely upon dialogue, though there is hardly a believable word spoken between two characters forced into a meet cute while on a college campus tour with their children. No amount of talent from the leading actors comes close to saving At Middleton from the atrociously cliché dialogue. Though the film is rated-R, the screenplay has the intelligence and maturity of a Disney Channel movie.    

 

Walking with Dinosaurs Blu-ray Review

     Actors: John Leguizamo, Justin Long, Tiya Sircar

Format: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Run Time: 88 minutes

 

        Nature movies begin with photography, and a script is formed from the images that are gathered on that expedition. The narration only comes after capturing the wild on film, working in a kind of story arc where there really is none. Though Walking with Dinosaurs is primarily created with computer generated animation, nearly all of the dialogue and voice-over narration feels as though it is desperately trying to fit in with images that existed long before any words were written.

 

Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor Blu-ray Review

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: BBC Home Entertainment

Release Date: March 4, 2014

Run Time: 60 minutes

 

 

        The world of “Doctor Who” has many rules and technicalities to the storyline, no doubt adjusted to continue the franchise from generation to generation. Among these are the specifics behind the doctor’s changing appearance through the years since his arrival in pop culture in 1963. Apparently there are a certain amount of incarnations of the same doctor over the years, which explains the change in actors playing him. The episode included in this package, “The Time of the Doctor,” marks the departure of Matt Smith as the eleventh doctor (though he is technically the thirteenth actor to play the doctor, he is eleventh in the actual timeline), as well as the 800^th episode in the series franchise.

 

Contracted DVD Review

     Actors: Najarra Townsend, Caroline Williams

Director: Eric England

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: March 18, 2014

Run Time: 84 minutes

 

 

        Contracted has some elements of terror which will be unnerving to certain audience members of sexual promiscuity, though it is so single-minded in its narrative that I can’t help but feel that this material would have been better suited for a short film rather than a feature. The solitary plot development inches slowly towards an inevitable conclusion which is not nearly as satisfying as would have been necessary to make enduring the path to the climax worthwhile. In other words, this film has one idea and it is not very fun to watch develop.

 

Desert Island Films: Zombie Movies

 

 

        Despite the widespread popularity and success of the sub-genre today, the zombie film remained on the outskirts of Hollywood horror until the 1960s, perhaps due to the fact that they were unsympathetic creatures that merely “shambled around at the will of other people” (Halliwell 246, 248). These first cinematic zombies were initially only reanimated with the control of an evil scientist, as was the case with White Zombie (1932), which is often sited as the first American zombie film.

 

Through the 1950s the zombie was created by a mad scientist, such as The Creature with the Atom Brain (1956),[1] which used a mad scientist combined with atomic radiation to return the dead to life. In this film the mad scientist is also an ex-Nazi. Many thought Dead Snow (2009) was the first Nazi zombie film, but even in classic horror films they were often symbolically connected to this particular monster, using the zombies as soldiers in their mindless army, as in Revenge of the Zombies (1943).

 

See This Film: American Jesus DVD Review

     Directors: Aram Garriga

Format: Color, Dolby, NTSC

Language: English

Region: All Regions

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Shelter Island

DVD Release Date: May 13, 2014

Run Time: 94 minutes

 

       

        With the legalization of gay marriage and marijuana constantly debated, I have been told repeatedly that we are currently in a culture war, and if I am a Christian that apparently means that I must align with the conservative views on political matters. I find this infuriating, as I don’t like being lumped in with every viewpoint of any group with which I am connected. As a Christian, I don’t think all of the same things as every other Christian across America any more than I would agree with every liberal in the United States. American Jesus may be the first piece of art I have come across that captures the unique and personal relationship each individual can have with Christ.

 

The Freshman Blu-ray Review

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 3

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Criterion Collection

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Run Time: 76 minutes

 

       

        Charlie Chaplin’s onscreen persona of the Little Tramp is one of an outsider, though not always one eager to conform and join the rest of society. He often lived with a relative amount of bliss playing by his own rules, never seeming particularly concerned with what society thought of him. Buster Keaton’s roles also had a bit of rebellion in them, leaving Harold Lloyd to stand out with characters that worked hard to fit in with society. In Safety Last! he is a hardworking store clerk trying to make it in the big city, and in The Freshman he is an eager new college student trying to become the most popular kid in school.

The Past Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Berenice Bejo

Director: Asghar Farhadi

Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Run Time: 130 minutes

       

        The most difficult part of watching an Asghar Farhadi film, in my opinion, is getting in the theater or putting the disc in my player. The filmmaking is undeniably captivating, and I am easily drawn into the stories once they begin, but the plot of each makes it a difficult thing to desire seeing. Once again returning to the battleground of emotions amongst lovers who have gone separate ways, The Past is a worthy follow up to Farhadi’s last success, A Separation. The melodrama unfolds in a manner that almost makes the narrative a mystery as well, which helps immensely in making the difficult story more fascinating.

 

The Truth About Emanuel Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Jessica Biel, Kaya Scodelario, Aneurin Barnard

Director: Francesca Gregorini

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

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Run Time: 96 minutes

 

 

        Kaya Scodelario is making her move into the big leagues of Hollywood filmmaking after establishing herself early on as a child actor in the British television series, “Skins.” Following this film will be her big break in yet another “teenager in danger in a dystopian future society” narrative based on a young adult book franchise. Hopefully The Maze Runner provides more opportunities for Scodelario than The Truth About Emanuel, otherwise her career in Hollywood may be short-lived.

The Wrath of Vajra Blu-ray Review

     Actors: David Kurata, Shi Yanneng, Nam Hyun Joon, Steve Yoo

Director: Law Wing-Cheong

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

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Subtitles: English, French

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: March 18, 2014

Run Time: 115 minutes

 

 

        The Wrath of Vajra is a martial arts action film similar to many others in many ways. This does not take away from enjoying the spectacle of the well-choreographed fight sequences, though there is little in the film to set it apart as anything more than 111 minutes of entertainment. It is a combination of many typical themes found in martial arts films, along with a fighting competition plot to fuel each of the one-on-one battles.

 

Machine Head DVD Review

    Actors: Alana O'Mara, Cristina Corigliano, Morissa O'Mara, Nicole Zeoli, Sharon Hinnendael

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

DVD Release Date: March 25, 2014

Run Time: 82 minutes

 

       

        At first appearance, Machine Head looks to be your average under-average ‘straight-to-video’ slasher horror film, complete with the cast too attractive to ever consider taking an acting class. In a lot of ways, Machine Head fits in the category, though it does so with a lot less violence and gore than the genre has come to expect over the last few decades. Instead, it hinges everything on a twist ending better than the whole of the film.

 

Atlantis: Season 1 DVD Review

     Actors: Jack Donnelly, Mark Addy, Robert Emms, Jemima Rooper, Juliet Stevenson

Directors: Alice Troughton, Justin Molotnikov, Declan O'Dwyer, Jeremy Webb

Writers: Howard Overman, Johnny Capps, Julian Murphy

Format: Box set, Color, NTSC

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 3

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: BBC Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: March 18, 2014

Run Time: 585 minutes

 

        “Atlantis” reminds me of what fantasy shows once were, particularly in the 1990s, long before shows like “Game of Thrones” made the genre so popular with the mainstream audiences. This series does not take itself quite so seriously, aligning more comfortably with “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Xena: Princess Warrior” in its ability to shrug off logic and source material for the sake of each episode’s spectacle.