That Awkward Moment Blu-ray Review

     Format: Multiple Formats, AC-3, Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: May 13, 2014

Run Time: 94 minutes

 

       

        This film is entirely unnecessary for a number of reasons; most significant being the mere fact that it is merely a collection of clichés and conversations taken from much better films. With nothing original to add to the romantic comedy genre, at the very least first-time filmmaker Tom Gormican could have given the film a decently written female character. Even the male characters are only given about as much personality as is designated to various members of the carefully constructed boy bands. It is clear that this is a movie made catered to the tastes of a specific female Zac Efron fan club, where all guys who are attractive may act poorly but it is only because they are falling in love for the first time. This plays right into the female fantasy of fixing and domesticating the bad-boy personality type, and I’m sure belief in this movie’s happy ending will lead thousands of additional naïve girls into believing their random hook-ups will eventually fall in love with them. 

 

Special ID Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Donnie Yen, Andy On, Collin Chou, Zhang Hanyu

Director: Clarence Fok Yiu-leung

Format: Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Subtitles: English

Dubbed: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: May 13, 2014

Run Time: 99 minutes

 

        Judged by action sequences alone, Special ID has some memorable moments that make it worth recommending. It is just unfortunate that the rest of the film couldn’t live up to the same expectations. Uneven is the best way to describe this latest Donnie Yen vehicle, almost as if filmmaking and plot were secondary to the opportunity to highlight Yen’s martial arts abilities. They are still impressive, though this is far from his best film, even in that regard. Still, action fans will appreciate a few of the action sequences enough to make the rest of the sloppily constructed film worthwhile.

 

Mr. Jones Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Jon Foster, Sarah Jones, David Clennon, Diane Neal

Director: Karl Mueller

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Release Date: May 6, 2014

Run Time: 84 minutes

       

        There are so many ways in which this film fails; I don’t want to accidentally encourage more of this behavior from future filmmakers by pointing out the few things that it does right. The last thing that we needed is another found footage horror film, even one that thinks outside of the box. And even in some creative plot twists, the unpleasantness of the presentation in the last half of the film far outweighs any elements of creativity. Not nearly as complex as it likes to think it is, not as scary as it had the potential to be, and not enjoyable enough to recommend to even die-hard genre fans, Mr. Jones is mostly just an annoying bore.

 

Napoleon Dynamite 10th Anniversary Blu-ray Review

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

Language: English (Dolby TrueHD), French (Dolby Surround), Spanish (Dolby Surround)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: May 6, 2014

      

        The only problem with sleeper hits like Napoleon Dynamite is that once they get popular, often the heart is pounded right out of the very thing that was special in the first place. This happened with The Blair Witch Project and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. One had a bad sequel and the other had a worse spin-off television show. Though there were no attempts at furthering the Napoleon Dynamite franchise, it is yet another one-hit-wonder which has lost some of the appeal in the ten years since its release. This makes the 10^th Anniversary Blu-ray release feeling a bit redundant and unnecessary, especially with no new additions aside from the combination of DVD and Blu-ray in one package.

 

The Deep End Blu-ray Review

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

Language: English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: May 6, 2014

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

        Following the celebration of Mother’s Day is the Blu-ray release of a movie about the lengths a mother is willing to go to in order to protect a seemingly guilty son from the implications of murder. This one idea carries the entire thriller, often making this 101-minute thriller drag more than necessary, with only Tilda Swinton’s performance remains consistently captivating. It is unfortunate that the screenplay by Scott McGehee and David Siegel couldn’t have offered more logic, dialogue or excitement to this performance.

 

Rookie Blue: The Complete Fourth Season DVD Review

     Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 4

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Ent. One Music

DVD Release Date: May 6, 2014

Run Time: 572 minutes

 

 

        It has been done before, and there isn’t a whole lot new in this Canadian cop show. The major difference seems to be the blending of the soap opera elements which have made medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy a success. There is less that is realistic about this cop drama with highly attractive professionals who enjoy bed-hopping between catching crooks, but somehow that seems to be the point. It is less about gritty realism and more about the glamour. And somehow that has worked well enough to last four seasons and counting.

 

Adventure Time: The Suitor DVD Review

    Format: Multiple Formats, Animated, Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Cartoon Network

DVD Release Date: May 6, 2014

Run Time: 176 minutes

 

       

        As far as I can tell, these random DVD releases with a collection of episodes are just excuses to make money off of the oddly popular programming. Most of the episodes have nothing to do with the title, which highlights a single popular episode. The rest included feels as random as the humor in the show. True fans of the show would probably be better off waiting for full-season releases.  Some of these episodes have already been released in previous DVD collections.

 

Desert Island Lists: Special Mother’s Day Edition

 

        Mothers have historically been given the short end of the cinematic stick, drowning in their male counterpart and typically a far more villainous portrayal of parenthood. In nearly every Disney princess film, it is the mother that is killed to leave a child either orphaned or stuck with an evil step-mother. Mothers are an easy scapegoat for any evil or bad behavior in offspring, occasionally even encouraging it, as is the case with both versions of the film sharing the name of the holiday celebrating them.

 

Orange is the New Black Blu-ray Review

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

Language: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 3

Rated:  Not Rated

Studio: Lions Gate

Release Date: May 13, 2014

Run Time: 730 minutes

 

       

        “Orange is the New Black” may be based on the memoirs of Piper Kerman, but it still feels distinctly akin to the work of television creator/producer Jenji Kohan, best known for the hit Showtime series, “Weeds.” From style to sense of humor, “Orange is the New Black” shares a great deal with Kohan’s previous series, but none of the similarities are more significant than the greatly flawed female protagonist at the center of both stories. The final seasons of “Weeds” eventually saw Nancy Parker (Mary-Louise Parker) serving time in prison for her drug dealing, though time served occurred between seasons and was never seen. It would be easy to imagine that her experience would have resembled that of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling).

 

The Best Offer DVD Review

     Actors: Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: April 29, 2014

Run Time: 131 minutes

 

 

        The filmmaking in The Best Offer is absolutely breathtaking, a spectacular reminder of the seemingly effortless talent still remaining in veteran director Giuseppe Tornatore’s bag of tricks. This magnificent display of old school ability may also be the downfall of The Best Offer, whose narrative can never live up to the perfection in Tornatore’s technique. It isn’t a bad story, just one with substance undeserving of the film’s perfection in style. Every aspect of the film is exemplary, from production design to the cinematography capturing it, Ennio Morricone’s brilliant soundtrack to the sound effects evoking emotion out of seemingly arbitrary actions within the film. All of the filmmaking is expertly capable, but none of it deserving of the fairly derivative and predictable Hitchcockian screenplay Tornatore provides. 

 

The Selfish Giant DVD Review

     Actors: Conner Chapman, Sean Gilder

Director: Clio Barnard

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: April 29, 2014

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

        Neither the material in The Selfish Giant nor the approach by filmmaker Clio Barnard are particularly unfamiliar, and savvy audience members are likely to see the bend in the storyline long before it approaches, but none of this deters from the film’s emotional impact. Even when the narrative appears slightly predictable or contrived, the realism drawn out by Barnard’s ability to direct two spectacular young actors carries The Selfish Giant into higher territory. It is simple debut that immediately brings to mind the work of Ken Loach, effortlessly bringing the audience into the world of two children struggling as outsiders in a poor working class UK community.

 

Il Sorpasso Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Catherine Spaak, Claudio Gora

Director: Dino Risi

Writers: Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, Ruggero Maccari

Producer: Mario Cecchi Gori

Format: Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: Italian

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 3

Rated: Not Rated

Studio: Criterion Collection

Release Date: April 29, 2014

Run Time: 105 minutes

        In terms of plot and characters, Il Sorpasso was among the first to establish the traditional road film narrative, blending comedy and tragedy in a brilliant social commentary by way of escapist entertainment. Many similar films have followed; utilizing the elements that Italian filmmaker Dino Risi first made work so brilliantly in 1962. You can see the odd couple character humor in recent road trip comedies such as Due Date or The Heat, and the tragic ending seemed to immediately have an impact on American cinema with Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider (1969), so why is it that Il Sorpasso is not more widely known and appreciated? Better late than never, Il Sorpasso has been added to the prestigious Criterion Collection with this dual format Blu-ray/DVD release, complete with new special features that include praise-filled introduction from filmmaker Alexander Payne, who followed in Risi’s tradition with last year’s Academy Award-nominated road comedy, Nebraska.  

 

Riot in Cell Block 11 DVD Review

      Actors: Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen

Director: Don Siegel

Format: Black & White, NTSC

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)

DVD Release Date: April 22, 2014

Run Time: 80 minutes

 

 

        Realism in American films would become all the rage in the 1960s and 70s, mostly thanks to influences from European cinema, but it was a groundbreaking revelation when used in Don Siegel’s Riot in Cell Block 11 in 1954. Because of the smaller budgets, often B-films were the films given a greater opportunity to take risks, as was the case for 1990s independent cinema. Siegel worked within this medium to create a prison film which carries a social message within an entertaining genre picture.

 

Generation Iron DVD Review

     Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mickey Rourke, Michael Jai White

Director: Vlad Yudin

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

DVD Release Date: May 13, 2014

Run Time: 107 minutes

 

        Whether or not you understand the mentality of the oversized bodybuilders competing for the annual title of Mr. Olympia, there is no denying that the stories of each of these men is in itself fascinating enough to make this film interesting to gym rats and couch potatoes alike. A few of them are angry and aggressive, which makes them less likeable but no more compelling to watch. They all have egos to help convey an added sense of confidence, but it is interesting to see what really drives men like this to reach extreme sizes, even at the expense of their own health.

 

The Toho Godzilla Collection Blu-ray Double-Features Review

 

        Godzilla films are often categorized by the period in which they were created, with the classic Shōwa Series spanning from the original 1954 film to 1975. Then the franchise was revived again in 1984 with the films known as the Heisei Series, starting over the mythology of Godzilla and his many foes. This collection of Godzilla films ended with the apparent death of the beast in 1995, until he was revived again in 2000 with the series known as the Millennium Series. This concluded with 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, at which point the Toho sets were destroyed, and rights to another Godzilla film were withheld for a decade.

 

Devil’s Due Blu-ray Review

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

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: English, French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: April 29, 2014

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

        I could simply say that Devil’s Due is the Rosemary’s Baby of found-footage horror films, merely suggest that it is Paranormal Activity with a pregnancy, and that would be enough to concisely and completely review this film. Unfortunately for me, that would not be a very long review, so I will endure further consideration of this transparent copycat in order to fulfill my job more completely. Let it be known, however, everything I say from here on out will likely be as unnecessary and redundant as Devil’s Due itself.

 

Great Expectations Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane

Director: Mike Newell

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

Language: English (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Dubbed: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: April 15, 2014

Run Time: 128 minutes

 

        There is nothing particularly wrong with the latest adaptation of Charles Dickens’ oft-adapted classic “Great Expectations,” directed by Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral). There also isn’t anything right enough to redeem its inability to set itself apart from countless other adaptations, with particularly dull young actors unable to breathe any new life into the roles while the older cast members do a bit of over-acting to make up for it. Somehow this adaptation feels as though it shortchanges Dickens’ material while also dragging along unnecessarily.

 

Mayberry RFD: Season 1 DVD Review

     Actors: Ken Berry, Francis Bavier

Format: Box set, Color, NTSC

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 4

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Warner Home Video

DVD Release Date: April 8, 2014

 

 

        Spin-off shows are common, but “Mayberry R.F.D.” was almost more of a continuation show than a spin-off, simply allowing for a few new lead characters to take over as the previous ones from “The Andy Griffith Show” departed. The premiere episode of “Mayberry R.F.D.” is as much a departure for the characters of “The Andy Griffith Show” as it was an introduction to the new characters, featuring Andy’s marriage to long-time girlfriend Helen Crump, with Barney Fife appearing as best man.

 

See This Film: Once Blu-ray Review

 

Language: English (Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Run Time: 87 minutes

 

In the golden age of Hollywood cinema musicals seemed to have the most extravagant budgets, and these films were a huge success as well as a grand spectacle, but it wasn’t the sets and the costumes or dozens or chorus dancers that made the films musicals. Traditionally the songs helped to advance the plot, telling part of the story or developing the character within the song, and within these terms Once is a true musical. While there are essentially only two important characters and they are the only ones to sing, these songs help to advance the story in many ways, often having nothing to do with the music itself. The male protagonist is physically unable to speak about his heartbreak in one particular scene in the film, so instead he sings about it with improvised songs on the back of a bus. Despite a low budget, shaky camera work that often goes out of focus, and a storyline so simple that it nearly hits the same note for 86 minutes, Once is clearly one of the greatest modern musicals in all the ways that matters.

 

Master of the House Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Johannes Meyer, Astrid Holm, Mathilde Nielsen

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Format: NTSC, Silent

Language: Danish

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)

Release Date: April 22, 2014

Run Time: 111 minutes

 

        Danish filmmakers were pioneers at the dawn of cinema, right up there with the French. Had it not been for the invention of sound and back-to-back wars in Europe, they might have been the dominating nation in the art form. This argument can be clearly seen in the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer, which was ahead of its time not just in terms of filmmaking techniques, but also in the stories which he chose to tell. Master of the House is one of Dreyer’s more modest films, but there is brilliance in its simplicity and maturity in the narrative based on the play Tyrannens fald by Svend Rindom.