02
Aug
Recommended The Movie: Though Marion Davies is best known as the William Randolph Hearst'smistress, she was also an excellent actress. A trio of her lesserknown films are begin released by Undercrank Productions including WhenKnighthood was in Flower [reviewhere], The Bride's Play, and this film, 1922's Beauty'sWorth. A light comedy, the film is enjoyable and fun andMarion Davies is delightful. Prudence Cole (Davies) is a young girl who is being raised by hertwo maiden aunts. Her guardians are strict Quakers "to whom thewhole Twentieth Century is a work of Satan." Needless to say, it's aquiet lifestyle. When Prudence's childhood friend,…
02
Aug
Recommended I'd never seen an episode of T.J. Hooker, the 1982-86 police action-melodrama, until preparing this review. But when Shout! Factory announced The Complete Series I decided to give it a go, mainly because of the actor playing the title role, William Shatner. I'd long admired Shatner as an actor and for his amazing longevity. Coming from the Canadian theater scene, he first made a name for himself as one of the main go-to guys on American television of the late-1950s through mid-1960s, on shows like Studio One, The Naked City, Twilight Zone and many others. He was not…
30
Jul
Rent It No, this isn't a remake of the 1987 movie with Susanna Hoffs, but its premise is quite familiar. Banjo-playing Martin (Emile Hirsch) and his girlfriend Ginnie (Analeigh Tipton) have been together a while and the time comes for him to meet her father- the hard-nosed, rich "man's man" Frank (J.K. Simmons). They meet him at a restaurant for dinner and of course Martin has to make a good first impression, but he pretty much blows it- first making him laugh at his choice of a vegetarian dinner instead of a nice steak, then the old movie classic mistake…
30
Jul
Skip It The Film:The Fermi paradox puts into words one of the common considerations someone might have regarding the presence of alien life: if they're out there, why haven't we directly interacted with them? Much debate can be had over the nuances of the topic, but one of the most interesting and amusing rebuttals to the thought exercise boils down to, simply, "Why would they?", as if humanity's so insignificant in comparison to their advanced way of being that we may not be worth their time or effort. In a roundabout way, Absolutely Anything plays around with the idea of…
26
Jul
Highly Recommended Although "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" may have been the tenth of thirteen films helmed by Sam Peckinpah, compared to his final three big screen efforts, it is in many ways the last film with the Peckinpah style. Arriving on the heels of the troubled "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kidd," "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" sees Peckinpah in the director's chair as well as the co-writer's seat, telling the timeless tale of morally questionable characters engaging in often amoral behavior. Set in the dusty underworld of Mexico (an underworld that is far more…
22
Jul
Rent It Living less than 30 miles away from Dover, Pennsylvania (and having family from the area, even), I'm somewhat familiar with the concept of rural areas embroiled in national controversy. The 2004-05 Dover case for teaching intelligent design in public biology classrooms ended well, thanks to a judge's ruling that upheld separation of church and state. For obvious reasons, this Decem...Read the entire review Source: DVD Talk
14
Jul
Highly Recommended Director: Vincent PerezStarring: Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Br hlYear: 2016The rise of the wonderful and incomparable Daniel Bruhl has been well-witnessed, at least among those who have been paying attention. The German/Spanish actor has been hitting more home runs than not with his film choices, or perhaps his talent level helps lift each lucky movie he appears in. Inglourious Basterds, Rush, A Most Wanted Man, Woman in Gold, <a href="http://arch...Read the entire review Source: DVD Talk
10
Jul
Recommended The Movie:There have been a few films that include a metaphoric fish thrown into new, sometimes hostile waters, and on the heels of HBO's fascinating miniseries The Night Of, we now get American Wrestler: The Wizard, a similar story in its broadest strokes, based on true events.Written by Brian Rudnick and directed by Alex Ranarivero, American Wrestler tells the story of Ali Jahani (George Kosturos), an immigrant who left Iran during the Khomeni overthrow to live in California with his uncle Hafez. Hafez is played by Ali Afshar, producer of the film and the subject on whom the movie…
08
Jul
Recommended The Show:Like Castle or White Collar, Bones isanother in a long line of crime show that pair two unlikelypartners. While they don't get along at the start, over the courseof the show the two learns about each other, grow closer, and put alot of murderers behind bars. That's pretty much what happens inBones, and after a very impressive 12-season run the program hasfinished its time on the small screen and that means it's time for acompete series set. This massive 64-disc collection includes all 245episodes and some decent bonus material (unfortunately all of itpreviously released) in a nice new…
06
Jul
Recommended 8-Bit Generation is a project called "a labor of love" by those behind it, documenting the rise of consumer computers and video games of the 70s and 80s. "The Commodore Wars" is their first documentary release, focusing on the Commodore computer company. I'm in a bit of a strange place on this subject as during that time I was a video game nut and we also had (and still do) an Apple II computer, but by 1985 I had pretty much lost interest in computers and never did much with them until the internet came along. The big video…
03
Jul
Recommended At the end of Season Three of Ray Donovan, following a shootout with Russian mobsters that left our antihero (played by Liev Schreiber) wounded and his father, Mickey (Jon Voight), on the run, Ray received absolution for his past sins from a Catholic priest who had taken an interest in him in a powerful season finale. Now it's time for Season Four to get underway, and Ray's going to walk the straight and narrow now, right? Think again.Ray's descent back into his old ways begins when he begins an association with boxer Hector Campos (Ismael Cruz Cordova), which soon…
01
Jul
Recommended In 10 Words or LessFunny chaos that's as relevant as ever Reviewer's Bias*Loves: Laugh-In, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne WorleyLikes: Goldie Hawn, Sammy Davis, Jr. Dislikes: Formulaic comedyHates: Casual racism, how awful things don't just go awayThe ShowA controversial president drowning in scandal, Republican leadership ignoring the poor, social unrest, civil-rights battles, racism, clashes over reproductive rights, gender inequality, international strife...boy, the late 60s were a mess, huh? Thank goodness we've come a long way over the past 50 years. I mean, if we hadn't, then revisiting Dan Rowan and Dick Martin's Laugh-In would feel incredibly relevant and frustrating, watching…
30
Jun
Highly Recommended Decoy a one-season undercover cop show from 1957-58, was unknown to this reviewer until it turned up in our unwanted screener pile. Because it starred cult actress Beverly Garland I was moderately curious to see it, only to discover that it's an unusual, even groundbreaking series of exceptional interest. For starters, it was the first - and still among the very few - American cop show with a female protagonist. One would imagine that, Decoy coming from the 1950s, that a male co-star would have been required to do all the heavy lifting, to sweep in and save…
26
Jun
Skip It Director: Patrick JohnsonStarring: Nate Rubin, Kris Kiley, Brina PalenciaYear: 2015Your guess is as good as mine as to why American Pie worked when so many other coming-of-age sex comedies die a terrible death as soon as they hit the screen, some as soon as they hit the straight-to-DVD shelves. Maybe it was Eugene Levy, maybe it was the pie, who knows, but that film is now a classic, and in comparison, The High Schoolers Guide to College Parties will never be. Not only will it never become a classic, it will never be seen by more than the…
23
Jun
Highly Recommended In 10 Words or LessYoung female friendship portrayed perfectlyReviewer's Bias*Loves: The look of classic cinema, Peter SellersLikes: Positive female relationshipsDislikes: Rich peopleHates: Running into old casual racism, adulterersThe MovieGeorge Roy Hill, who would go on to win an Oscar for The Sting, while directing a string of well-regarded films including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the iconic Slap Shot, started off his feature-film career with stage adaptations before tackling Nora Johnson's novel, The World of Henry Orient. Obviously his earlier work, including his time with "Playhouse 90" and "Kraft Theater", set him up well to tackle…
18
Jun
Highly Recommended The Show: A staple of syndicated television in the half-century since it originally went off the air, Perry Mason is the kind of show that is so firmly ingrained in pop culture that it is easy to take it for granted. With its formulaic mystery-story approach, it can be considered influential upon any number of courtroom and crime shows, for better and worse, and it's hard to imagine a more iconic fictional lawyer than Raymond Burr's stoic, sly, and sometimes streetwise L.A. attorney.The original run of Perry Mason started in 1957 and ended after nine seasons in 1966.…
16
Jun
Highly Recommended The Movie:So before diving into Breastmilk, a couple of cards on the table; as the father of a 7 month old and in a similar situation as our own Olie Coen, I had a natural curiosity as to what the film was about, and whether it was a case of advocating the benefits of breast milk and the mammoth industry surrounding breastfeeding, but it was not like that at all, and seems to mirror a situation that our family is experiencing.Over a three-year period, director Dana Ben-Ari checks in periodically with several families who are about to have…
12
Jun
Rent It Johnny Belt and Robert Scull's Bubble Guppies (2011-2016) was an animated series aimed at pre-schoolers and kindergarteners. This colorful production featured half a dozen brightly haired mer-kids as they swam around and taught kids about everyday occurrences and subjects like new places, animals, and neighborhood jobs. The visual design fell somewhere between "Dreamworks" and your average Wii U game: characters were simple and kid-like, easily recognizable and, if your lit...Read the entire review Source: DVD Talk
