tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18910891559735312292024-03-13T00:26:19.872-05:00DVD a Day"The purpose of a movie critic is to encourage good films and discourage bad ones." -- Roger Ebert.<br>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.comBlogger1327125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-22246908789229217252015-03-10T18:43:00.000-05:002015-03-10T18:43:16.921-05:00Ida<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before she can take her vows to become a nun, Ida (Agata Trzebuchowska) is told by her mother superior to go out into the world and seek out the last remaining member of her family, an aunt named Wanda (Agata Kulesza) to make sure there is nothing holding her back from devoting her life to the church. What follows for Ida is a series of adventures and revelations that make her truly question every aspect of her life, from her roots to her religion. Although the film can be frustrating to watch, especially in the choices made to often frame the background and not the characters in it, Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love) has crafted a daring look into family dynamics – race, religion, nature and nurture – that takes the audience on a compelling journey that’s bound to stay with them for a long, long time. Kudos to both actresses for their bold performances.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-22569330823114696002015-03-06T15:13:00.000-05:002015-03-06T15:13:02.939-05:00Eraserhead<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">David Lynch’s big screen debut stunned audiences when it was released in theaters back in 1977. It wasn’t just that they didn’t understand what the story was about; the experience of sitting through it made them so uncomfortable that they never wanted to think of it again once they left the theatre, which is a shame because this is a film worth thinking about. Thanks to this new edition from Criterion, that’s just what you can do. Not only is the movie itself in pristine condition, but the Blu-ray set is filled with extras, including a hefty tome of critical essays and analysis, to get you started. But what’s the movie about? On the surface, it’s the story of a printer named Henry Spencer (John Nance) who, after spending a night with his girlfriend Mary (Charlotte Stewart), discovers he is about to become a father to a…well, to a something. Visually stunning, with gorgeous cinematography by Herbert Cardwell and Frederick Elmes, the movie hasn’t lost any of its power to confuse, confound and agitate it’s audience, which is part of the beauty of watching it again.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-49894606219478790062015-03-03T20:43:00.000-05:002015-03-03T20:43:01.642-05:00Xingu<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bored with their relatively easy lives, three brothers disguise themselves as peons (Brazilian slang for poor laborers) and join a 1940s government operation to map and explore the uncharted wilderness of the rain forest. What starts as a lark soon turns into a cause as the brothers meet, then become friends with the natives who, if the government has their way, will soon be relocated and indoctrinated into becoming ‘civilized.’ Directed by Cao Hamburger (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation) the film manages to avoid the usual pitfalls of cause movies like this by giving us three lead characters well developed enough to stand on their own. He also gives the natives of the story plenty of their own camera time to be more than figureheads for the brothers to fight for. The film falters a bit when it doesn’t call the brothers out on their not so humane behavior -- one brother is exiled for sleeping with a native girl, and 20 minutes later the brother who kicked him out is doing the same thing with no consequences – but such inconsistencies can be forgiven for a film that has its heart in the right place like this one does.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-76544927654478889682015-03-02T20:52:00.003-05:002015-03-02T20:52:53.033-05:00Borgman<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This chilling cinematic nightmare from writer/director Alex van Warmerdam (The Last Days of Emma Blank) tells the story of an odd little vagrant named Camiel Borgman (Jan Bijvoet) who worms his way into the house, and the lives, of a snobby upper crust suburban Dutch family. Although he is definitely strange, and strangely charismatic, Borgman seems harmless enough until his friends start showing up at the house and things start going incredibly badly for the family. The story of a stranger biting the hand of the family that feeds him has been told many times before, but almost none of those other films are quite as terrifying as this one is primarily because of Bijvoet. His performance is so cold and calculating, so bereft of human emotion, that you feel both attracted and repelled by what he does, and it’s impossible not to watch him do it. The rest of the cast is good, although none are given as much to do as Bijvoet – they are there to support him as he creates one of the finest villains caught on film in years.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-85913409293931395472015-03-01T20:08:00.001-05:002015-03-01T20:08:43.115-05:00Panic Roon<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Freshly divorced from her rich bastard of a husband, Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) decides to spend a chunk of her ex’s money buying a fancy West Side mansion for her and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) to live in. The fact that their new home comes with its own iron and concrete bunker just off the master bedroom seems more of a conversation piece than anything they’ll ever need until a trio of armed men break in to rob them. The film plods along for the first half, giving director David Fincher (Fight Club) plenty of time to delve into his bag of cinematic trickery to fill the screen with interesting, if a bit self indulgent shots. The heat gets turned up once the crooks start fighting among each other over the best way to get the mom and her daughter out of the panic room, thanks in large part to some fine performance from Forrest Whitaker and Jared Leto, as well as some truly demented work from country singer/actor Dwight Yoakam.</span> </span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-79530192576659960082015-02-28T20:13:00.000-05:002015-02-28T20:13:06.761-05:00Father Brown: Season One<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At times it feels a bit too much like the producers of this series had some sort of British Mystery checklist that they keep going to throughout each episode: Tea party… check ... upper class snobs and lower class ‘good’ people … check … bumbling coppers … check. It’s almost enough to make you stop watching because you’re sure all their heavy handed clues are leading you in one direction. But hang on. This isn’t the series you are expecting, particularly when the lead is played by the delightful Mark Williams, best known now as Arthur Weasley, Ron’s dad from all those Harry Potter movies. It’s a finely tuned performance, all smiles and charm when it comes to setting up the case, but Williams gives the father a bit of a bite when push comes to shove that can be downright exciting. The cases are generally well plotted, leaving plenty of clues along the way to keep you guessing whodunit. Only don’t be too embarrassed when you find out you’re wrong in the end.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-52191353631439947532015-02-27T21:12:00.000-05:002015-02-27T21:12:44.208-05:00Doctor Who: Deep Breath<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact that they showed this episode of the long running British television series in movie theaters -- to sell-out crowds dressed in all their Doctor Who finery – will give you some indication on just how wildly anticipated the arrival of the twelfth doctor was by fans. Was it worth all the hype? Definitely. Given the fierce popularity of the two men preceding him – David Tennant and Matt Smith – the new Doctor, played by Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, had some pretty huge shoes to fill. The joy of watching Deep Breath is that he doesn’t really seem concerned at the Doctors who came before him: Capaldi steps out of the Tardis as his own man the first time we see him and takes over the screen from that moment on. The script has plenty of references for him to help make the transition easy for those in denial, particularly the presence of Clara (Jenna Coleman) to add continuity (and a bit of confusion), but it isn’t too long into the episode before Capaldi stands on his own and becomes The Doctor. The story, about mechanized people trying to make themselves more human by taking body parts from living people, is a cracker, too.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-49104659680539963212015-02-26T17:33:00.001-05:002015-02-26T17:33:31.130-05:00Bee People<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without bees, life as we know it on planet Earth would be impossible. That’s a scientific fact, but instead of banging us over the head with a gloom and doom scenario telling us how bad mankind has treated the bees of this world, this fun – and funny – documentary from director David G. Knappe focuses on the people who are doing something about it. Not scientists, mind you, but regular people who raise their own bees. What does it take to be a beekeeper, you ask? If these people are any indication, you have to be a little bit nuts, but in a good way. The film follows, among others, Gregg McMahan, Colorado's own 'Bee Guru' and Tony 'Bees' Planakis, NYPD's go to beekeeper as they go through their daily routine of not only tending their own hives, but rescuing wild bees who have built nests where nobody wants them. The way they refer to the bees as ‘girls’ gets a bit old (and a bit weird) after a while, but there’s a generous spirit to the film that makes it a lot of fun.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-16775285893912853242015-02-24T20:26:00.000-05:002015-02-24T20:26:10.864-05:00The Midnight Special<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Eclectic’ hardly covers the line-up presented in this six-DVD set; after all, it’s hard to think now that people who tuned in to The Midnight Special to see Aerosmith or Alice Cooper were happy to find Harry Chapin or John Denver on their television sets. But that was sort of the beauty of this long running show: You never knew what you were going to get beyond a live performance by some of the biggest and best musicians in the business. Since it made its debut in 1973 (at one o’clock in the morning) and lasted throughout the 70s and well into the 80s, you know that hairstyles and fashion trends are going to be just as interesting as the music being played, and if you wonder what some of the musicians were thinking when they put those clothes on, there are plenty of extras included in the package with the musicians themselves explaining it all. The quality of the shows is surprisingly good, as are the majority of the performances, whether you think you like the band playing or not. It’s all a bit of a time trip, to be sure, but one worth taking, even if you weren’t there when the shows first aired.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-26884149729355445782015-02-23T21:37:00.000-05:002015-02-23T21:37:05.329-05:00Words and Pictures<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. But what if you are a poet who can’t write or an artist who can’t paint? How much is the finished product worth then? Although on the surface, this film from director Fred Schepisi (Last Call) seems to be about the value of the image versus the value of the printed word, you only have too scratch a bit to see it’s a story about two lost souls struggling to find their muses and instead, finding each other. It’s a bit heavy handed, in story terms, but the fine performances from Clive Owens and Juliette Binoche make it work. Millions of words have been written about onscreen chemistry between actors, but nobody can tell you why some romantic pairings work and some don’t. In this case, it works very well. You appreciate the difficult journey the pair has to make to get to each other, but you are also rooting for them every step of the way.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-90528287267260808402015-02-19T17:14:00.000-05:002015-02-19T17:14:26.562-05:00The Curse of Oak Island<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A tale of pirates, the Knights Templar, buried treasure, secret booby traps, and a curse of death – what else can you ask for? How about the added pleasure of two rich brothers, Rick and Marty Lagina, who will stop at nothing to uncover the mystery behind (or beneath) this isolated island off the coast of Nova Scotia? It’s not your typical reality show, meaning there are not a lot of heightened emotions from the brothers fighting for more time on screen. It’s far more honest than that, and therefore more believable and, ultimately, more enjoyable. Do they solve the mystery? We’re not going to tell, but take our advice and watch the show in daily installments, even if you are tempted to marathon it through to the end. The wait is worth it.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-79639918527766850632015-02-17T09:12:00.000-05:002015-02-17T09:12:02.022-05:00Hal - The Movie<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can a robot replace a human, not just physically but on an emotional level, too? That’s the compelling question asked in this gorgeous new anime movie from director Ryoutarou Makihara, and the answer may surprise you. The film tells the story of a robot that is asked to replace Hal, a young man who died in an accident, to help Kurumi, Hal's girlfriend, move on in life. As part of the process of earning Kurumi’s trust, and perhaps love, the robot Hal starts to learn that the flesh and blood person he’s supposed to replace wasn’t a good person in the first place. The robot tries to right the wrongs of Hal’s past in an effort to be a better “person,” but he quickly learns that there are some cuts that leave scars that are just too deep to be bandaged over. The story is well told, and Makihara paces it extremely effectively. The voice cast is strong, too, as is the beautiful artwork used to tell the tale. All in all, Hal is as beautiful a romance as you can find on film these days.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-77263551626265835222015-02-14T22:34:00.000-05:002015-02-14T22:34:19.212-05:00Aces High<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A young man caught up in the excitement of war – at least the war he’s read about in the papers – enlists and becomes a flyer for the RAF. It isn’t long, of course, before the reality of flying, fighting and dying in battle squashes his dewy-eyed dreams and he’s forced to face his fears head on. Directed by Jack Gold (The Medusa Touch), the film is filled with just about every war movie cliché you can imagine, but it never really feels dull or dated thanks to some strong acting and thrilling aerial fight scenes. Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) stars as the war weary flight commander who can’t get into the cockpit until he’s had a few cocktails and it’s a relief to see a stock part like this played with humanity rather than gruff machismo. Christopher Plummer is also good as the old man of the squad whose bad leg keeps him from flying with his men.</span> </span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-58925886368039489732015-02-10T13:09:00.000-05:002015-02-10T13:09:35.380-05:00Transformers Beast Machines: The Complete Series<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like every other show in the Transformer’s animated universe, there’s a lot of overly complicated plot layered in every episode of this cartoon series, and if you aren’t familiar with any of the shows that have come before it, you may start to feel lost soon after the opening credits start rolling. The fact that the computer generated animation isn’t that well done, either, may have you reaching for the stop button before the first commercial break. Relax. Give it a chance. While it may not be cutting edge, graphically speaking, this show is edgy enough to be entertaining. In the series, the Beast Wars are over and the Maximals (a Transformer/animal hybrid) return to their home planet of Cybertron to find the planet empty of their loved ones and patrolled by menacing Vehicon drones. (We said it was overly complicated.) What happens over the course of the next 26 episodes is, thankfully, simply a lot of fun.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-20420927012005893482015-02-09T17:08:00.000-05:002015-02-09T17:08:41.768-05:00The Musketeers<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The advantage of telling the epic story of the Three Musketeers over the course of a series like this instead of cramming it into a two hour movie (as has been done several times before) is that it gives the storytellers time to really develop the individual characters in the tale. In fact, at times this BBC series seems to take a bit too much time developing the characters, mainly because it keeps interrupting the stories with a lot of poorly filmed swordfights, but the cumulative effect of watching the entire season is well worth it. An early standout in the cast is the performance of Peter Capaldi (the new Doctor Who) as Cardinal Richelieu, a man so involved in setting up palace intrigues that you hardly notice the French cardinal has a Scottish accent. Santiago Cabrera plays Aramis well, too, particularly once he sets his seductive eyes on the queen (Alexandra Dowling).</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-23411283552225847922015-02-08T12:05:00.000-05:002015-02-08T12:05:34.458-05:00High School Confidential<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Cool cats and hot chicks get involved with the local reefer dealer and it isn’t too long before their happy high school days end in deadly tragedy. Yes, it’s all a bit melodramatic and the lesson the story is trying to tell is passed along with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the forehead, but that’s part of what makes watching this 1958 exploitation film such a gas. Russ Tamblyn is a hoot as tough guy Tony Baker, a transfer student looking to score, and Jan Sterling is the perfect foil for him playing the part of the high school guidance councilor who thinks he can be a better man. On the less believable, but still highly enjoyable, side is the scenery chewing of Mamie Van Doren as Tony’s oversexed mom and Diane Jergens as the marijuana addict Joan. Heck, the movie even has Jerry lee Lewis on the back of a flat bed truck singing the theme song for the opening credits. It all adds up to one crazy ride.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-18263260214345831642015-02-05T16:43:00.000-05:002015-02-05T16:43:24.273-05:00Jackpot<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Oscar Svendsen (Kyrre Hellum) is having a really bad day, starting when he wakes up beneath a dead fat hooker in a sex shop, covered in blood and holding a shotgun, surrounded by dead bodies with the police standing over him, their guns drawn, ready to arrest him. Hard to believe that just a few hours ago, he’d won a multi-million dollar jackpot in a soccer pool. Discovering just how Oscar got under the dead fat hooker in the first place is the wild ride that writer/director Magnus Martens takes the audience on in this hugely entertaining movie that blends blood and buffoonery in some new and exciting ways. The cast is all very good, especially Hellum as the man who some very bad things happen to (again and again), and Henrik Mestad as the detective trying to piece Oscar’s unbelievable, but true, story together.</span> </span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-46110190747772012392015-02-03T08:58:00.000-05:002015-02-03T08:58:27.447-05:00Vengeance Is Mine<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is a thief and a killer. We know that because we see him be arrested and hear him confess at the start of the film. But this exciting story, from director Shôhei Imamura (The Pornographers) isn’t about who did it, but why. Why did Enokizu kill all those people? The answers, as Imamura presents them, are not easy to understand. The disturbing feeling you get as the story progresses that maybe he’s really just a bad man at heart is one that will haunt you long after the film ends. Imamura tells the story in a way that can hardly be termed chronological, given the way the plot jumps around from event to event, past to present and back again, but the cumulative effect of watching the story told this way builds in your mind exponentially. Thirty five years after it first shocked audiences, the film still thrills.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-75778401785261608622015-02-02T09:36:00.005-05:002015-02-02T09:36:58.193-05:00Deadbeat<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Canadian comic actor Tyler Labine has been bumping around the edges of stardom for close to 20 years now, mainly showing up as comic relief in other people’s films and often ending up the only thing you remember from those films. So it’s nice to see him get a series of his own and the young funnyman certainly makes the most of it. In the show, Labine plays Kevin Pacalioglu, a spiritual medium who gets hire to investigate paranormal problems. The twist is that Kevin takes the cases to help the ghosts and not the people they are haunting. Sure, it gets a bit silly at times, but Labine has the comic energy to sell even the strangest tales the writers come up with. He also plays well with the others in the cast, especially Brandon T. Jackson who plays his drug dealer, Roofie.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-53595566815575402632015-02-01T09:48:00.003-05:002015-02-01T09:48:48.412-05:0075 Years of WWII<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Using a blend of personal accounts and archival footage, this two-disc set from the History Channel does an excellent job of taking the audience out of their comfort zone for a close, and often disturbing, look at the horrors of war. D-Day in HD takes up half the set and it’s worth it. It’s one thing to watch the invasion in a movie, even if it’s as graphic a film as Saving Private Ryan, but it’s a lot more intense to hear a survivor of the invasion talk about how the air was filled with bullets, smoke and flying body parts as he desperately runs from the ocean to the beach. The two sea battle stories -- Bloody Santa Cruz recounting the vicious combat in the South Pacific in which the USS Hornet was lost and Enterprise Versus Japan detailing the battle when the USS Enterprise sends the Japanese Imperial Navy to a watery grave – are equally intense. The final chapter, Ultimate World War II Weapons, isn’t as frenetic as the others, but just as fascinating.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-12695447290045867832015-01-31T21:00:00.001-05:002015-01-31T21:00:13.087-05:00President Wolfman<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">There isn’t an original frame of film in the entire movie because President Wolfman is created entirely out of recycled stock and public domain film footage culled from more than one hundred grainy government instructional shorts, classroom education movies, vintage stag reels and features that have fallen out of copyright. So don’t worry if the continuity is off, or if the characters suddenly get played by different actors or if the dialogue doesn’t exactly match the mouths of the people saying it. Just sit back, relax and enjoy what writer/director Mike Davis has created from the scraps he collected – a fun horror/comedy about the Leader of the Free World an his penchant for becoming very hairy, and rather violent, when the moon is full. Dean Stockwell is very entertaining as the president, especially since he never really made the movie he’s in.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-6064969987155168862015-01-29T18:45:00.000-05:002015-01-29T18:45:18.639-05:00The Forbidden Girl<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Despite the warnings of his evangelical pastor father, a young man falls in love with a girl. On the night they are to consummate their passion, a demon shows up and steals the girl away. Of course, nobody believes the boy when he explains what happened, so he’s sent to an insane asylum. Years later, he’s released, gets a job as a tutor at a spooky old house and discovers that the girl he lost is alive and not too well. While the story gets a bit too complicated for its own good at times, director Till Hastreiter (The Breeder) has such a strong visual style that you don’t care. Peter Gadiot gives a good performance as the young love struck man, Toby, and Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen is absolutely captivating as the Forbidden Girl – you completely understand why the boy goes through all he does for her. The best thing in the movie, though, may be the work of Klaus Tange as Mortimer, the spooky blonde henchman who lives to protect the forbidden girl from guys like Toby.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-57711665222170571792015-01-28T21:17:00.001-05:002015-01-28T21:17:19.536-05:00Young Justice: Season 1<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">It sounds like a bad idea, a series starring the sidekicks of the better known DC superheroes, but the show itself is a lot of fun and certainly well done enough to stand on its own. It starts with the team trying to join the original Justice League, only to discover that Batman, Superman and the others don’t really think they are ready to solve crimes and save the world on their own. So the first few episodes are all about the Young Justice team proving them wrong, which is entertaining but not nearly as much fun as when the show settles down into its own groove and the young heroes start taking on personalities of their own. The snappy banter between them especially Kid Flash and Robin, is a lot of fun, and the voice work is top shelf, too, especially Danica McKellar as M'gann M'orzz and Nolan North as Connor Kent.</span></span><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px currentColor; color: #313439; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></strong>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-70379739402017358942015-01-27T19:56:00.002-05:002015-01-27T19:56:25.575-05:0014 War Stories<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Using the diaries, letters, postcards and telegrams of the people who actually lived through the war, this fascinating film, directed by Jan Peter, does a brilliant job of personalizing the conflict on both sides of the battle lines. While the stories of the men who actually fought in the war are interesting, it is the stories of the non-combatants – the women and children left behind whose battle, though not always as bloody or deadly as a soldiers’-- was just as devastating. The blend of archival footage and historical reenactments is smooth enough to be convincing, which is key to keeping the audience enthralled as the stories move along. And the bonus feature, combining interviews with the filmmakers and some terrific behind-the-scenes footage, only deepens the experience of watching these stories unfold.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891089155973531229.post-29295801442129530852015-01-26T20:17:00.000-05:002015-01-26T20:17:02.842-05:0037 Days: The Road to World War I<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #313439; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20.39px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">If you ask any with a modicum of historical knowledge how World War I started, they will tell you it all began with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Maybe if they are showing off, they can tell you it happened in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. And if it’s a Final Jeopardy question about who pulled the trigger, those who have done their homework will say, Who is Gavrilo Princip? But is that really all it took to send the entire world spiraling off to war? Not according to his film from director Justin Hardy which takes you behind the scenes to get a better understanding on how the many little decisions that lead up to the launching of total war were made by the people in power. It’s hard to keep your jaw from dropping as you listen to top British officials calmly talk about what they stand to gain if they decide to get involved, while the German officials in the film practically foam at the mouth for a chance to try out their new weapons on human targets. It took a little over a month for these talking heads to turn a single shot into the cause they were looking for, and it’s a countdown the world would come to regret.</span></span>John Black, Movie Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12202626580262122398noreply@blogger.com0