White House Down arrives in November

9/11/2013 10:17:08 AM, by Guido Henkel
White House Down arrives in NovemberSony Pictures Home Entertainment has just announced to bring Roland Emmerich’s actioner White House Down to DVD and Blu-Ray Disc in November.
Capitol Policeman John Cale (Channing Tatum) has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service of protecting President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation's government falling into chaos and time running out, it's up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.
Beside the feature film, the DVD version will also contain four Featurettes, such as ”A Dynamic Duo,” taking a look at the chemistry between Tatum and Foxx and their dynamic on-screen presence. ”Men Of Action” allows you to discover Tatum’s willingness and desire to perform his own stunts, as well as the extensive training required, while ”Roland Emmerich: Upping The Ante” offers up a look at Roland Emmerich’s vision for the film. ”Meet The Insiders” will shine a spotlight on the star-studded supporting cast of the movie.
The Blu-Ray version will contain all of these bonus materials as well, of course, and will further add a Gag Reel to the mix, along with nine additional Featurettes. ”The Beast” is a look at the film’s presidential limo, better known as The Beast. ”The Full Arsenal” takes a closer look at the Guns,  Grenades, Tanks and Choppers, while ”VFX Boundaries Down” allows you to discover the technologies that were literally invented by filmmakers, from massive blue screens to virtual sets.
“The Inside Story” uncovers this concept’s fast-moving rise to the big screen, whereas ”Presidential Treatment” is a look at the size and scope of this massive production.
”Lights, Camera, Heart-Pumping Action” uncovers how filmmakers utilized a unique and stylistic approach to lighting, as well as various filming techniques to capture the true scope of the film’s immense action.
Then there is ”Crashing The Oval Office” allowing you to see how filmmakers constructed a stunt set then drove an SUV at full speed into the Oval Office. ”Drowning The Beast” analyzes the presidential limo escape, and finally, ”Recreating The White House” gives you a chance to hear from the filmmakers about the meticulous detail that went into replicating the White House.
“White House Down” arrives on November 5 and can be yours for $40.99 as a Blu-Ray/DVD and UltraViolet combo, or $30.99 on DVD. Secure your copy today at Amazon.com

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Breaking Bad: The complete Series arrives in November

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for a larger version9/9/2013 10:43:47 AM, by Guido Henkel
Breaking Bad: The complete Series arrives in NovemberSony Pictures Home Entertainment has just announced the Breaking Bad: Collector’s Edition Full Series Setin a Collectible Replica Barrel with Commemorative Memorabilia from Creator Vince Gilligan.
“Breaking Bad” follows protagonist Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife (Anna Gunn) and teenage son (RJ Mitte) who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a slim chance to survive. With a new sense of fearlessness based on his medical prognosis, and a desire to secure his family's financial security, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world. The series explores how this fatal diagnosis transforms Walt from mild family man to a kingpin of the drug trade.
Fans who are addicted to the series and itching for another hit can now indulge in more than two-hours of never-before-seen footage in the all-new, two-hour documentary No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad, exclusively in the box set, which comes packaged in a collectible replica barrel representing part of Walter White’s dark legacy.  The all-new documentary chronicles the making of the final season, from filming the first table read to the very last day on set and everything in between, including Bryan Cranston inviting the camera in to his Albuquerque living room for the first reading of the final script with Aaron Paul.
The box set also contains all bonus features from previously released seasons (including retail exclusives formerly only available in select stores), a Los Pollos Hermanos apron and a collectible booklet with a letter from Gilligan, as well as a commemorative Breaking Bad challenge coin designed and created by Gilligan exclusively for this set as a token of appreciation to fans for making the “Breaking Bad” journey.
Look for the set to arrive in stores on November 26.

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Warner readies Man Of Steel for a November release

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for a larger version8/20/2013 11:25:41 AM, by Guido Henkel
Warner readies Man Of Steel for a November releaseWarner Home Video has unveiled details about the upcoming release of Man Of Steel, scheduling a DVD and Blu-Ray version to hit the streets in November.
In “Man Of Steel,” a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth.  As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do.  But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
The DVD version will feature the movie itself, along with a number of Featurettes such as ”Strong Characters, Legendary Roles,” which explores the legendary characters of the Superman mythology and how they have evolved in this new iteration of the Superman story.
Also included is “All-Out Action”, allowing you to go inside the intense training regimen that sculpted Henry Cavill into the Man of Steel and Michael Shannon and Antje Traue into his Kyptonian nemeses, and ”Krypton Decoded”, in which Dylan Sprayberry (Clark Kent, age 13) gives the lowdown on all the amazing Krypton tech, weapons and spaceships featured in.
The Blu-Ray versions will contain the same featurettes but further add Journey of Discovery, an immersive feature-length experience that allows you to watch the movie with director Zack Snyder and stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane and others as they share the incredible journey to re-imagine Superman.
Also included on these versions is Planet Krypton, the world’s first exploration of Krypton and its lost society.
“Man of Steel” will be available on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack for $44.95, on Blu-ray Combo Pack for $35.99, on DVD 2-disc Special Edition for $28.98, and as a 3D Limited Collector’s Edition for $59.99. Look for it in stores around the country on November 12. Secure your copy today at Amazon.com

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R.I.P.D. arrives on home video this fall

9/13/2013 10:29:53 AM, by Guido Henkel
R.I.P.D. arrives on home video this fallUniversal Home Entertainment has added R.I.P.D. to their release line-up, bringing a DVD and Blu-Ray version to your home in October.
Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds headline this supernatural action-adventure as two cops dispatched by the Rest In Peace Department (R.I.P.D.) to protect and serve the living from increasingly destructive spirits hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth. When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork to restore the cosmic balance… or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.
The DVD version will also contain a selection of Deleted and Alternate Scenes, as well as a Gag Reel and the Featurette ”Transferring R.I.P.D.”.
The Blu-Ray version will contain the same bonus features, but further add to them with the inclusion of two Alternate Openings, R.I.P.D Motion Comics on the subject of bringing the Avatars to Life, as well as the Featurettes ”Nick’s New Avatars,””Filming the Other Side,” “Walking Among Us: Deados & Avatars” and ”Anatomy of a Shootout.
The Blu-Ray version willalso includea Digital Copy and an Ultraviolet version.
“R.I.P.D.” arrives in stores on October 29 and can be yours to own for $49.95 as a Blu-Ray 3D combo, $34.96 as a Blu-Ray combo and $29.98 on DVD. Secure your copy today at Amazon.com

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Pacific Rim explodes onto your screen this fall

9/9/2013 10:53:32 AM, by Guido Henkel
Pacific Rim explodes onto your screen this fallWarner Home Video has announced the release of Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro’s take on the kaiju genre, on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc, scheduling the discs for October.
In “Pacific Rim,” legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, have started rising from the sea, beginning a war that takes millions of lives and consumes humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes – a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) – who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
The DVD version, arriving on two discs, will feature the movie with a Audio Commentary by Guillermo del Toro, as well as the Featurettes ”Drift Space,” “The Digital Artistry of Pacific Rim,” “The Shatterdome” and “Focus Points”. Also included are Deleted Scenes and a Blooper Reel.
The Blu-Ray version of the movie will include the same bonus materials as the DVD version, but further add The Directors Notebook to the mix, giving you an even deeper look behind the scenes of the film.
“Pacific Rim” will be in stores on October 15 as a Blu-Ray 3D Combo pack with DVD and UltraViolet version for $4495, a Blu-Ray combo for 35.99 and as a DVD version for $28.98. Secure your copy today at Amazon.com

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Argo gets an Extended Cut in December

8/28/2013 11:57:39 AM, by Guido Henkel
Argo gets an Extended Cut in DecemberWarner Home Video has just announced an Extended Cut of Ben Affleck’s acclaimed movie Argo, ready to rock Blu-Ray in December.
On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. In the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, the Canadian and American governments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top “exfiltration” specialist, Tony Mendez, to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.
Adding 10 minutes of additional footage into the film, “Argo: Extended Edition” will arrive as a special edition that contains all of the bonus materials from the previous release, including the Commentary Track, the Picture-in-picture Video Commentary and the various Featurettes.
In addition, the release also contains a number of new bonus materials, such as the Featurette “Argo Declassified”, showing how Tony Mendez’s daring operation gets honored as part of the CIA’s 50th anniversary. There wil lalso be ”Ben Affleck’s Balancing Act”, looking at how the filmmakers balanced humor, politics, Hollywood and international intrigue. In ”Argo F*ck Yourself” Ben Affleck leads an all-star review of Argo’s classic line.
Further, this release will include collectible premiums of a one-sheet poster, map of Tehran, reproduction of Tony Mendez’s CIA ID card, and a 40-page book with behind-the-scenes photos, production notes, cast bios and more.
“Argo: Extended Edition” will be in stores on December 3 for $49.99. Secure your copy today at Amazon.com

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See The World’s End on Blu-Ray in November

9/27/2013 10:40:30 AM, by Guido Henkel
See The World’s End on Blu-Ray in NovemberUniversal Home Entertainment has just added The World’s End to their release line-up, scheduling the film for release on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc in November.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reteam with director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) in this wildly entertaining thrill ride.  Twenty years after their first epic pub crawl attempt, the “five musketeers” reunite in their home town to complete the ultimate challenge – one night, five friends, twelve bars – a boozy quest on which only the strongest will survive. But after a bizarre series of encounters with the out-of-this-world locals, they soon realize that reaching their final pub, The World’s End, may be the least of their troubles.  They’re having the time of their lives, ready to take on the world… but tonight they may have to save it.
The DVD version contain a Commentary Track with Screenwriters Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, as well as the Making-Of Featurette “Completing the Golden Mile”. While on the surface “The World’s End” looks like a movie about a bunch of old friends getting drunk on a pub crawl, it’s actually about much more.  Look through the eyes of these frequent collaborators at the depth of the themes and the relationships between characters.
The Blu-Ray version is loaded with extras, including the commentary track and making-of featurette. In addition, however, yo uwill find a Cast Commentary with stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Paddy Considine on the release, as well as a Technical Commentary with director Edgar Wright and director of photography Bill Pope.
Filling in the Blanks is a look at the stunts and FX of the movie, as cast and crew discuss the prowess of ?“The World’s End” stunt and VFX teams. Watch rehearsals of intricate fight scenes choreographed by some of the movies’ best stuntmen. Learn how the VFX team enhances the existing footage to perfect the film’s look and style.
Further, look for a selection of Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and Alternate Edits, as well as Hair and Make-Up Tests and Rehearsal Footage.
Also included is Stunt Tapes, a behind-the-scenes look at the bathroom fight, the twinbot fight and the beehive fight, as well as VFX Breakdown in which VFX Supervisor Frazer Churchill compares production footage with final shots to take viewers behind the veil of the outrageous visual effects sequences.
There's Only One Gary King is a mash-up of Gary King’s (Simon Pegg) best moments, while Signs & Omens offers up a clip montage that highlights all the hidden clues and hints throughout the film.
Then there is The Man Who Would Be (Gary) King another edition of Edgar & Simon's Flip Chart, in which writers Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg bring back the trusty flip chart to reveal their step-by-step process of creating the story.
“The world’s End” arrives on November 19 and can be yours to partake for $29.98 on DVD and $34.98 as a Blu-Ray/DVD/Ultraviolet combo. Secure your copy today at Amazon.com

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Runner Runner

Runner Runner Theaters are constantly filled with sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots, but even many of the ?original? films these days are just copies of films we?ve seen before with a different name. Take Runner Runner, a new thriller that feels like it was made by people who saw Wall Street and Rounders and thought they were just too damn exciting.

The first mistake, right out of the gate, is simply following its main character, Ritchie (Justin Timberlake) ? a character so hollow that it?s a challenge to come up with even one adjective to describe his personality. Ritchie is struggling to come up with tuition for Princeton University where he?s getting his master?s degree, and turns to an online gambling site to try and raise some money. After losing every cent he has and discovering that the website cheated him, he flies down to Costa Rica to confront the owner, a famous millionaire named Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). While logic would suggest that Ivan would throw Ritchie out on his ass, instead the confrontation leads to Ivan offering Ritchie a job. Of course, this all seems like paradise until Ritchie learns the dark secret behind Ivan?s operation? and you know the rest.

Given a useless protagonist who idles through the entire plot, Timberlake is completely sapped of all of his charisma and likability. Once Ritchie begins working for Ivan he stops caring about his Princeton education and loses all of his motivation, which really turns him from a blank slate with money issues into an unlikable, money-grubbing blank slate. With performances in movies like The Social Network and Black Snake Moan we know that Timberlake is a solid performer, but he never stood a chance here.

It's hard to find anything redeeming here, but credit should at least be given to Affleck for at least trying to squeeze an entertaining character out of lousy source material. He?s charming and cool enough, throwing around the occasional cool or funny line that at least helps the audience get what Timberlake sees in him. But when it comes time from Affleck to get intimidating, at that familiar point where the enigmatic mentor turns into the deeply evil villain, the screenplay never lets Ivan pull the trigger. Ultimately it?s just another hollow character in an empty story.

Worse than bland, however, is the true laziness of the David Koppelman and Brian Levien's script. The film make huge narrative mistakes like failing to establish any motivation for the main character, but also doesn?t even really bother with small, interesting details (Ritchie randomly meets two guys that he knows through the internet while exiting the airport in Costa Rica and one convenient montage later they?re his best friends and roommates). You get the sense that the writers didn?t care what they were putting on the page, so why would anyone care what goes up on the screen?

Director Brad Furman showed some definite potential with his last film, helping Matthew McConaughey start rejuvenating his career with the tight legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer, but every effort he makes here falls completely flat. As rare as it is to see an American movie set in Costa Rica, the film does absolutely nothing to take advantage of its setting from an aesthetic point of view and uses big boats, fancy houses and lots of Hispanic extras to merely float the illusion that the audiences has been taken to a place far from home (it was actually filmed in Puerto Rico). The filmmaking is as apathetic as the storytelling, and the result will have audiences contemplating a nap in their comfy movie theater seats.

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Prisoners

It?s rare to find a film that really works on all levels, but that?s exactly what Denis Villeneuve?s has constructed with Prisoners. Armed with blistering performances, an enthralling mystery, and some stunning filmmaking, the high-tension kidnapping thriller opens Oscar season with a bang.

The story begins as two families, the Dovers (Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Dylan Minnette, and Erin Gerasimovich) and the Birches (Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Zoe Borde and Kyla Drew Simmons), get ready to sit down for Thanksgiving only to be struck by tragedy when the youngest daughters of both clans go missing. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has never let a case go unsolved, is called in and works diligently to solve the crime, immediately bringing in a suspect named Alex Jones (Paul Dano), whose RV was spotted near the location where the girls went missing. But as days go by without results and Jones is eventually released from custody, Keller (Jackman), the Dover family patriarch, decides that he can no longer stand by and wait for Loki to get results, and takes the law into his own hands.

Written by Aaron Guzikowski, Prisoners? script is excellent not just because of the twists and turns of the plot but also because of the invisible mechanics of the screenplay. The two-handed story follows both Keller and Loki on their radically diffenret missions to find out what happened to the missing girls, and the film glides back in forth between the two arcs beautifully. The mystery itself is captivating from the very start, the plot ramping up fast from the opening and completely overcoming the daunting two-and-a-half hour runtime.

Given two true powerhouse characters, Gyllenhaal and Jackman put on some of the best performances we?ve seen in either one?s career, anchoring the film?s story and making sure that the audience cares just as much about the missing girls as the characters do. From the moment he is introduced, eating Thanksgiving dinner alone in a Chinese restaurant, Loki is a captivating character. As a skilled detective, he's thrilling to watch as he moves through the evidence to solve the case, but Gyllenhaal also takes him on a hardcore emotional journey that is brilliant accented with an intensifying facial quirk that gets more and more severe as he travels further down the rabbit hole.

But if Gyllenhaal is a pair of tweezers delicately working to pull back the layers of the case, Jackman is a 20-pound sledgehammer filled to the brim with raw emotion, fire and pure id. Playing a grieving father makes it easy to sympathize with Keller off the bat, but the blinding rage that the actor expresses helps push the character in fascinating directions. As the story continues, half of you understands his passion and where that passion has led, while the other half wonders if he may not be film?s true villain. It?s a fascinating arc, and one made powerful and real by Jackman?s performance.

Despite its impressively stacked cast, Prisoners isn?t an ensemble film, but that doesn?t stop the supporting players from being fantastic and contributing to the movie in a major way. As the film?s first and prime suspect, Dano constantly throws off every guess the audience has about the story?s twists and turns and brilliantly plays the role with a perfect mix of extreme creepiness and child-like simplicity. Davis and Howard go through similar tragedies as the Dovers, and have a much different kind of arc, but both still deliver compelling, heart-wrenching performances. Of the main cast Bello gets the short stick, her character dealing with with the trauma by turning to prescription pills and hours and hours of sleep, but when she gets her spotlight moments she shines.

As though it?s not enough to have a terrific mystery and host some absolutely astounding performances, it?s all brought to life with gorgeous direction and cinematography. The film is littered with slow, creeping tracking shots that lend incredible atmosphere and suspense to the story, while Villeneuve makes perfect use of intense Pennsylvania winter weather (faked in Georgia, believe it or not), using rain and snow to add both extreme tension and peaceful serenity to scenes. Few cinematographers can do what Roger Deakins can, and here he is operating at full throttle, making pure art out of a bruised, beaten and bloodshot eyeball staring through the only hole to the outside world in a dark torture pit. The contrast between the beautiful aesthetic and the dark, gritty story is stunning.

The movie plays with many themes over the course of its story, including the morality of what one would do to protect their own, the validity of torture, religion, and the many meanings of its simple title, and it all comes together to create a film that is part deep-thinking, hard hitting thriller and part pulpy mystery. A great deal of Prisoners is hard to watch due to its heavy and graphic content, but thanks to Villeneuve?s direction, Deakins camerawork, and Gyllenhaal and Jackman?s performances it?s even harder to look away.

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One Direction: This Is Us

For the rabid One Direction fans ? or ?Directioners,? as they prefer to be called ? the musical-biopic This Is Us serves as Citizen Kane, Vertigo and Gone With the Wind, all rolled together in one sugary-sweet pop-music confection. Think I?m exaggerating? Are you going to tell that pre-teen girl in the front row who is sobbing her way through the band?s melodic love letter ?Little Things? that this isn?t The Greatest Movie She?s Ever Seen?

I didn?t think so.

The rest of us will recognize This Is Us for what it actually is: An adequately crafted and frequently enjoyable skip through the white-hot spotlight currently shining on overnight sensations One Direction. By mixing on-stage concert footage with what passes for anarchistic back-stage banter these days, This Is Us peddles One Direction as a musical act that exists somewhere between the organic pop virtuosity of The Beatles and the catchy, manufactured boy bands of the ?90s. And as with similar pop-umentaries, it won?t sway many opinions to one side or the other. Those who cherish 1D will have their faith reaffirmed. Those who loathe them won?t bother.

The documentary starts at the beginning, which ? for One Direction members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson ? was the stage of Britain?s televised talent show The X Factor back in 2010. The five guys didn?t make it through the competition as individual singers. But X Factor producer Simon Cowell happily shows up in This Is Us to remind audiences it was his brilliant idea to combine the five handsome, talented, camera-ready rogues into Britain?s next musical sensation.

This Is Us sufficiently documents One Direction?s meteoric rise, giving ticket buyers exactly what they paid for. Surprisingly, 1D is a tame live act, eschewing the choreographed theatrics of previous male pop acts to avoid the dirty moniker ?boy band.? Still, the boys come off as worthy bearers of that ever-fickle pop-idol torch. They acknowledge the short shelf-life of a musical act ? particularly one born on a television show ? and contemplate what life in a post-Direction world might be like. We hardly expect such introspection from ?lads? who have been handed the keys to pop culture?s kingdom. But on multiple occasions, the members of 1D suggest they still have their feet on the ground, even as stardom begs to inflate their egos into the clouds.

Not that This Is Us is all philosophical meanderings on the state of celebrity. Far from it. One Direction came to rock ? er, to make you bounce in your seat to carefully calculated pop songs like Up All Night (which kicks off the movie) to Best Song Ever, the new track they recorded for the movie. Buy a ticket to This Is It, and you?ll get the best seats possible to 1D?s sold-out show at London?s O2 Arena, as well as select stops along the ?Take Me Home? tour.

The knock on Us is that it doesn?t try to do enough ? or anything ? to appeal to anyone outside of 1D?s demographic. Noted UK music journalists dub the band?s career ascent as ?unprecedented,? making giddy comparisons to Beatlemania without including a condescending smirk. Yet Us comes off as ? not pedestrian, but too familiar. You?d hardly know Oscar-nominated documentarian Morgan Spurlock (Super-Size Me) was behind the lens if his name wasn?t in the credits. Instead of probing an interesting social issue, as he?s often done in the past, Spurlock methodically captures a red-hot band in a given moment. But he also follows ever-so-closely the exact same documentary blueprint employed by Katy Perry (for Part of Me) and Justin Bieber (Never Say Never) ? and one could argue that a band this hot deserved a little more.

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Parkland

Parkland isn?t the first film to address, in grand detail, the assassination on President John F. Kennedy. Our national tragedy has fed documentarians (Mel Stuart?s Oscar-nominated Four Days in November), conspiracy theorists (Oliver Stone?s JFK) and revisionist historians (Neil Burger?s Interview With the Assassin) for decades.

But Peter Landesman?s new feature is the first film, at least as far as I can remember, to actually put us on the ground in and around Dealey Plaza, standing next to the men and women who were deeply, directly affected by the murder of our country?s leader on Nov. 22, 1963. It recreates, with crime-scene precision, the minutiae of the day, tracking how elation can sour in the blink of an eye. Parkland?s an experiment in historical regeneration, but one that so accurately stages the shock of a senseless tragedy that it earns a look ? particularly if you?re a completist for touchstone in U.S. history.

It shouldn?t shock anyone that Tom Hanks produces Landesman?s feature through his Playtone shingle. The two-time Oscar winner chases similar historical authenticity in visceral HBO miniseries like Band of Brothers, John Adams and The Pacific. And like those richly detailed portraits of the past, Parkland doesn?t glide over an important landmark on our nation?s timeline. It plants its flag, stops and scans the landscape, noticing elements that aren?t normally covered by a larger-scope story. Parkland is all about the details, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.

Take Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti) as a prime example. There likely isn?t an adult in this country who isn?t aware of the legendary Zapruder film ? 26.6 seconds of grainy footage that captured Kennedy?s assassination. But does anyone know what happened to Zapruder the evening of Nov. 22, when he went home to his wife and tried to come to terms with what he just saw and, even worse, photographed? You might know that Zapruder eventually sold his footage to Life Magazine for $150,000 ? but did you ever stop to think about the emotional roller coaster this innocent man rode simply by being at the right/wrong intersection of history?

Parkland often digs to find compelling human drama in these unacknowledged Dallas citizens who found themselves standing at Ground Zero as history rewrote itself around their blue-collar existences. The title refers to the hospital where Kennedy?s body was transported, and we witness an inexperienced doctor (Zac Efron) attempt CPR on the president?s corpse. We follow police men and Secret Service officers as they hunt Lee Harvey Oswald. But Landesman, again, isn?t interested in rehashing memorable scenes from a recognizable past. Instead, we?re privy to conversations rarely staged. We hear from office workers, cops, doctors and, yes, the Oswald family ? his gruesome mother, Marguerite, is played with sufficient doses of acid by a solid Jacki Weaver ? as they try to make sense of the senseless day.

Maybe you won?t care. If you already feel like you know everything you care to know about Nov. 22, 1963, then Parkland and its unique mission statement aren?t going to pique your interest. But as Landesman spends five minutes watching disheveled Secret Service agents attempt to load Kennedy?s coffin on board an Air Force One that isn?t prepared for a casket, I realized how fascinated I was by the areas of history this film chooses to color in. I grew more interested in the minutes and hours that pass after a tragic event, when normal citizens try to restore order from the unexpected chaos. And I was incredibly impressed by the director?s authenticity, recreating with seamless detail a period in our nation?s history that I previously thought had been systematically drained of insight.

History students will devour this exercise. But beyond the target audience, Parkland successfully reads between the lines, somehow finding new human drama in one of our country?s oldest, saddest stories.

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Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller?s 2009 film Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs wasn?t exactly a direct adaptation of the classic children?s book from which it got its name, but it is one of the best animated movies in recent memory. With quick wit, fun characters, an awesome voice cast and unique animation, it was a fresh, inventive piece of filmmaking with a positive message and plenty of heart. Naturally, when a sequel was announced there was concern that it would wind up undercutting everything that was great about the original, but with some exception directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn have created a follow-up worthy of its predecessor.

Doing exactly what any good sequel should do, the film takes the world that has been established and builds on it creatively, using it as a springboard from which the new one can launch. Beginning mere moments after the end of the first movie, the story starts as Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), the inventor of the machine that create any kind of food from water (a.k.a the FLDSMDFR), is offered a job working for a conglomerate known as Live Corp. run by his childhood hero, the Steve Jobs-inspired Chester V (a character who wasn?t in the last one and is admittedly kind of sloppily shoe-horned in). Flint moves to San Franjose, California with his family and friends so that he can work for the company while the food-destroyed island of Swallow Falls gets fixed up, but is alarmed when Chester (Will Forte) tells him that the Live Corp teams working on the island have been mysteriously disappearing. Along with his girlfriend Sam (Anna Faris), his dad (James Caan), the talking monkey Steve (Neil Patrick Harris), and friends Brent (Andy Samberg) and Officer Earl (Terry Crews), Flint travels back to Swallow Falls to help, and is shocked to discover not only that the FLDSMDFR is still active, but that its begun to produce various species of food animals.

Unlike many animated films these days that try to ground themselves in our reality, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 is one of the few that fully embraces its cartoon moniker and is extremely silly and weird while never getting too dumb and alienating the older members of its audience. The film is littered with ridiculous, fun ?foodimal? puns, with crazy creatures like the tacodile supremes, wildebeets and shrimpanzees, but really is on it?sA-game when utilizing them as sight gags (such as characters screaming about a ?leek in the boat? or someone talking about a job being a piece of cake before the camera pans to an anthropomorphic dessert). The humor is funny and quick, the movie never going too long without a one-liner or physical gag, and while not every bit lands and it doesn?t quite reach the level of the first movie, it will still have you laughing out loud.

Not only are foodimals a great creative source for humor, they?re also an excellent gateway to some inspired and awesome looking animation. Each creature beautifully lives up to its name and is a perfect hybrid of the meal and beast that makes up its name, with the filmmakers adding brilliant touches like hippotatomuses having chives for teeth and pats of butter for tongues. The creatures even interact in fitting yet funny and unexpected ways, like mosquitoasts sucking sustenance from buttertoads (who also happen to sit on pancake lily pads). Sticking with the cartoony vibe, the movie isn?t exactly photorealistic, but it all works perfectly with the world?s aesthetic and is a wonderful example of what animation can do.

As a sequel, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 doesn?t fully stack up to the original, but it?s impressive just how close it actually gets.

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Insidious Chapter 2

In the 2011 hit Insidious, Renai and Josh Lambert?s happy family home became a living hell once their young son fell into a coma that tapped him into a realm of deranged ghosts known as The Further. As it ended on a nerve-rattling cliffhanger, a sequel to the James Wan-directed film was practically demanded. Wan has obliged, reteaming with screenwriter Leigh Whannell to reveal what happens next to the Lamberts in a winding story that travels back to Josh?s childhood and gives a gruesome origin to the mysterious witchy woman from the first film.

At the end of the last film, paranormal investigator Elise Rainier was murdered by Josh (Patrick Wilson) after battling an evil entity for the body and soul of his son Dalton. Then Renai (Rose Byrne) discovered Elise?s corpse and was forced to face the possibility that her husband may be possessed. Just then, Insidious cut to black. Chapter Two picks with Renai and Josh dealing with the aftermath of Elise?s death. A murder investigation is underway, and under questioning Renai is asked if she trusts her husband-- an issue that has plagued her thanks to Josh's strange behavior. The Lamberts have moved into the home of Josh?s mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey back again) while the criminal investigation is underway, but this does nothing to stop the paranormal activity that plagues them.?

A piano plays an awkward tune. A child?s toy is manipulated by invisible forces. A woman in white appears before Renai and repeatedly taunts her using her baby girl as bait. Deeply concerned for her son and his family, Lorraine contacts Elise?s cohorts Specs (Whannell), Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Carl (Steve Coulter). Together they look into Josh?s past dealings with the undead for a solution to this current creepy conundrum. While they investigate, young Dalton (Ty Simpkins) encounters clues of his own as his astral projection abilities resurface. All this blends to construct a mystery that makes seeing the second film integral to fully understanding the first.

Wan and Whannell deserve credit for their ambition here. Rather than throwing another seemingly average family into the peril of poltergeist hauntings, they build upon the characters already created and weave a more complicated tapestry of storytelling that ties the two narratives together in a way that is sure to delight fans. However, their ambition sometimes overshoots their execution.

One major misstep, the return of quirky comic relief team of Specs and Tucker, seems sentimental, as one is played by the screenwriter and the other by a longtime friend of Whannell and Wan. Their ungainly antics and the various reaction shots they are given are distracting, offering cheap laughs and killing the ghost tale?s tension. Even more distracting is the decision to badly overdub the dialogue of Young Elise (Lindsay Seim) with the voice of the late Elise (Lin Shaye) in a 1986-set flashback that explains how Elise and Josh met. Thankfully, Wan steadies his footing with a solid second act. But the third stumbles as plot holes stack up, leading to a climax that?s not as satisfying as I?d hoped for. These grievances aside, Wan and company have crafted a solidly frightening feature.?

Wan has a skill for creating atmosphere, and he?s at the top of his game transforming Lorraine?s spacious home into a labyrinth of ghosts and unseen dangers. The cinematography makes masterful use of the space revealing dark doorways that will fill viewers fear as they watch for something to pop out at them. This makes moments of characters walking through the halls of the home delightfully anxiety-inducing, and also gives plenty of opportunity for in-camera scares. I?ll be honest. At the press screening I attended, I got so creeped out that my skin broke out into goosebumps. I also screamed repeatedly?not little skittish yelps, but full on throat-rattling screams.

I typically feel like if a horror movie is satisfyingly scary, it?s done its job. And no question: Insidious: Chapter 2 scared me with its mysterious tale of murder and malevolence. But what makes the film something more than a worthwhile thrill is the cast, who ground Wan?s ghouls in a relatable world. My heart went out Renai thanks to Byrne, who creates a complex character torn between her desperate wish to get things back to normal and her fear that this may never happen. She loves Josh, and fears him, making for a dynamic that is literally hair-raising but also heartbreaking. For his part, Wilson is remarkable in his role, deftly handling the dueling sides of his character with an electric sharpness. Whether he?s cradling his kids or menacing a nosey investigator, Wilson is mesmerizing. His classic good guy looks only adds to the movie?s disturbing tone.

To avoid spoilers, I can?t really dig into my favorite element of Insidious: Chapter 2. Suffice to say I found the backstory for the veiled ghost from the first film to be fantastically twisted and terrifically terrifying. Between this, Saw and The Conjuring, Wan has proven to be a unique talent in the sphere of horror. Hopefully his entry into the Fast & Furious franchise won?t keep him away too long. The genre needs more movies like Insidious: Chapter 2.

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Gravity

Gravity Movie theaters will talk themselves blue these days trying to convince people to still bother to come out and see films in dark theaters with other people. But all they really need is Gravity, one of the most captivating and essential big-screen experiences in recent years, and maybe ever. The gripping thriller about two astronauts lost in space could work on a small screen in theory, sure. But in a dark theater, with expert sound effects and the stunning visuals surrounding you, Gravity is like being launched into orbit yourself; it's transporting and terrifying and, eventually, transcendent.

With its mind-boggling visuals and commitment to the authentic experience of outer space (no sound, no gravity, no oxygen), Gravity is genuinely unlike any film you've ever seen before. But its story, from a script written by director Alfonso Cuaron with his son Jonas, is deliberately, sometimes clangingly familiar. You've got one astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a wisecracking veteran on his final spacewalk. And you've got the rookie Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a brilliant and strong-willed scientist who's understandably nauseous on her first trip into orbit. This odd couple pair has met disaster in countless types of movies for the last century, but this time it happens to be in space, when a Russian satellite is hit by a missile and the debris comes flying at them at thousands of miles an hour. In space, nobody can help you dodge shrapnel.

The lauded 10-minute unbroken shot that opens the film is mesmerizing and thrilling, and leads into the first action sequence, as Stone and Kowalski survive the debris field and manage to regroup themselves while overcoming problems that just don't exist on earth, like the fact that once you start spinning in space, there's no way to stop yourself. As Cuaron's camera slips magically inside Stone's helmet and back out into the distance of space, the visceral experience of the film becomes almost unbearable; the action sequences of Gravity are designed like a thrill ride, wringing maximum physical response from the audience, and it's an insanely well-calibrated ride at that. When Stone and Kowalski finally have a chance to catch their breath, you may only then realize you've been holding yours as well.

When the film takes the time to develop the characters, allowing Stone to talk about her young daughter's death and Kowalski (Clooney essentially just playing himself in a spacesuit) to talk her through the ordeal, the lighter moments tend to work better than the heavier stuff near the end. Sandra Bullock's resolutely physical, ferocious performance often says more concisely everything the script stumbles in saying out loud, and many of the film's best emotional moments-- like her one-sided communication with amateur radio operator back on Earth-- are nearly wordless. The gambit of having the astronauts communicate with "Houston in the blind" allows the characters to narrate essential technical parts of the action, but at several key moments the script doesn't know to step back-- that Bullock's face and grim determination to survive say it all.

With its deliberately archetypal characters and occasionally chewy dialogue Gravity feels like a film James Cameron would be lucky to make--an enormous compliment for this technically brilliant, unerringly entertaining thriller. Your mileage may vary on the film's more spiritual elements, but Gravity will make you believe in the higher power of movies, of the transformation that happens in a dark room with a giant screen and a story set in a place you couldn't possibly imagine. See it in IMAX and in 3D and any other way that allows you to block out the rest of the world. Gravity is movie heaven.

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All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane Jonathan Levine is one of the best young filmmakers working today. His last two features, Warm Bodies and 50/50 demonstrated not just a beautiful visual style, but also an impressive handling of tone and performances, deftly playing with comedic and dramatic elements while also getting the best out of actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. He?s growing and maturing as a director, and that becomes quite clear watching All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, both his newest and his oldest movie.

First premiering at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, the film is actually Levine?s first feature. Based on a script by Jacob Forman, the film tells the story of a virgin/chaste teen and major crush object Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) and her party weekend trip to a remote ranch house with a small group of friends (Whitney Able, Luke Grimes, Aaron Himelstein, Edwin Hodge, Melissa Price). In classic horror style, the guests start getting picked off one by one, but this time that familiar story is as rote as it sounds. If it weren?t for Levine?s stylistic contribution it would be hard to see why anyone would push so hard for its release seven years after its original debut.

As much as I will rag on the screenplay, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a beautifully directed movie. Filming mostly on a Texas ranch, the director takes advantage of the many stunning vistas and wide open fieldss. Mixing in a high contrast to the cinematography heightens the darkness of the story and gives every scene the pinch more of atmosphere that it needs. What?s more, the film proves that picking proper songs for the soundtrack has long been one of the filmmaker?s greatest strengths, mixing in classic tracks with more poppy numbers.

Levine?s skills, however, can?t completely transform what is a severely underwhelming script. Seeming to almost purposefully be as by-the-book as possible, the plot plays out exactly as you expect it to ? twists and all ? and doesn?t make any real big effort to generate a spark of creativity (though some of the death scenes are interesting just for their contrapasso qualities).

Forman also really fails to develop any kind of individual personalities for the characters. The entire cast is painted with a broad brush, the young boys portrayed as horny dickheads and the girls as catty bitches. The only ones who exist apart from those two extremes are Mandy, ?Garth (Anson Mount), the adult ranch hand, and Emmet (Michael Welch), Mandy?s former best friend, who are instead all just quiet and stoic. Watching the film I struggled just to try and learn all of the characters? names just to be sure that I could tell them apart, and when they were cut down by the mysterious killer it was great news because it meant that there were fewer characters to remember.

In this day and age it?s actually rare that we wouldn?t be able to see a director?s first work before their fourth, but at the very least All The Boys Love Mandy Lane gives us a valuable perspective on Levine as a filmmaker and how he has grown to make movies like The Wackness, 50/50 and Warm Bodies. It would still be interesting to see the director take on some more straight horror fare, but hopefully next time he would be working from a much stronger script.

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Baggage Claim

Baggage Claim Baggage Claim racks up a lot of frequent flier miles criss-crossing the country in the name of finding love. It makes pit stops in Houston, Washington DC, New York City, Baltimore and Los Angeles, but despite all that traveling, it never really arrives anywhere new. It borrows from previous romantic comedies like What?s Your Number?, 27 Dresses and The Wedding Date, and in doing so, is never able to find enough original space to be its own movie. It?s just a retread of conversations and plot points viewers have seen before. Fortunately, many of those retreads are likable enough to get by.

Montana Moore (Patton). She?s a hopeless romantic and in serious need of a rehearsal dinner date; so, she takes a page out of the Anna Faris playbook and decides to loop back around and check out the men she?s already been with. With the help of her good friends/ fellow flight attendants Sam (Adam Brody) and Gail (Jill Scott) and several of her co-workers who handle a variety of airport-related jobs, she begins stalking the former flames and engineering her schedule to bump into as many of the dudes as possible, either by working or taking the same flights.

She?s been with more than a handful of men in her day, but there are plenty of highlights including a rising star politician (Taye Diggs), a powerful hotel owner (Djimon Hounsou), an up and coming record producer (Trey Songz) and, of course, her longtime best friend who she doesn?t think of in that way (Derek Luke). Many of these encounters are amusing, enlightening or worthy of a oh-no-he-didn?t, and in them, the film has its single greatest strength. It might be formulaic, but there?s a reason why romantic comedies love incorporating former lovers. It?s an easy way to generate laughs and shoehorn in character development backstory.

Baggage Claim isn?t really good by any definition. Its characters aren?t particularly well-developed, and its basic plot isn?t anything anyone would ever consider doing. The film contains one scene that?s so bizarrely shot and weirdly sexual that I?m still convinced it was originally meant to be a dream sequence, and it makes no sense that all of Moore?s ex-boyfriends started crushing life immediately after they separated. At no angle would any objective person look at Baggage Claim and pile on large amounts of unqualified praise.

But Baggage Claim is still remarkably average, which, in the world of romantic comedies, means it?s absolutely good enough to watch, given the right mood. Adam Brody and Jill Scott are absurdly wonderful as Montana?s constantly fighting co-workers, and there are more than a handful of big smiles to be had here. The acting is also a cut above your average rom-com, and any movie that reminds the world how loveable Tia Mowry is deserves at least a sideways thumb.

If you?re the type of person who can offer a three minute impassioned defense of Fool?s Gold or more than five reasons why Just Like Heaven is worth grabbing out of a five dollar bin, paying to see this movie is far from a horrible idea. If you?ve always been annoyed by the overwhelming percentage of marginal romantic comedies that feature Kate Hudson or another generic white girl trying to get her happy ending and have always yearned to see more women of color embroiled in stupid schemes to land men, go ahead and line up for this one. For everyone else, prepare yourself to be lured in when Baggage Claim shows up on cable three years from now.

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The Family

If you feel like being nitpicky, there?s a whole lot wrong with director Luc Besson?s newest The Family. An angry, motivated person could write multiple reviews ranting about its bizarre usage of voiceovers and less than expert structure without ever repeating himself. But what?s the point of doing that when the film is actually kind of enjoyable? In spite of all its overt mistakes, The Family has more than its share of laughs and a clear likability. It?s not going to win any awards, but most people will leave the theater smiling. And that has to be considered a success.

It all starts with acting. By now, we?re all well aware Robert De Niro is damn good at playing mobsters. Here, he plays a Mafia snitch and not surprisingly, he?s very believable in the part. Even beyond that obvious and perfect casting, the supporting parts work just as well. Michelle Pfeiffer is the best she?s been in years as De Niro?s supportive and vindictive wife, and Tommy Lee Jones is underused but as good as ever as the FBI handler overwhelmed by the incompetence around him.

The film?s basic premise follows the titular family, The Blakes, as they move into a new house with new identities in Normandy, France. The father Fred (De Niro) testified against many of his former bosses and partners in a New York City Mafia family. There?s a $20 million bounty on his head, so, to keep him safe, the government shipped him and his family off to Europe. Unfortunately, all involved continue to act like homicidal maniacs, which requires assuming new identities every ninety days or so.

Many of the family?s struggles to assimilate and not act like out of control mobsters are pretty funny. The film fancies itself as a dark comedy, and it has no problem using assault, murder and depravity as good subject matter. Take son Warren (John D?Leo) and daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) as examples. It takes him all of a few days to turn his forgery skills into a black market racket inside his high school, and it takes her even less time to instill a new-found respect for women into a group of manipulative teenage boys. In its better moments, The Family is able to tread the line between exaggeration and absurdity to produce maximum laughs without losing its tether to reality.

In its worst moments, The Family is a bit of a hot mess. In addition to spending time on the wrong side of that aforementioned absurdity line, it also doesn?t seem to have the slightest idea how to tell its own backstory. It uses irregular De Niro voiceovers on occasion. It reads segments of a book on occasion. It even uses bad dreams and flashbacks, all of which, when used together, make the film seem disorganized and poorly put together. All of that, coupled with more than a few jokes that fall flat and a plot that?s windy and strangely paced keep The Family from being anything more than a likeable enough way to spend an hour and forty-five minutes.

I recommend The Family in the same way I might mint-flavored gum. It?s not what you would hope for, but when choosing at random, you?d do worse a little more often than not.

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Riddick

As a part of a franchise that sits firmly in the ?B-movie? section of the science-fiction genre, writer/director David Twohy?s Riddick isn?t a victim of high expectations. But in the search for fun sci-fi action and adventure with an interesting script and an ensemble of cool characters, audiences who have been waiting nine years for the film are going to be sorely disappointed.

Set years after the events of 2004?s Chronicles of Riddick - which isn?t necessarily must-see viewing before going out to see the sequel ? the new film finds the eponymous hero (Vin Diesel) stranded on a violent planet and left to survive with nothing more than his wits. Managing to find an abandoned station, he sends out an emergency beacon to try and get rescued. Unfortunately, this only serves to alert two very different teams of mercenaries to his presence on the planet, and they arrive to try and collect the bounty that?s on Riddick?s head.

The straightforward plot is a solid breeding ground for both horror and action and the film performs moderately well on those two fronts, with thrilling sequences that feature some cool creature design. But it?s when the script has to try and tell a larger story that it begins to trip up. The transparent structure splits the movie into two halves, the first explaining how Riddick has survived on the planet and the second bringing in the mercenaries, and both present their own unique problems. Without much story to push it forward, the earlier part eventually gets too slow and repetitive for its own good (watching Diesel take on CGI beasts one-by-one does get tiring after a while); and the latter half disengages the viewer by almost taking the hero out of the story completely.

By the time the entire cast is assembled on the harsh planet there are 11 mercenaries hunting Riddick, but only two have personalities that need more than three words to be described. With the exception of Jordi Molla?s Santana (who is the slightly unhinged leader of the ragtag mercenaries) and Matt Nable?s Boss Johns (the leader of elite mercenaries with a tie to Riddick?s past), every other is either incredibly dull or cannon fodder just waiting for his turn to be killed by Riddick or the monsters. And don?t hope that they can be distinguished by their dialogue either, as all of the lines are written with the same slightly panicked, mostly flat tone that is occasionally peppered with unfunny jokes and terrible one-liners.

While none of the actors make it out of the movie unscathed ? including Diesel ? Katee Sackhoff?s character Dahl, a high ranking member of the elite mercenary team, is a particularly egregious waste. While the actress has a large sci-fi following thanks to her big role on the popular series Battlestar Galactica, in Riddick she can only really be described as the ?strong lesbian chick? who occasionally punches Molla?s character, seemingly just to emasculate him. While this is bad enough on its own, it?s made much, much worse by the fact that her presence as the only woman in the movie makes her a constant target for crude sex jokes and threats (it would be one thing if this was only coming from the villainous characters, but Riddick makes more than a few advances of his own). The cherry on top, of course, is a blatantly gratuitous topless scene that seems to only exist so that the titular character can later make a joke about the color of her nipples. ?

Part of me wants to support this franchise on the grounds of how rare it is for an original science-fiction concept to get a full trilogy of theater-released feature films, but Riddick makes that damn near impossible. Made for a tiny budget compared to most modern blockbusters, the film does what it can from an aesthetic point of view and is at least visually interesting, but Twohy?s script is a total mess that seems to stumble into its best parts accidentally.

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