What's on Redbox--Stolen

          As a film lover, there is one type of film that still hope against hope to discover.  The ‘good’ direct-to-video movie.  After watching the new collaboration between Nicolas Cage and director Simon West “Stolen” all I can say is “The search continues.”

Cage is Will Montgomery a master thief, we are meant to assume this since we only see him actually pull one job which takes place at the opening twenty minutes of the film, and he gets caught.  So we have to take everyone’s word for it that Cage is the best there is at what he does.  So we catch up to him eight years later where after being in prison so long he’s still considered the best as the cops are following him around and a former partner played extremely over the top by Josh Lucas decides to kidnap Will’s daughter in exchange for the money that was lost on the eight year old job.

The film is filled with clichés from beginning to end and the script is laughably bad, like I said we only see Cage’s character use his supposedly incredible thieving skills twice throughout the course of the film, mostly we are just told, one character even says the words “Who steals from the world’s best thief.”  Everything else from the cops, to the cab drivers, to the criminals, all are reading from the action movie handbook.  And not in the fun, action-packed “Expendables” kind of way.  More like the, well, like the home video kind of way.  Which is a shame seeing as how West directed the dead-on "Expendables 2".

Though there is usually a reason a film is shot with the intention of wide release and winds up on the direct-to-video shelves, I still get tempeted to see if it really is that bad.  I mean the last time Cage and West got together was “Con-Air”.  Unfortunately they don’t capture the same magic here and sadly the only thing that is "Stolen" is your time.

--Robert L. Castillo

Flashback Corner--The Dead Zone

“THE ICE IS GONNA BREAK!”

 

          When you mix a Stephen King story, the visionary director David Cronenberg and a top of his game Christopher Walken, you get the 1983 classic “The Dead Zone”.  It’s the story of Johnny Smith who after a car accident has left him with the power of ‘sight’.  He can see the past, as well as the future and more so, he discovers he can change it.

I had not seen this film in years and when I saw pieces of it in my younger days, I only remember the times where Walken’s character uses his ability, when he puts himself in the situation where someone may die or has died.  I always remember the creepy Michael Kamen shriek of strings signaling when we were seeing another time along with Johnny.  And no one who sees it ever forgets the fate of the Castle Rock Killer in the film.

Watching it now I was really impressed with the performance by Walken, mostly subdued but hot when he needed to be.  He’s just brilliant in the entire film.  Yeah there are clear plot holes, and the performance turned in by Martin Sheen doing his best pre-anti-West Wing impression that at times seems laughable, but I get sense that Cronenberg was going more for atmosphere with this film.  There are many quiet moments spread though out the more terrifying ones and while there seems to be very little character development it doesn’t take away the impact the visions have on Walken’s character Johnny. 

There have been plenty of films since that have utilized visions of the future to propel the story forward, but “The Dead Zone” brings it to a crawl on purpose and gives you a glimpse of what affect it can have on the human psyche.  If you haven’t seen it in a while give it a turn, it’s a great quiet film that ends with a fantastic final twenty minutes that are still as memorable as ever.

--Robert L. Castillo

Jack Reacher

                       

     

      Tom Cruise is one of the biggest Hollywood stars in the last 30 years. Everyone has their favorite Cruise movie, and let us face it, it’s kind of hard not to with as many entertaining movies he has been in. For a few years it looked like he lost his appeal to most movie goers, but with some good choices he has worked himself back into the public’s good grace. With a couple movies hitting the theaters in the next few months, the question is, will he keep his good streak going?

      “Jack Reacher” is a character out of a set of novels by Lee Child. In Child’s books, Reracher is a brawny 6’ 5 blond guy, most things that Tom Cruise is not. Cruise though doesn’t disappoint in portraying him just how you thought Reacher should act. There has been a shooting, where five people are killed. The police have all the evidence they need and find the shooter pretty quickly. Give the choice to choose life or death, the shooter instead writes find Jack Reacher. What the police so not know is that upon hearing the shooters name, Reach instead finds them. Reacher (Tom Cruise) meets with the D.A Rodin (Richard Jenkins) and Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo) to know where the shooter is. Instead of helping the D.A, he decides to help investigate the case for the shooters attorney, Helen (Rosamund Pike), who also happens to be the D.A’s daughter. What Reacher finds is a mystery every time he opens a new door that leads him on a chase to find out what really happened. 

    It is real easy to get caught up in this thriller that has just right amount turns in the story to remain enjoyable. Sometimes a thriller can try and have too many twists, not this one.  Writer and director Christopher McQuarrie is a master of hiding the truth and having you discover it when he is ready. The movie though wouldn’t work without Cruise, who delivers each line like he means it. McQuarrie has a way of writing dialogue that you don’t forget, and this movie is no exception. I do wish that Jenkins and Pike had a bigger part, it really feels like you could have gotten anyone to play those roles, and it wouldn’t had mattered much. This is Cruise’s movie and the way he becomes Reacher, you will be glad that it is. Cruise may never win an award for his acting, but how much does that really matter? As long as he takes good roles like this one, people will not care what is on his mantle at home. The movie paces its self perfect, never feeling too long or to slow. Thrillers come and go, but this is one thriller that you will be glad came your way.

Brian Taylor

                                         

Les Miserables

     

    Oscar season is upon us. It’s the time of year when the studios bring out the best, all for a shot at objects that are shiny and gold. Sure there are good movies that come out all during the year, but make no mistake about it, the movies that are coming are out now are the pride and joy of every studio. Some of these films are small and come from nowhere, like “Silver Linings Playbook” while others are large, like the grand “Les Miserables”

    For those who do not know about “Les Miserables”, all I can say is where have you been. Written by Victor Hugo as a novel and turned into a film, then to a musical and then back to a film that is a musical (everyone following?). The story follows Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) from being released from prison, after serving time for stealing a piece of bread. After taken refuge in a church, he is given a second chance by a priest, and decides to shed his old life and start a new one. Flash forward nine years, and we find Valjean now know as Monsieur Madeleine, who is now a wealthy factory owner. Valjean has done well to hide his past life, but fate brings a police inspector named Javert (Russell Crowe) back into his life. Javert has sworn to never give up in his pursuit of Valjean, and you can tell he means it in the way he sings. Valjean saves a prostitute names Fantine (Anne Hathaway), who he discovers he may have been the cause of her downward spiral in life. On Fantine’s death bed, Valjean promises to take care of her daughter Cosette, and to always make sure she is never without.

    It is easy to go on about the story, because there is a lot of it. With a running time of 157 minutes, you might feel like an intermission would have been in order. Director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) tired something new while filming”Les Miserables”. Instead of having his actors sing there verses during post production, he had them sing live while they were being filmed. I believe this helped and hurt some of the performances. Hugh Jackman is good, while Russell Crowe sounds like he missed his calling to be a rock star. The real star is Hathaway, who uses the small amount of time on the screen to make sure you remember her. Her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” maybe the best ten minutes I have seen on film in the last ten years. The problem is that the rest of the film doesn’t live up to that moment. “Les Miserables” is a good movie, which has more than a few moments in it that will make you looking at your watch. It will also have you not being able to take your eyes of the screen at other times. Musicals are not for everyone, and this is one of those movies some will have a hard time sitting through. For those who love movies like this, there is some magic, but for those who don’t you are not missing to much.

Brian Taylor

                                                  

The Guilt Trip

   

     Whenever I think about a road trip movie, I always picture a group of teenagers or a family traveling in a green station wagon. I think I just covered eighty five percent of every road trip movie ever made with that sentence. The one thing every one of those movies has in common with each other is that the road trip is the perfect bonding experience, and the cause of great comic hijinks. I can think of a lot of road trips I would love to take, but the one that would maybe be the least appealing, would be a week on the road with just me and my mother. Well that is exactly what “The Guilt Trip” is all about.

    Andy (Seth Rogen) is an inventor of an all organic cleaner. He is trying his best to sell his product to a store with an old fashion door to door routine. Andy’s mother Joyce (Barbra Streisand) is one of those mothers that always want to make sure her son is taken care of. You know the type, calling numerous times to make sure you are doing something; you know just being a mother. Andy returns home for a few days before he embarks on a cross country trip to sell his product. After hearing a story from his mother, Andy adds a stop and invites her to come along with him for the ride. Joyce is good at a few things, saving money, which she shows when she talks Andy into renting an economy car and of course being overly motherly. What transpires next is Streisand eating half a cow, every road trip’s favorite stop at the Grand Canyon and of course a stop in Vegas, where Joyce discovers piercings. When it is all done, both Joyce and Andy have discovered something they didn’t know about each other.

   I have to admit the mother/son road trip didn’t sound to appealing when I first heard about it. The addition of Rogen and writer Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love) did make it sound a lot better. What I learned is something I have learned many times before, never judge a movie by its premise. This is a very fun road trip movie, the kind you could take your mother to (no pun intended). It’s got the humor that a mother could really appreciate (ok no more bad mother jokes). What is great about this movie is how great Rogen and Streisand are together, they are so good in fact you might leave the movie asking yourself, are they really mother and son? There are plenty of moments that will make you laugh and just enough moments to feel Rogen’s character’s pain. This movie has me wanting to plan a road trip with my mother, just to see if it would be as much fun as this movie. I cannot say this about most films, but this is one movie that is more than your mother will love.

 Brian Taylor

                                               

What's on Redbox--V/H/S

The found footage movie has yet to run its course as a subgenre, usually allocated to the realm of horror.  Some argue it’s here to stay, what with the “Paranormal Activity” series fourth installment shot for $5 million and raking in almost $120 million worldwide.  One of the more recent attempts involves a group of genre writers/directors who have come together and add their own vision to the screen.

“V/H/S” is a horror anthology that brings five stories bookended by a sixth that has a group of misfits who record their illegal activity like destroying houses with bats and attacking women in parking lots.  The group is hired to break into a house to steal a videotape.  When they get in they find a dead man and a bunch of tapes.  So naturally they start to watch them.  What follows is a series of shorts that vary from clever, gory, shaky, cheesy, to more cheesy, back to gory.

Most are supernatural in nature and utilize the caught on video element to hide effects and to use the ever popular jump-scare.  For the most part the film has moments that work, whether you like this type of film or not.  Other times they rely on the used VHS angle which is understandable why they would want it to look authentic, but it became bothersome.  The only one I took to was a caught on video chat session between a girl and her long distance boyfriend. I liked the twist mainly because that’s my taste.  If you like this kind of horror, give it a watch and chances are you’ll like at least one of them.  Or you could just seek out 2007’s “Trick ‘r Treat” one of the best horror anthologies since “Creepshow” then again just wait for the next found footage horror, I think the next “Paranormal Activity” is set in Mexico.  Deus Meo.

--Robert L. Castillo

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Back when “Avatar” came out and everyone was talking about the amazing visual achievements that James Cameron had reached and film would never be the same.  I was not on that wagon.  The movie was good albeit a rip-off of “Dances with Wolves” which in turn was a rip-off of “A Princess of Mars” or the film version, this year’s underrated “John Carter”.  The eye-popping 3-D was just the same too dark-looking foreground and background, and not much else.  With the new format for Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” HFR (High Frame Rate) which is shot in 3-D but at 48 frames per second which is double the usual 24 frames for every other film…in history.  And like “Star Wars” in ’77 and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” in ’92, “The Hobbit” is a benchmark in film history.  I can promise anyone who views the film this way will see something they never have seen before, and it is breathtaking.  If you don’t get motion sickness that is.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is the follow-up but the prequel to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, also directed by Peter Jackson.  It is set 60 years before the story of the one ring, and involves an adventure taken by a young Bilbo Baggins who is recruited by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McCallen) to help a band of 13 dwarves reclaim their home which has been taken over by the fire-breathing dragon Smaug.

You will see many, and probably too many similarities to the previous films, not just the music, characters and settings, but the series of adventures really bring the first three films to mind, which on the whole, did it better.  The only big difference here that works is that it’s the most fun and light-hearted of the Middle-Earth films.  As the characters bounce around from battling rock giants, to a goblin city, to a run in with the ‘Three Stooges’ of trolls it’s all done in a jaunty and entertaining way, only occasionally stepping into the realm of silly.

The only major drawback was that in its almost three hour running time, you feel it.  When you think it should speed up, it slows to a crawl, and when you want more time, it speeds up. You can certainly feel that Jackson is making room for the next two installments, but we want it to move now, he already had three films worth to show us Middle-Earth, now let us see it and have fun exploring it.  Even Bilbo wants that, and he’s fictional. 

What this keeps you into the story as much as it did in the first films is the performances.  Martin Freeman as Bilbo is spot on perfect and Ian McKellen fits right back into the role of Gandalf, not much can be said about the dwarves, though Thorin (Richard Armitage) is the center of the film and he plays it well, mostly with his looks.  The other dwarves are just filler and rarely stand out, like the dwarf that feels like a cross between the elf Legolas and the hobbit Merry, both in look, humor and his expert use of bow and arrow.  And it almost goes without saying, the scene with Gollum (Andy Serkis) is one of the best in the film.

The most unfortunate part of the release of this film is that there are over half a dozen ways you can watch it.  You will meet people that would have had a completely different viewing experience than you did.  My suggestion, seek out the HFR (High Frame Rate) because while they clearly still have a ways to go (fast-moving action is hard to focus on) you still get a truly amazing looking film and an extraordinary way to see 3-D, You can probably skip the IMAX Experience.  Unless you wanna see a 9-minute prologue to “Star Trek Into Darkness”.  I know I will.

 

--Robert L. Castillo

The Twelve Top Christmas Movies

 

    It’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s time for family, presents, food and of course movies. So in keeping with the spirit, I present to you the twelve best Christmas movies. Why twelve you ask? Well I am writing this on 12/12/12, and it goes great with that song “Twelve Days of Christmas”. Plus If I just did ten I would leave out some of my favorites, so without further ado (drum roll please) Here they are.

 12. Lethal Weapon: Yes I know not much to do with the Holiday Spirit, but every time I hear a mall Santa Claus say “I am getting to old for this” I cannot help to think of this film. It also takes place during Christmas and let’s just admit it, who didn’t love Mel Gibson when he was just pretending to be crazy.

11: Elf: I have it this far down the list because it has not paid it dues yet. I love this Will Farrell comedy about one of Santa’s elf’s finding out that he isn’t a real elf and seeks out his real father played by James Caan. This movie I know will move up this list as the years go by.

10: Die Hard: I know another movie that isn’t so much about Christmas, but about one guy who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. To me Christmas screams “Die Hard”, and of course Bruce Willis does a great job of showing what can happen when you make the naughty list.

9: How the Grinch Stole Christmas:  This is not a great movie, but you know what is great? That you can sing along with Jim Carrey as he sings “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”. The other great thing is that we all grew up on this book, so just for that reason alone, this film makes the list.

8: White Christmas: There is nothing better to me then hearing Bing Crosby sing “White Christmas”. I know I just may have lost half the readers, but this movie really brings the Christmas spirit and you can’t beat the singing. It brings back memories of Christmas past for me, when this time of the year wasn’t all commercialized, and it was just Christmas.

7: Polar Express:  This is just a magical movie. I say anytime you can have Tom Hanks play a train conductor on a magical train to the North Pole, you got to do it. This movie looks amazing and it just is spilling over with Christmas.

6: The Nightmare Before Christmas: A movie about the King of Halloween, Jack Skellington, who is bored with just Halloween and decides that he wants to be Santa Claus. This great film by Tim Burton and Henry Selick, does not scream Christmas, it’s a must see on Christmas and on Halloween.

5: Nation Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: We have taken trips with the Griswolds, which seem to turn out not-so-right. So it makes since that their Christmas gatherings might have a few setbacks. This hilarious addition to the Vacation series is still fun to watch, if for any reason alone, because you love Christmas lights.

4: Home Alone: Everyone’s favorite, the kid who got left alone and stops burglars from breaking in his house with cool booby trap Christmas movie. I still love seeing a kid get left at home on the Holidays. The question that still bothers me to this day though is, how did they forget this kid twice?  Oh right, sequel money.

3: It’s a Wonderful Life: Till this day, every time I hear a bell ring, I believe an Angel gets its wings. This Frank Capra classic starring Jimmy Stewart reminds us every year the true meaning of Christmas. It also doesn’t play on TV five million times before Christmas. This is a classic and will always be “The” Christmas movie for me.

2: A Christmas Story:  “Merry Christmas” is said quite often this time of the year, but coming in a close second just might be “You’ll shoot your eye out”. This essential Christmas tale about a boy named Ralphie and the one present he wants more than anything still holds up today.  It has taught us so much, things like never put your tongue on a frozen flag pole, and of course that you really can shoot your eye out.

1: Scrooged:  Nothing says Christmas more than being hit with a toaster. This is one of the many memorable scenes you will see in this Bill Murray film on the classic take on Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”. It shows how seeing three ghost can turn a grumpy old man who hates Christmas to a guy who learns what Christmas is truly about, and plus it is about as funny a movie as you will see, no matter what time of the year.

   So there is the twelve must see movies for Christmas, I know my list may be different from yours, but this is the time of the year for sharing, and I share with you, a very entertaining twelve days of Christmas.

Brian Taylor

                                                            

Flashback Corner--Poltergeist

“To her, it simply is another child…to us…it is The Beast.

 

          If you ask critics about the films from 1982, they will spout how “Gandhi” ran away with Oscars, about how maybe in retrospect “E.T.” was robbed, “Tootsie” totally deserved its love, and how well “Blade Runner” holds up.  You’ll hear geeks talk about the birth of Rambo in “First Blood”, the still considered best Star Trek “Wrath of Kahn”, classics like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” “Tron”, “The Secret of NIMH”, “The Dark Crystal”, “Creepshow”, “Conan the Barbarian”, (to hell wit you Krom) “John Carpenter’s The Thing”, and again like the critics you will hear about “Blade Runner” it’s amazing in everyone’s eyes.  And believe it or not the list goes on.  Really it does: “The Beastmaster”, Airplane II: The Sequel”, “Night Shift”, “Annie”, “Porky’s”, “48 Hrs.”, “An Officer and a Gentleman”, “Rocky III”, ‘Swamp Thing”.  Okay, you get it- “Deathtrap”, “The World According to Garp”, “Diner” …see what I mean?  And there are still more worth mentioning, honestly it was an awesome year at the movies.

There is one film though released that year that not only is still a great piece of cinema, my memory of watching it was with my eyes covered for almost 80% of it but when I finally had the courage to watch it in its entirety it for sure cemented a portion of fear in me that will stay buried there, forever I think.  It’s the classic collaboration from Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg “Poltergeist”.

Set in every town USA in familiar suburb the Freeling family deals with every day worries, lazy construction workers building their pool, dying family birds, scary lightning storms, and neighbors fighting over satellite supremacy.  Then what starts as creepy noises from the TV, and moving furniture leads to a missing little girl that may have been taken by spirits within the house.  Thus begins the terrifying journey into the world of ghosts and visions of the evil that can exist on the other side, and believe me like the poltergeist in the film, Spielberg and Hooper knows what scares you.

This film really did a number on me when I was a kid, much like “The Exorcist” not wanting to watch certain scenes and settling for the horrifying soundtrack was not the wisest choice, the sounds that came from this movie were equally disturbing as I later found the visuals to be.  Though unlike the scarring nature of Linda Blair in white contacts and spinning head “Poltergeist” was a film I revisited, over and over again for years to come.

The film is littered with watchable scenes, scary or not.  The afore mentioned satellite scene, mosquitos, the chairs moving from the floor to the top of a table in one shot, man-eating trees, the face peeling scene, the emotional climax in the empty room with the light shooting out of the door.  And of course the true ending of film.  It all works and even though it lost its three Oscars to its big brother “E.T.” it’s audio and visuals and Jerry Goldsmith score still look and sound great.

It had all the Spielberg troupes, great visuals, an interesting family dynamic, well placed humor to break up the tension.  But add to the mix a great script, phenomenal performances by JoBeth Williams, and Craig T. Nelson, truly scary to gory moments throughout, and a creepy clown doll like no other, this puts “Poltergeist” at the top of the list for one of the best horror films of all time.

While many other films have ripped off this classic, few have been able to match it.  It’s withstood the test of time, from when I first watched it with family and remember my aunt refusing to watch the “clown” scene insisting that she had clowns in her house and she just couldn’t look at it, to recently sitting through the whole thing and not once closing my eyes.  Though I did watch it in the day time.  I’m not crazy.

 

-Robert L. Castillo