News and reviews from the Movie Spot, the premier Canadian DVD kiosk. For info on where to find one go to our web site at MovieSpot.Ca
A slower week for releases this time around so we have added a couple of titles that have been out for a week or so and recommended for your summer viewing!One new release of mention is the new one from Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas, “The Code” and the teenage heartthrobs, the Jonas Brothers with their concert DVD. New additions as mentioned are
JCVD, the Jean Claude Van Damme semi autobiography that astounded the critics and New In Town a romantic comedy with everyone’s girlfriend Renee Zellweger. Plus we loaded three movies you must see, “Sea Biscuit”, “In Bruges” and the original Harold & Kumar comedy “Go to White Castle”!
Reviews By The Spotter
The Code
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas
Strange one really, originally titled “Thick As Thieves” and directed by Mimi Leder (Deep Impact) who was once touted as the new big director in Hollywood. It features Freeman and Banderas who both play thieves, with Freeman the old pro who takes his time and Banderas the instant gratification kind who is lucky he is still in one piece. Most of the 103 minutes becomes chases and gun fights, then it is suddenly a heist film where the two (surprise?) team up to crack a high-tech security operation to score two expensive Faberge Imperial Eggs (like the one in the James Bond film Octopussy) This DVD skipped the movie houses and really is a title best suited to DVD where you can’t really complain about spending $1.99!
The Jonas Brothers Concert Experience
The Jonas Brothers head to the big screen in a high-energy Walt Disney Pictures rockumentary feature film. The film blends excerpts from the Brothers' red-hot "Burning Up" concert tour, including guest performances from Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift, with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, off-the-wall segments, a never-before-heard song ("Love Is On Its Way"), swarming fans and a lot of JB-style humor--giving fans never-before-seen insights into the lives of Kevin, Joe and Nick. Whether you're a screaming female tweener or the chaperone who drew the short straw, the 38-minute mark of this movie is going to be a special moment for you. Fans of the Jonas Brothers, hold on to your popcorn, because this is when the boys take their shirts off backstage as part of a concert costume change. Those who can't wait for the movie to end take heart; the scene also indicates the exact halfway point of the film's 76-minute run time. It's a concert movie, filmed at a stadium in Anaheim, Calif., although all the "behind-the-scenes" footage shows the brothers in New York City. And it is an experience, though whether you spell that with a lower-case "e" or an ear-splitting "eee!" again depends on your demographic.
The opening sequence finds the boys being roused in their New York hotel room at the unteenly hour of 4:30 a.m.; surely excessive, as they don't appear to need any time to shave, and "bed-head" is their hairstyle of choice. After the obligatory chased-by-screaming-fans scene (you can thank the Beatles for that one), director Bruce Hendricks moves us indoors as the band opens with That's Just the Way We Roll, and the first of many shots of sunglasses/drumsticks/guitar picks being thrown at the camera. From there we have the concert and a lot more screaming teenagers. So, if you can stand the noise and yourself have teenage girls in the house, run don’t walk to rent this one!
JCVD
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, François Damiens, Zinedine Soualem, Karim Belkhadra, Jean-François Wolff, Anne Paulicevich, François Beukelaers, John Flanders, Saskia Flanders, Dean Gregory
Could there really be a film in which video superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme, aka ‘The Muscles from Brussels’ holds up a Belgian bank? Incredibly, there could; but JCVD is no spoof. This is an immensely watchable post-modern thriller, in which the martial artist formerly known as Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg, down on his luck after losing a part to Steven Seagal (“He cut off his pony tail,” his agent grimly explains), returns to Brussels to spend time with his estranged family, only to become embroiled in a bank heist which may end more than his career. Holed up with hostages and bank robbers, and surrounded by armed police, slathering reporters and mystified fans, 48-year-old Van Damme realises he’ll need more than his considerable karate skills to get out alive. But then, an hour into the film, the action pauses, as Van Damme breaks to deliver an emotional, single-take soliloqy, an appeal-cum-confession, either to the audience or to God, in which he reflects at length on the highs and lows of his twenty-year career, drug problems, complicated love life and place in the world. It’s a coup de cinema, invoking the spirits of Fellini, Truffaut and Godard which, like the rest of the film, shows two sides of Van Damme few have seen before: the human being, and the skilled actor.
New In Town
Cast: Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., J.K. Simmons, Frances Conroy, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Nathan Fillion, Rashida Jones
As stereotypes go, Minnesotans don't have it so bad. It's the accents, donchaknow. And the ice fishing, polka dancing, hockey playing, hockey loving, and beer drinking to get through finger-freezing winters that are funny to the rest of us, especially those of us who have lived among them. (Canadians need not apply, we have it worse!) (Actually it was filmed in Winnipeg!)
Minnesota is always going to be the perfect setting for a frozen "fish out of water" romantic comedy, which is a big reason why New in Town, a genuinely funny film works.
It’s an old story send a Miami city girl (Renee Zellweger) to take over a dairy products plant in New Ulm, Minn., and lay off half its work force. Hurl her against stubborn employees (J.K. Simmons) and chummy, too-helpful ladies who scrapbook and make the worst possible impression with the hunky local "Bud-drinking redneck with a pickup truck" (Harry Connick Jr.). And let the chips fall where they may. A nice little chick flick that’s funny and a way to remember winter (who wants to??) Only fault is why doesn’t Harry Connick sing anymore? Remember he was the original Michael Buble!
Must See Newly Added Back Titles
In Bruges
Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson), two foul-mouthed Irish hitmen, lie low in the medieval Belgian town of Bruges to evade the police after a botched job back home. While awaiting instructions from their furious boss Harry (Fiennes), Ken braces himself for the worst...
Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges" could best be described as the love child between the films of Guy Ritchie's ultra-cool UK gangster films and Quentin Tarantino's ultra-hip American gangster films. Unlike its tedious parents, "In Bruges" doesn't need to be too hip or too cool to be damn good.
Two hitmen are ordered by their boss to hide out in the quaint Flemish town for a couple weeks while the heat from their latest job subsides. The solemn Ken (Gleeson), the elder hitman, is ready
Seabiscuit
There are a few movies that deserve the title “feel good” movie. At Christmas there’s James Stewart’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” and at baseball season there’s Robert Redford’s “The Natural” and then there’s “Seabiscuit” the story of the little horse that could. Starring and executive produced by Tobey Maguire (he used his Spiderman money!)
During the 1930s a funny-looking little racehorse named 'Seabiscuit' became America's most unexpected idol, smashing records for speed, audience attendance and winnings in an amazing career that was avidly followed by millions of people.
Laura Hillenbrand's non-fiction bestseller on the remarkable true story of 'Seabiscuit' and three men united in his cause; the owner, the trainer and the rider ; is a tremendous read, and a recent documentary made by America's PBS confirmed that this tale comes ready-made with absolutely everything for a popular film: romance, tragedy, humor, triumph against the odds, athletic magnificence and, crucially, despairing people and a traumatized animal getting second chances in their lives.
Using archive stills and narration by historian David McCullough (whose voice, so familiar from major documentary series like Ken Burns' The Civil War, brings authenticity), highlighting the gulf between Haves and Have-nots and the rivalry between America's East Coast elitists and the upstart, self-made Westerners whose hopes 'Seabiscuit' carried along with undernourished jockey Red Pollard.
This is tip-top entertainment, though, with a great cast and racing sequences spectacularly conveying the power, excitement and terror amid 1,500 lb beasts threaded through the stampedes around a track by brave men who weigh less than supermodels. This movie is one that never dates, never bores and even though we know the ending, never loses the thrill that only a horse race can give us. Watch it many times it’s one of the best.
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
Harold (Cho), a Korean-American investment banker with a report to file, and Kumar (Penn), an Indian-American student facing a vital interview at medical school, smoke grass to chill out. When hunger strikes, they realize that only White Castle burgers will hit the spot and set off on a surreal all-night adventure to find some…The first and the best of the H & K movies. Starring John Cho and Kal Penn.
This movie is cleverer than it looks, inviting Middle America to accept two non-WASP character actors as leads and illegal drug use as a suitable premise for a sweet, romantic comedy.
We want your opinions on any movie you have seen or rented lately, email me your review and we might print it, also if you want us to add a title to the Spot, just let me know at thespotter@moviespot.com
See you next week !
No comments:
Post a Comment