News & reviews week of July 12th 2009

From a new twist on an X-Men type of a story to a creepy New England house to an excellent story of revolutionary Cuba, this week has some fine viewing .

New releases now playing:

Push

Cast: Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Joel Gretsch, Neil Jackson,

This week’s biggest release, is a sci-fi thriller about the shadowy “Division”
The Division is genetically transforming citizens into an army of psychic warriors and brutally disposing of those unwilling to participate. Nick Gant, a second-generation telekinetic or mover, has been in hiding since the Division murdered his father more than a decade earlier. He has found sanctuary in densely populated Hong Kong, the last safe place on earth for fugitive psychics like him, but only if he can keep his gift a secret. Nick is forced out of hiding when Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old clairvoyant or watcher, seeks his help. Pushers possess the most dangerous of all psychic powers: the ability to influence others actions by implanting thoughts in their minds. With the help of a team of rogue psychics, the unlikely duo traverses the seedy underbelly of the city, trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities. But they find themselves square in the crosshairs of Division Agent Henry Carver, a pusher who will stop at nothing to keep them from achieving their goal.
A concept that can be described as X-Men with psychics, the film revolves around people with an array of incredible powers. Movers are telekinetic, able to move things with their will alone. Watchers see images of the future and the titular Pushers are able to bend you to their will and place thoughts and impulses into your mind. Director Paul McGuigan’s has ambition; not only has he made a superhero movie on a kitchen-sink budget, but he’s done it in the faraway climes of Hong Kong. And he’s created a mythology to match: this film has an ending that screams for further instalments. Whether its less-than-stellar box office will kill those hopes remains to be seen, but you’ve got to hope that there’ll be an X2 to this X-Men.



Che Part 1 - Argentina

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Demián Bichir, Santiago Cabrera, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Julia Ormond, Lou Diamond Phillips,

On Nov. 26, 1956, Fidel Castro sails to Cuba with 80 rebels. One of those rebels is Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a young Argentine idealist and doctor who shares a common goal with Fidel Castro--to overthrow the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Che proves himself an indispensable fighter, and quickly grasps the art of guerrilla warfare. As he throws himself into the struggle, Che is embraced by his comrades and the Cuban people. "The Argentine" tracks Che's rise in the Cuban Revolution, from doctor to commander to revolutionary hero.
When Cuban farmers emerged to join Che Guevara in his battle against Batista’s military government in 1956, few knew what the man looked like, let alone what drove him. They came; it’s said, out of a deep-set belief that this man would lead them to a better place.

Twenty minutes into Part One of Steven Soderbergh’s four-hour-plus Guevara epic, after we’ve endured a whistle-stop ‘News On The March’ history lesson, and observed a mumbled scene in Mexico City in 1955 where Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) outlines his plans to Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Benicio Del Toro), it becomes clear that Soderbergh is adopting a similar approach
Although he’s never off the screen, Del Toro’s performance is as beautifully enigmatic as that Alberto Korda photo reproduced on T-shirts around the world. Eschewing the clear biography of The Motorcycle Diaries, Part One simply drops us into the confusion and drudge of conflict. Small pieces of information emerge; he’s near-crippled by asthma; he uses his medical training to treat Cuban peasants; we hear fragments of his philosophy (“The punishment for treason is death”); yet it’s only ever what the soldiers know. In addition, Del Toro’s Che is delivered as a performance within a performance; like the soldiers, we’re watching doctor and family man Ernesto playing at (and slowly becoming) Che Guevara, the cold, efficient leader of men.
The New York sequences (shot in rich Life magazine black-and-white), in which Guevara is interviewed by ABC correspondent Lisa Howard (Julia Ormond) and addresses the United Nations, gives us Che the unreliable narrator , but the overall effect is a bit like nipping out of the cinema exit to attend, well, a meeting of the United Nations.
The film’s final set-piece, the battle for Santa Clara, is like a Gunfight At The O. K. Corral, and the second half of Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket and one of the great battle sequences of modern cinema.
Part One of Soderbergh’s Che epic dismantles the clichés and myths to craft an essay on the heroism of war, highlighted by a compelling star performance. Part 2 of the story continues with next month’s release.



The Haunting In Connecticut

Cast: Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Martin Donovan, Elias Koteas, Amanda Crew, D.W. Brown, Sarah Constible, Matt Kippen, John B. Lowe

Based on a chilling true story, Lionsgate's "The Haunting in Connecticut" charts one family's terrifying, real-life encounter with the dark forces of the supernatural. When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner's clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover. Now, unspeakable terror awaits, when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the powerful dark forces of the supernatural, returns to unleash a new kind of horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.
If you like spooky films, this isn't bad at all. Sure, it has all the old clichés; shadowy figures glimpsed in reflections, frightening noises, people too stupid to move out and leave the demons to their rotten old house. But A Haunting in Connecticut is elevated by sharp direction from Peter Cornwell in his feature debut, and the acting is uniformly fine. Madsen is as terrific as ever, while Kyle Gallner excels as son Matt, whose cancer treatment necessitates the family's move to a new home nearer the hospital. He becomes the main focus for the ghosts due to his having one foot in 'the Valley of Death' and turns to another patient, gloomy Reverend Popescu (Elias Koteas), for help. Every week lately we have released a new horror movie to the Spot, “Haunting” is an entertaining time-passer; inessential, but lots of fun.



TV Series coming this week,

uncut (no commercials silly!) on beautiful DVD's!

True Blood Season 1
New cult HBO drama which details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small northern Louisiana town. Twilight anybody?

The Closer Season 4
American crime drama showing on TNT and starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective who arrives in Los Angeles to lead the Priority Murder Squad (later Priority Homicide Division), a team that deals only with high profile murder cases.

Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1
American science fiction television series that aired on Fox. It is a spin-off from the Terminator series of films. It revolves around the lives of the fictional characters Sarah and John Connor, following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. There’s no Arnold in this, instead a very sexy female terminator who is one of the good guys (or gals)

Rome
The most expensive US television series ever made and without an American actor in it! Some of the finest British actors made this the groundbreaking series and cult favourite of the passed few years. The show's first season originally aired on HBO in the United States between August 28 and November 20, 2005, and has never been surpassed (except perhaps by season 2) ever since. The story of Rome depicts the period of history surrounding the violent transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, the decay of political institutions, and the actions of ambitious men and women. The series follows the two main characters Lucius and Titus from Caesars invasion of Gaul to the death of Mark Antony and the rise of the first Emperor Augustus.
The series was a ratings success for HBO and the BBC. The show received much media attention from the start, and Rome was honored with numerous awards and award nominations in its two-season run.
Stars Kevin McKidd who with an American accent later starred in Journeyman and Ray Stevenson who became the Punisher. Filled with the best of the UK stage talent this is perhaps the best TV so far this millennium, not for the kiddies as it displays an awful lot of sex and violence but shows that in early Rome this was the norm. This series is available in 12 episodes on 6 discs.

Californication
Showtime TV series starring David Duchovny as Hank Moody: a troubled novelist whose move to California and his writer's block complicate the relationships with his ex-girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) and daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin). Hank Moody is a charming writer and novelist but plagued with personal demons. He blames his years-long case of writer's block on a variety of reasons, ranging from the hedonism of Los Angeles, to his on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend Karen. Hank constantly deals with the fallout of his lack of will to say "no" to drugs, sex and alcohol, while trying to show his family that he can be a good, caring person.

Dexter Season 2
Dexter is an American television drama series that airs on American premium channel Showtime. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a serial killer governed by a strict moral code who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst. Incredibly gory; if it wasn’t that Dexter is the “hero” this would be a different kind of series!

Mad Men Season 1
Set in New York City, Mad Men begins in the early 1960s at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City's Madison Avenue. The show centers on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a high-level advertising creative director, and the people in his life in and out of the office. It also depicts the changing social morals of 1960s America.
Mad Men has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its historical authenticity and visual style, and has won numerous awards, including three Golden Globes, a BAFTA and six Emmys.

Rome Season 2
The gritty, decadent world that HBO built spills more blood in its second and final season, the post-Caesar chapter that pits Mark Antony (James Purefoy) against Octavian (Simon Woods). Sweeping battlefield showdowns offer high drama, but the soap-operatic subplots orchestrated by the cunning, stunning, emerald-eyed Atia (Polly Walker) are where the real action is. EXTRAS Five sharp commentaries and four featurettes are a must-watch. Television at its best!

Breaking Bad Season 1
Shown on cable network AMC, cult hit Breaking Bad revolves around Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher with a teenage son who has cerebral palsy , and a pregnant wife. When the already tense White is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he breaks down and turns to a life of crime, and starts producing and selling methamphetamine with his former student in a desire to secure his family's financial future.
Breaking Bad has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing and Cranston's performance on the show, and won two Emmy Awards for its first season in addition to numerous other awards and nominations.

The Shield Season 7 – The Final Act
The end of the saga, one of the best US police dramas ever made and an ending that will leave you talking about for some time. Absolutely brilliant!

A Current Title You Didn’t Rent (And Why You Should)

Death Race

Cast: Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Natalie Martinez, Ian McShane, Joan Allen, Robin Shou, Jacob Vargas, Robert LaSardo, Max Ryan, Frederick Koehler

Terminal Island: The very near future. The world's hunger for extreme sports and reality competitions has grown into reality TV bloodlust. Now, the most extreme racing competition has emerged and its contestants are murderous prisoners. Tricked-out cars, caged thugs and smoking-hot navigators combine to create a juggernaut series with bigger ratings than the Super Bowl. The rules of the Death Race are simple: Win five events and you're set free. Lose and you're road kill splashed across the Internet. Three-time speedway champion Jensen Ames is an ex-con framed for a gruesome murder. Forced to don the mask of the mythical driver Frankenstein, a Death Race crowd favorite who seems impossible to kill, Ames is given an easy choice by Terminal Island's ruthless Warden Hennessey: Suit up and drive or never see his little girl again. His face hidden by a hideous mask, one convict will enter an insane three-day challenge in order to gain freedom. But to claim the prize, Ames must survive a gauntlet of the most vicious criminals; including nemesis Machine Gun Joe; in the country's toughest prison. Trained by his coach to drive a monster Mustang V8 Fastback outfitted with two mounted mini-guns, flamethrowers and napalm, an innocent man will destroy everything in his path to win the most twisted spectator sport on Earth. Now, if that doesn’t encourage you to rent this one, well there’s always Pink Panther 2!
At first glance, Death Race is another one of those remake-cum-adolescent fantasy (originally made in 2000 with David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone) but unlike, say, Resident Evil and Alien Vs. Predator, director Paul Anderson delivers an unashamedly brutal actioner that pushes all the right guys’ flick buttons, combining hot chicks, hotter cars, enormous guns, and Joan Allen saying the word “cocksucker”. The original Death Race had David Carradine and a young Sylvester Stallone race across America mowing down pedestrians for points. Anderson actually pitches this movie as a prequel of sorts, exploring the origins of Frankenstein (Jason Statham, in the Carradine role) and Machine-Gun Joe (Tyrese, following Stallone) and, indeed, the concept of the death race itself. By transplanting the action from the open road to a maximum-security prison run by Allen’s Warden Hennessey, a ball-busting cross between a Stepford Wife and Maggie Thatcher, Anderson combines prison movie (The Camshaft Redemption, anyone?) with revenge flick. And while it’s one-dimensional, overcrowded with walking clichés (all hail Ian McShane, bringing a bedraggled charm to the role of Kindly Old Lag), and bereft of the original’s satire, the locale change allows Anderson to shift the focus of the event from a meandering affair to a concise three-lap race, during which drivers unleash guns, oil and even napalm upon their rivals.
This is an enjoyable, macho B-movie romp, don’t you just love it? Turn up the sound and get ready for some ridiculous action, and if you’re ready for it, it also comes in both the theatrical and the unrated version!