TheBluraySource

Limelight

Sean Stroub — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:50:32 +0000

Like many young adults living in New York City, I’ve had my experience with the club scene this town has to offer. I haven’t excessively taken part in the nightlife beyond sports bars and the occasional small club, but I’ve attended enough of the big venues to develop a bit of a hatred for the whole thing. God only knows how I would have felt about it twenty years ago. The events I’ve been to have certainly not been as wild and crazy as the happenings at Peter Gatien’s hotspots like Limelight, Tunnel, Palladium, and Club USA, but they were still pretty wacky. The current NYC clubs can get the beats bumpin’ and the party started for those who are into that sort of thing but they clearly don’t compare to what went on under Gatien’s ownership in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Limelight, named after Peter Gatien’s legendary club that opened up in an old church, follows this Ontario native who entered the United States and altered the nightlife not just in NYC, but throughout the country. Sporting an eye patch in old footage, as a result of a hockey accident, but cool shades in recent interviews, Gatien recounts his effect on Manhattan, the abundance of drugs during the time period of his dominance, his legal battles that resulted from Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s determination to reduce the city’s crime rate, all the way up to his deportation to Canada. There are several interesting points and discussions throughout the documentary, such as the casualness of using ecstasy, the number of celebrities that would attend these clubs alongside ordinary people, and just hearing everything from the point of view of those previously depicted as the bad guys, but all of this is still not enough to make it fully entertaining and interesting.

The entire documentary comes across as a random E! True Hollywood Story you’d find on the channel when there’s absolutely nothing else on television. Documents appear on the screen with highlights, old clips and images get thrown at you, etc. There’s certainly some entertainment value to that, but that type of production is expected on television, not in the movies. When we hear from Gatien and those he associated with during his reign in recent interviews held for the film, the audience is distracted by neon lights in the background and bright, cheap animation. The filmmakers try to force us to wish we could take part in the dance parties of the past. They also serve as a bit of a distraction from what the people are actually saying.

A lot of stories come up that get a little confusing, but no matter what is being discussed, Peter Gatien is supposed to come across as the victim. We should feel bad about everything that’s happened to him. And his daughter Jen Gatien, on board as one of the producers, makes sure of it.

I’m not trying to come across as a nark, but I feel that an owner of multiple clubs in the ‘80s must have known that illegal activities, especially the sale and consumption of drugs, were taking place in his/her various hotspots. Peter Gatien may come across as the victim, but with the other interviewees describing the times they’ve screwed over and have even killed others, how are we supposed to think he’s just a normal guy wanting to give people a place to party? Granted, his only guilty crime was tax evasion, but Colin Quinn of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update said, “Gatien claimed that if there was any drug dealing in his club, it must have happened on his left side,” which obviously serves as a joke alluding to his missing eye, but also hints at the many excuses made by the club promoter throughout his trial.

Peter Gatien may not have deserved something as harsh as deportation, but it’s just a little hard to feel sorry for a club owner that attracted tens of thousands of customers a night during the peak of his empire. He may have been a nice guy in his personal life, but in this documentary that focuses almost entirely on his career, he doesn’t come across as one who deserves much sympathy. Just before the credits, images of those who have screwed him over are followed by a sentence saying they refused to be interviewed for the documentary. We’re supposed to feel bad until the very end. It’s moderately interesting for a little while, but it could have been presented in a better way. It’d be awesome if someone could take all of the interviewee’s stories to create a crime drama, but for now we just have this documentary.

As for the special features on this DVD, all we get are deleted scenes, the trailer, and some previews. For a documentary DVD, you really can’t ask for a lot more, but maybe they could have incorporated some clips of the current nightlife or gotten interviews with those in the club scene now. Although this is to be taken seriously, the obsession with NYC hotspots has always been quite humorous to me. I think this could have benefited from an interview with another Saturday Night Live Weekend Update star, it’s city correspondent Stefon (played by Bill Hader), who knows everything about the nightlife. He’d say, “And this club has everything…” but, unfortunately, this DVD does not.

Real Steel

Sean Stroub — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:28:44 +0000

A movie about boxing robots sounds like something that would come from the director of the Night at the Museum films, doesn’t it? It may seem incredibly corny, and the script is indeed filled with a plethora of clichés, but it is actually not as bad as you’d think. Sure you might find yourself laughing at the characters and their emotional connection to heaps of metal made strictly to destroy other heaps of metal, but eventually you’ll find yourself attached in a very similar way.

Real Steel follows a washed-up fighter named Charlie Kenton, played by Hugh Jackman who simply can do no wrong, in the year 2020, a high-tech time period when humans no longer face off in the ring. Taking their place are giant 2000-pound steel robots that operate under the control of their promoters. This is what Charlie finds himself doing nowadays, desperately seeking venues for his bot, and very unsuccessfully I might add. After losing yet another fight and watching his robot get obliterated, Charlie needs a way to get a hold of some money.

Then he learns that a girlfriend of his from over ten years ago, with whom he had a son named Max, has died. Charlie reluctantly allows Max (Dakota Goyo) to tag along to his matches. As stubborn as they both are, they learn a little something from each other as they train an old-fashioned robot together and grow closer in the process. Luckily for Charlie, they also make some money.

As I said, Jackman does everything he can with this movie and entertains throughout, but his character’s relationship with the child gets to be a bit annoying. He and Max bicker in a way that is supposed to show their similar attitudes and irritation towards each other, but sometimes it’s a little too much. And I hate to rip on child actors, but Dakota Goyo overacts in a way that instead of making the audience understand his troubles kind of makes us view him as a snobby kid. Evangeline Lilly also stars as Charlie’s love interest and all I can say is that it’s great to see her getting more work after Lost. She had a small role in The Hurt Locker, but other than that we haven’t seen much of her in motion pictures.

Now the film may make you roll your eyes every now and then, but along with a bunch of clichés comes the ending everyone looks for in a sports movie. So hold out for that. And if you do really enjoy the film, you simply can’t go wrong with the Blu-Ray + DVD combo pack. It has everything you could ask for in a movie whose most entertaining component is a group of huge Transformer-like robots (although with much more heart and gladly no ability to talk). Of course there are your standard special features like deleted and extended scenes, bloopers, and audio commentary that you would expect in a combo pack, but this bundle goes above and beyond.

There’s one feature completely devoted to the main character entitled “Countdown To The Fight: The Charlie Kenton Story” as well as bonus content about the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard. Then there are some very interesting “Making Of” features. One focuses on the construction of the metal valley for the scene in which Max finds the robot Atom, while the other shows the crew building the bots. In that clip you’ll learn that executive producer Steven Spielberg recommended building robots to help the effects team make the graphics look as real as possible (he knows best from Jurassic Park), earning them a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects this year. And lastly, is if all of these features weren’t enough, the Blu-Ray/DVD collection also contains a way for the consumer to access Real Steel Second Screen, which allows you to explore exclusive interactive content on your computer or iPad. There is even a way to sync the Blu-Ray to your device as you watch the movie. That enough for ya? Everything is as technically advanced as the robots on the screen.

In conclusion, Real Steel is by no means an excellent movie, but it is quite entertaining if you don’t think too much about it and just let it all happen. “Check your brain at the door” as my father would say, but you should keep your heart there. For those of you who have already seen the movie and enjoyed it, but are now debating whether or not you need to add it to your Blu-Ray or DVD collection, I highly recommend you pick it up. The bounty of bonus features makes this a real steal.

I Don’t Know How She Does It

Daniel Reynolds — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:24:53 +0000

To the outside world, Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker) has it all. She’s up-and-coming in her career, and has a loving husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) and two adorable children (Emma Rayne Lyle, and Julius & Theodore Goldberg). Her friends and colleagues are in awe of her success, telling each other again and again the title of the film, I Don’t Know How She Does It.

But Kate has problems. She can’t finish the housework without a maid (Jessica Szohr). Kate can’t even cook by herself, so she’s forced to disguise store-bought pies as homemade for her child’s bake sale. And what’s worse, she lives in Boston, that cold, ugly stepsister of New York City. Only Allison (Christina Hendricks), her beautiful, husbandless friend, knows the secret of Kate’s failures as a woman and a mother. She is her sole ally against the “Momsters” (Busy Philipps and Sarah Shahi), a ruthless duo of stay-at-home mothers, who have all the time in the world to bake cookies for their children and spout vitriol about frumpy, working-class women as they ride elliptical machines in their local Equinox. If they only knew Kate’s ultimate failure—her busy work schedule forces her maid to take her son to his first haircut without his frazzled mother, a crisis that brings Kate to tears.

Yes, times are hard for Carrie—er, Kate. And circumstances are quickly going from bad to worse. Her greedy boss Clark Cooper (Kelsey Grammar) informs her that their financial management firm has snagged a fancy New York client, Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan), and orders Kate to do the heavy lifting—more meetings, more travel, more time away from her family. What’s a girl to do?

Fortunately, Jack turns out to be very handsome, and hey, you know, she could end up actually making money in a bad economy, so she gathers up her courage and flies to New York with her humorless, child-hating, Wharton MBA assistant Momo (Olivia Munn). Lunch at the Soho Grand Hotel, dinner at The Lion—a series of horrific, expensive meals ensues. But fate intervenes: a layover in Cleveland allows Jack and Kate to spend time away from Wall Street and reconnect with Main Street. They stumble into a bowling alley and join a ragtag team where a disheveled, local-looking woman promises the dapper, cosmopolitan Jack, “If you win this for us, we’ll forgive you for being a banker.” Jack raises the ball, the crowd holds a collective breath, and… Well, I won’t spoil the ending, but I will tell you Momo ends up pregnant and gets some deserved poetic justice for hating children and being so obsessed with her career. As for Kate, I still don’t know how she does it.

And back to reality. The only bonus feature in I Don’t Know How She Does It is a seven-minute interview with the source novel’s writer, Allison Pearson. Pearson explains that in creating Kate, she wanted to portray the modern woman “torn between her family and the love she feels for her job,” a concept that sounds promising but ultimately fails, at least in this movie translation. Simply put, there’s no conflict. No one cares about the dilemmas of the store-bought pie, the put-upon maid, the business trips to New York. The stakes of Kate’s problems are so low and out of touch with a recession economy that they are sure to bore (if not insult) most audiences.

The rest of the characters are as flat as stock photography, serving only to cough out tired platitudes about the inequalities between women and men. “Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman,” Kate ultimately concludes, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton rolls over in her grave. The career-driven Momo, who for the life of me was the only character’s name I could remember after an initial viewing, becomes an ineffectual mess at work after discovering her pregnancy: vomiting during meetings, unintentionally mixing a sonogram into a PowerPoint presentation, all the usual crazed, pregnant behavior. As a result, the movie’s feminist message is at once confusing, alarming, and uninteresting. Quite a feat.

There are flashes of revelatory family history that attempt to explain Kate’s inability to appreciate her life’s many blessings. The audience learns from brief asides that she was embarrassed by her mother for bringing canned peaches to her school’s bake sale, and her father was allegedly a compulsive gambler who squandered the family’s savings. Viewers may yearn for such neglectful, interesting characters to provide substantial conflict but alas, like Kate we are stuck with her contrived, upper-middle class lot.

But cheer up. With a runtime of only 89 minutes, the pain is no worse than a New York-Boston flight. And a few humorous lines, be they intentionally funny or not, give this bumpy ride just a little more legroom, particularly if you’re a fan of Sarah Jessica Parker, who does amuse, if infrequently.

If my rants haven’t deterred you, or if perhaps you are among the masochists who delight in watching the worst movies of the year, I Don’t Know How She Does It should definitely be viewed in Blu-ray. SJP has never looked so golden, and the clarity of Anchor Bay’s 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer ensures the china looks ready to be plucked off the table. As for sound, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack suits this comedy’s light, inefficacious atmosphere. Hear the chatter of conversation in a restaurant, the screams of children in a kindergarten classroom, and the roll of a bowling ball hitting pins. Or in this case, straight down the gutter.

Smallville: The Complete Series

Dan Deevy — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:28:15 +0000

Click Here to Watch our Exclusive Interviews with the Cast of Smallville!!!

Some kids on Christmas morning are lucky enough to descend a staircase to find a gorgeously decorated tree with so many presents surrounding it that it would be impossible to touch it without moving tons of beautifully wrapped boxes. That’s exactly how I felt when I set eyes on Smallville: The Complete Series on DVD Box set. I mean…. Wow.

After un-wrapping the best Christmas gift ever I’m faced with all 218 episodes that span the shows ten year run, 23 hours of previously released extras, five brand new hours of special features, not to mention the amazing packaging that it all comes in! I mean, what’s a boy to do?

Unfortunately, the set arrived far too late for me to take my time with it so I have to write this review in a slightly different way than I normally would. When it comes to season long DVD’s I’ll watch (or re-watch as the case may be) the entire season and as I go will take notes and slowly put together a complete comprehensive analysis of the shows progression from premiere to finale. Now, of course with this many episodes it would be impossible and slightly crazy of me to do the same here. Fortunately, Smallville is one of my favorite shows of all time so remembering back to all those amazing seasons won’t be too much of a challenge for me.

But I still want to re-watch everything so instead I decided to watch some key episodes from the series run to kick start my brain and hopefully spark my creative thinking surrounding the Smallville phenomenon.

It’s true that the first season got off to a rocky start; the writers found themselves in something of a repeating storyline loop where every episode felt exactly the same and followed an identical ‘adventure’ pattern. The future of this soon-to-be iconic series was in serious creative jeopardy right out of the gate. Fortunately, about mid-way through this first season they realized what was happening and started developing complicated intricate storylines that weaved their way throughout the series. I’ll admit it sometimes got so complicated that now looking back there are some details that I can’t even remember. But from then on every season of Smallville was chock full of new characters and relationships, new revelations about Clark and his destiny, and of course as the series grew it became more and more deeply entrenched in DC Comic Book lore.

I’m tempted to jump ahead and talk about meeting Green Arrow, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, The Wonder Twins, Hawkman, Bizarro, Brainiac, Doomsday, Darkseid, General Zod and armies of angry Kryptonians, but I won’t. We’re gonna take this nice and slow and star at the beginning; Which of course was 2001 when the world met a very young and absolutely gorgeous former Abercrombie & Fitch model turned actor named Tom Welling for the very first time.

As with any new show with an untested lead no one knew if the series would take off (so to speak) but it did and hundreds of hours of television later he’s become a household name and his adventures have become a part of modern day comic book lore.

I will say revisiting the pilot episode after so many years made me realize how many little nods to the future were right in front of me that went totally unnoticed and were completely forgotten. For example, the very first Daily Planet newspaper headline that we see is about Oliver Queen’s (the future Green Arrow not to be seen until the sixth season) parents death, the new population sign for Smallville citing 45,001 (one guess as to who that additional ‘1’ refers to) and of course the not so subtle reference to Luthor Corp beginning in Smallville as a fertilizer company.

No television show ever knows exactly how long they will be on the air so many will go all out gangbusters in their first season or two leaving nothing left to be explored in subsequent years. Smallville is a great example of a show that did the exact opposite. Yes, they had the advantage of over 60 years of stories to draw from of the characters’ lives as they were in the comic books and graphic novels, but the creative team here still deserves credit for having the wisdom to pace themselves when it came to getting to “the good stuff.”

It takes almost the entire first season of the show for Clark to realize which powers he has and then to learn how to control them. Super strength, super speed, heat vision, x-ray vision, arctic blast breath and of course eventually, flying are all slowly added to the story. We don’t even see the Fortress of Solitude until the premiere of the fifth season and while for Smallville that was just half way through their run, for most other network TV shows it would have been nearing the end; So kudos to them on their creative restraint and foresight.

Then of course we get to discover all the different kinds of Kryptonite that exist and how they affect Clark. Green was there from the first episode (a great explanation for why he was so bumbling around Lana Lang by the way) and from there we find Red which turns him into the leather jacket wearing motorcycle riding bad boy that was always fun to see, Blue Kryptonite which takes away his powers, Black Kryptonite which physically splits Clark into his ‘good’ and ‘evil’ sides, and finally Gold which permanently takes away his Kryptonian powers. All of these discoveries were scattered throughout the seasons and always made for a great wink to the audience when we uncovered more.

I’m sure its equal parts good fortune and fine planning that made things turn out the way that they did and made it possible for this show to have such an extended life span and in each and every season give the die-hard fans something super exciting to look forward to.

Now it wasn’t until the third season when the power of the continuing story arc was truly harnessed by the writers. It became impossible to not tune in the following week to see what happened next. The finale episodes of the third, fourth and sixth seasons are some of the best I’ve ever seen. I can still remember watching the safe house explode at the end of the third year thinking that Chloe (Allison Mack) had been killed. Something, which incidentally all fans were waiting for because of her notable absence from the Superman mythos; we all knew she had to be eliminated or explained away somehow eventually and it looked like this was how it would happen. Chloe would be out and Lois would be in.

Fortunately, they were far cleverer than that. That same fear though hung in the air at the end of season six when Chloe appears to have died saving Lois’ life… again making us think she was on the way out.

Incidentally, one thing that this box set doesn’t have, which I find surprising, is that the first couple of episodes of the fourth season have an introduction without Allison Mack in it. When we finally saw that she was in fact alive in the third or so episode of the year she was added back into the opening credits but in this set it’s all the same standard intro. It’s a minor point, but a strange choice if you ask me. I had never seen a show go to such lengths to keep the audience guessing about the fate of a character.

Allegiances and “who knew what” is always tough to keep up with in a long running series that has such intricate continuing storylines, but somehow they made it work. Of course now, years later, it can be hard to recall all of the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of their adventures but that’s understandable and I remember several moments of surprise and joy at some of the turnabouts that took place.

The special effects on the show were never great, but to be honest, they never really needed to be; the power of this show was in the stories and the performances. It was always appreciated when they put more time into an episode like Commencement making the second meteor shower look as realistic as possible. That type of action always upped the ante for the show.

Speaking of performances I have to mention the appearance by Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder as Doctor Swan and Bridgette Crosby respectively. Margot’s character even has a line that the two of them were “together in another life.” It was such a great, respectful nod to the audience and a tribute to two of the people responsible for continuing the Superman legacy from the late 70’s until the late 80’s. Many people will always look to them as the quintessential Clark Kent and Lois Lane and it was great that the new guys acknowledged and respected that.

Terence Stamp, possibly one of the greatest movie villains of all time in Superman II as General Zod returns here in the opposite role of the voice of Clarks father Jor-El. I’ll admit that took some getting used to but ultimately turned out to be a great choice that really enhanced the series.

Nods to past performances don’t begin and end with Superman stories, there’s also an episode called Exposed in the fourth season where former Dukes of Hazzard star Tom Wopat appears as Jonathan Kent (John Schneider)’s friend Senator Jack Jennings and the two once again find themselves in an American Muscle car jumping through windows and engaging in high speed car chases. Bo and Luke Duke back together again, yet not, was really something to see.

As with any long running show about a coming-of-age character the overall tone of the show did eventually change and some of the magic and originality was lost. One of the things that made Smallville great was the fact that it wasn’t Lois and Clark and when the stories started to pull in that direction it lost something. Lois and Clark playful enemies made for great television but when it came time for them to fall in love, initially in season nine, the overall feeling of show changed and became way less interesting. I think as time went by they realized that, so they skirted away from it for a while but of course ultimately it is where they story HAD to go. But as a result of that (and several other factors) the latter seasons of the show are not nearly as engaging or jaw dropping as those first five or six years.

Certain things had to happen, like the death of Jonathan Kent, the introduction of Lois Lane, Clark growing beyond his love for Lana Lang and letting her go, learning to fly, putting on the suit etc. but we never knew when or how those things would come to pass which is why it was still so much fun to watch and wait for.

The 100th episode, Reckoning, is perhaps one of Smallville’s finest hours. Emotionally one of the most taxing shows ever, Clark finds himself face to face with the most difficult choice he’s ever had to make – choosing between saving the life of his father or the women he loves; and unlike situations in the past the consequences of this choice are all too real.

It’s the power of the emotions behind scenes like Jonathan Kent’s funeral that fuel the entire series. It’s that familial connection and bond that we all aspire to that kept people tuning in. Who wouldn’t want a family like the Kent’s? And who wouldn’t feel enormous empathy and sympathy for the wounded hero burying the man who raised him.

And on the larger family scale Smallville was never more exciting and thrilling for fans than during the episodes that brought the Justice League together. All those amazing heroes I mentioned earlier come together for the first time in an episode called Justice and it was one of the best ideas they ever had. I was convinced that a new television series was going to be born out of that show but alas it still hasn’t happened yet.

Clark teams up with Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), Aquaman (Alan Ritchson), Cyborg (Lee Thompson Young) and Impulse (aka The Flash) (Kyle Gallner) to take down a secret Luthor Corp facility that is supposedly performing experiments on people with abilities ultimately leading to the building of a new super army of evil. C’mon, how cool is that? While the final shot of exploding buildings behind our slowly walking heroes is the ultimate in hero cheese it makes me smile from ear to ear every time I see it!

There are countless lines throughout the series that literally gave me chills because of the references they make back to the lore. For example when the final released phantom from the zone takes a sample of Clarks DNA and becomes Bizarro he has a line, “I’m you… only a little more bizarre.” Yeah, I had to rewind and watch that moment a few times before I could stop being giddy about it.

Season seven, unfortunately, is where the show began to lose steam. They introduced the new recurring character of Clark’s cousin Kara (Laura Vandervoort) from Krypton but they were never able to use her effectively. They tried to make her fit in by making her both the fish out of water girl but also the character who knew more about all things Kryptonian than Clark did; it was all too jumbled and confusing because they didn’t really know what they wanted her to be. (Other than a super-hot blonde who could fly!)

Another factor adding to the shows decline was the departure of Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor and Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang after season seven to allegedly pursue other projects. (For her that meant Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and for him it meant a string of less than successful TV shows and some voice acting work in super hero cartoons like Justice League: Doom so I’m not sure it was the best move for their careers, but seven straight years is a long time to be on a show.)

The first season post Lex departure introduces Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) and the man who would become Doomsday, Davis Bloom (Sam Witwer). Both of these were great additions and to be honest having Sam Witwer in there really filled the bad guy void. I just wished he could have been around for longer than a single season. Callum Blue as ‘Major’ Zod on the other hand in season nine just didn’t work at all and their attempts at Darkseid in the final year were just sad.

As disappointing as those last two seasons were, it’s been my opinion that shaky Smallville is better than no Smallville at all. So I’m glad it lasted as long as it did even though there are only a handful of episodes from those final two years that I would care to revisit.

Not surprisingly some of the best episodes in those waning years were the ones that saw the return of Kristin Kreuk as a now super-powered Lana Lang who is finally ready to fight crime alongside Clark as a physical equal. It made no sense to me that just as they were getting us used to the idea of Clark being with Lois that they would re-introduce Lana. And not only re-introduce her, but finally make her absolutely perfect for Clark… only to have her snatched away from us in season eight never to be seen again. That was disappointing. Although I have to say the explanation for why they could never be together was pretty genius. (Roswell did it first but yeah stealing from the greats is to be expected.)

The Davis / Chloe / Jimmy love triangle came to a surprising close at the end of season eight and it was a very satisfying conclusion to a wonderful storyline; I wish the same could be said for Doomsday. His demise was somewhat anti-climactic. Smallville always did amazing build-ups to show-downs, but the final battles themselves rarely ever lived up to the expectations we had for them. I think budget is mostly to blame for these less than stellar finale action sequences; but on the upside the story was always more than enough to keep you watching to see what came next.

Speaking of that particular love triangle, I think it really showed the evolution of the character of Chloe who began as the unrequited love sick best friend to Clark and who eventually becomes arguably the most powerful, self-assured and confident member of this crime fighting team. She always was and continues to be my absolute favorite part of this show. Tom does a decent job of portraying his journey and evolution over the years but the transformation Allison goes through as Chloe makes his pale in comparison.

By the final episode you can see all of the things that have happened to her to make her the person she is in those final two hours and it happens without obvious effort on her part; the changes have just happened. She’s really a fantastic actress.

All of the comic book stories and established characters aside I have to mention one of my favorite episodes which was actually a standalone called Warrior. In this episode a young boy is transformed into a super-hot hero after reading a charmed rare comic book. The beginning of the show takes place at ‘Met-Con’ clearly the Metropolis version of Comic Con and there are so many nods to the audience that it’s insane! For instance having Tom Welling’s real life stand-in dressed in his ‘Clark from the farm’ outfit bumping into present day Clark in his shirt and tie and then having Lois dressed up like an Amazonian Princess a.k.a. Wonder Woman.

While all of those are super fun to watch and point out, the real power of the episode though comes in the form of its guest star the insanely hot / adorable Carlo Marks as Stephen Swift. He has the ripped gorgeous body of a man but plays the innocence of his 12 year old character wonderfully creating the perfect combination of powerful yet naive. And it’s yet another opportunity for Chloe to demonstrate her authority in the hero world as she takes him under her wing and ultimately thanks to what he teaches her helps to spark her final love interest – the insanely handsome and heroic, Oliver Queen.

While the final tenth season was mostly forgettable they did go out on a relative high note connecting the ten years fans have spent in Smallville with the years to come imagining our Clark as a fully formed Superman. I of course had complaints with the two hour finale, for example the exclusion of the rest of the Justice League characters, the relative ease with which Clark defeats the physical form of Darkseid and most importantly the lack of full clear shots of Tom Welling in the suit.

I mean, c’mon, for ten years that’s what people have been waiting to see and when it finally happens they make sure to only show him from either very far away wide shots or super close ups on just his face. He’s a handsome man and all but we wanted to see some full body shots of the Man of Steel! Sadly, we didn’t. But the overall feel and pace of the finale was good… not epic as it could have been… but solid.

The special features on this massive box set are incredibly extensive including all of the previously seen features from seasons one through nine on DVD and then also new features for season ten… Plus additional discs of features just for this series long set.

The two featurettes from Season ten, The Son Becomes The Father and Back in the Jacket: A Smallville Homecoming are interesting but rely very heavily on interviews with the producers of the show and some experts on behavior from various universities. I’m all for ‘credit where credit is due’ with regard to the producers, but I’d much rather be hearing the actors talk about their experiences and perceptions than some random talking heads from ‘not-so-impressive U’ in the Midwest.

The first ‘extra special’ feature I jumped ahead to was the pilot episode of the ill-fated Aquaman series starring Justin Hartley in the lead role. At the time I was disappointed that it didn’t get picked up but now after seeing it, I’m kind of grateful it didn’t. Justin is far more suited to the green leather than the flippers.

There’s also the 1961 pilot for The Adventures of Superboy that is quite the time warp experience. Talk about ‘how far we’ve come.’

There is a documentary style featurette called, Secret Origin: The American Story of DC Comics that explores the entire history of DC comics and how this entire genre that we all take for granted now originally came to be and it’s fascinating! I would say this is a “must see feature” for any fan of the genre or anyone who agrees that The Dark Knight was one of the best movies ever made. Seeing where all of that came from is really something.

Smallville’s 100th Episode: Making of a Milestone is something that anyone interested in going into television production should see. It makes you realize the insane amount of work that must go into producing a single hour of television and often times how NOT glamorous it is. So before you run off to Hollywood to start making TV shows, check this out.

A Decade of Comic Con is a great feature that shows footage from several panels throughout the years at the annual convention. For me it was particularly interesting to watch because most of the footage they used with the actors was shot at last years’ Con which we were at! In fact the red carpet style interviews were the same we attended; we were just a little further down the carpet. We got amazing stuff though and encourage everyone to check out our video interviews with pretty much the entire cast!

All of these features are great and well worth watching, but for my money the best one is a series of ten shorter featurettes called, A Retrospective Look at the Series with Season Featurettes. Season by season these little glimpses behind the camera take you through the shows entire evolution with massive amounts of interviews not just with the producers and creative team but with the stars themselves and is really a fun ride. If you ever just want to remind yourself of the main plot points and twists and turns throughout the years, just watch these.

I really can’t tell you how happy I am to have this amazing set as part of my permanent Home Viewing Collection. (Of course, Blu-rays would have been better – but these DVD’s still look and sound amazing!) This is honestly the type of thing I intend to hold on to so that someday if I’m lucky enough to have a son of my own, I can introduce him to this amazing world and re-experience the wonder of it all over again through his eyes.

Way to go WB! Way. To. Go.

Dolphin Tale

Daniel Reynolds — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:34:49 +0000

Hollywood loves stories about children making friends with sea mammals. Here’s the latest installment, Dolphin Tale, a heartwarming, sometimes hokey, but serviceable family film about a young boy’s fight to save an injured dolphin.

The meat and potatoes (fish and chips?) of the film is centered on the boy-mammal relationship, which begins when eleven-year-old Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) discovers his dolphin friend-to-be tangled in a crab trap on the beach. Nelson cuts the badly injured creature free and an emergency squad transports her to the nearby Clearwater Marine Hospital, where Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick, Jr.), his staff, and his spunky, also-eleven-year-old daughter, Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) administer care to sickly sea creatures. At first, all seems lost for Winter, the name they give the poor dolphin, who is unresponsive to their tending. But Winter’s energy returns when Sawyer comes to visit, and the boy decides to volunteer at the hospital until his bottle-nosed friend gets better.

The turn of the screw strikes when Winter develops an infection in her tail, and the doctor is forced to amputate. For most dolphins, this means a trip to the tuna factory. But miraculously, Winter finds a way to swim by swinging her body back and forth. Hooray! Don’t touch that dial, though. This solution can only be temporary, Dr. Harry Connick, Jr. explains, because prolonged horizontal movement is unnatural to a dolphin’s body, and could permanently damage the spinal cord.

So now what? Deus ex Morgan Freeman, that’s what. The Bucket List star plays Dr. Cameron McCarthy, an eccentric maker of prosthetic limbs at a VA hospital. Young Sawyer meets Dr. McCarthy while visiting his cousin (Austin Stowell), a wounded veteran and former swimming superstar, who is struggling to regain use of an injured leg. (Yes, they went there.) He convinces the doctor to attempt a design of a prosthetic dolphin tail and, well, let the tears and montages roll.

Typical of children’s movies, the adults are clueless about solving problems. So it’s up to Sawyer and Hazel to save Winter and (because we’re in a recession) the debt-ridden marine hospital from going out of business. Oh, there’s also a few other stock characters: Kris Kristofferson plays a wise and grizzled sailor/grandfather, and Ashley Judd treads water as Sawyer’s single mom, whose role is to act astonished at her formerly apathetic son’s newfound passion, and to drive him different places (Connick plays a widower, so this seemed a missed romantic opportunity). There’s also a mischievous pelican that provides some great comic relief. But the dolphin, of course, steals the show, and viewers of all ages may find themselves reaching for the tissues at the film’s heartfelt, if predictable, conclusion.

While this script could have been easy fodder for a Lifetime movie, a stellar cast raises Dolphin Tale to only mild schmaltz. It’s also based on the true story of a marine hospital’s rescue of a baby dolphin, Winter, who surprisingly plays herself in the movie. Intrigued? The Blu-ray special features offer a segment titled “Winter’s Inspiration,” which charts the dolphin’s miraculous road to recovery. In addition, there’s a requisite gag reel, a deservedly deleted scene called “Winter Meets Panama,” and a cute animated short, “Ormie and the Cookie Jar.” “Spotlight on a Scene” is also worth checking out, as it overviews the filming of the opening underwater scene and the addition of CGI effects.

This scene, shot with a digital 3D camera in the waters off the Cayman Islands, is visually spectacular in Blu-ray: schools of brightly-colored fish dart between reefs as bright, shimmering sunlight trickles overhead. With Dolphin Tale’s 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer, Winter seems poised to swim right into the living room. Though a slight saturation gives characters’ skin a bronze hue, the details are sharp throughout, and even grains of sand stand out. Meanwhile, the film’s sound is at its best in outdoor scenes, particularly by the ocean: waves crash on the beach, a gull cries out, and a dolphin spouts air from its blowhole. Overall, nothing phenomenal, but nothing distracting either, which suits this particular tale just fine.

While the more cultured moviegoers may roll their eyes at Dolphin Tale’s bromides, children will most certainly be charmed. And despite initial reservations, this adult ended up shedding a tear or two for the little dolphin who could.

Fright Night

Dan Deevy — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:52:05 +0000

I generally hate reviewing remakes of classic films without having seen the original. However, when there’s a deadline looming over my head and a staff full of already busy writers, I have no choice but to bite the bullet and review the film solely on its own merit.

Fright Night succeeds in being a decent “pretty people in peril” film but never goes above and beyond that. There’s nothing here that breaks any new ground or sets any new trends. It certainly will not be regarded as any new height in filmmaking, horror or otherwise; but for some mindless distraction if you enjoy the subject matter and are ready willing and able to drool over Colin Farrell at his all-time hottest then it’s just fine.

Visually the film is gorgeous from its Harry Potter like areal intro to its Kick Ass style comic book ending. In between the movie is loaded with some cool fight scenes, some stereotypical relationships and a lot of less than scary attempts at scares.

For those not familiar, Fright Night is a Disney remake of the classic 1985 film of the same name which follows the all American vampire-next-door named Jerry (Colin Farrell) and his interactions with his young inquisitive suburban neighbor, Charley (Anton Yelchin). The film is rated ‘R’ but I’m not quite sure why. There are some amputations and some disintegrations but they are handled in a campy, tame way that leads you to believe a ‘PG-13’ would have been more than sufficient for the MPAA.

The only real reason to see this move is because you’re a fan of the cast members. It’s a stellar line up and everyone, without fail, is just fantastic in their roles. If this had been taken more seriously and gone a darker route this could have been a mind-blowingly good film.

As I mentioned earlier Colin Farrell is the hottest that we have ever seen him. He’s worked out and filled out very nicely and his hair is finally not over powering his gorgeous face. He pulls of sexy and slightly scary so well in real life that it’s not surprising that you buy every last second of it on film here. You find yourself thinking, ‘would it really be so bad to be killed by him?’ And trust me it takes a little while to come up with an answer.

Anton Yelchin continues his long, steady march to super stardom here by playing a somewhat typical, but still endearing, dork turned cool guy. You can obviously argue that at this point in his career he’s basically playing himself here minus the supernatural elements and you’d be right, but as Joy Behar would say, ‘So what? Who cares?’ he does it really well and is fun to watch. Plus he has a shirtless scene at the end of this movie that proves once this young man becomes a full grown man… watch out!

Equally impressive, but stretching slightly more performance wise is Christopher Mintz-Plasse who plays Charley’s long forgotten former geeky best friend turned angry, vengeful enemy. I generally enjoy his performances and respect how much work he’s gotten playing this very specific ‘type’ but after this movie I definitely see him in a slightly more versatile light. I think he could do some really interesting things in the horror / fantasy /sci-fi genre.

Imogen Poots rounds out the young cast and is absolutely gorgeous and engaging throughout the film. Normally, the girl love interest is completely dull but she’s such a wonderful actress that she manages to add a little something extra here to keep things interesting. I see big things coming for her in the very near future.

Of course I can’t not mention the amazing Toni Collette as Charley’s down-to-Earth, but undeniably sexy, mom. After the mind blowing performances she gave on Showtime’s United States of Tara it’s hard to imagine her ever being challenged again to that same level. In movies like this it’s like watching a pro tennis player opposite a 10 year old who’s never picked up a racket. Sure she’s good, but how good does she have to be to be the best thing on the court?

The special features include a blooper reel that’s pretty funny and several featurettes that go behind the scenes of the making of the film; all are well done but nothing really to write home about.

The quality of the video and audio on the Blu-ray is top notch especially when viewed on a large flat screen so in this sense it’s worth watching at home, but I don’t think it’s a title you’re going to want to view multiple times so rental will probably suffice here.

The Hangover Part II

Daniel Reynolds — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:26:45 +0000

Hangovers. We’ve all had them before, nature’s reminder that pouring large quantities of poison into our bodies may feel sublime in the moment, but ultimately has its tragic consequences: the pounding head, the rising nausea, the promise to ourselves that we’ll never do that to ourselves again. But inevitably we do, and so has Hollywood, churning out The Hangover Part II, a sequel disappointingly devoid of the surprise, wit, and charm that made the first Hangover such a standout comedy in 2009.

So where did the sequel go wrong? The answer is: ‘surprise’, an essential element to this genre that this script just doesn’t deliver. Expectant fans are given only a cheap carbon copy of the original story. As you’ll recall from Part I, groomsmen Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) decide to throw a bachelor party for their friend on the eve of his wedding. They awake the next day to discover their world in disarray: their friend is missing, they have no memory of the night before, and they must piece together last night’s events in order to find him before the ceremony. The Hangover Part II is essentially paint by numbers. Swap Las Vegas for Bangkok, a missing tooth for a tattoo, a baby for a monkey and the rest is déjà vu. Even Mike Tyson makes an unfortunate repeat cameo. The characters also frequently reference the events of the original. “This is not Stu’s first marriage,” Alan says during a wedding toast. “There was a whore in Las Vegas a few years ago.” I laughed, but I was laughing at the memory of a better movie.

In place of originality, The Hangover Part II relies on the trick of shock value, and relentlessly tries to top the absurdity of its predecessor. (Some spoilers, here). Within minutes, the viewer is confronted with full-frontal male nudity, a cocaine overdose, and a string of gunfights, car burnings, and police riots in the streets. The movie paints a very dark portrait of Bangkok. “Once Bangkok has you in its grip, it won’t let you go,” says Paul Giamatti in a supporting role as a gangster, and indeed the movie is less about the mystery of “What the hell happened last night?” than about the protagonists trying to escape this hellish place populated by morally bankrupt characters. (The wedding, conveniently, is located at a posh island resort only accessible by boat.) And while I’m sure there are those that may laugh at the prospect of the groom-to-be having unprotected sex with a Thai transsexual stripper, there will be many like myself, who will pity the poor bride and the inevitable disease she will contract on her wedding night.

If you’re looking for a plethora of special features, you’ll be disappointed. In addition to a gag reel, there are three short “Behind the Story” sequences about the director, the monkey, and a tour of Bangkok with Chow, played by Ken Jeong. Definitely check out the unauthorized documentary, as it was the funniest thing on the disc.

If you must watch this movie, make sure you experience it in Blu-ray. The camera crews were not as lazy as the writers, and it shows. The 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer succeeds in creating an often-startling clarity. Bangkok’s grittiness comes to life in vivid and oversaturated colors. Every pore, stubble, and drop of sweat trickles through. In a scene near the film’s conclusion, dozens of paper lanterns are launched into the night sky, and the effect is nothing less than breathtaking on a large screen.

As for Warner’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, you’ll be thrilled by the immersive experience. Listen carefully past the dialogue, and you’ll hear the city shake with traffic, waves lap on a dock, an ice machine hum, and a helicopter roar. In addition, the music is well chosen and suits the mood of each scene. As the camera pans across the still-unconscious Wolf Pack, Johnny Cash’s “The Beast In Me” plays and perfectly captures the struggle of these men coming to terms with their wanton alter egos. At times The Hangover Part II often feels like a musical, as its characters burst into song throughout. In one strange riverboat scene, Stu strums an inexplicable guitar and sings “Alan-town,” a memorable spoof of Billy Joel’s “Allentown.” In such brief moments of levity, I could almost forget what movie I was watching. Almost.

Super 8: Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack Contest

Dan Deevy — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:16:20 +0000

TheCinemaSource is proud to be giving away free copies of SUPER 8 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack with Digital Copy!

After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon. Produced by the legendary Steven Spielberg and starring a cast full of fresh faces, SUPER 8 was one of the most anticipated films of 2011 and now it can be yours to keep FOREVER!

We’ll be giving away SUPER 8 to a few lucky fans — which could include you! SUPER 8 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack with Digital Copy boasts more than two hours of enthralling special features including eight behind-the-scenes featurettes, an in-depth deconstruction of the breathtaking train crash, interviews with cast and crew including J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg and more.

To enter, just e-mail our contest man DanDeevy@gmail.com with “SUPER 8″ in the subject line. That’s it! We’ll pick the winners at random and notify you via email if you’ve won.

Beginners

Kieran Newton — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

When my editor shoves a stack of Blu-Rays into my hands and tells me to get cracking, it’s a job I undertake with hesitation. While I do love my job, I’ve come to realize over the past four months that, truly, the vast majority of films produced are nothing more than mediocre. It’s not that they’re phenomenally bad, either—those reviews are seriously fun to write—they just have absolutely nothing to delineate them from the crowd. I find myself incredibly lucky that the first film I picked out of this pile was Beginners, a graceful, simple film that is exquisite in its execution and makes nary a misstep throughout. It was a wonderful, totally enjoyable film, one that is quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year.

Like I said, it’s a simple story: Oliver Fields (Ewan McGregor) is still getting past the recent death of his father Hal (Christopher Plummer). Hal died at 79. At 75, he informed Oliver that he was gay, and had known that he was since he was 13 years old. As he is struggling to cope with the death of his father, consequently isolating himself from nearly everyone in his life, Oliver meets Anna (Melanie Laurent), someone who is just as alone as he is, and the two form a hesitant bond, neither wanting to be hurt by the other, as each has been in the past.

The film jumps back and forth between past and present, illuminating Oliver’s relationship with his outed father as well as his childhood relationship with his mother, a woman whose knowledge of her husband’s “condition” and her inability to “cure” it made her a bit…addled, in the head. The best part about all of it is how phenomenally well it’s written. Writer/director Mike Mills, who decided to tell this autobiographical tale (purportedly, all the scenes with his father actually happened), did an exquisite job of never saying more than necessary, the things left unsaid vastly more important than those actually spoken.

The script truly is great, but even better are the actors, who you forget are doing anything other than living their lives. McGregor and Laurent are so delightfully, quietly comfortable with one another that they don’t need to tell each other everything about themselves, because, in a way, they already know. And my word, don’t get me started on Plummer, who really should get the Academy Award for this performance. He is so heartbreakingly wonderful, and his twisted, confused relationship with his son is portrayed so effortlessly and beautifully that you never want to tear your eyes away. He is a man who never gave up on love, even at the end of his life, after being unable to really search for it for so many years, and it is a moving, fantastic performance.

Another element I might bring up is the dog, a Jack Russell named Arthur (played by a dog named Cosmo). I’m not usually a fan of animal companions in movies because it feels trite, but I swear, this dog is a character, one with emotions and ambitions as real as those of the others. His hilariously dark subtitles, used brilliantly to convey Oliver’s own insecurities and fears, really add an innovative element to the film, which, in all honesty, is stylistically unlike anything I’ve ever seen (although I suppose the closest would have to be 500 Days of Summer, what with its narrated sequences and unique visual style).

Also, it’s not often that the score in an indie romantic comedy (if that’s what this genre-breaking film can be called) is of any note, but Beginners‘ certainly is, its delicate, dour piano lines effectively reflecting the tone of the film, without making it trite or dragging it down into self-important melancholy. But enough about the film. This is a Blu-Ray review, after all.

There are only two extras on the disc, and they are hit and miss, respectively. The first is a short documentary about the making of the film, which, while not a new concept, is done quite well, and gives some very interesting insights into the historically-accurate nature of the film and its shooting process. I found it interesting. I dunno. The other thing is the director’s commentary. I mean, I like Mike Mills, because I think he’s a talented guy, but as usual, I will never, of my own volition, re-watch a film just for the commentary. I think interviews are great, and narrating certain sections of a film in order to bring out interesting elements is cool, but if I want to watch the movie again, I’ll watch the damn thing again. Having a director’s commentary is like being in a movie theater with a self-important hipster who just won’t shut up because he just needs to share everything he knows about the film.

That all being said, you need to see this movie. Not sure if it’s a “must-buy,” in terms of extra content, but you do need to see it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Kieran Newton — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:19:08 +0000

Okay, so I feel as though it’s necessary for me to clear the air before I start this review: I grew up with Harry Potter. I read every book with my parents as soon as it came out, we went to see all the films, and over the years I dressed up as several of the characters. Am I ashamed of any of these facts? No. It’s a great, great book series, that teaches a phenomenal amount of life lessons and has a lot of heart and is amazing for so many reasons but I’m not going to go into that right now. Are the books better than the movies? Yes. Yes they are. However, despite its flaws, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was a fitting conclusion to this epic saga. It’s not too shabby, and it appealed to its core audience, which is all we can ask for.

I’m not going to bother talking about the story. It’s a movie about the second, climactic half of the final book in a seven part series. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) are trying to kill each other. And so we go. To be quite honest, the movie simply can’t stand on its own. Author J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. spent so much time in the previous books establishing characters that at this point it would be redundant, so it just sort of jumps right in. People have died, and more people are going to die, and we know how it’s going to end, but we still watch anyway.

The absolute worst part of the film is how preposterously short it is—weighing in at 130 minutes, this is the shortest installment in the Potter series to date, and even though it’s only covering half a book, it shows. Sequences that could have been beautifully fleshed out with character development, dialogue, or just more of the incredible special effects that have gone into the series feel strangely short and brusquely tossed aside, without effectively capitalizing on the epic nature of certain conflicts. The one that rankled me most was the fight between Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) and Molly Weasley (Julie Walters), which lasted all of 15 seconds. Really? Really??? This is the blockbuster finish to the most lucrative and successful book and movie franchise the world has ever known and you’re going to skimp on the bloody fight scenes in the last 15 minutes of the film?? I don’t understand it.

I don’t think the production team realized that fans would have sat in that theater for three hours if it meant finally having a Harry Potter movie that was completely, 100% true to the material it was meant to convey, which is a shame—if they had known how absolutely driven Potter fans can be, the film would have capped off the series much more effectively, even though it was utterly satisfying already. But I digress.

The real question now is whether you should purchase such a film on Bluray. It almost seems silly to ask. If you’re reading this review to decide whether you should pick up the Bluray, it’s for one basic reason: you’re not a diehard Harry Potter fan. If you’re reading this review right now, and you’re someone other than my mom, who only reads my reviews to support me (HI MOM!), and you are using it to decide whether you should buy it, you probably shouldn’t. This implies that you either didn’t see the movie in theaters or did and weren’t 100% taken with it, and if either of these is the case, rent it at best. It is a movie made by Harry Potter fans (as pretty much every interview shows) and certainly for Harry Potter fans.

That being said, the Bluray caters to its audience: there are some seriously cool extra features for anybody who wants to really delve into this final chapter in the HP saga. There’s a number of featurettes on all the special effects of the movie, and especially on the climactic and brutally destructive final battle. For a more emotional piece, there’s the conversation between Radcliffe and Rowling about how their lives have been changed by this incredible franchise. It’s a good little set, provided you love Harry Potter.

I find myself incredibly annoyed whenever someone above the age of 25 or so tries to review a Harry Potter film, especially if they don’t have children, because these, more often than not, are the people who “don’t get it,” who scoff at its dramatics to try and make themselves feel big. At the end of the last film, I was highly aware that it wasn’t a phenomenal movie, but I bawled, sobbing loudly and profusely in that dark movie theater, overwhelmed by the fact that my childhood was now over. I cried because it wasn’t about the movie, but about the story it contained.

We all did.