Author: Jason Zingale (Page 84 of 112)

Blu Tuesday: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, The Call and More

June 25, 2013 / Jason Zingale

Every Tuesday, I review the newest Blu-ray releases and let you know whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping, along with a breakdown of the included extras. If you see something you like, click on the cover art to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon, and be sure to share each week’s column on Facebook and Twitter with your friends.

“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”

WHAT: Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrel) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) used to be the hottest act on the Vegas Strip, but in recent years, they’ve been overshadowed by a self-mutilating street magician named Steve Gray (Jim Carrey). When the duo parts ways following a failed attempt to update their show, they must put aside their differences and compete against Gray for the chance to earn the headlining spot at their former employer’s brand new hotel.

WHY: The trailer for “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” had disaster written all over it, but much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed the film quite a bit. The movie is laugh-out-loud funny at times, and there’s not a single weak link in the cast. Steve Carell channels his inner Will Ferrell as the conceited magician, while Jim Carrey proves that he’s still got it as the Criss Angel-like villain. Even Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin and James Gandolfini (in one of his final film roles) get in on the laughs, and that’s mostly to the credit of Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daly’s amusing screenplay. Though it may seem like the movie is just making fun of magicians at their expense, it has a healthy respect for its subject matter (David Copperfield even served as a special consultant) and does a better job of showcasing the art of magic than last month’s “Now You See Me.”

EXTRAS: In addition to nearly 30 minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes, there’s also a short magic featurette with Copperfield, footage from Steve Gray’s faux video series “The Best of the Brain Rapist” and a gag reel.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

“The Call”

WHAT: Feeling partially responsible for the kidnapping and subsequent death of a teenage girl, 911 dispatcher Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) takes a leave of absence, eventually returning six months later in a new position as a training supervisor. But when a fellow operator receives a distress call from teenager Casey Wilson (Abigail Breslin) after she’s kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car, Jordan jumps back into the hot seat, only to discover that the abductor is the same man from the previous incident.

WHY: The WWE logo is a strange thing to see before any movie, but especially one that stars a former Oscar winner like Halle Berry. Sadly, just when it looks like “The Call” is going to deliver a fresh take on the kidnapping genre, it switches gears and becomes another run-of-the-mill thriller better suited for VOD than the big screen. Though it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the film starts to go downhill, you won’t find a more unintentionally funny scene this year than the introduction of the villain – an over-the-top Norman Bates clone who’s first seen listening to Taco’s synth-pop cover of Puttin’ on the Ritz.” It’s disappointing to see Brad Anderson’s once-promising career relegated to low-rent fodder like this, because while the director and his two stars try their best to elevate the material, their effort only goes so far before the movie crumbles into a clichéd mess.

EXTRAS: The bonus material features a little bit of everything, including deleted scenes, an alternate ending, the audition tape for actor Michael Eklund, a tour of the film’s two main sets, and a stunt featurette on the gas station sequence.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

Entertainment, Movies

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Movie Review: “World War Z”

June 20, 2013 / Jason Zingale

Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Fana Mokoena, Sterling Jerins, Abigail Hargrove

Marc Forster

“World War Z” has gone through a battle of its own just to make it into theaters. In addition to rumors of a bloated budget and unrest on the set between director Mark Forster and star Brad Pitt, the film’s original release date was pushed back six months to accommodate major rewrites and additional shooting. The studio may not have been able to keep the behind-the-scenes drama under wraps, but it doesn’t seem to have affected the final product, because you honestly wouldn’t know there was even a problem to begin with from watching the movie. Although fans of Max Brooks’ bestselling novel will undoubtedly be disappointed by how much has been changed during the adaptation from page to screen, “World War Z” is an immensely entertaining film that also happens to be much smarter than your average summer blockbuster.

Pitt stars as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations worker who specialized in averting international disasters. These days, however, he’s just an ordinary stay-at-home dad living with his wife (Mireille Enos) and two kids in Philadelphia. During a routine trip into the city one morning, all hell breaks loose when people suddenly start attacking others on the street like feral animals, transforming the victims into similar monsters within seconds of being bitten. Gerry and his family barely manage to escape the chaos and are eventually rescued by helicopter and transported to an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after his old U.N. buddy Thierry (Fana Mokoena) pulls some strings. Of course, Thierry has ulterior motives for saving Gerry’s life and wants him back in the field immediately to help track down the cause of the zombie epidemic, and if he refuses, his family will be swiftly booted off the VIP-only vessel.

Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Movies

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Movie Review: “The Bling Ring”

June 20, 2013 / Jason Zingale

Katie Chang, Isreal Broussard, Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, Claire Julien

Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola was once heralded as one of Hollywood’s most promising young directors, but over the years, she’s looked more likely to follow in the footsteps of her famous father’s recent work than his celebrated early films. After duds like “Marie Antoinette” and “Somewhere,” Coppola needed to deliver something great to get her career back on track, but while “The Bling Ring” offers an interesting commentary on America’s fame-obsessed youth culture, it’s an incredibly shallow exposé that barely skims the surface of what could have been a fascinating drama. Based on Nancy Jo Sales’ Vanity Fair article “The Suspect Wore Louboutins,” there’s no real point to the movie, unless it’s to say that stealing from B-list celebrities will make you equally as famous, in which case, isn’t it just contributing to the problem?

Though all of the names have been changed, Coppola doesn’t shy away from the fact that it’s based on a true story. If only the studio was as upfront about Emma Watson’s involvement, because despite being marketed as the star of the film, the actress plays a surprisingly small role. Instead, the story is centered on a gay outcast named Marc (Israel Broussard), who meets type-A bad girl Rebecca (Katie Chang) during his first day at a new school and is promptly taken under her wing. After wetting their feet with some petty thefts, Rebecca convinces Marc to break into Paris Hilton’s house when they read on a gossip website that she’s out of town for the night, leaving the pair free to go on a mini shopping spree of the hotel heiress’ massive wardrobe.

When they boast about how easy their conquest was to friends Nicki (Watson), Sam (Taissa Farmiga) and Chloe (Claire Julien), the group of teenage kleptomaniacs returns to Hilton’s house to indulge in their celebrity fantasies, leading to a series of burglaries in the homes of other Hollywood Hills residents like Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, Miranda Kerr and Rachel Bilson. (In every instance, one of the doors was either unlocked, or in the case of Hilton, a key was left under the doormat.) And since Coppola intercuts the main narrative with scenes of the rich kids preparing for their big day in court, it’s not a spoiler to reveal that they were eventually caught.

Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Movies

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Blu Tuesday: Stoker, Jack the Giant Slayer and More

June 18, 2013 / Jason Zingale

“Stoker”

WHAT: After her father dies in a car accident on her 18th birthday, India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) becomes infatuated with her uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), who she never knew existed, when he comes to live with India and her unstable mother (Nicole Kidman). But when people around town start disappearing, she begins to suspect that Charlie may be the one responsible.

WHY: Written by former “Prison Break” star Wentworth Miller, “Stoker” plays like one giant homage to Alfred Hitchcock (particularly his 1943 film “Shadow of a Doubt”), but with a decidedly unique and erotic twist that only a director of Park Chan-wook’s warped sensibilities could conceive. To call the movie a slow burn would be putting it lightly, but it’s entirely compelling in the way that it patiently seduces the audience into an almost dreamlike trance. You simply can’t look away, and that’s thanks mostly to the stylish combination of Chung Chung-hoon’s rich cinematography and Nicholas de Toth’s playful editing. Though it would be easy to criticize the film for favoring style over substance, there’s a lot more going on behind the sumptuous visuals, including some excellent performances by its lead actors. “Stoker” isn’t for everyone, but fans of Park’s previous work won’t be disappointed by this offbeat, psychosexual thriller.

EXTRAS: Fox’s single-disc release boasts a behind-the-scenes look at making the film, a trio of featurettes on the characters, production design and score, footage from the red carpet premiere and deleted scenes.

FINAL VERDICT: BUY

“Jack the Giant Slayer”

WHAT: When a young farmhand named Jack (Nicholas Hoult) accidentally opens a gateway between his world and a race of vengeful giants using some magic beans, he joins a search party of the king’s bravest men to climb the beanstalk and rescue the princess (Eleanor Tomlinson) from captivity, reigniting a centuries-old war.

WHY: Bryan Singer hasn’t made a good movie since “X2: X-Men United,” and that streak continues with this dull reimagining of the classic fairy tale, which features some of the ugliest special effects of the year (unless you include Ewan McGregor’s hair). There are so many things wrong with “Jack the Giant Slayer” that it’s hard to know where to begin, but a lot of the problems stem from the script, which strikes such a contradicting tone (one minute a silly adventure film, and the next a dark and gritty action movie) that it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. The actors suffer the most as a result – especially star Nicholas Hoult, who’s unable to do much with such a bland, one-dimensional character. McGregor does have a bit of fun as the head of the king’s guard, but he’s about the only enjoyable thing in an otherwise lackluster film.

EXTRAS: In addition to an interactive experience on how to “Become a Giant Slayer” hosted by Nicholas Hoult, there are also some deleted scenes and a gag reel.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

Entertainment, Movies

Blu Tuesday Jack the Giant Slayer new Blu-rays Stoker

Scootering Around Roma: The best way to see the Eternal City is on two wheels

June 16, 2013 / Jason Zingale

Last month, my wife and I went on a mini European tour for our honeymoon that comprised of stopovers in London, Paris and Rome. But this story starts a little earlier than that, roughly two weeks before we were scheduled to leave, when I suddenly got the itch to research Vespa tours in Italy. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, but for some reason, failed to include in our original plans. Thankfully, after trading a few emails with the wonderful couple that runs Scooteroma Tours, they graciously agreed to take us around Rome to experience what makes seeing the Eternal City from a motorino (that’s “scooter,” in Italian) so extraordinary.

Annie, the self-titled Scooter Maven, was unfortunately unable to join us on the tour due to a bad case of bronchitis (though she stopped by the meeting point to introduce herself anyway), but her husband and business partner Giovanni arrived with one of their many other English-speaking tour guides, all of whom have years of professional experience in the tourism and hospitality industries. As a couple of Yanks with only a phrase book-sized knowledge of Italian, I can’t begin to explain how much of a relief it was to have tour guides who not only spoke English, but spoke it fluently. (Annie herself is American-born, but you can read all about how she came to live in Rome here.)

With the pleasantries and introductions out of the way, it was time to hop on the back of a Vespa and get to scootering. While Giovanni drove a newer Vespa model (red and shiny, and clearly the pride and joy of the Scooteroma family), his cohort Stefano arrived on a gorgeous vintage Vespa in order to give us a taste of what it would be like riding on both. That’s because Scooteroma offers a variety of different tours, as well as different ways to experience them. In addition to their half- and full-day tours, the company also does vintage Vespa and foodie tours, as well as a few other non-scooter variations. You can also either rent a scooter (up to two people per bike) or chose to ride on the back along with a guide, and although driving might sound like a lot of fun, it was actually much more enjoyable just to sit back and soak up the sights as Giovanni and Stefano zipped around the busy streets of Rome.

Motorcycles, On Location, Travel

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