Author: Jason Zingale (Page 85 of 112)

Movie Review: “Man of Steel”

June 13, 2013 / Jason Zingale

Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne

Zack Snyder

Marvel and DC Comics may be viewed as equals in the publishing arena, but the latter is hopelessly losing the battle when it comes to their respective film divisions. While Marvel has released one hit after the next (culminating in last year’s mega hit “The Avengers”), DC has failed to launch a single successful franchise other than Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy. 2006’s “Superman Returns” was a big disappointment, 2011’s “Green Lantern” was even worse, and Joss Whedon’s long-mooted Wonder Woman project was ultimately axed, leading him to direct the aforementioned “Avengers” for the competition.

But in trying to reboot their Superman franchise, parent company Warner Bros. did something very smart – they enlisted the aid of Nolan and Batman co-writer David S. Goyer to usher in a new era of Kyrpton’s favorite son. And if “Man of Steel” is any indication, that was a great move on the part of the studio, not only because they’ve finally managed to do Superman right, but because it shows that they’re thinking about the bigger picture, both for their flagship character and the DC movie universe as a whole.

“Man of Steel” is a giant-sized film with so much on its plate that it takes nearly 30 minutes before Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) even makes his first appearance. The movie opens with a prologue set on Krypton amid a military coup by General Zod (Michael Shannon) in a last-ditch attempt to save their dying planet. But scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) doesn’t agree with Zod taking such desperate measures, and instead launches his newborn son Kal-El (the first natural born Kryptonian in centuries) to Earth in the hope that he can save that planet from making the same mistakes. In the end, Zod and his cronies are captured and sentenced to the Phantom Zone, while Krypton is destroyed.

Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Movies

Amy Adams Henry Cavill Man of Steel Man of Steel review Michael Shannon Russell Crowe Superman

Blu Tuesday: The Newsroom, House of Cards and More

June 11, 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 Newsroom: The Complete First Season”

WHAT: Following a mandatory leave of absence after a political tirade goes viral, news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Bridges) returns to find that most of his staff has quit. Seeing an opportunity to rebrand the nighttime program, his boss (Sam Waterson) hires Will’s ex-girlfriend, MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), to executive produce a show that values quality news over ratings-driven infotainment.

WHY: Aaron Sorkin’s last TV project (“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”) may not have been his best work, but he’s hit a homerun with this HBO drama, which uses actual news stories (the BP oil spill, the death of Osama Bin Laden, etc.) to ground the show (and by extension, its characters) in reality. The writing is every bit as snappy, whip-smart and funny as we’ve come to expect from Sorkin, while the cast is littered with great performances from veterans like Bridges, Mortimer and Waterson, as well as up-and-comers like John Gallagher Jr., Alison Pill and, quite surprisingly, Olivia Munn.

EXTRAS: In addition to cast and crew audio commentaries on half the episodes, the four-disc set also includes all of the “Inside the Episode” recaps, a handful of deleted scenes, and a 25-minute roundtable discussion with Sorkin, Daniels, Mortimer, Waterson and directors/producers Greg Mottola and Alan Poul about making the show.

FINAL VERDICT: BUY

“House of Cards: The Complete First Season”

WHAT: After Senator Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), the House Majority Whip, is passed over for the Secretary of State position, he exacts revenge on those who betrayed him by exploiting his devoted wife (Robin Wright), a young reporter (Kate Mara) and a troubled congressman (Corey Stoll) to help do his dirty work.

WHY: Based on the 1990 BBC miniseries of the same name, “House of Cards” is an enthralling and immensely addicting drama that boasts the kind of top-shelf quality we’ve come to expect from networks like HBO and AMC. In addition to being produced by David Fincher (who also directed the first two episodes), there’s not a single weak link in the cast. Kevin Spacey delivers his finest performance since “American Beauty” as the calculating politician, while Robin Wright is the perfect complement as his stone-cold marriage partner in crime. Corey Stoll also delivers some fine work as the congressman who gets ensnared in Underwood’s puppet strings. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the series is partly based on Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and “Richard III,” because there are so many political power plays in each episode that it has the Bard’s fingerprints all over it.

EXTRAS: Sadly, no bonus material has been included.

Entertainment, Movies, Television

Blu Tuesday Enter the Dragon Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters House of Cards new Blu-rays Oz the Great and Powerful Snitch The Newsroom

Movie Review: “The Internship”

June 7, 2013 / Jason Zingale

Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Max Minghella, Aasif Mandvi

Shawn Levy

It’s been nearly a decade since Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson first teamed up for the R-rated comedy “Wedding Crashers,” and moviegoers have been clamoring for the pair to do another film together ever since. The reunion may have taken a little longer than expected, but it’s nice to see that they didn’t go the easy route with a “Wedding Crashers” sequel, even if their new movie falls well short of recapturing that same spark. “The Internship” isn’t nearly as bad as its trailers led me to believe, but while Vaughn and Wilson don’t waste any time in renewing their great onscreen chemistry, it’s still not very funny.

Billy McMahon (Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Wilson) have built successful careers as salesmen, but when their company closes due to the economic crunch, they suddenly find themselves without a job and no real marketable skills to speak of. Analog dinosaurs living in a digital world, their futures look bleak – that is, until Billy gets the idea to apply for a summer internship program at Google. Though they clearly lack the general computer knowledge of most candidates, the company decides to take a chance on the two guys anyway. Placed into a group of fellow outcasts with poor social skills, Billy and Nick are quickly discounted as a couple of inept goofballs that are more trouble than they’re worth. But what they lack in technological savvy, they make up for in life experience, and that proves just as valuable when they compete in a series of team challenges for the chance to earn a job at the tech giant.

Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Movies

Owen Wilson The Internship The Internship review Vince Vaughn

Blu Tuesday: Die Hard, Zombie Love and More

June 4, 2013 / Jason Zingale

After last week’s disappointing haul, Blu-ray fans will be pleasantly surprised by the wealth of new releases arriving in stores today. In addition to the movies covered below, you can also pick up other high-profile tiles like “Breaking Bad: Season Five,” “Falling Skies: Season Two,” “Adventure Time: Season Two” and “Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection,” all of which I recommend. Though it’s a bit strange that the studios would release so many great titles in the same week, it just means that you’ll have to be extra mindful of my suggestions.

“A Good Day to Die Hard”

The “Die Hard” series may have proven that it still had some life left in it with 2007’s “Live Free or Die Hard,” but the latest installment is so shockingly dull that the studio would have been better off ending it there. Not only is it the weakest entry in the action franchise, but it’s so generic in just about every way that the only thing that makes it feel like a “Die Hard” movie at all is the inclusion of John McClane, and even he seems like a watered-down version of the character we know and love. After bringing back McClane’s daughter in the last film, it made sense to incorporate his son Jack into the story this time around. But while that dynamic may have sounded great on paper, it doesn’t work as well in execution. A lot of that falls on Skip Woods’ awful script, and between the clichéd plot and recycled jokes, “A Good Day to Die Hard” feels like a direct-to-video action film that’s replaced key characters with members of the McClane family. Director John Moore takes it one step further by sucking almost all the fun out of the experience. Though he clearly takes pride in the sheer ridiculousness of the violent set pieces, it’s mostly just a bunch of noise, and not terribly exciting to watch either.

Blu-ray Highlight: A review copy wasn’t provided in time, but if the list of bonus material is any indication, the extras are probably the best thing on the disc.

“Warm Bodies”

Director Jonathan Levine has tackled some pretty ballsy material in his short career, but “Warm Bodies” is easily his most adventurous and challenging project yet, if only because the subject matter is about as outside-the-box as you can get. Based on Isaac Marion’s young adult novel of the same name, the movie plays out like “Romeo and Juliet” by way of George Romero – a post-apocalyptic fairy tale that takes quite a few liberties with zombie film mythology along the way. One of the biggest changes is that eating someone’s brains now comes with the added effect of absorbing their memories. It doesn’t exactly make sense, but it’s essential to the story that Levine is trying to tell. And for the most part, he gets away with it, thanks mainly to his two leads. Teresa Palmer does a good job playing the love interest (a more proactive damsel in distress who could kick Bella Swan’s butt), while Nicholas Hoult’s performance is nothing short of impressive considering a bulk of his speaking lines are delivered in hilariously self-aware narration. The film drags a bit in the middle, but Levine’s script is bursting with such wry, dark humor that it just barely tips the scales in its favor.

Blu-ray Highlight: Same deal as above, and with a collection of extras that includes a cast and crew commentary and production featurettes on everything from casting and locations, to make-up and stunts, some of it will surely be worth checking out.

Entertainment, Movies

A Good Day to Die Hard Blu Tuesday It's a Disaster Mad Max Trilogy new Blu-rays Warm Bodies

Coming Soon: A Moviegoer’s Guide to June

June 2, 2013 / Jason Zingale

Though the summer movie season is typically reserved for the kind of big blockbuster action films that dominated theaters last month, June offers a more eclectic assortment of movies, including star-studded comedies, small indies, and yes, another helping of big blockbuster action films. From the return of Superman to the end of the world (twice), there are plenty of good reasons to get out of the sweltering heat and be entertained this June.

“THE INTERNSHIP”

Who: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne and John Goodman
What: Two salesmen whose careers have been ruined by the digital age get internships at Google, where they must compete against young, tech-savvy geniuses.
When: June 7th
Why: It’s been almost a decade since Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson teamed up for “Wedding Crashers” – which, along with “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” helped revive the R-rated comedy – so there’s a certain degree of excitement about seeing them together on screen again. Of course, “Wedding Crashers” was actually funny, whereas “The Internship” doesn’t look quite as promising. The studio clearly believes that just by reuniting the two actors, the laughs will automatically flow, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Director Shawn Levy’s previous comedies have been pretty tame in comparison to the duo’s last film, and many of the jokes in the trailer feel about five years past their sell-by date, Still, the Vaughn/Wilson reunion is simply too enticing to pass up, so I wouldn’t count out “The Internship” just yet.

“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”

Who: Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond and Nathan Fillion
What: A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
When: June 7th
Why: Most directors would take a much deserved vacation after wrapping on a movie as massive as “The Avengers,” but not Joss Whedon, who used his short break between filming and post-production on the Marvel blockbuster to shoot a modern day version of “Much Ado About Nothing” with some friends at his house. The movie is packed with familiar faces from the director’s so-called Whedonverse, with every one of his former TV shows represented in some capacity. Shot entirely in black and white, the film looks about as close to a low budget indie as you’re bound to find, but Whedon and Shakespeare are such a great fit (both celebrated for their sharp and witty dialogue) that it’s a wonder the latter didn’t attempt an adaptation of the Bard’s classic any sooner.