Tag: Blu Tuesday (Page 37 of 49)

Blu Tuesday: Now You See Me, The Office and More

September 3, 2013 /

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.

“Now You See Me”

WHAT: When a quartet of illusionists called the Four Horsemen commit a series of crimes as part of a three-show performance bankrolled by business tycoon Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) teams up with an Interpol detective (Melanie Laurent) to track them down.

WHY: It’s always nice to see an original idea like “Now You See Me” find success amid the usual summer barrage of rehashed properties (and a sequel has since been greenlit), but unfortunately, the movie doesn’t live up to its full potential. The chemistry between the Four Horsemen – played with verve by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco – provides many of the film’s best moments, so it’s really disappointing that the actors are used so sparingly. And though Ruffalo is certainly no slouch, following his dogged FBI agent around as he tries to unravel the mystery surrounding the Four Horsemen’s elaborate magic act isn’t nearly as much fun as watching them execute it. The movie is also riddled with giant plot holes, strange story developments and one of the lamest twist endings in recent memory. After all, if you’re going to make a film about magic, you shouldn’t cheat to sell the trick.

EXTRAS: There’s an audio commentary with director Louis Leterrier and producer Bobby Cohen, a making-of featurette, a brief history of magic and deleted scenes.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

“The Office: Season Nine”

WHAT: Change is in the air at Dunder Mifflin as the documentary is finally scheduled for its TV debut, leading Andy (Ed Helms) to rethink his career choices. Meanwhile, Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) experience marital problems when he lands a dream job in Philadelphia; Angela (Angela Kinsey) discovers that her marriage has been a fraud; and Erin (Ellie Kemper) hooks up with the new office temp.

WHY: Though it was one of the funnier shows on television during its first few seasons, “The Office” has gradually become less entertaining over the years, with many clamoring for NBC to pull the plug when Steve Carell exited the workplace comedy at the end of Season Seven. Instead, they decided to forge ahead without him, and if the final two seasons are any indication, that was a terrible idea. Despite some desperate attempts to plug the hole with big-name guest stars like James Spader and Kathy Bates (both of whom made Season Eight more tolerable), the writing was already on the wall by the time Season Nine rolled along. From the contrived Jim-Pam subplot, to the complete devolution of the Andy Bernard character (somehow making him more annoying in the process), there wasn’t much to love about this season apart from the well-crafted series finale. It was a bumpy ride getting there, but at least they stuck the ending.

EXTRAS: As usual, there’s a ton of bonus material on the four-disc set, including never-before-seen audition tapes, over two hours of deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes panel discussion, a blooper reel and more.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

“The Iceman”

WHAT: Set over the course of several decades, the film tells the real-life story of Robert Kuklinski (Michael Shannon), a devoted husband and father of two who secretly worked as a contract killer for the mob, murdering more than 100 people before finally being arrested.

WHY: “The Iceman” had all the makings of a good film – a magnetic leading man, a great supporting cast (save for a pointless cameo by James Franco), and story almost too crazy to be true – but while it starts out well enough, it never really builds on that early promise. Instead, it seems content to follow the same generic formula of every other gangster drama, and as a result, the movie comes off dull and predictable. For a movie based on fact, it feels an awful lot like fiction, and that may be why it took so long for someone to make a film about Kuklinski’s life. While it’s definitely an incredible story, that doesn’t necessary guarantee that it’ll be interesting, and though that hasn’t stopped Michael Shannon from delivering another fine performance, it’s not quite enough to rescue the movie from the swamp of mediocrity surrounding him.

EXTRAS: There’s a 30-minute making-of featurette and a shorter, EPK-style look behind the scenes with interviews from the cast and crew.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

Entertainment, Movies, Television

Blu Tuesday: The Great Gatsby, Pain & Gain and More

August 27, 2013 /

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 Great Gatsby”

WHAT: Bond salesman Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) gets pulled into the extravagant world of Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) when he rents a small house on Long Island next to the reclusive millionaire’s lavish mansion. But Gatsby has ulterior motives for befriending Nick – he’s in love with his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), who’s currently trapped in a loveless marriage with wealthy socialite Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton).

WHY: If you ever wondered what a bad movie starring good actors looks like, then you’ll want to check out this disastrous adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” Though Warner Bros. tried to put a positive spin on the film’s delay, it’s pretty clear why they decided not to release it during awards season like originally planned: it’s a boring mess. The only thing worse than a dull movie is one that tries to disguise it with razzle-dazzle, and director Baz Luhrman’s kitschy vision of the Roaring 20s is so oversaturated in style and off-the-wall choices (like the use of a contemporary, mostly hip-hop soundtrack) that he completely ignores the many nuances of Fitzgerald’s novel. The whole thing is executed so poorly that I came up with a drinking game just to keep myself entertained. Take a sip every time DiCaprio says “old sport,” and take a shot every time someone slicks back their hair. You’ll be plastered within the hour, but at least the film will be a lot easier to watch.

EXTRAS: Sadly, there’s no audio commentary by director Baz Luhrmann, but there are a number of featurettes on things like pre-production, costume design and the soundtrack, as well as on-set video diaries by Tobey Maguire, an in-depth look at five sequences and some deleted scenes.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

“Pain & Gain”

WHAT: Based on an unbelievably true story, physical trainer Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) enlists the help of fellow bodybuilder Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and recently paroled born-again Christian Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) to kidnap a Miami businessman (Tony Shaloub) and force him to sign over all his assets.

WHY: After three “Transformers” films, it’s nice to see Michael Bay challenging himself with something on a much smaller scale – one that doesn’t involve blowing shit up every 10 minutes – although it may not necessarily look like it due to the director’s trademark ramped-up style. Bay’s movies can be pretty grueling to watch at times between the relentless high energy intensity and overlong runtimes, and “Pain & Gain” is no exception. But whereas a film like “Bad Boys II” had the added annoyance level of Martin Lawrence (to the point that it gave me a headache), this movie actually benefits from its cast. Wahlberg, Johnson and Mackie all deliver enjoyable performances as the amateur criminals, and though no amount charm makes them come across any less idiotic, that’s part of the fun. “Pain & Gain” is a lot like “Raising Arizona” in many respects – if that film was shot up with a potent cocktail of steroids and speed – and though it’s fairly entertaining at times, it eventually becomes too crazy for its own good.

EXTRAS: Surprisingly, there’s no bonus material available. Nothing, nada, zilch.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

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Entertainment, Movies, Television

Blu Tuesday: Scary Movie 5, Rapture-Palooza and More

August 20, 2013 /

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.

“Scary Movie 5”

WHAT: After his brother mysteriously dies, Dan Sanders (Simon Rex) and his wife Jody (Ashley Tisdale) agree to adopt his three kids. But when they begin experiencing strange activity around the house, the couple discovers that they’re being terrorized by an evil demon.

WHY: It’s been seven years since the last “Scary Movie” was released in theaters, and it should have stayed that way, because the latest installment is the worst one yet. Unfortunately, these stupid parody movies are produced for dirt cheap, so even if they bomb, the studios still make out like bandits. The series can’t even be bothered to spoof horror films anymore, instead relying on movies like “Black Swan” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” to fuel its barrage of awful jokes. Heck, not even Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan – who are so starved for attention that they’ll do anything for a quick buck – can muster a laugh, and the only real positive to take away is that Anna Faris wasn’t involved. The end product is like some horrible social experiment to see how long you can last before turning it off (I made it to the 40-minute mark), although you’d be much better off just ignoring it completely.

EXTRAS: There are some deleted and extended scenes, but that’s the extent of the bonus material.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

“Rapture-Palooza”

WHAT: When the Apocalypse comes and billions of people are raptured up to Heaven, Lindsey (Anna Kendrick) and her boyfriend Ben (John Francis Daley) are among those left behind. But after the Antichrist (Craig Robinson) sets up shop in their hometown of Seattle, Lindsey unwittingly finds herself the object of his affections.

WHY: In a year overflowing with films about the end of the world, “Rapture-Palooza” is easily the worst of the lot, favoring a crass brand of comedy instead of the biting satire that its slightly controversial premise had the potential to become. However, the only real controversial thing about this movie has nothing do with the content, but rather the casting of Ken Jeong as God, which makes Alanis Morissette’s cameo in “Dogma” look brilliant in comparison. In fact, despite a great cast that includes a host of talented comic actors, the movie isn’t very funny, and worse yet, it’s actually quite boring. There doesn’t even seem to be a script at times, with many of the actors (including a terribly miscast Robinson as the Antichrist) riffing their lines with such confidence that you’d think they were making the funniest movie of the year. Unfortunately, it’s not even close, and between the strange involvement of Kendrick and the almost complete lack of laughs, “Rapture-Palooza” falls flat on its face.

EXTRAS: There’s an audio commentary by actors Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Rob Huebel, a short making-of featurette, some deleted scenes and a gag reel.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

“Killing Season”

WHAT: Reclusive military veteran Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro) strikes up an unlikely friendship with European tourist Emil Kovac (John Travolta) while hunting in the Appalachian Mountains. But when Emil’s true intentions are revealed, the two men become embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game deep in the Tennessee wilderness.

WHY: Mark Steven Johnson received his fair share of abuse for directing the comic book movies “Daredevil” and “Ghost Rider,” and he hasn’t done his bruised reputation any favors with his latest film either. Though it features a pair of marketable names in De Niro and Travolta, “Killing Season” is a mostly disappointing survival thriller that would’ve been even worse if it weren’t for the veteran actors. This is actually a pretty good role for the aging De Niro, especially considering some of his more recent choices, but while Travolta deserves credit for challenging himself, his performance just doesn’t work. Regardless of how you feel about his fake accent, every time Travolta opens his mouth, you’re instantly reminded that the actor is supposed to be playing a Serbian, and it pulls you completely out of the film. “Killing Season” is the type of movie that’s worth watching when Spike TV plays it on a rainy afternoon when there’s nothing else on, and quite frankly, that’s the best it deserves.

EXTRAS: There’s an incredibly brief “making of” featurette, but it doesn’t really tell you much about the actual production, hence the sarcastic quotes.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

Entertainment, Movies

Blu Tuesday: Olympus Has Fallen, Girls and More

August 13, 2013 /

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.

“Olympus Has Fallen”

WHAT: When former Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) gets trapped inside the White House following a terrorist attack, he must rely on his special skills to rescue the President (Aaron Eckhart) from his captors before they detonate the country’s entire nuclear stockpile on domestic soil.

WHY: Antoine Fuqua may have beat Roland Emmerich’s “White House Down” to the punch by being the first Presidential action flick out of the gate, but not without the final product suffering as a result. The special effects, in particular, look a little unpolished (undoubtedly due to its tight post-production schedule), and although it features an excellent cast, many of the actors are wasted, perhaps none more so than Eckhart, who’s given very little to but grimace and grit his teeth. It’s also completely ridiculous in just about every way, from an unidentified Black Hawk flying straight into Washington, D.C. (when it would have been shot down as soon as it entered U.S. airspace), to North Korean terrorists overtaking one of the country’s most heavily guarded buildings in a matter of minutes. The film takes a while to get going, but once Banning gets into full stealth mode, “Olympus Has Fallen” becomes quite enjoyable – a poor man’s “Die Hard” in the best sense possible.

EXTRAS: In addition to a making-of featurette titled “Under Surveillance,” there are four more featurettes on the cast, special effects, stunts and the Black Hawk sequence, as well as a short blooper reel.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

“Girls: Season Two”

WHAT: The further adventures of Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) and her group of twenty-something friends – Marnie (Allison Williams), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and Jessa (Jemima Kirke) – as they traverse the ups and downs of adulthood in New York City.

WHY: I had a very love-hate relationship with the first season of “Girls,” but Season Two is such a complete train wreck that it made me want to stop watching the show altogether. Dunham has created one of the most unlikable protagonists on TV (between her coke-fueled meltdown and the Patrick Wilson episode, she hits an all-time low), and Williams’ laughably insecure Marnie isn’t too far behind. In fact, the female characters have so few redeeming qualities – even Mamet’s lively Shoshanna resorts to some bad behavior this season – that it’s a wonder how the audience is supposed to keep rooting for them. Thankfully, their male co-stars at least make “Girls” tolerable. Season One standout Adam Driver continues his strange but endearing performance as Hannah’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, while Alex Karpovsky seizes his expanded role with aplomb. Unfortunately, the show isn’t called “Boys,” although as far as spinoff ideas go, giving Driver and Karpovsky their own series sounds infinitely better than whatever Dunham cooks up next.

EXTRAS: There’s certainly no shortage of bonus material here, highlighted by cast and crew audio commentaries on seven episodes. Also included is a series of deleted scenes, Inside the Episode featurettes, a table read for Episode 5, a Charlie Rose interview with Lena Dunham, a making-of featurette, a roundtable discussion with the show’s male co-stars, and if you can believe it, much more.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP

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Entertainment, Movies, Television

Blu Tuesday: Oblivion, The Place Beyond the Pines and More

August 6, 2013 /

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.

“Oblivion”

WHAT: Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the last remaining humans on Earth – a drone repairman that’s part of an operation to extract vital resources from the planet after a decades-long war with an alien race known as Scavengers. But when Jack rescues the literal woman of his dreams (Olga Kurylenko) from a crashed spacecraft, her arrival triggers a series of events that forces him to rethink everything he knows about the world.

WHY: Following the massive disappointment of “TRON: Legacy,” Joseph Kosinski’s sophomore effort looked like it would just be more of the same, but much to my surprise, his latest sci-fi project is a lot better than expected. Unlike the “TRON” sequel, Kosinski created the world of “Oblivion” from the ground up, and it really shows, from the rich mythology to the Apple-inspired production design. Kosinski’s outstanding visuals are still front and center, but this time around, he’s also delivered an engaging story in addition to the effects-driven spectacle. Though genre fans will notice that “Oblivion” borrows pretty heavily from a recent sci-fi movie that will remain unnamed (not to mention other classics), it’s still a really great concept that, while not exactly original, is cool to see realized on a grander scale. The final act isn’t handled quite as gracefully as its indie counterpart, but between Kosinski’s visuals and Tom Cruise’s commanding performance, “Oblivion” is still one of the better sci-fi flicks of the past few years.

EXTRAS: There’s a good deal of bonus material here, including an audio commentary with star Tom Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski, a making-of featurette, four additional production featurettes on things like stunts, visual effects, the bubble ship and scoring the film, some deleted scenes, and the ability to watch the entire movie accompanied by M83’s isolated score.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

“The Place Beyond the Pines”

WHAT: When motorcycle stunt rider Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) discovers that he has a son, he turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for him and his mother (Eva Mendes). But Luke’s actions place him on a collision course with a rookie policeman (Bradley Cooper) who gets caught up in an investigation involving some dirty cops.

WHY: Derek Cianfrance’s multi-generational crime drama is an incredibly ambitious piece of work, though he seems to have bitten off more than he can chew. Divided into three interconnected stories, there’s not much to each one, but they’re all necessary to telling the larger narrative, and that’s what makes the movie so frustrating. Cianfrance deals with some familiar themes of fatherhood, consequences and destiny, but it’s such an epic undertaking that it ultimately becomes too much movie for its own good. The opening segment is the standout, mainly thanks to some great performances by Gosling, Mendes and character actor Ben Mendelsohn, and although the other two stories aren’t bad, they’re noticeable weaker, causing the film to feel a bit lopsided. “The Place Beyond the Pines” isn’t perfect (the first hour makes up for some of the more unflattering heavy-handedness that Cianfrance resorts to in the latter half), but it’s a movie that demands a lot of respect for not only taking big risks, but the way that it resonates emotionally.

EXTRAS: There’s an audio commentary with director/co-writer Derek Cianfrance, a short but sweet making-of featurette and four deleted/extended scenes.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

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Entertainment, Movies, Television

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