Tag Movie

What’s in the box? It’s the 4k remaster of Se7en from Warner Brothers staring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt!

Warner Brothers are back at it again with another classic film released in the new and fancy 4k format, this time with Se7en, or Seven, depending on where you are reading about the film. This film follows a pair of detectives, portrayed by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, as they investigate a serial killer that is choosing his victims based on the seven deadly sins and using their sins themselves to kill them. One such murder is killing a glutton by force feeding him spaghetti until his stomach explodes.

What makes this film really stand out is how graphic it is while keeping the truly offensive parts off screen. By that I mean that you never seen any of the deaths until the killer is executed by our detective heroes, before that its all just the aftermath. Imagine how much worse it would have been had we also watched the the killer force feeding the guy till he died, I doubt the film would have ever made it to theaters had they included those parts of the story. In fact that scene has stuck with me since the original release on DVD over twenty years ago and I think about it EVERY time the family has spaghetti. When you can’t forget a scene after that much time, you know it was well done.

Start to finish this film is a masterpiece. I would have never guessed that this is the same director that was responsible for Aliens 3, a fun film but nothing special about it besides some slight expansion on the lore. Ironically just before our contact at Warner Brothers let us know they were sending this to us, I was discussing how brilliant the film was with my oldest who is now a few years older than I was when I first saw the film. I can’t wait to share this version on the larger screen with her. If you enjoyed the film or would like to see a film the exceeds the quality of most films these day in terms of tension building, story and practical effects then this is a must purchase for you. If we weren’t sent a copy I can guarantee we would be purchasing our own as well!

A Real Pain is a comedy from Searchlight Pictures staring Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg as they tour Poland after a death in the family.

Searchlight Pictures has shared their latest film with us, A Real Pain, for the purpose of our viewing and reviewing. As with every film review we have done, our opinions are not for sale but we will be more than happy to watch the film and share our honest thoughts on it. I figure we should remind folks of our process every once in a while.

A Real Pain is the story of two cousins that had drifted apart and with the passing of their grandmother are reunited for a trip through Poland to see where their Jewish ancestors came from and what all they endured along the way. The film is listed as both a Comedy and Drama in Vudu and I feel they are only half right. Sure there are some amusing lines and moments but this film is not a comedy in any way. Either that or I have a very different definition of “comedy”. I had only seen a single trailer for the film and didn’t know much about what to expect. The only expectations that I had were that our two leads, Culkin and Eisenberg, were an odd pairing that deliver great performances. With that pairing one other thing was clear, at some point things are going to be said that can’t be unsaid. I can confirm that both expectations were met.

The writing is fantastic as was the portrayals by the cast. Culkin should honestly be nominated for his role. The pain his character feels and shows in everything he does and says is done so well that you want to see if he will be okay. The journey through the film leaves you caring about him, more than his cousin who carries his own pain but comes off more sanctimonious about it. By the end of the journey their relationship is stronger for it but leaves you wondering, what happens next? The film was well done, start to finish. Not my usual style of film but if you’re looking for a well written tale of overcoming grief and facing your demons you won’t go wrong with this one.

Joker has returned with Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role in Joker Folie A Deux from Warner Brothers Pictures.

Joaquin Phoenix returns to his rendition of the Joker in Joker Folie A Deux from Warner Brothers Pictures. The story follows the end of the first film as Arthur awaits trial in Arkham. During a regular meeting with his lawyer, when all humor had left him, he saw into a choir group therapy class, making eye contact for the first time with Harley Quinnzel. He starts attending the group soon after, using that meeting to talk to her more. The humor has returned and things escalate as she starts a fire as a diversion so they can be free, if only for a short time. The majority of the film centers around his trial for the murders committed in the first film.

As to be expected, the acting by the cast was fantastic and visually it looks like the perfect film to follow the original. I expected the film to have a few songs sung by the characters due to their meeting and them almost exclusively within the confines of that room. There were so many songs in this film being sung by the duo that it might as well have been categorized as a musical. I applaud them for continuing to push the idea of what and who Joker is but overall it fell way flat. All technical aspects of the film were fantastic but the story felt interrupted by all of the musical numbers, resulting in a film that was difficult to enjoy in the end.

Who watches the Watchmen? Perhaps we’ll get the answer with the next installment of the animated film series!

In mere months following the release of Chapter 1, Warner Brothers brings us the sequel and finale with The Watchmen Chapter 2. The former super team has seen one of their people murdered, one in self exile and one in prison. Two have donned their costumes once again to help where they could and continuing Rorschach’s investigation. Night Owl manages to find that each of these events seem to be tied together through corporations owned by Ozymandias himself. While this is happening the world is also on the brink of a new World War.

Alan Moore has penned some of the greatest stories in comics and many have seen adaptations in film. The Watchmen was first adapted in live action film but for some reason the studio saw fit to make this into a two film animated series. Having never seen the original film or read the comic, I am unable to compare the animated films to either but from what I’ve been told, the main story points are exactly the same. The voice acting is fantastic, which is not a surprise since it includes legends like Troy Baker, Katee Sackhoff and Matthew Rhys. The animation reminds me of the art style from the many games that Telltale Games published years ago and fits the story perfectly. Overall I thought the film was wonderfully written and once again proves how brilliant of a writer Alan Moore really is. In it’s entirety the film was fantastic and I know I must watch the live action film to see if it lives up to this version of the story because if it’s only half as good then its going to be a damn great film.

The team at Warner Brothers are back with three classic films being released in 4k, Blazing Saddles, North By Northwest and The Terminator!

Warner Brothers have released 4k versions of three more classic films, Blazing Saddles, North By Northwest and The Terminator. Prior to receiving these I had never seen any of the films but knew of them well enough. One thing to keep in mind is that these three films have not aged very well. For example, Blazing Saddles is full of racist comments and jokes.

Blazing Saddles is one that my family have told me for years to watch since I am a fan of Mel Brooks and many of his films. The story follows an African American rail worker turned Sherriff. He must protect a small town from bandits and to prevent the railway from tearing through the town. I was amazed by how the story matched, practically scene for scene, to another Mel Brook’s film, Paws of Fury. The story and the non-racist jokes were great but leaned too far into the racist dialogue.

North By Northwest is a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock that stars Cary Grant. Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive that is mistaken as a spy and must clear his name. For a spy thriller from the 50s it was surprisingly well done. I’ve never seen a true Hitchcock film till now and I can see why his name carries so much weight.

The Terminator is the classic film that started the franchise. This film focusing on the Terminator hunting and attempting to kill Sarah Conner. T2 was my introduction to the franchise and despite having seen the original before this was a much needed piece to the overall puzzle.

All three films are currently available for purchase at your favorite retailers. Which one will you be picking up? Is this your first time viewing or are you revisiting a classic you remember?

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the film we never knew we wanted or that we needed with the original living cast and some additions.

The original Beetlejuice film was one that my twisted young mind loved and is probably why my tastes tend to lead towards the macabre and twisted. Warner Brothers have brought back the original cast, those that are still living anyway, and brought us the sequel I think no one really expected with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The film follows Lydia and her daughter as they learn of their father/grandfather’s death and return to the home where Beetlejuice plagued them all. Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, is tricked by the ghost of a dead boy into following him into the afterlife to see her deceased father with a secret plan to trade places with her. Lydia must call on the one entity she knows she can’t trust to save her.

With Tim Burton at the helm and a team of master effects artists this film was a treat from start to finish. Even better is we are given several behind the scenes features where at least one goes in depth on how some of these effects were made. The shrinking Danny DeVito effect was fascinating to watch how they figured it out but even more so was the reassembly of Delores’ body. As to be expected, the cast was over the top in the portrayals of their characters. If you’ve seen the original film then you know they played them no differently then they had then.

I’ve read numerous reviews that complained about the fact that there were two villains or about how they were each defeated. I honestly felt like this was very on brand for the franchise and the progression of the story it made sense each step of the way. Overall I thought the film was EXACTLY was what I wanted from a sequel of a classic from my youth. Regular callbacks to previous events and natural progression of the characters completed the formula. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and feel that anyone that didn’t wasn’t a fan of the original or went into the viewing with the wrong mindset. Following the naming, does this mean we might get a sequel? I certainly hope so.

Blink Twice starring Channing Tatum is a thriller that surprises at nearly every turn. The pieces are there but will you see them?

Blink Twice is one of those films where the trailer seemed to imply the film was entirely different than it actually is. The film is a thriller but the premise was not at all what we expected. Almost feels like a bait and switch. The trailer from Warner Brothers made the film appear as a story where the uber rich Slater King was tricking people to come to his private island to then be hunted by him and his friends. There is some truth to that but not any of the hunting.

The film starts with Frida arriving to work her shift at a part for Slater King’s charity. With a change of outfits she attends the party and gets invited to the island by Slater himself, played by Channing Tatum. Other than some weird run ins with staff working the grounds, it all seems like fun in the sun with drugs, booze, gourmet meals and watching the help eliminate the native snake population. Everything seems to be great until Frida’s friend was bit by one of the many snakes and it changes everything for Frida.

For anyone interested in seeing the film, I must warn there are numerous scenes of Sexual Assault that I was not expecting to see. Despite those scenes the writing of the film and how it was filmed was quite brilliant. Without spoiling the movie I will only say that I loved the end. The acting, directing, all it, was fantastically done.

Alien Romulus is the latest in the Alien franchise, this time returning to the survival horror roots that launched it!

20th Century Studios has returned to the roots of the Alien franchise with Alien Romulus, featuring the likeness of Ian Holm, who played Ash in the original film. With the exception of the original film, I have always felt that the franchise was less horror and more sci-fi action film. I have literally seen every seen every Alien film in the franchise. I’ve virtually enjoyed them all, even the Aliens Vs Predator films. Romulus truly is the return to its roots.

Taking place about twenty years after the original, Weyland-Yutani is up to their usual shenanigans and have been searching for the organism that was responsible for nearly killing the entire crew of the Nostromo. As they usually are, they were successful and began experimenting on the creature, but not before it woke up and killed a bunch of the crew. On the nearby mining planet, a group of teens learn about the space station and believe it has been decommissioned. They decide to raid it for supplies to allow them to travel to a planet that is not under the control of the company. As expected this is when things go awry.

The cast was beyond fantastic, especially the two leads that played Andy and Rain, Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson. Set designs, costumes and effects were perfect but were outshined by the brilliant use of lighting and ambient sounds to REALLY set the tone for the film. Overall this is the second best film in the franchise and that’s because you just can’t beat the original, especially on that first watch.

Sideways is a film about friendship, lost love and wine tasting from Searchlight Pictures.

In the world of wine tasting, Sideways does a great job of explaining the reasons behind the behaviors of the wine tasting crowds. They still seem absolutely nuts hearing them talk about wines but some of the things they’re saying actually make a little sense. For the 20th anniversary the film has been rereleased by Searchlight Pictures to 4k. When the folks at Searchlight had send us the film, I had never heard of it. I honestly thought it was a newer film that I just never saw a trailer for.

The film follows Miles who is still reeling from his divorce, two years prior, but also the failure of his novel he is trying to publish. He is accompanied by his closest friend Jack, an actor that is on the verge of getting married. They take a road trip to taste a lot of wine and try to live a little before returning home. Jack spends most of the time trying to cheat on his future bride and to help Miles find himself a woman to spend an evening with.

Despite the education about wine tasting, I found the film to be slow and overall to be quite dull. That’s even with the talented cast delivering great performances through the entire film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street and it’s villain, Freddy Krueger, have haunted audiences for decades and have returned in 4k from Warner Brothers.

Freddy Krueger is back in the 4k edition of A Nightmare on Elm Street and was established as one of the ultimate horror villains when I was a kid. He is still talked about to this day. Of course many of us from the 80’s like to relive those films from our childhood and that is further helped by horror themed conventions and music, like Ice Nine Kills’ American Nightmare. That song was actually what got me not just listening to them but WANTING to see this film for the first time. That’s right, prior to this viewing I had never seen a single movie in the franchise. Thanks to Warner Brothers, this edition also includes the Uncut version as well! Of course, the only real differences between the two is an extension of a couple scenes, making them just a bit more graphic. I’m glad I watched this before letting my son, he doesn’t do well with gory elements.

My understanding about Freddy’s character is that he was simply some sort of demon that killed teens in their sleep and simply put, that is accurate but it goes much deeper than that. He was a man that was hung and is now targeting the children of his own killers. Of course the parents were justified as Freddy was evil even as a man and was already targeting children. Now he is targeting SPECIFIC children.

At this point I should stop being surprised at how well a story is told from the 80’s and learn to accept that to make a great film you don’t need all the new effects and rely more on actual talent instead. Finishing the film I was quite impressed and can easily see why Freddy remains one of the great horror villains.