THE FILM:

I lamented the aging of steadfast movie hero Clint Eastwood in my review for Trouble with the Curve, and have similar feelings about Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin in Stand Up Guys. I guess it's time to accept that my acting heroes are not getting any younger, and, particularly in Pacino's case, it's nice to see them in a decent movie. Underneath all the old-man jokes about Viagra and high blood pre...Read the entire review

THE FILM:

If you listen to the cast and crew of Texas Chainsaw 3D talk about making the film, it's clear the group set out to make something that respects the fans and legacy of Tobe Hooper's 1974 cult classic. Diehard fans sharpened their knives immediately upon hearing that Texas Chainsaw was to bill itself as a direct sequel to Hooper's film. Shot in native 3D, Texas Chainsaw opens ...Read the entire review

The Movie:

The following conversation happened before I went to sleep last night:

My wife: "Don't dream about Matthew McConaughey while you sleep."

Me: "Why would I?"

My wife: "I don't know, I just feel like everyone dreams about Matthew McConaughey when they sleep."

I remain curious as to what would spur a mini-discussion like this on. Maybe she thinks Matthew McConaughey is a guy that men want to be like and women want to be with, or perhaps McConaughey has been recently doing a good job in selecting roles which are different stretches of his ability, with a box office smash perhaps sprinkled in for good measure. His latest film Mud is another intriguing choice of roles for the actor.

The film is written and directed by Jeff Nichols, his follow-up to a breakout work of sorts from Read the entire review

The Movie:

Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to R-rated action movie stardom, his first starring role since his foray into politics, didn't exactly set the box office on fire but 2013's The Last Stand, directed by Korean filmmaker Je-woon Kim (the man behind the excellent I Saw The Devil), was a ridiculously entertaining movie. With the home video release now upon us, hopefully the picture will find the audience it deserved. If those involved with the picture aren't reinventing the action movie or in any way attempting to turn the genre on its head, they've nevertheless turned in a rock solid slice of over the top ultraviolent entertainment, the kind that made Schwarzenegger a star in the first place.

The story isn't complicated, but it is effective. When the movie begins, we see a cop at a speed trap with his radar gun out enjoying a donut. Something cruises past him s...Read the entire review

The Movies:

Quentin Tarantino's short lived foray into the world of DVD releasing may not have lasted too long but while it was still alive, Rolling Thunder Pictures did manage to put out some pretty cool releases. Three of those releases - The Mighty Peking Man, Detroit 9000 and Switchblade Sisters are now collected for reissue on this new single disc release from Lionsgate under the title Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures Triple Feature. Here's what you'll find on this DVD...

The Mighty Peking Man:

This 1977 Shaw Brothers production, also known as Goliathon, introduces us to a young man named Johnny (Danny Lee). When he finds out that his lady friend has been making the rounds with other guys, he decides to accompany an entrepreneurial type named Lu Tiem (Feng Ku) to India. Their plan is to find The Mighty Peking Man, a ...Read the entire review

Roman Coppola has spent much of the past few years co-writing films with Wes Anderson, and easing back into the director's chair for the first time in more than a decade, Coppola has made...well, a Wes Anderson movie. I mean, A Glimpse Inside

[click on the thumbnail to enla...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59719 Wed, 01 May 2013 15:07:32 PDT Rent It The Film: At the beginning of Sexy Evil Genius, a trio of starkly-different strangers sit down over drinks in a largely-dead metropolitan bar, where they proceed to chat about good times and bad involving their mutual, mentally-unhinged ex-girlfriend, Nikki. They're not shy about it either, dishing out stories of obsession, love lost and how they were eventually shafted in one way or another. Steadily, and humorously, these characters take shape by revealing more about their failed relationships and life post-Nikki, all because their scheming ex covertly got them all together for ... some eventually-revealed purpose. That component works in Shawn Piller's crafty little comedy-mystery, a chatty never-leave-the-room lark that's more of a blend ...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=60204 Wed, 01 May 2013 15:07:32 PDT Skip It THE FILM: Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution. Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, known professionally as Neveldine/Taylor, have a number of frenetic actioners on their collective resume, including Crank and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, but none is as flash-edited crazy as Gamer. Gerard Butler headlines as John "Keble" Tillman, a convict turned avatar in deadly game "Slayers"...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=60716 Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:59:14 PDT Highly Recommended ...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=60088 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:06:13 PDT Skip It Far and away my favorite thing about The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia is its cringingly awkward, Mason/Dixon-line-leaping title. My second favorite thing about the movie, meanwhile, is...ummm...hmmm....uhhh...no, wait, [click on the thumbnail to enlarge]Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=60082 Thu, 04 Apr 2013 03:55:12 PDT Rent It THE FILM: Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution. A sequel to the 2009 slasher The Collector wasn't exactly a given, though that film tripled its $3 million budget at the box office. Marcus Dunstan returns to direct The Collection, which picks up soon after the events of the original. Survivor Arkin (Josh Stewart) is recruited to lead a team into the lair of the vicious serial killer that tortured him to retrieve a young woman. The Collection is as bloody as you'...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59932 Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:09:52 PDT Rent It The Movie: Directed by Eduardo Rodriguez off of a script by Robert Rodriguez, Curandero: Dawn Of The Demon debuted at a festival screening or two way back in 2005 where it was picked up and then promptly shelved by Miramax. It didn't make the rounds theatrically nor did it come out on DVD... it just sat there in the vaults for almost ten years possibly because of some of the problems that Miramax found themselves in. Lionsgate has stepped up to the plate, however, and now the movie is out on DVD for those who are curious about it. So as to the story itself? Set in modern day Mexico City, the movie introduces us to a man named Carlos (Carlos Gallardo), the son of a spiritual healer who was, until he passed away, very popular with the locals. He's approached by Magdelena (Gizeht Galate), a federal agent investigating a series of incidents that have taken place in the underwor...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59396 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:20:45 PST Recommended The Movie: About as far away as you can get from movies like Good Morning Vietnam and Rain Man as you can get, Academy Award winning director Barry Levinson's latest film, 2012's The Bay is the latest in a seemingly endless string of 'found footage' horror movies to hit the market. So while the technique behind the movie may not be particularly original at this point in the game, Levinson at least manages to craft an interesting and sometimes genuinely unsettling horror story out of it. When the movie begins we're on the opposite side of a Skype webchat with a young woman named Donna Thompson (Kether Donohue) and as she talks to the camera we learn that back in 2009 she was working as a fledgling TV news reporter covering what should have been a particularly mundane story - the Independence Day celebrations at a small Maryland town on the coast of Chesapeake B...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59171 Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:12:18 PST DVD Talk Collector Series Several years back, a friend confessed some admiration for the premise of Nurse Jackie (2009 - present), about a great nurse who's also an irresponsible mother and wife addicted to pharmaceutical drugs. "At least the show has the sense not to send her to rehab," said my friend. Well, in Nurse Jackie - Season Four, Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) does exactly that, go to rehab, but like the rest of the show's densely creative run, the season's story arc does not at all unfold as one might expect. The series is as ballsy as ever. As I discuss in my reviews of Nurse Jackie's first, second, and third seasons, the Showtime series just gets better and better. I d...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59969 Fri, 22 Feb 2013 13:28:59 PST Skip It The Leapfrog brand of toys and animation is generally regarded for a certain level of quality, using its curriculum-based system to promote early math and reading skills for anyone working their way through the single-digits. Leapfrog's newer "Scout and Friends" line of DVDs follows a colorful group of talking animals as they get younger audiences ready for early childhood and kindergarten. Like all educational DVDs and books, these aren't designed to be "virtual babysitters"; though they don't necessarily require a parent or guardian present at all times, such progr...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59528 Sat, 16 Feb 2013 16:29:47 PST Rent It The Movie: The Thais have a pretty strong tradition for cool martial arts action movies, the Baa Ram Ewe movies particularly, and the producers of Bangkok Assassins are trying to continue that tradition, with a little something extra to spice things up. That extra spice is the addition of a teen heart throb, young romance angle, and it doesn't entirely mesh seamlessly. The film follows the lives of four young men: Pong, Na, Ga and Chi. All four have been abducted by a scurrilous gang that forces them to work as crippled beggars. In punishment for running away, among other things, Pong's tongue is cut out, Ga is deafened by blows to the ears, Chi has his eyes gouged out, and N...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59950 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:52:59 PST Recommended The Movie: Like many people, I really enjoyed the first few seasons of Weeds, though as the seasons kept mounting, their welcome became more and more overstayed. My wife hung in for the show a little longer than most (something that she has a trait for, perhaps as some loyalty or faith in the characters), but even she threw up her hands around the show's sixth season. Maybe the show's creator Jenji Kohan was running with some blinders on, or maybe she felt the show had more to say, but once the show got one last production order for its eighth (and final season), my wife and I decided to come back to the show, along with various others that have come in and out of the show through the years, and give Weeds its proper sendoff. The show's premise is simple. Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker, Red) is a Mom and widow wh...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58867 Sun, 03 Feb 2013 18:27:24 PST Highly Recommended THE FILM: Please Note: The images used here are taken from promotional images and from stills provided by StudioCanal, not the Blu-ray edition under review. The great Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel, who had worked in the U.S., Mexico, and France as well as in his homeland since the silent era, experienced the last of his multiple transformations/rebirths in France in the '60s and '70s. With his final film, 1977's That Obscure Object of Desire, he ended a run of bourgeois-baiting, surrealist comedy-dramas that he'd kicked off in '67 with his rightly legendary Belle de Jour (and reached a...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59852 Sun, 03 Feb 2013 18:27:24 PST Recommended The Leapfrog brand of toys and animation is generally regarded for a certain level of quality, using its curriculum-based system to promote early math and reading skills for anyone working their way through the single-digits. Leapfrog's newer "Scout and Friends" line of DVDs follows a colorful group of talking animals as they get younger audiences ready for early childhood and kindergarten. Like all educational DVDs and books, these aren't designed to be "virtual babysitters"; though they don't necessarily require a parent or guardian present at all times, such progr...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58612 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 04:50:27 PST Rent It The Show: Being the further adventures of the seven girls at Pittsburgh's Abby Lee Dance Company, and their moms. I reviewed Season 2 Volume 1 previously. To recap, this is a "reality" series whose real star is dance coach Abby Lee Miller, who apparently is well-respected in her field but comes across here as very abrasive, berating her students at times while showing a little compassion occasionally. The students' mothers for some reason are required to be present, usually watching the lessons and rehearsals from a room above the studio while saying what they dislike about Abby. I thought the first volume was a train wreck, since so much time was spen...Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59100 Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:06:06 PST Rent It Every year, there are movies released that are seen primarily on the basis of the actors involved. While a cast can certainly enhance mediocre material, they can't turn a sub-par script into gold. Unfortunately, this is the case for Stand Up Guys. The film features Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin, who will be the main selling points. These three actors are fantastic when they're given a good piece of writing, but some of the projects they decide to star in are questionable. After Jack and Jill, Pacino is in desperate need of something decent, but this just isn't it. He's a talented man, but he hasn't showcased it very well lately. While this new motion picture isn't an absolute disaster, it should have been a lot better. Val (Al Pacino) is re...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59647 Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:59:13 PST Rent It The Movie: Sitcom The Inbetweeners, something of a Sex in the City with horny suburban teen boys instead of fashionable Manhattanites, came to an end in 2010 after three hilarious seasons in the U.K. Don't despair, however, since the show's popularity prompted Will, Simon, Jay and Neil to return in their very own feature film (just like the Sex in the City gals!). The Inbetweeners Movie follows our favorite geeky quartet as they go on a hedonistic Greek holiday. It might be bigger, shinier and more expensive, but can it do that and still retain the simple charm of the series? The opening of The Inbetweeners Movie finds its lead characters - persnickety Will (Simon Bird), lovelorn Simon (Joe Thomas), horndog Ja...Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59162 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:52:11 PST Recommended Former big-state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to multiplexes playing small-town sheriff Ray Owens, a Los Angeles transplant who set up shop near the border between Arizona and Mexico, in the old-fashioned action flick The Last Stand. An aging lawman with a taste for the quiet life, Ray is expecting a mellow weekend off the clock, but it's going to turn out to be anything but. Up in Las Vegas, the FBI, led by agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker), are transporting Mexican drug boss Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) to the prison where he will spend the rest of his days when the bad guy's men pull a daring rescue. They take Cortez out of the police van and put him behind the wheel of a high-end Corvette. Rubber hits the road and the cartel man is on his way to hi...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58620 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:52:11 PST Skip It "Dance Moms" is a "reality" type show for the Lifetime cable channel, dealing with a group of dancers ranging from ages 7-13 (two of them sisters) at the Abby Lee Dance Company in Pittsburgh, PA, and of course their moms who are along for the ride. Abby Lee Miller is apparently a highly sought-after dance instructor because many of her students have gone on to professional dance careers. It isn't made clear how these students and their mothers got onto this show- I searched around for an explanation but could not find one. It appears that some of them were already students here before the show began, but have also heard some were chosen through auditions for the show's producers. Whatever the case, Abby teaches the kids dance routines in the studio while their moms watch through a ...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58690 Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:30:23 PST Rent It The Movie: In a lot of ways, the story behind the 2012 Ghost House Pictures film The Possession is a great deal more interesting than the movie itself is. The short version is that writers Juliet Snowden and Stiles White heard about the rumored existence of the 'Dybbuk Box' and decided to base a possession story around it. The what now? The 'Dybbuk Box' of course (referred to as a Dibbuk Box in the movie).The story behind this is that an antiques store owner bought a wine cabinet at an estate sale that belonged to a Jewish holocaust survivor. The box supposedly held a dybbuk inside, which according to Jewish lore is an evil spirit that can and will possess the body of a living human. A great idea for a horror film, right? One that can take advantage of the rich history of Jewish folklore and offer up something interesting, something unique, and hopefully, something scary. T...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58699 Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:43:14 PST Skip It THE FILM: Branded feels a lot like it was made as the final project for a social economics class at a liberal arts university. I attended such a university, but the previous statement is not meant to be a compliment. A blunt sendup of corporate dominance, capitalism and fast food, Branded is smug and self-satisfied, and grows tiresome long before it reaches its nonsensical third act. Directors Jamie Bradshaw and Aleksandr Dulerayn at least make the film visually stimulating, and lead actors Ed Stoppard and Leelee Sobieski manage to get through pages of inane dialogue without rolling their eyes. Somehow Jeffrey Tambor and Max von Sydow got roped into this mess, too, and I hope the veteran actors didn't sign on out of financial desperation...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59004 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:00:08 PST Skip It "Anger Management" is a sitcom for the FX cable channel starring Charlie Sheen. A brief note at the end of each episode states that it is based on the movie of the same name, but does not show any resemblance. Sheen plays a character also creatively named Charlie who was once a major-league baseball player but had to leave due to his anger issues. Subsequently he becomes a licensed therapist and begins holding group therapy sessions in his living room for others with anger issues (the primary basis for the show) as well as another group therapy at a nearby prison. Although divorced, he remains in contact with his ex-wife Jennifer (Shawnee Smith) mainly for the sake of their daughter Sam (Daniela Bobadilla), who is said to have OCD (Obsessive-Compulsory Disorder). Charlie also has a female friend named Kate (Selma Blair) who has no-strings-attached sex with him, and separately serves as Charlie's own...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58863 Tue, 01 Jan 2013 06:51:34 PST Highly Recommended In 10 Words or Less Don't fight the law Reviewer's Bias* Loves: Visual feasts Likes: Judge Dredd, Karl Urban, '80s-style quests for justice Dislikes: Dystopian futures Hates: Guns The Movie Back in the late '80s/early '90s, when watching HBO, it seemed like you were never far from an action movie about someone looking to dish out some justice. Heck, Steven Segal starred in a film actually titled Out for Justice. And even if they weren't the best-constructed films (often looking as low-budget as they truly were) they were often perversely enjoyable, as the bad-asses who fought for what was right did pretty much everything the wrong way, taking down everything that stood in their path. Technically,...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58132 Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:00:53 PST DVD Talk Collector Series A couple months ago, with the release of Django Unchained looming, my facebook feed started to fill with people talking about Tarantino. Most of these people were just ranking his output, but, as usual, there were a few scoffing at the idea of Tarantino as a "great filmmaker." A man who boldly stated that "great artists steal, they don't do homages," he has a reputation for being little more than a hyped-up cinematic DJ, collecting and rearranging his cinematic influences into a mish-mash he calls his own. To that, I say: hogwash. Tarantino may not be the greatest filmmaker of his generation, but to deny that the man has an artistic voice of his own is straight-up nonsense. Tarantino XX: Celebrating 20 Years of Filmmaking collects the first seven of Tarantino's films (six by his count -- he referred to Kill Bill as one film in a recent radio interview), plus Tru...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58616 Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:40:42 PST Recommended THE FILM: Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution. Trailer parks, all-night diners and strip clubs enclose the action in William Friedkin's Killer Joe, a dark , disturbing comedy that pulls no punches with its blunt, shortsighted characters and brutal violence. Friedkin again directs from a screenplay by Tracy Letts, who previously adapted his story of Southern perversion into a stage play. Killer Joe, like the pair's previous collaboration, Bug, is claustrophobic pulp. Ash...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59099 Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:21:10 PST Highly Recommended THE MOVIE: It's always nice to see a low-budget production execute a concept with efficiency and polish in a way that would make the big boys jealous. The Ghostmaker is one such flick. Ostensibly a supernatural thriller, it borrows ideas from sources as diverse as Flatliners, The Invisible Man and even Final Destination to say something about the dark depths of addiction. It may be light on scares overall but it manages to keep the tension high. This is largely thanks to the keen eye of writer/director Mauro Borrelli who puts every cent of the budget up on the screen for all of us to see. After an ominous start filled with grainy internet footage hinting at what's to come, the film wastes no time in establishing the lead character of Kyle (Aaron Dean Eisenberg). He has a lovely girlfriend, Julie (Liz Fenning), works at a cleaning service part-time and is ...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58501 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:19:20 PST Recommended The Movie: With the last couple of years in America serving for some as a way to number classes, whether it is the 47%, the 99% or what have you, it was only a matter of time before films used these mechanisms as a means of either launching or telling a story. The latest entry into this subgenre of films is Arbitrage, which has some familiar names in its cast, being directed by a not so familiar one. The film is written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki in his feature film debut. The focus of the film is Robert Miller (Richard Gere, The Jackal), the manager of a wealthy hedge fund in New York. He has been married to a devoted woman in Ellen (Susan Sarandon, The Lovely Bones) for years, his daughter Brooke (Brit Marling, Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58245 Tue, 11 Dec 2012 07:54:01 PST Highly Recommended THE FILMS: This Francis Ford Coppola: 5-Film Collection is the result of a recent collaboration between Lionsgate Films and Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope studio. Coppola and George Lucas founded the San Francisco film studio in 1969, and each film in this collection bears the studio's distinctive corner-building logo. Lionsgate and Zoetrope partnered in 2010 to restore and release some of Coppola's greatest films in high definition. This is by no means a definitive collection - The Godfather Trilogy, The Outsiders and Bram Stoker's Dracula are not included - but fans looking to add several classic films to their high-definition collections should be pleased by this set's $30 price tag. The new Lionsgate/Zoetrope Blu-ray releases are uniformly impressive in both technical quality and added content, and this set includes five films:...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59068 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:04:47 PST Recommended Timed to coincide with his acclaimed performance in Skyfall, Lionsgate has whipped up another actor-centric package around Javier Bardem, collecting their film Biutiful with their new Miramax acquisitions No Country For Old Men and Los Lunes al Sol, aka Mondays in the Sun. I know that studios don't really think about these kinds of collections beyond finding a star they consider with enough titles in their library and bankable enough to justify slapping together a multi-feature set, but the three films in this collection, taken together, paint an interesting picture of the actor that only lacks the humor and playfulness of his Bond villain Silva as a finishing touch. It seems safe to say that Mondays in the Sun is probably least familiar to American viewers. Javier Bardem plays Santa, one of a group of friends and former co-workers who are struggling to get b...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58429 Sun, 18 Nov 2012 04:32:42 PST Highly Recommended THE FILM: Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution. Sylvester Stallone admits that he didn't quite nail the tone of The Expendables. That love letter to 1980s action flicks and the stars that kicked ass in them felt a bit slipshod despite some enthusiastic directing by Stallone and eager help from recent star Jason Statham. Stallone hands the directing reins over to Simon West this go-round, but is still heavily involved in The Expendables 2, which is a sup...Read the entire review ]]>