THE FILM:

I was neither expecting nor pining for a sequel to Eli Roth-produced found-footage horror film The Last Exorcism, which I enjoyed and promptly forgot after watching back in 2010. That film's plot involved a sham exorcist preying on the fears of a rural community, and Ashley Bell's performance as the possessed Nell Sweetzer is what I remember most about the film. Awkwardly titled sequel The Last Exorcism Part II bombed...Read the entire review

Please Note: The images used here are from stills provided by Sony Pictures Classics and visuals from other promotional sources; are not taken from the current Blu-ray edition under review; and are generally not representative of the intentionally videotape-level quality of the film's actual look.

If the hugely successful (artistically and popularly) Mad Men mines deep into what's clearly some deep-seated American ambivalence about the ad game and what it means to the individuals and society that show so incisively depicts, how much more amb...Read the entire review

House ofCardsdebuted entirely on February 1st,2013 via the Netflix streaming service. It is one of the first shows toever befeatured on a subscription streaming service and...Read the entire review

It hit me with a heavy thud early on in Before Midnight when Ethan Hawke's Jesse expresses his disbelief that he is now 41 years old: I have been the exact same age as the characters in this series whenever each movie has come out. The initial meeting between Jesse and Celine (Julie Delpy) happened when we were all 22 (Before Sunrise), and then ten years later in Before Sunset, at the onset of our 30s (so far the best decade in terms of growing up and growing old), and now we rejoin the narrative as we are settling into middle age.

I'll be curious to hear what my younger friends take away from Before Midnight. The ongoi...Read the entire review

Actor Jay Baruchel (Jay Baruchel) has just flown in to Los Angeles to hang out with his best friend and fellow actor Seth Rogen (Seth Rogen). After a quick trip to Carl's Jr., the two head to Rogen's apartment for a weekend of drinking, smoking, and 3D video games...until Seth remembers he's been invited to a Hollywood party hosted by James Franco (James Franco). Jay isn't really interested in schmoozing with Seth's newer, more famous friends, but Seth insists he won't abandon Jay in a sea of young, attractive movie stars. Not surprising: that promise is broken. More surprising: giant blue beams of light suck people up into the sky, a huge sinkhole leading to the center of the Earth opens up in Franco's front yard, and Seth and Jay find themselves holed up with Franco, Craig Robinson (Craig Robinson), Jonah Hill (Jonah Hill), and Danny McBride (Danny McBride) for what sounds like the end of the world.<...Read the entire review

The Series:

NOTE: This review will contain NO major spoilers for season five, however, if you haven't currently seen Breaking Bad up through its fourth season, please understand that it's pretty much impossible to discuss season five without divulging important events from the seasons that came before it.

One of the most ridiculously addictive television shows to come along in years and truly one of the finest series to ever grace the airwaves, with season five Breaking Bad begins to come to a close. Sony/AMC did, however, decide to break what was to be the final season into two parts, so there's more to come than just what's included in the eight episodes here. It's obvious, however, as you watch these episodes unfold that the exploits of Walter White and his collaborators cannot and will not last forever.

If you've never seen Breaking Bad, then ...Read the entire review

Review:

"The Client List" is a bit of a departure for Lifetime (not that I'm complaining, mind you) and certainly a rather interesting choice for actress Jennifer Love Hewitt after several seasons of "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS.

"Client" stars Hewitt as Riley Parks, a young Texas housewife and former cheerleader who finds herself in trouble when her husband isn't finding work due to an injury and they're getting deeper and deeper in the financial hole.

She eventually spots a potential opportunity at a "massage therapy spa" outside town called the Rub (is it just me, or does a massage parlor called "The Rub" kind of scream both what it is and "police raid?"). She's stunned to find that the women in the spa provide a "happy ending" to the gentlemen that come through the door. While she's initially shocked, she realizes she needs the money and starts to turn on the charm as the op...Read the entire review

Completes the picture for all those early Stooge supporters. Columbia Pictures and Sony have released The Three Stooges: Rare Treasures from the Columbia Pictures Vault, a three-disc collection of rare indeed Stooge-related material that was first released as bonus material on their massive 2012 The Three Stooges: The Ultimate Collection boxed set. Included here are impossible-to-see comedy two-reelers starring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita, the never-before-released-to-DVD feature films, Rockin' in the Rockies and Have Rocket, Will Travel, and three early Columbia cartoons with appearances by the animated Stooges. Rabid Stooge fans who purchased the earlier 8 individual Stooge sets (which were distressingly bare-bones) went ape when that box set came out loaded down with these goodies (and at a lower overall price, to add insult to injury). Now, you may carp a...Read the entire review

THE FILM:

Parker, the ruthless career criminal from Donald E. Westlake's long-running series of novels, is more complex and a fair bit less approachable than his big-screen representation in Director Taylor Hackford's Parker, which pulls from Westlake's 19th novel "Flashfire." Shot without much humor but with plenty of excess blood, Parker feels incredibly generic despite the decent pairing of Statham and Jennifer Lopez as a frustrated Palm Beach realtor who agrees to help Parker take out the men ...Read the entire review

As soon as Barbra Streisand's early career gained traction, she broke records by making smashing successes of every challenge she took on, and always in the very first attempt. Her greatest movie performance is still her screen debut in this extremely well-judged musical biography, that gently reshapes the story of comedienne-singer Fanny Brice to the needs of a Broadway musical and Ms. Streisand's special talents. The immensely popular Funny Girl won its young star a Best Actress Oscar in 1968. At the ceremony, actress Ingrid Bergman opened the fateful envelope and announced that the win was a tie -- between Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter.

The rags-to-riches backstage story is special in that the star-to-be must fight an uphill battle against people that underestimate her appeal -- she's not a...Read the entire review

Harry (Brian Petsos) is a minor criminal of some sort, describing himself in voice-over as "not a bad guy," without elaborating further. One day -- a "bad day for business," he informs the audience -- he returns home from dinner with his cousin Cecil (Oscar Isaac) and his girlfriend to discover his beloved dog, Jolly, has been brutally murdered, likely as thanks for a botched job that had Harry plotting to skip town. Emotionally devastated and brimming with rage, Harry returns to Cecil's house and enlists him on nothing less than a straight-up revenge mission to find the man who killed his beloved pet and return the favor.

Revenge For Jolly! is the newest entry in a growing trend: the low-key, low-budget, beneath-the-radar production populated with a cast of familiar face, the kind of movie people will see on the shelf at the local video store and wonder why they haven't heard of it. It's th...Read the entire review

Show Review:

Network television remains in decline in quality and ratings have suffered as a result - once "Must See TV" destination NBC now finds itself in last, with ratings for "NBC Nightly News" scoring better ratings at times than the network's prime-time line-up. Elsewhere, ABC's best offerings ("Happy Endings" and "Don't Trust the B- In Apartment 23") are either cancelled or on the brink. Meanwhile, cable has become more competitive, taking away network shows ("Cougar Town") and creating cult hits ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".)

"Men at Work", the latest sitcom from cable channel TBS...isn't exactly a good example of what cable has to offer. The show doesn't reinvent the sitcom wheel - in fact, the series is rather generic, following four 30-something friends Milo, Tyler, Gib...Read the entire review

Iron Man:

[click on the thumbnail to enlarge]

Rise of Technovore isn't just a title; it's a warning.

Think about it. When was the last time anything, ever with "colon-rise-of-the-something" in the title was any good? G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobr...Read the entire review

Zero Dark Thirty is exactly what the ads say it is, a realistic account of the decade-long search for the 21st century's first global enemy number one, Osama bin Laden. Unlike its Oscar competition Argo, the facts have not been teased in the interest of greater audience involvement; the details of this story are fascinating on their own.

Director Kathryn Bigelow hit the Academy Awards jackpot a few years earlier with her The Hurt Locker, a story of an obsessed bomb disposal expert working in Iraq. Zero adopts a similar standoffish distance to its subjects, all of whom are seen only in the context of their work. There is a leading character, this time a woman, but Ms. Bigelow and her screenwriter Mark Boal purposely avoid sentimental touches. Nobody so much as makes a phone call home.

A very young C.I.A. ...Read the entire review

The Movie:
The Lake Placid franchise isn't dead yet. It has one last (so they claim) entry with Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, and while it looks quite slickly produced, it leaves a lot to be desired.

This is the fourth in the series, and though I have missed the second and third, I don't think the experience suffers for it. Yancy Butler reprises her role from the previous film as Reba, the mouthy, somewhat unstable game warden. She kills off a croc in a bloody convenience store right at the beginning, but soon becomes embroiled with the efforts of the Army Corps of Engineers to surround the lake with an electric fence, so that the species can be studied. Ryan (Paul Nocholls) leads the engineers, with his son Max (Benedict Smith) working for him as a contractor, while Sheriff Giove (the lovely Elisabeth Rohm) worries about the safety of the local townsfolk, and specifically...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Like a few other people, I was introduced to the work of Jacques Audiard with his compelling recent film A Prophet, and in hearing he was directing whom I think are two very good lead performers in a story that would seem to be the polar opposite of the crime drama nature of A Prophet, it was intriguing to see what would come of it. And as it turned out, the end result is something that is moving and breathtaking in Rust and Bone.

Audiard (along with Thomas Bidegain) adapted the Craig Davidson story into a screenplay for Audiard's direction. Set in the South of France, Stephanie (Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose), works at a Marineland (think a Euro equivalent of SeaWorld) where she works with killer whales to daily audience...Read the entire review

The Film:

If you were to stop and do the math, The Intouchables' staggering box office gross suggests that nearly one in three people in its native France caught the film theatrically. When it was all said

[click on the thumbnail to enlarge]

and done, th...Read the entire review

The Movie:

There was some local interest among my friends regarding the film Playing for Keeps. This was primarily because of the occupation of the male lead. However, one of the things I have learned through the years is because someone may be doing something that you may like, that does not mean that they are going to be faithful to said occupation. But in this film's case, the fact that the film is simply horrid does not help it in any case whatsoever.

The film is written by Robbie Fox, his first story or screenplay credit since the 1994 Pauly Shore vehicle In the Army Now, and it is directed by Gabriel Muccino (Seven Pounds). Gerard Butler (Law Abiding Citizen) plays George, a former soccer star in Europe who eventually finished h...Read the entire review

Jumani: The Animated Series isan adaptation of the popular children'slive-action film Jumani, directed by Joe Johnston and starring RobinWilliams,Jonathan Hyde, Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce, and Bonnie Hunt. Theconcept ofthe film and the animated series revolves around two young children,Judy andPeter, who play...Read the entire review

The Film:

Perfectly acceptable first-run syndicated tripe, as Xena meets Baywatch in the Disney/M-G-M Studios Florida jungles. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released Sheena: The Complete First Season, a 4-disc, 22-episode collection of the adventure fantasy's 2000-2001 premiere go-around. Based loosely on the iconic comic book character from Will Eisner and Jerry Iger, and starring former Baywatch babes Gena Lee Nolin and John Allen Nelson, Sheena didn't last long (only 35 episodes), and it's probably now only remembered by the small audiences that originally caught it helter-skelter in first-run syndication. However, as these low-budget television romps go, it's an agreeable time-waster, with brief-but-solid action, some good performances (handsome, wisecracking Nelson and cynical sidekick Kevin Quigley come off best), and plenty of teasing shots of stackedRead the entire review

THE PROGRAM

"Robot and Frank" had a criminal theatrical treatment in 2012. The incredibly intelligent, comedy/drama uses a sci-fi setting few films are able to do, in order to tell a story of aging through the most unlikely and improbable friendship. The premise is simple: an aged thief, Frank (Frank Langella), received a robot helper from his son (James Marsden) after it becomes apparent, despite protests, he's unable to fully care for himself and his home. Quite honestly, the less you know about the film the better, but I somehow suspect a lot of people wouldn't be sold on the premise along. "Robot and Frank" is a rare film though that transcends genres and the sci-fi setting is only lightly used to give believability to the inclusion of Frank's robot helper (voiced eloquently by Peter Saarsgaard).

Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58994 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 05:18:32 PST Recommended

The Movie:

In Hotel Transylvania, Count Dracula is portrayed as sympathetic and misunderstood. Voiced by Adam Sandler (who does a decent job with the voice, staying in character and not diverting into his somewhat annoying high-pitched mode as he's done elsewhere), his main goal in life is to be a good father to his daughter Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) after her mother has died. The events that led to her death have led him to distrust all normal humans and teach his daughter to fear them, saying that they will do terrible things such as steal her candy. He then finds a location far from human activity and builds the castle-like Hotel Transylvania as a place where all monsters can vacation in peace. Every year on Mavis' birthday, he invites all the monsters there fo...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59045 Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:08:48 PST Highly Recommended

In 10 Words or Less
Friends without benefits

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg
Likes: Romantic comedies, Ari Graynor, character studies
Dislikes: Bad relationships
Hates: Divorce

The Movie
In my lifetime, the number of women I have been involved with romantically at one time and are still in my life is a nice round zero. I'm a big believer in the clean split, and can honestly say, once the relationships ended, so did any and all contact with that woman. It's not like they were pursuing me and I gave them the cold shoulder, but I was more than happy to say goodbye. Maybe I don't believe in second chances, but I definitely know when I'm not wanted and if so, I don't hang around. As such,...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58990 Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:32:50 PST Highly Recommended

The Movie:

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, 2012's Seven Psychopaths tells the unlikely story of a man named Marty (Colin Farrell), hoping against hope that one day he'll finish this script he's been working on forever and get a movie made. The name of the script? Seven Psychopaths; and Marty is taking inspiration from some unusual sources. Sadly, the story just isn't coming together. He's got the title down pat and figured out a few characters but remains unsure what exactly he should do with them. The fact that he likes to drink... a lot... probably isn't helping matters much. As far as that inspiration goes, though, thanks to his pal Billy (Sam Rockwell), he's making a bit of progress. See, Billy works as a dog kidnapper - he goes out and steals canine companions from rich folk and holds them for ransom. As such, Billy has dealt with some odd people, and he's mo...Read the entire review

]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59656 Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:55:04 PST Highly Recommended

German/Austrian director Michael Haneke has become notorious for making films that are, essentially, extended meditations on discomfort, in which the lives of his fictional characters are marred by unspeakable violence and the minds of the audience are jarred by self-reflexive story twists. Films like Funny Games, Cache, and, most recently, the acclaimed The White Ribbon all definitely fall into that clich d love-it-or-hate-it pigeonhole. I generally find it hard to discern whether or not Haneke has a legitimate point to make, or he just enjoys screwing around. ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=57234 Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:41:53 PST Rent It

Sincere but not engrossing, Born Free (1974) was a short-lived television series adapted from the popular 1966 movie, a drama about real-life African wildlife conservationists Joy and George Adamson. The series undoubtedly must have seemed like a great concept on paper but in execution just doesn't work. Unlike the movie, in attempting to dramatize real issues of poaching and rescuing ill and injured wild animals the TV version somehow lacks the educational, intellectual and emotional virtues of the movie. I kept thinking I'd rather instead watch a documentary photographing the real thing instead of this sanitized recreation trapped in contrived jungle movie plotlines.

Adding to the disappointment is Sony's unusually poor video transfers of Born Free - The Complete Series. Though almost invariably the old movies, even lowly second features, from Sony's "Choice Collection" manufactured-...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59001 Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:27:41 PST Highly Recommended

THE MOVIE:

Please Note: The stills used here are taken from promotional materials, not the Blu-ray edition under review.

There are certain trajectories that we expect rock 'n' roll stories to take. Of course, the most common are of young men dreaming big and going nowhere. Then there are those who achieve some success, only to flame out midway, and possibly ride an ongoing rising and falling wave. And then there are the big boys, the ones who go all the way and never come down.

The documentary Searching for Sugar Man offers us a different narrative entirely: of the never-was who became the biggest name in music to a certain group of people without ever knowing it.

The title refers to the song "Sugar Man," the closest thi...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58747 Sat, 12 Jan 2013 16:43:17 PST Rent It

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Woody Allen is really coasting with his new movie To Rome With Love, a relaxed revisit of his earlier movies (and a couple of Federico Fellini's) staged before attractive Italian scenery. Younger viewers might find it enjoyable thanks to some always-welcome cast members; those of us who love Allen's pictures will probably indulge him. Woody plays a music producer who shows more creativity than our esteemed writer-director does in the movie overall. To Rome With Love has a good attitude and a pleasant setting, but it's lazy.

A traffic cop at work (Pierluigi Marchionne) introduces us to Rome, a city where life does not run on a timetable. Several unrelated stories play out in parallel. (1) Neurotic retiree Jerry and his tolerant wife Phyllis (Judy Davis) arrive, join their student daughter Hayley (Allison Pill) and me...Read the entire review

]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=59144 Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:23:20 PST Highly Recommended

Let's get something out of the way first: the trailer for Rust and Bone is terrible. So terrible, in fact, that I almost passed on seeing it. Had I not looked it up and seen that it was directed by Jacques Audiard, who made the exceptional prison film A Prophet, I would not have bothered. The images of Marion Cotillard swimming with whales and reaching up to the sunlight, cut to an M83 song, which in this capacity might as well be a Coldplay track, looks like the kind of generic would-be inspirational treacle that makes little Oscar statues light up in the eyes of Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

Ignore that trailer. It's fiction. It's for a film that doesn't exist. And go and see Rust and Bone. It's ...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58735 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:22:15 PST Recommended

THE FILM:

Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution.

You'd be forgiven for forgetting Resident Evil: Retribution's super generic subtitle, as it may as well be called "This Year's Resident Evil 3D." This is the fifth Milla Jovovich-lead film in the franchise, and directly follows the events of last year's Resident Evil: Afterlife, which marked the return of original director Paul W.S. Anderson after he sat out parts two and three. As you know, Jovovich play...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58247 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:00:08 PST Recommended

THE FILM:

Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution.

At this point in 2013 I think we are past asking why a movie needs to be remade. Why Anything!, a frustrated film lover might grunt. These remakes continue to be a mixed bag, and a few even improve on the original (see The Departed). Hell, I even accepted Rob Zombie remaking my favorite film - Halloween - and ended up enjoying his modern i...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58487 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:08:09 PST Skip It

THE FILM:

Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution.

Although it appears to be an honest effort and a carefully planned directorial debut for Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, The Words is much less interesting than it realizes. Klugman's recently bankable buddy, Bradley Cooper, stars and helped get the film made, and actors Dennis Quaid, Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde and Jeremy Irons do their best with the ho-hum material. Cooper plays a struggling writer who, in a moment of ecstatic desperation, publishes a manuscript he finds in a vintage briefcas...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=58944 Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:58:45 PST DVD Talk Collector Series

THE MOVIE:

Please Note: The stills used here are taken from promotional materials, not the Blu-ray edition under review.

PART ONE: MY ORIGINAL REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 2012

Writing about time travel movies can often be a challenge. Not only are they usually difficult to explain, but the very thing that makes them difficult is what also makes them a kick to watch. The conundrums, the paradoxes, the surprises that arise from the participants doubling back on themselves, changing their fates, and altering the course of history as they know it. In fact, there couldn't be a more perfect title for Rian Johnson's new film than Looper. It's a movie that keeps turning on itself, achieving Read the entire review

]]>