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Past Reviews:2010200920082007 |
Gawd, is this a depressing movie. First off, it’s no Taken. The trailers were marketed to make us believe it was going to be an exciting revenge-thriller but it’s not. It’s slow, and broody, and so so so morose. I could barely sit through it (thank god for the new issue of InStyle). My hubby liked it a little more but he also felt duped. The reality is, ever since I have Charlie, I just hate movies where kids get killed. And here—Thomas Craven’s (Mel Gibson) 20-something daughter gets blasted with a shotgun right beside him. But we already knew something was wrong as she puked at the dinner table and blood started leaking out of her nose. Surprise surprise, the bullet wasn’t meant for Craven (as he initially believes) but for her because there are all sorts of secret things going on in her life. But tell me—why do I want to watch this? Why do I want to sit and be depressed for two hours? Not even kept in suspense or on the edge of my seat. Just bored and depressed. No thanks. I’d rather watch Elmo. The Blu-Ray looks great, I suppose, although it’s a very dark and gritty movie. Sound is solid, but again—it’s not a blasting loud soundtrack. You;ll find the majority of extras in Focus Points section, which is a collection of nine different mini-documentaries that total just over a half an hour in length. The titles pretty much explain what is covered: Mel's Back, Making A Ghost Character Real, Scoring The Edge Of Darkness, Revisiting The Edge Of Darkness Mini-Series, Thomas Craven's War Of Attrition, Boston As A Character, Director Profile: Martin Campbell and Edge Of Your Seat. The more interesting aspects are how this big screen adaption is related to the original BBC mini-series, how and why Gibson returned to working in front of the camera for this film, and how Boston was used so effectively in the film. If you love the movie you’ll be into these but I was not. Obviously, I wasn’t a fan of this movie. If you’re into super-dark and depressing crap you might be. But as for me—bring on the rom-coms! |
Best of Elmo 2 (5 out of 5 stars) I have finally found the only other television creature that Charlie loves besides those yoga-doing Piplings on Waybuloo—Elmo. I popped this DVD in the other day so I could review it and she stopped playing and started dancing as soon as the music came on. Now for mommies, there is a clip with David Beckham teaching the word persistence. So effing hot. Men with kids, interacting with kids, or even with furry red monsters are so effing hot. Make it David Beckham and well-that’s the clip Charlie saw about six times in a row. Ahem… Sesame Street remains one of the last bastions of quality children’s programming out there I think and although my baby’s still a little young for it now, it’s good to know she’ll be into it when she’s a bit older. They teach numbers and letters and bigger vocabulary words. In the dvd, Elmo meets a robot on Sesame Street who is losing his power. The robot is a "Memorybot", and he needs "memories" to power up again. Elmo gladly shares his memories of special times with friends like Jason Mraz, Adam Sandler, Destiny's Child, David Beckham, India Arie, The Goo Goo Dolls, Feist and more. It’s a very cute DVD that runs about 45 minutes. Right now, I use it in short 15 minute segments so I can do the prep for dinner. It’s awesome. As always though—please make sure you’re not exposing your little ones to a ton of television. It’s no replacement for good, old-fashioned imagination. Highly recommended. |
It’s weird—I remember Fresh Prince as being a whole lot more hilarious than it is when I watch it now. I think time obviously has a lot to do with that. The show aired in 1994 (when I was in Grade 9, gulp) and you can certainly tell. However—whenever I show episodes in media class to grade 11’s, the eat it up. They love it. They howl with laughter. They beg for more. So I have come to the conclusion that you must be in high school to fully appreciate the humour of Fresh Prince. Now most of you know that Fresh Prince is the show about how, Will Smith’s life got turned upside down. In West Philadelphia he was born and raised and on the playground is where he spent most of his days…. Alright, you get the joke. Season Five was okay, although I think the first three season were the strongest. This season, Will (Will Smith) manages to land a part in a daytime soap. He’s put into a trance by a stage hypnotist, who gets him to behave like a four-year-old and even takes a bullet for Carlton. He also meets Lisa and wants to get married. Ashley(Tatyana M. Ali) finds herself abandoning her private school education in exchange for public school. Hillary (Karyn Parsons) prepares to leave the nest and Vivian (Daphne Maxwell Reid) reminisces about Philip’s (James Avery) marriage proposal when they appeared on Soul Train 25 years earlier. Extras, you ask? None for you! The picture and sound are fine but they definitely show their age. If you’re a hard-core fan then you’ll want to buy this, otherwise it would make a nice light rental. |
Deadliest Warrior: Season One (3 out of 5 stars) Uh. Okay. How the heck do I review this one? Talk about guy tv. Let’s see—what’s the most macho thing we can dream up and put on tv? Hey—let’s pit two of history’s fiercest warriors in the ring to see who comes out on top. Well, actually, their fighting styles and weapons are analyzed, and then they are put into a computer simulation program to fight 1,000 battles and see who ends up dead most often. Sah-weeeet, right? Really what this is for are those geeks who talk about who would win in a fight—a Viking or a samurai? The IRA or the Taliban? A Pirate or a Knight? Seriously. Seriously. The two-disc set has nine fights between warriors, usually generic one vs. one but sometimes historical figures or groups. They tend to follow the same format, first testing weapons while the experts smack talk. We see re-enactments of the warriors using their weapons in the historical context. And then after the numbers are fed into the computer, we see a re-enactment of what the computer says would happen. You know—this would make a great Father’s Day gift, I’ve got to admit. That’s all I’ve got. I can’t talk about this anymore. It hurts me. |
Saving Private Ryan Blu-Ray: Sapphire Series (5 out of 5 stars) So I’m not even going to bother reviewing the movie itself as Saving Private Ryan is possible one of the top movies ever made and if you haven’t seen it you’re a loser. What everyone wants the scoop on is the Blu-Ray goodness that Paramount has packaged in a Sapphire Series. In terms of video the technicals I found state that it’s in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. What really matters is that the detail is super-impressive. I can’t believe a 12-year-old movie can look so damn good. Of course, that does make that Omaha Beach scene even more graphic so be warned. There is no way to find war glamorous when you see this. Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The improvement here from the Dolby Digital 5.1 provided on the previous DVD release is extremely impressive. The amount of rear channel presence and LFE (bass) here in the Omaha Beach sequence in the beginning of the film is absolutely amazing and really lends to the feeling that you’re there on the beach. Bonus materials are presented on the 2nd Blu-ray Disc and are in both Hi-Def (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) video quality with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound — unless otherwise noted below.
The extras mostly come from the previously released 60th Anniversary of D-Day Edition so there is a bit of disappointment there. It would have been nice to see a digital version, a dvd or some new stuff. Still, there is enough that is excellent here that make me absolutely recommend it for your collection even if you have the dvd already. |
Ummm. I can smell what The Rock is cooking. And it’s mediocre comedy with one or two pity laughs and a tired out concept. Okay, so it’s not the most original opener in the history of media but f---, neither is this movie. I really thought it might be cute. I thought it might appeal to my newfound sensibilities as a mommy. I’m a lot softer than I used be. But I guess it takes a certain kind of mommy to find a big hulking dudre prancing around in a tutu and giving kiddies money funny. Sigh. It makes me sad that they waste money on this crap. It did have potential thought, and you see it glimmer through in a few moments before it comes crashing down like a 2 year old on Halloween night (bazinga). Billy Crystal shows up and totally sucks the life out of anything that was happening. He just goes on and on and never makes you laugh. Seriously, right? Billy Crystal!! I can’t rate audio and video as I got a screening dvd. Extras feature a workout featurette for kids called "Tooth Fairy Training Center"; an sad, sad, sing-along called "Fairyoke" and some trailers. Rent it and only if you have kids who love Dwayne Johnson. |
Crazy Heart (4 out of 5 stars) So the story isn’t exactly original. It’s the acting that makes Crazy Heart one of the best movies of the year. Jeff Bridges totally deserved his Oscar (unlike Sandra Bullock who I adore but sorry—totally didn’t deserve one) for his role as an alcoholic country singer. Get out—an alcoholic country singer? I have never, and I mean, never, heard of that before… I’m sure you’re all tapping into my sarcasm there (although it’s tough to type sarcastically). I wasn’t looking forward to watching Crazy Heart, truth be told, because I thought I’d be bored. I don’t like country music and I don’t like emotionally-based movies (they bore me). But I really got engrossed in this one and ended u p loving it. Based on the book by Thomas Cobb, “Crazy Heart” follows the story of Bad Blake (Bridges), a veteran country singer who hasn’t recorded an album in a while and is struggling to make ends meet. Blake travels from gig to gig across the South to please his manager and make some cash, but his problem with alcohol is giving him a hard time. Things slowly start to change for Blake when he meets and falls for Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an ambitious journalist and single mother who recognizes the good in the musician and isn’t afraid of letting him into her personal life. For Blake, however, the real challenge is to find a way to overcome his bad habits and get his career back on the right track. Maggie is freaking adorable too. I love her. I got a screener dvd so I can’t comment on the picture and sound but the extras were deleted scenes. That’s it. So the blu-ray I’m sure is a better bet. Highly recommended. |
I love using The Hills in my media class because it’s just so gloriously fake. And ridiculous. And the kids (especially the girls) worship it. Is it evil that I get a real kick out of bursting their reality tv bubbles? Because I really really do… Eveyone reading this review knows that this is the second half of season five—the season that saw Lauren Conrad leave and Kristin Cavallari take her glittery place. For me, the show has really jumped the shark—I stopped seriously watching back in Season 4 but I always get caught up when I do these reviews. I don’t really like Kristin, which I suppose is the point, and I could care less that she has her sights set on Justin Bobby. A lot of scenes revolve around Spencer and Heidi’s rather unconventional domestic life with Heidi whining about babies constantly. Meanwhile Spencer does everything he passive aggressively can to thwart her plan to get knocked up.I really don’t like Audrina, and Heidi is seriously beyond help. I can’t help but feel sorry for these girls now as I watch because I know what happens to them Kristen is seriously in need of rehab, and Heidi has some crazy Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), a condition described by the Mayo Clinic as "a type of chronic mental illness in which you can't stop thinking about a flaw with your appearance -- a flaw either that is minor or that you imagine." Audrina is pretty much turning into a porn star. Video and audio are good and extras include "The Bitch is Back" MTV special which discusses the return of Kristin. It aired before the second part of the season, and was part of the build-up to the new focus of the show. It was filmed live before a studio audience in Toronto. There are deleted scenes, and then "After Show Remixes" which are simply catch phrases or clips cut in a montage. So why is this show so damn addictive for people? |
Edge of Darkness (1 out of 5 stars)
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Season 5 (3 out of 5 stars)
Tooth Fairy (2 out of 5 stars)
The Hills: Season Five, Part 2 (3 out of 5 stars)