Andy Lau and Well Go USA bring ‘A Simple Life’ to blu-ray
A Simple Life Blu-Ray Review
Starring Andy Lau, Deanie Ip, Pik Kee Hui, Paul Chun, Elena Kong with Anthony Wong, Sammo Hung Raymond Chow and Tsui Hark
Written by Susan Chan and Yan Lam Lee
Directed by Ann Hui
New on Blu-ray February 26 from Well Go USA is the multi-award winning drama about a lifelong servant and the relationship she develops after a life altering incident: A Simple Life. The film stars Andy Lau and Deanie Ip in a tale that covers many similar themes to director Michael Haneke’s Amour, but from a much less dour place, as this film is a mostly about the blossoming of their relationship that is years old but has never fully developed into the family it becomes.
Roger (Lau) is a successful movie producer. Ah Tao (Ip) has worked for Roger’s family as a nanny and maid over the course of four (more…)
Steve Austin vs Dolph Lundgren on Blu-ray in ‘The Package’
New to DVD and Blu-ray from Anchor Bay Entertainment is the latest action opus from former wrestler turned actor ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and “Expendables” star Dolph Lundgren, “The Package”. The Package is directed by veteran stuntman turned director Jesse V. Johnson, so it should come as no surprise that the film is heavy on action and stunt work and light on plot. But how does the film measure up to other action fare in the Stone Cold/Dolph Lundgren cannon?
The Package Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Steve Austin, Dolph Lundgren, Darren Shahlavi, Eric Keenleyside and Lochlyn Munro
Written by Derek Kolstad
Directed by Jesse V. Johnson
Dwayne Johnson turns ‘Snitch’ (review)
Snitch Review
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper, Michael Kenneth Williams, Rafi Gavron, Melina Kanakaredes, Nadine Velazquez, Benjamin Brattand Susan Sarandon
Written by Justin Haythe and Ric Roman Waugh
Directed by Ric Roman Waugh
A desperate father tries to save his teenage son from an unjust prison sentence by infiltrating a dangerous drug cartel in Snitch. The ‘Inspired by real events’ tale features Dwayne Johnson in a much more dramatic performance than the usual action packed extravaganzas we are used to seeing him in. Snitch plays out more slowly and methodically than the commercials and previews would have you believe, but is that a good or a bad thing?
Businessman John Matthews (Johnson) is devastated when his 18-year-old son Jason (Gavron) receives a mandatory minimum 10-year (more…)
Helen Hunt bares all on blu-ray in ‘The Sessions’
The Sessions Blu-ray Review
Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Annika Marks, Adam Arkin
Written and Directed by Ben Lewin, based on the original article by Mark O’Brien
New to Blu-ray and DVD from Fox Home Entertainment is the inspiring true story of Mark O’Brien in The Sessions. The biopic is the brainchild of writer/director Ben Lewin, himself suffering from polio as a child which has resulted in him requiring crutches to maneuver with for the rest of his life. The similarities between Lewin and O’Brien’s backgrounds gave Lewin a unique and experienced vision in which to craft the film.
Paralyzed and confined to an iron lung since childhood after being stricken by polio, poet-journalist Mark O’Brien (Hawkes) (more…)
TIFF’s ‘Packaged Goods’ series highlights animation for it’s winter program
Feb 20, 2013 brings the newest in the “Packaged Goods” series to the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The ongoing series surveys the world of commercial, music video and web content film-making. Exploring these by themes and highlighting the best that each theme has to offer, the series’ latest installment explores the ever changing worldanimation in the corporate sense in its “Artful Animation” presentation.
TIFF’s Packaged Goods: Artful Animation Program
Today’s animation has come a long way from Saturday morning cartoons: whether photo-real or illustrative, stop-motion or CG (more…)
Night of the Living Dead re-enacted for real? A review of the meta-horror Memisis
Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Allen Maldonado, Lauren May Shafer, Jana Thompson, Gavin Grazer with Courtney Gains and Sid Haig.
Written by Douglas Schulze and Joshua Wagner
Directed by Douglas Schulze
Mimesis, the word meaning ‘mimicry’ or ‘imitation’, is the beginning of what the filmmakers hope to be a series of films in which the premise is that a group of ‘thrill seekers’ set out to recreate classic horror films and play them out their way. The first of these films, Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead, comes to DVD and Blu-Ray Feb 10 from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
The team behind Dead Before Dawn 3D talk Zemons
Dead Before Dawn 3D is Canada’s first all 3D feature film and will play as the closing night Gala Presentation as part of TIFF’s Next Wave Film Festival Sunday Feb 17, 2013. We had a chance to sit down and talk with director April Mullen, writer Tim Doiron about the film and we even got a surprise pop in from star Devon Bostick.
Thanks for taking some time for us today guys. So what made you think you could pull off shooting this film on a 20 day schedule?
April– Well we never thought we could do it for sure, we just believed we could in our hearts.
Tim– And we really didn’t have a lot of options, we knew we only had a 20 day shoot and that was it. IT was all we could fit into the budget so we just studied our butts off and made sure on the preproduction side we had everything (more…)
