Anchor Bay unleashes ‘Girls Against Boys’ on Blu-ray
New to DVD and Blu-ray from Anchor Bay Entertainment is the revenge thriller “Girls Against Boys”. The newest film from writer/director Austin Chick, Girls against boys features Danielle Panabaker in a rare bad girl role after she takes drastic actions after a sexual assault is not followed up on accordingly by the police. So how does Girls Against Boys hold up to other twisted tales of revenge?
Girls Against Boys
Starring: Danielle Panabaker, Nicole LaLiberte, Liam Atkin, Michael Stahl-David and Andrew Howard
Written and Directed by Austin Chick
After Shae (Panabaker), a college student that is having an affair with an older married man, is assaulted by several men in a matter of days she reaches her breaking point. Shae is drawn into co-worker Lu’s (LaLiberte) twisted plan for revenge against all men. (more…)
Bloor Hot Docs Cinema takes a trip to ‘Greenwich Village’
Starting today, Mar 8 2013, at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is the new documentary focusing on the politically charged singer songwriters of the 1960’s and early 1970’s that called Greenwich Village home, “Greenwich Village: Music that Defined a Generation”. The epicenter of the folk music movement of the 60’s, hundreds of acts grew from the streets of Greenwich to conquer the world. Director Laura Archibald is clearly a large fan and enamored of these artists and their achievements as the entire tale is seen form the one side that is the artist’s themselves.
Greenwich Village: Music that Defined a Generation
Narration by Susan Sarandon
Written by Laura Archibald, Rob Lindsay and Kevin Wallis based on the novel by Suzie Rotolo
Directed by Laura Archibald
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Greenwich Village attracted numerous artists and activists. This creative and politically (more…)
WWE’s ‘The Marine 3’ falls short on delivering the goods
WWE Films brings its newest installment in their “Marine” series of films to Blu-ray and DVD via Fox Home Entertainment this week with “The Marine 3: Homefront” This time the role of marine is filled by WWE wrestler Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, inheriting the role from John Cena and Ted DiBiase Jr, playing the character of Jake Carter. Each new Marine film stars a new marine, character and actor, so how does Jake Carter and the Miz stack up in the series?
Marine 3: Homefront Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, Neal McDonough, Ashley Bell, Michael Eklund and Jared Keeso
Written by Scott Wiper and Declan O’Brien
Directed by Scott Wiper
WWE’s ‘Dead Man Down’ limps into theaters
Starring: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Isasbelle Huppert, Dominic Cooper, F. Murray Abraham, Armand Assante, Stu “Wade Barrett” Bennett and Terrence Howard.
Written by J.H. Wyman
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev
The newest theatrical release from the wrestling entity driven WWE Films hits theaters this weekend with the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo herself Noomi Rapace leading the way in Dead Man Down. The film Reteams Rapace with the director of the original Dragon Tattoo trilogy for the first time since the worldwide smash as director Oplev is also making his feature film English language debut. But will Dead Man Down be a similar sized hit or dead box office?
‘The Walking Dead’s’ 5 most anticipated characters yet to appear on TV
With this Sunday’s (Mar 3) episode bringing back uber fan favorite Morgan Jones (Lennie James) and the appearance of comic book favorite Tyresse (Chad L. Coleman), even if he’s working with David Morrissey’s Governor for now, the influx of new characters has been on the rise for this season’s “The Walking Dead”. Even Axel (Lew Temple), with his short stay, was another character who managed to work his way in from the original comic book once the prison came into play. But the comic book just recently went past 100 issues (107 as of this article) and the group is in a much different place. (more…)
James Bond reboots with ‘Skyfall’
Skyfall Blu-ray (2013)
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Bérénice Marlohe, Ben Whishaw with Albert Finney and Judi Dench
Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan based on characters created by Ian Fleming
Directed by Sam Mendes
Now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Fox Home Entertainment is the latest entry in theJames Bond saga, Skyfall. Ian Fleming’s iconic creation celebrates its 50th year in film with this new entry. Starring the enigmatic and some argue best bond of the series, Daniel Craig, Skyfall doesn’t just serve to continue the series as much as reboot the franchise around Craig in order to establish Bond for another 50 year run, or so Fox and MGM studios hope.
In Skyfall, James Bond’s (Craig) loyalty to M (Dench) is tested as her past returns to haunt her. We open in the middle of an important lifesaving operation that goes drastically wrong. (more…)
‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ looks to put a spell on audiences
Oz the Great and Powerful 3D (2013)
Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Zack Braff, Bill Cobbs, Joey King and Tony Cox
Written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire based on the works of L. Frank Baum
Directed by Sam Raimi
New in theaters this week from Disney Studios comes the prequel tale based on the legendary Wizard of Oz book and film: Oz the Great and Powerful. The story of how the actual Wizard of Oz ends up in Oz and how he comes to rule is brought to screen by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi complete with his flair for stories grand in scale. So how does Oz the Great and Powerful stack up to the original Wizard of Oz?
When Oscar Diggs (Franco), a travelling circus magician with dubious ethics and results, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s found his path to fame and fortune. Aboard a hot air balloon Oscar is whisked away in a tornado the same way as Dorothy is after him. After landing in Oz, Oscar meets three witches, Theodora (Kunis), Evanora (Weisz) and Glinda (Williams) (more…)
Human Rights Watch Film Fest takes us to ‘No Place on Earth’
Screening Sunday Mar 3 2013 as part of theHuman Rights Watch Film Festival at the TIFF Bell Lightbox is the new documentary from producer/director Janet Tobias “No Place on Earth”. The History Channel produced documentary outlines the courageous struggle to survive by five Jewish families in Nazi Occupied Poland. The lengths and extraordinary struggle they went through is explored here along with a full reproduction with actors re-enacting the described events of living members of the family.
No Place on Earth
Starring: Saul Stermer, Sam Stermer, Sonia Dodyk, Sima Dodyk, Chris Nicola
Directed by Janet Tobias
In 1993 Chris Nicola, an American cave enthusiast, was exploring the (more…)
Seijun Suzuki’s ‘Tokyo Drifter’ drifts into the TIFF Bell Lightbox
Playing Mar 22013 at 10pm, as part of theTIFF Bell Lightbox’s Spotlight Japan celebration from the ‘Tokyo Drifters: 100 years of Nikkatsu’ series, come the classic 1966 gangster film from Seijun Suzuki, “Tokyo Drifter”. The film is a smorgasbord of camera and film styles as Suzuki was clearly influenced by the changing cinema from the west from the 1950’s to the 1960’s.
Tokyo Drifter
Starring: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Ryuji Kita and Hideaki Esumi
Written by Kôhan Kawauchi
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
Tetsu (Watari) has joined his yakuza boss in going straight, and is determined to stay straight, after his boss has disbanded his gang. But when a rival gang threatens to bring them back into the gang wars (more…)
Eddie Pepitone is ‘The Bitter Buddha’ at the bloor hot docs cinema
Starting a 2 show run, Mar 2and Mar 3 2013, at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is the newdocumentary exploring the life of the comedian nicknamed “The Bitter Buddha” of the title, Eddie Pepitone. The documentary explores the life and performances of the now 54 year old comic who has been doing stand-up, working the clubs and road, without the break out success that other comedians that adore what he does feel he deserves.
The Bitter Buddha
Starring Eddie Pepitone
Directed by Steven Feinartz
“The Bitter Buddha” follows Pepitone (Old School, The Muppets) at a pivotal moment in his career. The film provides a hilarious insider’s perspective of the highs
Human Rights Watch Film Fest explores ‘Camp 14: Total Control Zone’
Playing Feb 27 as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, a week and a half long (Feb 26 – Mar 7, 2013) program of films that empower through tales of oppression, struggle and resilience, comes the documentary based on the best-selling book ‘Escape from Camp 14’, “Camp 14: Total Control Zone”. The festival, making its home in the TIFF Bell Lightbox, features both documentaries and scripted films that highlight atrocities and struggles worldwide for equality. The films of the festival come from around the world and encompass many different elements of the human condition and people’s will to survive and impact change.
Camp 14: Total Control Zone
Directed by Marc Wiese
Camp 14: Total Control Zone is a fascinating portrait of a young man who grew up (more…)
The Madagascar crew return for a dvd quickie in ‘Madly Madagascar’
Just in time for Valentine’s Day our friends at Fox Home Entertainment bring us a new short movie from the Madagascar crew, Madly Madagascar. The half hour special deals with Valentine’s Day in the African jungle with familiar characters Alex the lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo along with the Penguins and lemur King Julian, this time around not voiced by Sasha Baron Cohen.
Madly Madagascar DVD Review
Starring the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Danny Jacobs and Taraji P Henson.
Written and Directed by David Soren.
Alex’s (Stiller) favorite holiday, Valentine’s Day, has arrived and the entire gang is excited. Melman (Schwimmer) plans a big surprise for Gloria (Pinkett Smith) (more…)
The Trailer Park Boys sit down to talk ‘Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour’
With the recent release of their “Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour” on DVD, I had the chance to sit down with the boys, Robb Wells,Mike Smith and John Paul Tremblay aka TheTrailer Park Boys, to talk Happy Funtime and other projects.
So guys, Drunk and on Drugs has what we can call a unique structure. Were there a lot of discussion/fights over whether to employ a linear or non-linear style for the series?
Mike Smith – The series is linear, in that it is linear in time, but it’s definitely not linear for your brain. There was no real argument over how to do it, we wanted to do it this way. We wanted to play multiple characters and do it without hard cuts so that it had very seamless transitions moving out of TVs and phones (more…)
’21 & Over’ still needs to grow some more
21 & Over (2013)
Starring Miles Teller, Skylar Astin, Justin Chon, Sarah Wright, Jonathan Keltzand Francois Chau
Written and Directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
From the writers of the original Hangover, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, comes their debut directorial effort, the raunchy and lewd 21 & Over. The collage based comedy stars some of the biggest young names out there right now, including Pitch Perfect’s Skylar Astin, Project X’s Miles Teller and the Twilight Saga’s Justin Chon. The comedy looks to follow in the footsteps of Lucas and Moore’s Hangover and last year’s surprise hit Project X, but does it manage to succeed?
College student Jeff Chang (Chon) has always done what’s expected of him, but when his two best friends Casey (Astin) and Miller (Teller) (more…)
‘Stoker’ marks a bombastic english debut for director Park Chan-wook
Stoker (2013)
Starring Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Lucas Till, Dermot Mulroney and Jackie Weaver
Written by Wentworth Miller
Directed by Park Chan-wook
New in theaters this week from Fox Searchlight Pictures is Stoker, the English language debut film from Korean master filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). The intense horror/thriller written by Prison Break star Wentworth Miller packs a stellar cast with Mia Wasikowska heading up the center of the story. With Chan-wook delving into the English market, the question remains, is his unique style and vision compatible and adaptable for an English audience?
After India’s (Wasikowska) father, Richard Stoker (Mulroney), dies in an auto accident her Uncle Charlie (Goode), who she never knew existed (more…)
Robert Carlyle tries to save ‘California Solo’ but falls short
California Solo
Starring: Robert Carlyle, A. Martinez, Alexia Rasmussen and Danny Masterson
Written and Directed by Marshall Lewy
Starting today, Mar 1 2103, at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto, is the newest film from director Marshall Lewy and actor Robert Carlyle, California Solo. The film marks a return to film from Carlyle after some television work that has kept him busy for the last couple of years. So will California Solo have you lining up at the historic Carlton Cinema this week?
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