Ghost in the Shell:

There is a scene in the climax of Ghost in the Shell where the film's protagonist is lying on the ground, her limbs ripped from her body after a grueling mecha battle, and she contemplates the philosophy of "self" with a body-less AI. This quiet moment of dialogue encapsulates Ghost in the Shell's heart and soul and separates it from other works in the field of science fiction. It is scenes like this that other filmmakers such as James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and the Wachowski siblings have pointed to as significant inspiration in their own works. Downplaying the themes of sex, violence, and revolution that have plagued the genre, the heart of Ghost in the Shell's story is one of identity and searching for what makes us, us.

So much has been said about Ghost in the Shell's technical merits and expansive mythology. Timed to coincide ...Read the entire review

The Series:

The first spin-off of AMC's hit series The Walking Dead launched last to somewhat mixed reviews. The second season, which was shown in 2016, hits the ground running. Picking up where the first season left off, the group evacuates to the Abigail and heads out to sea as Los Angeles is bombed by a military force trying desperately to contain the outbreak. While on the ocean, they come across another boat of survivors but Victor Strand (Coleman Domingo) stands firm in his belief that they should not allow them to board. Things are dicey all over and Strand is playing hardball. As night sets, they learn the hard way that those who have died at sea are also turning.

The first episode is an interesting start to the season, as conflict arises between the group almost instantly. Strand takes an isolationist policy and is willing to fight anyone who disagrees, while Alicia (...Read the entire review

The Movie:

As boxing makes its gradual and slow retreat into anonymity, one of the sad things lost in this transition is some of the figures through the sport's history. For the heavyweight champions like Muhammad Alis and Mike Tysons, scores of fighters in lighter weight classes provided some memorable fights and carved out an amazing history for themselves. Chief among them was Roberto Duran, who held titles in four different weight classes (lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight) and won 103 of 119 career fights, 70 by knockout. As fighters like Ali received their biopics, Duran finally got one of his own, titled after his legendary nickname.

Hands of Stone was written and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz, his first feature in more than a decade since 2005's Secuestro Express....Read the entire review

For the past decade or more, AMC has been leading the charge in terms of quality TV storytelling, beyond the major hits such as "Mad Men", "Breaking Bad", and "The Walking Dead" there are a number of other series that garner their own level of notoriety and following. 2015's "Into the Badlands" is one of AMC's more ambitious offerings, bringing "Smallville" creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar back together to tell one of the first martial arts oriented series since the ill-fated UPN offering, "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues". Opening with one of the more jaw dropping TV action set pieces, featuring series hero, Sunny (Daniel Wu) squaring off against a cadre of nameless raiders who seem to have been plucked straight out of the "Fallout" game series; the kinetically charged sequence is a strong mix of traditional martial arts, wire-work, and a healthy dose of lethal swordplay; it very easily secur...Read the entire review

The world of The Girlfriend Experience feels thrilling and alluring but simultaneously isolating and full of invisible boundaries. Every character operates with a hidden agenda. The ticking clock of suspense is if you don't discover the other's agenda by asking the right questions quickly you won't find out how their agenda can sabotage yours until it's too late. People, even supposed friends, can shift personalities on a dime.

Christine Reade is played with fierce intelligence in a delicately subtle and incredibly brave performance by Riley Keough. She's definitely an actor to keep an eye on for future work. We are introduced to Christine as a strong-minded individual. From the opening episode when she's with her friend Avery ordering champagne and food on some guy's card, it's immediately clear that she's the leader of the two."You can be whoever you want to be," her friend Avery her ...Read the entire review

Hail to the king, baby.

[click on the thumbnail to enlarge]

The Series:

Picking up where the end of the fifth season left off, The Walking Dead: Season Six begins in Alexandria. Morgan (Lennie James) has arrived in town and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) has essentially morphed, once again, into the role of protector. The citizens of Alexandria have been lucky so far in that they've been able to keep the walkers at bay and more or less out of their town, but that could very easily change when it's discovered that a massive horde of zombie that have been stuck in a nearby quarry are about to escape.

Rick comes up with a plan to use Daryl (Norman Reedus), Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and a few others to lure the walkers past the town's defenses, but of course, it doesn't go as planned because while this is happening, The Wolves (a gang of murderous humans who kill and destroy camps and safe havens) attack. Carol (Mel...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Patrick Stewart leads a team of broken people

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Patrick Stewart, Mary Holland, journalism
Likes: Seth MacFarlane, Karan Soni
Dislikes: Damaged personalities
Hates: Dull plots

The Show
On paper, Blunt Talk looks like a slam-dunk. Seth MacFarlane producing. Patrick Stewart in the lead. Community's Tristram Shapeero on-board as producer and frequent director. Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames as creator and showrunner. Scene-stealers like Mary Holland (Comedy Bang! Bang!) and Karan Soni (Deadpool and Ghostbusters in the regular cast. But put it all...Read the entire review

As the storied careers of both Ian McKellen & Anthony Hopkins approach their inevitable ends, The Dresser acts as the perfect showcase for two of the best actors of the 20th century. Both knighted as Commanders of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II, McKellen is 77, Hopkins is 78, and each has a filmography to stun the senses, ignoring their various other efforts on stage and in their respective communities. McKellen is best known, in recent times anyway, as Gandalf the Grey, but his roles in other films over the years are equally impressive: Gods and Monsters, Apt Pupil, X-Men, Read the entire review

The miniseries remains one of television's most time honored storytelling traditions. Growing out of necessity to tell stories that were too involved (or perhaps not marketable enough) for the big screen, the miniseries' heydey was arguably the 1970s. From the legendary "Roots" to the somewhat forgotten "Rich Man, Poor Man", the miniseries offered viewers, who were willing to commit to an hour or two of dedicated program over a stretch of multiple evenings, a tale not hastily edited to fit a two-hour time block, but rich storytelling, often adapted from behemoth sized novels, peppered by casts of genre stalwarts and occasionally, Hollywood's biggest stars making rare appearances on the small screen. Now, nearly three decades after its troubled production, Eric Jonrosh's "The Spoils of Babylon" gets a commercial release, albiet in a much truncated format form his original 22-hour vision.

Nev...Read the entire review

Although one could rightly accuse Funny or Die's IFC program "The Spoils of Babylon" of having little ambition beyond being a consistent laugh generator, it would be hard to deny its effectiveness. Hearkening back to the golden age of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof comedy -- Airplane!, The Naked Gun, and their underrated crown jewel, Top Secret! -- "Babylon" served up mile-a-minute sequences in which a jaw-dropping ensemble cast (including Tobey Maguire, Kristen Wiig, Tim Robbins, Val Kilmer, and Carey Mulligan voicing a mannequin) delivered an utterly ridiculous soap opera story of lightly incestuous betrayal with their straightest faces. As a fan, I was already happy to see creators Matt Piedmont and Andrew Steele (Casa de Mi Padre) take on another...Read the entire review

The Miniseries:

In a way, the parody genre is like the internal affairs division of cinema. By exposing the various overused cliches and tropes of other genres while trying to extract humor out of them, parodies force those genres to excise the old ways in favor of new and exciting ways to tell stories. Blazing Saddles all but killed the classic happy-go-lucky western, forcing filmmakers to veer towards a darker and grittier approach. It was impossible to find a straight slasher flick that wasn't at least a little bit self-referential after Scream (Yes, Scream's not technically a parody, but it walks and quacks like one). And every generic music biopic released after 2007 will immediately brings comparisons to Read the entire review

The Movie:

When watching the film One More Time, what I was struck by is the way that the film tries to capture the abstract means of artists as they try to create or perform in a particular medium, be it art, or music, or stage. The story is set against the backdrop of a father-daughter relationship where both are musicians, creating/performing music, and reclaiming some sense of popular recognition. Written and directed by Robert Edwards (Land of the Blind), we see Jude (Amber Heard, Magic Mike XXL), a struggling New York singer who is now doing background vocals on radio station jingles. She travels out to the Hamptons to see her family, with the matriarch Paul Lombard (Christopher Walken, Read the entire review

The Film:

The title War & Peace should need no introduction for most. The novel is of legendary stature both for its lengthy page count and as a respected tome of philosophy and literature. But fear not entertainment seekers, here we have an adaptation that attempts to breathe new life into this classic melodrama. The clear aim is to appeal to modern audiences and use the episodic format to do the property justice, all while giving you proper bathroom breaks.

The drama unfolds against the backdrop of the rise of Napoleon and proceeds with his eventual invasion into Russia. Through these world events we track the lives of several aristocratic families. In particular, the focus tends towards how the younger generation shifts perspectives under the pressures of war. They begin the narrative already deprived of their hearts true desires because of political circumstances handed down from their pa...Read the entire review

Who else could think of nothing but the Aerosmith song after hearing the title of this film? I understood that it wasn't this kind of flick, but I half expected a finale in which Steven Tyler began belting just as Jane starting firing. Again, I get that such a scene would have ruined the dark style of the genre this movie was attempting to capture, but man would that have been cool. Anyway. Jane Got a Gun is a mood Western without an ounce of rock'n'roll in its soul, but with a desperate edge that feeds a desperate plot. It might not quite reach Unforgiven heights, but it does deliver that terrible weight that you'll r...Read the entire review

In "The Spoils of Babylon" -- that is, the IFC comedy program "The Spoils of Babylon" -- we learn that author-slash-playwright-slash-screenwriter-slash-director-slash-fisherman, etc. Eric Jonrosh (Will Ferrell) adapted his novel of the same name into a 22-hour miniseries, only for it to go unreleased and unappreciated. Presented here in a truncated three-hour version, each episode is bookended by a drunken Jonrosh trying to explain himself and yelling at the wait staff in the restaurant where the introductions are being filmed. The story of "Babylon" -- that is, Jonrosh's miniseries -- surrounds Devon Morehouse (Tobey Maguire), adopted son of Jonas Morehouse (Tim Robbins), a driller who strikes it big in the Texas oil fields. Despite their wealth and power, Devon has his heart set on a woman, Cynthia (Kristen Wiig). The only problem is that Cynthia is his adopted sister, and Jonas forbids their relatio...Read the entire review

The Series:

The first spin-off of AMC's hit series The Walking Dead launched this year when the first episode of Fear The Walking Dead made the news when it became the highest rated debut in cable television history. This series is not only a spin-off, however, it's also a prequel in that it focuses on the very early days of the zombie apocalypse that has spread across the county and it shows not only how people survive, but in a sense how they start to adapt.

The six episodes that make up the first season of Fear The Walking Dead are spread across the two discs in the set as follows:

Disc One:

Pilot / So Close, Yet So Far / The Dog / Not Fade Away

Disc Two:

Cobalt / The Good Man

Set in Los Angeles, when the series begins we meet Nick Clark (Frank Dillane), a nineteen year old man who wakes up in an abandoned church that's ...Read the entire review

The Season:

I'm a big fan of the uber-subtle parody style of writer/director Matt Piedmont and writer Andrew Steele. While working on various Funny or Die sketches, including some for the web-site's short-lived HBO show, Piedmont and Steele created the underrated Mexican telenovela parody Casa de mi Padre, which was essentially a typical melodramatic telenovela script with just a couple of jokes added. Almost all of the parody elements relied on the over the top and appropriately gaudy execution of the fairly straightforward melodrama script. By the time the same team came up with the miniseries The Spoils of Babylon, their unique stylistic approach to parodies became set in stone.

In the style of 1970s sprawling melodrama/romance miniseries like The Thorn Birds, The Spoils of Babylon chronic...Read the entire review

The Film:

The Film:

Some stories are begging to be told, while others couldn't buy an audience. Simultaneously, some movies need to be seen, while others have absolutely nothing to offer. Grace of Monaco falls into the latter category two times over. It's rare that you see a film with this kind of star power and this solid of a true life plot fall so very short of its goal, becoming something so unnecessary that its mere presence is an insult to all. Harsh perhaps, but true nevertheless. Countless stories go untold, countless movies go unseen, but for a professional team to take on a project like this and to watch it fail so completely is something we ...Read the entire review

The Miniseries:

The Movie:

Chris Evans appears to be following in the mold of what other stars have done before him, where he makes the box office blockbuster (Captain America) mostly, and occasionally throws in an independent film to keep his sensibilities balanced (Puncture). With Before We Go, he can add ‘first-time director' to his broadening repertoire.

Ron Bass (Rain Man) and first-time writer Jen Smolka created the story that became a screenplay for Evans' direction. Evans also plays Nick Vaughn, a trumpet player who is hanging out at New York's Grand Central station. Brooke (Alice Eve, Star Trek Into Darknes...Read the entire review

The Film:

THE FILM:

Beware, the horror hype machine! I knew - knew - I should have tempered my expectations for Goodnight Mommy, the Austrian import that got mostly rave reviews online from the horror community. As straight-up horror, Goodnight Mommy disappoints. As a beautifully shot psychological drama, it is more successful. Twin boys Elias and Lucas Schwarz steal the show as youths concerned that the bandaged woman who returns home from a procedure is not their mother. Directors Veronika Fran...Read the entire review

THE FILM:

The opening scene in No Escape sets a pulpy high the film struggles to match. The prime minister of an unnamed Asian country is assassinated by a group of rebels. The prime minister's second-in-command discovers his body swarmed by said rebels. The man grabs a knife and slashes his own throat, spewing blood on a white sheet. Cut to the title card. "NO ESCAPE." The marketing of this film was terrible. The trailers teased some sort of disaster film with guns instead of playing up the B-movi...Read the entire review

The Series:

The first spin-off of AMC's hit series The Walking Dead launched this year when the first episode of Fear The Walking Dead made the news when it became the highest rated debut in cable television history. This series is not only a spin-off, however, it's also a prequel in that it focuses on the very early days of the zombie apocalypse that has spread across the county and it shows not only how people survive, but in a sense how they start to adapt.

The six episodes that make up the first season of Fear The Walking Dead are spread across the two discs in the set as follows:

Disc One:

Pilot / So Close, Yet So Far / The Dog / Not Fade Away

Disc Two:

Cobalt / The Good Man

Set in Los Angeles, when the series begins we meet Nick Clark (Frank Dillane), a nineteen year old man who wakes up in an abandoned church that's been...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Meet the people who buy those millions of bricks

The Movie
As a kid, I loved building with LEGO. I even won an award at a LEGO building competition. But at some point i moved away from them, finding other pursuits to eat up my limited free time. However, my daughter has inherited a love of those bricks, which is why the basement floor is littered with them, why we've spent many an hour clicking them together and tearing them apart, and why we made the trek to the LEGOLand Discovery Center in Westchester, driving quite a distance...to play with more bricks. A...Read the entire review

"The Missing" isn't exactly an original title, but it sums up what this "Starz Limited Series" (produced with the BBC) is about- an eight-year search for a missing child. The British Hughes family is on vacation (or "holiday," as they call it over there) in France when they experience a string of bad luck. First their car breaks down forcing an unexpected stop where they check into a hotel while a shop takes a day or so to fix it. The mother Emily (Frances O'Connor) is exhausted and stays in bed, but dad Tony (James Nesbitt) and son Oliver (Oliver Hunt) make the most of the situation and head out for some fun. This ends up as the beginning of a nightmare as Oliver suddenly disappears while in a crowd- literally one moment he's there, the next he's gone without a trace. Typical...Read the entire review

The Movie:

One of the most prominent criticisms directed to Boulevard is that its premise about an old gay man struggling with his true identity while married to a woman is dated, and belongs to another time. Perhaps some of those critics would have been more content if the film was a period piece, like Todd Haynes' superb Far From Heaven, which used a similar premise to mimic a Douglas Sirk melodrama. Yes, there have been tremendous advancements towards LGBT rights in recent years, and the general public's view of LGBT people who are proudly out of the closet is much more favorable than it was as soon as a decade ago.

However, that doesn't mean that the te...Read the entire review

"Style over substance" is a complaint that has been lodged against movies for decades, and first-time directors are especially guilty of it, but it's rare that one gets an example as defined as 7 Minutes. The debut film from storyboard artist Jay Martin (who also wrote the screenplay), the movie feels like an idea came to Martin in form first and function second, and Martin stuck to his guns through hell and high water, completely oblivious to the fact that the fact that a semi-intriguing editing structure won't save an uninspired story and uninteresting characters.

The film is centered around a stick-up at a local bank, which naturally plays out over the course of seven minutes. The heist is essentially the present, while those seven minutes are broken up by lengthy flashbacks that fill in who our perpetrators, Sam (Luke Mitchell), Mike (Jason Ritter), and Owen (Zane Holtz) are and how the...Read the entire review

No smirking. No post-modern winking. No deliriously over-the-top false memories of what these sorts of movies were like back then. Lost After Dark is a forgotten slasher from the class of 1984. Just took a few decades for it to exist is all.

[click on the thumbnail to e...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.comwww.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/69255 Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:02:21 UTC Recommended Oskari (Omni Tommila) has just turned thirteen years old, and it's time for him to embark on a rite of passage taken by his father and grandfather, stretching back through the generations: spend a weekend in the Finnish Lapland, and try and bring back at least one kill. Unfortunately, Oskari is not a born hunter, struggling to even pull back on the ceremonial bow at his send-off. Nonetheless, he's in the woods riding around on a small ATV when a massive jet crashes into the woods practically right on top of him. Surveying the wreckage, he comes across an escape pod in a clearing, with a passenger inside. That passanger turns out to be William Alan Moore (Samuel L. Jackson), the President of the United States. As it turns out, Air Force One has been brought down intentionally as part of a plot to kidnap the Commander in Chief, and Oskari and President Moore quickly discover that they're each other's bes...Read the entire review ]]> Blu-ray http://www.dvdtalk.comwww.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/68176 Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:54:34 UTC Highly Recommended The Series: In a surprise to no one who has followed the series, The Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season contains sixteen episodes that pick up pretty much exactly where the cliffhanger ending of the fourth season left off. Let it suffice to say that if you're not caught up going into this one, obviously you'll want to fix that. While we're going to try to avoid major spoilers here, it's tough to discuss this batch without ruining a good chunk of what came before it. So yeah, when this season begins, Carol (Melissa McBride) successfully rescues Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carl (Chandler Riggs) and the rest of the crew from Terminus and not surprisingly, given what they went through there, they split. Once they do, they find Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) and Judith () and after a quick reunion they save a man named Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam) from a group of zombies. It turns out ...Read the entire review ]]>