Archive for the 'Flicks' Category

The Wire is one of the most celebrated shows in television history, joining the ranks of other historic HBO shows as The Sopranos, Oz, and Six Feet Under om bringing drama to the small screen that’s better than most of what we see on the big screen. Now that it’s sadly over,we don’t have any more new episodes to look forward to. We can, however, relive the magic.

That’s because The Wire – Season 5 is coming to DVD in a great boxed set. This season dealt with the press in Baltimore and how it related to the cops and to the criminals that the show revolves around. As per usual, it featured a complex storyline that blurred good and evil, wrong and right, with some of the best writing for the screen that you’re likely to enjoy anywhere. So if you’re a diehard Wire fan or someone new to the fold, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the 5th season is coming to DVD, and you can watch it whenever you want.

The Dark Knight is the biggest movie of the year, and with good reason. It’s a dark, epic movie with some of the best performances you’re likely to see, complete with lots of explosions and one of our most beloved superheroes. What’s not to love? But if you’ve already seen it a couple of times and are looking for more, you should get the rest of the story.

Batman – Gotham Knight is an animated feature that fills in the time between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. It has six different stories about Batman written by some of Hollywood’s top talent, including David Goyer, the writer behind Batman Begins. It’s created with amazing visuals inspired by Japanese animation, and it’s full of the action and suspense that’s made The Dark Knight so insanely possible. So don’t despair; there’s more Batman to enjoy. And you don’t even need to go to the theaters for this one.

Jack Ryan is the most famous fictional character penned by critically acclaimed author Tom Clancy. To date, there have been four successful movies centered on The Jack Ryan character.

The first actor to portray Jack Ryan was Alec Baldwin in The Hunt For Red October.

The next actor to portray Jack Ryan was Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger.

The last actor to portray Jack Ryan was Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears.

All four movies will be released on blu-ray July 29th. This will be the best these movies have ever looked or sounded. I can’t wait to get my copies.

I can guarantee that being a professional card shark and hustler is a much more exciting profession than whatever it is that you do. There’s loads of money, all sorts of glitz and glamour and high-priced suits, and you essentially get paid to play a game. What could be better? The problem is that it’s pretty dangerous, apparently, and you could get yourself killed.

Why take the risk? Instead, just live vicariously through a bunch of attractive actors via 21, the new movie that explores the world of high-stakes card counting in Las Vegas. Starring Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth, it follows a group of math nerds from MIT who figure out how to beat the gambling system and head to Vegas to rake in as much cash as they can. Greed comes into play, as does violent casino henchmen who don’t like the odds turning against them. At the end of the day, it’s a much safer way to dabble in the darker side of Vegas without putting yourself in harm’s way.

Sometimes, you just want to veg out. That usually entails sitting on your couch, staring brainlessly at some movie devoid of too much intellectually straining content, and relaxing. If you’re looking for just one such movie, allow me to help.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is the type of movie that vegging out was designed for. It doesn’t have some message about how hard the world is, it’s not trying to make you think, and it’s not too deep. It’s just a dumb, funny movie. And when I say funny, I mean it. This movie takes you by surprise with how funny it is. Sure, it’s lowbrow, and yes, there are a lot of off-color jokes, but they’re actually funny off-color jokes. If you want to lay back and turn your brain off for a couple of hours, there are much worse ways you could do so than by watching this movie.

Actor Brian O’Halloran was kind enough to answer a few questions for us before his upcoming in-store appearance on July 22nd.

J&R: Tell us a bit about your new movie, “Brutal Massacre, A Comedy“.

Brian: It’s a hilarious “mock-u-mentary” about a film crew try to shoot a horror film called “Brutal Massacre.” You follow the trials and tribulations of each member of the crew and cast of the next great Harry Penderecki film.

J&R: There are quite a few horror veterans in this film (David Naughton, Gunnar Hansen, Ken Foree). What was it like working with such horror legends?

Brian: Being a fan of all the veterans it was great working with David and Gunner, Ken and Ellen and the rest. Hearing some of the stories of actual events that they all went through on their various horror film shoots was great fun and inspiring to the current film.

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If you’re not familiar with the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken, let me explain it to you. Essentially, it’s a show based around short sketches comprised of stop-motion animation using toys and action figures. The humor is absurd and oftentimes borderline offensive, but it’s almost always funny. Created by Seth Green, it’s definitely one of the more out there shows on TV.

And now, Robot Chicken has set its sights on one of the most famous movie series ever: Star Wars. Yes, Robot Chicken Star Wars is a pseudo recreation of the sci fi classic using action figures and off color jokes. It makes fun of the original films as well as contemporary culture using; you guessed it, action figures. Best of all, it won the approval of George Lucas himself, who lends his voice to his action figure counterpart. If you like comedy and you like Star Wars, there are few better examples of the two meeting.

Many war movies glorify war, making it seem exciting and glamorous. The soldiers seem like they want to be there and in the end are redeemed for their heroism. Stop-Loss is not most war movies.

Stop-Loss deals with soldiers having their tours of duties extended again and again and them getting fed up with it. It points a critical lens at the current administration’s Iraq war policy, showing how it effects actual people rather than statistics. It follows Brandon King, a soldier who, after a harrowing final tour of duty in Iraq, returns home. He thinks he’s done his duty, but is called in for another tour. Not wanting to go back, he goes AWOL, trying to get help from the Senator who pinned a Purple Heart on him. It’s a tale of broken men trying to get their lives back together and the system that made them that way, and it’s intense. But if you’re looking for a war film that takes a different angle, this one should be right up your alley.

Growing up is hard, especially if you aren’t a member of the cool crowd. Kids are cruel, and not fitting in can lead to some of the roughest years of someone’s life. Sometimes, kids have got to wish they had someone to stick up for them, to help them navigate those troubled times. You know, someone like Owen Wilson.

In Drillbit Taylor, that’s just what a couple of (un)lucky kids get, when a down-on-his-luck soldier played by Wilson agrees to take on their cause for a small fee. Co-written by Seth Rogan and produced by Judd Apatow, it features some of the same great talent that brought us recent hits such as Superbad, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. And if you’re a fan of, well, dumb humor involving body parts and functions, you definitely won’t be disappointed.

Events are remembered differently by different people, with eye witness accounts varying greatly depending on just who that witness is. That’s the idea behind Vantage Point, an action packed new thriller that’s unravels an attempted presidential assassination by visiting the perspectives of a number of different people who were there to witness it.

With a cast featuring such big names as Matthew Fox, Forrest Whitaker, William Hurt, and Dennis Quaid and enough explosions, car chases, and gun fights to populate three movies, you know you’re in for a treat. And when you mix in the complex, twisting and turning storyline, you’ve got a movie that’ll have you on the edge of your seat from the get go. You’ll never be able to trust a single person’s eye witness account of something again.