schism DVD review
schism (2009) DVD Review Schism is a tough film to watch. It’s tough because the story, one of a older man named Neil who is stuck in a nursing home battling the onset of Alzheimer’s, isn’t something we like to talk about in our culture. Bring up eldercare at a party, or even in everyday conversation, and, well, I don’t even know what. I can’t say that I’ve ever even had a conversation like it. For families that love someone like Neil, such conversations are part of a difficult reality. What schism succeeds in doing is making us aware of what dementias really look like. In its own surreal way, schism shows it to us, warts and all. Families affected by similar circumstances know they’re not alone after seeing schism. And people who haven’t personally experienced what we see...
Read MoreDVD Review: The Mist: Two-Disc Collector’s Edition
The Mist: Two-Disc Collector’s Edition–***1/2 DVD Review If you saw Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist in theaters, whether you liked it or not, you need to pick up the DVD. If you haven’t seen this horror throwback, then you’d do well to skip right to disc two of this Collector’s Edition DVD set. The film, which was a respectable genre picture in its own right, gets a whole new life in DVD’s black & white presentation of the feature film. Darabont introduces the black & white version of The Mist as his “director’s cut”, his original vision. And what an original vision it is. The film, which was full of genuinely terrifying moments, has a spookier feel. Some scenes—the opening sequence, a tentacle monster attack, a web-filled pharmacy scene, anything that happens in the mist—were made...
Read MoreDVD Review: 13: Game of Death
13 Game of Death (2006)–*** DVD Review 13: Game of Death is everything I wanted Saw to be. This psychological thriller/splatter film from Thailand is just topical enough, just perverse enough and just tense enough to make for an entertaining evening of blood, shit and satire. The film follows Chit (Krissada Terrence), a music instrument salesman who is having the worst day of his life. He’s broke. His car has been repossessed. And to top it off, he loses his job. When Chit seems to be completely out of luck, he receives a mysterious phone call telling him he can win loads of cash. All he has to do is complete 13 tasks for an Internet game show without fail and without question. But what starts out as a simple game evolves into something more violent and disturbing than...
Read MoreDVD Review: Justice League: The New Frontier
Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)–***1/2 DVD Review If there is anyone out there from Warner Bros. reading this, I have a request: please, please, please release Justice League: The New Frontier in theaters. I don’t want to live in a world where an animated film the caliber of this latest DC Universe release is simply called a direct-to-video movie. A period animated film set in what was a dead zone for superheroes during the waning days of The Golden Age, Justice League: The New Frontier takes comic book fans on a dream journey into territory even the live-action theatrical releases have rarely attempted to take us. Steeped in the tradition of other recent DC Universe animations – narratives that steer away from the solid, mainstream appeal of most superhero films – this Bruce Timm production moves at a...
Read MoreDVD Review: Day Zero
Day Zero (2007)–**1/2 DVD Review Day Zero is more of a conversation starter than a watchable film. The drama, set in a near future where the draft is reinstated due to an escalated confrontation in the Middle East, languishes in the realm of politics for too long. In the early scenes, the tone is set for a cable news-level debate, without much concern for the story. Surprisingly enough, when Day Zero sheds its political skin we can dig in just enough to start caring about what the film and the characters are trying to tell us. What does your patriotism look like when you find out you have 30 days left of civilian life before going to war? For the three friends, all draftees, the contrast is stark. George (Chris Klein) just made partner at his law firm. He...
Read MoreDVD Review: Margot at the Wedding
Margot at the Wedding-*1/2 DVD Review Noah Baumbach’s characters have always been slightly maladjusted, but they never felt unreal. Margot at the Wedding changes that. In his latest film, he transplants characters from a Todd Solondz film into a movie that is too dramatic, tonally, when compared to its characters. One of those characters is Margot (Nicole Kidman), a writer from Manhattan, who takes her son Claude (Zane Pais) to her estranged sister’s wedding. The depressed, dejected scribe hasn’t told her son that she’s trying to leave his father for a writer who lives near her sister, which is why dad didn’t come to the family event. Margot hasn’t talked to her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in years. She’s coming to the wedding more to escape her husband than to be with her sister. When Margot meets Pauline’s...
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