Is That a Gun In Your Pocket?…


Rated: R | Running Time: 97 Minutes
From: Area 23a
Available on Digital HD, and VOD:  March 31, 2017
Get it via : iTunes

Cloris Leachman in Is That a Gun In Your Pocket?While watching “Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?…,” and living in Chicago-land, I couldn’t help but immediately think of the Spike Lee movie “Chi-raq.” Why? Because the basis for the story is the same, built off of the classic, Aristophanes comedy “Lysistrata”: Women withhold sex from their men until there is peace, or in this case, no guns. “Chi-raq” was met with controversy and critical acclaim, but the voting public of IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes didn’t seem to care for it. “Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?…” has most critics seeming to hate it, but the voting public liking it. Weird.

For this movie you get the fictitious town of Rockford, Texas, population 6,969. That should hip you immediately to the kind of humor in the movie. Continue reading Is That a Gun In Your Pocket?…

Hidden Figures


Rated: PG | Running Time: 127 Minutes
From: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Available on Digital HD: March 28, 2017
Available on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD:  April 11, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Jim Parsons, Taraji P. Henson, and Kevin Costner in Hidden FiguresThree women working at NASA as an engineer, a mathematician, and a computer scientist, in the early 1960’s would be story enough. Have them be three, strong-willed, African-American women, women with the desire to live the life they believe they were destined to live, in a United States that was a lot less close to acceptance of African-Americans than it is today, and you have history. It’s a history many people don’t realize occurred, nor the influence these three, African-American women had on that history, but damn, it’s a great story, and a great movie.

It’s “Hidden Figures.”

It’s 1961. It’s the space race. It’s the state of Virginia. Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) is fantastic at math, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) is a computer scientist though she doesn’t know it yet, and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) is an engineer. Continue reading Hidden Figures

Assassin’s Creed


Rated: PG-13 | Running Time: 115 Minutes
From: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Available on Digital HD: March 10, 2017
Available on 4k Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD: March 21, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Michael Fassbender is Callum in Assassin's CreedSo close, yet so far. The movie is “Assassin’s Creed,” and after I got past the fact the Assassins were protecting an Apple I was enjoying the film.

Then came the ending. Really? That’s what you leave me with, a bunch of wussy Templars?

I suppose let’s get to the good stuff of the movie…

The underlying premise of “Assassin’s Creed” is that that Assassins take an oath. This oath is to protect the Apple of Eden from the Knights of the Templar order. The Templar folks will stop at nothing to get the Apple. What is it with the Apple? Continue reading Assassin’s Creed

Elle


Rated: R | Running Time: 130 Minutes
From: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital:  March 14, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Isabelle Huppert is Michele in ElleWow, that was a rough movie to watch. Great, but rough.

The movie is “Elle,” it’s directed by Paul Verhoeven, and it stars Isabelle Huppert as Michèle. It starts with the rape of Michèle, and it’s graphic. Then she gets raped again, and it’s still graphic. And there are flashbacks, and they are graphic. Yes, this movie is a hard “R,” and yet the movie is still a really great movie.

I figured I would get that out of the way at the start as that may stop those who are offended, or have no interest in watching any scenes such as that. Yes, the movie at its core is supposed to be about a woman who doesn’t want to be a victim, a woman who is empowered, but wow, it’s a rough watch. It’s also in French with subtitles so if you don’t want to “read” a movie because you don’t know French, heck, that might also be a turn-off. Still, it’s a great movie.

Let’s get to the story… Continue reading Elle

Lost Cat Corona


Rated: Unrated | Running Time: 83 Minutes
From: Virgil Films
Available in Select Theaters: February 24, 2017
Available on VOD & HD Digital: February 28, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Ralph Macchio and Paul Sorvino in Lost Cat CoronaI will admit there are times when I get movies to review and I will start the movie at near about the same time I open my laptop. Usually it’s because the movie seems like it will be a “there’s 90 minutes I will never get back” kind of film, so I try to at least keep a few of the minutes to myself as multitasking sometimes becomes the order of the movie-watching. “Lost Cat Corona” started much the same way as the synopsis seemed kind of generic – Man goes out looking for a lost cat and funny ensues, and no offense to Ralph Macchio, but having Ralph Macchio, who hasn’t been really tearing up the silver screen lately, almost made it seem like one of those “He’s trying to make a come-back” films.

Quickly, however, the laptop was closed, and dammit, funny did ensue.

Dominic (Macchio) is married to Connie (the wonderful Gina Gershon). Connie is kind of a pill when it comes to being a wife, and Dominic is kind of a wimp. Continue reading Lost Cat Corona

Blood on the Mountain


Rated: Unrated | Running Time: 93 Minutes
From: Virgil Films and Entertainment
Available on DVD and Digital HD:  February 21, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Blood on the Mountain - DocumentaryWell crap. Now I’m depressed. Don’t get me wrong, “Blood on the Mountain” is a fantastic documentary, but damn, the story it tell just sucks.

I’m not sure if that was the end intention of “Blood on the Mountain,” a documentary about the coal industry mostly centered around West Virginia, and I’m sure a lot of it is meant to raise awareness of the corporate and government atrocities associated with everything coal, but even for me there is only so much badness I can take.

“Blood on the Mountain” came pretty damn close to putting me over the edge.

The thing is I knew that the general aspect of coal mining sucked, I just didn’t realize it was this bad, nor how brainwashed most of the people involved seem to be. This hit me in some of the interviews where people would say things like, “We have all of these health issues, but it’s normal, we were in the coal mines.” Continue reading Blood on the Mountain

Rules Don’t Apply


Rated: PG-13 | Running Time: 127 Minutes
From: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Available on Digital HD: February 14, 2017
Available on Blu-ray & DVD: February 28, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Lily Collins as Marla in Rules Don't ApplyIs it wrong that I found Lily Collins’ acting refreshing and more enjoyable than that of Warren Beatty’s in “Rules Don’t Apply”? I mean, here’s Warren Beatty, screen legend and not really losing any steps, playing the eccentric Howard Hughes, but Lily was a spitfire as Marla, the wannabe actress looking for her big break in a Hughes’ movie.

All apologies to Warren, but that’s my feelings, and I’m sticking to them.

Let’s get to the movie…

Continue reading Rules Don’t Apply

Cross Wars


Rated: R | Running Time: 98 Minutes
From: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital:  February 7, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Cross Wars ReviewFirst I have to assume the film people involved with “Cross Wars” were going for a B-Movie feel, which is fine. I generally like B-Movies and can usually enjoy the campiness of them. Sadly this movie didn’t make the grade of B.

In doing a little reading I found that “Cross Wars” is the sequel to “Cross,” a film trying to be in the “out of the comic book and on to your big screen” kind of movie. The basic rundown is that Callan Cross (Brian Austin Green) is handed down this Celtic cross amulet that has powers, and Callan is now kind of a superhero. He rounds up a team of folks to save the world from bad people.

Continue reading Cross Wars

Call of the Wolf


Rated: Unrated | Running Time: 102 Minutes
From: Gravitas Pictures
Available:  February 7, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

Call of the WolfLet me start with this: Some of the publicity is comparing “Call of the Wolf” to the horror classic “Saw,” and I wish they wouldn’t. Why? My wife likes a decent, psychological thriller as much as the next person, but when it comes to gore my wife hates it. She was immediately out of my living room screening of “Call of the Wolf” based on the preliminary “Revenant meets Saw” indication. Part of me, also, was waiting for the gore, but it never really came. The movie is a psychological thriller, true, and with that comes some violence, but none of it is the sadistic insanity that was “Saw.”

Okay, enough initial ranting, let’s get to the story…

Lester (Aleksander Ristic) wakes up in a cabin in the woods, confused. His supplies are limited, basically a rifle, some bullets, a Marine survival manual, a lantern, a walkie talkie, and whatever might be in a locked safe. It is through the walkie talkie that Lester is introduced to Wolf (Matthew Oliva), the dude who kidnapped Lester and left him in the cabin.

And the psychological messing with Lester begins, starting with Wolf telling Lester he was kidnapped because he has wasted his life.

Continue reading Call of the Wolf

Inferno


Rated: PG-13 | Running Time: 122 Minutes
From: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray & DVD:  January 24, 2017
Get it via : Amazon | iTunes

InfernoThere are a lot of “Why?”’s in “Inferno.” Sure, you could ask: Why can’t the people with a whole lot of technology, including a drone, catch two people running on foot? Or you could ask: Why are the dudes with the guns in this cavern no where near the action? However, there are no more important wonderings than “Why are there so many chases?” and “Why did they have such a convoluted ending?”

The movie is “Inferno,” the third following “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” and for me the movie folks seemed to forget that the clues were the fun to this franchise, not the chases.

Continue reading Inferno