Reviews Archive for August, 2011
Wilmington on Movies: Bellflower
“Bellflower” (Two and a Half Stars) U.S.: Evan Glodell, 2011 Bellflower — a Sundance sensation reportedly shot for only $17,000 by first time writer-director-costar-co-editor Evan Glodell — introduces us to a couple of dudes, Woodrow from Wisconsin (first-timer Glodell) and Aiden from the neighborhood (first-timer Tyler Dawson) who live north of L. A. and are obsessed…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on DVDs. The Rest. The Perfect Game, The Goods, Coming to America/Trading Places, The Dirty Harry Collection
“The Perfect Game” (Three Stars) U.S.; William Dear, 2010 (Image) I admit it. I’m a sucker for inspirational sports movies. And this account of the historic 1957 Little League champions from Monterey, Mexico — a warm-hearted picture directed by William Dear (Harry and the Hendersons), written by the book’s author W. William Winokur,…
Read the full article » 4 Comments »Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Picks of the Week: Box or Multiple Sets. The Godfather/The Godfather 2; Braveheart/Gladiator;
CO-PICK: “The Godfather”/”The Godfather 2″ (Four Stars) U.S.; Francis Coppola, 1972 (Paramount) Francis Coppola’s restored versions of the first two parts of one of the greatest of gangster sagas and American movies. An offer we can’t refuse, with a cast that can’t be topped: Marlon Brando as Don Corleone, Al Pacino, James Caan and John…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on DVDs. Pick of the Week: Classic and Blu-ray. The Manchurian Candidate
(Blu-ray) (Four Stars) U.S.; John Frankenheimer, 1962 (MGM/20th Century Fox) I. Manchuria It’s one of the most brilliantly scary scenes in any American movie. It’s a shocker, a mind-bender. Bewildering. Exhilarating. And, in the end, as icily terrifying as a bullet aimed at your brain. Ka-pow! “Korea, 1952,”…
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Rio, Exporting Raymond, Outside the Law, Streetwalkin’, The Perfect Game, Stake Land, John Pinette …
Rio: Blu-ray It’s been nearly 70 years since Walt Disney and a team of animators toured South America, looking for new ideas and acting as cultural ambassadors to a continent our State Department felt was ripe for exploitation by Adolph Hitler. Among the souvenirs they brought home was an anthropomorphized cartoon parrot, Jose Carioca, who…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on Movies. Pick of the Week: New. Rio
Rio (Three Stars) U.S.: Carlos Saldanha, 2011 (20th Century Fox) Rio is a big, coruscatingly colorful feature-cartoon love-letter to Rio de Janeiro from Brazilian director/writer Carlos Saldanha (director and co-director on the Ice Age movies) — and it’s full of spectacular computer-cartoon images of Saldanha’s legendar city of samba, aswarm with funny animals acting wild and…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on Movies: Crazy, Stupid, Love.
“Crazy, Stupid, Love.” (Three and a Half Stars) U.S.: Glenn Ficara & John Requa, 2011 1. Crazy, Crazy, Stupid, Love. That’s the name of the new Steve Carell-Ryan Gosling-Julianne Moore romantic comedy, from the directorial team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (I Love You, Phillip Morris), and the title actually does consist of those three…
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