Welcome to “Buy it? Rent it? Stream it? Skip it?” which will from this point on be known as BuRStS, a weekly look at what’s new to the world of Blu-ray and DVD. Let’s get right to it:
Crimson Peak (Check out our Movie Hot Take from last year)Read More →
Hot Take: What it’s like to watch a 105 minute inside joke. A film critics will love and audiences will shrug.
As Saturday Night Live has proven time and again, it’s a challenge to deliver 93 minutes without throwing in a dud of a bit here and there. Hail, Caesar! feels similar to a sketch comedy show, if that sketch comedy show took on 50s Hollywood. The skits of the Coen Brothers’ latest effort are so loosely intertwined (and at times seemingly forced together), it almost seems pointless to try and tell a coherent story amongst the haymakers taken at the golden age of Hollywood.
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Hot Take: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has a little bit of Austen, a little bit of gore and a little bit of humor that is occasionally dark and occasionally camp but none of those qualities come in large fulfilling doses and the movie fails to take on an identity. It’s not bad but not great.
Going into Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Could it be a true parody of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Could it be another zombie apocalypse flick using the 19th century novel for it’s backdrop? Will it be scary? Will it be funny? Will it be a love story? Well, somehow, it manages to be all of these things yet none of them at the same time. Read More →
Hot Take: The Finest Hours proves one thing… I am a sap who has a soft spot for sappy, classic-style films.
Based on a true story, The Finest Hours takes some liberties with the retelling but, for the most part, is on target. (Not to get off track but why is it when Aaron Sorkin wantonly butchers reality in the name of art, we laud him but fail to do the same when someone else does it in the name of entertainment? Just wondering.) The film celebrates what is considered to be the greatest small-boat rescue in the history of the Coast Guard. In an effort to add some drama, the writer and director re-work the true love story slightly but do a reasonable facsimile of the rest of the true tale with some impressive looking high seas rescue scenes.Read More →
Anticipation (Before Trailer): 60/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 95/100
Don Cheadle might be the most underrated actor of our time. He is brilliant in Showtime’s House of Lies and has quietly amassed a solid library of film roles under his belt. Viewing the trailer for Miles Ahead, this might be Cheadle’s crowning achievement and the only disappointment is with a release date of April 1, 2016, even if he’s brilliant, movies released this early in the year rarely get the recognition they deserve.
Either way, this looks like it has the chance to be the first great movie of 2016.
Hot Take: This might not make sense but the fact that The Boy wasn’t that bad actually made it less entertaining to watch. In previews, The Boy looked ridiculous and silly. Surprisingly, it was competent… and not very scary.
When I see a horror movie, I want to be scared to the point where I curse the film every time I mention it (F*** you, Poltergeist!) or I want it to be so over the top it’s kind of funny even though it’s about some maniac trying to kill everyone (see any Friday the 13th). Unfortunately, The Boy is an adequate attempt at horror which falls somewhere in the middle of these types of films. There’s a ridiculous plot that somehow comes together to make sense. There’s a decent amount of scary moments (usually pulled off by taken us into the protagonist’s nightmares) and it stays somewhat intriguing. Read More →