Author: Jason Zingale (Page 15 of 154)

Entourage 7.4 – Tequila Sunrise

It was bad enough with one “Full House” cast member dropping by every season, but now we’ve got to deal with John Stamos too? What’s next, Eric revives Dave Coulier’s voice acting career? All kidding aside, The Stamos positively stole the show on tonight’s episode as a vainglorious parody of himself when he came to visit Drama regarding his sitcom. Stamos absolutely nailed the part – from referring to Drama as Jimmy, to almost completely ignoring him in favor of talking to Vince – but it was nice to see Drama get a few jabs in as well. I nearly fell off my couch from laughing when, after winning the serve at the beginning of their first ping pong match, he declared, “It’s going to be a long day for Uncle Jesse.”

The fun didn’t stop there, either, as Drama was challenged to a second match later in the episode at the ping pong club where Stamos trains three times a week. Stamos even promises Drama that he’ll do the show if he can beat him, but it didn’t matter, because even though Stamos won, he still agreed to read the script. Of course, Drama claims that he threw the match on purpose, but does anyone really buy that? I know Phil told him that he needed to stroke Stamos’ ego by letting him win, but with such big stakes on the line, it seems like too big of a gamble for Drama to take. Plus, he’s just as arrogant as Stamos, so I guess we’ll never know.

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At least we have one less rivalry to keep track of now that Eric and Scotty Lavin have made amends. Though it certainly took them long enough to man up and apologize to one another for being dicks, Eric had no choice after he discovered that the “Airwalker” script that Scotty was pushing him to read was actually pretty good. Even Vince likes it, describing it as a darker version of “Aquaman,” so it looks like that’s going to be his next project. And perhaps with no copyrights to worry about, we’ll actually see him in costume this time around. While that should make for an interesting subplot for next season’s premiere, the story I’m more curious about how Eric and Scotty’s new partnership develops. We haven’t seen Murray at all this season, so it’ll be interesting to see what he thinks of their plans for the future, or better yet, if Scotty is just playing Eric for his own benefit.

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Ip Man

Donnie Yen has enjoyed a pretty successful career over the years as one of Asia’s premier action star, but if his phenomenal work in “Ip Man” doesn’t transform him into a global superstar, then he probably never will. Loosely based on the middle years of the grandmaster of Wing Chun (and the man who would become Bruce Lee’s mentor), “Ip Man” stars Yen as the title character, a skilled martial artist who refuses to take on any students, despite living in a city renowned for its martial arts. But when the Japanese invades China towards the end of the 1930s, Ip Man must rely on the only thing he knows in order to protect his fellow countrymen, transforming him into a national hero in the process.

Obviously, director Wilson Yip has taken some liberties with the story, but that’s to be expected from any biopic. What’s most upsetting is that the movie doesn’t feel quite as epic as the source material demands. Several years of history are missing from the middle of the movie (replaced by title cards explaining what happened), while the ending feels a little too rushed for someone who accomplished so much later in his life. Thankfully, “Ip Man” makes up for its questionable direction with great performances from Donnie Yen (stoic as ever) and Gordon Lam, and easily some of the best fight sequences of the last decade. And with martial arts veteran Sammo Hung credited as the film’s action director, I wouldn’t expect any less.

Click to buy “Ip Man”

What Else Ya Got? “The Losers”

Sylvain White’s big-screen adaptation of the DC/Vertigo comic book series, “The Losers,” will undoubtedly get plenty of airtime when it premieres on basic cable, but as one of the many man-on-a-mission movies released this year, it’s probably the weakest of the bunch. Fortunately, Warner Bros. has still thrown together a pretty decent collection of extras that, while not incredibly memorable, are certainly worth checking out once.

Band of Buddies: Ops Training

This three-part featurette is the closest thing you’ll find to an official making-of, but it just barely scrapes the surface at only 17 minutes. Each section covers a different topic, including training the actors to resemble Special Forces soldiers, using Puerto Rico as a stand-in for the movie’s various global locations, and the tricks employed to film certain stunts. It’s a nice tease, but it really could have been better.

The Losers: Action-Style Storytelling

Creators Andy Diggle and Jock sit down to discuss the origins of the comic book and how it compares to the film adaptation. There are some cool accompanying shots from the comic that show the similarities between the two versions, while Diggle comments on the necessary changes to the main villain in order for it to work in the context of a movie. Fans of the comic might be relieved to see that the creators are happy with the final product, but I can’t help but feel like they were legally bound to hold back from revealing their true feelings.

Zoe and The Losers

Zoe Saldana is the center of attention in this short featurette about the film’s only female character that includes some flattering interviews from the cast and crew and a fairly in-depth look at a key fight sequence between her and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It’s just too bad Warner Bros. didn’t see it fit to expand this character featurette to include the rest of the cast.

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Entourage 7.3 – Dramedy

When Scott Caan’s douchebag talent manager was introduced at the tail end of last season, I assumed he would serve as a fun little nemesis for Eric as he tried to rise through the ranks at the new company. I didn’t imagine that he would have any chance of stealing Vince away from Eric as a client, however, and yet that’s exactly what appears to be happening. Granted, Vince shouldn’t feel compelled into keeping Eric as his manager just because they’re friends, but to get rid of him just because he doesn’t want to jump out of airplanes and party with a houseful of half-naked chicks is a bit juvenile. Then again, no one ever accused Vince of being mature, and his most recent behavior is proof of that.

The more time he spends with Scotty Lavin, the douchier he becomes – from impulse buying a Harley-Davidson, to bidding on (and winning) a dinosaur skull at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars just so the female curator will sleep with him. I mean, is that really necessary anymore? I thought he was a big star. Whatever the excuse, Vince clearly doesn’t feel like he’s being treated like he should, and you could just tell that he was a little annoyed when he learned that his chance to work with producer Randall Wallace on an upcoming project may have been squandered because Ari wouldn’t return his calls. It couldn’t possibly be because a movie based on a fictional Stan Lee superhero called Airwalker sounds downright terrible. Oh wait, never mind, that’s exactly why. Fortunately, Eric finally decided that enough was enough and went over to Vince’s house to confront Scotty. Their little pushing contest probably didn’t help his cause, but at least he managed to (accidentally) destroy that stupid dinosaur skull in the process. What a fucking waste of money.

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Meanwhile, Ari is still trying to make amends with his wife after she discovered him dancing around his office with Lizzie, and he’s not exactly making any headway. Ari definitely has a bit of dilemma when it comes to the sexy up-and-comer, because while he would love to make his wife happy by firing Lizzie, he knows that she’s too important to let go. So when Lizzie comes to Ari demanding that she be put in charge of the TV department while Andrew’s in rehab, he takes the neutral route by telling her that she’s not ready, hoping she’ll stick around and fight for the position instead of acting like a selfish brat. Instead, Lizzie quits, and Babs is pissed, fearing that they’ve made a huge mistake. And from the look on his face upon hearing the news, Ari doesn’t seem too pleased either – probably because Lizzie has the potential to steal several big clients from the agency if she walks.

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The Warlords

You’d think that having three of the most bankable movie stars in Asia (one of which is also a pretty big name in the U.S.) would be enough to get any film imported overseas, but it’s taken nearly three years for Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s “The Warlords” to arrive stateside, and quite frankly, it’s easy to see why. Set towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, the movie stars Jet Li as Pang Qingyu, a military general who barely survives a massacre of his fellow soldiers by playing dead. After he’s nursed back to health by a beautiful villager (Jinglei Xu), Pang convinces a group of bandits led by Er Hu (Andy Lau) and Wu Yang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to join the royal army and fight against the Taiping Rebellion with the promise of freedom and wealth. But when a web of political deceit threatens to break up the trio’s blood oath, they must decide what’s more important: their loyalty to one another or their lives.

If only the film was a little more engaging. While Ho-Sun Chan’s gritty action sequences are beautifully captured, he has no idea how to handle his characters outside of battle. They’re barely developed over the course of the movie, and though we do get a glimpse of how the emotional exhaustion from fighting for so long begins to affect their relationship, it’s steeped in so much melodrama that it saps the life out of the story. The three leads do a good job with what little they’re given to work with, but they don’t click the way that blood brothers probably should. Then again, you’re never really given a good reason why they’ve taken this oath to begin with, so it’s not too surprising when they fail to protect one another as promised. Heck, they don’t even seem like to like each other, and when that relationship is the heart of your film, it’s pretty much doomed to fail.

Click to buy “The Warlords”

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