Category: Movie DVDs (Page 80 of 100)

Rapid Fire Rejects, Volume XIII

February 16, 2007 / Jason Zingale

“Gymkata”
This may just be one of the worst movies that I’ve ever seen. World gymnastics champion Kurt Thomas stars in the cheesy 70’s action flick revolving around a deadly competition ineptly titled The Game. When Thomas’ character agrees to participate in the contest after learning of his father’s involvement, he must learn to master a new fighting style vital to his survival. Combining his gymnastics skills with karate, the art of gymkata is born. Oh yeah!

“Flicka”
Practically ripped from the pages of the Hallmark Movie-of-the-Week Guidebook, “Flicka” tells the coming-of-age tale of Katy McLaughlin, a 14-year-old girl who desperately wants to work on her family’s ranch, but is instead forced by her overbearing father (Tim McGraw) to finish school and attend college. When she discovers a black mustang up in the hills surrounding their home, Katy decides that she’s going to tame the wild animal by any means necessary. Based on the popular children’s novel, “My Friend Flicka,” as well as previous big screen (and small screen) adaptations, the family drama is brutally unoriginal and delivers the embarrassingly backward message that kids can do whatever they want because, well, your parents will give in eventually.

“Facing the Giants”
What better way to win than with the power of the Lord on your side? That’s right, it’s all about Jesus football in the direct-to-DVD flick “Facing the Giants” when the head coach of a failing Georgia private school team is taught a thing or two about faith. Filled with all the usual stereotypes you’d expect in a family sports drama – the star player leaves for a better team, the players are horrible students, and the new kid is given a chance to shine – “Facing the Giants” displays some of the worst acting I’ve seen in years. The film market has been flooded with football movies as of late, but not even I saw this coming.

“Dead Mary”
In this blatant rip-off of Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” series, a group of friends meet up for a weekend in the woods and accidentally summon the vengeful spirit of Dead Mary. Based on the old Bloody Mary game that we all played as a kid, “Dead Mary” is the most slow-going horror film in years. At a horribly paced 100 minutes, it takes well over an hour before anything remotely exciting happens, and even then it’s a bit lackluster. A poor showing from a genre film that you’d expect to excel in the direct-to-DVD market.

Movie DVDs, Movies

Hyperbole ahoy!

February 14, 2007 / Will Harris

Not that we didn’t expect anyone and everyone to try and make a quick buck from Anna Nicole Smith’s death, but we really figured that most people would keep things in perspective when hyping their product…but MTI Video, who will be releasing Smith’s last film – “Illegal Aliens” – on DVD in May, apparently have no such intentions.

John James, the film’s executive producer, has declared it the Abbey Road of films for Anna Nicole fans,” adding that while, “at first look, ‘Illegal Aliens’ appears to be just another low budget sci-fi comedy poking fun at Hollywood’s big-budget flicks, now, with the passing of its star, you’ll find it replete with metaphors of her life.”

Oh, I bet. You can totally see them in the trailer…particularly when Anna Nicole offers the poignant query, “Why’s my poopy hole sore?”

Actresses, External Movie DVDs, External Movies, Movie DVDs, Movies, News

DVD shuffle: 02/13/04

February 13, 2007 / Jason Zingale

New on DVD this week:

1) The Departed – BUY: Martin Scorsese’s greatest cinematic achievemtn in over a decade. If you haven’t seen “The Departed,” you haven’t seen one of the best films of the year. And if you have, well, then, what are you waiting for? Go watch it again.

2) Marie Antoinette – RENT: I’ve yet to actually check this one out, but people either seem to love it or hate it. The price of the rental is certainly worth discovering which side of the fence you’re on.

3) Schools for Scoundrels – PASS: No, this is nothing like “Bad Santa.” And no, this is nothing like “Napoleon Dynamite.” There you have it, two clear-cut answers as to why you shouldn’t see this film.

4) Infamous – RENT: If you see just one movie about Truman Capote, this ain’t it. Of course, if you’re a fan of the eccentric writer, then by all means, check it out.

Also out this week is the Academy Award-nominated “Half Nelson,” the Tim Allen superhero flick “Zoom,” the documentary “F*ck,” and the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy box set.

External Movie DVDs, Movie DVDs, Movies

Bullz-Eye.com’s Directors Hall of Fame

February 5, 2007 / Will Harris

One of the most repeated show-business punchlines of all time involves someone rich, powerful or famous being praised for their myriad of achievements, only to respond by saying, “Well, yes, but what I really want to do is direct.” It’s such a cliché, in fact, that you really can’t help but laugh when you hear it…and, yet, the ability to direct a good film is not something that comes naturally, nor is something that one can necessarily learn, even if they’ve worked in front of the camera for decades. An exemplary director has to be able to look at a scene and sense what’s going to work and what isn’t. They need to have their own style, their own vision, and the ability to present that vision to an audience in such a manner that, upon leaving the theater, they’ll say, “Oh, you could totally tell that was one of their films.”

As such, Bullz-Eye’s inaugural inductees into the Directors Hall of Fame are…ah, but that would be too easy.

First, at least try to guess which five directors were included by reading the following quotes:

1. “Once a month the sky falls on my head, I come to and I see another movie I want to make.”
2. “Because of the movies I make, people get nervous, because they think of me as difficult and angry. I am difficult and angry, but they don’t expect a sense of humor. And the only thing that gets me through is a sense of humor.”
3. “I am a typed director. If I made ‘Cinderella,’ the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.”
4. “People call me a perfectionist, but I’m not. I’m a rightist. I do something until it’s right, and then I move on to the next thing.”
5. “I don’t need a happy ending. I feel much happier coming out of a movie like ‘Sid and Nancy’ than I do ‘Ghost’ or something.”

If you’ve given up, click here…and when you’re done reading the histories of the various inductees, don’t forget to come back here to offer your praise, complaints, or anything in-between…

Action Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, News

Rapid Fire Rejects: Volume XII

January 22, 2007 / Jason Zingale

“Jamie Kennedy’s Blowin’ Up”
One would think that giving a no-talent hack like Jamie Kennedy his own television show would be criminal enough, but the sheer fact that the rapper duo (which includes Canadian voice actor Stu Stone) also got the chance to cut their own record is just sickening. “Blowin’ Up” may be getting marketed as an MTV reality series, but there’s nothing real about this. All seven episodes are obviously set up, and it’s insulting to think that the producers of the show would even believe they could convince us otherwise.

“The Simple Life 4: ‘Til Death Do Us Part”
Paris and Nicole chew up the scenery as usual in the fourth season of their dubiously popular reality series, but this time around, they’re both flying solo. That’s right folks. Despite a rather public falling out after filming wrapped on the third season, Fox has somehow managed to stitch the show back together so that the two celebrity socialites would never have to actually the share the screen together. This time around, the girls are tasked with playing mom-for-a-day to ten very lucky families, but the concept never quite works as the fiery competition that it’s meant to be.

“Broken Bridges”
As is to be expected from any recording artist looking to break in to the movie business, Toby Keith’s debut film has the country music star pigeonholed as a washed-up singer/songwriter who is reunited with his high school sweetheart (Kelly Preston) and the 16-year-old daughter (Lindsay Haun) he never met when tragedy strikes his childhood town. Really just a shadow-and-mirrors platform that enables Keith to sing more than he acts, “Broken Bridges” performs exactly as you’d expect it to. Heck, I wouldn’t even be surprised to hear what Keith had to do for this role considering there’s a Ford truck commercial right dab in the middle of the flick, but it hardly matters, since this Lifetime-lite piece of garbage is most certainly not built Ford tough.