The Wedding Ringer DVD Review

     Actors: Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting

Director: Jeremy Garelick

Format: Ultraviolet, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: French

Rated: R

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: April 28, 2015

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

          There may be a fairly good movie within The Wedding Ringer, but it also happens to be paired with several bad ones. There is nothing original about the individual elements of this first-quarter release, though the schizophrenic combination of these contradictory aspects borrowed from better films leads to an original mess of a movie. What could be pitched as Hitch meets I Love You, Man with Kevin Hart as a leading man, The Wedding Ringer must have sounded like a surefire hit, but the result feels like a Frankenstein creation born out of the creative cowardice of a studio board room.

 

50 to 1 DVD Review

     Actors: Skeet Ulrich, Christian Kane, William Devane

Director: Jim Wilson

Format: Multiple Formats, AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: April 28, 2015

Run Time: 111 minutes

 

          Based on the true story of underdog horse, Mine That Bird, it is easy to predict the ending of a film which tells you in the title how great the odds were against him. I can’t imagine they would ever call a film 50 to 1 if it were about a horse that lost the race. At the same time, I hardly think anyone would have bought a ticket to Seabiscuit or Secretariat if they though the horse would lose the climactic final race. It isn’t the predictability of 50 to1 which makes it far less successful than previous underdog horse narratives; it is the large sections of the film in which the horse is absent from the screen.

 

The Roommates/A Woman for All Men Blu-ray Review

      Actors: Roberta Collins, Judith Brown

Director: Arthur Marks

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: GORGON VIDEO

Release Date: March 24, 2015

Run Time: 182 minutes

 

 

 

          Though I wouldn’t necessarily say that these two films are perfectly paired, I am certain enough fans of Grindhouse will merely be pleased to have them available on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack after decades of obscurity. Both were made by B-film director, Arthur Marks (Detroit 9000), who provides interviews and a commentary track for the dual release, though it is The Roommates which seems to be most anticipated. Gorgon Video has given them both proper exhibition with this dual format release, allowing audiences to see these hard-to-find Grindhouse gems.

 

Mysteries of the Unseen World 3D Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Forest Whitaker (Narrator)

Director: Louie Schwartzberg

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, 3D, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 2

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Virgil Films and Entertainment

Release Date: April 21, 2015

Run Time: 40 minutes

 

        Recently on “The Daily Show,” guest Neil deGrasse Tyson remarked on the rise in popularity of science in popular culture. I would argue that much of that new success is due to technological advances in film and visual effects, which is something that has greatly helped the success of deGrasse’s series, “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.” Mysteries of the Unseen World relies on similar cutting-edge visual spectacle in order to make more interesting the kind of stuff I had long forgotten learning in science class.  

 

Day of Anger Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Lee Van Cleef, Giuliano Gemma, Walter Rilla

Director: Tonino Valerii

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC

Language: Italian

Number of discs: 3

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Arrow Video

Release Date: March 31, 2015

Run Time: 95 minutes

 

 

          The wonderful thing about genre films is that there is no need for originality in plot; all that is needed is creativity in the presentation of expected narratives. Day of Anger (also known as Days of Wrath) is a perfectly example of this, doing little unexpected within the context of a spaghetti western, but doing it in a way that is never short of fantastic. No filmmaker is likely to surpass Sergio Leone in popularity when discussing this sub-genre of film made popular mostly during the 1960s and 70s, but Tonino Valerii comes remarkably close with this cult classic. Perhaps it did not hurt to have Leone regular Lee Van Cleef as one of the film’s stars. 

 

Mark of the Devil Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Herbert Lom, Udo Kier, Olivera Katarina

Directors: Michael Armstrong

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Arrow Video

Release Date: March 17, 2015

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

 

          I’m not sure that I would place Mark of the Devil in the category of exploitation, though it certainly features a degree of violence and torture that remains horrifying even by today’s standards. At the same time, there is a certain level of respect given to the material which seems to suggest filmmaker Michael Armstrong (and uncredited Adrian Hoven) had no intention of exploiting, but instead shock the audience into a thoughtful look at the horrifying historical treatment of alleged witches during the 17^th century (inaccurate as some details may be). Despite the bevy of attractive and nubile women being tortured with a variety of gruesome methods, Mark of the Devil uses the treatment of them to show the fear of female sexuality from within the Catholic Church.

 

Taken 3 Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Dougray Scott, Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Release Date: April 21, 2015

Run Time: 109 minutes

 

        The tagline for Taken 3 was “It Ends Here.” Let’s hope that they were right, and this is the last atrocious attempt at forcing a franchise out of one solid action movie. I knew that this film was going to be awful long before I watched it, and that may have actually helped my viewing experience. While there was some hope that the second film might match the original’s ability to make unbelievable action entertaining, every aspect of the marketing campaign for Taken 3 seemed determined to lower my expectations. From the horrendously asinine decision to have the film promoted as Tak3n instead of Taken 3 to the fact that the plot doesn’t involve anyone getting taken, the advertisements for this second sequel felt more like parody than a sincere effort at action.  

       

The Marine 4: Moving Target Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Paul McGillion, Mike Mizanin, Curtis Caravaggio, Matthew MacCaull

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1), French (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: April 21, 2015

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

 

         The latest straight-to-home-entertainment sequel in this action franchise amps up the level of patriotism, making it almost feel like a sequel to Act of Valor instead. This comparison makes even more sense when comparing the acting skills of the group of Navy Seals used in Act of Valor and the wrestlers of The Marine 4. Even sadder is the fact that these performers are no less convincing than the actual actors cast in the supporting roles. The bottom line is that these films are about action above all else, and The Marine 4: Moving Target is the closest sequel in the franchise to capturing what made the first film mildly successful.

 

Supremacy Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Danny Glover, Joe Anderson, Dawn Olivieri

Director: Deon Taylor

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: April 21, 2015

Run Time: 104 minutes

 

 

        Supremacy makes the mistake of relying too heavily on the impact from the fact that the story was inspired by true events, offering up a few contrived revelatory moments and an endless stream of melodrama in favor of developed characters and compelling dialogue. The plot may open the film up for discussion of real social issues, but instead falls back on caricatures and contrived scenarios that can’t seem to make up its mind between exploitation and message. Despite director Deon Taylor’s ability to get convincing performances from most of his cast members, it is effort made in vain within Eric J. Adams’ two-dimensional screenplay.

From the Dark Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Niamh Algar, Stephen Cromwell

Director: Conor McMahon

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Dark Sky Films

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        Somehow I can’t imagine even beginning a discussion about this film without immediately spoiling elements of the film that seem intentionally left out of the plot description. So, I will warn that there is a slight spoiler in the remainder of this review, though it is one I would rather have known from the beginning anyway. The blurb on the back of the Blu-ray describes the film’s creature as “something sinister” and “an unimaginable evil,” paired with the fact that light is their weakness. While the creature of From the Dark may not be a vampire in the most traditional sense, this is clearly the starting off point for the creation of a similar monster.