Mystic River (Widescreen Edition) (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's wrenching best-seller, "Mystic River," is a remarkable achievement. Having read the book shortly before seeing the movie, I was impressed with Eastwood's faithfulness to the letter and spirit of Lehane's story.
Sean Penn plays Jimmy Markham (Marcus in the book), a small time hood who did a stint in prison almost two decades earlier. Jimmy now owns a grocery store, is a loving family man, and seems to have given up his criminal ways. As a child, Jimmy was a close friend of Sean Devine, who grew up to become a homicide detective, and Dave Boyle, played by the wonderful Tim Robbins. Boyle endured a terrible trauma as a child, and he is tortured by horrifying thoughts that he can never escape. When Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter, Katie, is found brutally murdered, Sean investigates with his partner, played by Laurence Fishburne, and the lives of the three old friends intersect once again.
The stellar cast of "Mystic River" is amazingly effective. Each actor completely inhabits his or her character. Sean Penn's performance is brutal and heart-rending, and Tim Robbins convincingly plays a man on the brink of madness. Supporting these fine actors are Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden, as Jimmy's and Dave's wives.
Eastwood wisely shot his film on the streets of Boston, and Tom Stern's atmospheric and skillful cinematography contribute to the film's realistic and dramatic look. "Mystic River" is a powerful drama about how desperate people react when they are under tremendous emotional pressure. This mythic tragedy proves Faulkner's dictum, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." The mistakes we make and the injuries that we suffer are always with us in one way or another. Kudos to Eastwood and his fine cast and crew on making an exceptional film.

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Drama. Mystic River tells the story of three men whose dark, interwoven history forces them to come to terms with a brutal murder on the mean streets of Boston.

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JFK - Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1991) Review

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(More customer reviews)Oliver Stone's "JFK" is a monstrous epic that revolves around the whole mystery around President Kennedy's assassination. While it is a dramatic picture and Stone most likely twisted a few things to make this a more relevant and better movie, it is still an undeniable powerhouse that has you go through a whole set of emotions, ranging from fear, anger, paranoia and sadness. There's no question that the majority of the country believes that there is more to the assassination than we were lead to believe. I don't think it's exactly how it is in the movie, but that's not important. What is important is that the film works for many reasons.
President Kennedy has been assassinated. Lee Harvey Oswald is the suspect and gets shot shortly after. There is a secretive and brief hearing on the whole assassination, and it is in stone that Oswald was a lone gunman and nobody else was involved. Seems like an open-and-shut-case, but District Attorney Jim Garrison isn't willing to buy it. With his staff, they decide to work on the case, until they are shut down by the government. Three years later, Garrison isn't willing to stand by in silence anymore and decides to go ahead with the case. The further he digs, the more horrible truths he uncovers. Not only that, but people high up in the ranks are willing to do anything to make sure that the American Public will never find out about them.
As I said, this isn't meant to be an entirely accurate portrayal of how everything happened. It suggests to you that it could've been this way, and it even does a good job of presenting its case to you. What I think Stone was trying to achieve was to create his own commentary on how people feel about the handling of the whole assassination and how sloppily the case was handled. The film wasn't made to merely exploit the death of Kennedy, but what it does exploit is the fact that we're willing to believe anything they tell us in the media. It's a hard concept to grasp, because it's not too far from the truth. The movie is brilliantly directed and well-acted. Kevin Costner gives one of the best performances of his career. The film has a whole list of famous actors in it, like Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Sissy Spacek and a whole bunch more. They are all fantastic in their roles.
A word of warning; this is a VERY LONG movie. It is about 3 and a half hours long in running time. If you want to watch this, then you have to really commit to it. If you're not in the mood for a very lengthy movie, then you will not be able to enjoy this. The new 2-Disc Special Edition offers a remastered director's cut that looks and sounds great. Another interesting feature is the documentary, "Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy." Extras included are deleted/extended scenes, commentary from the director, theatrical trailer, essays and DVD-ROM features. A very nice package that does the film justice.
JFK" is an amazing picture that did not bore me for a single second. Not only does it work as a powerful drama, but it also works as an intense thriller. Did everything happen the way the movie proposes? Maybe, maybe not. What the film does is make you think about everything that happened around the assassination. Any film that can get the brain thinking is more than okay in my book. A very character-driven and passionate epic that is perfectly executed by Oliver Stone.
-Michael Crane

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A film that chronicles New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison's investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It explores all the credible assassination theories that have raised the nation's persistent questions, doubts and suspicions.

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Death Sentence (Unrated Edition) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)DEATH SENTENCE is a tough movie to watch, not because it is a poorly made film, but because of the degree of violence that, once started, is mayhem on a roller coaster ride. Though based on a novel by Brian Garfield, the script by Ian Jeffers is a patchwork quilt - the holes show whenever the police arrive on the scene. James Wan, of the 'Saw' movies fame, directs with a keen eye for breathless action sequences and almost intolerable suspense timing that makes the film fly through the 111 minutes of the Unrated version.
During the opening credits we are introduced to the perfect family via home movies and domestic scenes: Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is the devoted father, Helen (Kelly Preston) his bright and loving wife, Brendan (Stuart Lafferty) is the golden boy son with all the hockey laurels, and Lucas (Jordan Garrett) the younger 'also ran' son. The glitch in this family's happiness happens one night when, out of gas while driving home from a hockey game, Nick stops at a gas station and while Brendan is in the convenience store a gang comes in and murders the store owner and Brendan: the reason for the killing is not robbery but an initiation rite into a gang accomplished by young Joe Darley (Matt O'Leary) and the demand of his older brother Billy (Garrett Hedlund, in a very out of character role from his usual 'Troy', 'Friday Night Lights', 'Eragon', 'Georgia Rule' persona). Nick witnesses the killing and when the lawyers and police work with him in the aftermath to 'arrange a deal' instead of a murder trial, Nick decides to take matters in hi s own hands.
The Darley brothers are part of a ruthless gang sponsored by their own father Bones Darley (John Goodman, in a very dark and well-realized role). Nick stalks Joe Darley and murders him, and once the deed (that happens to begin a gang war against Nick) is done the terror begins. The gang is out to kill not only Nick but Nick's family also. How this pursued and pursuers game works out furnishes the remainder of the film. It is the old eye for an eye story that ends in tragedy for everyone concerned.
When the film is dealing with the 'family' and the 'gang' the dialog sparkles, but when the police, headed by Detective Wallis (Aisha Tyler), become involved the aid from the police becomes as ludicrous as the dialog placed in their mouths. Kevin Bacon gives a bravura performance as the gentle father driven to murderous madness and Garrett Hedlund matches him as the ruthless and terrifying gang leader Billy. There are enough sidebars about father/son relationships on both sides of the plot line to make the movie have a message. But in the end it is the wildly frantic camera action and directorial decisions by Wan that make this a horrifying and arresting film. Not for the queasy viewer. Grady Harp, January 08

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DEATH SENTENCE - DVD Movie

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Friday the 13th - From Crystal Lake to Manhattan (Ultimate Edition DVD Collection) (1984) Review

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(More customer reviews)Paramount truly are quite shameful, lazy, and contemptable. Everything about this 'Ultimate' release screams "cheap-a$$" quite loudly. And here's why.
I think it is forgiveable that Paramount didn't see fit to release these movies in their uncut forms. It would lose them money in some circles if this boxset were to not be stocked in Blockbuster. So for this release, uncut death scenes have been prepared.
Here are the catches, and they are quite significant: 1) gore footage for the original Friday the 13th and Part 6 are presented in horizontal SPLIT SCREENS alongside the R-rated versions. That's right, Jason fans- it's squeezed into only HALF the screen space. That's 2 out of 3 movies. 2) The gore footage from Part 7 looks quite bad, in a very rough made-for-video way in which the age shows a lot of wear and tear. There's bonus footage here as well from Part 4, but it's made-for-tv deleted scenes that don't include any gore.
Also, remember when Paramount put out the first Friday on DVD? You could finally see Annie's throat-slitting in it's entirety. Well, Paramount's decided to cut that back out. So that means if you ever want to see it again, you have to buy the original on DVD separately. Which I'll be doing, you can bet.
Here are some other things you might like to know. The set contains 4 discs of movies. Each disc has 2 movies on each disc side. I'm sorry, but my DVD players freeze erratically whenever a disc has more than 3 hours and 10 minutes of stuff on them. 20th Century Fox released The Family Guy TV seasons in these very slim single cases- why didn't Paramount have this brainstorm too?! That way, we could get 1 movie a disc, like we deserve. At least that would show Paramount thought about someone else.
The 1 Bonus Disc contains a few truly bogus featurettes. Paramount didn't even get half the cast members that would have been willing to do interviews and commentaries. They just had some people go off to a convention 1 year and get a mere handful of people there on camera. They neglected to put effort into contacting actresses Kimberly Beck and Melanie Kinnamon, who have been very outspoken about their enthusiasm onset and their appreciation for the series fans. Also, director Steve Miner is absent from participation on the featurettes or commentaries. Yet he's been on bonus features for the House, Halloween H20, and Last House on the Left DVDs. So sorry, I don't buy that he didn't want to participate here.
The only real work Paramount did here was on the commentaries. The commentaries for only 4 movies. The directors of Friday the 13th's 6, 7, and 8 do commentaries. Jason actor Kane Hodder joins the director on Part 7, and the cast of Part 3 do a commentary. But there's yet another catch! These commentaries - at least the one I heard for Part 3, have the worst sound quality I've heard from a big studio commentary since John Waters track for the Cecil B Demented DVD. And even that was less TIN-can sounding than this.
This boxset is the biggest insult to fans of this series. And even at $57, this is overpriced. I urge everyone here to pay attention to the rumors I'm hearing about future re-re-releasing of these movies on yet another boxset or individual uncut releases. At the very least people, don't buy this until you hear it's about to go out of print. The Star Wars boxset is worth more than this.

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DISC 1: FRIDAY THE 13th - The film takes place years after a young boy named Jason drowns in a lake while attending Camp Crystal Lake and shortly thereafter, the camp closes.Flash forward to the present, where the owner decides to re-open the camp and one by one, the counselors have mysteriously been murdered by an unseen person. PART 2 - The second installment picks up with Jason Voorhees, presumed dead from drowning years ago, exacting revenge on the innocent campers at "Camp Blood."Living as a hermit in the woods all these years, Jason witnesses the graphic murder of his mother and decides to wreak havoc on everyone at the camp - killing each camp counselor one by one. DISC 2: PART 3- Vacationing teenagers take off for a weekend of relaxation at Camp Crystal Lake.Planning a few days of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll, they are in for a series of frightening surprises when a local motorcycle gang follows the teenagers back to their campsite, only to find a persistent Jason with an agenda of his own. Adorned with his trademark hockey mask for the first time in the series, Jason delivers non-stop chills and thrills as everyone on the lake must fight for their lives.Part III includes cast commentary by author Peter Bracke and actors Larry Zerner, Paul Kratka, Dana Kimmell and Richard Brooker. PART IV: THE FINAL CHAPTER - Jason resurfaces from a seemingly deadly massacre and returns to Camp Crystal Lake to a new set of prey.Starring a young Corey Feldman as Tommy Jarvis, it seems Jason has finally met his match in the 12-year old horror movie maven.Enlisting the help of a local hunter, Tommy and his sister must rely on one another to help defeat Jason, while also trying to avoid their own demise.DISC 3: PART V: A NEW BEGINNING - With Jason dead, someone new has begun a killing spree of their own, using Jason's M.O. and preying on inhabitants of a sanctuary. PART VI: JASON LIVES - Tommy returns to the grave to ensure that Jason is indeed dead.Instead of remaining dead, Jason is accidentally brought back to life by Tommy and now Tommy must stop all the mindless killing and make sure Jason dies for good this time.Part VI features commentary by director Tom McLoughlin. DISC 4: PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD - The film centers on Tina Shepard, a young girl with telekinetic powers who believes she drowned her father in Crystal Lake.Returning to the site as a method of supposedly helping her cope with her grief, Tina accidentally frees Jason from his watery grave, only to lead to more killing sprees by the man in the infamous hockey mask.Part VII features commentary by Kane Hodder and director John Carl Buechler and Part VIII features commentary by director Tom McLoughlin. PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN - A graduating class of a local high school vacation on a cruise ship and unbeknownst to them, Jason is a stowaway on the same ship. Slowly killing students one at a time, Jason eventually sinks the boat, stranding the few lone survivors in Manhattan.Among those survivors, is Rennie, who believes Jason attempted to drown her as a child.Fighting for her their lives, Rennie and the other survivors must make sure Jason dies once and for all.A featurette "Tales From the Cutting Room," in which exclusive deleted scenes and footage is revealed for the first time. An 8-part featurette "The Friday The 13th Chronicles," which looks at the legacy of the films throughout their history, featuring cast and crew commenting on each film and why they appeal to audiences.Includes Adrienne King, Amy Steel, Corey Feldman, Kane Hodder, Lar Park Lincoln, Betsy Palmer, Tom Savini and directors Sean Cunningham, Tom McLoughlin, Rob Heddon, Joseph Zito and John Carl Buechler. A 3-part featurette "Secrets Galore Behind The Gore," which looks at the work of master make-up effects designer Tom Savini in Part 1 and Part IV and John Carl Buechler in Part VII.Includes rare and never-before-seen footage, drawings and stills illustrating the make-up techniques used to create Jason and achieve elaborate death scenes. A featurette "Crystal Lake Victims Tell All!" in which cast and crew from various films share amusing anecdotes.Includes Corey Feldman, Larry Zerner, Adrienne King, Amy Steel, Lar Park Lincoln and directors. A featurette "Friday Artifacts and Collectibles," which looks at props and collectables from the films. The theatrical trailers from all 8 movies except Part VI, which is represented by the teaser trailer.

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Taking Chance (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I viewed this film at a pre-screening, and I left the theater deeply moved. It's a simple story made into a heartfelt film -- Marine Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl (perfectly played by Kevin Bacon) accompanies the remains of Private First Class Chance Phelps from the mortuary at Dover AFB in Delaware to his home in Wyoming.
The Marine's death in Iraq occurs in the tense first minute of the film, with viewers only hearing the radio chatter and the explosion on a black screen. The screen comes to light with PFC Phelps' remains being sent to the U.S. The care of the remains and the personal effects makes visible and gives dignity to the anonymous work at Dover AFB.
The story takes the viewer into some seldom-seen corners of America -- from airport cargo facilities to the mountain highways of Wyoming -- and shows everywhere the reverence for the fallen. When the escort gives Phelps' watch, dog tags, and wooden cross to his parents, eight days after his death, even men will feel the tears coming. Finally, as LtCol Strobl (who had not yet been to Operation Iraqi Freedom when he accompanied Phelps' remains home) thinks over the experience, there's a meditation on where duty lies for a Marine Corps officer.
Director Ross Katz, Kevin Bacon, and HBO have given us a profound film that grants us a rare look not at America's prosperity, or freedoms, or politics -- but rather America's soul.
-30-

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Based on the true experiences of Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, who wrote eloquently of them in a widely circulated 2004 article, Taking Chance is a profoundly emotional look at the military rituals taken to honor its war dead, as represented by a fallen Marine killed in Iraq, Lance Corporal Chance Phelps. Working as a strategic analyst at Marine Corps Base Quantico in VA, Lt. Col. Strobl (Kevin Bacon) learns that Phelps had once lived in his hometown, and volunteers to escort the body to its final resting place in Wyoming. As Strobl journeys across America, he discovers the great diligence and dignity in how the military, and all those involved with preparing and transporting the body, handle their duties. Equally important, he encounters hundreds of people affected by Chances death, a vast majority of whom never knew him. This collective grieving eventually causes Lt. Col. Strobl, a veteran of Desert Storm now assigned to office duty, to probe his own guilt about not re-deploying to Iraq for the current conflict. Arriving in Wyoming, Lt. Col. Strobl completes his catharsis when he encounters Chances gracious family and friends, and discovers an extraordinary outpouring of community support.

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