Posts Tagged ‘dvd’
She Deviant || The Lucky One: Review
Lety Gallegos was gracious enough to review and provide her insight on this film for Cinema Deviant:
The Lucky One is based on the book of the same name written by author Nicholas Sparks. This film is directed by Scott Hicks and the screenplay written by Will Fetters. The story centers around a US marine, Logan Thibault (Zac Efron), that finds a picture of a smiling woman amongst the ashes and ruin of Iraq. He is immediately drawn to the woman in the picture and decides to hang on to it and return it to its rightful owner. However, his attempts to locate the owner are futile. During his tours in Iraq, Logan experiences several near-death experiences and starts to believe that maybe the woman in the picture is his guardian angel. When he returns home he is lost and dealing with survivor’s guilt. He can’t seem to make an easy transition into normal civilian life. Logan decides he must find the woman in the photo and thank her for keeping him safe. He leaves town along with his faithful German shepherd, Zeus and embarks on this unexpected journey. When he finally meets this woman, Beth Green (Taylor Schilling), he is at a loss for words and cannot seem to express his gratitude and explain the reason for his visit. There seems to be an immediate spark between them but for Beth it quickly turns into mistrust. Beth happens to be a troubled divorcee and is instantly suspect of what his true intentions might be. Logan ends up landing a job at Beth’s dog boarding business, due mostly in part by Beth’s mother’s meddling . Soon enough we meet Beth’s possessive ex-husband, Keith (Jay R. Ferguson) who instantly dislikes Logan. On the contrary, Beth and Keith’s son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart) befriends Logan without hesitation. The story begins to unfold and we find out what demons seem to be haunting Beth and what impact Logan’s presence has on Beth and Ben’s life.
Logan’s character is a deeply tormented individual with a calm and collected exterior and a brooding demeanor. He is a ticking time bomb of sorts (pun intended) that Zac Efron seems to embody quite well. I have seen Zac Efron take on this type of role before in Charlie St. Cloud and he does an excellent job portraying this sort of character. The on-screen chemistry between Zac and Taylor was truly electric and made the film that much better. Beth Green is still coping with things from her past that she is trying to come to terms with so it is no surprise that these two tortured souls seem to be drawn to each other. I might also add the Louisiana scenery we get to witness as the story develops is pretty amazing. Though there were some slight differences from the book, the movie stayed true to the main storyline with the exception of the ending. I will not spoil the movie for you so I won’t give you details, but I will say that I was not completely put off by the movie ending.
This is one of several Nicholas Sparks’ books that have been adapted to the big screen. Being a fan of these novels, I have never been disappointed with the movie adaptations and I was not disappointed in this one. Though the initial storyline might appear a bit on the cheesy side (okay super cheesy) it is still nice to dream that maybe things like destiny and fate still exist. I’d recommend this movie to any of my fellow hopeless romantics (I know you’re out there don’t be shy). Happy chick-flicking!
The Lucky One is now available on Bluray and DVD from Warner Home Entertainment
Beneath the Darkness: Review
Starring Dennis Quaid, a group of high school students hear rumors about the “creepy mortician” in the neighborhood and decide to pay him a visit. What they find is a disturbing sight. After bring confronted and escaping the house of the mortician they are now his targets. He starts terrorizing the kids for what they saw and determined to silence them one by one.
This is one of those “under the radar” kind of movies. You know, the ones that make you say “Hmmm, well that sounds intriguing”. It was interesting to see Dennis Quaid in a role such as this. It’s huge departure from what he has played in the past and to be honest it kind of suits him well. I don’t think I’ve seen any of his work quite like this. The story could’ve used some work though. It has a good premise but I kept waiting for the big moment and it just never happened. Certain scenes had good build up and just as soon as I thought a good scare was coming it kind of fell flat. One of the only parts that made me feel creeped out was a buried alive scene. I don’t think I need to say why, it pretty much speaks for itself. Basically, this film had the inner workings of being pretty damn good but just missed the mark. It wasn’t completely horrible but most likely something I wouldn’t watch again.
Justice League Doom: Review
The Justice League is a group of superheroes with unspeakable power. What would happen if they started to use that power against humanity? That’s the exact question Batman asked himself. He prepares a contingency plan that can stop every member of the Justice League in case any or all members go rogue. The Legion of Doom (Bane, Star Sapphire, Metallo, Ma’alefa’ak, Mirror Master and Cheetah) led by Vandal Savage get a hold of those plans and one by one slowly start taking down each member of the Justice League. Once Batman realizes what’s happening, its up to him to help each hero and stop the Legion of Doom from destroying half of Earths’ population with a solar flare from the sun created by Savage himself.
DC has a great thing going with their animated feature division. Marvel excels at live action films but DC takes the cake in this department (but lets not forget about the Chris Nolan Batman franchise though). This flick isn’t one of the best I’ve seen from them but its still ten times better than any animated film Marvel has put out. The biggest plus for me is when they are able to get the voice actors from the animated TV series back for these movies. They MAKE the movie. They give life to these characters and do an excellent job at it. I couldn’t think of anyone else that could do Batman and Superman besides Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly. I can’t forget to give credit to Michael Rosenbaum and Nathan Fillion for voicing Flash and Green Lantern respectively. They both give a certain amount of “smartassery” (yes, I just made that up.) to each character and it suits them well. My only complaint about this feature is it seemed like there was not enough time and too many characters to properly tell the story in detail. Some parts felt a bit rushed but understandably so. With that being said, I would still recommend this movie and any other future DC movie to anyone else. Job well done DC!
Justice League: Doom is available February 28, 2012 on Bluray and DVD
