Happy New Year! JV Returns this year with an audio podcast!

If you’re a fan of Japanese cinema you’ve likely heard of Shion Sono. If you haven’t then you need to get on your Netflix right now. I recommend Suicide Club, Noriko’s Dinner Table, Hazard, Strange Circus, and Love Exposure if you can find it anywhere. If you can’t ask me nicely and I’ll let you borrow my copy. Below is the trailer for Sono’s latest work “Cold Fish”.

The official synopsis:

Shamoto runs a small tropical fish shop and leads a boring, but stable life. His second wife, Taeko, does not get along with his daughter, Mitsuko, and this worries him. He also feels somehow unfulfilled and dissatisfied with what his life has become.

In the end, the conflict between Shamoto and Murata will result in murder, insanity, and an ordinary man being driven to the edge of the abyss.

If you’re lucky enough to have a region free DVD player you can find this available on Amazon in R2 DVD. If not you’ll have to hold out for an American release TBA.

“Monsters” is set 6 years after earth has suffered an alien invasion when a cynical journalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) agrees to take a shaken American tourist Samantha Wynden (Whitney Able) through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.

At its core “Monsters” is about the relationship between Kaulder and Wynden. Kaulder is a photo journalist looking for his big break, and Wynded is the boss’daughter who just wants to get back home to her fiance. Their travel through the infected zone brings them closer together and forces them to deal with their feelings for each other. Edwards creates and incredibly believable and organic world on a modest budget and the actors are quite good but the film’s schizophrenic script weighs it down. The themes of displaced people of war and immigration problems aren’t ever fully realized and the viewers are left to wonder if Edwards’himself has answers to the questions he poses.

Overall the film’s atmosphere and performances lift it slightly above the messy script. There is a lot of talent involved here and I think Edwards will eventually make an amazing film. Unfortunately, “Monsters” is not that film. It’s a good effort, with some outstanding visuals and a lazy script. It’s currently available through Comcast on Demand as well as Amazon’s On Demand service. I’d recommend watching this one for the visuals, but wait for the Blu-Ray to be available from Netflix in late December.

Score 5.5/10

I can’t think of one movie that I’ve been more excited for in 2010. The Coen Bros. “True Grit” has classic written all over it. Check out the trailer below and you’ll likely agree. The film will be released Dec. 25th. Enjoy!


EMBED-True Grit: Trailer – Watch more free videos

In “The Town” Affleck plays Doug MacRay, a Charlestown native who holds down a day job in a gravel pit, but whose real money comes from knocking over banks and armoured cars. He and his crew pull off meticulously planned robberies with a hail of bullets and bravado.

During their latest heist, Doug’s short-tempered, life-long friend Jem (The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner), decides to take a hostage. They kidnap bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) shove her into their getaway van, and eventually leaving her blindfolded and unharmed at the banks of the Charles River.When it turns out that Claire is a Charlestown resident, Jem panics, afraid she might be able to identify them. Doug sets out to meet Claire and discover what she knows, only to fall in love with her.

On its surface “The Town” is a hard boiled crime drama that sticks to convention – a thief who falls in love and longs to get out out of “the life”; the best friend with a short fuse; a drug addled former lover (Lively); and an officer of the law who will stop at nothing to get his man (Jon Hamm). This might sound derivative of a thousand different crime dramas – and it is – but it’s Affleck’s eye for authenticity and more-than-competent direction that will keep you entranced.

From the opening action sequence all the way to the finale, Affleck builds a palpable sense of romanticized doom. It is the atmosphere and the streets of the city itself that are the real stars of this film. Beantown’s back alleys and side streets come to life during some exceptional action set pieces. The most memorable of which is certainly the films finale that uses Fenway Park as its centerpiece for an outrageous heist.

“The Town” is not perfect, but it is damn close. I think it’s time we forgive Affleck for the few missteps he’s had in his career. He has given us one of the best films of the year and one that will likely be an Oscar contender.

Score: 9/10

Earthling will have its debut at the SXSW festival in just a few months time. Take a look at the dreamy teaser below and let me know what you think. I’m all in.
Thanks to the good folks at Quiet Earth for the heads up.

A young police officer (Ryan Kwanten) must survive his first day’s duty in a small country town.
Trailer for Patrick Hughes’ Red Hill has got me pretty excited.
Check it out below and let me know what you think. Thanks to both Twitch and Quiet Earth for the linkage.

Ole Bornedal’s (Nightwatch) Just Another Love Story definitely snuck in under my radar. This 2007 noir thriller garnered rave reviews at a number of festivals and was released to DVD in the U.S. May 9th. Thanks to Twitch for posting their review of the film which you can check out here, as well as the nifty trailer you can see below. I already ordered my copy from Amazon. I suggest you do the same. Enjoy.

1. The Haunting in Connecticut
After a family is forced to relocate for their son’s health, they begin experiencing supernatural behavior in their new home, which turns out to be a former mortuary.

What’s good about it:
Zero. There is not a single shred of originality, entertainment value, or style in this film. It’s like an episode of Full House, but with ghosts.
On the upside there are no Olsen twins!

What’s bad about it:
See the above statement.

Bottom Line:
Director Peter Cornwell vomits this celluloid waste on to the screen with, what seems like, zero regard for the genre of horror. Avoid at all costs.

2. The Horsemen
A recently widowed detective still grieving over his wife’s death discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

What’s good about it:
Strong performances by Dennis Quaid and Ziyi Zhang. Zhang is particularly creepy (and hot) as Kristen. Director Jonas Akerland has a strong visual style that keeps the Horsmen afloat for most of its duration, and the film’s gore is very well done.

Bottom Line:
Wait for cable. Horsemen will pass for slight entertainment for fans of the genre, but its cliched characters and ending will leave most of you disappointed.

Blu-Ray Releases of Note

1. The Towering Inferno

At the opening party of a collosal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

Absolutely one of the best disaster films ever made! Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Paul Newman, Susan Blakely, Richard, Chamberlin, Fred Astaire, and Robert Wagner! You can’t really go wrong! This film is a must own.

This BD contains a plethora of special features. The full list follows:
Commentary by F.X. Feeney, film historian
Scene-specific commentary by Mike Vezina, special effects director on ‘X3′
Scene-specific commentary by Branko Racki, stunt coordinator on ‘The Day After Tomorrow’
32 extended and deleted scenes
Alternate opening sequence
10 featurettes:
Inside the Tower: We Remember
Innovating Tower: The SPFX of an Inferno
The Art of Towering
Irwin Allen: The Great Producer
Directing the Inferno
Putting out Fire
Walking on Fire
Still the World’s Tallest Building
The Write Stirling Silliphant
AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno
Six storyboard comparisons
Vintage promotional materials:
NATO presentation reel
Two original 1974 featurettes
Irwin Allen 1977 interview
Trailer farm:
‘The Towering Inferno’teaser
‘The Towering Inferno’trailer
‘The Poseidon Adventure’trailer
Interactive galleries:
American Cinematographer article
‘The Towering Inferno’and how it was filmed
Photographing the dramatic sequences for ‘The Towering Inferno’
“Action Unit” lives up to its name while shooting ‘The Towering Inferno’
Stills galleries:
Shot compositions
Publicity
Behind the scenes
Conceptual sketches
Costumes

2.Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon / Curse of the Golden Flower / House of Flying Daggers Box Set

The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Three visually arresting martial arts epics in one blu-ray box set. I just wish that they offered a bit more in the way of special features. I’ll likely wait until they are released separately with all the extras these films deserve. You should do the same.

Audio commentary with Ang Lee and James Schamus
A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh
Unleashing the Dragons: Making Of Featurette
Photo Gallery

The Curse of the Golden Flower Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Los Angeles Premiere Featurette
Secrets Within: Making Of Featurette

The House of Flying Daggers Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Storyboards
Creating the Visual Effects Featurette

3. Death Trance


Living in an undisclosed time and location, a master samurai known as Grave is on the constant lookout for a battle worth his energy. He finds this fight in a quest for a coffin from the Tougan Temple, a journey that puts a young woman from the temple grounds on Grave’s path.

I’m not sure how well this will turn out in HD, but I’m willing to give it a shot. While Death Trance is not a great film it certainly is visually stunning. I haven’t been able to find any specs or extra features information online so if you’ve bought the disc or have a link to the info drop me a line.

Big Fan is the darkly funny story of Paul Afiero (Patton Oswalt), a hardcore New York Giants fan whose chance encounter with his idol unexpectedly ends in violence. It’s also the directorial debut of The Wrestler scribe Robert D Siegel. All signs point to awesomeness. Check out the trailer below and leave me some damn comments.