Entertainment Maven

The Sessions Blu-ray Review (Kirk Haviland)

The Sessions Blu-ray Review

Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Annika Marks, Adam Arkin

Written and Directed by Ben Lewin, based on the original article by Mark O’Brien

New to Blu-ray and DVD from Fox Home Entertainment is the inspiring true story of Mark O’Brien in The Sessions. The biopic is the brainchild of writer/director Ben Lewin, himself suffering from polio as a child which has resulted in him requiring crutches to maneuver with for the rest of his life. The similarities between Lewin and O’Brien’s backgrounds gave Lewin a unique and experienced vision in which to craft the film.

Paralyzed and confined to an iron lung since childhood after being stricken by polio, poet-journalist Mark O’Brien (Hawkes) has overcome adversity time and time again. But now, at age 38, he faces his toughest challenge yet, losing his virginity. After being assigned to write an article on sexuality in the world of the disabled, Mark himself decides to consult a sex surrogate for his own issues. With the help of the beautiful therapist (Hunt), a sympathetic priest (Macy), and his own unbridled sense of optimism and humor, Mark embarks on an extraordinary personal journey to discover the wondrous pleasures that make life worth living.

The Sessions features some exceptionally brave and bold performances that elevate it above the “movie of the week” level script. The story is pretty standard fare, outside of the humor and comedic timing exhibited by Hawkes as O’Brien, and the outcome of the film should not come as too much of a surprise even if you have no knowledge of O’Brien’s story. Hawkes is exceptional here, with a razor sharp and complete body transformation, there is no CGI used in his performance at all, he manages to twist and contort his physical frame into positions unthinkably painful. Hunt’s performance is equally as brave, her role requiring her to be completely naked for close to half of her screen time means the role could only be played so effortlessly by someone completely secure in their physical features. Macy’s time may be limited in the film but his work here is also very good as the priest who befriends and encourages Mark, but his character is one of the ones hampered the most by the generic script.

The film’s pacing is good, clocking in at 95 minutes, though there are sequences that do tend to drag a tad with exposition. The production looks sharp as its clear much thought and preparation was placed in realizing the setting and surroundings, made easier of course due to the real life nature of the story. Images such as Hawkes on a gurney in the aisle of a beautiful church while conversing with Macy’s priest and the tiny insular world of Mark’s apartment, overrun by the gigantic iron lung in the middle of the room, are fantastic in conveying tone and setting.

The Blu-Ray comes loaded with special features including many fetaurettes examining the behind the scenes aspect of the film. John Hawkes becomes Mark O’Brien, Helen Hunt as the Sex Surrogate, The Women Who Loved Mark O’Brien, Writer/Director Ben Lewin Finds Inspiration, A Session with the Cast are all easily digestible chunks of goodness focusing on the production of the film. The disc also features a section of deleted scenes that did not make the movie.

Overall The Sessions does enough right, especially with our two leads here, to warrant a successful film. And while the film does have issues there is more than enough here to recommend the film for purchase and rental.

Till Next Time

Movie Junkie TO

Make sure to keep up with what’s going on at Entertainment Maven by liking our Facebook page and having updates delivered right to your Facebook News Feed. It’s the only way to stay on top of all of our articles with the newest blockbusters and all the upcoming films, festivals and film related events in Toronto.

Follow me directly on twitter @moviejunkieto and by liking my Facebook page at Movie Junkie TO

Email me at moviejunkieto@gmail.com

Beautiful Creatures Review (Robert Harding)

Directed by Richard LaGravenese

Starring Alice Englert, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson

Move over Sabrina, there’s a new teenage witch in the house. But is she on the side of the dark or light? To find out, you’ll have to watch the movie. Beautiful Creatures is based on the novel of the same name written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl which is the first book in the Caster Chronicles series.

Ethan is much too intelligent for his small town and is looking forward to the day where he can leave its sheltered borders for something bigger. When a mysterious new girl named Lena moves to town he is immediately drawn to her despite her families sordid past. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their families, themselves and their town.

Beautiful Creatures is geared towards the young adult crowd with a heavy leaning towards the female gender so it’s very easily compared to Twilight. Both films involve a supernatural love story but Beautiful Creatures does a much better job of selling the relationship. While still feeling a little rushed, Beautiful Creatures establishes a previous attraction between the two main characters. This allows them to be drawn to each other above and beyond the normal sense and when you add the fact that both are outsiders of a sort, it just makes the relationship all that more plausible.

Where the story weakens is in the films “breakup.” When a movie devotes time to bringing two characters together so that the audience believes in the relationship you would expect that when something tears them apart there would be a big emotional reaction. But the most expected and recognised responses are not what we’re given. In fact, there isn’t much of a reaction at all. This eventually results in a climax that lacks the potential impact it could have otherwise had.

Aside from the breakup, the film does a decent job of telling the story. It could have been a little longer in length and fleshed out the subplots a little better but they weren’t exactly necessary to tell the overall story. The lack of explanation with regards to the various subplots meant that the film feels a little rushed and it tends to jump from one point to the next without a smooth transition.

I did enjoy the casting in this film. Filled with mostly unknowns and giving almost everyone a down to earth look instead of trying to use sex to sell the film meant that it had a more realistic tone (at least for a supernatural witch movie). Of course this might seem odd for a film called Beautiful Creatures but all is not lost for those looking for a little sex appeal. Emmy Rossum playing the role of Ridley Duchannes not only looks fantastic but does her fair share of adding a little eroticism to an otherwise “Christian” film.

Beautiful Creatures isn’t perfect and is likely missing a great deal of detail from the novel but it was much better than expected. Learning from previous films aimed at the same audience, it has a more believable love story all while tossing some FX heavy scenes into the mix to add some thrills to the drama. The film may not fulfill all expectations but it does justice to enough of them to entertain. And like all good films of this nature, Beautiful Creatures leaves a little something come the end. Just enough to tease the audience. Sequel? There are more novels to pull from aren’t there?

Like Entertainment Maven on Facebook

Identity Thief Review (Kirk Haviland)

Identity Thief (2013)

Starring: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Genesis Rodriguez, Morris Chestnut, John Cho, Robert Patrick, Eric Stonestreet

Written by Craig Mazin based on a story by Jerry Eeten and Craig Mazin

Directed by Seth Gordon

The doldrums of the winter post-Oscar bait box office continue this week as after a very lackluster January our friends at Universal Pictures give us Identity Thief. This comedy is the follow-up feature from McCarthy after her breakout role in 2010’s Bridesmaids (This is 40 cameo notwithstanding) and her first shot at a lead performance. Along for the ride is Jason Bateman playing his very familiar bland straight man role and Amanda Peet as his long suffering wife.

Diana (McCarthy) makes her living assuming stranger’s identities and bleeding them dry. Her seemingly unlimited funds have allowed Diana to party and shop it up on the outskirts of Orlando, where her house looks like a Shopping Channel storage warehouse. But her new identity comes with a catch, it belongs to an accounts rep (Bateman), Sandy, who lives halfway across the U.S., and Sandy has been tipped off as to where she lives. With only one week to hunt down the con artist before he loses his job and livelihood, the real Sandy Bigelow Patterson heads south to confront the woman with an all-access pass to his life. And as he attempts to bribe, coax and wrangle her 2,000 miles to Denver, one easy target will discover just how tough it is to get your name back. And let’s not forget the Skiptracer (Patrick) and Mob enforcers (Harris and Rodriguez) following and tracking their every move.

Identity Thief is a very poorly executed movie in many regards. The script here is extremely lazy, think of the worst possible rehash of Midnight Run you’ve seen and this is worse. The gags are tired and lazy and the dialogue is terrible. The plot device as to why the pair is forced to drive instead of fly is ludicrous and makes no sense. The fact that Diana and all her many fake ID’s can’t fly because her ID is the same as Sandy’s, when she can simply make another ID and actually does so later in the film, is just mediocre writing at best. Writer Mazan’s previous efforts include the lackluster Hangover 2, Scary Movies 3 and 4 (the UN-funny ones) and the abysmal Superhero Movie so the lack of ingenuity shown here should come as little surprise. But Mazin can’t be held solely responsible for this effort.

Director Gordon has done some excellent work on television and in the world of documentaries but his feature length fiction films have left something to be desired. With Horrible Bosses being his most respectable, Identity Thief may even be worse than his other, badly executed holiday film: Four Christmases. Watching the film it would appear the film just got away from him and he let McCarthy run rampant without any guidance or attempt to reel her in. McCarthy is probably the best part of the film, managing to elicit a few laughs along the way in what were likely her variances from the script. But a lot of the time she seems to be throwing everything she can on screen just to try and make something stick. Based on Bateman’s performance you would expect him to turn directly straight to camera at some point and say “Hey, it’s a paycheck” before returning to whatever line he is delivering next. Peet is fine here, but is really given nothing to do. The rest of the roles are merely extended cameos with wasted performances especially from the talented likes of Favreau, Stonestreet and Cho.

Perhaps the biggest problem I have with the film is how offensive it gets towards the end. In one sequence that I’m sure is meant to be humorous, McCarthy’s Diana tries to explain to Peet’s character that nothing happened between her and Sandy on the road. But what ensues is McCarthy going on and on about how irresistible she is and the audiences and Peet’s Trish are supposed to be laughing because of course a fat person can’t be sexy right? Similar subject matter was handled with class and hilarity in Bridesmaids but that is sadly lacking here.

There may have been a good movie to be had with this premise, but Identity Thief sadly is not that film. Audiences will likely have to wait for McCarthy’s turn in director Paul Feig’s (Bridesmaids) next film The Heat and Batemen’s long awaited return to the role of Michael Bluth from Arrested Development to get the laughter they were hoping to get out of this film. The amount of talent on screen is hampered by a poor script and some spotty direction that drags everyone down. Identity Thief is not recommended.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

Follow me directly on twitter @moviejunkieto and by liking my Facebook page at Movie Junkie TO

Email me at moviejunkieto@gmail.com

Peter Pan Diamond Collection Blu-Ray Review (Kirk Haviland)

Peter Pan Diamond Collection Blu-Ray

With the voices of Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried, Paul Collins and Tommy Luske

Written by Ted Sears, Erdman Penner, Bill Peet, Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Milt Banta, Ralph Wright and Bill Cottrell based on the play by Sir J.M. Barrie

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske and Jack Kinney

The classic animated feature film from Disney, Peter Pan, hits its 60^th ‘Diamond’ anniversary this year and celebrates with a brand new, fully loaded Blu-ray release in stores this week. The timeless tale of Peter and his ‘lost boys’ in considered one of the greats from Disney’s golden age of hand drawn animation and is based on the 100 year old stage play from Sir J.M. Barrie. As a young child, Walt Disney saw a travelling production of the play and it stayed with him for decades until he was finally able to produce his own version.

The story has been told many times. Wendy Darling (Beaumont) and her brothers John (Collins) and Michael (Luske) are visited in the night by Peter Pan (Driscoll), the star of their bedtime stories, as Peter is looking for his runaway shadow. Peter whisks the children away to Neverland, the magical place where Peter lives, with the help of his fairy companion Tinker Bell and her fairy dust. The kids meet up with the lost boys, tussle with Indians and are captured by the nefarious Captain Hook (Conried), Peter’s mortal enemy. Peter comes to the rescue and takes the children safely back to England and their bedrooms as their parents come home for the evening.

Disney’s Peter Pan has never looked better in a home presentation as the Blu-ray picture is crystal clear and looks great. The story of Peter Pan is one that is more mature than other Disney fairy tales in that Peter is a complex character that comes off as slightly cocky and reckless in parts of the film. Captain Hook is a ruthless villain, killing his own men as he sees fit, obsessed with capturing Peter after a violent encounter in which Hook lost his hand. Combine that with kidnapping and interrogation and you don’t get your typical family adventure. But Peter Pan has endured over the years because of the earnestness of the characters and the voice work behind them. The animation is classic 2D style but still seems to pop off the screen in this beautifully re-mastered edition. The shots of London and Big Ben in particular are brilliantly realized and still look fabulous 60 years later.

The Blu-Ray is stuffed with special features as the disc includes new features as well as all of the features from the previous DVD collector’s edition as well. Among the new special features is a fascinating documentary about the children of Walt Disney’s main crew of animators, dubbed the ‘nine old men’, out together by one of the children himself entitled “Growing up with Nine Old Men”. The 45 minute documentary tracks down the grown children of these men as they discuss the work of their fathers and their own work, a really fascinating watch. We also get two deleted scenes, including an unused alternate ending, and two original songs that were omitted as well. With the classic DVD features the disc features a “Disney Song Selection” feature, which is just a jump to a song option, some more deleted songs and some music videos and ‘Classic Backstage Disney’ which is a series of five behind the scenes featurettes about the making of the movie. Lastly we get the during the movie features which are a feature length audio commentary hosted by Roy Disney and special games and bonus scenes when the film is paused known as Disney intermission.

All in, the Peter Pan Diamond Edition Blu-ray is a fantastic disc bursting at the seams with special features to engage for hours of fun and discovery. The film has never looked better in an at home format than it does now and still retains a lot of the charm and whimsy it contained from childhood days gone by. Peter Pan Diamond Edition Blu-ray is a strong recommend and for Disney fans should not be considered anything less than a must own.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

Follow me directly on twitter @moviejunkieto and by liking my Facebook page at Movie Junkie TO

Email me at moviejunkieto@gmail.com

Cineplex’s Great Digital Film Festival Preview (Kirk Haviland)

Cineplex’s Great Digital Film Festival Preview

Starting Feb 1, 2013 select Cineplex theaters across Canada will participate in the fourth annual ‘Great Digital Film Festival’. The festival runs from Feb 1 through Feb7 and is dedicated to bringing classic films back to the big screen, and often in digital format for the first time. This year the festival is also serving as the nationwide debut for last year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival Favorite Cockneys vs Zombies.

All films are only $6 per screening with discount pricing for purchasing multiple tickets with extra Scene points for members of Cineplex’s Scene loyalty program. In the GTA the theaters participating will be the Scotiabank Theaters downtown and the Cineplex Cinemas Mississauga (formerly the Coliseum). The fest will also play in other theaters across Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The list of participating theaters can be found here.

The list of films is an impressive collection of true classics. The films included are The Matrix, Jaws, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, An American Werewolf in London, The Fifth Element, the aforementioned Cockneys vs Zombies, and Gremlins. Also, for the first time ever in Cineplex Theaters is the Japanese classic action film Battle Royale. The fest also features the classic“Oldboy from the director of the upcoming Stoker: Park Chan-wook. We have a couple of director double features with Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Casino along with Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. The festival also features, on Feb 2, an all-day Indiana Jones marathon with all four Indiana Jones films (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) playing back-to-back.

All of these films are very worthy of inclusion and can easily be recommended but in case you can’t see them all, which is very likely the case for 99% of the population, catching Battle Royale on the big screen is an absolute must. Other titles that should not be missed are Oldboy, A Clockwork Orange, Jaws, Gremlins, Goodfellas, Cockneys vs Zombies and Pulp Fiction.

For information on show times check out the Cineplex website, or check out the printer friendly version of the full schedule here.

Till Next Time

Movie Junkie TO

Follow me directly on twitter @moviejunkieto and by liking my Facebook page at Movie Junkie TO

Email me at moviejunkieto@gmail.com