Starring: Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Diedrich Bader, Tina Majorino
Director: Jared Hess
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: February 4, 2014

Film: 3 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2.5 out of 5 stars

It is hard to believe that “Napoleon Dynamite” is already celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this year. I was never a huge fan of the film. I liked it but I really don’t love it. This latest Blu-ray release comes in a fuzzy, collectible, liger-fur Blu-ray + DVD Comb Pack. Personally, I feel like this is a major double-dip with nothing new to offer because the combo pack. Either way like it or not, this film has quite the cult following For all the fans that are obsessed with this film.

Official Premise: Napoleon Dynamite is a new kind of hero, complete with a tight ‘fro, sweet moon boots, and skills that can’t be topped. Napoleon spends his days drawing mythical beasts, duking it out with his brother Kip and avoiding his scheming Uncle Rico. When two new friends enter Napoleon’s life — shy Deb and mustachioed Pedro, the trio launches a campaign to elect Pedro for class president and make the student body’s wildest dreams come true. But if Pedro is to beat stuck-up Summer, Napoleon will have to unleash his secret weapon

The special features on this release are lacking and missing quite a bit of extras from the previous Blu-ray release.. There is a commentary track from Director/Co-Writer Jared Hess, actor Jon Heder and Producer Jeremy Coon. There is also five deleted scenes with commentary by the same three guys. There is a featurette called “The Making of the Wedding of the Century”. Lastly there is a Still Gallery and Easter Egg – Fan Club Piece included. If you have the 2009 Blu-ray, I would stick with that one for sure!

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Anton Yelchin and Jeffrey Wright
Directed By: Jim Jarmusch
Running Time: 123 minutes
Sony Pictures Classics

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

May 2014 – “Only Lovers Left Alive” made its US debut at the New York Film Festival this past autumn, when this review was posted. It’s subsequently been on limited release since April. I can’t recommend this film highly enough and we are reposting the review in light of its nationwide expansion this month. Enjoy!

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, already pretty ethereal as they are, are well cast as vampire lovers Adam and Eve in Jim Jarmusch’s wonderful upcoming film, Only Lovers Left Alive. The film finds Adam at a low point in his long existence with wife Eve swooping in to lift him from his disappointment at the state of the modern world. It’s a clever, macabre character study that beneath its too-cool undead protagonists lies a tremendously romantic beating heart.

As Adam, Hiddleston drives away any and all comparison to that other shaggy, dark-haired immortal he has so expertly played recently. Adam is a fascinating creature who displays a wall full of iconic mortals in his den, all the while repeatedly protesting that he has no heroes. Everyone from Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde to Rodney Dangerfield and Iggy Pop are framed in a shrine to human imagination that at this point in time Adam is lamenting the “zombies” have lost. This admiration for human achievement somewhat undermines Adam’s intentions to kill himself with a wooden bullet obtained from his stoner human buddy Ian (Anton Yelchin in a Renfield-goes-Rock-n-Roll mode). Adam wants to seem the depressive loner, it’s a romantic notion that suits his look and music, but every so often there are cracks in this facade where Hiddleston lets through brilliant moments of enthusiasm. He can be completely enchanted by an unknown singer in a back alley club or excited over a new guitar despite an already huge collection. Adam gives an angry impassioned speech about the world’s dismissal of great scientists–Tesla, Darwin and the like–but that he is able to get so worked up about the fate of humanity weakens his stance that he’s lost all hope in it.

These small embers of optimism are fanned by Adam’s wife Eve and Swinton is perfect at embodying his more mischievous other half. When we meet her, Eve is living apart from Adam in Tangier trying to stir up some controversy in the mortal world by goading her friend, fellow immortal Kit Marlowe (John Hurt), into dusting off the Shakespearian authorship debate just for a bit of entertainment. She’s recalled to her husband in Detroit when she senses Adam’s melancholy over a touching video phone call they share.

Eve having to carefully engineer night flights to make such a journey possible is one of the many vampiric touches Jarmusch cleverly slips in without being explicitly expository about his brand of bloodsucker. Others include Adam’s usage of preternatural speed only when really pushed or their eyes growing paler the more in need of a drink they are. There are references to a larger crisis of contaminated human blood, causing Adam to haunt a complicit doctor (Jeffrey Wright, making a huge impact in just two scenes of bouncing dialogue off a hilariously unresponsive Hiddleston in scrubs) for a healthy supply, but that’s not the focus here.

Rather, Eve is content to share blood popsicles with Adam during a game of chess or bond over their mutual appreciation of Jack White. Such smaller moments are where Hiddleston and Swinton really shine. They have a chemistry that feels lived in without any of the negative connotations so often associated with the “old married couple.” And they really can’t get much older than these two. One gets the sense that Adam’s depression is just part of a larger cycle the two have weathered many times before with the gleeful Eve returning to turn over the hourglass that Adam says is running out of sand. In a particularly joyful scene, Eve finds Adam’s would-be means of suicide and defuses the tension by drawing him into a heartwarming dance to Denise LaSalle’s “Trapped by a Thing Called Love” instead of an argument. This tendency to physical interaction over words in many instances adds to an animalistic dynamic this little clique of vampires share. It becomes more pronounced when Eve’s party-vamp sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska) drops in on the couple. In the only concrete conflict of the film, the sister from LA throws a monkey wrench into Adam and Eve’s chilled out lifestyle, demanding they all go out and over indulge on their “good” blood. Like most bingeing, it doesn’t end well. The sisters together are able to push Adam around rather like the females in a pride of lions, an idea reinforced by Gerd Zeiss’s wild hair designs which incorporated actual animal furs.

Beyond the cool makeup design, Jarmusch creates a fascinating nighttime world for his characters to inhabit. Eve is surrounded by books in her lush Tangier location while Adam’s lair in Detroit is completely wired and filled with all the things he’s engineered himself from decades of technological equipment. Both the cities are richly shot by Yorick Le Saux who finds beauty both in the dark and in locations of complete decay. Jarmusch’s own band SQURL reinforces this dark environment with a hypnotic guitar driven soundtrack that will haunt viewers long after the credits roll. Still, despite its gothic trappings, Only Lovers Left Alive is a surprisingly funny and touching character study of what it is to sustain love and inspiration throughout a very long lifetime.

As the first few days of May pass by, and many of us give each other the fond wish of “May the 4th Be With You,” the first of the summer movie blockbusters has hit screens with “The Amazing Spiderman 2” pulling in almost $36 million on opening day!

Here is our annual “Summer Movie Preview” so you can mark your calendars early! As always, thank you to our friends at the Internet Movie Data Base for some synopsis information. Please note this is not an all-inclusive list so check your local papers for the films that snuck past us. And remember, all opening dates are subject to change based on the whims of the studios. Enjoy!

MAY 9

CHEF
Starring: Jon Favreau and Scarlett Johansson Directed by: Jon Favreau
After losing his fancy restaurant gig a chef starts up a food-truck business in the hopes of rekindling his passion for food. After two “Iron Man” films and “Cowboys and Aliens” Favreau is returning to his small film roots.

THE DOUBLE
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska Directed by: Richard Ayoade
A clerk in a government agency finds his unenviable life takes a turn for the horrific with the arrival of a new co-worker who is both his exact physical double and his opposite – confident, charismatic and seductive with women. I guess if you can believe Jesse Eisenberg as a seductive womanizer you can ALMOST see him as Lex Luthor.

FED UP
Documentary Directed by: Stephanie Soechtig
An inside look at how what we eat actually makes us sicker than we should be. The poster states that “Congress says Pizza is a Vegetable.” And a very tasty vegetable at that.

GOD’S POCKET
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christina Hendricks Directed by: John Slattery
When Mickey’s crazy stepson Leon is killed in a construction ‘accident’, nobody in the working class neighborhood of God’s Pocket is sorry he’s gone. “Mad Men’s” Slattery directs Hoffman in one of his last roles. A great supporting cast, including Richard Jenkins and John Turturro make this an anticipated film for me.

NEIGHBORS
Starring: Seth Rogen and Zac Efron Directed by: Nicholas Stoller
A young couple with a newborn baby have to deal with the problems that come with living next to a college fraternity house. Ironically, Rogen is the adult here. Not to be confused with the underrated John Alvidsen film that starred John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

MAY 16

GODZILLA
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Remember the 1998 version that starred Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno? I’m sorry. Here, the world’s most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence. Director Edwards also did 2010’s “Monsters.” And really, what giant lizard has a chance against Walter White and Kick-Ass?

THE IMMIGRANT
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard Directed by: James Gray
On the mean streets of Manhattan, Ewa falls prey to Bruno, a charming but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution. Jeremy Renner helps round out the Oscar nominated (and, in Cotillard’s case, winning) cast.

MILLION DOLLAR ARM
Starring: Jon Hamm Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Hamm stars as a sports agent who scours India for cricket players good enough to pitch in the majors. Based on a true story about two boys who, I believe, were signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

MAY 23

THE ANGRIEST MAN IN BROOKLYN
Starring: Robin Williams, Mila Kunis and Peter Dinklage Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson
A foul-tempered Brooklyner is told he has ninety minutes to live, sending him rushing all over New York to make amends. Of course, in real life, Robin Williams would need twice that much time just to apologize to all of the people whose jokes he’s stolen over the years. Director Phil Alden Robinson helmed two of my all time favorite films: “Field of Dreams” and “Rhinestone.” Don’t judge me!

BLENDED
Starring: Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore Directed by: Frank Coraci
After a bad blind date, a man and woman find themselves stuck together at a resort for families, where their attraction grows as their respective kids benefit from the burgeoning relationship. When he’s not giving Rob Schneider a paycheck, Sandler has made some very good comedies with Barrymore (“The Wedding Singer” and “50 First Dates”). Nothing from the trailer tells me this will be any different. In what I think is a weird side job, I recently caught director Coraci and a friend tracking down the best sandwiches in New York.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy Directed by: Bryan Singer
The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants. An intriguing premise with both casts taking center-stage. Don’t look for director Singer on the publicity tour.

MAY 30

MALEICENT
Starring: Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning Directed by: Robert Stromberg
A vindictive fairy is driven to curse an infant princess only to realize the child may be the only one who can restore peace. So that whole “Sleeping Beauty” thing was just a mis-understanding?

A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST
Starring: Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron Directed by: Seth MacFarlane
As a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival. After the success of “TED” this ranks as the must see comedy on my list.

JUNE 6

EDGE OF TOMORROW
Starring: Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt Directed by: Doug Liman
A soldier fighting in a war with aliens finds himself caught in a time loop of his last day in the battle, though he becomes better skilled along the way. Cruise’s second straight sci-fi film (after “Oblivion.”) I’m still waiting for him to do the Les Grossman film.

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
Starring: Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort Directed by: Josh Boone
Two teenagers, one who relies on an oxygen tank and the other with a prosthetic leg, meet and fall in love at a cancer support group. I’m assuming you’ll need lots of Kleenex.

THE SACRAMENT
Starring: Kate Lyn Sheil and Joe Swanberg Directed by: Ti West
Two journalists set out to document their friend’s search to find his missing sister. Did I mention that the sister went off and joined the People’s Temple?

JUNE 13

22 JUMP STREET
Starring: Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum Directed by: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college. After the lackluster performance of both “The Lone Ranger” and “Transcendence” I’m thinking Johnny Depp is wishing he didn’t die in the first film.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2
Starring the voices of: Jay Baruchel and Kristen Wiig Directed by: Dean DeBlois
It’s been five years since Hiccup and Toothless successfully united dragons and vikings on the island of Berk. When an adventure leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace.

JUNE 20

JERSEY BOYS
Starring: John Lloyd Young and Christopher Walken Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Based on the Tony Award winning Broadway musical, Eastwood presents the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, warts and all.

THIRD PERSON
Starring: Liam Neeson and Olivia Wilde Directed by: Paul Haggis
Three interlocking love stories involving three couples in three cities: Rome, Paris, and New York. The film also stars Mila Kunis and James Franco. Haggis won two Oscars for writing and producing “Crash.”

JUNE 27

SNOWPIERCER
Starring: Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton Directed by: Joon-ho Bong
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off all life on the planet except for a lucky few that boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system evolves.

THEY CAME TOGETHER
Starring: Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Directed by: David Wain
When Joel land Molly meet, it’s hate at first sight: his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie shop. Romantic complications ensure. Sounds like “You’ve Got Mail” without email….or Tom Hanks.

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
Starring: Mark Wahlerg and Nicola Peltz Directed by: Michael Bay
An automobile mechanic and his daughter make a discovery that brings down the Autobots and Decepticons – and a paranoid government official – on them. Always good and bad with these films. Here good = no Shia LaBeouf. Bad = no Megan Fox!

JIMI: ALL IS BY MY SIDE
Starring: Andre’ Benjamin Directed by: John Ridley
A biography of musician Jimi Hendrix before he hit the big time. Sadly, it has to be before he hits the big time because Hendrix’s family would not allow the use of his original songs so expect a lot of Hendrix-covered tunes. Director (and screenwriter) Ridley just won an Oscar for his screenplay for “12 Years a Slave.”

JULY 2

DELIVER US FROM EVIL
Starring: Eric Bana and Edgar Ramirez Directed by: Scott Derrickson
NY police officer Ralph Sarchie (Bana), investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest (Ramirez), schooled in the rituals of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.

TAMMY
Starring: Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon Directed by: Ben Falcone
Husband and wife McCarthy and Falcone (he played the air marshal in “Bridesmaids”) wrote this tale about a woman who, after losing her job and learning that her husband has been unfaithful, hits the road with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother.

JULY 4

BEGIN AGAIN
Starring: Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo Directed by: John Carney
A dejected music business executive forms a bond with a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan. So nice to see Knightley in a film that takes place in THIS century.

JULY 11

AND SO IT GOES
Starring: Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton Directed by: Rob Reiner
A self-centered realtor enlists the help of his neighbor when he’s suddenly left in charge of the granddaughter he never knew existed until his estranged son drops her off at his home. Even though he’s had more misses than hits lately, Reiner still remains one of my favorite filmmakers.

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Starring: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell and Andy Serkis Directed by: Matt Reeves
Survivors of the simian plague trigger an all-out war between humanity and Caesar’s growing forces. I believe it was Caesar who said “Ape Shall Not Kill Ape.” But he said nothing about those damn, dirty humans!

THE FLUFFY MOVIE
Starring: Gabriel Iglesias Directed by: Manny Rodriguez
Comedian Iglesias performs on the big screen.

JULY 18

JUPITER ASCENDING
Starring: Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis Directed by: Andy and Lana Wachowski
In the future, a young destitute human woman gets targeted for assassination by the Queen of the Universe, and begins her destiny to finish the Queen’s reign. Sure to be another dazzling sci-fi treat from the Wachowski siblings.

PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE
Starring the voices of: Dane Cook and Julie Bowen Directed by: Roberts Gannaway
The sequel nobody asked for starring a person nobody likes (I’m looking at you, Dane Cook). When world-famous air racer Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he must shift gears and is launched into the world of aerial firefighting. I only learned a few months ago that I knew Julie Bowen’s dad when I lived in Baltimore. Small world.

THE PURGE: ANARCHY
Starring: Frank Grillo and Zach Gilford Directed by: James DeMonaco
A young couple works to survive on the streets after their car breaks down right as the annual purge commences.

WISH I WAS HERE
Starring: Zach Braff and Kate Hudson Directed by: Zach Braff
Already infamous because Braff financed it via a Kickstarter campaign, the film tells the story of Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity and a purpose for his life.

JULY 25

HERCULES
Starring: Dwayne Johnson and Ian McShane Directed by: Brett Ratner
Having endured his legendary twelve labors, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord. If this performs like “Tower Heist” Ratner may be begging Chris Tucker to do “Rush Hour 4.”

A MOST WANTED MAN
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright Directed by: Anton Cobijin
A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror. With the exception of the upcoming “Hunger Games” sequels, this is Hoffman’s final performance.

SEX TAPE
Starring: Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel Directed by: Jake Kasdan
A married couple wake up to discover that the sex tape they made the evening before has gone missing, leading to a frantic search for its whereabouts. Director Kasdan did the very funny “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

AUGUST 1

CHILD OF GOD
Starring: James Franco and Tim Blake Nelson Directed by: James Franco
A dispossessed, violent man who’s life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order. Successively deprived of parents and homes and with few other ties, Ballard descends literally and figuratively to the level of a cave dweller as he falls deeper into crime and degradation. Franco also co-wrote the screenplay. When does this guy sleep?

GET ON UP
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis Directed by: Tate Taylor
A chronicle of James Brown’s rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history. Boseman was outstanding as Jackie Robinson in last year’s “42.”

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Starring: Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana Directed by: James Gunn
In the far reaches of space, an American pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan. This is a part of Marvel Studios second phase of films. If that doesn’t make you want to see this, how about Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon?

AUGUST 8

LUCY
Starring: Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johannson Directed by: Luc Besson
A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic. Besson has featured a lot of lady ass-kickers, from Anne Parillaud in “La Femme Nikita” to Natalie Portman in “The Professional” so I don’t expect ScarJo to disappoint here.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
Starring: Megan Fox and Will Arnett Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman
Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil Foot Clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Johnny Knoxville voices Leonardo. I don’t remember April O’Neil being that hot!

AUGUST 13

LET’S BE COPS
Starring: Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans, Jr. Directed by: Luke Greenfield
Two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party and become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted “heroes” get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.

AUGUST 15

THE EXPENDABLES 3
Starring: Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford Directed by: Patrick Hughes
Barney (Stallone and the rest of the team come face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Once again a great package for most of the action stars of the last three decades. Except the apparently “lazy and greedy” Bruce Willis.

THE GIVER
Starring: Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep Directed by: Phillip Noyce
In a seemingly perfect community, one without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the “real” world. Do you hear that? It’s nomination number nineteen knocking on Meryl’s door.

AUGUST 22

FRANK MILLER’S SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR
Starring: Mickey Rourke and Jessica Alba Directed by: Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez
The town’s most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with some of its more reviled inhabitants.

AUGUST 27

UNDERDOGS
Starring the voices of: Rupert Grint and Anthony Heard Directed by: Juan Jose’ Campanella
A young man named Amadeo sets off on an unexpected adventure with the players of his beloved Foosball game.
AUGUST 29

LIFE OF CRIME
Starring: Jennifer Aniston and John Hawke Directed by: Daniel Schechter
Two men hit it off in prison, where they were both doing time for grand theft auto. Now that they’re out, they’re joining forces for one big score. I will assume Aniston is NOT one of the men.

THE LOFT
Starring: Karl Urban and James Marsden Directed by: Erik Van Looy
Five friends who share a loft for their extramarital affairs begin to question one another after the murdered body of an unknown young woman is found in the property. I hope it wasn’t Cyclops or Dr. McCoy that did it!

Starring: Sigurour Hjararson, Pall Arason and Tom Mitchell
Directed By: Jonah Bekhor and Zach Math
Rated: R
Running Time: 75 minutes
Drafthouse Films

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I literally stared at the computer screen for a couple of minutes not typing and thought to myself, “How do I even begin to describe “The Final Member”?” By the way, I know that’s my job smartasses. I could easily make a couple of penis puns or I could switch things up and talk about how this will be the only documentary you will ever see where male genitalia is on full display in all its severed glory. So let’s just give this the ol’ college try.

Miles from the Arctic Circle in an Icelandic town I can’t pronounce, Husavik, sits an incredibly unique museum. It is the Icelandic Phallological Museum, the world’s only penis museum. I’ll just go ahead and let that sink in for a moment…still with me? Good. Its founder, Sigurour Hjararson, has spent just over 40 years collecting ding dongs from all over the world, from every animal and species. Mounted on the walls are towering animals dongs and in jars lined across the store one can view an assortment of male animal genitals. It is truly the showcase of a lifetime of work. It’s just missing one mammal in particular. It is missing the penis of the most self-conscious creature on the planet, the human. Still with me?

You would think in this day and age of traveling skeleton, human body exhibits and people touting the corpse of King Tut, it wouldn’t be that hard to find an unused penis just lying around somewhere. Not only do you have to deal with some hefty legal work, you also got to deal with some massive egos attached to your future specimens. Hjararson has landed a local legend in terms of sexual promiscuity, Pall Arason. He’s an aging man who has nothing, but the memories of his sexual conquests of hundreds of women and the blushing whispers of women saying that he’s well endowed. Although in one of the most awkward documented moments, a plaster cast of his pecker proves futile as he can’t quite maintain an erection.

Size does matter in Iceland too. Anything below the five inch mark is considered useless. Not only is it a common belief that the recommended length is five inches (or 12.7 centimeters for you folks across the big pond), but it is also a well-known piece of folklore that you might as well just lop off your wing dinger if it’s less than those solid five. With people calling into question Pall’s length, that’s when Tom Mitchell enters the fray. His mindset is, “You don’t have to wait until I die, I’ll gladly snip my monster off now and let you have it.” He even gets the stars and stripes tattooed on the head of his manhood so that future museum goers will know that that’s an American penis. “The Final Member” in just the first couple of minutes instantly becomes a fleshy “mine’s bigger” battle.

While there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, “The Final Member” provides a subtle humility to our genital obsessed gentlemen. The idea of mortality is a big theme even though it faintly hovers in the background. Pall is at death’s door and shows signs of worry. Will he actually be remembered as a living, walking, sex-machine? That’s really all he has left. After a couple of moments with Mitchell, you can tell he has a seriously unhealthy relationship with his own penis. He’s borderline obsessive about having his wiener on display. While both of their reasons seem a bit bizarre, that’s how they’ve lived their lives. They’ve spent years being proud of their dangly parts and want to be immortalized in Hjararson’s museum. It’s like a writer wanting his works publish, a filmmaker wanting their work produced or a soldier crying as his name is etched into a memorial wall. Hjararson himself hopes he can complete the museum before he meets his untimely end so that his life wasn’t wasted on collecting the male anatomy.

“The Final Member” is an immensely engaging documentary that really showcases how vain men can be. It’s one of the few movies that I loved, but I don’t know if I can really recommend it to the average person. I can already see the scrunched up faces of disgust as I lay out the purpose of the documentary. I can hear the laughs, but at the same time I can visualize the waning interest. If you don’t mind constantly seeing penises, I would definitely recommend you watch “The Final Member”.

NOW PLAYING EXCLUSIVELY AT AN ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE THEATRE NEAR YOU

In Your Eyes held it premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Fest and fortunately for viewers became immediately available to stream thereafter. This intimate romantic comedy was directed by Brin Hill working from a script from none other than The Avengers’ Joss Whedon. Hill attended the festival in New York and sat down with me to discuss this unique, genre-blending story.

The film stars Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl David as two complete strangers, Rebecca and Dylan, who find themselves beginning to literally see out each other’s eyes. The unexplained connection—they can hear eachother as well— bonds the pair who use it to help each other navigate trying times in their respective lives. Casting the lead couple, Hill said, came about from discussions with producers and Whedon.         

“Joss really loved [Kazan] in this movie that he called ‘Spoledy Girl’ [2009’s The Exploding Girl] and he thought that she was a really inspired choice and Kai [Cole, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures ] loved her in that movie and Michael loved her in that movie and I loved her in all her movies. And you know she’s different, she’s not what you would normally think in the genre of like a love story, so that was really inspiring. And what I like about her was she’s quirky, you know, she brings a lot of range to her stuff so that was exciting.” As for Michael Stahl-David, Hill said “he just came in auditioned and I was like this is the guy…[he] was just charismatic and he just got it. He was just great in the read.”

The mysterious connection between Rebecca and Dylan manifests itself in the film as superimposed imagery in their shared vision, a decision Hill called intentionally “low-fi” adding “I wanted them to feel like an old bolex camera like when I read it I was like ‘Oh you shoot it once and then you roll the camera through and then you shoot it again’ and I wanted these two images on top of eachother. That was how I saw it…I tried to embrace it like something that was really happening to them.”

The result of the distant connection in the film is that Kazan and Stahl-David don’t actually share much screentime together. However to keep their relationship feeling natural, Hill had both the actors on set. “They both had to be there run-of-show so when we shot Zoe’s side in New Hampshire, [Michael] was there…They didn’t want to look at each other necessarily but he would be there. I mean like literally. Like I would have him under the desk. And so the idea was to build that chemistry and build that emotion between them and I think it worked.”

Although there’s a sci-fi conceit at the center of the film, Hill and Whedon didn’t trouble themselves too much with the exposition as to why or how the Rebecca-Dylan connection is established.  “They almost manifested it for themselves when they needed it” Hill said of the conclusion of the story. “I said to Joss, you know, to me what’s most important is that these people need this connection…they need this connection in this moment in their lives and that’s why it’s happening. And it doesn’t need explanation beyond that. It’s just like these people, when they need it, it shows up in their life and they need to find each other. And if they can find each other, they can break free. And it goes under that whole thing of sort of what Joss is dealing with in this movie —and all his movies sort of—is loner heroes that have to figure out a way to band together to overcome adversity. And eventually hopefully find their fate or their destiny…You can’t go it alone.” When asked if Hill would ever seek this particular brand of connection with another person given the choice, he wasn’t sure “I never asked that. You know, it’s a mixed bag I bet.”

Speaking of Whedon’s other work, while filming Avengers he went and made the lovely lower budget Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing. I asked Hill if doing that and then scripting In Your Eyes was for Whedon to avoid being pidgeonholed as the big sci-fi director.

“I think so.  I think there’s a little bit of, I mean the notion with [Bellwether] I think, to some degree, was just trying to do stuff differently and kind of trying to put stuff out there that was just different. And in a weird way experimental. I mean I know it’s not an ‘Experimental Film’ but it’s like we’re trying an experiment…Even in how they’re distributing it.”

Of the distribution, which was announced by Whedon during Tribeca, Hill was glad, saying  “It’s exciting to me. I like the idea of trying to get it out there to as many people as possible. I mean I’ve made stuff that’s been seen by a lot of people and I’ve made stuff that nobody’s seen yet and stuff that got released widely that not that many people saw. So for me, like casting the widest net with indie film is really exciting. We all independently have had different experiences with different sort of release strategies. Obviously this is sort of an extension of what they did with Dr. Horrible and you know, Much Ado had its own version. I think it services the film really well because I feel like it’s a fun sort of infectious movie. And I feel like people being able to consume it however they want to consume it is really kind of interesting to me.”

In Your Eyes, as noted above, is now available to stream online.

Rated: PG / PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: May 6, 2014
Run Time: Approx 215 minutes per combo pack

“Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah / Godzilla vs. Mothra”: 4 out of 5 stars
“Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II / Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla”: 4 out of 5 stars
“Godzilla vs. Destoroyah / Godzilla vs. Megaguirus”: 3.5 out of stars
“Godzilla: Tokyo SOS / Godzilla: Final Wars: 5 out of 5 stars

With the release of Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures reboot of “Godzilla” on the horizon for a May 16th theatrical release, this brand has never been hotter right now. Luckily Sony (and other studios as well) are taking advantage of this and release a 8 of the 28 Japanese made Godzilla films in the series on Blu-ray for the first time ever. If you are a Godzilla film and are going crazy trying to get as much merch as you can, then these are no brainer purchases, especially for the low price of under $15 for each double-feature Blu-ray release. The upcoming releases will be part of The Toho Godzilla Collection. Included films are “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah / Godzilla vs. Mothra” in the first double feature set, “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II / Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla” in the second, “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah / Godzilla vs. Megaguirus” in the third and “Godzilla: Tokyo SOS / Godzilla: Final Wars” in last. These Godzilla films range from 1991-2004 and let’s hope that Sony has more of these double-features planned this year!

One thing that I have always loved about these films besides Godzilla himself are the monsters that he is fighting. These Blu-ray’s show each of additional monsters included in each film and I think that is mega cool. For “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah”, the creatures we get are listed right in the title. “Godzilla vs. Mothra” includes those two and also Battra.  “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II” kicks it up a notch with four additional characters along with the title ones including Baby Godzilla, Rodan, Fire Rodan and Super Mechagodzilla. With “Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla”, we get the two listed and alos Fairy Mothra, Little Godzilla and Moguera. “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah” also gives us Godzilla Junior. Along with “Godzilla vs. Megaguirus”, we also meet Meganulon. “Godzilla: Tokyo SOS” meets the King of Monsters up against Megagodzilla, Mothra and Kamoebas. “Godzilla: Final Wars” is the the last and ultimate monster feature. Including Godzilla, there are a total of 15 monster like Gigan, King Caesar, Anguirus, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Ebriah, Manda, Hedorah, Rodan, Minilla, Mothra, Monster X I & II and Zilla. Whew!

These films on each of these four releases have all been remastered in high definition. Having seen some of these earlier film as a kid like “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah” and “Godzilla vs. Mothra” on either Saturday afternoon TV or VHS, let’s just say these films looks spectacular. Each of the 1080p transfers on these films look simply fantastic. I was very impressed with each transfer. Sticking with those two films, they are presented in their original aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Both come with Japanese and English audio boasting a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 on each. Now if you are a fan of Godzilla films then you know that the English dubs are easily just as much fun as the Japanese original tracks. They are almost laughable but add a lot to the film, so I  actually watched each of these two one with each track and it really felt like two different experiences.

“Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)” Official Premise: When a mysterious U.F.O. is seen flying over Tokyo, tension mounts, until the craft’s occupants reveal themselves to be friendly aliens from the 23rd century who have come to warn mankind that Godzilla will soon awaken and wreak havoc upon the earth unless he is destroyed. Meanwhile, a double threat arrives in the form of King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s flying three-headed archrival and an evil and all-powerful android. The suspense builds to terrifying levels as the alien’s sinister mission on Earth is gradually revealed and Godzilla must wage a solo battle against these evil forces who want to destroy mankind.

“Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992)” Official Premise: After a series of earthquakes unearth a gigantic orb, a trio of Japanese explorers are dispatched to the mysterious Infant Island to investigate. There they discover the island’s sole inhabitants, miniature twin women whose duty is to protect the mammoth ball, the egg of Mothra! When the explorers attempt to bring the egg back to the mainland, a furious Godzilla awakens from the depths and attacks the party, causing the egg to hatch and forcing its newborn larvae to fend off the gigantic monster. The humongous worm holds its own until help arrives in the form of Battra. When Mothra and Battra metamorphose into flying monster moths, the battle rages on land and in the sky. With two powerful foes to reckon with, has Godzilla finally met his match?

Next up is “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II / Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla” deliver slightly different specs with their release. “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II” comes in it’s original aspect ratio: 1.85:1 but with this release the Japanese track gets a boost with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and the English track gets a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Both represent the film well but I would have to do with the Japanese track here for sure. With “Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla”, we get the same original aspect ratio: 1.85:1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on both the Japanese and English tracks.

“Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)” Official Premise: Built with the utmost in 20th-century technology, Mechagodzilla is the ultimate in Godzilla-busting weaponry. Fueled by a nuclear reactor and sheathed in a synthetic diamond shield, the mammoth metal robot is Japan’s greatest hope for ending Godzilla’s reign of terror. Meanwhile, on a remote island polluted by nuclear waste, a team of scientists discover a giant egg in a Pteranodon nest, and bring it home for study. When BabyGodzilla hatches, both Rodan and Godzilla return to claim the cuddly infant as their own. Will their monstrous maternal instincts cause a custody battle capable of destroying Mother Earth? Or will Mechagodzilla prove an effective eradicator, leaving BabyGodzilla an orphan for life?

“Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)” Official Premise: The powers of telepathy enter the ranks of high technology in this supernatural, super-powered Godzilla adventure! The military minds behind Japan’s special Counter G Bureau enter the New Age with Project T, in which a telepathic amplifier is implanted in Godzilla’s brain in order to bring the giant monster under control. And just in time! In a faraway galaxy, the mutant SpaceGodzilla turns its evil eyes toward earth, planning to terminate Godzilla and conquer the planet for its own. With the Japanese Mafia infiltrating Counter G, the Bureau needs all the help it can get. Will Japan’s greatest enemy Godzilla become its closest ally?

Switching it up again, in terms of specs, “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah / Godzilla vs. Megaguirus” delivers another impressive A/V experience. “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah” comes in original aspect ratio: 1.85:1 like the four films. We also take a slight step back though with both the Japanese and English audio coming loaded with an DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 surround tracks. “Godzilla vs. Megaguirus” expands a little with the original aspect ratio coming with 2.35:1. This film also comes with both the Japanese and English audio roaring with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track.

“Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995)” Official Premise: With a super-charged blast from his nuclear past, a new Godzilla emerges from his own ashes, radioactive and ready to take on Tokyo! The great monster’s nuclear energy is increasing by the minute, and a monster meltdown threatens to vaporize the planet. But when mutant micro-organisms unleash a plague of destruction, Godzilla is Japan’s only hope to destroy them. This victory creates Godzilla’s deadliest challenge yet: Destoroyah. And with Godzilla Junior pulled into the ring, only the Super XIII can put the deep freeze on this three-way monster melee.

“Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)” Official Premise: Five years after Godzilla terrorized the city of Osaka, Japanese scientists have developed a sure-fire way to finally destroy Japan’s monster nemesis. They have created the world’s first man-made black hole, which will trap Godzilla for eternity! But during a testing of this new Dimension Tide, an insect caught in the hole mutates, producing gargantuan eggs that give birth to a new menace: giant dragonfly monsters called Meganula. Meganula queen, the 50-meter Megaguirus, is also on a hunt for Godzilla, needing to steal his energy to survive. From the sky down to the depths of a city’s underground sewer tunnels, Megaguirus, Godzilla, and humankind battle for supremacy.

“Godzilla: Tokyo SOS / Godzilla: Final Wars” are the last of the set and in fact the last two Japanese produced Godzilla films to date. “Final Wars” came in 2004, so it has been 10 years since we have had a new “guy in a a suit” Godzilla feature film. “Godzilla: Tokyo SOS” comes in its original aspect ratio: 2.40:1, while “Godzilla: Final Wars” comes with its original aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Both of them come stocked with very impressive and wall shaking Japanese and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks. “Final Wars” is quite the epic film and it was a blast to watch this crazy flick on Blu-ray.

“Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)” Official Premise: Mechagodzilla, the superior-armed, state-of-the-art, all-robot version of Godzilla, is undergoing repairs after his devastating battle against the world’s monsters. Twin tiny women appear and warn scientists to stop rebuilding Mechagodzilla but their warning goes unheeded. As the great robot nears completion, a series of mysterious incidents rock the world and awaken Godzilla, who unleashes a reign of terror against Tokyo. Mothra joins him and Japan’s desperate Prime Minister has no choice but to launch the unfinished Mechagodzilla against Mothra and Godzilla. But who will fight for whom? And in the end – will the survivor be monster, robot or man?

“Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)” Official Premise: Godzilla’s 50th Anniversary project and costliest adventure to date out of 28 films. Earth has been relatively peaceful since Godzilla was successfully buried deep in ice beneath the South Pole. Then — sometime a few years hence – several of his old nemeses return to wreak havoc on cities worldwide. A huge spaceship suddenly appears and neutralizes all the monsters in a blink. The visitors are “Xiliens,” who take human form and announce they would like to negotiate a peace treaty that would replace the United Nations with a “United Universe.” They are indeed too good to be true, however. It doesn’t take long before their nefarious real purpose is exposed – conquering Earth. Greatly outmatched, Earth officials decide to de-freeze Godzilla as man’s only hope to vanish the invaders.

Going through the special features on these releases are going to be very easy…that is because there is really nothing much included here. On “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah / Godzilla vs. Mothra”, “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II / Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla” and “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah / Godzilla vs. Megaguirus”, the only extras included are Original Trailers for each film. On “Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.”, there is an extra featurette called “The Making of Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.” and then the Original Trailer. Same goes for “Godzilla: Final Wars”, there is a featurette “Godzilla: B-Roll to Film” and then the Original Trailer. I would have loved to see more in terms of extras but wasn’t expected too much especially since these are double features. I hope that Sony is planning future double features there are still plenty more Godzilla films left to release on Blu-ray.

If it’s May, you can rely on two things: the start of the summer movie season and another great Bruce Crawford produced film event in Omaha, Nebraska.

On May 23rd film historian Crawford will host his 34th Classic Film Tribute, presenting 1962’a Academy Award winning film, “The Miracle Worker.” Joining Crawford this evening will be the film’s co-star, Patty Duke. This special event is a benefit for the Omaha Parks Foundation and will be held on Friday, May 23rd at the Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street in Omaha, Nebraska. The event begins at 7:00 p.m.

Based on the play by William Gibson, “The Miracle Worker” tells the story of young Helen Keller (Duke), born deaf and blind, and her relationship with her teacher, Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft). Nominated for five Academy Awards, the film won two Oscars: Bancroft for Best Actress and Duke as Best Supporting Actress. At age 16 Duke became, at the time, the youngest person to win a competitive Academy Award and today she remains the third youngest, behind 10 year old Tatum O’Neal and 11 year old Anna Paquin. Ms. Duke has also won two Golden Globes and three Emmys, including one for portraying Anne Sullivan in a 1979 television version of “The Miracle Worker.”

As with other events, artist Nicolosi has designed a commemorative U.S. Postal Envelope honoring the film which will be unveiled at the event. Also, sculptor Susan Woodford and artist Anne Nye will display their metal and stained glass creations.

Tickets for this special event are $22.00 and can purchased at the customer service counter at any Omaha-area Hy Vee Food Store. For more information call 402-926-8299 or visit www.omahafilmevent.com

Starring: Mekhi Phifer and William Sadler
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Release Date: April 22, 2014
Run Time: 98 minutes

Film: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars

A mysterious black man is stopped by the local lawman. His hands dirty, he has no identification and tells the deputy that he’s out “looking at some property.” The man is taken into custody and questioned about a recent bank robbery. “Why are you asking me,” he asks. “I’m not the only black man in this town.” Oops.

A smartly written thriller full of fine performances, “The Suspect” reveals itself, though a series of flashbacks, to be much more than your standard bank robbery yarn. Pitting the accused title character (Phifer) against the judgmental town sheriff(Sadler), the two engage in a battle of wits that, if you’re not paying attention, will leave you wondering what you missed.

This is truly the time of new filmmakers planting their flags. I was amazed to learn that this is writer/director Stuart Connelly’s first feature film. His script continues to add layers to the story as the film progresses and his work behind the camera shows a keen knack for keeping the story moving without giving away too much. Truly one of the most impressive debuts I’ve seen in a long time.

On screen, both Phifer and Sadler shine. I’m a huge fan of Sadler’s and I always welcome the chance to see him on-screen. Phifer matches him line for line, the two of them “dancing” with each other, trying to see who will blink first. Supporting work by Derek Roche’ as Sadler’s deputy and Sterling K. Brown as “the other Suspect” also stand out.

I think you may have been hard pressed this past week at the Tribeca Film Fest to find a more entertaining red carpet than that of Andrew Disney’s sports comedy, Intramural. Packed with comedic talent, the film enjoyably marries the comedic sensibilities of 2001’s Wet Hot American Summer with the game plans of sports movies almost too numerous to list. Much of the cast and creators gathered on the carpet to discuss the inspiration behind the film and their characters.

Lauren Damon: Can you talk about movies that inspired Intramural?

Director, Andrew Disney: I think comedy-wise, Wet Hot American Summer, Hot Rod–which I think is so underrated—a bit of Happy Gilmore and Teen Wolf, I watched a lot of Teen Wolf–

LD: And from that you did manage to incorporate a little supernatural into your players–

Disney: Right! Right, which I love in Teen Wolf, they just accept it in that world.

Nick Kocher plays Grant, former Panthers team player, back on the field to coach the team to victory after an accident paralyzed him from the balls down.

LD: Your character goes through a dramatic transformation into the coach, did you draw the DNA from other classic sports movie coaches to create him?

Nick Kocher: Did I ‘draw the DNA’? [laughs] I love that! Yeah, I mean the character’s like somewhat similar to the Rip Torn character in Dodgeball in that he’s in a wheelchair but then my character’s also like 22 in the movie so like the fact that he becomes this–I think it’s more I drew inspiration from a guy who would draw inspiration from these coaches. He just watches these movies all day long and you know wants to be this person so literally becomes this character given the opportunity.

LD: You think these movies were most of his childhood?

Kocher: I think Grant hasn’t really had that much attention paid to him and then he gets a lot of attention paid to him when he makes this game winning  catch and realizes this is all he wants to do with his life…is just live out these weird sports fantasies and like get attention that way. That was sort of–I love that you’re asking me these in depth questions about this character!

LD: I enjoyed the movie!

Kocher: No, that’s amazing!

LD: Finally, is Coach Grant aware that there are two sports commentators [SNL’s Jay Pharoah and DC Pierson, recently of the Apple guy in The Winter Soldier] talking about his game?

Kocher: [laughs] No! I don’t think they can hear it. I think they’re aware there’s two like stoner guys who come to each game and they’re like ‘oh what’re those guys talking about? I dunno!’ but the stakes are just as high for all of them.

Beck Bennett, who is currently enjoying his first season on “Saturday Night Live”, plays the evil Dick Downs, captain of the opposing team.

LD: What famous film rivals inspired Dick?

Bennett: A lot of things that Ben Stiller does, he was always an influence. Like his character in Heavyweights and also in Dodgeball. Will Ferrell in Zoolander, that’s not a sports movie, but those types of bad guys. Also Bradley Whitford in…

LD: Happy Gilmore?

Bennett: Happy Gilmore.

LD: Oh, not Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison–uh oh, Adam Sandler mix up. I think we’ve committed an SNL crime!

Bennett: You lead me astray! I didn’t say it! You said it!

LD: I’m calling Lorne Michaels!

Bennett: [laughs] So yeah, those are some of the great comedy bad guys.

Backing up Dick Downs is the lackey whose actually a nice guy, Ace, played by Kirk C. Johnson.

LD: Do you have any favorite sports movie rivals?

Johnson: Yeah, for sure. Like Necessary Roughness, have you ever seen that? Yeah, they spit in each other’s mouths before to get each other pumped up. They hit each other on the shoulders and spit at eachother, that. And then like the actual real ones, like Remember the Titans, Rocky and Little Giants. Little Giants is very influential for me.
Kate McKinnon, also of SNL, plays the Vicky who Mckinnon described as “just a girlfriend who just really loves her man but just doesn’t know how to do it quite right.” I asked if she felt out of the sports action of the movie:

McKinnon: I didn’t feel left out not getting to do the sports scenes because I am a horrible athlete and it was Texas in July and I would have died. So no, I didn’t feel left out. I feel that I was spared from a terrible thing.

Creating a sports movie, I asked the cast whether there were any actual football going on off screen. Gabriel Luna, who plays Vinnie, first gave us the details of on-set games:

Luna: No, we played a lot of Cornhole which is a beanbag you throw in a platform. We did a lot of that. A lot of competitive drinking. A game that Nick and Brian [McElhaney] invented called Running Flipcup Charades. Which you may have seen on the Much Ado About Nothing extra features. They played it on a bus, which blows my mind, I don’t know if that’s even possible but apparently they did.

Disney: Cornhole? Yeah I played a lot of cornhole. I wasn’t as much in the competitions, I usually try–when I make a film, I try to abstain from alcohol which is hard but I think it’s good for a director. Like Cool Runnings how like that guy is always in his room studying while…well anyway! I don’t why I’m talking about Cool Runnings, I could talk about cool runnings forever!

Nick Kocher, who detailed the entire rules for Running Flipcup charades for me added:

Kocher: There’s lots of injuries. Brian broke his toe…Also I can say playing Running Flipcup Charades, people were playing much more intensely than they did the actual film sports film. People gave much more of their all to the drinking games.

Finally, seeing as so many of the creators mentioned [Walt] Disney sports movies as influencing them (McKinnon also cited The Mighty Ducks as a favorite), I couldn’t help but wonder if they could see Andrew Disney’s name bringing in the Miracle or Invincible-watching crowd:

Disney: I love Disney sports films! I mean I love like Cool Runnings and grew up watching every Disney sports film…

Johnson: [laughs] I hope! I hope that this says “DISNEY’S INTRAMURAL” that’d be great, yeah. We should make like a mock logo that looks exactly like it, it’d be perfect.

Kocher: GOD WILLING we get confused with the Disney sports film because then it’ll make a lot of money!

You can check out our 4-star review of Intramural, here, and view the trailer below:

Starring: Jason O’Mara, Stuart Allan, Morena Baccarin, Giancarlo Esposito, David McCallum, Xander Berkeley, John DiMaggio, Thomas Gibson
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Run Time: 74 minutes

Film: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The DC Universe has really been kicking ass recently with their recent films include “Justice League: War”. “Son of Batman” is based on Grant Morrison’s “Batman & Son” arc and in fact has a shared continuity with “War”. So that only makes this film cooler being DC is stepping up their game as this one is one of the recent best animated films in that universe. Along with Batman and his son there are also other classic characters stocked up including Ra’s al Ghul, Nightwing and Deathstroke. So fans should be excited about this! Next up we have “Batman: Assault on Arkham”, based on the popular “Arkham Asylum” videogame series, later this year. DC Universe is getting steam here with these animated films, the live-action “Batman Vs. Superman” and the recently announced “Justice League” movie as well. Watch out Marvel!

Official Premise: Hidden atop a secret mountain stronghold lies the League of Shadows and its fearless leader, Ra’s al Ghul. Together with his equally dangerous daughter Talia, he oversees a trained army of assassins with plans for global domination. But an uprising from within the league now threatens to shift the balance of power and sends Talia and her young son, Damian, fleeing to Gotham City. With assassins on their trail, Talia seeks the protection of Batman, who, unbeknownst to him, is the boy’s father. With his son in tow, Batman wages war against the villain Deathstroke and the League of Shadows, all while teaching his headstrong boy that one can’t fight crime by becoming a criminal. With help from Gotham’s finest, including Commissioner Gordon and Nightwing, Batman will soon discover that his son and most trusted ally are one and the same!

There is no shortage of talent actors in this film either Jason O’Mara returns from his role as Batman in “Justice League: War” and his son Damian is played by Stuart Allan (TV’s “Bad Teacher”). There is a mini “Firefly” reunion with Sean Maher voicing Nightwing/Dick Grayson and Morena Baccarin voicing as Talia. Also included are Thomas Gibson (“Criminal Minds”) as Deathstroke, Xander Berkeley (“Being Human”) as Langstrom, David McCallum (“The Man from U.N.C.L.E”) as Alfred, Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad”) as Ra’s Al Ghul, and Bruce Thomas (Kyle XY) as Gordon. So some great talent rounds out this film.

Warner Bros is releasing this film as a combo pack including a Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy. “Son of Batman” looks solid within its 1080p presentation. The animation is crisp and even though dark in parks really stands out. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track works perfectly with the film’s action and witty dialogue. There are some great special features as well including three featurettes “Strange Blood Ties”, “Damian Wayne, The Fang, and the Demon Head: The League of Assassins” and “Designing the Characters with Phil Bourassa”. These gives a nice round look at the film. There are two sneak peaks for the next DCU Original Movie “Batman: Assault on Arkham” and the upcoming documentary “Masterpiece: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns”.

There are also four “From the DC Comics Vault” bonus cartoons including Batman Beyond: “Out of the Past”; Batman: The Brave and the Bold: “The Knights of Tomorrow!”; Batman: The Animated Series: “Showdown” and Batman: The Brave and the Bold: “Sidekicks Assemble!”. These episodes are a great addition to this release. Plus it is always a bonus to get to watch “Batman: The Animated Series” on Blu-ray! Maybe one day Warner Bros will smarten up and just release the whole series already (hint, hint!).

Starring: Kristen Bell, Krysten Ritter, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni, Ryan Hansen, Chris Lowell
Director: Rob Thomas
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Run Time: 107 minutes

Film: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars

“Veronica Mars” is a cult favorite TV series that premiered in 2004, ran for three seasons and then was canceled in 2007. The show has built up quite the following over the last few years and finally a Kickstarter campaign was started to get a feature film made. Well, the campaign was record-breaking success raising $5.7 million from 90,000+ backers. The film picks up several years after the events of the TV series and features the return of original cast members including Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Jason Dohring, Percy Daggs III, Tina Majorino, Krysten Ritter, Ryan Hansen, Francis Capra and Chris Lowell. This is a really a project for the fans of the show. If you are a fan of the show, then this is a must watch. If you have never heard of “Veronica Mars”, you are still able to pick up and watch it and then binge the seasons afterwards. Plus how adorable is Kristen Bell, right?

Official Premise: Veronica Mars (Bell) has put Neptune and her amateur sleuthing days behind her on the eve of graduating law school. While interviewing at high-end law firms, Veronica gets a call from her ex-boyfriend Logan (Dohring) who has been accused of murder. Veronica heads back to Neptune just to help Logan find an attorney, but when things don’t seem right with how Logan’s case is perceived and handled, Veronica finds herself being pulled back into a life she thought she had left behind.

Warner Bros is delivering this film as a combo pack with the Blu-ray and an Ultraviolet Digital Copy for those who didn’t get it with the Kickstarter backing. This film made $3.5 million in theaters, so it wasn’t a smash hit but for a film that was release same day on VOD, I think that is pretty damn amazing. I don’t know if that means that we are going to be seeing a sequel anytime soon but I guess that will depends on the Blu-ray sales, so marshmallows be sure to pick up your copy first thing on May 6th. The 1080p transfer looks solid and is well shot. It packs the required neo-noir detective feel to it and I am sure that fans will dig that as well. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1  track works well with the film’s music and score.

In terms of special features, again it is definitely all for the fans. Sticking with that theme is “By The Fans: The Making of the Veronica Mars Movie” focuses on how the film got made and a behind-the-scenes look into the making of it. There are some Deleted Scenes and a very funny Gag Reel. Lastly there is a six part featurette called “More On-Set Fun”. which dives into the shooting and all the crazy antics from the cast/crew, including “Welcome to Keith Mars Investigation”; “Game Show with Kristen Bell and Chris Lowell”; “On Set with Max Greenfield”; “Veronica Mars’ Backers”; “It’s Not All About You, Monkey” and “Young Veronica”. The real let down for me is no commentary track, I just seeing that being a no-brainer for this type of films as fans would no question love that extra look into the production but I could be wrong.

Own “VERONICA MARS” on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/6

Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane
Directors: Mike Newell
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: April 15, 2014
Run Time: 128 minutes

Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 1.5 out of 5 stars

I feel like it is every year or two we get a new adaption of the Charles Dickens’ classic novel, “Great Expectations”. This latest one is from the director of “Four Weddings And A Funeral”, Mike Newell and packs a lot cast including Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter in roles they were born to play. They seem almost effortless for them yet so well executed. I also quite enjoyed the 2011 BBC miniseries starring Gillian Anderson and Ray Winstone. This film adaption managed to still do the job and in much less time. I have no idea what took this film over a year to get released finally but glad it did. Dickens’ fans should give it a look for sure.

Official Premise: Young orphan Pip finds his life changed forever soon after encountering and lending assistance to escaped convict Magwitch (Fiennes) on the marshlands near his home. Later, after being summoned to attend the stately home of Miss Havisham (Carter) and finding himself mesmerised by the old lady’s beautiful but cold-hearted niece, Estella (Helena Barlow/Holliday Grainger), Pip learns that he has been granted an inheritance by a mysterious benefactor. After moving to London to be educated as a gentleman under the guardianship of lawyer Mr. Jaggers (Coltrane), a now adult Pip (Irvine), believing he now has the necessary social standing, sets about convincing Estella that he is worthy of her love.

20th Century Fox delivers us this film with a combo pack including a Blu-ray and Ultraviolet Digital Copy. The costumes in this film are outstanding and the sets are equally amazing. Everything really pops off the screen and is quite colorful making this look very stunning within its 1080p transfer. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track also works very well with the film’s haunting score. In terms of special features though, there is not much content here. There is an extra taken from the film’s premiere and a trailer included. Would have loved to see a commentary track here from the talent or at least the director.

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Starring: Zach Gilford, Allison Miller, Sam Anderson, Griff Furst
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Rated: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: April 29, 2014
Run Time: 89 minutes

Film: 2 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars

“Devil Due” is the latest low budget handheld shot horror film taking advantage of the slow January month in theaters. I have to admit these films are starting to all blend together for me. The problem with “Devil’s Due” is that there is no pay off. The only half way decent scenes are what is shown in the trailer and the rest is just fluff, as I like to call it. There are a few decent scares lined up but not enough to rectify worth watching. I just wish that they would put a little more into a film like this to make it really worth checking out. I really can’t recommend this to anyone unless you are a 13-year old girl and would scream at this failed attempt at horror.

Official Premise: A young couple’s blessed event turns into their worst nightmare in one of the most terrifying horror films ever conceived! After a mysterious night on their honeymoon, Zach and Samantha McCall find themselves dealing with an earlier-than-planned pregnancy. While recording everything on video for posterity, Zach notices odd behavior in his wife, which they initially attribute to nerves, although it soon becomes evident that the disturbing changes to Samantha’s body and mind have a much more sinister origin. All will suffer…but who will survive?

20th Century Fox is releasing the film as a combo pack with Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet Digital Copy. There is nothing special here in the A/V department. I would say it looks and sounds standard. It’s shot on handheld so nothing special. There is some decent special features to counter this film. Starting off there is an audio commentary with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillet, Chad Villella, and Justin Martinez. The best extra is easily the featurette “Radio Silence: A Hell of a Team” which goes behind-the-scenes. A few other featurettes include “Director’s Photo Album”, “Music Index”, “Ashes to Ashes” and “The Lost Time”. There are two prank clips for “Roommate Alien Prank Goes Bad” and “Mountain Devil Prank Fails Horribly”. Lastly there are some deleted scenes and theatrical trailer included.

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Campbell Scott, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field
Directed by: Marc Webb
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Running time: 142 minutes

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

After “Spider-Man 3“, which was probably one of the worst films I have ever seen, I really wasn’t screaming for another Spider-Man film. At first I was hesitant but overall I was very impressed with 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” and thought it left great potential for a new rebooted franchise. Well, I was not disappointed at all with “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, which kicks things into high gear and delivers a very strong sequel for this web-slinging action hero.

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” dives deep into even more back story for the story of Spider-Man and what happened with his parents. I feel that it connects a lot more dots that the past films have left out. It really fleshes out the story much more and sets this franchise up for much bigger things. There is already a third film set for release in 2016, as well as a fourth for 2018…but wait there is still more, in addition, “Sinister Six” and “Venom” spin-off films have also been announced. So the future is very bright for Spider-Man and I will be first in line!

The story picks up with Peter Parker (Garfield) and his on/off girlfriend Gwen Stacey (Stone) graduating high school and going on to college. Peter finds himself haunted by Gwen’s father (Leary) since he asked him to keep Gwen out of Spider-Man’s life. In the process of figuring out his love life, Spider-Man is called to face-off against the likes of Electro (Foxx), who is transformed into an electric monster during an accident at, guess where, Oscorp. Also following the death of his father Norman Osborn, Harry (DeHann), also old friend of Peter Parker, returns from boarding school to take over the company but ends up falling right into his father’s evil ways. So it is up to Spider-Man, as always, to save the day while also dealing with his personal love situation and old friends.

I was really blown away with the visual effects in this film. This film that costed over $250 million to make and you can literally see where every single penny went in use. A few of the scenes were so epic that literally, I just said “Wow” out loud in the theater. The 3D effects also really add a lot to the film, especially in the many action scenes, which are all eye-popping. When it comes to Sony, they have always been the best when it comes to adding the third dimension to their films. From Spidey swinging through the streets of NYC to the electricity being shot through the air, I even found myself forgetting to blink afraid it miss anything.  I would no question recommend seeing this on the biggest screen possible, preferable IMAX 3D.

When I kept seeing reports of “new villains” popping up for this film, I was hoping this wasn’t going to be like another “Spider-Man 3” with too many villains but this was very well balanced. The main focus is on the character of Electro, which developed very well. Jamie Foxx does a great job of adding a lot of emotion and feeling to this already electric character. Next, Dane DeHann really steps into the shoes of Harry Osbourn’s and goes head first in for a complete transformation. We have definitely not seen the last of him in this role luckily. Eat your heart out James Franco, this guy can actually act. I had the privilege of chatting with this young talent actor a few years ago (click here) and he is going to do big things (obviously, this being one of them). Paul Giamatti also has a fun cameo as the villain Rhino in this film. Didn’t get to see much of him but I hope we will in future films.

Of course, I haven’t forgotten Andrew Garfield who has done things with the character of Spider-Man that Tobey Maguire could have never done.  He is funny and really adds a lot of charm to the character. I think he was meant for this role and in this sequel has he has settled in quite well. Same goes for Emma Stone, who is so sharp and strong in this sequel. The only main downfall for me was that I felt that there was just a little too much focus on their romance throughout. I felt like it broke up the flow a bit but since it does comes together in the end it balances itself out. Overall “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is fun, action-packed and a great way to kick off the 2014 summer season! Also be sure to stay after the credits for a very surprising crossover (possible mutant of nature) appearance!

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Director Leigh Janiak debuted her first feature, the horror film Honeymoon, this week at the Tribeca Film Fest. The film stars Rose Leslie (“Game of Thrones”) and Harry Treadaway (Showtime’s upcoming “Penny Dreadful”) as happy young couple, Bea and Paul. Their blissful honeymoon is interrupted when Bea is found disoriented in the woods one night, resulting in a terrifying personality change.

MediaMikes: Can you describe the idea of using something as happy as a honeymoon as your starting point?
Leigh Janiak: That’s where we came from when we started it. It was we’re going to take something really happy and seemingly beautiful and see what we need to do to it to really destroy it and watch it decay. And it was just like idea of how something so personal can become foreign and fall apart.

MediaMikes: Can you talk about your cast, because it’s mostly just the two of them throughout?
Janiak: They’re both lovely. It was the first time they’d both really done American accents to the full extent but I think that they did an amazing job, I’m completely blown away and you believe them. And you believe their love. They both have an incredible energy, they’re obviously extremely talented, but you never know chemistry-wise. We didn’t do a chemistry read before and it was kind of just like feeling their different vibes separately and it worked, thank god.

MediaMikes: Rose Leslie specifically has to undergo such a huge change in the middle of the film, did you discuss with her specifics about how her character is, I’ll say, pre- and post-op?
Janiak: We spent a lot of times with Rose just generally tracing her transformation and just understanding where she was hiding from Paul, when her character was trying to tell the truth but couldn’t do it. But it was really a scene by scene basis. And we did the same thing with Harry too by the way because Paul’s character transforms as well, just not quite so physically.

MediaMikes: Horror films tend to go either the way of the supernatural or the way of aliens, which one do you find scarier?
Harry Treadaway: I don’t know, like it depends! It’s also about almost what you don’t see, I think that’s what makes me scared. It’s sort of the emotions and stuff behind it that would actually get me scared. I think. Not aliens though, the other one!

MediaMikes: Ghosts?
Treadaway: Yeah!

MediaMikes: Coming up, you’ve got Penny Dreadful where you’re playing Dr. Frankenstein, what is the show bringing to this character?
Treadaway: That’s not for me to say…all that I’ll say is that it was, I mean, John Logan is you know a pretty incredible writer…Sam Mendes producing and then Juan Bayona who directed the first two is really amazing and we’ve got a cool exciting cast. And I’m just doing my little bit, really.

Here MediaMikes got into a little spoiler territory with both Leigh and Harry, so if you’d like to remain unspoiled, you can check out the trailer below, and keep an eye out for Honeymoon, which has recently been acquired by Magnet Pictures. For those of you who’d like some more gorey details head past the video. 

Spoilers ahead…In the film’s climatic scene with now-transformed Bea, the long suffering Paul has to essentially birth a slimy alien entity from Bea. I asked both Janiak and Treadaway to talk about creating and performing this standout horror moment.

Treadaway: That was another night. Just another night…That was the fourth scene up that night and we were like ‘right, how are we going to do this?’ and we tried to do it the best we could. But it was uh, certainly one of the most unusual scenes I’ve probably done.
Janiak: My special effects makeup artist was this guy named Christopher Nelson and he’s been working in this business forever. He’s also incidentally the groom in Kill Bill Volume 2, super talented, he works on American Horror Story. I had put together a really extensive look book and it’s funny I actually referenced like a shower cord but I wanted biological material. And we looked at things like The Fly or Alien. We wanted that really tactile physical effect. And he created this thing and it was perfect and really disgusting and awesome. That scene took two nights to shoot so it was a very intense time.

MediaMikes: Why did you opt for the alien approach rather than supernatural for your feature?
Janiak: It was really just about making an intimate body snatcher movie. So I think that a lot of the horror is actually grounded body-horror and then there was this idea of, we wanted to give answers, the main thing for me is about this relationship falling apart but beyond that we wanted the answers of what’s actually driving these transformations. And that’s why it was the extraterrestrial thing.