Jon Peters Reviews: “The Sword in the Stone (45th Anniversary Special Edition)”

The Film

It’s kind of hard to believe ‘The Sword and the Stone’ is 45 years old this year. I don’t know why, but it feels like its maybe only half that age. I uses that where credit is is due here, and while it’s a minor Disney film, is still better than most current animated fare today.

Disney is a studio in which be unapologetically love or is always quick to disprove their worth. There’s nothing quite like the Mouse House, that’s a fact. There’s 1960’s output gave us far better efforts, in terms of story quality, than ‘Sword and the Stone’, but looking at it now, in which I’m way older, I still fond the film wildly fun and still beautifully animated.

It’s based on a book, but it’s essentially an origin story of King Arthur, the film whizzes on from one set piece to the next. The film is memorable in with the three way banter between Arthur, Merlin, and Archimedes. Director Wolfgang Reitherman explores a generational gap between Arthur and Merlin, that’s quite timeless. Merlin feels as if his knowledge and wisdom is going right through Arthur’s ears and Arthur feels as if Merlin doesn’t understand him. It will resonate with kids today as it did with their parents when the saw in back in 1963. There’s still a ton of laughs, but the film doesn’t ascend like it should towards the end. There’s no real clear cut villain, well, except for Arthur disbelief in that he can take the sword out of the stone. When he does it feels anti-climatic, instead of a more rousing finale.

Still, ‘The Sword and the Stone’ offers up enough lessons about confidence and respect for things in life, all the while continuing the Disney trend of laughs mixed in. It’s fun to see and hear Merlin complain about inventions and our way of life in the 20th Century, while he’s a medieval man. The animation is still top-notch as if follows that style they explored with in ‘Jungle Book’ and ‘101 Dalmatians’. Worth revisiting today compared to anything out there sans Pixar, despite some gags that are repeated and a lack of any truly memorable songs. (***)

DVD

Picture/Audio: Despite being touted as a special anniversary edition, there’s no improvement in picture or audio quality from the previous DVD version a handful of years ago. The 1.33:1 aspect ratio is fine although you’ll see some dirt throughout the film. The audio is crisp and clear. I wish they would’ve re-mastered this instead of just reproducing the old Gold Edition.

Extras: Another disappointed element to this release, as we get the stuff from the Gold Edition of a few years back ported over like some bonus short films. The only truly new extra is a game, something Disney loves to add for families. I can’t complain, most our fun but the lack on anything worthwhile like an audio commentary or a documentary, makes this re-release pointless. I’ll still recommend the film and this disc if you don’t have the Gold Edition (which is now long OOP).

Michael Turner 1971-2008

Lately it seems all I have been doing is writing obituaries for some of, if not the most talented people in their field. And all of them succumbing to the cruel bitch that is cancer. Another great talent, this time in the comic book world has passed. Michael Turner was a breakout star in the era of long story arcs in comics and was best remembered as the first Witchblade artist. He cemented his place in comic history with original books Fathom and Soulfire. Although I’m not as hardcore about comics as I once was, I still made it a point to keep up with my favorite artists, and keep up to date with his long battle against cancer. Sadly, it is one that he did not win, and he will be missed.

the sauce

Source Comic Book Resources

Jon Peters Reviews: “Wall-E”

This sounds like a cliché or some very typical to say, but leave it to Pixar to raise the bar in the animated world once again. ‘Wall*E’ is like something that rarely comes along; a film so magical, it’s nearly impossible to describe, a rarity that must be see to understand. This is by far Pixar’s best (even though I said that for ‘Ratatouille’), but it’s by far the animated world’s more ambitious, experimental film since ‘Fantasia’. Like that film, ‘Wall*E’ takes the genre conventions of the animated film and shows us something vastly new.

I hand most of the film’s success not to Pixar themselves, but to director Andrew Stanton. Not only has he written some of Pixar’s best films, ‘Toy Story 2′, ‘Monster’s Inc.’, but has directed their most well-known film to date, ‘Finding Nemo’. The reason ‘Wall*E’ succeeds as one of 2008’s best films, is from these works, in which he drew from. Each film he has done has all had great, memorable characters and a rich story full of laughter an emotional moments. ‘Wall*E’ is no different from him wanting to connect physically and emotionally with EVE or his undying determination, within the story, Stanton has found these moments and made them real.

The comedy in ‘Wall*E’ is a natural, fresh, and just down right funny wealth of material. In an age of self-awareness and pop culture references that litter most animated fare today, Stanton finds times when to add comedy. He doesn’t stop the film to add a joke, these moments come natural when Wall*E works or is curious. It has a timeless appeal, much like some of Disney’s classics before it, but all great comedy has its source. Here, Wall*E is a robotic Buster Keaton; from his falls to his foolish bumbling towards EVE, each moment is rooted in the comedy of Keaton. Even his nickname, ‘Old Stone Face’ could be applied to Wall*E; his has nothing but his eyes to emote emotion, though his facial complexion is stoic.

Disney wisely sold the film based on Wall*E’s bumbling persona; the cuteness of him and the name of Pixar slapped on the logo, pretty much sells the film. What’s surprising is where the film takes you. This is where the ambitiousness comes in. The film is underlined with lessons that would make old Walt himself happy. All of the best Disney films have had these themes or lessons laced in between the comedy, the story, the colorful characters and ‘Wall*E’ is no different. The consumerism nature of us is questioned, the basic laziness of humans is attacked, and in the wake of this comes the very origin of why Wall*E exists in the first place. Through this gentle robot we see beauty within our own nature of existing and the beauty in which we might be begin to lose: Earth.

It’s all handled well and most kids under 8 might not get the film’s complexity. Unlike ‘Ratatouille’ which felt more adult, ‘Wall*E’ never condescends to us, whether we are a kid or an adult. If the message is felt to be preachy to you, then you must want to either avoid its message or are the reason Stanton himself has chosen to comment on these themes. Comparing ‘Wall*E’ is another animated film outside of Pixar is unfair, although in doing so proves why the Mouse House is still the best in the animated world nearly 75 years into. ‘Wall*E’ feels like it’s pushing the medium to some new level, all the while having the feeling familiarity without the risk of conventions. The animation is perhaps the best seen in an CG animated feature (well, until Pixar’s next), but the real success of the film is the fact that only Pixar and Stanton can make such a disgusting insect such as the cockroach, a lovable side character without having it say one word.

Jon Peters Reviews: “Wanted”

‘Wanted’ is like an energy drink. You have a couple and then you’re wired, fidgeting, hyper, and when you come down, you’re sluggish enough to ‘whatever’; you had your fun. Anyone expecting anything else from a summer film directed by Timur Bekmambetov, is gravely mistaken or stupid.

Bekmambetov has officially arrived in America, after directing some cool, albeit copycatting film from Russia. ‘Night Watch’ and ‘Day Watch’ are a lot of fun, creating some fun twists on vampires, but the films are visually compelling for their inventive subtitles and extremely hyper action set pieces. But he and the films wouldn’t have existed without ‘The Matrix’.

‘Wanted’ plays out like a fun 1980s action film we all love, but with incredible action set pieces, one topping the next, all ending in an orgy of bullets and mayhem. From the opening assassination, you’ll either be on board or not; the film just throws you into its world without warning or explanation. Visually, the film is the next possible step from his Russian films. Perhaps, he has evolved the ‘Matrix’ bullet-time effects to the next step too, something other copycats and even the Wachowskis couldn’t do.

While the nature of filmmaking is the suspension of disbelief, the story could’ve been more thought out as we are expected to handle its convoluted narrative. We can handle the far-out, gravity defying action, but when you tell us these secret assassins get the ‘To Kill’ list from ancient weavers in a textile factory’eh, um, right. To be fair, ‘Wanted’ is based on a comic/graphic novel, but from what I heard, the film is far removed from the comic. Despite the cornball plot, all of this is made easier to handle from a very game James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie.

McAvoy handles this balance between an office wimp, who’s being cheated on by his girlfriend, being verbally abused by his boss, but is trapped, until he discovers the Fraternity. We’re with him as he transforms; he does have some great lines of dialogue. Freeman plays his typical teacher role, but the script gives him some fun twists on that character. While Jolie isn’t anything special here, her presence carries the one note character as only she can.

But everything comes down to Timur’s outlandish action set pieces. He is only competing with himself, and if you’ve seen the trailer you kind of know what to expect, but he saves some incredible stuff for you. I think what he captures here is a better sense of a fun action film, without the wink, wink like a ‘Shoot Em Up’ had. Just don’t expect anything more than to see a raging, film version of our ID. Like I said it’s like an energy drink; hyper and fun when you’re on it, but after the come down, you’ll likely be worn out and nonchalant about the proceedings.

Joe Francis reviews Karma Police

I just watched Karma Police for the second time.

Let’s start this off with big positive -

This is by far one of the best indie films I’ve ever seen. It’s creative, thought provoking, entertaining, and it keeps you going until the wonderful end. The best part? It was made here in Dallas, Texas.

I like to keep my finger on the pulse of the low budgets around here, and I’ve followed KP (more or less) for a few years at least now. Actually I’d forgotten about it until a few months ago, since it’d been so long since I’d heard anything. I checked in with John Venable to find out if any screeners were available, luckily they were. He rushed one to me and I eagerly popped it in.

The first five minutes are among the films finest. Beautiful shots, wonderful voice over, setting the mood and tone for the rest to unfold.

It’s the story about Charles West, a nearly middle aged IT guy working for his brother in law who he despises. He’s a good guy that doesn’t mind givin’ a bum five bucks. He takes care of his tickets, and he’s a good worker. For his efforts he’s tapped by the Karma Police, a secret organization that likes to maintain order by giving that extra push to either reward the good or punish the bad.

Everything was great in this picture, let me tell you. For one, a rare thing happened while I watched this independent gem : I didn’t get bored.
For anything that’s non-horror in the indie world, that’s a feat. A huge feat. I’ve seen dick and fart no budgets that bored me to tears simply because nobody involved had a sense of humor or every piece of the production was run like shit. This goes for drama, action, pick the genre and I’ve been bored by it’s retarded indie cousin. Horror gets a pass because, honestly, even when it’s bad…it’s good.

Karma Police is a fine example of what you can do in this world of small time filmmaking. Everyone involved seemed on point and did their respective jobs to the best of their capacity. The cast did a magnificent job with stand out performances by the male lead Chamblee Ferguson and female lead Nicole Leigh. Neither of them (or 99% of the cast for that matter) skipped a beat or missed a mark. They were at the top of their game, and I commend them. Great job, guys! John Venable did a bang up job not only with the script, which was above your average in both dialog and story, but was a stand out director as well.

The score was wonderful as well. Anywhere it was placed, it worked. It was not the usual ho hum no budget style score, either. This was well crafted seemingly big budget sounds coming through during these scenes. My only real complain there would have been to utilize it more through the picture.

All in all a total must see. When it’s available for purchase I HIGHLY recommend a buy on it. Especially if you enjoy supporting independent movies, or revenge flicks…cause this one is both!

Death Race One-Sheet!

Shock Till You Drop has the an official first look at the one-sheet for Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Death Race”! The flick stars Jason Statham who is framed and forced to participate in the “Death Race.” Head over to Shock Till You Drop and check it out.

Source: Shock Till You Drop

Jon Peters Reviews: “Get Smart”

It’s only typical that ‘Get Smart’ would be remade and remade the way it was. The original TV series has enough laughs and gadgets to be fondly remembered. Maxwell Smart might’ve been a bumbling goof in the show, but Steve Carell was born to play this part. He tackles the character head-on, with his deadpan oops!-style of comedy earning more chuckles that the scene or joke probably deserves. It’s nowhere as good as you might expect from the actors and team involved, but it’s a fun, breezy, fluff comedy, something worthwhile on these hot summer days.

KAOS is still at it, this time with a more nuclear-minded agenda. It’s up to Control to thwart their latest attempt. It’s a simple-minded premise and one that could’ve been developed a bit more. I’m not expecting any deep political minded plot but it is so fluffy and one-note you’ll likely forget why Maxwell Smart is even doing what he’s doing to stop KAOS.

By using this simple template, they infuse every element for comedic worth and with Steve Carell leading, well; you can bet it’ll be worth it. It almost is, as he is put in some awkward positions and finds that right note to make it all work. As Anne Hathaway’s character of Agent 99 dances with a Russian arms dealer, much to Max’s chagrin, he picks not the pretty girls to dance with but the obese one. You’ll be think they’ll go into typical fat jokes routine here, but while her weight is at the expense of some jokes, they still give her dignity and the scene helps move the (thin) plot forward, all the while being funny.

Much of the jokes are like that. In an era of dirty/potty humor, it’s a bit refreshing to be left with some still funny jokes about what others would take too far. Here, even a pee gag works to an appropriate for all age’s humor. But still as with all comedies, not all jokes work. Too obscure is the Agent 13 joke, that it feels just silly. Some of the banter with the other agents don’t work and feel too ‘Anchorman’.

The film does keep changing its mind about if it’s a spy spoof or an updated version of the original series. The action is far more Bond-level than anything in the original series. It’s not bad by any means but it does feel too ’summer-action-blockbuster’ for the material, as the balancing act of action and humor feels too constructed for its own good. More troubling is the film’s romantic angle that feels as if we as the audience aren’t in on what should be happening, like they’ve deleted some scenes but didn’t edit it properly. Hathaway is a purely capable actress with the right material, but once the film regulates her as the love interest, she feels stale as does the angle.

Still, there are numerous winks and nods to the original series to make those fans at least enjoy seeing Maxwell Smart back in action. You’ll probably chuckle more than laughing out loud, but its constant, which is a plus, in enjoying the film as a whole. In a possible sequel, if they do one, I hope the balance is better constructed, but nonetheless, I’d spend time again with Maxwell Smart than a Dr. Jones this summer, anytime.

Jon Peters Reviews: “The Promotion”

‘The Promotion’ is one of those movies that people will over-look at the theaters and find on DVD. It’s not a complete revelation if you do find it, but it’s a breezy film that will offer up enough laughs and offers up some nice moments in which you won’t mind paying that rental fee for.

Many people claim John C. Reilly just isn’t leading star material. Well, he isn’t as handsome as Brad Pitt that’s for sure, but he’s a solid actor in film after film. I think people say that because he just hasn’t really landed a solid script to showcase him. He’s gone into comedy a lot lately; in ‘Walk Hard’ to this coming ‘Step Brothers’, but once again he proves why he’s such an underrated actor. The film essentially leans on him; without him, Sean William Scott is aimless. He’s a perfect foil to Doug (Scott) and the film’s subtext is more relevant with his character than with Scott’s.

‘The Promotion’ is one of those films, like ‘Office Space’ that you kind of have to work within the film’s environment to truly appreciate its charm. The film is funny, but the comedy resonates deeper if you have been in that position. As two associate managers via for a new manager position, how far will each other go to realize the goal? Well, they don’t go to over-the-top, everything, including the humor relies on the naturalness from the situation as well as its familiarity. The corporate system is a the same time a cornball, cheesy, politically correct template but also a vicious system, that can make or break someone’s career.

The film is constantly funny, a rarity nowadays, and while there’s some ideas that don’t work, they are quickly followed up by ones that do. As some rather stereotypical African-American teens loiter the parking lot without a care for store policy or Doug’s authority, these scenes are by far the film’s weaker parts. Customers constantly complain about there language and their threats against them, and in reality after these punks defy the store managers, cops would’ve been called. But the writer/director, Steve Conrad (’Pursuit of Happyness’) milks it with some nonsense that cheapens the film a little. But in the long run, it doesn’t hurt the film that much, especially when you have a scene with Reilly in which it tries to explain a fart joke to the corporate heads. He over explains it and you can sense he is just hanging himself out to dry as the suits look on in a distilled disbelief. It’s one of the film’s highlights.

It’s nice too to have the American Dream of a career and wealth explored behind the laughs. As much as success, wealth, happiness sounds on paper, the capitalism society is a brutal gauntlet. You almost say Conrad’s view is a conservative one; he has Scott explain to his wife that he must be the bread winner. This element will be debatable but he does show the women as career motivated, liberal minded people. Either way, I was really taken by surprise on how wonderfully this film was. Hopefully, you too will seek it out. It’s not for everybody, but there’s a crowd for this film that will find it on DVD.

Next Page »