Home Screening Room – Think Like a Man, Don’t sink my Battleship

This week, a number of fun titles come home. They may not be great MUST HAVES but they will satisfy your home viewing experiences.

This Week's Big Releases

Battleship- Rated PG-13 (Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson)
This one will stretch your home systems. Lots of explosions to really give that surround sound a workout. It’s fun, and not too serious. NO one best try to sink OUR Battleship. I can see drinking games being developed around this one for years to come…wait did I say that???

The Lucky One- Rated PG-13 (Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner)
Yes Zac is shirtless in this one. Zac fans will want to add it to their library. (side note to guys…Taylor Schilling is quite nice too). Don’t think though…cuz much will make NO sense.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits Rated PG (Hugh Grant, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek)
Kids animated fun…my daughter enjoyed.

Think Like a Man- Rated PG-13 (Michael Ealy, Meagan Good)
Ok women…don’t watch this…don’t!!! We don’t want you to know the secrets that Steve Harvey gives you on how we behave. As guys it is our duty not to give this away…but if you must … there is an extremely hot cast of men and women here and it all seriousness…it’s really funny (albeit a touch long).

Also New This Week

A Beginner’s Guide to Endings – Rated R (Tricia Heifer, Scott Caan, Harvey Keitel)

Below Zero – Rated R (Edward Furlong)

Boardwalk Empire:The Complete Second Season
Darling Companion – Rated PG-13 (Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline) – Not Rated

Homeland: The Complete First Season

I Heart Shakey– Rated PG (Steve Lemme, Rylie Behr, Steve Guttenberg) – This one is about a dog…so I have to include all dog movies according to my daughter who adores all DOGS.

 

Jersey Shore Shark Attack – Rated R (Jeremy Luc, Melissa Molinaro, Paul Sorvino)

Jersey Shore: Season Five

The Moth Diaries –Rated R (Sarah Bolger, Lily Cole)

Once Upon a Time: The Complete First Season

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 4

Sons of Anarchy: Season Four

Starship Troopers: Invasion – Rated R (Luci Christian, David Matranga)

UFC 146

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season

And Finally

Life Happens – Rated R

(Krysten Ritter, Kate Bosworth, Rachel Bilson)

Trailer is on the risque side for me...but I was drawn to the three ladies in the lead and their ability to have fun in the things they are a part of that it made me say....hmmmm....Take a look at the trailer below.

DVD/Blu-ray Tidbit of the Week

Look for Rock of Ages to come home on Blu-ray Combo pack on October 9 and the Blu-ray will be LOADED with extras as the details creep out.

Pick of the Week

Lots of fun stuff this week – I’d grab Battleship (action fun), Think Like a Man (relationship fun) and Homeland (A series I always wanted to check out from Showtime)…and lets face it…anyone who knows me knows I would be intrigued by an R rated version of Jersey Shore Shark Attack!

Pop Popcorn, Do the Dew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Real Milwaukee - 17 Movies, 1 Paul

Did I really clear the set on Real Milwaukee this morning??? Find out if I did...and if I did do it ... what I said to make it happen watch the video.

Yes it's all true and what we did after the show....well security took all the cell phone cameras so there's no proof....

:-)

And YES -- I really did get through brief mentions of 17 movies in the short segment...




And Also a link to the video here if the embed is not working.
REAL MILWAUKEE - 17 Movies in one segment.

Home Screening Room - The Dictator is in Charge of a Chimpanzee

Sacha Baron Cohen had the ridiculous task of promoting this before the Award season last year, and even spilled faux ashes on Ryan Seacrest at last year’s awards. Now an Unrated version comes to Blu-ray the same week as Chimpanzee.

This Week's Big Releases

Bernie- Rated PG-13 (Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine)

Chimpanzee- Rated G (Tim Allen, voice)
Disney’s latest nature series title introduces us to a chimp named Oscar.

The Dictator- Rated R / Unrated (Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley)
The leader of a small rogue country is loose in New York city, yep this is the one that had much controversy around it and is incredibly raunchy, wrong, and yet funny in its R Rated version…imagine what goes on in the Unrated version.

A Separation- Rated PG-13 (Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami)
The story of a marriage that falls apart in modern day Iran. Even if you are not a fan of foreign films…give this a chance.

Also New This Week

The Closer: The Complete Seventh and Final Season – Not Rated

Freelancers – Rated R (Robert DeNiro, Forest Whitaker)

Home Run Showdown – Not Rated (Matthew Lillard, Dean Cain, Annabeh Gish)

House: Season 8

Mike and Molly: The Complete Second Season

NCIS: Los Angeles - The Third Season

NCIS: The Ninth Season

One in the Chamber – Rated R (Cuba Gooding Jr., Dolph Lundgren)

Pocahontas / Pochahontas II: Journey to a New World (Blu-ray pack)

The Rescuers / The Rescuers: Down Under (Blu-ray pack)

Revenge: The Complete First Season

Shuffle – Rated PG-13 (T.J. Thyne, Paula Rhodes)

Virginia – Rated R (Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris)

And Finally

Virginia– Rated R

(Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris)

How did this one sneak out…written and directed by Dustin Lance Black, who gave us Milk and stars not only the talented Jnnifer Connelly but also Ed Harris, Emma Roberts and Toby Jones among others. Here’s the trailer…take a look.

DVD/Blu-ray Tidbit of the Week

Look for the release of Disney’s big summer animated film, Brave – coming home November 13.

Pick of the Week

A tough week to make a decision, maybe The Dictator, maybe Chimpanzee, but you can’t go wrong with loading up Disney titles in your collection either like The Rescuers and Pocahontas.

Pop Popcorn, Do the DietDew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Milwaukee Film's New Midnight Program

It's called Cinema Hooligante and it's the newest creation programmed by the good folks at Milwaukee Film for this year's Milwaukee Film Festival.

The 4th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival is scheduled for September 27-October 11 at a number of theaters in Milwaukee and this year we'll be staying up late to check out the "amalgamation of all things raunchy, gory, scary, fun, bizarre and possibly offensive."

Programming Manager Angela Catalano wanted to infuse a cohesive program with the passion she has for genre films. "Personally, I think this line-up is kick-a$$." Yep, that's a quote from the release.

Titles on the list for this year's program include:

Dead Weight
 part of Cinema Hooligante

Beyond the Black Rainbow, Citadel (a SXSW audience award winner), Dead Weight (lots of Wisconsin ties here), Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal, Klown, V/H/S, a shorts program and Mark Borchardt Presents: The Giant Spider Invasion.

The Mark Borchardt Presents title lets Milwaukee filmmaker Mark Borchardt, who many have seen as the focus of American Movie, present one of his favorite cult films. A Q&A will follow and who know what might happen.

The Midnight Film Program is just the latest announcement from Milwaukee Film, who announced their Children's Festival Line-Up in Mid August and the line-up for Passport China earlier this month.

The festival looks to be screening at the Landmark Oriental and Landmark Downer again this year and has added the Fox-Bay Cinema Grill as a third location. (Gone is the Ridge and Northshore locations from the list of screening theaters -- and that's too bad as the Ridge was like a second home for me last year).

There is much more to be announced here so stay tuned...

Review - Sparkle

Sparkle Never Finds A Groove

Sparkle (Jordin Sparks) has songwriting talent. She enjoys writing and can sing a little too. When her sister “Sister” (Carmen Ejogo)agrees to sing her latest title they generate a bit of  buzz with Stix (Derek Luke). Stix is in town with his cousin but dreams of managing the next big girl group.

Stix gets close to Spakle and uses her to get her sisters Dolores and Sister together and take the next step. Their mother Emma (Whitney Houston) has a career that ate her up and spit her out and she forbids the girls from music. But the girls are determined and continually sneak out to get their career started.

The rise in popularity lands Sister the affections of a comedian name Satin (Mike Epps) that tends to poke fun at his own race for his personal gain. Despite Satin’s disrespect for Emma and her family, Sister is looking to make her own statement. And the money Satin earns is that statement. Drugs, alcohol and abuse follow as Sister realizes life isn’t as easy with money as she had hoped. But the fame is alluring and it clouds her judgment.

Will the girls become stars? And will Sparkle be able to break out of her shell in the background to step into the spotlight?

Sparkle is a movie that has a lot of potential, only to see it wasted.

Jordin Sparks is your singing draw and yet we don’t hear her sing at length until the last 15 minutes of the movie. Although Mike Epps is pretty good, he can’t wade through some over dramatized filming. And Whitney Houston will be sold to us as her last movie. No disrespect to her legacy, but she just doesn’t look good here (some of which is the role she has to play and some the result of a hard life).

The music works and will have you swaying in the seat, but there are moments in this film that elicit the exact opposite response the director is looking to achieve. When Sister and Stix return home after a confrontation and embark on a knock down drag out fight, we are transitioned to slow motion. This provoked some laughter in the theater I was in, not at what was occurring on screen, but the way it was portrayed.

A couple of reshot sequences could have gone a long way to fix this one. But instead of delivering the goods, Sparkle ends up as another film filled with unrealized potential, and that is a shame.

C

Sparkle

Sony Pictures

Director: Salim Akil

Cast: Jordin Sparks, Whitney Houston, Derek Luke, Mike Epps, Carmen Ejogo

Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic content involving domestic abuse and drug material, and for some violence, language and smoking.

Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes

Review - ParaNorman

A Scary Good Time

Animation has come a long way over the years. Animated films used to be a simple process. Cute, peppy music, fun, not much substance and kids would have a good time. Now, after Pixar has changed the landscape, we look to animated films for more that just the aforementioned things. ParaNorman delivers.

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is different from most kids. He sees and can talk with ghosts. This ability has made him the butt of many jokes in school. He’s been bullied, ostracized and just flat out exiled from his clubs, classes and friends. But things are about to change in this sleepy town.

They are fast approaching the 300^th anniversary of an event where a witch was hung and a town had the main group of men cursed. Seems tame enough, but there is an individual that thinks that Norman is the only hope for the town’s survival.

Norman is told that he must read from a book at the place where the witch was buried to save the town. Weird? Yes. Effective? We’ll see.

The great thing about ParaNorman is that the film is really a great scary movie for older kids without the craziness of real life. This isn’t a film for the 8-10 year olds in the family. This is a big kids movie that those in their pre-teen years through adults can enjoy and take a ride with confidence.

Visually it is a really exciting piece of work. It shows a true ghost story with relatable characters and enough bones and skulls without going over the top. It is an intense ride that will scare the youngest out there, but will enthrall older kids and adults alike. The humor is subtle but timely and the film will make you remember why you like good old-fashioned scary movies. A return to the past with the technology of the present makes ParaNorman a scary good time.

B+

ParaNorman

Focus Features

Director: Chris Butler, Sam Fell

Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Chirstopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann

Rating: PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language.

Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes

Home Screening Room - A Hunger for The Lorax

Missed a couple of weeks with vacation and more…but it’s been a bit slow on the new release front here. So let’s take a look at new releases from the last couple weeks and a REALLY big release that comes out this Saturday.

This Week's Big Releases

The Hunger Games - Rated PG-13 (Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson)
What an amazingly successful start to this franchise. The Hunger Games will endear fans and first timers to one of the most popular series out right now. Check this out if you missed in it theaters…or if you caught it there, check it out again. AVAILABLE Saturday, August 18

The Raid: Redemption - Rated R (Iko Uwais, Doni Alamsyah)
Elite special forces rookie Rama is pushed into action to fight for the team and survive. This is the one that had taken a number of festivals by storm and been hailed as one of the best action films to come out in some time. Now you can see what all the fuss is about.

The Lorax- Rated PG (Danny DeVito, Zac Efron)
Classic Dr. Seuss, The Lorax comes home on an incredible Blu-ray package that will have even those who were marginal when it was released in theaters enjoying themselves and singing along to Let It Grow. Released August 6

Also New This Week

American Pickers: Volume 4 – Not Rated

Assassin’s Bullet – Rated R (Christian Slater, Donald Sutherland)

Breathless – Rated R (Gina Gershon, Kelli Giddish, Val Kilmer)

Community: The Complete Third Season – (Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs)

   The show that was near death at NBC gives you the third season of fun.

Dexter: The Sixth Season

   Showtime’s serial killer sensation lets you take a cut of the action.

A Girl Walks Into a Bar –Rated R (Carla Gugino, Zachary Quinto)

Glee: The Complete Third Season

Hick  – Rated R (Chloe Grace Moretz, Blake Lively)

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory– Not Raed

   The acclaimed conclusion to the story of the “West Memphis Three” comes to DVD.

Tonight You’re Mine– Rated R (Luke Treadaway, Natalia Tena)

Vega$: The Third Season Volume 2

   Dan Tanna….man this is classic stuff with Robert Urich

WWE: Money in the Bank 2012

And Finally

Jaws  – Rated PG

(Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfus)

How can I NOT pick the release on Blu-ray of the Original summer blockbuster? This one is a must have for ANY film lovers collection. More on this as I examine the disc, but this is really exciting and a reason to pick up a Blu-ray player if you haven’t yet and add it to your collection.

DVD/Blu-ray Tidbit of the Week

Chernobyl Diariescomes home November 13.

And some real exciting news about something coming without a date yet – Who Framed Roger Rabbit? : 25^th Anniversary Edition is coming it looks, like 2013. PLEEEEEEAAASE Eddie!!!.

Pick of the Week

Today…we MUST get Jaws on Blu-ray. But on top of that, The Hunger Games is something that should be in the collection at home alongside of your copies of the books.

Pop Popcorn, Do the Diet Dew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Trailer - Red Dawn

I'm not going to lie...I'm kinda excited about this.... Check out the trailer for Red Dawn circa 2012...let me know what you think...


The original film was one that really catapulted the PG-13 rating into existence, and now we get to revisit with a different "enemy" a story that was long over due. The cast is young and hip but it's kinda weird as a November release instead of being smack in the middle of the summer. That said...I'm excited to check it out.

Review - The Bourne Legacy

Not Really Bourne But Fun Anyway

Jason Bourne and the Bourne series has set the standard for action movies in recent years, but with no Jason Bourne in a movie with his name in the title…you just scratch your head.

Jason Bourne is still on the loose, but there are others in the “program” that are doing the same things that Bourne was accomplishing. Now, with the lid ready to be blown off the program every one is struggling with the dismantling of the program and the removal of everyone who knows anything about it.

Enter Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) as one of those others that is in the midst of a punishment for thinking. EVERYONE is targeted by Eric Byer (Edward Norton) regardless of where they are located. Agent after agent is removed from the equation but the missile that heads to remove Aaron hits after he is out in the Alaskan wilderness.

On the other side of the country is Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz). She heads the lab that the agents check in at for updated research. The government attempts to neutralize her facility and now she is a Doctor on the run.

Aaron will eventually have to hook up with Marta, she has the meds he needs, to survive the attack and free themselves from the government. In a jaunt that will take them around the world, can they get the materials they need to survive and find a way off the grid?

The biggest problem with this film is it is a movie with a main character in the title that really doesn’t exist. And because of its linkage to the originally series, you expect something that never really materializes, but is that fair?

On it’s own, The Bourne Legacy is a decent action movie. Yes there are points I would change including a meandering beginning and some over the top situations. But the biggest things I would change is the title and make is something else.

Renner is ok as Aaron Cross. I like him better in many of his other roles, but he his someone who carries the mystery with him as he goes forward. But many of the mystery the Matt Damon was able to carry in the first films canNOT be carried here simply because of what you know he knows from the get go.

Sure the chemistry between Renner and Weisz doesn’t work the greatest; sure I have issues with the leaps the plot takes at points. But if this movie carried the title of Agent X or something else, I think we’d all have a better impression. With a Bourne movie…we simply expect more.

B / B-

The Bourne Legacy

Universal Pictures

Director: Tony Gilroy

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton

Rating: PG-13 for violence and action sequences.

Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes

Review - The Campaign

This Campaign Deserves a Vote

Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) has been a North Carolina congressman for years and is ready to go back to Washington for yet another term. But a mistimed phone call coupled with the Republican strategist Motch Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow) looking for a candidate they can oust Brady with leads to an opponent for the likable Democrat. But no one could imagine the man they would choose…director of tourism for a small town, Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis).

Marty has always looked for a way to impress his father. This campaign is just what he needs to make a difference. This mild mannered family man will take the advice of a political hired gun named Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott) to try to unseat the popular congressman.

Now the battle is on between the two and you will see a campaign unlike anything you have seen before.

The Campaign is laugh out loud funny and that’s not just a quote to get my name on a TV ad…in fact when it sticks to political foibles and when Ferrell and Galifianakis engage each other I really enjoyed it. HOWEVER, and you knew that was coming, there are a number of spots where it wanders and flattens out.

The spin the film puts on everything from television ads, to debates, and from kissing babies to the people behind the scenes works. It is unfortunate that they couldn’t spend all of the rather short run time on those aspects.

Both political parties get shots and there is no political bent here other than that ALL have their quirks…but there is more good here than so many believe of their local politicians.

In a time when we are ready to be bombarded by campaign ads as we choose another President; The Campaign is a welcome take on the process that will be front and center in our media for the next 3 months.

B

The Campaign

Warner Brothers Pictures

Director: Jay Roach

Cast: Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott

Rating: R for crude sexual content, language and brief nudity.

Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes

Zero Dark Thirty - Trailer

Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow is back with the film about Seal Team 6 titled Zero Dark Thirty.

Here's the first trailer to take a look at -- what do you think?

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