There’s quite an A-List ensemble cast in this indie film from IFC and you’ll find that the laughs to be had are about as big as the stars themselves. Salvation Boulevard is directed and written by George Ratliff and is based on Larry Beinhart’s book of the same name. In the film Pierce Brosnan plays Dan Day, Pastor of a mega-church who is planning to build an entire community for the followers of his mega-parish The Church of the Third Millennium. But after he accidentally shoots a highly regarded atheist author (Ed Harris) after their debate on religion, the plans for his mega-city could soon turn to dust. Salvation Boulevard is a clever satire…
-
-
DIFF Review…Lucky
Ok, so the idea of “a serial killer winning the lottery” is bound to get plenty of curious (and morbidly curious) in the theater doors. But homicide really is small potatoes compared to marital troubles and incompatibility. Lucky is directed by Gil Cates Jr. and does quite a lot with this little indie script. He sets things up nicely with the simple but passable back story where we find Ben has always been in love with his next door neighbor. But Lucy has never thought of Ben as anything more than a friend. That is until he won the 36 Million dollar Iowa lottery. Soon Ben’s life is changed completely and he’s…
-
DIFF Review…13 Assassins
Takashi Miike paints a samurai film for the ages with his gripping epic 13 Assassins. A gritty story about 13 Ronin tasked with killing the corrupt son of the Shogun, Miike sends a love letter to Akira Kurosawa that would make any filmmaker envious of such a compliment. Right off the bat Miike recounts this true story by establishing a villain set for the record books in the form of Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira. His careless and detestable actions are close to breaking the peace that has been held for many years. Called to stop him is Shinzaemon Shimada and he’s to assemble 12 other samurai to take down Naritsugu. It’s 13 against 200 but to a well…
-
When Is It “Too Late” (Or Unnecessary) To Make A Sequel?
Inspired by the home video release of TRON: Legacy and the original TRON (for the first time on Blu Ray) hitting shelves today, I wanted to look at popular stand alone films/franchises that have several years (even decades) between installments. To date, some are good, some are bad and there are scheduled/rumored sequels to some older properties coming down the pike that seem questionable. To this day, it still boggles my mind that Disney wanted to dust off the original TRON and attempt this sequel a whopping 28 years after Flynn’s adventures in “The Grid”. Now truth be told, I liked Legacy and it did a fine job at continuing the story but had trouble fleshing…
-
"Miyazaki Madness" Is Over!!
Well friends, “Miyazaki Madness” is officially over. We’ve had 4 weeks of match ups, voting, comments and best of all, appreciation for the films of Studio Ghibli! In total, the tournament brought in nearly 10,000 visitors, racked up nearly 300 votes and I have to say it was a tremendous turnout! Thank you all for stopping by to participate in this event (I bet you’ll be glad to see an end to my Twitter and Facebook updates, huh?). So who gets to wear the winner’s crown and strut their stuff all around the animation world?? Well click the image below (for a hi-rez version) and find out for yourself…