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The story of the international gymnastics phenomenon who overcame overwhelming odds to become the first African American ever to be named Individual All-Around Champion in artistic gymnastics at the Olympic Games.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“The Gabby Douglas Story” is pretty sanctimonious. But, it’s honest in a way that we rarely get to see for Olympians. Sure, the 70s and 80s were all about turning every athletic yahoo into a source of American pride. However, that started to dwindle over time. What’s amazing is that spirit never seemed to leave female gymnastics. Every four years, America turns to the flexible girls of the nation to twist and flop in a way that will make us proud of their young innocence. I’ve got to say that I was a fan of the Fierce Five.

Too much of the film focused on Douglas’s mother. Don’t get me wrong, as Regina King is a fine actress. But, it felt like her mother was henpecking the production and trying to split focus. If that wasn’t enough, it doesn’t hurt that every time Regina King speaks, I hear Huey and Riley Freeman. The little time that we got with Gabby Douglas was great, but the focus should’ve remained on her struggles and triumphs. I don’t care about her mother. Sure, she had a big hand in everything, but she wasn’t the Olympian. Will this film ever be fondly remembered? I can’t say, but it will probably remain an inspiration for young gymnasts everywhere. They do need a movie that isn’t “American Anthem”.

The DVD comes with no special features. The A/V Quality is pretty strong. The transfer is clean, but the Dolby track doesn’t get a ton of back channel support. Ultimately, it’s a pretty standard Lifetime movie sent to DVD. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to the curious.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

GIMME SHELTER

Blu-ray reviews

TroyAnderson

April 28, 2014

THE PLOT THUS FAR

A pregnant teenager flees her abusive mother in search of her father, only to be rejected by her dad and forced to survive on the streets until a compassionate stranger offers a hopeful alternative.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Gimme Shelter” is “Precious” sans the fat minorities. It’s a TV-movie without any charm and wastes an excellent cast. If you’ve seen the trailer, then you get the bulk of the film. The main character has a mean mom and she needs to find a sense of community out in the ghetto wild. Naturally, it’s not long before Vanessa Hudgens learns that life is rough, but she gonna have that baby anyways. Laughter inducing moments happens at the worse moments, but it is what it is.

Brendan Fraser does his best to play it straight, but he seems setup to fail. The same goes for Rosario Dawson, as she tries to channel a mix of Joan Crawford and Monique. While that sounds funny on paper, the end result is horrifying in a way that can be described as a pill popping Drag Queen’s nightmare. Then, there’s James Earl Jones. Poor Mufasa is left to try and bring gravitas to something that’s not worthy of his time.

Judging by our contest turn-out for this movie, most of the readers hold this film in the same regard. It’s nice to see that while films like this can be made, the movie-going audience still wants them to be good. Message pictures get tied up so much in their wording that they step on their hands trying to create something long-lasting. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter as the general malaise of moviegoers will cause the best to rise the top. The top being that separate layer that doesn’t include cinematic blockbusters, sequels and kids’ movies that continue to dominate the Cineplex. If you want to watch a well-meaning melodrama, then move to another decade and leave this one to the studio machine.

The Blu-Ray comes with a featurette, Digital HD copy and deleted scenes as the special features. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track is supportive enough. The same can be said for the 1080p transfer. However, it’s not something that’s going to blow you out the back of your home theater. In the end, I’d recommend a rental.

RELEASE DATE: 04/29/2014

BELLA SARA: EMMA’S WINGS

Blu-ray reviews

TroyAnderson

April 28, 2014

THE PLOT THUS FAR

Emma’s Wings: A Bella Sara Tale takes viewers on a magical journey to the mythical land of “North of North,” a land once filled with beautiful horses, but now a place where earthling Emma comes face to face with the evil Ivenna who is out to destroy the herds and take possession of the land herself. Now it’s up to Emma and her new friend Sara, to overcome all odds, rescue the horses and learn her true destiny.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Emma’s Wings” is the latest Bella Sara adventure. I had no idea what Bella Sara is, but my limited research has shown that it is a trading card game that seems to target young girls. Playing around with fantastical horses and weird fairy lands, it’s neat to see fantasy bent for girls. It’s one of those things that you hear people bemoaning that there’s not enough of, however you’ve got to know that it exists. I guess that’s the big catch.

The film is pretty standard. Emma fights an evil usurper, while learning to hang out with her new winged horse. Of course, the horse is named Sara as is every little girl’s pet in history. What Don Bluth wrought with “The Land Before Time”, let no man tear asunder. The character models look like the recent Barbie CG models, but I can’t say that’s unexpected. Barbie sells and some crossover to guarantee a market is bound to happen. I just wish the end result wasn’t so generic. I guess that little girls have to take what they can get.

The DVD comes with no special features. The A/V Quality is pretty sharp. The Dolby 5.1 track creates a lively soundstage. The transfer is pretty flat, but it lacks substantial punch-up. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to parents of young girls.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

LALALOOPSY PONIES: THE BIG SHOW

Blu-ray reviews

TroyAnderson

April 28, 2014

THE PLOT THUS FAR

Hold your horses, the Lalaloopsy girls are welcoming some new friends to Lalaloopsy Land: a group of talking ponies! The ponies are eager to put on a show, but there’s a hitch- their caravan and carousel need rebuilding. With teamwork, knowhow, and lots of laughter and fun, the Lalas get the ponies up and running again!

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“The Big Show” is the latest movie adventure DVD from Laloopsy Ponies. I don’t quite get the premise, but I do appreciate the Frankenstein’s Monster look of the children’s toys. Can you really call this a film? It’s 45 minutes long and plays like an extended TV episode. That being said, it’s clean enough to show to young kids without worrying about anything. That being said, it might annoy kids older than the age of 5. So, there always is that concern.

The center piece of the film is the team’s desire to fix their wagon, so they can put on a show. It takes them so long to pull it together, that the majority of the film is over by that point. However, I have yet to see any small child break out an iPhone and start tweeting a comment or two about pacing. I guess that they leave that one for their parents. Those sad sacks have got to have something to do while this movie plays. The only way this film could tell you that this film isn’t for an adult is if it started blasting a 3D text bar telling you to piss off.

The DVD comes with featurettes and a sing-along song as the special features. The A/V Quality is pretty sharp. The Dolby 5.1 track creates a lively soundstage. The transfer is pretty flat, but it lacks substantial punch-up. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to parents of young girls.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

BAD COUNTRY

Blu-ray reviews

TroyAnderson

April 28, 2014

THE PLOT THUS FAR

When Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter busts contract killer Jesse Weiland, he convinces Jesse to become an informant and rat out the South’s most powerful crime ring. So when the syndicate orders Carter’s death and Weiland’s ID’d as a snitch, the two team up to take down the mob and the crime boss who ordered the hit.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Bad Country” is such a great Hicksploitation movie for the modern era. While it does have that “Boondock Saints” tinge to the story, I can forgive it. For the heart of the picture is in Reynolds’ films of the 1980s by way of Cannon. Dafoe, Dillon and Berenger eat this material up like they’re young again and trying to earn their keep on Cinemax’s monthly rotation. So much of the schlock presented here is honest in a way that I’ve yet to see any fanboy direct recreate. If that wasn’t enough, they managed to find a role for the legendary Bill Duke to slam home.

I have always loved playing backwoods cops off the Mafia. The push to have two largely stereotyped groups battling it out over nothing feels so 80s to me. Hell, I know that hicksploitation had been using other groups and means before the 1980s, but there’s something magical about that time. Hell, watching this movie made me wistful for Joe Bob Briggs introducing movies on The Movie Channel. Was the film any good? It depends on your definition of good. However, it was the right amount of schlock to keep me happy.

The Blu-Ray comes with deleted scenes and featurettes as the special features. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track is supportive enough. The same can be said for the 1080p transfer, which plays way cleaner than I expected. However, it’s not something that’s going to blow you out the back of your home theater. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to the curious.

RELEASE DATE: 04/29/2014

LOCKER 13

Blu-ray reviews

TroyAnderson

April 27, 2014

THE PLOT THUS FAR

A thriller anthology feature film, in the style of “The Twilight Zone”, revolving around a mysterious locker 13.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Locker 13″ is an odd anthology, but it works at the basic components. Ricky Schroder seems to be doing a paper-thin take on Bruce Willis’ character from “Pulp Fiction”. Schroder is still trying to prove himself as a lead actor and it’s just not working. He needs to take time off and work on better films, not necessarily smaller. The less said about the second story…the better. But, let’s return to what started this picture. Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite and some other guy are discussing matters related to doppelgangers and strange happenings. That little sliver of an idea is so strong that I’m surprised it isn’t the whole movie.

The third story worked the best, as it played like a forgotten Tales of the Crypt episode. If you can move past the lead’s weird Cuban accent, then this will work for you. However, I find the wraparound story to be way more fascinating than the three major stories. When we find out what it means to be staring at a personal reflection of your anti-matter twin, it’s amazing. But, reflective matters and junk like that just entertain my Sci-Fi nerd boner. That came out kind of wrong. Oh well, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing I’ve said on this site. For those that are curious, you can Google it. Some people might wonder why I stopped talking about the movie, well I ran out of things to say. They’re not all winners.

The DVD comes with no special features that I could find. The A/V Quality is pretty decent. It’s not going to blow you away, but it supports the dialogue and narrative. Bare basics, but it works. In the end, I’d recommend a rental to the curious.

RELEASE DATE: 04/29/2014

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