Michael J. Tresca gave 5 stars to: The LEGO Movie (DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack)

Michael J. Tresca reviewed:

The LEGO Movie (DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack)

Evertyhing really is awesome, February 19, 2014

This review is from: The LEGO Movie (DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack) (DVD)

We're big fans of LEGO in my house, but I thought any movie featuring LEGO would be one big commercial. I also wasn't entirely sure what the point would be. LEGO is about creativity and exercising your imagination -- which is why it's been so difficult to get a decent Dungeons & Dragons film made -- so what could a movie about LEGO bricks possibly offer? As it turns out, a lot.



First, let's establish that the LEGO company knew who to hire: directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller made the hilarious "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and Chris McKay created "Robot Chicken." I repeat: ROBOT. CHICKEN. The terrifyingly un-PC, uproariously funny, occasionally squirm-inducing Robot Chicken, a show consisting entirely of animation riffing on the pop culture of our youth. So it's no surprise that "The LEGO Movie" is entertaining for adults. What is surprising is how it's entertaining for everybody. This was my three-year-old's first film and she loved it, along with my six-year-old, my wife, and of course me.



The world revolves around your typical yellow minifig Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt), an everyday construction worker who loves Taco Tuesdays and just wants to fit in. Much to his dismay, it turns out he's so utterly bland that he is also utterly forgettable...until he stumbles upon the Piece of Resistance, and super-heroine Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) stumbles upon Emmet. Prophesized by the blind Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) as The Special, Emmet's humdrum life will never be the same. He is to lead the Master Builders, minifigs who know how to assemble LEGOs, against Lord Business (Will Ferrell) and his Octan Corporation empire. Thing is, Emmet is the least special minifig of all.



What ensues is a mind-bending adventure that riffs on everything from "The Matrix" to "Terminator." With so many worlds to explore, the occasional intrusion of items from real life (always deadly), and a soundtrack that will burn into your skull, it's hard not to enjoy the insanity. Every piece of pop culture in the world is so trite (ranging from the aforementioned "Everything is Awesome!" song everyone listens to the "Where's My Pants?" television show everyone watches) that it's hard not to laugh at our consumerist culture in spite of the fact that this is a movie which will sell many, many, LEGOs.



The film is strikingly earnest and utterly false at the same time, filled with a meta-narrative that is either charmingly quaint or a deep metaphor for the child in all of us. You could spend all day analyzing its nuances -- it's a movie that you need to own on DVD to get all the in-jokes that are crammed onto the screen -- or you could just go and play with your LEGOs. Which is exactly what my son did...and he's started building LEGOs in new and creative ways.



Everything is awesome indeed.

Michael J. Tresca gave 3 stars to: RoboCop [Blu-ray]

Michael J. Tresca reviewed:

RoboCop [Blu-ray] Blu-ray ~ Joel Kinnaman

Not stooping low enough to top the original, February 16, 2014

This review is from: RoboCop [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

I've always been a big fan of "Robocop," which is to say that I've been a fan long enough to watch the titular character transform from a post-modernist take on violent pop culture into a franchise that spawned a cartoon for kids. Or to put it another way, "Robocop" went full meta, coming full circle to be the embodiment of violence Peter Verhoeven was ferociously satirizing. And then we have Jose Padilha's version.



Oh, we've got all the beats: suburban dad and honest cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is ground up by the corruption of Detroit's criminal machinations and the ruthless corporate overlord of Omnicorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton); he's then spit out as a cyborg, the creation of the Dr. Frankenstein-like Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman). If there's one thing this new iteration of "Robocop" gets right, it's that this film is as much Dr. Norton's story as it is Murphy's. He's led down a golden path paved with promises to help the population at large by sacrificing, bit by bloody bit, pieces of Murphy's life.



The other thing that "Robocop" does differently from the original is thrust the family Murphy leaves behind front and center: wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) and son David (John Paul Ruttan). It took the sequel in the original franchise to get around to even addressing this, but it's a major plot point in the reboot, and that's a good thing. There's lots of modern twists that make this reboot timely, from the question of drones used on American soil to an always-on television culture that dissects everything and anything. There's just one problem: it's not funny.



The original "Robocop" was a relentlessly violent, gleefully cynical take on modern life in the 80s, fulfilling every jingoistic ambition for America in one glorious blender of murder, rape, late-night television commercials, and awful reality show slogans. Verhoeven never let us forget that there was a craptacular world on the periphery of the events of "Robocop," and that burden falls to blowhard talk show host Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson) in the new version. For the first few seconds, when Novak's vocal exercises are dubbed over the MGM lion's roar, there's the promise that he can pull it off...and then he simply doesn't.



"Robocop" is suffused with enough modern touches to make things occasionally uncomfortable, like when a kid with a knife gets gunned down by an ED-209. But most of the time it's too busy ping-ponging between Murphy's internal struggle with his new body -- or lack thereof -- and his attempt to solve his own murder, with occasional asides by marketing execs marveling at how the plot is unspooling on the stage of American television.



The problem is that there are no clear villains here. The original neatly connected all the dots so that Murphy wasn't just killing the men who killed him, he was truly cutting the head off a corporate snake. In the remake, nobody's really at fault -- they just take stupid risks in pursuit of greed. This robs the film of the catharsis of the original .



This version covers the same story of "Robocop," but it simply can't live up -- or stoop low enough -- to top the original.

Michael J. Tresca gave 5 stars to: Lego

Michael J. Tresca reviewed:

Lego: The Piece of Resistance DVD ~ Will Arnett

Everything really is awesome, February 9, 2014

This review is from: Lego: The Piece of Resistance (DVD)

We're big fans of LEGO in my house, but I thought any movie featuring LEGO would be one big commercial. I also wasn't entirely sure what the point would be. LEGO is about creativity and exercising your imagination -- which is why it's been so difficult to get a decent Dungeons & Dragons film made -- so what could a movie about LEGO bricks possibly offer? As it turns out, a lot.



First, let's establish that the LEGO company knew who to hire: directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller made the hilarious "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and Chris McKay created "Robot Chicken." I repeat: ROBOT. CHICKEN. The terrifyingly un-PC, uproariously funny, occasionally squirm-inducing Robot Chicken, a show consisting entirely of animation riffing on the pop culture of our youth. So it's no surprise that "The LEGO Movie" is entertaining for adults. What is surprising is how it's entertaining for everybody. This was my three-year-old's first film and she loved it, along with my six-year-old, my wife, and of course me.



The world revolves around your typical yellow minifig Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt), an everyday construction worker who loves Taco Tuesdays and just wants to fit in. Much to his dismay, it turns out he's so utterly bland that he is also utterly forgettable...until he stumbles upon the Piece of Resistance, and super-heroine Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) stumbles upon Emmet. Prophesized by the blind Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) as The Special, Emmet's humdrum life will never be the same. He is to lead the Master Builders, minifigs who know how to assemble LEGOs, against Lord Business (Will Ferrell) and his Octan Corporation empire. Thing is, Emmet is the least special minifig of all.



What ensues is a mind-bending adventure that riffs on everything from "The Matrix" to "Terminator." With so many worlds to explore, the occasional intrusion of items from real life (always deadly), and a soundtrack that will burn into your skull, it's hard not to enjoy the insanity. Every piece of pop culture in the world is so trite (ranging from the aforementioned "Everything is Awesome!" song everyone listens to the "Where's My Pants?" television show everyone watches) that it's hard not to laugh at our consumerist culture in spite of the fact that this is a movie which will sell many, many, LEGOs.



The film is strikingly earnest and utterly false at the same time, filled with a meta-narrative that is either charmingly quaint or a deep metaphor for the child in all of us. You could spend all day analyzing its nuances -- it's a movie that you need to own on DVD to get all the in-jokes that are crammed onto the screen -- or you could just go and play with your LEGOs. Which is exactly what my son did...and he's started building LEGOs in new and creative ways.



Everything is awesome indeed.

Michael J. Tresca gave 3 stars to: Olympus Has Fallen (+UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Michael J. Tresca reviewed:

Olympus Has Fallen (+UltraViolet Digital Copy) DVD ~ Gerard Butler

"Die Hard" for millennials, February 2, 2014

This review is from: Olympus Has Fallen (+UltraViolet Digital Copy) (DVD)

'Olympus Has Fallen' begins with former Special Forces and current Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gergard Butler) assigned to Presidential Detail when things go horribly wrong. He is close friends with President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), First Lady Margaret (Ashley Judd) and their son Connor (Finley Jacobsen), which makes it all the more wrenching when a freak accident on Christmas causes the President's car to swerve off a bridge. Only the President and his son survive. Banning's failure to save the First Lady haunts his conscience and his career.



Eighteen months later, Banning has been transferred to the Treasury Department, just a working schlub pushing papers like the rest of us. But it's a good thing he's near the White House, because during a visit by South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim), North Korea conducts an all-out assault on the White House grounds, while treasonous agents assigned to the Prime Minister attack from within. As garbage trucks laden with chain guns open fire, helicopters enter White House airspace while destroying their fighter escorts, and every failsafe fails, 'Olympus Has Fallen' gleefully just keeps upping the destruction in the hope you don't notice how ridiculous it all is.



What ensues is a series of tense standoffs as the unknown agent working behind enemy lines -- Banning -- singlehandedly takes out the bad guys while redeeming himself in the eyes of the President. He starts out with nothing but his bare hands, but slowly makes his way up the villain food chain until he's foiling a plot that could threaten the security of the entire U.S. And oh yeah, there's a gun-wielding robot called Hydra 6 that shows up on the White House roof at one point.



It's hard to be too angry at "Olympus Has Fallen," because it just follows in the tradition of average Joe vs. sophisticated villains. We've only seen poor imitations of this anti-hero since Bruce Willis' "Die Hard" debuted -- which are now parodied by Willis himself in later sequels. Thing is, Willis' John McClane was only part of the formula. You need the usual ingredients: brilliant bad guys with multi-layered schemes, bumbling authorities who are unprepared, and victims caught in the crossfire that are more important than they might at first appear. But most importantly the film must take itself deadly seriously. Part of the fun of "Die Hard" is feeling that the odds are so against McClane, despite the fact that we know he's going to succeed anyway.



Butler can't quite pull off Willis' level of rough charisma, and the film isn't willing to torture Banning more than the flashback to loss of the First Lady. The plot is patently absurd (from the Cerberus protocols to the gunship robot, none of it makes a lick of sense), but it is executed with such relentless verve that you can't help but admire director Antoine Fuqua's enthusiasm. That doesn't make this a good film, merely an entertaining one. If you're looking for a good old American good vs. Axis of Evil showdown, "Olympus Has Fallen" will do nicely.

Michael J. Tresca gave 5 stars to: Rare Exports

Michael J. Tresca reviewed:

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale DVD ~ Jorma Tommila

The definitive Krampus, January 27, 2014

This review is from: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (DVD)

You'll see a lot of reviews about this film that talk about how wildly innovative it all is -- and "Rare Exports" is certainly that. But what's missing is that "Rare Exports" is actually about Krampus.



Krampus hasn't really received the appropriate treatment up to this point in films, although he keeps getting a little more exposure each year (American Dad even had a Krampus episode). Thing is, we don't need a definitive Krampus film because "Rare Exports" is it.



Reindeer herder Rauno (Jorma Tommila) is a lonely man who raises his precocious son Pietari (Onni Tommila) alone in Finland. On the night before Christmas, what starts out as a slaughter of an entire reindeer herd (and the financial ruin of the herders who rely on them), turns into an escalating series of increasingly disturbing encounters with Santa's helpers.



To say more than that is too give away too much, but suffice it to say that naked old men have never been so disturbing. Indeed, "Rare Exports" takes great glee in juxtaposing naked old men menacing young boys, and it really does put the legend of Santa in stark relief for the absurdity that it is.



The title only makes sense at the end. Fans of Krampus will not be disappointed.

Michael J. Tresca gave 4 stars to: Grabbers

Michael J. Tresca reviewed:

Grabbers DVD ~ Richard Coyle

drunk guys fight off an alien invasion, January 21, 2014

This review is from: Grabbers (DVD)

"Grabbers" is one of those movies that's succinctly summed up in just one sentence: drunk guys fight off an alien invasion. So of course it takes place in Ireland.



Garda Ciarán O'Shea (Richard Coyle) is an alcoholic with a sad past; he's teamed up with an attractive new partner, Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley). It seems Nolan has taken the assignment to prove herself and climb the ranks. It doesn't take long before they discover something strange going on at the island in the form of mutilated whale corpses. And that strange thing is aliens.



Some thought went into creating these aliens. They're starfish-like creatures who have a brachiolaria stage of larval development -- they're cute little worms who make squeaky sounds and will chew your face off. But as adults they're massive hulks that roll along like a floppy wheel on their many legs, akin to the wheeler spider. And oh yeah, they can't stand the taste of alcohol. Which is quite the plus when you own a bar.



O'Shea and Nolan assemble a crack team of experts to fight the so-called "grabbers," including town drunk Paddy (Lalor Roddy), marine ecologist Dr. Smith (Russel Tovey), and pub owner Tadhg Murphy (Louis Dempsey) to execute a madcap plan: they invite all the residents of the town to celebrate an oncoming storm in Murphy's pub. O'Shea stays sober to defend the pub while the villagers get plastered. What could possibly go wrong?



The biggest challenge for the rest of the humans is not the grabbers but their extreme intoxication. They do stupid things -- things that everybody does in horror movies, but at least now they have an excuse -- that leads them right into the grabbers. It's hilariously stupid.



If the film has a flaw, it's the very awkward, not very believable romance between O'Shea and Nolan. O'Shea's a drunk because of a tragic past, you see, which makes the uptight Nolan -- who just needs to get drunk to loosen up -- see the light. Grabbers escalates as its monsters get more bold until it ends up with a clichéd standoff that involves explosions. But if "Grabbers" biggest problem is that it concludes with a satisfying boom...it's hard to fault it too much.

Michael J. Tresca gave 4 stars to: Devil

Michael J. Tresca reviewed:

Devil DVD ~ Chris Messina

...in the details, January 20, 2014

This review is from: Devil (DVD)

"Devil" takes almost entirely in an elevator. There are a few scenes that are filmed outside of the elevator as the modern world tries to understand what is going on inside that metal coffin, but the majority of "Devil" is very much a stage play where all the characters are suspects and it's up to the audience to figure it out.



There's the sleazeball salesman (Geoffrey Arend), the jilted rich wife (Bojana Novakovic), the security guard with a history of violence (Bokeem Woodbine), the elderly thief (Jenny O'Hara), and the cypher (Logan Marshall-Green).



The witnesses are just as important to this story as the victims. Witnessing his morality play in the elevator are two security guards and a cop: narrator Ramirez (Jacob Vargas), his boss Lustig (Matt Craven), and Detective Bowden (Chris Messina, from The Mindy Project). Ramirez sets the plot up: The Devil seeks out sinners, traps them, turns them against each other, and then kills them off one by one, with the last victim to die in front of his loved ones to make the world a more cynical place.



What ensues is a relentless escalation of tension as one by one the victims die in the elevator. Outside, all rescue attempts end in gruesome accidents. In parallel with the events in the elevator, Bowden tests out an evolving hypothesis as to who the murderer is, revealing new twists with each piece of evidence he uncovers.



What's interesting about "Devil" is how it juxtaposes a ridiculous situation (The Devil is real! People can be murdered within five feet of each other without knowing who did it!) contrasted with direct surveillance by trained observers (CCTV in the elevator recorded and monitored by police). "Devil" slowly strips away everything we know about modern technology until we're left embracing the supernatural solution.



"Devil"'s creepy mood and cat-and-mouse game evokes predecessors like "Ten Little Indians" and "Cube." But its plot twist will seem hauntingly familiar and for good reason. "Devil" was produced by M. Night Shyamalan.