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John Cusack Archive

The Cell, Blu-ray (2016)

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 26, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

Stephen King thinks the cell phone is bad – REAL bad… Cell, Blu-ray (2016) Cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Stacy Keach Director: Tod Williams Studio: Saban Fims, 120dB Films, Genre Co./Lionsgate (9/27/16) Video: 2.40:1 for 16:9 screens, 1080p HD color Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish Extras: Audio commentary track with Director, “To Cell and Back:” The Making of the Film, Ultraviolet digital HD Length: 89 min. Rating: **** One of the Amazon reviews repeats in caps: This Is Not a Zombie Movie!” Well, I eschew zombie movies and I found this one plenty disturbing but having certain similarities to zombie movies. It’s based on a decade-old novel by Stephen King (who changed the ending to a more positive one for the film) and opens with nearly everybody using a cell phone or smart phone at the Boston Airport turning into a foaming-at-the-mouth rabid killer or self-destroyer. This is supposedly brought about by an electronic signal from somewhere. The cell phone connection is never made entirely clear (there’s one scene where a pile of cell phones have been burned.) But the Cusack character (who has been separated from his wife and young son […]

Dragon Blade, Blu-ray (2015)

by Audiophile Audition | Dec 22, 2015 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

A quite different sort of Jackie Chan movie, with amazing visuals. Dragon Blade, Blu-ray (2015) Cast: Jackie Chan, John Cusack, Adrien Brody, Sharni Vinson Director: Daniel Lee Studio: (Chinese) Grindstone/Lionsgate Premiere (12/22/15) Video: 2.40:1 for 16:9 color 1080p HD Audio: Mandarin & English, DTS-HD MA 5.1 Subtitles: English Extras: Behind the Scenes of Dragon Blade, Music Videos, Extended interviews with cast and crew, Trailer gallery Length: 103 min. Rating: **** The accuracy of the ancient history supposedly researched by the writers of this film is far from believable. One reviewer said it only looks like they watched Gladiator a couple times and then shot it. The plot is incoherent and the position of Chan, as the leader of first the Silk Road Protection Squad and then the leader of a renegade legion of Roman soldiers, is decidedly pro-Chinese nationalism. Nevertheless, the whole thing – never mind the campy scenery-chewing – comes across as a sincere attempt to show how the 36 different tribes involved can learn to treat each other wth respect. One wonders occasionally about Hu An’s (Chan) fairly constant fighting tying in with his statements about peace with no fighting. China becoming a major motion picture market has […]