Movie Review: The Book of Life (2014)

by Tony Dayoub


Many years ago, I made the mistake of dismissing The Nightmare Before Christmas as a visually spectacular but hollow animated musical. Yeah, I didn't get it. It isn't that nostalgia has made the movie feel closer to a classic or that over time its style has eclipsed its substance. In a fundamental way, I've come to realize, its style is its substance. I shall not make the same mistake with The Book of Life. While not the animation game-changer that The Nightmare Before Christmas may have been, The Book of Life perhaps has even more room to grow into a classic in the coming years. And curiously it has a similar pedigree.

Movie Review: Pacific Rim (2013)

by Tony Dayoub

Pacific Rim—as hulking and earnestly dumb a blockbuster as are its robot Jaegers—represents a bit of a concession to box office realities from its director, Guillermo del Toro. While Del Toro is not exactly unknown, anyone outside of the most ardent film buffs or fanboys will probably not have heard of him. His finest films, The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth are both foreign language fantasies that mostly played in art houses. His previous stabs at box office respectability, Blade II and the Hellboy features, are horror tinged masterpieces of the comic book variety, released way before the popularity of superhero films really hit its peak. And just before he was to direct The Hobbit films for producer Peter Jackson, Jackson took the movies back for himself to helm. Well, he may have dodged a bullet with that last franchise, but you get the picture. Del Toro's a talented filmmaker with the worst kind of luck, still trying to prove to studio honchos that he can place the butts in the seats. So it's ironic that the well-reviewed Pacific Rim, as honest an attempt by Del Toro to prove he has what it takes to both excite and attract audiences, has been tracking so poorly in most box office forecasts.

Movie Review: Drive (2011)

by Tony Dayoub

Awright, what movie did everyone else see? Because the overhyped Drive is a shallow film as hollow as its cardboard characters. Yes, I said "characters," with an "s." Not simply content to make his nameless lead character — the Driver (Ryan Gosling), we'll call him (as the press materials do) — a cipher, director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson) populates his film with empty, soulless vessels doubling for actual people. There's the nice-girl-who-got-involved-with-the-wrong-guy, the older-version-of-our-lead-who-sports-a-symbolically-loaded-disability, the down-on-his-luck-ex-con-who-wants-to-get-out-after-one-last-job, etc. (If I'm not careful, this whole review may degenerate into a series of etceteras.) In this world, style overrides substance, surface trumps depth, and personalities are so thin that the existence of the story's players seems to cease whenever they disappear offscreen.

Blu-ray Review: Sons of Anarchy Season Two

by Tony Dayoub

On the commentary for "Balm," the eventful tenth episode of Sons of Anarchy's second season (which debuts on DVD and Blu-ray this week), director Paris Barclay avers:

I think this is why [Sons of Anarchy] is going to end up being a classic television show years from now... It's just like NYPD Blue did, and Hill Street Blues before (in the David Milch universe). You could be doing something else, cop work, detective work—in this case biker club—what have you. If the family works, the show goes on. And [this] family, in its dysfunctional way, works great.

The series, masterminded by creator and head writer Kurt Sutter (The Shield) recalls The Sopranos in the way it explores a criminal subculture, Northern California outlaw club SAMCRO, and its ties to its community (the ironically named Charming) and extended family. Though the club has its redeeming qualities, namely its protection of Charming from any corrupting criminal activities (including their own... well, it's their aim at least), as a viewer my allegiance to its characters is complicated by the fact that I often realize I'm cheering for its protagonists during the commission of some heinous crime. The show's dark second season is a portrait of a family imploding. And there is hardly a better ensemble cast to help pull it off.

TV Review: Sons of Anarchy - Richly Layered Biker Show Should Spawn a Cult Following

by Tony Dayoub



Sons of Anarchy follows SAMCRO, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original Charter. Charlie Hunnam stars as Jax Teller, Vice-President of SAMCRO, and son of original founder, the late John Teller. His mother Gemma (Katey Sagal) married Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) one of the original members of the club, and now, its president. SAMCRO is a close-knit group with a deep love for family, but they primarily make their money from illegal gun-running. The law turns a blind eye to SAMCRO's activities because they keep their home base, the fictional town of Charming, free of drugs. This brings them in conflict with rival gangs such as the Latino "Mayans", and the white supremacist "Nords" led by Ernest Darby (Mitch Pileggi), who both want to bring meth to Charming. With ambitious new Deputy Hale (Tayler Sheridan) keeping an eye on them, the club has their hands full.

Movie Trailer: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

by Tony Dayoub


Click on the picture above for the newest trailer for this sequel. The first Hellboy was directed by Guillermo Del Toro before his big art-house hit, Pan's Labyrinth.

Now, with the contract being all but final for him to direct The Hobbit, it will be interesting to see if this sequel becomes a sleeper hit.

Let me know what you think in the comments section.