Lionsgate and Barnholtz Entertainment has send us information regarding the upcoming DVD release of the western "Hatfields & McCoys: Bad Blood". The film stars Jeff Fahey (Grindhouse), Perry King (The Day After Tomorrow), Priscilla Barnes (TV’s “Three’s Company”) and Christian Slater (True Romance). Special features on the DVD include Director's commentary and stills. "Hatfields & McCoys: Bad Blood" hits DVD on June 5th.

Press Release:

Take a trip back to the Civil War era as Lionsgate debuts Hatfields & McCoys: Bad Blood on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this June. This action-packed western stars Jeff Fahey (Grindhouse), Perry King (The Day After Tomorrow), Priscilla Barnes (TV’s “Three’s Company”) and Christian Slater (True Romance). This historical family feud is brought to life on DVD, which includes a director’s commentary and stills gallery, on June 5th, for the suggested retail price of $26.98.

The Hatfields and McCoys fight for justice and vengeance in a feud that spans decades and costs many lives. As the Civil War rages on, Asa McCoy, a Union soldier, heads home to West Virginia after a horrific battle. On the way, he runs into his neighbors, the Hatfields, who are Confederate sympathizers. Furious with the idea that one of their neighbors is fighting for the Union, the Hatfields gun down Asa and begin a decades-long feud between the families. As the familial battle rages on and more people are killed, things become complicated as two young adults from each side fall in love – and one family is brought to justice.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES*
· Director’s Commentary
· Stills gallery
*Subject to change

"Hatfields & McCoys: Bad Blood": Official Trailer

We recently received the official trailer for the upcoming Direct To DVD release "S.W.A.T:Firefight" from Columbia Pictures.

Plot Synopsis:

An expert in anti-terrorism tactics, hotshot LAPD officer Paul Cutler (GABRIEL MACHT, Behind Enemy Lines) is ordered to Detroit to train its S.W.A.T. team in the latest hostage rescue techniques. But everything changes when their botched response to a domestic dispute ends with a hostage down and a government assassin (ROBERT PATRICK, Terminator 2) now obsessed with terminating Cutler as well as his entire S.W.A.T. team.

"S.W.A.T. Firefight" explodes it's way onto DVD and Blu-Ray on March 1st.

"S.W.A.T: Firefight" Official Trailer

The West Wittering Affair
Year: 2007
Director: David Scheinmann
Stars: Danny Scheinmann, Sarah Sutcliffe, Rebecca Cardinale
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Lifesize Entertainment
Running Time: 92 Mins
Official Website: http://www.westwitteringaffair.com/

Jamie (Danny Scheinmann) is a guy who accepts an invitation to spend the weekend with a woman named Kathy (Sarah Sutcliffe) and her best friend Natasha (Rebecca Cardinale). Their weekend was supposed to be fun, but Jamie takes it too far, as he sleeps with both of the women, in the same night. Ashamed by this incident, he seeks help from a therapeutic (David Annen). The only problem is, he’s the boyfriend of Natasha. Soon, that night will affect, each of these four people, in this intelligent and serious look at relationships.

If your going into “The West Wittering Affair” looking to a slapstick romantic comedy, then you’ll be disappointed, as this is very intelligent and witty look at the ups and downs of relationships. Director, David Scheinmann does a very good job making the film feel realistic. He does that, by filming it, in a way that the relationships come off as real, not the cookie cutter ones that’s often seen, in these films. That helped bring a sense of authenticity to each of the characters. Another thing that helped made it realistic, is the fact that David Scheinmann makes sure that the actor’s performances come off as realistic too. By doing that, it helped made the characters interesting. He also make them funny, as well, by the way that the actor deliver the witty humor that was written for them.

But what made this film very good, the fact that the story and screenplay felt like a character study on relationships. The screenplay written by co-stars Danny Scheinmann and Sarah Sutcliffe (who both had very good performances here) does a great job exploring human relationships, while mixing in some witty humor to make the film entertaining. One of the things that made this a very good character study, the way the screenwriters approached each of the film’s characters. The four main characters in the film are conflicted over the events that takes place during that one weekend, whether they were there or not. It helped build the drama that was needed, for the witty humor to work in this film. They also did a very good job exploring the topic of sex. Whether it was through the destruction of the relationship or through this male bonding sex therapy, the screenplay take a serious approach, which helped the film its serious and witty tone.

“The West Wittering Affair” is an intelligent comedy that focuses on the issues of sex and intimacy, while being witty and entertaining

Review Rating: Four Stars

Romeo and Juliet Get Married
Year: 2008
Director: David Scheinmann
Stars: Marco Ricca, Luana Piovani, Luiz Gustavo
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Lifesize Entertainment
Running Time: 90 Mins
Language: Portuguese with English Subtitles





Romeo (Marco Ricca) is an ophthalmologist, who’s living with this mother and his 21-year-old son. His life is pretty dull, until he meets Juliet (Luana Piovani), in his office. The two will soon fall in love. It’s sounds like a happy relationship, but there is one problem. They both root for rival soccer teams, as Romeo is the chief uniformed rooting of Corinthians soccer, while Juliet’s father (Luiz Gustavo) is a fanatic fan and member of the Palmeiras soccer team’s board of directors. In order to win Juliet’s love, he must pretend to love her father’s team, in order to get close to him, so that they can marry each other. But will Romeo’s lie put their relationship in jeopardy, or will they live happily ever after.

While “The West Witting Affair” was the more serious comedy film, “Romeo and Juliet Get Married” is the more laugh- out loud film. Director Bruno Barreto, does a good job making all the action humorous, while keeping it’s main focus, on the love story. The romantic action worked very well. One of the reasons that this love story works, was the fact that Marco Ricca and Luana Piovani had great chemistry onscreen. The reason for that was that Barreto makes sure that the actors have their characters have certain affection, for each other. That makes the romance work. Also, the direction of the acting was very good. Barreto makes the actors bring personality to their roles, which makes the jokes funny and the characters likeable.

The screenplay written by Marcos Caruso, and Jandira Martini did a very good job balancing various elements to make this love story, very entertaining. One of the things that this screenplay explores is root of fanaticism of soccer, in Brazil. That theme is used throughout the film with the two main characters liking the other team, like one liking the Red Sox and the other liking the Yankees, that type of rivalry. It also goes into how someone can be obsessed with a team, as Juilet’s father wants her to marry someone, who is a fan of Palmeiras. Again, that explores one person’s obsession with one team. Nomally, this would be redundant and I’d be picking this screenplay apart, but it severed a purpose, as it helped be interested, in the love story, which was written well. The writers also go a good job with the timing of the humor, as the jokes were funny and weren’t too outrageous to effect the film’s love story.

“Romeo And Juliet Get Married scores a goal, as this is a very entertaining and funny love story for you and your valentine.

Review Rating: Four Stars

14 Women
Year: 2008
Director: Mary Lambert
Studio: Screen Media Films
Stars: Annette Bening
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 70 Mins
Official Website: http://www.14womenthemovie.com/

With the political season in full swing, it was appropriate for me to find a political documentary to talk about. I managed to have a title sitting at home that was recently released on DVD a couple of weeks ago.

“14 Women” focuses on 14 female Senators in the historic 109th congress, as the number of females’ skyrocked from nine to fourteen in 2002. The film goes into their struggles with balancing their homelife with relationships and their political party views. The film is directed by Mary Lambert (Pet Cemetery 2, The In-Crowd) and is produced by Nicole Boxer, daughter of Barbara Boxer, one of the female Senators, that’s featured in this film.

I was hoping to get a very interesting look at all fourteen Senators, but instead the film doesn’t to that to some extent. “14 Women” felt like it focused on the people we already know like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Elizabeth Dole, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstien. I would have liked to have known more about the other senators like Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, who was in the Senate when there were only two females back in 1992, Missouri Senator Debbie Stabenow and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. It would have been interesting, because they weren’t household names unlike Clinton and Hutchison. It would have made the film more interesting for me, personally. Why didn't this happen? Well it has to do with the film’s major problem, the seventy minute running time. One of the things that a feature documentary has to do is explore all of the topics and subjects that are being presented in the film. To me, it’s didn’t do that because of the running time. If the film spends another half hour or so, then Director Mary Lambert would have spent more time on the other Senators, not just the household names then maybe all the Senators in the film would have been interesting, because some of their stories felt incomplete to me.

For the major grips that I have with this film, the film still has some good material. One of the things that the film did well was to explore the history of the female Senate and the backstory to the 109th Congress. You do get some interesting information on the Senate and a couple of the committees like the judicial committee and how the Clarence Thomas fiasco helped pave the way for some of these female Senators to run for office. Lambert does that by focusing on that event by going into the history of it and the interview of Senator and Vice Presidential candidate, Joe Biden. The Biden interview provided some insight to the judicial committee and his regret during those proceeding. She also goes into the election process from the behind the scenes of a campaign, from the conventions to the fundraising, which shows the hard work that’s done on the campaign trail. Mary Lambert, I thought, also did a good job getting a female perspective from the group of young female that she interviewed with their thoughts on women that are being Senators and the possible of a female president.

14 Women is a film that should have had more time invested on it’s subjects, but still is a good film if you are interested in women in the Senate, as it’s somewhat educational to people who are in interested in politics.

Review Rating: 3 Stars

DVD Extras:

Additional Scenes

Love and Mary
Year: 2008
Director: Elizabeth Harrison
Stars: Lauren German, Gabriel Mann, Whitney Able
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Studio: MTI Home Video
Running Time: 104 Mins
Official Website: http://www.loveandmary.com/




Love and Mary is about a pastry chef, Mary, who is trying to find a way to save her bakery from her landlord. With only four day to pay off her debt, she decides to go back home and see her parents with her fiancé in order to get their engagement gift, which will be able to pay off her debt. But there’s a problem with that plan, her fiancé is suffering from an allergy attack and unable to go. With that happening to her fiancé, she decides to bail out of jail, to have her fiance’s identical twin brother, Jake, to take his place. Soon a bond between the two happens and Mary is forced with a choice, her fiancé and his identical twin brother.

Love and Mary is one of those films that didn’t completely work for me. Elizabeth Harrison’s direction of the film wasn’t that bad. She does a good job not making any of the sets cheesy and some of the camera work here was good. She does a very good job directing the actors, as this make it a watchable film for me, as the screenplay wasn’t that great, which I’ll talk about in a second. I liked how Harrison made sure that the chemistry between the actors was good. This really helped me bare through the film’s major problem. She also gets a good performance from her lead actress Lauren German. I liked how German tried her best to save this film. She does a very good job making her character entertaining while having good chemistry with her two male co-stars.

If there was one thing that ruined this film for me, was its screenplay, as it wasn’t something to write home about. Harrison’s screenplay really was okay, as it only accomplished half of what I was looking for. The main reason for that was the film’s humor. It wasn’t the fact that was humor was completely grossed-out, even thought there is a scene that was gross out. It was just the fact that the humor felt dry and flat. When watching films like this, I want to laugh and enjoy the development of the relationship. I felt like I got half of that, as the relationship part was good, which I’ll talk about in a minute. It’s just that the humor wasn’t there. I only laughed about a couple of time during the whole film. In films like this, you have to laugh and enjoy the love story. Also, I thought all the supporting characters weren’t that interesting. Some of that could have been from the humor, as I was not sold on these characters. But Harrison did a good job with the love triangle that exists within the film, as I thought really kept the screenplay from completely going south. I was sold with this love triangle, as it focuses on German’s character with both her fiancé and his brother. It really saves the film from going terrible.

Love and Mary is wonderfully acting but sours with its flat humor.

Review Rating: 2.5 Stars.

DVD Extras

Cast Interviews
Trailers

Dead and Gone
Year: 2008
Director: Yossi Sasson
Stars: Quentin Jones, Gillian Shore, Ben Moddy
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Lionsgate Home Entertainment / Darkhaze Productions
Running Time: 84 Mins
Official Website: http://www.deadandgonethemovie.com/

Dead and Gone is about a trophy husband (Quentin Jones) who kidnaps his comatose wife, so he can kill her for her insurance money after he hasn’t received any of her finances to live on. Soon voices start creeping to his head, as his wife starts to haunt him. Is this really happening or is it in all in his head? When he meets a beautiful tough law enforcement officer, he then begins a relationship with her until she starts to find out his secrets. Now, he starts to totally lose his mind, as the officer is closing in on him while the voices get even stronger. Can he save his mind and sanity before he totally destroys himself forever? The film features cameos from Kyle Gass (Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny) Zack Ward (Postal) and Felicia Ross (Sleepaway Camp, Dark Chamber).

Usually when I buy films to review for this site, they have to be films that I would be interested in watching and reviewing for the site. Dead and Gone was one of those films that caught my eye for two reasons. First, Kyle Gass from Tenacious D was starring in the film, and the film has lovely and talented Felecia Rose. What could go wrong? Well they don’t play major parts in the film, instead the lead actors were Quentin Jones, Gillian Shore, and Ben Moddy (yes the former songwriter and lead guitarist from Evanescence). Man, this was painful to watch.

Dead and Gone was very dead and gone on arrival. This film, in a way, felt like Jumper in the way the pace of the film went. I hated it because it ruined any chance of setting up scares. Yossi Sasson’s direction on the film felt flat and uneventful. One of the main reasons for this was that its pace. It really moves fast to the point that you are not interested in the story, as it becomes all weird and confusing, but not scary. I thought I was supposed to be watching a horror film not a film that has the feel of a David Lynch film. Also, the direction of the scenes felt very dull, as I was interested in watching to see how much time has gone by. By this point, I didn’t care for any of the action that was going on. The acting in this film wasn’t that great either, especially with the lead performances, as it felt amateurish at times. The actors didn’t even make me want to care for the characters that they played. Instead, watching their performance made me bored and wishing that I spent my money in purchasing a film that had some decent acting. The film could have used more of Felicia Ross and Kyle Glass, as their cameos weren’t that bad.

The screenplay written by Harry Shannon has a logic that will be confusing to the average horror fan. This screenplay really didn’t work for me. First thing that I didn’t like about it was the action in the screenplay. It was very weird and unsuspenseful. In order for a horror film to succeed, it must be campy to the point where your have fun watching, the action or the story is suspenseful, or the deaths were scary enough to make you jump out of your seat and also have characters that you care about. This film had none of that because everything that went on during the course of film felt weird and flat. The next thing that is the fact that Shannon doesn’t create characters that were interesting to the point that you care about them. The characters that he created for the film were flat out dull and uninteresting. There was no development to any of them whatsoever, which in return made this a painful film to watch. Finally, Shannon doesn’t even attempt to drum up any scary elements to his story, as the voices in his head felt unmenacing and felt like it came out of a David Lynch film, where nothing made any sense whatsoever.

There are a few times that I have regretted in purchasing films without seeing them first. At least the only positive with this was that the film’s running time was 84 minutes. Dead and Gone is very weird and boring supernatural film that makes me want to bury this film out in the backyard, forever, as this will end up as used copy at some store for eternity, I hope.

Review Rating: Zero Stars

DVD Extras:

Audio Commentary with, Director Yossi Sasson, and Screenwriter Harry Shannon.
Gone with the Dead: The making of Dead and Gone
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
Trailers

Mar Rojo
English Title: Red Sea
Year: 2008
Director: Enrique Alberich
Stars: Maribel Verdu, Alex Brendemuhl, Lucinano Fedrico
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Maverick Home Entertainment
Running Time: 91 Mins
Language: Spanish with English Subtitles
Review Rating: 3.5 Stars

Mar Rojo is about a stripper (Maribel Verdu) who hates hates her job, then one day she finds a million euros that were stolen in a botched bank robbery right on her lap. She then has to go on the run when a group of bad guys want the money for themselves. The woman realizes that having that money can be very dangerous. In order to get out of this mess alive, she must live a life of secrets, murder and hiding, while keeping the money for herself.

After being tortured, with the last two films (Joke’l: the Curse of the Weeping Woman, Mad Bad) that I’ve reviewed from Maverick Home Entertainment, I had little expectations with this film even though that the film stared the very talented Maribel Verdu, who was in both Pan’s Labyrith and Y Tu Mama Tiembien. Surprisingly this was a nice little drama.

Mar Rojo is a very entertaining thriller. Director, Enrique Alberich’s direction was good. I liked how, he keeps the pace of the film movie while creating a dark and bleak tone to it. He maintains that, by making the film’s dark tone consistent though out, as doesn’t turns this into one of those shoot em up films. One of the strong points of the film was Alberich’s direction of the actors. He’s very good at making sure that the performances stay accordingly to the film’s dark tone. Maribel Verdu turns in a very good performance here, not her best but still good. I liked how she was able to make her character interesting by making he character feel like someone, who is having a hard time to survive, by doing a job that she doesn’t like and being on the run from the people who want that money badly.

The screenplay written by Joan Miguel Hernandez Gascon and Juan M. Hernandez Gascon was a little surprising, as I was expecting more of an action film instead of a drama, but still it was good. I liked how they opted to use more storytelling instead of writing a script where there’s a lot of action. It helps go into the characters, instead of just blowing things up, which they could have choose, but luckily opted for more development. The character development was for the most part good. The screenwriters do a good job focusing on the main characters struggles and the relationship between her and the restaurant owner that persists within the film. The screenplay also had some interesting subplots that helped keep my interest, when the action lacked.

Mar Rojo is a dark and sexy thriller that has good performances and a story that keeps the suspense up.

DVD Extras:

Trailers

Poison Sweethearts
Year: 2008
Directors: Andy Campbell, Luke Campbell
Stars: Ashleigh Holeman, Roza Haidet, James L. Edwards
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Tempe Entertainment / Compound Pictures
Running Time: 70 Mins
Review Rating: 3 Stars
Official Website: http://www.poisonsweethearts.com/

Poison Sweethearts takes place on the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, where the women are always being bullied and have their backs against the wall. Now they are seeking revenge from the men that are abusing them. The film follows a woman forced to work for a greedy pimp, a teenager that falls for two break dancers that she meets in the park, a librarian who dreams of something better than her job, a housewife who feels neglected by her husband, and a woman who has no freedom because she has to take care for her alcoholic father. These are blood-soaking tales that are examples of what could happen if women are pushed too far.

At least this film, unlike the last film I reviewed (Mad Bad) lived up to the it’s tagline, which is for this film “Women…who can’t take it anymore!” I’m warning you, if you are looking for a scary film that has an abundant amount of gore then this is defiantly not a film for you. But if you looking a psychological/weird and eerie grindhouse type film then this is just the film for you.

Poison Sweetheart is a film really shows off to what a grindhouse film is. Directors Luke and Andy Campbell do a very good job with their direction of the film. I liked how they filmed this film. They used two different types of film cameras. They used the digital cameras for the each of the six stories in the film while using a 16mm camera for the interludes between each story. It gave off that low budget/grindhouse feel to the film that the filmmaker were trying to create. The acting for the most part was good, even thought there were a couple of performances that felt amateurish.

The screenplay written by Andy Campbell and Jason Bullis was good. One of the things that made this film enjoyable was the fact that the screenplay does a good job focusing on the main characters of each of the six stories. They do that by having the main character act as the narrator for the story, as it went into the character’s state of mind. It also helped cover up some of the low production value that this film had. I like also liked how the writers wrote the interludes to each of the stories, as it tries to bring a psychological element to the film. If this had one problem, it was the fact that it wasn’t scary, as the kills didn’t give you that creepy feeling that you need for a horror film. They felt kind of dry and unenergetic. But still this didn’t affect my enjoyment of the film to the point that I hated it.

Poison Sweethearts will make you think twice before messing with a girl.

DVD Extras:

Audio Commentary from Luke and Andy Campbell
Unfinished Scenes from the 2002 version
3 Music Videos
Theatrical and Teaser Trailers
Theatrical Trailer for “Cordoba Nights”

Mad Bad
Year: 2008
Director: John Keeyes
Stars: Denton Blane Everett, Vincent Riverside, Landon Dunning
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Maverick Home Entertainment
Running Time: 95 Mins
Review Rating: 1 Star

(Please note this is an Advance Review)

Mad Bad is the latest film from director John Keeyes. The film is about an ex-con who returns to repair his life after he spent time in jail. He soon finds out that life on the outside is tough when his rock star sister wants nothing to do with him even though he still cares about her. He is soon forced back into a life crime when his sister is desperate for cash, but his past catches up to him when he decides to steal a hitman’s car. Now the hitman wants him dead and is willing to kill anyone in his way to find him. Now the ex-con has to find away out of this mess before he gets every one he loves killed.

When I got the chance to review this film, I was so excited for three reasons. First, the trailer for this film looked like a Quentin Tarantino film. Second, the film’s tagline was “A Rockstar… A Gangster… A Car Thief .” And finally this film was directed by John Keeyes, who directed the American Nightmare and Suburban Nightmare. It looked good on paper but this film is sadly a total and utter failure, as this felt like an MTV film.

Mad Bad is one of the most boring Tarantino clones out there today. Director John Keeyes’s direction was flat through out the film. One of the film’s main problems was its direction. The pace of this film was so slow. Some of it had to do with his direction of the actors. The performances from the actors were not energetic. It is something that is needed for these types of films, as this was supposed to be a Tarantino knockoff, not a snooze fest. Also, Keeyes over directs his actors here, especially the gangster in the film, as some of his dialogue (which I’ll talk about in minute) and the way the actor delivers it comes off as too whiny, not tough.

The main problem with this film was its screenplay. The screenplay written by Chip Joslin and Jason Kabolan was also bad. When you do a film like this, you have to make sure that there is enough action along with a story for the film screenplay to be good. This film felt like it had no action whatsoever and whenever it had action, it goes back to a boring subplot that slows the film down. The screenplay also didn’t favor by its development of its characters or the action that was going on. First off, I did not care for any of these characters. The reason for that was the backstory wasn’t developed well, as they could have gone more into the characters; instead we are treated to boring subplots that were badly written, as the dialogue felt stale and some of scene felt like filler scenes so they could pad a respectable running time. Also, this film didn’t have enough action. I don’t know what the screenwriters were doing with the action scenes, but it felt watered down to the point that I thought was watching a TV movie.

When thinking of seeing Mad Bad, don’t let the box cover fool you, as this is very boring and dull crime film.

Mad Bad hit DVD shelves tomorrow.

Here’s a couple of Direct to DVD Reviews that are hitting stores today.

The Planet
Year: 2008
Director: Mark Stirton
Stars: Mike Mitchell, Patrick Wight, Scott Ironside
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: MTI Home Entertainment
Running Time: 69 Mins
Review Rating: 3.5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.stirtonproductions.com/ThePlanet_front.htm


The Planet is about a group of mercenaries who crashed landed on a distant planet and are forced to abandon their spaceship. Things don’t get better for the soldiers, as they soon discover that something is stalking them. What they discover is a mysterious force that turns the souls of their soldiers against them. Soon they’re not a fight for their own lives but the lives of every one in the entire universe.

The Planet is an action-packed science fiction film. Director Mark Stirton does a very good keeping the action and the suspense up. His direction of the actors was very good. Stirton made sure that his actors have had chemistry with each other. That was needed to build chemistry, since the actors are with each other for most of the film. The film also has some very good special effects, especially with the beginning of the film, which set the tone for it.

The screenplay also written by Stirton was good for the most part. The story was developed very well, as the action didn’t feel rushed. He doesn’t rush the action, as Stirton instead, focuses on the story and the strange happenings on the planet, which makes for a better movie. Another thing, he does with the screenplay is focus on the struggles of the soldiers instead of blowing things up all the time. The only problem that I had with the screenplay was the fact that it was too short, as the film’s running time was only 69 minutes. He could have used more time to develop these characters, as they were interesting, but I can understand since this is a low-budget film.

The Planet is an action packed science fiction film that packs a lot of power.


DVD Extras:

Crisis Management - The Making of the Planet
Trailers


CarBabes
Year: 2008
Director: Nick Fumia, Chris Wolf
Stars: Ben Savage, John Gries, Carolina Garcia
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Studio: Vivendi Visual Entertainment / Radio London Films
Running Time: 90 Mins
Review Rating: 3 Stars
Official Website: http://www.carbabesthemovie.com/


Carbabes is about recent college graduate Ford Davis (Ben Savage) who ends up working for father as a used car salesman after not trying hard to find a real job. Soon, he realizes that being a car salesman is not that easy as the job can be very chaotic. Now, along with a couple of fellow car salesmen and his beautiful hot girlfriend, Davis must take on a scheming boss (John Gris) and a mobile-home tycoon who’s out take his fathers business and leave him jobless again.

This is one of those types of films that I thought I was going to put on my worst films of 2008 list from the first five minutes alone. But surprisingly Carbabes is a decent and good film. Directors Nick Fumia and Chris Wolf did a solid job with directing, as the film for the most part didn’t feel like an MTV music video. They also did a good job directing the actors. The actor’s performances were good enough to keep my interest. There’s also a very good supporting performance from

John Gries (Napoleon Dynamite) as he made character one of those odd character villians that you see in comedy films. He’s a very underrated actor, in my opinion.

The screenplay that was written by Fumiam, Wolf, and Blake Dirickson was solid at best. The screenplay has some problems including some of the humor. The humor was okay. There were some parts that I found funny and others felt boring at times. Also, I thought that some of the characters were annoying and uninteresting. But the reason I liked it was with the fact that it developed its subplots. They were interesting and entertaining like the relationship between both Savage and Garcia’s characters. If that plot line didn’t work for me then this film would have gone downhill in a hurry to the point where I wouldn’t have been interested in anything else that happened. The reason I felt that way is, because if your screenplay doesn’t have an interesting main sub plot when the film is so-so then you’re not going to care about, so that why that plot line kept my interest and saved it for me.

Carbabes is definitely not a used film, as it was funny and entertaining at times.

DVD Extras:

Screen Tests
Original Theatrical Trailer
Trailers

Making of the Music for Carbabes.

Transformation: The Life and the Legacy of Werner Erhard
Year: 2008
Director: Robyn Symon
Stars: Werner Erhard
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Screen Media Films
Running Time: 77 Mins
Review Rating: 3.5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.transformationfilm.com/



Transformation: The Life and the Legacy of Werner Erhard have played in festivals such as the Atlanta Film festival and the Palm Beach Film Festival. The documentary focuses on the life of Werner Erhard, who was the pioneer of the multi-billion personal growth industry. Transformations: goes into his life that he lived when he became an icon in his field during the 1970’s and 1980. The film also will give an insight into his way of thinking and the controversial program that he developed known as the est that would make him a pioneer. The film also features interviews from his peers, experts, family members and his doubters.

Transformation: The Life and the Legacy of Werner Erhard is a very interesting look at one of the controversial figures of the personal growth industry. Warner Erhard was an interesting subject for a person who is not familiar with him, like myself. Director Robyn Symon does a good profiling this person, as I was interested in his story. He makes the focal point of the film about Erhard's EST training program, which is good for the person, like myself, who was not familiar with this person. Symon spends time interviewing various people who went thought his training, which provided some interesting insight into the positives and negatives on it. He also gets the critics perspective from it, so that both sides are represented. If there was one problem that I had with EST training part of the film was that it didn't focus on the training's origins. It would have been nice to have known, as it would have given a better understanding to what he was trying to accomplish.

What makes this very interesting was the fact the Symon spends time on the personal life of Warner Erhart. That's what made this film for me. He does a good job exploring the troubles in his life. The stories were very interesting which really went into the person from the personal problems in his marriage to the media painting him as a very bad and greedy person. It made the film very interesting, as you got to know the subject. You also see that he not that bad person that people paint him out to be. Symon also focuses on the people who were influenced by him. He does that so you know that his legacy and various works still lives on today.

Transformation: The Life and the Legacy of Werner Erhard is a very interesting look at the controversy and person that created one the most controversial training programs ever.

DVD Extras:

Behind the Scenes Featurette
Extended Footage of Erhard Delivering the est Training


Crime Fiction
Year: 2007
Director: Will Slocombe
Stars: Jonathan Eliot, Christian Stolte, Amy Sloane
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Anthem Pictures
Running Time: 81 Mins
Review Rating: 2 Stars
Official Website: http://www.crimefictionpictures.com/



Crime fiction played at the 2007 Slamdance Film festival. The film is about a copy editor who always dreams of becoming a big time author. He is upset that his girlfriend is getting a lot of publicity for her work and his agent dumped him after his first book got negative reviews. Things get worse for him when his girlfriend ended up dead under the bedroom window in his apartment. Soon this inspires him to write a pulp novel that he thinks will make him famous, but this lead him into a world of murder, betrayal, and unthinkable fortunes.

There are some festival films that are so enjoyable to watch and there are that are not, this film here was not enjoyable for the most part. Writer/ Director Will Slocombe didn’t have it for this film. First the negatives, the main reason why this film wasn’t good, was the fact that the main character in the film was uninteresting. The main character comes off more of a depressed geek than a credible author. It was one of those characters that you were waiting for something awful to happen to him. Also, the screenplay wasn’t that great even though the last twenty minutes was good, which I talk about in a bit. There were too many gaps in the film in which I felt nothing was happening with the development of the main character, as the film became boring.

There are also a few positives with the film. For instance, the film was shot very well, like a pulp film, but without an interesting main character. Also, what saved this from being totally bad was the last twenty minutes or so. I was expecting the movie to end predictably but I have to give Solcombe credit, he goes for the total opposite here. Even thought it didn’t save the film for me, still that turn was good to save it a little bit.

Crime Fiction is a dull film that won’t make anyone’s bestsellers list.

DVD Extras:

Trailers:
Crime Fiction
9/11: Pane to War
Ghost Encounters
Dead Moon Rising

Photos
Press Kit.

Military Intelligence And You!
Year: 2008
Director: Dale Kutzera
Stars: Patrick Muldoon, Elizabeth Bennett, John Rixey Moore
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Running Time: 78 Minutes
Review Rating: 3.5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.militaryintelligenceandyou.com/

Military Intelligence and You! is a spoof that the army is embarrassed to show you. This film is a spoof of training films that were made in World War II. It also contains footage The film is about military analyst Major Nick Reed (Patrick Muldoon (Melrose Place, Starship Troopers) who is a very dedicated solider who is called in during a crises during World War II to find a hidden Nazi base fighter base that is taking out all the American air supports. Things get little complicated for him, when he has a chance encounter with his former love (Elizabeth Bennet (Point Pleasant)) that also works for the military as lieutenant along with her current love interest. Does Major Reed find the hidden base, stop the Nazi’s and reconnect with his former love. Well you have to watch this movie to find out. John Rixey Moore, Mackenzie Astin (The Last Days of Disco, The Evening Star) and Eric Jungmann also costar.

Military Intelligence and You! is a very solid spoof of army intelligence. Writer/Director Dale Kutzera made this spoof entertaining by focusing on the spoof of old training films than trying to clutter every thing that has happened in other movies of this type that make fun of celebrities, who are in the news often for the stupid and annoying things they do, like the film that I will never see, Meet the Spartans or Epic Movie, for example. I liked, how he films this like a regular recruitment film from the World War II era with the grainy picture and the high-pitched narration. That helped the film achieve, what it was set out to do. Another thing that I liked about this was the inclusion of old vintage military film which sell the film’s time period and story. Kutzera’s direction of the actors was good, even though some of the scenes were overacted, but that gets a pass, as those scenes were purposely part of the spoof.

Kutzera’s screenplay was good for the most part, as this was one of the better spoofs that I’ve seen in a while even though that isn’t saying very much. He succeeds with this spoof by focusing on the different aspects of the military through the various characters in the film. Kutzera also spoofs at classic love stories of that time with one of the subplots in the film where the two main characters haven’t meet in a while which was also good. The humor in this film was good because Kutzera doesn’t go for the over the top gross out humor that has plagued many of these films instead focuses on good solid humor.

Military Intelligence and You! is a very funny at look at the army that we all love and know.

DVD Extras:

US Army Air Force’s first motion pictures unit documentary

I’m Anthony Thurber and welcome to my new column on Filmarcade.net. It’s the Direct to DVD column. This column will appear from time to time here or whenever I feel like it. It’s a column where I might have one, two, or three films reviewed at one time. I usually will not rant here, as I want spotlight the movies not me. What qualifies as a Direct to DVD release to me? Anything that’s distributed by a major company and has not played in my area. Enough with me, here’s my first review for this column.

Country Remedy
A.K.A: Simple Things
Year: 2008
Directors: Andrew C. Erin
Stars: Cameron Bancroft, Amber Benson, Bellamy Young
MPAA Rating: PG
Studio: Screen Media Films
Running Time: 102Mins
Review Rating: 2.5 Stars

Country Remedy follows the story of a big time workaholic doctor (Cameron Bancrofft) from Chicago who wants to get the job of a lifetime. In order for him to get this job, he must spend the summer in a little known town in North Carolina named Dunn’s Rock. He decides to move there with his ten-year old son, so he can advance his career. But he soon begins to realize that there is more important things in life than getting ahead in his profession as he is still hasn’t forgotten about the death of his wife and trying to reconnect with his son. Country Remedy has won the best picture at the 2007 Appalachian Film Festival and 2007 California Independent Film Festival.

Country Remedy is one of those hit or miss films where you enjoyed some parts and was bored at times too. Director Andrew C. Erin does for the most part a good job with the direction. Erin’s direction of the actors was mostly good. He got a good performance from his lead actor Cameron Bancroft, as he made his character interesting, even with the problems this screenplay has, which I’ll get too in a moment. Erin also does a good job capturing the scenery down in North Carolina. It was very scenic and beautifully filmed. Even thought, the screenplay wasn’t good there were a couple of things that I liked. Erin along with screenwriter Peter Ferland does a good job with the development of the main character and the problems that he’s going through. If they did everything else that’s required in a good screenplay then this would have been a good film.

There were problems with this screenplay. First I noticed was that the beginning felt like, it was rushed. It should have spend a little more time in Chicago getting to know the doctor's kid, as the character felt more like an secondary character instead of being one of the leads. Second, they really didn’t build up the dramatic moments, as it felt bland at times. It was like the moment was there unexpectedly. It was that for most of the film until the last fifteen minutes of the film. The film also at time felt like it was two different films, with the doctor in one film and his kid in the other film, as they didn’t spend enough time with the two together.

Country Remedy might be a passable film if you’re looking for a film that preaches values but if looking for an enjoyable family film then find something else for you and family would enjoy.

DVD Extras:

Deleted Scenes
Behind the Scenes