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Review: ‘White House Down’

Well here is “White House Down,” the third “John McClane” movie of 2013, and they already got beat to the punch by both “Olympus Has Fallen” (a movie for which I remembered so little that I actually had to re-read my own review there as a recap) and an actual John McClane movie in “A Good Day to Die Hard” (which is just about one of the worst movies of the year), and if you really like your “lone guy taking out a team of thieves/mercs in a singular location” movies, this is going to be your best bet.

John McClane stand-in John Cale (Channing Tatum, This is the End, Side Effects) applies for a job at the U.S. Secret Service department, and he brings along his estranged daughter Emily (Joey King, The Dark Knight Rises) to the White House for his interview, scoring her some passes because he knows she is some sort of nut for the White House and its history and he needs to bribe his way back into her life because she’s pissed at him for being a shitty father who put work before parenting (very John McClane-ish of him, by the way, Emily could easily be Lucy McClane, and there’s even the estranged wife so that completes the package).Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 7/1/13 – ‘Quigley Down Under’

So who ordered the Australian-set western starring the mustachioed men? Cause this week the Crespodiso Randomizer 9000 spit out “Quigley Down Under” which means it is time to fire up the barbie, crack open a Fosters (which no one in Australia drinks) and get to watching this western about a crack shot riflemen from America heading to Australia for a job and finding out that he may have to settle some other things while he is there instead (of course with the aid of his custom-made gigantic rifle).

“Quigley Down Under” was actually developed in the late 70s for Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood, but this project fell apart as so many projects do, and while it was subsequently picked up by a very interested Tom Selleck (whom I fully believe is one of the world’s biggest movie stars in a universe parallel to ours), it still took a number of years to get off the ground, finally becoming a reality in 1990, obviously as a different film than the one that was originally conceived. Who knows what the McQueen-Eastwood version would have been like, but we do have a version with Tom Selleck and Alan Rickman, so we can’t really be upset at that, can we?Continue Reading …

#25 – Trivia Madness

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In episode 25 of Cinema Crespodiso, Chris and Drew are joined by trivia master Curtis Earth for a trivia packed show, featuring a very competitive round of Drewster Cogburn versus The World, as well as reviews of White House Down and The Heat and brand new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week Quigley Down Under.

They also talk about Curtis’ past as a movie critic for a radio station and how he segued into the world of trivia.

3D in movies and whether or not we think they are worthwhile in terms of the extra money spent.

Pixar decides to make less sequels and focus on more original movies.

We get our now weekly Terminator 5 update, which includes a release date.

The summer of 2015 is going to jam packed with giant blockbuster sequels and reboots, and Chris has the full rundown.Continue Reading …

‘Realism’ in movies – where is the suspension of disbelief?

It is incredible how often people decry implausibilities in movies, allowing themselves to be drawn out of a movie’s spell by questioning every little thing about a story and how it is presented, declaring a movie to be shit because they “didn’t buy it.” But why does this happen? When did “realism” become so important to movie going audiences? Did we decide that we were all going to stop believing? Who told us that Santa wasn’t real anymore? Why did our balloon pop and how did it happen? What the fuck happened to our childhood?Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 6/24/13 – ‘Man on Wire’

“Man on Wire” is a fantastic documentary about a French mime and juggler and all around lover of life who decided in 1974 to tight-rope walk between two buildings. But not just any two buildings. The still-under-construction World Trade Center towers in New York City. Just look at that poster right there and imagine that’s you, on a high wire, over 1,300 feet in the air, with no net or tether. It’s just you and the wind and God. That’s what this movie is all about.

And it is great! The people involved in pulling off this feat (because it took more than one person) managed to record a good amount of their time and efforts and practices, so we actually get a lot of first hand look at this stuff, and then the whole setting up of the wire in the middle of the night plays out like a heist movie because they didn’t get anyone’s permission to do any of this, they just showed up with equipment and snuck their way up. Crazy.Continue Reading …

#24 – World War Meh

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Stand up comedian and host of El Chupa Podcast Pedro Lima joins Chris and Drew in episode 24, in which they talk about all sorts of movies, movie related stuff and stand up comedy related stuff! Things discussed in this episode include:

The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week – Man on Wire

Pedro reviews Man of Steel

Chris and Drew review World War Z

They talk about Pixar movies in general

Chris, Drew and Pedro talk about the development news on Prometheus 2, Jurassic Park 4, Avengers 2 & 3, the Gremlins reboot and Independence Day 2

Pedro and Drew throw down in a new edition of Drewster Cogburn versus the World, in which Drew takes on Pedro in a game about movie MPAA ratings called “Think of the Children!“Continue Reading …

Review: ‘World War Z’

Have you ever wanted to see a family friendly movie about a world wide zombie outbreak? Because “World War Z” is here and this is the movie for you (and your whole family). If you aren’t into zombie movies that have all that yucky, disgusting gore and blood and viscera and just general horror, yet you always wanted to see a movie featuring Brad Pitt and a bunch of undead ghouls (but you’ve already seen “Interview With a Vampire” and “Thelma & Louise“), then here you go, this movie was made just for you.

“World War Z” centers on ex-United Nations something or other Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt, Megamind) in Philadelphia, starting another typical day with his family, making breakfast for his wife and two young daughters, so on and so forth, and while sitting in traffic on their way into the city, oh yeah, zombie apocalypse happens. It’s not like it comes completely out of nowhere, as the movie does start with Gerry watching a news broadcast about strange and violent events popping up all around the world, but there was no reason to think that this strange mysterious thing would come to their doorstep so quickly, whatever it was (it was zombies).

So the movie starts with Gerry navigating his family safely during the first hours of a zombie apocalypse, and then hooking up with an old UN buddy who gets him to investigate the source of the outbreak so they could isolate it and find a vaccine. And off Gerry goes, traversing around the world, chasing little clues and rumors, trying to find a way to save the world. Sounds epic, doesn’t it?Continue Reading …

Talking Trailers: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’

What in the what is this? Martin Scorsese seems determined to show that he can still bring the crazy movie making chops in his golden years, and it looks like he wants to show the young whipper snappers where its at. So here comes “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s fifth collabo, and they don’t look like they want to slow down.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘This is the End’

Well if you ever wanted to see a meta horror-comedy set during a biblical apocalypse, have I got a treat for you. “This is the End” is from writer/director duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad) and features a bevy of young actors and comedians playing themselves, and yes it is as weird as it sounds, but does it work?

The movie starts with Seth Rogen picking up Jay Baruchel (Cosmopolis) from the airport so they can spend a weekend hanging out together in Los Angeles, what with them being old Canadian friends and all, but while Jay wants to hang back at Seth’s place and just shoot the shit with his buddy, Seth wants to go to a house warming party thrown by James Franco (Oz The Great and Powerful, Pineapple Express). Jay gives in and they head over to a wild party at Franco’s, which really gets crazy when some insane shit starts going down, resulting in massive amounts of deaths, fires, brimstone and other just wild shit.

None of said wild insane and wild shit will be disclosed here because you might as well just see this thing for yourself. Suffice to say, the cast gets whittled down to Seth, Jay and Franco along with Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street), Danny McBride (Pineapple Express) and Craig Robinson (Pineapple Express), and really the story is all about how Seth and Jay have grown apart and need to man up and confront this issue between them lest their friendship die. And what better time to question one’s friendship with a dude than during the apocalypse?Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Man of Steel’

In what now appears to be something of a “love it or hate it” scenario, the first Superman movie in seven years has arrived to much buzz and fanfare, and it has divided the critics right down the middle, while delighting the majority of audiences who have seen it so far. It’s an origin story all over again, the same one we’ve known since the Big Blue Boy Scout debuted in 1938, an origin that was pulled from the same old messianic stories that have been told for centuries and centuries, just with different twists and spins and new flavors. So how was the spin on this one? How does “Man of Steel” separate itself from not only other Superman movies, but from comic book movies and origin stories in general?Continue Reading …