Ryan Vincent

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—Warner Brothers
Ryan Vincent  |  Jul 12, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 4
When a movie is rated PG for "quirky situations," that alone should build curiosity. Throw in another perfect team-up between director Tim Burton, star Johnny Depp, and composer Danny Elfman, plus story by Roald Dahl, and you've got a visual and musical delight for young and old. Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore, who starred in Finding Neverland with Depp) has lived in the shadow of the Wonka Chocolate Factory all of his short life, yearning to see inside. Willy Wonka's desire to find an heir to his empire causes him to hide golden tickets in five Wonka bars, which are sent around the world. The children who discover the tickets will be admitted entry into the factory, along with one guardian. Charlie, the fittingly pale, poor, and very kind British lad that he is, finds the last golden ticket. Along with his grandfather and the other winners, Charlie goes on a wondrous tour of the chocolate factory up the hill, learning about its secrets, including the Oompa-Loompas, the miniature muscles behind the factory.
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The Squid and the Whale Special Edition—Sony Pictures
Ryan Vincent  |  Feb 02, 2007  |  Published: May 02, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 4
A friend’s mom had told him to see writer-director Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, which is about a family splitting apart with two boys that are years apart. I thought her recommendation very odd since this situation mirrored my friend’s family in high school. But now it makes perfect sense, as no other film encapsulates as well the black comedy that is divorce.
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Roll Bounce—20th Century Fox
Ryan Vincent  |  Apr 20, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 4
To blast off his 1970s roller-boogie film, director Malcolm D. Lee (Undercover Brother) chose R&B hits like Parliament's "Flashlight," Bill Withers' "Lovely Day," and Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Superman Lover." But that is early in Roll Bounce, when our heroes are rulers of the South-side Chicago roller rink that they call home. As that arena has closed, Xavier aka "X" (Bow Wow) and his friends travel to the cool kids' rink, Sweetwater, where disco reigns. While hormones rage, X and his crew of underprivileged adolescent misfits try to make Sweetwater their own. The jarring musical shift into disco reflects the boys' alienation, but the South-siders keep on moving, which is what this coming-of-age/roller-disco/dance-off spectacular will make you want to do.
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Midnight Cowboy Collector's Edition—MGM/UA
Ryan Vincent  |  Apr 20, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 4
Upon hitting play on the Midnight Cowboy Collector's Edition DVD, the first thing you'll notice is that this movie, which famously became the only X-rated Best Picture Oscar winner, has now been rated R. But time has done nothing to fade how interesting and powerful it is.
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The 40-Year-Old Virgin Unrated—Universal
Ryan Vincent  |  Apr 05, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
Forty-year-old retail employee Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) loves sci-fi, comic books, video games, magic, and action figures, but, alas, he's given up on loving women. After he is unable to come up with a convincing tale of sexual conquest for his coworkers, they form a mission: get this geek laid.
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MirrorMask—Sony Pictures
Ryan Vincent  |  Apr 05, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 5
Leaving my first theatrical viewing of MirrorMask, I was reminded of the dream sequence in the middle of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, where Salvador Dali was given carte blanche to design a surrealist dream. It's a great sequence. Sixty years later, a top-notch visual artist and an accomplished storyteller had the limitless potential of computer-generated imagery at their disposal. It's as if Dali had been given today's technology, but, instead of melting clocks and big crutch-like sticks, there's Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman's lexicon of sphinxes, monkey-birds, and fish.
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Bad News Bears Special Collector's Edition—Paramount
Ryan Vincent  |  Apr 06, 2007  |  Published: Mar 06, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
On the Bad News Bears DVD, cowriter Glenn Ficarra says, "I think the way you remake a classic is not to change it too much." Apparently, director Richard Linklater agreed, as the 2005 movie is a near scene-for-scene remake of the 1976 version, and not for the better. But it does serve a purpose—to let the audience appreciate just how great the original is.
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Grizzly Man—Lions Gate
Ryan Vincent  |  Apr 06, 2007  |  Published: Mar 06, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 2
Naturalist Timothy Treadwell wanted to become one with nature, and, in a way, he did. Having lived amongst dangerous grizzly bears over 13 summers in Alaska, he—along with his girlfriend—was eventually mauled and eaten by one of them.
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Wedding Crashers—New Line
Ryan Vincent  |  Jan 30, 2006  |  0 comments
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 4
What Harold and Maude was to funerals, Wedding Crashers is to nuptials. A rollicking buddy comedy that spearheaded the great "Return of the R-Rated Comedies" campaign of 2005, this Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn team-up proved to be a true word-of-mouth box-office success. Besides wonderful comedic chemistry between Wilson and Vaughn and the writing's total immersion in sexual frankness (e.g., "Why don't you go enjoy yourself while I go ice my balls and spit up blood?"), David Dobkin's assured pacing and direction won over audiences with both the film's infectious energy and the sincerity of the romantic subplot.
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Robots—20th Century Fox
Ryan Vincent  |  Dec 01, 2005  |  Published: Dec 16, 2005  |  0 comments
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 4
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