Archive for the ‘Fox’ Category
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2010
I’m sure that somewhere inside of Jared Hess’s mind all of this makes perfect sense. I get the feeling that after he completed Gentlemen Broncos the writer/director/producer sat down to a screening with a group of his friends and the congregation rolled in the aisles with laughter. I’m equally sure that when his friends went home they were left scratching their heads. Somewhere in Hollywood a corner drugstore made a killing in aspirin or something stronger. In his own private world, where they all get the joke, Gentlemen Broncos might not be so bad.
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Disc Reviews by Sarah Durr on March 15th, 2010
Possession is a remake of a Japanese thriller called Jungdok (or Addicted). It was also scheduled to be released a year ago, but was pushed because the original distributor went bankrupt. Eventually, after a dozen set backs and push backs of the release date, it was given a straight to DVD release here in the states. Was it worth the wait and hassles?
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 20th, 2010
Steven Seagal plays an LA cop who is forced into early retirement after being betrayed and shot by his partner. After an astounding recovery, which included blasting his partners brains all over the hospital walls (I’m assuming it was part of his rehabilitative therapy), he is hired by an old friend to be the head of security for his friend’s daughter. This family is linked to some bad dudes who are keen on uranium and kidnapping, so Seagal is forced to slowly shoot everyone near him while mumbling something about being a tough guy or whatever.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 15th, 2010
I have absolutely no doubt that Hilary Swank meant well, but we all know what wise men say about good intentions. It is likely that Amelia Earhart has been a hero and inspiration to the young actress as I know she’s been to women of all professions throughout the years. There’s no question that she is an influential historical figure and deserving of attention. Of course, she’s had plenty over the years. There have actually been quite a few films and television shows dedicated to the heroine since her disappearance so many years ago.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2010
“My old man calls space travel a fool’s game. He says human beings are 60 percent water; they eat, sleep, defecate, can’t follow directions, and explode like piñata when exposed to the vacuum in space. Lately, I’ve been wondering if he is right.”
Houston, this is Canaveral. Initiating prelaunch checklist. Please respond go/no go:
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2010
One of the lesser-known, but more visible, provisions of the Obama administration’s stimulus bill is the provision that there must be at least one Sandra Bullock movie in the theatres at all times, regardless of quality. So now, as Bullock collects awards for her turn in the enormously profitable The Blind Side, here is the summer’s offering making its home video debut. Our heroine this time around is a deeply eccentric crossword creator whose social skills are somewhere south of Pee-Wee Herman’s. Her parents set her up on a blind date with TV news cameraman Bradley Cooper. She is immediately smitten. He is immediately terrified. He heads out on the road, working with reporter Thomas Haden Church. Faster than you can say “restraining order,” Bullock takes off after him. Cue the merry cross-country picaresque chase.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2010
It’s about time that The Simpsons has made it to Blu-ray and high definition. There’s plenty of room on the couch as we welcome Homer, Bart, Marge, Maggie, and the whole town of Springfield to the brighter, more detailed world of high definition. You might be asking yourself: Why should we spend extra bucks to watch a simple cartoon on Blu-ray? That’s a good question. The simple answer is that you just should. The longer answer follows.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2010
“… It is a dark time for the rebellion. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the Galaxy. But, you know this story…”
Know this story, you do. It’s the opening of the second, or actually the 5th in sequence, but it is the second one made, unless you count… Never mind. This is the prologue to The Empire Strikes Back, more commonly referred to the 2 hour trailer for Return Of The Jedi. Not so long ago in this Galaxy, Family Guy took a shot across the bow of those Imperial Cruisers with its extremely funny and on the spot spoof of the first Star Wars film
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 11th, 2010
“Every day I get letters. I think I get more letters than Santa Claus, Zac Efron, and Dr. Phil combined. I’m kinda the shit. Sometimes the letters are from people who say they are praying for me. They tell me everything will be OK if I just accept Jesus Christ into my heart. I say the words, but nothing ever happens. Nobody comes back. Nobody gets off the cross.”
There hasn’t been this much hype for a mainstream horror film in quite a long time that I can recollect. Certainly, quite a few have created more buzz after their release and subsequent box office power
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 11th, 2010
If you are looking for some kind of logical sequel to the WWE film The Marine which starred wrestler John Cena, you will be greatly disappointed. The film doesn’t even feature the same character. There is absolutely nothing about this film that connects it to the original beyond the name. The WWE doesn’t even use one of its bigger names in this film. While I have heard of Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase, Jr., I was not aware that he had a son who has followed his footsteps into the wrestling arena. I would suspect that Ted DiBiase, Jr. is a name only known to the fans who follow the WWE.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 6th, 2010
It would appear that Michael Landon, Jr. is attempting to cash in on his late father’s Little House On The Prairie appeal. He is one of the driving forces behind this series of made for television films. He has directed several of them and serves as an executive producer on them all. He has also been involved with some of the writing on the series. They are based on a series of books written by Janette Oke. They follow three generations of women in the days of the Western frontier. When I say that Landon is spending on his father’s legacy, you need look no further than the common elements of the films themselves to understand how I come to that conclusion.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 11th, 2009
“Veridian Dynamics: every day something we make, makes your life better. Power? We make that. Technology? We make that. Cows? Well, no, we don’t make cows. Although we have made a sheep, and medicine, and airplane engines and whatever this is and all sorts of things. Veridian Dynamics: every day we make something that makes your life better … usually.”
Ted Crisp (Harrington) works as the head of research and development for Veridian Dynamics. They’re a global technology company with the motto: “Money before people”.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 8th, 2009
“When the lights go off the battle is on.”
Sequels are a dangerous business. They’ve gotten the best of some of the biggest heroes. Just ask Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, or Neo. Expectations are always going to be high. You’ve already shown us what you can do. We assume you did your best on the original film, now go and do better. Often filmmakers interpret this mandate to just make it bigger. More explosions and hard hitting action and special effects. They tend to remember everything but the story. I’m happy to say that Night At The Museum refused to fall into that trap.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 8th, 2009
Things are tough all over. It seems that even the television networks aren’t immune to the growing trend of cutting back. Fox decided that the answer was Bogota, Colombia. No, they didn’t turn to the cocaine market. They all tried that in the 70’s and we ended up with Joannie Loves Chachi. This time Bogota is an option for producing new television shows. The idea is that you can take an American cast, with a token Brit in this case, and ship them off to Columbia to do the show on the cheap. The good news is that you can hire crew for six bucks a day. The bad news is that the show ends up looking like it cost about six bucks
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 19th, 2009
“It’s almost Christmas. Get into the spirit.”
Ever wonder what the kids of South Park might be like if they ever made it to adulthood? While I’ve not seen that many episodes of the FX series It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, that was the first observation that came to mind. These are the South Park kids all grown up. They’re crude, raunchy, mean, and most importantly, they are as politically incorrect as ever. If you need an example, I can offer one right from this episode.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 16th, 2009
This is the fifth of seven seasons, so we are well into the series. Its groundbreaking nature (an unmarried, professional woman as a central character) has obviously long since ceased to be a novelty, and the show is, by this point in its existence, what one might call a fixture. This is merely by way of observation, and not a criticism, because the writing remains as strong as ever, and the show has stood up well to the test of time. Not every joke is a winner, of course, and there are plenty of situations whose outcomes are visible a mile off. So name the sitcom for which this isn’t true. But it was the characters more than anything else that won audiences over, and the terrific chemistry of eccentricity and camaraderie is very much in evidence here. A good example of that camaraderie is in “The Outsider,” where a consultant is brought in to boost the ratings, and disrupts the easy functioning of the newsroom by imposing all sorts of unpopular changes. The wrap-up, which emphasizes humanity over ratings, is typical of the show’s philosophy and spirit.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2009
I’ve often spent a lot of time talking about how Pixar has dominated the computer animation, at least as far as full length features go. With few exceptions there isn’t anything out there that even comes close. Most films rely on toilet humor and crude innuendo to get a few laughs. A lot of the kids and adults might suck that stuff up, but they can’t hold a candle to Pixar. There are, as I’ve mentioned, some quite notable exceptions. The Fox Blue Sky Studios has had enormous success with their Ice Age films. And when you take a look at the third and latest entry in that franchise, you’ll understand why.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 3rd, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
If you were to take the movie Kill Bill, mix it with the Karate Kid, and then put it into animation form, the end result would be Chop Socky Chooks.
Featuring 13 of the most wackiest adventures and martial arts mayhem that one has ever seen, volume one of Chop Socky Chooks shows three chickens Chick P, KO Joe and Chuckie Chan “battling virtual villains, karaoke crazies, rogue robots, prehistoric predators and even fast-food fiends” all in hopes to save Wasabi World from the powers that be.
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Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 30th, 2009
It is true, I’m not a big fan of lawyer shows. A long time ago when I was about twelve years old, my future vocation wish was to become a lawyer. I visited lawyers, I talked to them for what seemed like hours. Except it wasn’t hours at all, it was more like thirty minutes. My realization then was that I wasn’t cut out for the business and went into what I do now. However, after watching Ally McBeal for a season of episodes, I come to the realization that I’m so very glad that I didn’t stick around.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2009
This time it’s a quad of whitewater rafters looking for some high adrenalin action. It doesn’t take long before they’re introduced to our favorite clan of cannibals and their arrows. This one doesn’t waste any time with a setup. You know what that title represents, and the filmmakers decide to give you what you want with no delay. Okay. Actually the raft trip IS the setup here. As the rafters escape into the woods, we just know they’re going to run into those snares and traps. And there you won’t be disappointed.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2009
“It’s the end of the world. Society is in chaos. Government’s no longer in control. The world has been devastated by a catastrophic disaster, but you’re still alive. Overnight, you’ve been thrown back into the Stone Age. Modern conveniences are a thing of the past. Would you have the guts to survive? Welcome to the Apocalypse. Over the next 5 days contestants will be put to the ultimate test. These 6 contestants have been thrown together in a devastated wasteland with only the clothes on their backs and the will to survive. Rain or shine, in 5 days only one will be alive.”
At least they got the last part right. That’s the premise of the new reality show Ultimate Survivalist. Reality star Kimberly Caldwell is racing to join the cast of the new pilot.
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Disc Reviews by Tom Buller on October 22nd, 2009
I guess they didn’t tell the producer and director of Wrong Turn that an official remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be gracing the screens in October of 2003. This movie borrows very heavily from the horror classic in terms of the setup, the killers, and the level of gore. Now that being said, this is an above average horror film with excellent makeup and special effects delivered by one of Hollywood’s greatest – Stan Winston,
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Disc Reviews by Chelsea Quinn on October 9th, 2009
The Strawberry Shortcake Movie: Sky’s the Limit definitely surprised me. As I turned this 96-minute movie on I expected to be bombarded with female stereotypes: flowers, butterflies, and the color pink. Though Strawberry didn’t fail to deliver these dainty, feminine elements, it also offered six very strong and independent female characters.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2009
“I’m the best there is at what I do and what I do isn’t very nice.”
So what do you do after three successful, if not critically acclaimed, X-Men feature films that brought in over a billion dollars total when you factor in domestic and foreign box office and home video sales? It was getting a bit expensive to bring back such a large and growing in popularity cast. Even if you wanted to spend the money for such an ensemble, it gets awfully difficult to write effectively for so many characters at once. Someone’s going to get the dark end of the spotlight. Hurt feelings aside, you can’t continue to please such a wide diverse group of fans.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2009
Claire (Judd) and Tom (Caviezel) appear to have it made. Claire is a successful attorney and Tom is ex-Army. They are happy and very much in love, trying to have their first child. Suddenly while out on the town an FBI SWAT team surrounds them on the street at Union Square. Tom is taken into custody. Claire soon discovers that Tom wasn’t the man she thought he was. In fact, his name isn’t even Tom. He is Sergeant Ron Chapman, and he’s been a fugitive for 12 years, wanted by the Army for murder. Now the military court is seeking the death penalty. He is accused of killing civilians in a raid gone wrong.
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