Posted in Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on October 31st, 2011
“In a blaze of blood, bones, and body parts, the vivacious young girl was instantly reduced to a tossed human salad… a salad that police are still trying to gather up… a salad that was once named Elizabeth.”
Ah, there is nothing that can bring an exploitation movie alive like the unhinged imagination of Frank Henenlotter.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 30th, 2011
The Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) has made a tidy living preaching the Gospel and working his specialty: exorcisms. But he has lost his faith and, along with it, his willingness to fleece the gullible. He does, however, acknowledge that an exorcism can prove psychologically beneficial if the recipient believes in the ceremony. All that said, Marcus wants out of the business, but he takes on One Last Case, and a film crew tags along with him to the backwoods (where else?), where the devout Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum) is convinced that his daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) is possessed. Marcus slips into his routine, but soon discovers that there is is much more afoot here than he could have imagined.
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Posted in News and Opinions, Release Announcements, The Reel World by William O'Donnell on October 30th, 2011
The Toronto After Dark film festival has left it’s claw marks all over the Big Smoke and in the fallout, audiences were floored by two feature length delights by Canadian film collective ASTRON-6. Father’s Day, a revenge tale about a vigilante group tracking a “father-rapist,” and Manborg, a lo-fi, sci-fi epic about a cybernetically altered soldier facing the forces of Hell in the future, both made their Canadian theatrical premieres at TAD and have been receiving not but rave reviews since.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on October 29th, 2011
“Do you want to paaarrrty!”
If one loves zombies, one loves The Return of the Living Dead. This wonderful, unofficial sequel to Night of the Living Dead seamlessly combined horror and comedy in a way that has rarely been achieved. I would say the only other movie which did that as well was An American Werewolf in London. I had often heard stories in interviews about the insane experience making this movie was, but never knew the whole story. Or should I say stories?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 29th, 2011
Season 2 of the Tyler Perry-created series continues misadventures of Leroy Brown (David Mann), who, last season, opened up a seniors’ residence. This season has all the characters firmly in place, and the stage is set for no end of misguided schemes and misunderstandings, all of which conclude with lessons learned and heartstrings tugged.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2011
Ken Burns has achieved a rare feat in the world of filmmaking: he makes clean, concise, uncontroversial documentaries and yet has somehow become a household name, or as close as any documentarian can get in this society. It also depends, I suppose, on the ratio your household’s television is tuned in to PBS compared to, say, Spike TV.
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Posted in Random Fun by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2011
Director Declan O’Brien created the right recipe for the gut wrenching blood-oozing tale that follows a group of friends that decide to go snowboarding during their winter break.
They make the ‘Wrong Turn’ and end up getting lost in a deadly storm with killers in their midst.
Just in time for Halloween, our new ‘WRONG TURN 4: Bloody Beginnings Cannibal Cookbook’ is now available via Cookbook
where you’ll be able to follow an array of gruesome recipes to make something horribly delicious – just be careful not to make the Wrong Turn’ & consume at your own risk!
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2011
In the world of Marvel comics Captain America was indeed the first Avenger, and as the full title implies we’re going quite a way into the past to create this hero. But the first shall be last, and it’s certainly true on this long road to the May 2012 release of The Avengers on film. You see, this is the final piece to the puzzle for that great assembly of heroes. We’ve had two chances to witness both The Hulk and Iron Man and a recent film introduction to Thor. Other characters like Black Widow and Hawk Eye came as guests on the other films. But the introductions are now complete.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2011
“That be the cold hand of fate I feel down my nape.”
With each of the previous Pirates Of Caribbean films pulling in over a billion dollars in total revenue, it was indeed the cold hand of fate that determined the franchise would not end. Like Captain Jack Sparrow himself, this franchise isn’t going to be easy to kill. It’s true that the last two films, the third in particular, were rather universally scorned by the critics. But they still pulled in a boatload of money
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2011
Italian writer and director Giuseppe Tornatore was born in the small village of Bagheria on the island of Sicily in 1956. The life and culture of his home village has had a tremendous influence on his work. Many of his films have an autobiographical nature to them that he takes no pains to disguise. Earlier we reviewed his love letter to movies with Cinema Paradiso, which also took place in Bagheria. This time we explore five decades of life in that same village, known here by its nickname and the title of the film: Baaria.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 28th, 2011
After reviewing the magical 2002 World Series of the Anaheim Angels, it was only appropriate to review a half century of highlights and lowlights from the team’s history. The Angels are not a flashy team, they win with raw talent and a ton of heart. Their success in the 2000’s only came after many years where they floundered and did not meet expectations. Let’s explore the team the Autry’s built. Here are the Los Angeles Angels, now known as the Anaheim Angels.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2011
“The punishment’s gotta fit the crime.”
Believe all of the hype and controversy. In the language of the day The Exterminator was one bad mother. And when I say one bad mother, we’re not talking Casey Anthony. The Exterminator came at the tail end of the era of grindhouse, exploitation, and revenge films. So, how do you close out a memorable era like that?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2011
“Boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Is there anyone out there who hasn’t noticed that William Shatner the actor has become William Shatner the character over the years? Give the man some credit for finding ways to reinvent himself. After Star Trek he was the only actor to find himself another regular television character and shakes the typecasting that most actors in the franchise have been victimized by.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2011
“I’m Rick Harrison, and this is my pawn shop. I work here with my old man and my son, Big Hoss. Everything in here has a story … and a price. One thing I’ve learned after 21 years? You never know what is going to come through that door.”
Remember that PBS show where some old-stuff expert would come to your town and sift through a lot of junk that folks found in their basements or attics?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2011
A while back we ran a contest where we gave away several discs that contained some of the most exciting games in baseball history. These games were released individually as full broadcasts on one DVD. Now A&E has decided to put the collection together in one special sweet baseball collection. Just in time for the dramatic end of this year’s World Series, you now have a chance to stretch more than that seventh inning. You can keep the baseball season going for as long as you like with these classic games.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2011
I can’t help it. Whenever I see David Boreanaz I can’t stop seeing the brooding vampire Angel. It’s not really his fault. This character couldn’t be farther from the Angel character, but that’s what I see. It’s also true that Bones, now entering its sixth season, has been around longer than Angel. It’s also very likely that he now has fans that aren’t even aware of that previous character. It has been quite a few years. I’m usually better at letting go of a character once the show has ended and the actor has moved on.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 26th, 2011
“Now this might be the room of any small boy, but it happens to belong to a boy named Christopher Robin, and like most small boys, Christopher Robin had toy animals to play with. And together they had many remarkable adventures in an enchanted place called The Hundred Acre Wood. But out of all of his animal friends, Christopher Robin’s very best friend was a bear called Winnie The Pooh.”
“Oh Bother”A.A. Milne was quite an eclectic writer. He wrote murder mysteries that even appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. From that fertile mind would also come a place known as the Hundred Acre Wood.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on October 26th, 2011
“People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can’t rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.”
OK, let me get this out of the way. The Crow was a vehicle for Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend and movie star Bruce Lee.
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Posted in Random Fun by Gino Sassani on October 26th, 2011
Another new face in the Pirates franchise is Penelope Cruz who plays Angelica, the daughter of Blackbeard and Captain Jack’s old love. Together they set sail on the latest sea adventure. Continue reading for the full interview with Cruz:
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 26th, 2011
“Contestants are experienced marksmen operating on a closed course. Do not attempt this at home.”
So, just in case you have access to all kinds of firearms and a few spare acres to set up a range, you might want to think twice before trying to reproduce the challenges you’ll find in History’s latest reality show Top Shot. It’s part Survivor and part Big Brother with the added dimension of marksmanship. And, honestly, it’s quite a bit more compelling than either of those shows.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 26th, 2011
“We are pioneers and trailblazers. We fight for freedom. We transform our dreams into the truth. Our struggles will become a nation.”
I was really looking forward to this release. From the moment I was made aware that it was going to be arriving here for review, I made a mental note to put it at the top of my viewing list. Fact is, I’m a history junkie, particularly American history. I taught the subject in AP and honors classes along with American Government and Law for over seven years. The History Channel is also one of my favorite places on the dial.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 25th, 2011
Even though I love the game, I have not watched too much baseball in the last few years. This goes double for games not involving the Philadelphia Phillies. I still keep up with it, still analyze the standings and box scores but for some reason I do not watch as many games as I wish too. The odd thing is when I get sets like the one I’m reviewing today, I am 100% excited. Perhaps it is because I have nothing vested in it. The games are already played, the result is already known, I can simply appreciate the game that way it is supposed to be. The magical game of baseball.
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Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2011
By Natasha Samreny
“Now don’t get me wrong, you’ll see very many impressive things on this tour. But there are no aliens to be found in Area 51.”
The general lies. There are aliens, and when they get loose the reporters are there to catch everything on camera. Good aliens, bad aliens, guns and journalists – all you need for a rockin’ alien movie.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on October 24th, 2011
“l know, it must seem like an eternity, but your eternity is only just beginning. Do you really want to spend it trapped here?”
The woman (Mira Sorvino) arrives at a cabin on a remote island in Oregon. At the cabin waits the ghost (Shane West) standing and staring at the woman as she goes about her daily tasks. She can’t see him, but he subtly makes his presence known. When her boyfriend (Justin Kirk) makes a surprise visit to the island, both the ghost and the woman are put out by his presence. Soon the woman begins behaving irrationally and showing the signs of spiritual oppression and possession.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on October 24th, 2011
“I’m not a doctor. I haven’t been to medical school; I haven’t even been to high school.”
A beautiful and moving film based on John Irving’s best-selling American classic The Cider House Rules deals with sensitive and controversial subject matters wrapped inside a captivating coming-of-age story. John Irving had second thoughts about trimming his huge novel into a two-hour film and only agreed to adapt the screenplay after the studio agreed to allow his son, Colin Irving, to be in the movie (He plays Major Winslow in a small role as a notifying officer delivering bad news).
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