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Viva La Bam – Volume 1 (UMD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 10th, 2006

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When MTV picked up The Tom Green Show, they opened the floodgates to a whole new (and bizarre) genre of television; reality pranks. “But what about Candid Camera?”, you might ask. That show was close to this genre, but not quite the same. This new breed of prank show takes much more from reality shows such as The Osbourne’s than their earlier counterparts. In these new shows, the prank is not really a one-time event as much as it is a lifestyle. The main target of Bam Margera’s pranks are his loving and amazingly understanding parents.
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Motorcycle Diaries, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 7th, 2006

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The Motorcycle Diaries tells the story of an 8,000 mile trip by either motorcycle (hence the name of the film), raft, truck or foot from Argentina to Peru in the year of 1952. Friends Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Alberto Granado take this journey to travel across the continent. It’s important to note that Ernesto eventually became “Che” Guevara, a man who was involved in the political world. According to wikipedia, “Che” is mostly referred to as a Fidel Castro type figure, which is interesting especially co…
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Simple Life 3 – Interns

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 6th, 2006

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Ever since the original Survivor first became extremely successful, it seemed like every network was trying to get a piece of their own reality television fame. We had FOX give us The Chamber and MTV throw us the Jackass series. One had success while one crashed and burned very quickly. This proved that not every idea would make a successful reality show. Naturally FOX is not one to give up and knew what to do next. Coming off her, probably, un-welcomed fame, Paris Hilton was approached by FOX to…
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Triangle, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 6th, 2006

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Hmm. Another made for television sci-fi series. Most of the recent sci-fi made for television series have been quite disappointing mainly because they usually run too short, are horrible condensed forcing the creators of the show to either A. introduce characters very quickly, B. have extremely poor set design, or C. have another random plot that has been done a million times over. While The Triangle plot is nothing brand new, the director by Craig R. Baxley with production by Bryan Singer (X-Men) and D…
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Robot Chicken, Volume One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 6th, 2006

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One of the great things about television today is the trend of extreme diversification. Where there used to be a specialized channel called ESPN, that has now been broken down into ESPN Deportes, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPN U… the list goes on and on. Whatever your interest, there is a very specialized niche available that it fits into. The nice thing is, all of this specialization has allowed some truly creative (and bizarre) programing to creep out onto the airwaves. Robot Chicken is a great example of this trend…
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Final Destination 3

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on April 5th, 2006

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New Line will release the teen-horror flick Final Destination 3 in separate widescreen and fullscreen “Thrill Ride” Editions on July 25th. Both versions will be include English DTS 6.1 ES, Dolby Digital 5.1 EX & 2.0 audio tracks. Extras will include an audio commentary (by director and co-writer James Wong, co-writer Glen Morgan & director of photography Robert Mclachlan), a “Choose-Their-Fate” Interactive feature, two featurettes (“Dead Teenager Movie” & “Planned Accidents”), a “Kill Shot: The Making of …
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Beavis and Butt-Head Volume 1 ï¿½ The Mike Judge Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 5th, 2006

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First things first; there was a big hullabaloo about the fact that this is not the first season of Beavis and Butt-Head, but merely the first volume. Turns out, there are some episodes that Mike Judge has decided he didn’t care to see again, so now nobody can see them again. Personally, for a show like this, it really makes no difference to me. If you are the kind of person who is going to be bothered by that, however, then consider yourself warned.
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Thin Blue Line, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 5th, 2006

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I am unsure of what the greater tragedy is: a man losing over ten years of his life for a crime he didn’t commit (and very nearly being executed for said offense), or the fact “documentaries” such as Fahrenheit 9/11 enjoy more commercial success than the excellent Errol Morris work The Thin Blue Line. On the surface, the former may seem far worse than the latter, but consider that it’s so-called journalism like that found in F 9/11 that colors false perceptions of reality and bears blame for guys…
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Flintstones, The – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 4th, 2006

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For those Flintstones collectors out there, the ride is almost over. Season five of this show’s six season runis now available on DVD. Of course, this show will never completely go away, and for good reason. The Flintstones was quite progressive for its day. Not only was it the first prime time cartoon program to develop a following, but it also has other things in common with modern animated sitcoms. It is easy to see traces of the characters of Homer Simpson and even Peter Griffin in these episodes. F…
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Charles in Charge – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 4th, 2006

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Synopsis

I have to write an open letter to those who are (deep breath) fans of teen idol used-to-bes Scott Baio and Willie Aames. What the hell is wrong with you people? Did the online petition have THAT many signatures that it had to be recognized and acted upon? Did you really need to have the theme song to Charles in Charge on DVD? I admit, it’s a little bit catchy, but if you watch all 22 episodes in one setting, you need to up your lithium dosage. I know and understand that Universal is catering…
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4 Weddings and a Funeral

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 4th, 2006

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Synopsis

I’ve gotta admit that for a long time, Four Weddings and a Funeral was in a category of movies that I had no intention or curiosity to see because of the title, the cast and the story. Hugh Grant was a significant step down towards the emasculation of man, where are start wearing large sweaters, hang out in pseudo-Starbuck coffee shops and talk about what happened on American Idol or some lame thing along those lines.

Well here I am, 12 years later, apologizing for some of t…
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Jackass, Volume One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 2nd, 2006

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There may have never been a more aptly-named television show in history than Jackass. For those who don’t know, this show is comprised of a collection of short clips of “stunts” that push the limits of common sense and decency. While the majority of these stunts amount to little more than idiots with a camcorder, and some are just downright disgusting (do I really need to see some guy throw up a goldfish?), some of the segments honestly are quite funny. Giving your buddy a Billy Ray Cyrus haircut will always b…
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Lie With Me

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 31st, 2006

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Synopsis

Lie With Me is proclaimed in its trailer to be a film in the tradition of Y Tu Mama Tambien and Sex, Lies and Videotape. But at its core, it’s more along the lines of another one of director Clement Virgo’s film influences, Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris. The characters in Lie With Me experience each other rather provocatively at the start of their relationship, and work their way outwards.

Based on a book by Tamara Berger, the film tells a story of Le…
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Director Series Volume 1 – The Work of Director Spike Jonze

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 31st, 2006

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Synopsis

An item of secret desire for geeks like me was to get Spike Jonze’s videos on DVD. In the mid ‘90s, Jonze arguably was THE director to go to if you wanted your MTV submission to be memorable, talked about, and perhaps most importantly, spur record sales. If you remember the wacky video you saw on MTV that one time, chances are Spike directed it. Even after the critical success in Hollywood with an Oscar nomination for directing Being John Malkovich and before working on Adaptation, he…
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Your Unknown Brother

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 31st, 2006

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Arnold Clasen reenters society after time away in a Nazi prison camp, and returns to Hamburg and a life of quiet solitary resistance, in the 1981 war-time drama Your Unknown Brother. Clasen immediately reconnects with his old love Renate, and embarks on a turbulent, dangerous friendship with resistance leader Walter, a man of ulterior motives, who is also in bed with the Nazi regime. Clasen starts to suspect Walter when many of his old comrades are seized by authorities. It seems everyone in the resistance, wh…
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UMD Goes the Beta Way

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 30th, 2006

UMD looks like its on its way out, with Wal-Mart purportedly taking UMD off the shelves, studios stopping UMD production, and backlash building against proprietary formats.

Firewall

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 29th, 2006

Warner Home Video will release the Harrison Ford & Paul Bettany thriller Firewall on June 6th. This disc will be presented in a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras will include a conversation with Harrison Ford & director Richard Loncraine, a “Firewall: Writing a Thriller” featurette, & the theatrical trailer.

Thing, The (1982)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 29th, 2006

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John Carpenter can be hit or miss on some of the things he’s done in his career. Vampires may be a good case in point. In his version of The Thing, remade from Howard Hawks’ 1950’s classic, he doesn’t focus on the creature as much as the relationship between the men in the camp, and how the paranoia starts to creep in the group, as they try to figure out who may or may not be infected by the creature. I might have jumped ahead of some people who haven’t seen it, but just to briefly recap for those few w…
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Get Rich or Die Tryin’

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 29th, 2006

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Synopsis

Growing up as the oldest son in an upper-middle class neighborhood outside of Washington, DC, I am familiar with rap as much as, or even more than, KRS One, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Public Enemy or NWA. I come from dem hard streets, where I can kill a muhvuggah! Well, maybe not exactly, and in the age where lame musicians become lame actors (or vice versa in the case of Jennifer Lopez), anyone who tries to be the entertainment “double threat” deserves to be subjected to any and all s…
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Controversial Classics Volume Two – The Power of Media

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 29th, 2006

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With the original Controversial Classics Collection from Warner Brothers, the studio pulled seven films from their classic film archive that were controversial in their day. Topics included government corruption, racism, troubled youth and the wrongfully accused. Instead of following that set with more classic films based on the same themes, Warner Brothers has done something interesting and varied the focus of their theme. The films this time around, as the title suggests, deal with the role of the news media…
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Brokeback Mountain

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 28th, 2006

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Brokeback Mountain tells the story of star-crossed lovers Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal). Both are young men, not even twenty, working in the year of 1963. They meet and fall in love on a sheep-herding job in Signal, Wyoming. The film chronicles the next 20 years of their lives from Ennis marrying Alma Beers (Michelle Williams) to Jack marrying Laureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). The 20 years that the film takes place over show Ennis and Jack trying to lead a normal life without see…
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Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 24th, 2006

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After the transformation of the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings books into hugely successful films, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to tackle C.S. Lewis’s famous novels The Chronicles of Narnia. Both of the aforementioned books into movies were excellent because, even though they didn’t include every little detail presented in the novels, fans still embraced the films for what they were. They brought a majority of the presented themes and ideas in the books and showed u…
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Big Momma’s House 2

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 22nd, 2006

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Fox Home Entertainment will release the Martin Lawrence comedy Big Momma’s House 2 on May 9th. This disc will include both anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen transfers, along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 (English) audio track. Extras will include an audio commentary (by director John Whitesell, producer David Friendly, & actor Zachary Levi), a “Big Momma’s Secrets” Featurette, 12 deleted/extended scenes (with optional commentary), & a collection of trailers.

A History of Violence

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 22nd, 2006

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As I see more and more film’s from 2005, I realize that a majority of the best films are those that aren’t huge financial successes. Films like Capote, Munich and now David Cronenberg’s latest film A History of Violence weren’t huge successes but have earned praise due to the themes and stories they present. Containing a well crafted story, with interesting characters, A History of Violence is one of those rare films that you see that has a latest impact on you.

As the film
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Goof Troop (Volume 1)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 19th, 2006

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Synopsis

Sometimes Disney will release a film that provides feelings of nostalgia to a lot of people. And other times they release shows onto DVD that make me realize just how old I am. When Disney’s Goof Troop was released onto DVD, my wife said the most horrible thing I’ve heard her say so far: “I used to watch that show growing up.” Keeping in mind that Goof Troop aired from 1992-1993, that statement probably says more about her than it does me, it still didn’t make me feel good. For God’s…
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