Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 6th, 2007
Right off the top, I have to admit I’m a big Scrubs fan. Obviously, this portion of the review will be influenced by that bias, but at least I’m up front about it. Now, this DVD set brings us the ingenious sitcom’s fifth season, which aired in 2006. I didn’t catch any of these 24 episodes on TV, so this release was my first time.
Season five, like all of the previous seasons, picks up at the start of a new year at Sacred Heart. This time around, J.D. (Zach Braff, The Last Kiss) and Elliot (Sar...h Chalke, Roseanne) are full-fledged, attending physicians, while Turk (Donald Faison, Uptown Girls) is vying for one of the hospital’s few surgeon positions. As viewers would expect, the usual gang is still doing its thing, with Dr. Cox ranting, Carla bossing people around, the mysterious Janitor hassling J.D. and Dr. Kelso ruling the place with a nasty fist.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 4th, 2007
With the release of Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer just around the corner, it’s no surprise to see the studio rolling out a double-dip of the first film. Fantastic 4 – Extended Edition revisits the film with an extra 20 minutes of footage, and a second disc full of special features. But is it a worthy acquisition for your collection?
First, a bit about the film for the uninitiated. This is the Fantastic Four’s origin story, including how they came to have their super powers, and who Dr... Doom, their first super-villain nemesis, was. And that’s enough about that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 1st, 2007
The Butcher Boy, originally released in 1997 and based upon the 1992 book of the same name, has found its way to DVD. The film has been the recipient of numerous awards, with critics hailing it as a dark comedy unlike any other. To be completely honest, I had never heard of this picture before today, but I’ve always enjoyed these little Great Britain pictures, so here’s hoping it’s as good as some say.
Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens, Breakfast on Pluto) appears to be your typical schoolboy, spend...ng his days hanging out with his best lad, Joe. Until he gets home, at least, where things are rather atypical; his father is an abusive alcoholic and his mother is a self-loathing, suicidal woman. Amidst the dysfunction, Francie seems for the large part to be unaware of all the problems surrounding him and continues his days as if nothing fazed him. Things are put in perspective one day when the mother of a boy he bullied, Mrs. Nugent, verbally attacks his mother and calls his whole family a bunch of pigs. Shortly after this comment, Francie walks in on his mother attempting suicide, and he promises he will never let her die. This is where his obsession with the Nugents begins, already blaming them for his problems. Finally fed up with his father’s actions, Francie runs away and spends some time in Dublin where he becomes quite streetwise and spends most of his time thieving. Upon his return to his home there is a funeral presiding, and he soon finds out his mother has taken her own life. This fuels more hatred for the Nugents and things really start getting out of control; Francis becomes hallucinogenic and borderline psychotic.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 1st, 2007
Half Past Dead 2 is, obviously, the sequel to 2002’s lukewarm action picture, Half Past Dead. The main difference in this sequel is the lack of Steven Seagal so automatically that should make this a better picture, but not necessarily a good one. The film stars two unlikely actors – a rapper and a wrestler – The Dogg Pound’s own Kurupt and WWE’s Goldberg. Not exactly promising, but I’ve been surprised before.
Twitch (Kurupt, Dark Blue), an inmate at the New Alcatraz penitentiary, has ju...t has one thing in mind, doing his time and minding his own business. That is until the day the warden mentions that the next person to instigate a fight will be sent to a prison out of state. It just so happens Twitch’s girlfriend resides there, as does $160 million in gold bricks, so say goodbye to Alcatraz and hello to mainland. While adjusting to life in the new prison, Twitch doesn’t want to befriend anyone accept another loner, Burk (Bill Goldberg, The Longest Yard). Although he tries to avoid the gang life behind bars he gets pulled into a Black gang hell-bent on destroying the Hispanic gang, all while he’s trying to find a way to escape. Things really get out of control when a prison-wide riot is in the works, on the same day Twitch’s girlfriend and Burk’s daughter are visiting. The two get trapped inside the prison on lockdown while the inmates are slowly taking over the prison. It’s a race against time as Twitch and Burk team up to save their loved ones and clear their names.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 31st, 2007
Synopsis
I’m one of the few who hasn’t experienced the magic of Robert Cormier’s novel “The Chocolate War”, and I was surprised to hear that it was the most banned book for a time (and still might be). When the film came out, not only did I not hear about it, but in 1988 I was in the middle of high school, and I (along with many other people) sure as hell could have used this film back then, not to say that all the John Hughes films weren’t a welcome breath of air into my life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 31st, 2007
Films about fantasy have always caught my eye. Even though most end up bordering on the top realm of pure stupidity, a majority of them succeed in what they intend to succeed in, that being pure entertainment. Fantasy films typically please audiences simply because they bring the audience into a world they know they’ll never travel to. Dragons, in particular, have always interested me possibly because they’re majestic creatures that seem so complex. I suppose that’s what makes Dragonheart as entertaining as it...is.
In May of 1996, Dragonheart was released into theaters. The funny thing was that I had not heard much about it until I saw a TV spot. At first I was amazed at the great special effects, especially when they announced “Sean Connery as Draco”. Instantly I was sold. I remember being somewhat disappointed after my first viewing as I guess I expected too much, as teasers are designed to do. This latest high-definition viewing further improved my opinion of the movie, now knowing well what to expect.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 30th, 2007
Every so often a film comes along and completely takes me by surprise. I had heard good things about Lost in Translation before viewing the title a few weeks ago. Critics hailed this as Bill Murray’s comeback as he played a genuine man who simply didn’t know what to do in life anymore. While critics may have been overly generous to the film (not quite four stars), I will admit that I didn’t expect anything at all from this one. In the end, I came away shocked and completely absorbed by the material in front of...me.
The basic premise of Lost in Translation runs along the story of Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) meeting while visiting Tokyo for completely opposite reasons. Bob is shooting a new whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is playing tag along with her photographic husband (Giovanni Ribisi). The two soon develop a friendship that finds the two putting themselves in situations very foreign to each other (meeting citizens, laughing about events that might seem odd). This leads the two to ultimately discover that the definition of life is never set in stone, as it can change at the oddest moment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 30th, 2007
I think it’s safe to say that most or all of you have never heard of this movie, neither had I. Instead of my typical synopsis and critique I will spare most of you the trouble, this movie is pretty weak, and if that isn’t enough for you, then continue reading too find out why.
Bunny Whipped is ultimately a romantic comedy with the look of a low budget TV movie from the early 90’s. There is no solid storyline and the editing consists of a bunch of randomly placed scenes that seem too follow some sort ...f comic book formula.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 30th, 2007
Life of the Party is little known movie which was released in 2005 where it has since gone mostly unnoticed. I know the first time I’d heard of it was just a few days ago where I first saw it in my hands. It didn’t look half bad, a few cast members were recognizable, and as the movie actually went on I saw quite a few familiar supporting faces.
Michael Elgin (Eion Bailey, Band of Brothers) is a functioning alcoholic with a close-knit group of friends and a loving wife Phoebe (Ellen Pompeo, Old Scho...l, Grey’s Anatomy). But he starts putting strain on all these relationships as a result of his excessive drinking, most affected is his wife who asks for a separation. We soon learn that his work life is suffering as well; he has no goals or motivation to continue on everyday, which is where the bottle comes in. As he continually puts strain on these relationships, topped off with the fact that after a night of drinking and adultery he crashes his best friends dream car, everyone who cares about him comes together and plans an intervention.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 29th, 2007
Since I have recently reviewed the Blu-ray version of Payback, some non-format specific aspects of this review will be ported over from that review.
I remember eight years back when Payback was first released. I eagerly anticipated the opportunity to watch it, and when I got the chance to check it out, I instantly enjoyed it. Upon finding out about the release of the new director’s cut, I found myself eagerly anticipating it once again, as it promised to be a completely different film.
![Dragonheart [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dragonheart-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Lost in Translation [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/lost-in-translation-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Payback - Straight Up - The Director's Cut [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/payback-straight-up-the-directo-large.jpg)
