Brent Lorentson

Of the cartoons that are on air, it’s no contest in choosing what is my favorite show. Regular Show just strikes a chord with me and reminds me of the antics of Ren and Stimpy back in the 90’s.  Sure, the show airs on Cartoon Network and kids could watch it, but the show seems more aimed at a teenage audience or at least the parents who are trying to find something to watch with their children.  Here at Upcoming Discs, when we get a series to review this usually entails a lot of binge-watching
Read More

Revenge films are simply one of those guilty pleasures that seem to always be in the pipeline for being released, whether it’s on the big screen or straight to DVD. They are the kind of films that allow us to escape into the anti-hero’s frame of mind and go along on their journey of vigilantism.  Perhaps we may not have encountered the same circumstances of characters avenging slain family members (The Outlaw Josey Wales, Death Wish) or violent sexual assaults (Ms. 45 and Make Them Die Slowly) each film gives us the chance to remove ourselves from reality and politically correct convictions and root for these characters
Read More

Despite the atrocities that Adolf Hitler was responsible for, this ruthless visionary had an uncanny way of getting people to not only listen to him, but to follow him, and die for his quest of world domination.  We all know the name Adolf Hitler; it’s a name that will forever hold the stigma that it will remind people of nothing but hate and genocide.  But what made this man slip into darkness, fueled by hate with the goal of eliminating the Jewish race?
Read More

With the clock ticking till the release of Batman vs. Superman, Warner Bros needs to do all it can to get the fans on board for the arrival of the the Justice League.  When it comes to the handling of the DC universe, though fans may be divided on the films, it seems just about everyone will agree the animation is about as good as it gets when it comes to comic adaptations.  In the case of the Justice League perhaps the only way to get it right is through animation, considering there seems to always be something massive going on that it would seem nearly impossible to translate in a live-action setting.
Read More

I have to admit when I first went into this film I went in with some rather low expectations.  I turned out to be more than a little surprised by this little underdog story that has a lot of heart as well as plenty of knuckle-crunching fights.  Sure, this follows in the footsteps of Rocky and The Karate Kid, as we follow a young fighter who overcomes great odds to achieve victory, and we’ve seen it before.  What helps this film stand alone is that it’s also a tale about revenge set in the world of small-time cage fighting.
Read More

When it comes to locations in horror films, insane asylums seem to be one of the go-to spots, and with good reason.  From watching numerous ghost-hunting shows over the years, it would also seem that there are numerous “haunted” asylums out there that are nothing more than rundown relics of what they once were.  So getting into House of Dust and seeing it is yet another haunted asylum film, the expectations went down, and I hoped for the best.  In the end it turned out to be a fun little film.
Read More

When it comes to revenge, Hollywood has exploited the theme in just about every conceivable way.   It’s a genre that has been done so much that it’s hard to find a fresh hook to bring the audiences in, much less create a story that will motivate the audience to root for this blood thirsty protagonist.  Getting the audience on your side as your hero hunts down individuals for retribution is asking a lot, but still there is always going to be an audience that will fill theater seats.
Read More

The World War 2 genre has been done to death by Hollywood, but The Monuments Men gives us a fresh look at the war and delves into a story that is a breath of fresh air to the genre.  Despite all my history classes that delved into the atrocities of World War 2, it was never discussed about what happened to the great landmarks that were spread throughout Europe and encountered the cold hand of war.  Granted, when measured against the staggering amount of lives lost throughout the war, the thought of a sculpture being destroyed or a Picasso painting being incinerated simply seems petty by comparison.
Read More

With a title like The Zombinator you basically know the kind of B-movie spectacle you are getting into.  Any notions of great special f/x or even a good script should be cast aside, and you simply have to tell yourself to sit back and enjoy the silliness that should follow.  But what the title did was build up these crazy thoughts of a cyborg from the future to take out hordes of zombies.  Well, this isn’t that movie.  Even the cover art gives promise to this kind of cheesy film, but there are no cyborgs from the future; instead we get another run-of-the-mill film about a documentary film crew that stumbles into trouble.
Read More

With a new Transformers film on the horizon, it is no surprise that the animated series finds its way on DVD.  Shout Factory releases the entire series of Transformers: Energon in a 7-disc set with 51 episodes that amount to over 18 hours of Transformer fighting goodness. Over the years there have been numerous incarnations of the hit animated series; just how well does this series fare?  Honestly it surprised me how much fun this series turned out to be, and it left me wishing that Michael Bay had drawn some inspiration from this series.
Read More

There is something I find unsettling about an amusement park after hours, when all the rides are shut down and the laughter and screaming of kids running around are gone.  These parks, for the most part, are designed to take us to another time or another world where reality is how the park engineers design it to be.  So when Skip (Jason Spisak) arrives at the Old West theme park to be the overnight janitor, I could appreciate the surreal world he would be stepping into.  As we go along with him on a tour during his first day, his guide and superior is played by Jon Gries, who seems to have a story for just about everything at the park.
Read More