Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 11th, 2013
When you’ve been playing gigs for fifty years and filling venues with crowds in excess of the 100,000 mark, it’s safe to say that not only are you a success in the music industry but an icon. The Rolling Stones finished their 50th year together by ending their tour back where many would say their legendary status began, back in their hometown and performing at London’s Hyde Park. It was 44 years ago when The Stones first took the stage in the famous Hyde Park and performed for a crowd estimated between 250 thousand to half a million screaming fans who came to what was then a free show. This time around they return with an enormous stage and a set list filled with hits spanning over the decades
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on December 6th, 2013
Director Scott Cooper made his directorial debut with the much critically acclaimed film Crazy Heart. It was an impressive first film that managed to get Jeff Bridges an academy award. With Out of the Furnace, Cooper again has a film on his hands that may gain some award recognition due to the many great performances sprinkled throughout the film. But aside from the great performances, how does the actual film hold up? It’s something I’ve been pondering for a bit. The film wastes no time showing us its dark side right from the start. Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson) is out on a date and heaving outside his car at a drive-in theater.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 29th, 2013
Everyone knows the name Bill Cosby, and if you’re an 80’s kid like me then you most likely know him as one of TV’s most likeable dads, Mr. Huxtable. Cosby has been the comedian who’s managed to succeed for decades by keeping his comedy routine clean and family-friendly. From his animated series Fat Albert and his numerous other television projects and the Jell-O pudding pop ads, we all seemed to just feel this was a guy we all let into our homes through the television where we all felt we knew him as a part of our extended family.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 21st, 2013
Creator David Simon (The Wire and Generation Kill) has never been a show runner concerned about cliffhangers or plot twists; instead he thrusts his viewers into the day-to-day life of the everyday Joe and shows that real life generates more conflict than most fiction can ever deliver. Ever since I first watched The Wire I’ve considered myself a fan of Simon’s work, and I feel it could be argued that what Simon did with The Wire is a large factor in why we have the quality of television that we do today.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 15th, 2013
Ben Tennison is back in the action packed collection of Ben 10 Omniverse from Cartoon Network. In 10 newly released episodes we follow Ben and his fellow Plumbers as they do battle against the meanest and the ugliest aliens the galaxy has to offer, in our universe or any parallel universe out there. This cartoon is infectious. From its catchy opening music, imaginative characters and fun action sequences this is a cartoon that simply grows on me more and more, and I have no shame in admitting that I’m a fan of this “kids’” show.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 30th, 2013
It’s hard to believe that once if you said the word Google, there is a good chance no one would have known what you were blabbering about. Now the internet search database is the largest search engine on the web and is a dominating company that is given the same reverence Steve Jobs and Apple receive. Because of Google, the days of hitting the books to find information and the Dewey decimal system are all but things of the past. But technology and growth are a part of life.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 27th, 2013
With Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and Dragons: Riders of Berk, it would seem only fitting that Monsters vs. Aliens would get an animated series of its own as well. Nickelodeon seems to know what they are doing by mass producing these hit DreamWorks animated films and bringing them to the small screen. The biggest shock is that in doing so they’ve managed to maintain the quality on a story level as well as animation level while under the budget constraints of having to produce multiple episodes as compared to one feature film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 25th, 2013
Nicolas Winding Refn is a director who may not be a household name but is easily one of the most unique directors working at this time. With films like Pusher, Bronson, and Valhalla Rising, he has managed to make a name for himself for doing artistic films filled with beautiful visuals as well as intense violence. It was the film Drive, though, that most people know him for. I was already a fan of Refn going into Drive, and for me it is one of the best films I’ve seen in the past decade, where the film is a rare piece of perfection that broods with atmosphere and simply captivates me from the opening frame to the closing credits.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 24th, 2013
The Furious 5 are back in the new collection of episodes from the Nickelodeon hit show, inspired by the film Kung Fu Panda. It wasn’t too long ago that I reviewed the first batch of episodes in the collection Good Croc, Bad Croc, and I had a good time with that set. Now with the new collection, would it fare as well as the first, or will it blow my mind with its kung fu awesomeness? Well, why waste any more time, and get right to it. For those unfamiliar with the show or movies, that is fine
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 23rd, 2013
In the wake of Captain Phillips being released in theaters, another tale of a ship being held hostage by Somali pirates is released on Blu-Ray and DVD. This true story comes out of Denmark and has made a successful run through the festival circuit, but how does it fare up against the mighty Tom Hanks and his tense, nail-biting thriller? Well, to be fair, though the two films deal with the same subject matter, the execution is vastly different, but A Hijacking manages to deliver an equally stunning film filled with great performances and filmed in such a way we feel as though we are one of the hostages on the ship
