Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on December 5th, 2013
Warner has put out a few solid films and television shows on home video this year. There are a few of them that would make fine gifts for the home theatre fan on your Christmas list. From superheroes to hobbits and vampires, there's something in this list for everyone. Wouldn't hurt to snag a little something for yourself, now would it?
Films:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 4th, 2013
Galactic Adventures from Image Entertainment is a nifty little collection of two Solar System IMAX films both running just under a half hour. The two short documentaries off a 3D ride to both the Sun and Mars. The films were produced in 2007 with 3D Sun opening at The Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum. Both films have made the circuit of science museums throughout the country and come to you now through the modern milestone of home 3D for the first time ever.
3D Sun:
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on December 2nd, 2013
Everyone has one on their Christmas list. It's the guy who already has everything on home video. He's a classic television fan, and you just don't know what to get. For years you've been counting on us for advice. We aren't about to let you down this year. Image Entertainment has two awesome classic television sets out just in time for Christmas. If your list has a classic cop show fan, then it's Naked City. If they're a war series nut, you just gotta get them Combat. If you really, really like them, how about getting them both?
"Ladies and gentlemen. You are about to see the Naked City. I'm Bert Leonard, the producer. As you can see we're flying over an island, a city, a particular city...and this is the story of a number of people, a story also of the city itself. It was not photographed in the studio. Quite the contrary. The actors played out their roles in the streets and the buildings of New York itself."
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 29th, 2013
Star Vista and Time Life get our vote for some of the coolest gift sets for the holiday season. It's no surprise that they've delivered some quality television. What is a such a great surprise this year is that they've dug deep into the television archives and brought three particular shows that are long over-due for complete series treatments. These sets have provided us here at Upcomingdiscs with some of our favorite television watching in 2013, not to mention a lot of hours. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Now it's time for you to pass these television memories on to that TV addict on your Christmas list.
"'I've been given me the toughest job I've ever had in my life, but also the most rewarding. What can be more important to the war effort than preserving the fighting strength of our troops? We must maximize the odds of every soldier that passes through our portal... His country is counting on him. His country is counting on us."
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 27th, 2013
This is a film that was sitting on a few shelves for quite some time. It was first a novel by Chuck Logan back in 2006. Sylvester Stallone liked the idea and put together a screenplay. It was intended as a vehicle for him, but that's where the whole sitting on a shelf thing comes into play. The movie never really got off the ground, and before long Sly was a little too long in the tooth to do the role. It's not like he was a spring chicken when he wrote the thing, which could account for, you know, that sitting on a shelf business. The screenplay has finally gotten off the shelf and into our movie screens. After careful consideration, I'm looking for that shelf again.
The movie isn't anything we haven't seen before. It begins as Agent Phil Broker (Statham) is infiltrating the Sons Of Anarchy...The Outcasts motorcycle club. It appears that cooking meth is more profitable than cruising on the highway. So much for the whole Born To Be Wild ideal. The takedown goes a little bad, and the son of the club's leader Danny T (Zito) gets killed. Danny T vows the typical revenge as he's being carted away.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2013
"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
Quality shows only get better with time, and by the time Star Trek: The Next Generation entered its 5th season it was already beating out most network shows in the ratings. First-run syndication was still quite new, and it was almost unheard of to expect to go up against the networks and survive...let alone win. The Next Generation went where no series had gone before, and it was just getting better all the time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 20th, 2013
"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
What a difference a couple of years makes. Rick Berman was pretty stubborn about wanting The Next Generation to live on its own without connecting to the original show, perhaps as much as the fans would have liked. There was, of course, the cameo by DeForest Kelley in the pilot, but he was never called McCoy, only Admiral. Yes, we knew who he was, and his interplay with Data was intended to remind us of his relationship with a certain Vulcan. The original Enterprise would be referenced in The Naked Now that first season. It was the only direct sequel of an original episode to air. When season 3 brought the return of Mark Lenard as Sarek, Berman was insistent that no mention of Spock or the original show be made. After a barrage of pleadings from the writers he relented... slightly. He decreed that Spock's name could only be mentioned once and no other connections be in the script.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 20th, 2013
They’ve been called The Greatest Generation, and who are we to argue the point? Sitting here writing reviews from my comfortable seat in a state-of-the-art home theater, I’m in no position to lay claim to the title. They fought in the bloodiest conflict in modern human history. Over 20 million were killed. That’s a staggering number. If you’re like me, it’s not even real. I can honestly say that those facts have never really reached home.
World War II has been a favorite topic for Hollywood films since before the war itself ended. There have been some truly remarkable efforts and some equally remarkable disasters. Many of these films have been long forgotten. Heck, many of them deserve to be forgotten. There have also been television shows set in or around the war as well. Hogan's Heroes was able to find humor in a German POW camp. But it was the exploits of Company K from the series Combat that led the television charge when it came to gritty realism and compelling World War II drama.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2013
It's been six months since last we visited with Dexter (Hall) and his pals. Deb (Carpenter) had just shot and killed Lt. LaGuerta (Velez), and the blame went to another killer. It was LaGuerta or Dexter, and she made her choice. Now she's suffering some post-traumatic consequences for her actions. She's left the force, and no one has heard from her in weeks. She's hanging out with lowlifes doing drugs and playing undercover cop as a private investigator with Jacob Elway, played by Sean Patrick Flanery. Dexter is trying to track her down and possibly save her life from a hitman. Needless to say, it's going to be a long road for the siblings.
Enter Dr. Evelyn Vogel, played by Charlotte Rampling. She's been called in to help catch this season's serial killer guest star, The Brain Surgeon. He cuts open his victim's heads and uses a melon baller to scoop out a section. We soon discover that Vogel has more than a passing interest in the killer. He's been leaving those missing brain pieces on her doorstep. She seeks Dexter's help and has a few surprises for him. She knew Harry, and she knows what he is. Turns out she helped create Harry's Code. Now he needs to find The Brain Surgeon before he takes out Vogel. Along the way she convinces Dexter to take on a "student". Much of the season has Dexter going from being disappointed enough to kill the kid to proud enough of him to help him out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2013
"What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspired to something greater?"
It's appropriate that exactly 75 years ago this very month Superman was born at the hands of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. He was born to be the patriotic hero symbol for a nation on the brink of a devastating world war. The war came and went as many others would since the hero's inception. Styles would change. Technology would come and go. Superman would find himself invading each and every medium that has come along since. Television shows, cartoons, comics, novels and even previous films have all continued the ongoing adventures of the man from Krypton. In those years styles have changed so much that the symbols of the hero himself have become quite dated. But in any time there will always be a need for larger-than-life heroes. They don't come any larger than Superman, The Man Of Steel. Can he be as relevant today as he was in 1938?
