Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 1st, 2010
"Earth: a unique planet. Restless and dynamic. Continents shift and clash. Volcanoes erupt. Glaciers grow and recede. Titanic forces that are constantly at work, leaving a trail of geological mysteries behind."
I saw a bumper sticker recently that read; "Geologists dig classic rock". I should have taken it as an omen that I would be spending some quality time with a few geologists over these last couple of weeks. It started with the excellent BBC mini-series How The Earth Changed History and culminated with the 13 episodes of the first season of How The Earth Was Made. It might be easy to confuse these titles in your video store. But, make no mistake about it. They are very different shows down to their core, pun intended.
Posted in: Random Fun by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2010
Anyone who is a fan of horror or science fiction knows who Forry Ackerman was. He gave more to the industry than anyone else. He coined the term sci-fi and inspired the likes of Stephen King, John Landis, Steven Spielberg, and many others. He was the editor of Famous Monsters Of Filmland and held the largest collection of movie memorabilia anywhere in his famed Ackermuseum.
I’ve been lucky enough to have counted Uncle Forry as a friend since 1991, when I first visited the Ackermuseum. I’ve spent many hours and meals with him and miss him greatly.
Posted in: Random Fun by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2010
To continue with our Toy Story coverage, here's an interview with Tom Hanks.:Hanks provided the voice for Sheriff Woody in all three of the Toy Story films. Of course, Hanks is also known for oustanding roles in such films as Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, and Cast Away. Click continue to read the interview:
Tom Hanks is back in the saddle again, lending his voice to the popular pull-string cowboy Woody in the new DisneyŸPixar 3D comedy adventure “Toy Story 3.”
Posted in: Random Fun by Gino Sassani on October 30th, 2010
In anticipation of the Tuesday release of Toy Story 3 on Blu-ray, we present you with an interview with John Ratzenberer who provided the voice of Hamm in all of the Toy Story films. Ratzenberger is also a lucky charm, of sorts, for Pixar, appearing in all of their films.
Here's what John had to say about Toy Story 3:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2010
Anyone who is looking for a direct sequel to the 2008 sleeper hit with Kiefer Sutherland or even a connection to the original Asian ghost film might tend to be disappointed in the direct-to-video Mirrors 2. This is absolutely one of those films where the name is used merely because of its franchise value, and the film's associations are mostly just a few familiar names. Add the same basic idea of a haunted mirror at the center of it all, and you pretty much have all of the connections this movie makes to either of the original projects. With that said, there is a bit more to like about Mirrors 2 than you might suspect on the surface.
This time it's Nick Stahl who plays a down-on-his-luck security guard at another branch of the Mayflower Department Store. He is Max, who has been dealing with a great deal of guilt of late. His fiancée was killed in an auto accident by a drunk driver. But Max was driving and wasn't paying attention to the road. He was playing a game of "find the ring" with his girlfriend when the tragedy occurred. As it turns out, Max's father (Katt) is the owner of the Mayflower Department Store, which is about to reopen its doors in New Orleans. The previous night watchman cut himself quite severely and quit his job, apparently going crazy during a night shift. Of course, we saw what really happened. It was an image in the main mirror that caused his injuries. The grand opening has been plagued with mishaps. Eleanor Reigns (Honore) has been missing for several weeks. Max discovers her spirit in the store mirror on his first night on the job. He also sees a vision of the store's executive buyer, Jenna (Romano) lose her head, literally. Later that night, he discovers that the woman really was decapitated by a shower door. He begins to see other prophetic images and decides something is seriously wrong here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2010
"So come up to the lab and see what's on the slab."
It was 1975. Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa goes missing. South Vietnam falls. The Superdome opens in New Orleans. Elizabeth Seton becomes the first American saint. Patty Hearst ends her fugitive run. George Carlin hosts the first episode of Saturday Night Live. Phil Collins replaces Peter Gabriel as the lead in Genesis. And The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens to absolutely terrible box office numbers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2010
A Joss Whedon universe is always a strange and fantastical place to visit. It doesn’t matter if it’s populated by vampires and demons or space cowboys. If Whedon’s name appears anywhere on the credits, you know you’re going to be in for one hell of a ride. It’s been a little while since Whedon’s been back in the saddle. His most recent series, Firefly, was fraught with problems with the network. It was very badly handled, and the show died an undeserved swift death after just a few episodes. Whedon appeared somewhat bitter after all of that and disappeared from the television radar for a few years. They say you can’t keep a good man down, and now Whedon is back with his latest mythology-heavy series, Dollhouse.
For a lot of fans, it looked like Dollhouse was heading down the same black hole that Firefly flew into. There were numerous delays in getting started, not the least of which was the writers’ strike just days after the series was given the green light. Whedon had his cast and crew already in place, but it seemed they were all dressed up with no place to go. Once the strike ended, they quickly punched out the pilot episode from the series. Unfortunately, the new pilot had some issues. Whedon and the network hadn’t exactly been on the same page, and as quickly as it had been made, the pilot was scrapped. Fans were getting restless. It was just this kind of pilot debacle that started so many of Firefly’s problems. Fortunately, a second go went quite smoothly, and the show was off the ground. Ratings were not exactly the atmospheric numbers FOX was expecting from a Joss Whedon series. There was already talk by the middle of the first 12-episode run that the series was in danger. Then there was a problem with the number 12. Apparently FOX and Whedon had another one of their, by now, classic misunderstandings. The network was expecting not 12 but 13 episodes. The result was a pretty unconventional final episode that just might have saved the series as it turned out. Finally, the show finished production with no word on renewal. The show was considered on the bubble, with most predictions leaning toward its cancellation. It seems that the curse was going to make Dollhouse just another of its many victims. But then something unexpected happened, and the marginal show was renewed. But that was to be a short-lived reprieve. The series is gone now and these final 13 episodes are all that you'll have left to remember it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2010
In June of 1987 many of us took to our local theaters to watch two future state governors tackle an alien creature in the jungles of southeast Asia. Director John McTiernan had combined the Rambo mercenary-styled film with that of a creature feature. The result was an impressive $60 million on a mere $15 million budget, and a franchise was born. From its first reveal in those Asian jungles, the Predator was an impressive sight. The creature was highly intelligent, to be sure, but it possessed those baser instincts of hunting and survival. It was a monster, but one who utilized advanced technological weaponry to accent its own fearsome brutal nature. It was the stuff that new nightmares would be made of. A sequel featuring Danny Glover and placing the creature in an urban setting soon followed. While that film is widely disregarded, I found it to be a rather good film. I still think it's an underrated monster movie.
It didn't take very long before the fan boys in Hollywood started getting their imaginations running wild. The inevitable question, since Frankenstein's Monster met up with The Wolfman -- who would win if we put the Predator against the Alien. It was a heavyweight fight just itching to play itself out at the box office. And, it did ... twice. The result might have destroyed both franchises. It seemed that these creatures had finally met their match, and it wasn't each other. Bad writing and wayward filmmaking brought down both creatures. It appeared as if they were both gone, forever.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2010
"War and me took to each other real well. It felt like it had meaning. The feeling of doing what you thought was right. But it wasn't. Folks can believe what they like, but eventually a man's gotta decide if he's gonna do what's right. That choice cost me more than I bargained for..."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2010
It was the summer of 1987. Horror movies had just gone through a recent splatter craze, and it seemed as though the genre might be dead, at least for a while. Then Joel Schumacher delivered his little low-budget vampire film The Lost Boys. While the movie didn't exactly tear things up at the box office, the film developed quite a strong cult following and had earned pretty high praise from the folks within the horror community. The movie was fresh and was just the kick in the pants that the sequel-weary crowd was looking for. The movie was dark but managed to provide a camp atmosphere at times that worked as a wonderful counterbalance to the blood and guts that was a necessary ingredient, particularly at that time. It was a breakout role for the young Kiefer Sutherland, who was moving out of the shadows of his iconic father and into his own. With this film and the critically acclaimed Stand By Me just a year before, Sutherland was able to arrive on the scene without riding his father's coattails. The two very different roles also allowed him to stretch those thespian muscles quite a bit. The Lost Boys captured teenage angst in a far more thrilling and realistic manner and combined it with vampires and humor. And while it dealt with very similar themes, this was no Twilight.
Among the most memorable performances to come out of that original film were those of Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. Haim would play the innocent kid just moving to a small town that happened to be infested with vampires. Feldman played Edgar Frog, a local comic-and-horror-lore geek who was aware of the vampire problem and saw himself as a modern-day Van Helsing, fighting the bloodsuckers whenever he encountered them. The two Coreys, as they would go on to be known, had wonderful chemistry and stole the film right out from under the adult cast and the evil doings of the teenaged vampire clan led by Sutherland. The two ended up doing several films together before having a somewhat public falling out.
![How the Earth Was Made [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/how-the-earth-was-made-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Mirrors 2 (Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/mirrors-2-unrated-edition-blu-ra-large.jpg)
![The Rocky Horror Picture Show (35th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-rocky-horror-picture-show-35th-large.jpg)
![Dollhouse: Season 2 [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dollhouse-season-2-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Predators ( + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/predators-digital-copy-blu-ra-large.jpg)
