Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2010
Robert Kurtzman is known mostly for his exceptional makeup and other special f/x. He's worked with both Freddy and Jason, and he helped to form one of the best f/x houses in the industry. He found considerable cult success with the quirky but exceptional The Rage. Again it is those technical abilities that stand out. So I was a little bit more than curious when I was discovered that his recent film, Deadly Impact, was something quite different from anything I had associated with the name in the past. I was even more drawn to the project when I was told I had an opportunity to interview the man about the movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2010
Most people don't know or remember that Andy Griffith had a career before his television classic reached the airwaves. He had a pretty distinctive stand-up routine going for many years that included recordings like most stand-ups of the day. He had quite a famous bit about a country farm boy seeing his very first football game. It was called “I Think They Call It Football”, and it's a priceless classic. Andy also found his way into a couple of movies in the days before he became Sheriff Andy Taylor. One of those movies was No Time For Sergeants. It wasn't a stretch for this country boy
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2010
"Most of the world's population has been wiped out by a virus. Civilization, as we know it, has come to an end. For the few survivors, every day is a fight for life. But sinister forces threaten their future."
Right from the opening credits, you can see that a lot has changed since 1975 and the original series. I'm guessing that my watching them back to back allows for even more dramatic notice of the changes. Everything is cleaner here. The production values are light-years away from what they were. Even the disc menus reflect the higher-tech edge of the 21st century production values.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on May 5th, 2010
Hey Gang,
We've hit Twitter, now it's Facebook.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on May 5th, 2010
We have a copy of Amelia on Blu-ray to give away. The last winner failed to claim the prize.
You might have entered when we had this one up earlier this year. Here's your second chance to walk away with this unclaimed prize.
We're going to try something different this time. To enter to win you must become a follower on Twitter for us at Upcomingdiscs. Anyone who becomes a follower and is still a follower on June 1st is eligible to win. On June 1st we will randomly pick a winner from our Twitter followers. In the future we'll be giving away prizes for the folks that have followed us the longest.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 5th, 2010
"You know, I never thought what happens to a city ... well ... if it breaks down, all at the same time. There's no power. There's no lighting, or cooking. And food, even if you can get it into the city, you can't distribute it. Then there's water and sewage, things like that. You know, it just never occurred to me when I lived in London. The city's like a great big pampered baby, with thousands of people feeding it and cleaning it, making sure it's all right."
It was 1975. These were the glory days of science fiction on the BBC.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2010
In many ways the epic story and film Doctor Zhivago echoes the real-life story of Boris Pasternak, who penned the original novel. Pasternak was a firsthand witness to the events that led to and became the Russian Revolution. He collected 50 years of memories that began with the early days before the revolution and ended with his own confrontations with the USSR government. Like Zhivago in the story, Pasternak's work was banned in his own country. The manuscript had to be smuggled out of Russia and found its way first to Italy, where it was finally published for the first time. But it didn't stop there.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2010
These last couple of years have seen a resurgence of a particular kind of character study. For me I think it started with The Wrestler. For Mickey Rourke, it was a powerful comeback and led to an example of grand theft at that year's Oscar celebration. Now, I wouldn't exactly say that Jeff Bridges was in any particular need of a comeback. He's had some pretty steady work over the years. Still, you just can't watch Crazy Heart and not be reminded of The Wrestler. These characters could not be more different in a lot of ways. But they are also cut from the same cloth.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2010
"Every town has a story... Tombstone has a legend."
When will Kevin Costner ever learn? He just doesn't strike that hero pose. He isn't even that good an actor unless he's playing a G-Man type as he did in The Untouchables and JFK. In just a little while Russell Crowe is fixing to school him on the proper stature of Robin Hood. In 1993 and 1994 another Russell, this time Kurt Russell, schooled him on the iconic lawman Wyatt Earp. Tombstone was released Christmas day in 1993. Exactly 6 months later on June 24th, 1994, Kevin Costner released his epic film called Wyatt Earp.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2010
Cocoon was based on a somewhat obscure novel by David Saperstein. It was also an unlikely film for beginning director Ron Howard. He had made it known since his career began that he had little respect for the science fiction genre. In an interview provided on this very release, he condemns the genre as not being about character or story. I'd say that Ron Howard just hasn't watched the right science fiction. I beg to differ with his assessment.
![Amelia [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/amelia-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Crazy Heart [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/crazy-heart-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Tombstone [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/tombstone-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Cocoon [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/cocoon-blu-ray-large.jpg)
