Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 19th, 2013
My best work is often done behind a computer or somewhere where my face is not on display. I am not the most handsome guy despite the fact I have been described by those of the female persuasion as otherwise. But I have talent, loads of it and I am always waiting for the next moment to show it off. Perhaps I can take a cue from our movie today, The Idolmaker and use my talent to make others around me stars. Maybe I should just go shave instead.
New York City, 1959. Check out the black leather jacket, red pants, Cuban heels and pantyhose style socks. This is one Vincent Vacarri (played by Ray Sharkey). He passes by Tommy (played by Paul Land) who is running a street con game for some extra money. Tommy catches up with him and tells him about his band which has a new lead singer named Jimmy Ryan. Vinnie complains that the singer does not have the look and that his blond hair is never going to work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 12th, 2013
Let's face facts. War is heck. Sure, we can go back to ancient times with the Romans or more modern offerings such as the World Wars or even Vietnam, but perhaps more recent offerings between smaller countries and territories can be just as brutal. But what can be surprising is the emotional and physical toll it takes on those soldiers even years after it happens. Our film today, Killing Season takes us into two different sides in the aftermath of a very brutal altercation, the Serbs and the Bosnians.
We get text across the screen. In 1992, the Serbian Army invaded Bosnia starting a war marked by large-scale massacres of civilians in the name of ethnic cleansing. Over two hundred thousand people died. We watch as brutal war scenes take place. In 1995, Operation Deliberate Force was created by American and NATO forces to finally put an end to the horror of that long and dreadful altercation complete with prisoner of war camps and deadly surrenders.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 10th, 2013
Plenty of movie critics out there like to praise the artsy movies like they are the second coming. We see it all too often. Critically acclaimed, revolutionary, captivating, all over used words to described the latest movie that often is nothing more than a good reason to sleep for two hours. For me, I love a different type of movie, in a generic term, the cult classic. A movie that is so awful, it is often fantastic in its own way. A frequent subsection of this is the campy erotic thriller. One of those films is on the docket today, and that film is the DePalma classic: Body Double.
Let's cue the scary music! Bring in the fog! As we roll back from the very fake graveyard, we see a rock and roll vampire (played by Craig Wasson) laying in his coffin. As he is about to hit his moment and rise from the grave, he gets an unfortunate case of claustrophobia. Cut! Cut! It appears the actor, Jake Scully is having issues on set. Director Rubin (played by Dennis Franz) wants to know what happened out there and Jake does his best to explain it away. They almost go back for a second shot but not before the graveyard catches on fire thus calling it quits for the day.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 7th, 2013
For those who don't know, I have been married twice in my life. I am currently going through my second divorce. At nearly thirty eight years old, I have lived the relationship life of arguably several lifetimes but something usually keeps me coming back. Am I done with love? Only time will tell. Today's blu-ray review is about a six year old girl who sees life through the divorce of her mother and father. Something tells me we are in for a very long and bumpy ride.
Susanna (played by Julianne Moore), a mom puts her six year old daughter, Maisie (played by Onata Aprile) to bed. Susan decides to sing "Rock a Bye Baby" to the daughter before breaking out the acoustic guitar and playing a few gentle chords as Maisie slowly goes to sleep. The day begins again or rather we see Maisie paying for some pizza as we hear a heated argument in the background.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 20th, 2013
Well, it is that time of the year when we must see what the blood suckers, shape shifters, wolves and the faeries are up to. No, I am not talking about the State of the Union address; I’m talking about the latest season of True Blood. Season Five to be exact. In these twelve episodes, we again travel to the land of Bon Temps, Louisiana and see exactly what delicious trouble and dastardly deeds our characters can get themselves tied up in.
We join Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer) and Eric Northman (played by Alexander Skarsgard) cleaning up their little mess (actually Eric is doing the majority of the cleaning while Bill talks on the phone) after they gave Nan Flanagan the true death at the end of Season Four. However, once they leave the mansion, they are immediately captured by Authority security.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 14th, 2013
Most cartoons these days seem to be carbon copies of cartoons gone past just with different settings and characters. You got the superhero cartoon, adventure cartoon, anime cartoon, the really kiddie cartoon and the adult cartoon. Today, we have a classic I want to be a Pokemon imitator cartoon. It goes by the name Monsuno. Let us take a look inside the second volume and see if this one is more than an attempt to sell action figures and trading cards.
John Ceballos did a fine job on the first volume in this series, go check it out:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 8th, 2013
After a four-month hiatus, I have been called to assignment, a very special assignment indeed. Thankfully, the message did not self-destruct after five seconds. However, the message did have demands and required negotiation tactics. That is when I called in the SRU Unit from the show Flashpoint and they burst onto the scene. While they are handling a memo that has a notebook at gunpoint, they left me with a copy of Season Five of Flashpoint to review. Let’s take a look.
Season Five of Flashpoint in U.S. terms are the first eleven episodes under the ION Television banner (though the dvd package is still put out by Paramount/CBS). In Canada, these are the last eleven episodes of season four. The last thirteen episodes of the series will hopefully be in a Season Six package later this year (and Canada will have it as Season Five). Got it? Good.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on December 30th, 2012
In my youth, I watched a healthy dose of A-Team. Four men who branded as war criminals for a crime they did not commit doing odd jobs for money. Perhaps that is over simplifying things, but it did provide me with tons of fun hours cheering for explosions and witnessing the genius known as Murdoch for my viewing pleasure. Today, we take a look at a film which might be in the vein of what the four guys of A-Team might have been like if they were transported to Africa during the turbulent 60's. We have today, the film called: The Wild Geese.
A plane flies into London and we find ourselves seated at an airport. Colonel Allen Faulkner (played by Richard Burton) sits at the airport lounge and drinks his whiskey until he is picked up by a driver and transported to a giant white house where a merchant banker Sir Edward Matherson (played by Stewart Granger) lives. Faulkner is met at the door by Matherson's assistant, Thomas Balfour (played by Barry Foster) and immediately led to the den where the banker is waiting for him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 23rd, 2012
No matter how bad video game adaptations into movies are, I enjoy the grand majority of them. From the really good ones like Silent Hill and Mortal Kombat (minus the sequels) to the dismal ones like Double Dragon and Super Mario Bros. Each of them has their subtle charm and some thoughtful fan service (unless it is a game film directed by Uwe Boll). Today, we have something a little different, a game film that its sole purpose is to promote the upcoming game. Enter the film : Halo 4 - Foreword Unto Dawn.
As the film opens, we are introduced to the officer cadets at the prestigious Corbulo Academy of Military Sciences. We have the main character, Thomas Lasky (played by Tom Green) who is finding it hard to live up to his family's military history. Cadet Michael "Sully" Sullivan (played by Masam Holden) likes to crack into places where he does not belong. Cadet Walter Vickers (played by Iain Belcher) was born for this as his father produces military weapons.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 17th, 2012
Most Disney live-action kid’s films do not have a kind memory in my heart. They feel contrived, full of soft characters and contain tons of bad comedy. They also proceed to force upon the audience some kind of weak message about morals and attempt to make us feel better about ourselves. This never works. However, today I have a shining light in the sea of bad Disney live-efforts and that film is the 1995 cult classic, Heavyweights.
The clock counts away the seconds until 3:00pm. The bell rings, it is the last day of school. Gerry Garner (played by Aaron Schwartz) misses his school bus and tries to run after it to no avail. He eventually gets home through some mishaps and his parents (played by Jeffery Tambor and Nancy Ringham) call him into the living room. There Gerry runs into a gentleman named Roger Johnson (played by Tim Blake Nelson).
