Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 8th, 2011
Somewhere in my family’s history, I have a couple of odd branches. One of them leads to a former Pope (17th century I believe) and the other is even more curious, the mob. Specifically, it leads to the most popular gangster of them, Al Capone. It is pretty far down the branch, but interesting nevertheless. This leads us to our movie review for today: Kill the Irishman which deals with the real life story of Danny Greene, a man who escaped death countless times and took down the mob.
The period in time is Cleveland, Ohio circa 1975. Danny Greene (played by Ray Stevenson) is driving along and listening to his 8-track player. All of the sudden, his player starts to fizzle and then sparks fly. Danny realizes that the car is about to explode and gets out. He narrowly escapes death. He shouts, “It will take more than a few firecrackers to kill me.” Indeed it would.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 5th, 2011
Many times when you see a trailer over and over, one has to ask themselves: Do they really want to see the movie or is repetition to the point of acceptance playing its fatal card? In the case of Legend of the Fist: Return of Chen Zhen, I had seen the trailer several times in front of Ip Man and the sequel. I wasn’t sure if I was anxious for the movie, so much that I really wanted to see Donnie Yen go absolutely crazy with his kicks and amazing martial arts.
The First World War is going on across Europe. The Allied Forces aren’t doing so well. In 1917, one hundred and fifty thousand workers were dispatched by the Chinese government to help the Allied Forces. Each of these workers were given a wristband for identification and the imprint left behind by these markers were symbols of survival. These workers fought and also did manual labor on the lines. We join the story with a mighty blast as we start our story in France.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 4th, 2011
The other day, I was taking a look at my past reviews and I realized that I have been reviewing on this site for over six years. If you have been reading my reviews for that long and you aren’t married to me, bless you for sticking it out that long. Heck, I’ve only known my wife for almost 4 of those years. Anyhow, I have reviewed a plethora of subjects. One of the hardest things to do is to review a dvd season in the middle of its run. It becomes even harder when that show is True Blood
Before we go anywhere with Season 3, we need to take a step back in time and analyze the last couple of episodes of Season 2.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 28th, 2011
Unlike most people my age, I still have a surreal view of love despite a plethora of failed relationships and a horrendous first marriage. Sometimes, I feel like I am the only person who doesn’t have a screwed up concept of love. But thankfully I did find my true love before anything happened to my ideology. Enter the movie Year of the Carnivore, a movie that disguises itself to be about sex when in reality it is more a statement about good old fashioned love.
Eight O’ Clock. Just another day for Sammy Smalls (played by Cristin Milioti) until she peers out his window and stares at a guy engaged in a self sexual act. (it is not graphic, just disturbing). Interested, she doesn’t even realize she is eating off her parent’s picture. So off Sammy goes to the grocery store to do her job as store security. She catches a old man stealing a steak and hands him over to the store manager, Dirk (played by Will Sasso) who mulls him over.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 28th, 2011
One could say that I watch a healthy dose of Adult Swim. My favorites are Robot Chicken and the Venture Bros but I usually find that I can enjoy just about any of the shows given a few episodes and the inability to change channels. Seriously, the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network produces quality television and stuff you won’t find anywhere else. Childrens Hospital is one such show that explores the lighter side of medicine. As long as there aren’t any clowns in this, we should be okay.
*looks at box* Crap!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 24th, 2011
The story of Romeo and Juliet is a story that is retold at least once every generation. It can be retold using a different time period or with alien races or perhaps even in a thirty second commercial. It is a fairly easy story and parts can be tweaked given the audience and intention. So begins the story of Gnomeo and Juliet. Take one part animation, one part garden gnomes and a dose of laughter that could be just what the classic play needs. Or it could become a tragedy of the highest order.
There are two elderly people who share a large house. One is Mrs. Montague and the other is Mr. Capulet. They can not stand each other. In such, part of their daily routine is to look after their separate prized garden. One is decorated in blue (Montague) while the other is decorated in red(Capulet). However, they both share one thing in their design. They both like to use garden gnomes. When Mrs. Montague and Mr. Capulet go away however, the gnomes magically come to life. So starts our story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 23rd, 2011
When I was a kid, I always wished and hoped I had super powers. Frankly, I did not even think my parents were my parents, rather hosts for somebody who would eventually change the world. Somewhere along the way, I grew up (kinda) but always wondered what would happen if things were different. I Am Number Four explores the story of a teenager who could change the world with his powers if he can simply stay alive long enough. By the way, I still don’t think my parents were my parents.
Two men (played by Greg Townley and Reuben Langdon) are asleep in some remote part of the world. All of the sudden, they feel something is wrong and wake up. They find nothing, but then suddenly one of the men is grabbed by an unknown monster and taken out of the cabin by force. The other man witnessing this horrid event has no choice but to try and run to safety.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 19th, 2011
When I got to college, I had no idea what I wanted to be. I had signed up for computer science so I could go on to be a video game programmer. The truth is, I placed that as my major because I did not know what else to put. As luck would find it, five years later would get me a degree in Finance which I have never used in the professional world. But there was one thing in college I knew for sure. I wanted nothing to do with any fraternity and I am guessing Brotherhood is not going to change this opinion.
We start off the story with four frat guys in a van (if that van was down by a river, I’m out of here). Frank (played by Jon Foster), the pledge leader puts on a mask and runs out to rob a convenience store and comes back. He demonstrates that he wouldn’t ask the pledges to do anything he wouldn’t first. The other three are noticeably frightened because they think they will be arrested. Eventually one of the pledges decides to do it and when they hit the next store, he completes his task quickly.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 16th, 2011
Recently, I saw the brand new live-action film of Thor in 3d on a giant IMAX screen with some close friends (watch for the Hawkeye cameo!). All of us thought the movie was pretty good (though we really didn’t see the point of 3d, big shock). As to be expected, I knew (and hoped) an animated feature of Thor with his big hammer was right around the corner. However, when I received said feature, Thor was right on it, but he was holding a sword? This requires some further analysis.
We open the film to somewhere in Asgard, Thor is fighting a bunch of warriors, armed with swords. The shot suddenly pans up to an appreciative crowd. This would be what one would call a spectator sport. Thor goes back to playing for the crowd and even loses his sword in the process. But one of the combatants lets him pick back up his sword and continue the fight. This is also the time when Sif, a female who is handy with any weapon, shakes her head and walks out of the arena.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 12th, 2011
Sometimes I miss the days of my youth. Huddled in front of a thirteen inch color television set with the knobs you had to turn but not too quickly (or else you were forced to break out the pliers) to your desired channel. It seems like I watched so many sitcoms back then. Silver Spoons, Different Strokes, Facts of Life, etc. But I do seem to remember a show about a small child named Emmanuel Lewis who would play Webster. It was awfully cute back in the mid eighties, I wonder if it holds up today.
If you missed the first season of Webster, well all came to know Emmanuel Lewis as the little boy with a big heart that everybody loves. His original parents get killed in a car accident and then he is taken in by the Papadapolis’. The new parents are made up of George (played by Alex Karras), an ex-football player and Katherine (played by Susan Clark) who is just your average high maintenance socialite.
![Kill the Irishman [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/kill-the-irishman-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/legend-of-the-fist-the-return-of-c-large.jpg)
