Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 1st, 2010
Since I get to review a lot of sitcoms, I tend to see the gambit of shows designed for only purpose. That purpose is for me to laugh. But there is another word in sitcom which can restrict how funny the comedy will be to a given person. Situational. The situation I present here involves a female sports columnist and her male friends. One can only wonder if this formula created by Betsy Thomas will be what I'm looking for.
P.J. Franklin (played by Jordana Spiro is a sports-writer for the Chicago Sun-Times and she works and lives with a whole lot of males. She rooms with a radio DJ named Brendan Dorff (played by Reid Scott). They have two close friends named Mike Callahan and Kenny Moritorri (played by Jamie Kaler and Michael Bunin) who run a sports memorabilia store. Mike and Kenny are also single and spend their times trying to get the ladies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 28th, 2010
Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen have done a lot of movies together in the last five years including Dragon Tiger Gate, Kill Zone, and Flashpoint. This duo has had a knack of combining strong stories with fantastic martial arts. In 2008, they decided to take on the story if Ip Man, the grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun. Ip Man also had a few famous students including the legendary Bruce Lee. Can Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen produce another quality martial arts flic?
In the 1930’s, Foshan was the center of Chinese martial arts and had plenty of masters willing to teach anybody who was willing to learn. But the most skilled man of martial arts in all of Foshan is not on the front lines teaching students. He’s back in his mansion with his wife and child and goes by the name of Ip Man (played by Donnie Yen). Ip spends his days training and studying his art of Wing Chun much to his wife, Cheung Wing-sing’s (played by Lynn Xiong) dislike.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 28th, 2010
Final Fantasy XIV ESRB Rating, Street Fighter X Tekken, and Jailbreaking is okay? - Welcome to the column that will be quite happy when streaking is determined to be socially and legally acceptable known as Dare to Play the Game.
Nothing to report on World of Warcraft this week, because I’m not playing. Yep, the extent of my Warcraft life this week was reading Arthas: Rise of the Lich King by Christie Golden and watching my wife play her Gnome Warrior (tank spec) named Ankletank. It is as funny as it sounds. Kneecaps and toejam beware! In addition, I turned to my 360 for my other source of weekly entertainment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 26th, 2010
The Cartoon Network Hall of Fame seems to be expanding. Some of you might remember my review of Johnny Bravo Season One which was one of the first titles under this distinction. Courage the Cowardly Dog seems to be the most recent entry in this series and we can only hope that it is as good as ole JB, the king of people who sound like Elvis and excessive machoism.
Courage is a very special dog. He was abandoned as a puppy after his parents were sent into outer space. He was later found by Muriel Bagge, an elderly woman and taken into her home in Nowhere, Kansas. Courage’s personality is totally unlike his namesake. He is unfortunately a coward in every sense of the word. However, this lack of “courage” is what probably keeps him alive.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 21st, 2010
The Super Friends as a cartoon show had a long and sketchy past. It started out in the 1970’s and ran in nearly a dozen different incantations and over a hundred episodes until 1986 when it was put down for the last time. The original episodes that ran from 1973 until 1974 were unique, they ran for an hour with commercials and focused on one core story. Eight of them are provided here.
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice the TroubAlert computer sounds. It seems that there is an environmental disturbance and only the Super Friends can help. The current roster of Super Friends involves the Man of Steel: Superman, the Dynamic Duo: Batman and Robin, the Amazon princess: Wonder Woman, and the King of the Sea (no, not Charlie the Tuna): Aquaman. They also have three friends who act as sidekicks: Wendy, Marvin, and Wonderdog.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 21st, 2010
Alternatives to Split Screen Multiplayer, Plants vs Zombies, and Centipede making a comeback? - Welcome to the column that would like to know what happened to their parachute pants known as Dare to Play the Game.
As of Saturday morning, I am officially done with World of Warcraft until Cataclysm drops. I’m played my priest mostly, completing some last minute heroics which included exalted status with the Kirin Tor as well as enough marks to get an epic neck piece. I actually finished every heroic with the exception of Gundrak and Occulus. The last of which was no loss at all. Yes, boys and girls, flying around on a drake has no business being the main part of a 5 player dungeon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 19th, 2010
G.I. Joe the Movie was originally supposed to be a real box office movie. It was to be the first of three animated motion pictures put out by Hasbro Toys. The other two were based on Transformers and My Little Pony. However, production delays caused the other two to go first. When Transformers and My Little Pony did poorly (gee, never would have guessed that a talking magical pony failed to grab box office sales), it was decided that G.I. Joe would go the direct video route. Years later, it still proved to be arguably the best of the three.
It seems that Cobra Commander and Serpentor just can’t get along. They constantly bicker as to who is in charge of Cobra and would rather accuse each other of incompetence than figure out how to defeat G.I. Joe. It is at that moment that a woman breaks into the Terrordrome. Cobra Commander tries to rally the troops and goes off to find this stranger leaving Serpentor behind. However, the woman still makes it to the Cobra Leader.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 14th, 2010
Ubisoft and 3d, Big Ben in Madden, and 3ds can stop Piracy? - Welcome to the column that thinks you will find them a slasher…of prices known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welp, we are entering the last week of my WoW account until Cataclysm. After that, I’ll either be forced to play on my wife’s account or just cool it down for a while. My dwarf is still progressing, he did finally get the Superior achievement (involves every piece of gear being a certain level) by trading in some Emblems of Triumph for a spiffy helm piece. As reported in previous weeks, his dps is still improving and it is nice to see I’m not being picked on as much.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 12th, 2010
Marvel Superhero cartoons come and they go. For every Spider-Man cartoon, there is an X-Men cartoon, or Wolverine or perhaps even Iron Man gets one. Some of them last more than one season but more often than not they are replaced by shows telling the same stories but in a different style. Marvel Superhero Squad show attempts to break the mold by providing fresh stories with a rather interesting and unique animation style.
Super Hero City is a vast metropolis full of super-heroes and civilian life but chaos has taken hold. It seems that Doctor Doom and his Lethal Legion are looking for scattered Infinity fractals which hold great power. With each one collected, they are closing to building an Infinity Sword, a source of ultimate power. However, standing in their way is the Super Hero Squad and consists of six primary members.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 8th, 2010
Swamp Thing the series was one of those shows that certainly be considered a guilty pleasure. Like the Incredible Hulk, Swamp Thing told the story of a scientist who is forced to live his life transformed as a mutated green monster. However, this particular green monster is not a drifter, he is forced to live his life in the swamp where the elements in turn give him great power. But in return, he must protect the swamp from people who would cause the ecological system harm.
The Swamp Thing (played by Dick Durock) is a large green monster who patrols the swamps of nearby Houma, Louisiana and knows the evil men do. For you see, he was once a man by the name of Alec Holland. Alec was a scientist and professor who was caught in a malicious chemical burning at the hands of Dr. Anton Arcane (played by Mark Lindsay Chapman).
![Ip Man (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/ip-man-collectors-edition-blu-r-large.jpg)
![G.I. Joe: The Movie (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/gi-joe-the-movie-special-editio-large.jpg)
