Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 15th, 2010
“The Man Who Cannot Die”, better known as the Phantom was created by Lee Falk in 1936. The comic strip runs until this day, despite the creator dieing more than ten years ago. The Phantom was a costumed crimefighter that lived in the country of Bengalla. Bengalla was fictional but located in Africa. In 1996, they finally decided to create a movie based on the comic strip to find out what the “Ghost Who Walks” would do on the big screen.
The story starts when a young boy washes up on the shore of the African island known as Bengalla. He got there as the last survivor from a vicious pirate attack. In a ceremony with an ancient tribe known as the “Poison People”, he is dubbed the Phantom. The Phantom will devote his life to destroying piracy, cruelty and injustice. When the boy grows, he assumes the identity of a purple masked superhero with a brilliant horse to ride and a faithful wolf at his side.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 11th, 2010
Most people who call themselves friends of mine know that I absolutely adore the combination of John Carpenter and Kurt Russell. Escape from New York is my favorite movie of all time and I even liked Escape from L.A. as well. Now that my credibility is probably ruined, I was delighted to receive Elvis, a mini-series produced in the seventies that brought together this amazing duo for the first time. Kurt Russell is the King of Rock n Roll and I can’t help to enjoy watching.
The year is 1969. Elvis Aaron Presley (played by Kurt Russell) sits in a hotel room in Las Vegas with his friend and roadie Red West (played by Robert Gray). He is about to make one of the biggest comebacks of all time. However, there is a news report on the television about him that questions whether or not he can make the comeback. Elvis doesn’t quite like that. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pistol and aims it directly at the television.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on February 10th, 2010
Xbox DLC Going Away, Re-releasing PS games, & Natal is the next mouse? - Welcome to the column that continues to be stubborn about backwards compatibility until the Dreamcast starts playing Sega Genesis games known as Dare to Play the Game.
Another week in the world of gaming. I am now officially one achievement away from a full boat on WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010. 950 points. As it turns out, all the unlockables achievement only required me to go back through the Randy Orton scenario to unlock “Cowboy” Bob Orton & “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase. Thank goodness I used several saves for his scenario in my first run through so I only had to hit it at key points.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 8th, 2010
Recently, my parents moved to Tennessee in their attempt to enjoy retirement. We actually lived there about six months when I was in the 8th grade. So, apparently there was something in the water that made them want to go back. After the movie Glitter, I never wanted to see anything with Mariah Carey that involved anything where she actually had to speak. For some reason, I also came back to Tennessee.
The movie opens with a mother who is abused by her husband. As this is happening, their son Carter comes in and stands up to his father. Then Carter takes his brother, Ellis and his mother into a car and drives as far as he can without looking behind him. They end up in Tennessee. Later, Carter and Ellis’s mom dies and Carter is forced to take care of Ellis until they both reach the age of maturity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 3rd, 2010
Planet Hulk started out as a storyline from Incredible Hulk #88-#95 (2006). The Hulk was too strong for the planet Earth and so the Illuminati under the direction of Iron Man and Doctor Strange sent him to a planet where he can cause harm to nobody except himself. Of course, things don’t go exactly as the Illuminati probably hoped for. The direct to video movie deals with Hulk’s stay on planet known as Sakaar.
Hulk is simply too strong. He is a danger to the earth and in such the New Avengers has sent him away to an abandoned planet. The Hulk wakes up and finds himself in the rocket. He listens to the words of Iron Man with Doctor Strange and what appears to be Reed Richards and the Black Bolt close by. The team thinks that they are sending him to an isolated planet devoid of life. However, the rocket actually passes through a portal and somehow Hulk ends up on the planet known as Sakaar.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on February 3rd, 2010
The Tester, Capcom in the Green, & Dante’s Inferno at The Superbowl? - Welcome to the column that has seen hell and has the purple dinosaur marks to prove it known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welp, as many of you know I do play the World of Warcraft. I had fiddled around with my dwarf priest here and there. This past Monday, he hit level 70. He didn’t really become my main until I started playing with Sarah and I turned him shadow (or rather dual-speced him to include shadow). Now it’s nice because Sarah and myself can actually queue for Lich King dungeons together. She’s had a couple of 80’s and a 77 for a while, but I know she wanted to really play with me instead of just giving me an occasional run through of something.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 1st, 2010
As the resident video game expert for the site, certain movies will always fall into my lap. Any movie that includes something about video games, good or bad I will get the chance to review. Sometimes, I'm not so thrilled and sometimes I'm simply elated to take on the task. But then every once in a while, I get a movie where I'm not sure what to expect. The movie Gamer seems to take that tone. But perhaps the journey will lead to some rather unexpected but pleasant surprises.
Kable (played by Gerard Butler) is the most famous Slayer in history. He has survived twenty-seven matches and has only three matches left to his ultimate goal of freedom. The Slayers show is a third-person multiplayer shooter game where the contestants control the shooters. The shooters are death-row inmates who are given the opportunity to gain their freedom. The only catch is that they have to survive thirty matches. The other issue, is that nobody has ever made it; Kable might become the first.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 27th, 2010
The original movie production of Fame came out in 1980 and followed a group of students as they progressed four years through the New York High School of Performing Arts. It was gritty, it was harsh, but it was a very deep portrayal of budding students trying to get into the world of singing, dancing and acting. Nearly 30 years later, somebody gets the bright idea of doing a remake. Let’s find out if it is anywhere close to the original.
It is another year at PA or the New York High School of Performing Arts, there is a brand new crop of students trying their best to get into this elite school. The teachers are professionals at figuring out who has talent and who doesn’t. Teachers like Mrs. Fran Rowan (played by Megan Mullally) who works on vocals, Ms. Lynn Kraft (played by Bebe Neuwrith) on dance, Mr. Alvin Dowd (played by Charles S. Dutton) as drama coach and Mr. Joel Cranston (played by Kelsey Grammer) who takes on music.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on January 27th, 2010
Farmville Addicts, Xbox Indie Game Sales, & Mass Effect 2 will make you swap discs? - Welcome to the column that gets freaky with the geeks and wipes up afterwards known as Dare to Play the Game.
For a few months now, I have been playing WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010. Honestly, when I first got the game I didn’t think I was going to get anywhere close to 1000 achievement points. Then a funny thing happened. I kept with it. A lot longer than I kept up with 2007, mainly because the best thing about 2010 achievement points is that there are no online achievements. This means I can mess up as many times as I would like and not feel 12 waves of stupid for it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 25th, 2010
Small Wonder ran in the mid eighties on various little networks across the nation. It ran for four seasons and a total of ninety six episodes (4 from the magic number). True to Shout Factory’s form and modus operandi, they have released a boxset of the first season. I remember seeing a few episodes when I was a kid but this might be one of the times when my memories aren’t as good as I think they are.
Ted Lawson (played by Dick Christie) is a robotics engineer. He has an idea for a domestic servant but his boss just doesn’t seem to buy into it. So he brings his project home and works on it. In the meantime, he seemingly ignores his wife, Joan (played by Marla Pennington-Rowan) & his young son, Jamie (played by Jerry Supiran).
![The Phantom [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-phantom-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Planet Hulk [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/planet-hulk-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Fame (Extended Dance Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/fame-extended-dance-edition-digi-large.jpg)
