Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 12th, 2019
Dolph Lundgren is one of those guys that I enjoy watching and can make a bad action movie worth watching. Even when he starred in Masters of the Universe, it wasn’t the He-Man I was used to, and it was a B-movie mess, but he pulled off playing the character. Many love the guy from his performance in Rocky IV, and for me I’m a fan of Universal Soldier, but he never quite reached the superstardom I feel he deserved. Thankfully, decades after his heyday on the big screen, he is still starring in films, though unfortunately a good portion of them are B-caliber action flicks that are simply not taking full advantage of the man’s awesomeness. Dead Trigger is the latest and the newest forgettable film to add to the actor’s catalog. From its opening moments where it seems to be riffing on Starship Troopers but with zombies, I was certainly hopeful that this could be a fun cinematic romp. While Lundgren does his best to deliver the goods, it’s everything that surrounds him in front of and behind the camera that seems to be working against him.
We’re quickly introduced to these new recruits who are joining a special government team that has developed a special video game to help find recruits. The game simulates a zombie infestation that decimates the world, and it just so happens a zombie outbreak is now occurring in the real world. Well, these recruits are taken into a boot camp. It’s here we get an explanation on what a “Dead Trigger” is; basically it’s a soldier with a low life expectancy. Lundrgren is Capt. Walker, who is tasked with making them battle-ready. Their training is cut short when a lab attempting to make a cure for the zombie virus is attacked and the general orders them to rescue his daughter (one of the doctors) and anything they can that has to do with the cure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 13th, 2018
“It was the 'hate the performer' festival.”
With more than 600,000 people in attendance, the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 became the largest musical event of its time. In terms of sheer numbers, it was even bigger than Woodstock a year earlier. But instead of celebrating peace and love, the hippies who attended Isle of Wight were put off by performers who showed up in ostentatious vehicles. They were determined to aggressively protest the commercialization of music, which led to fences being torn down and artists subsequently dropping out of the festival lineup. Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now — Live at The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 documents how one of the quietest, most unassuming artists in the lineup made some everlasting noise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 10th, 2017
I was first introduced to The Who through the original Tommy album. It was one of my mother's favorites when I was young, and she had actually written out by hand her interpretation of the story the rock opera appeared to tell. I can't remember those scribblings, and I'm not even sure if they're still tucked away in that Decca album I have around here somewhere. But the music always stayed with me. Now, I didn't ever become a huge fan of the band. I always liked them and collected a couple of their albums over the years. I did play a lot of pinball, however. I fell more in with the likes of Elton John. So you can imagine how excited I was in the summer of 1975 when my favorite musician was cast to play the Pinball Wizard in a movie from the music that had been stuck in my head for years. And while the soundtrack version has been the version I've often found stuck in my head, the original album was never far away either. Apparently that's also the case with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.
The decision to do a live version of Tommy 50 years after the album's release is tied to a worthy pet project that Daltrey has been running since 2000. He has recognized that teens have been a big part of the band getting its start back in the 1960's and worked to create Teenage Cancer Trust, which helps teens deal with cancer not only on the medical side but by providing them with unique experiences and activities. The Tommy performance in April of 2017 was the 100th performance from musicians all over the world in support of the cause. One of the parts of this show that I wish we'd seen is only talked about in the Behind the Scenes extra. Kids were provided with instruments and access to the Royal Albert Hall where they were encouraged to write songs inspired by The Who. After the concert they took the stage and got to present them to the band. That must have been a moving event.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 7th, 2017
"Is it loud enough?"
What young 1970’s pup, learning to play a guitar for the first time, didn’t, at one time or another, attempt to imitate Pete Townsend’s windmill power chord strum? I count myself in that group. While I was not a very dedicated Who fan, I had an appreciation for the musicianship. There were still songs like Pinball Wizard and Behind Blue Eyes that I would embrace as if they were my own anthems in those days. It would be hard to deny that The Who is one of the most successful rock bands in history. Part of the original British Invasion of the 1960’s, there are few such acts that are even still around, let alone able to fill the huge stadiums and halls of Rock’s yesteryears. Their songs have become anthems, and their antics have become legend. The band wrote the soundtrack for an entire generation, and proudly touted the fact in aptly named song, My Generation. Banned from all Holiday Inns at one time for their well publicized trashing of rooms, they weren’t any easier on their own instruments. Smashing their instruments and amps on stage became a staple, for a while, of the whole Who experience. They’ve inspired a legion of superstars, and now after more than 40 years of rocking, they soldier on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 15th, 2016
“Who do you think I am? Miss Marple?”
Despite his knack for becoming entangled in byzantine plots and conspiracies, no one would confuse Jack Irish for an Agatha Christie character. Instead, Jack is the creation of novelist Peter Temple, and the character's rumpled charm and general aversion to violence means he has more in common with Jim Rockford than Hercule Poirot. The character has been adapted for Australian television and brought to life thanks to a winning performance by the great Guy Pearce. You can now get to know Jack yourself since Acorn Media was nice enough to put three Jack Irish TV movies on Blu-ray.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 18th, 2016
In the late 1960's three musicians came together with an idea. It was a somewhat unconventional idea. Roy Wood and Bev Bevan were part of the band The Move when they met up with Jeff Lynne from The Idle Race. The three hit it off almost instantly. So much so that before long Lynne would also become a member of The Move so that he could work with Wood and Bevan. But that wasn't going to be the ultimate goal. The unconventional idea that the three had involved combining rock and roll with classical music. Of course, other bands had done orchestral arrangements, most notably the Beatles. But their idea was to fuse the concepts more integrally together. The idea was to have live violins and cellos as part of the actual band itself. Lynne would once describe the concept as picking up where the Beatles had left off. Together they invented a new way to rock "n" roll. That invention was the Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO to the fans.
The band started with a bang. The first album, while not a huge commercial success, received more than its share of attention. But band squabbles would almost doom this ambitious project before it got off the ground. Roy Wood left the band to form his own and took some members with him. It looked bleak for the struggling concept. But that might have been the best thing that could have happened. Jeff Lynne would become the controlling force, and the band would go on to enjoy commercial success to go along with those critical appreciations. The band's second album was called No Answer, but it wasn't really intended to carry the title. A secretary with the record company was assigned to contact Jeff Lynne to get the correct album title. He wasn't home. Naturally, the secretary made the notation "no answer". The notation was misinterpreted as the album title, and the mistake would be a permanent entry in the band's discology.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2016
"You have got a tricky day ahead of you."
It's safe to say that Daniel Craig peaked as James Bond with Skyfall. Sam Mendes was the man who figured out how to make Craig work in the part. The secret wasn't in the classic images of Bond's past, but in the future. Instead of trying to mold Craig into Bond, Mendes molded Bond into Craig. It was the right thing to do as long as Daniel Craig was going to continue in the role. With Mendes repeating as director and John Logan from Gladiator and Penny Dreadful fame handling the script, expectations were through the roof for this one. That is before Craig himself toured the interview circuit complaining about playing James Bond. I believe there was a reference to a hot poker in the eye being preferable to reprising the role again. Now I've seen Spectre twice, and I don't believe Daniel Craig has anything to worry about. I suspect the next film will sport a brand new James Bond. And indeed, I think this film proves it's time for a change. Let the speculation games begin.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 19th, 2015
Anyone who has ever played an instrument or sung understands the therapeutic powers of music. In England they have been using that idea to help physically disadvantaged children with music at the Nordoff-RobbinsMusicCenter in London's KentishTown. The institute was founded by American composer Paul Nordoff and British teacher Clive Robbins. They have thousands of success stories. We're talking children who had closed themselves off from the world around them, many who had stopped speaking or communicating at all. The children come from all over the world. In the late 1980's the Center was looking at the need to expand their facilities. To build a state-of-the-art facility would take a lot of money, so they naturally turned to the professional musical artists whom they had honored yearly with their own Silver Clef Award. We're talking the likes of Elton John, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney, heavy hitters, to be sure. Every one of them who were available immediately agreed to put on a super-concert to raise money for the new facility. The event was so successful that a second beneficiary was added because of the funds the show made available. The BritSchool Of Performing Arts was the added charity. It all came together for 11 hours on June 30th 1990 at a place called Knebworth.
The concert was billed as The Best All British Rock Show Ever Staged, and it very well might have been. The crowd was a living sea of rock 'n' roll fans. But it wasn't really strictly a British affair. The crowd can be seen waving flags from many nations, the United States and Canada quite prominent. It was obvious that fans came from around the globe to see the historic gathering. It doesn't look like they were disappointed in the least.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 4th, 2014
“I’m match for any man.”
The idea that “behind every great man, there’s a great woman rolling her eyes” far predates its adoption as a feminist slogan in the middle of the previous century. The White Queen — a sumptuous, rushed combination of Game of Thrones-style high-stakes scheming and Tudors-style regal bodice ripping — uses Britain’s late medieval history as a jumping off point for pushing a number of notable women to the forefront.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 23rd, 2013
Cliff Richard’s music stardom predates that of the Beatles. So the fact that I wasn’t at all familiar with the British pop singer’s music before sitting down to review this Blu-ray probably says more about me than it does about him. Lucky for me, this career-spanning concert — which includes music from his time with the Shadows, some solo hits, and even his duet from the movie that partly inspired the creation of the Razzies — also doubles as a lively, CliffsNotes glimpse into Richard’s incredibly prolific and successful career.
Richard is 73 now, but he’s still able to tirelessly work every inch of the mammoth stage at the iconic Sydney Opera House, where this concert was filmed earlier this year. The singer made his first record at age 17, and had reached #2 on the British charts shortly after turning 18. The man knows how to entertain, even if he’s fooling absolutely no one with his unnaturally dark brown hair. (Tom Jones and Paul McCartney know what I’m talking about.)
