Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 18th, 2012
I'm a Minnesota Vikings football fan. Yes, I accept the condolences. However, I didn't say that to get sympathy, and I'm not yet in need of the services of the suicide hotline. With two games to go, I will keep the number on speed dial, just in case. A thousand years ago we had a star player who made the by now infamous statement that he plays when he wants to play. For a young athlete with an already troubled past, it didn't go over too well. But over the last decade or so Clint Eastwood appears to be in that same mindset.
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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 13th, 2012
At the turn of the millennium, we seemed to collectively decide that we wanted our heroes to be dark and gritty. The X-Men traded in their yellow spandex for black leather in their first big-screen adventure. Batman went from exchanging quips and painful puns with Mr. Freeze to brooding magnificently for director Christopher Nolan. And Hollywood almost completely stopped making candy-colored spectacles like Dick Tracy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 11th, 2012
"When you said you wanted an ocean view, you didn't think you'd get the whole ocean, did you?"
When Finding Nemo was released in May of 2003 there were a ton of skeptics. It was certainly a divergence from the tried and true Pixar formula, and even the people involved with the project were concerned that it would become Pixar's first flop. They needn't have worried. The film was far from a flop. It took in over $70 million in just its first weekend. The final total would be just shy of a billion dollars. The animated feature took the Oscar for best animated feature that year.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on December 6th, 2012
“You think this can last? There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”
In the spirit of full disclosure, let me state that my favorite comic book hero is Batman. As a child, even before the sixties TV show premiered, I loved the tale of Batman. It is a story of a child who overcomes the fear and destruction of his childhood and becomes stronger because of it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2012
"I'm back. You're welcome."
I didn't see the series during either of its first two seasons on HBO. When the second season arrived to be reviewed I was more than a little nervous about jumping in without knowing what had come before. Certainly, I checked out the buzz on the show and got an idea of what it was about. But nothing could have prepared me for what I finally encountered when I popped that first disc in my Blu-ray player. It's safe to say that you can join this show for the third season without having seen the first two.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 3rd, 2012
There was some real enjoyment when I took on the reviewing reigns for the first season of Transformers Prime. It was the best thing since the infamous Generation 1 cartoons and showed great sound, dazzling video and fantastic character development. Now, we enter season two and if we watched the teasers, we learned that Optimus Prime was branded with the Decepticon logo possibly meaning the impossible. How could this be? Well tune in true believers, we shall find out all this and more.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on December 3rd, 2012
Jimi Hendrix. Carlos Santana. Jimmy Paige. Eddie Van Halen. Slash. These are arguably some of the greatest guitar gods to ever rock the stage. Yet somehow this pantheon feels incomplete. I humbly submit Peter Frampton’s name for inclusion with these mighty warriors of rock. In 1976, the singer released his most successful album — Frampton Comes Alive! — and, according to this Blu-ray’s box, “the best-selling live album in the world.” In 2011-2012, Frampton went on tour in celebration of its 35th anniversary.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on December 3rd, 2012
In 1975, Gerald Ford was President of the United States, Wheel of Fortune made its debut, disco was groovy, and Patti Smith burst onto the music scene with her debut album, Horses. She would go on to become known as the “Godmother of Punk” and greatly influence the New Wave genre of music. I admit, before watching this concert, I had only heard one of Smith’s songs — her #1 single, “Because the Night” — so I was curious to hear more of her material. The fact that my aunt says she still owns an LP of Horses she bought as a teenager intrigued me more.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 29th, 2012
Some movie titles are almost comically blunt. Recent examples that didn’t leave much to moviegoers’ imaginations include Cowboys & Aliens, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and, of course, Snakes on a Plane. So when I saw the title of Disney’s latest live-action, family-friendly offering, I wondered just how odd this movie could really be. (At the end of the day, we’re still talking about a Disney film here.) Turns out, The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a strange little flick for a variety of reasons.
