Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 19th, 2023
“Space … the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”
Nearly 20 years after the original Star Trek left the network airwaves, Gene Roddenberry set out to discover whether he could catch lightning in a bottle once again. Some say he did an even better job with Star Trek: The Next Generation. There are times I tend to agree. The Star Trek sequel series had a lot more advantages from the moment it was conceived. Star Trek, a series that barely registered on the ratings during its three-year primetime voyage, became a huge sensation in syndication. By the time The Next Generation came on the scene, the original show had been syndicated in over 20 different languages all over the world. It had launched an animated series, and a fifth feature film was already in the early stages of consideration. So it isn’t quite fair to judge the success or quality of The Next Generation over the original series. One thing is inarguable. The second would never have existed if not for the first.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 2nd, 2023
I probably could be called a lot of things, some kind and some not so kind. But the one thing that probably most people would say about me is that I'm loyal. Loyal to my job, loyal to my wife, loyal to my son. However, in my life, I have certainly felt the pain of disloyalty, even to the point of infidelity. Despite what people might say or think, you never quite expect it, and furthermore one can't predict how you might feel or act given the situation. Today's movie Three into Two Won't Go explores the idea of what happens when a man cheats on his wife with another woman. However, this woman stays around long after the fact and continues to press into his everyday life until it becomes unbearable. Let's take a look.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 29th, 2023
Typically, I avoid World War II period films like the plague. I literally see the word Nazi or German occupation and usually find a reason not to see the movie. I have nothing against the pictures; the problem is that so many of these films are surrounded in clichés that it feels like an old hat with nothing new to offer. However, when I saw The Day and the Hour in my review pile, I was intrigued by the notion of it being in France with a female lead and something of a romance. Far different from the usual pow pow, war is heck, or a film that's going to have buckets and buckets of tears and worrying about the human condition. Though from the looks of things, this one might have some waterworks too. Let's take a look.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 23rd, 2023
I'm a sucker for clever movie titles. The best example I can think off the top of my head is I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Or perhaps you need something from yesteryear, like Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia or They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Along the lines of Sucka, we can't also forget about Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. So imagine my surprise when I saw the title of today's movie and jumped at the chance to provide a review. Hopefully it is as good as the title suggests.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 18th, 2023
Some of my fondest memories growing up were those of my Polish grandmother and visiting her in New York for a week or two during the summer. It was so different than when I was with my parents in North Carolina. From the living arrangements to actually having a real basement to the subway itself, it was almost surreal in a very urban type way. Then everyone seemingly moved to Texas, including our family, and all of the innocence was lost. Today's movie is Gloria, a movie set in New York where a six-year-old Puerto Rican kid loses his innocence as his family is gunned down by the mob. The only thing he has to cling to is a friend of the family named Gloria who has a few special skills of her own. Let's check it out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 17th, 2023
Wes Anderson is pretty much the perfect example of being a cinematic auteur. He has such a unique style that you can simply look at a couple seconds of his work, and you just know immediately you’re watching a Wes Anderson film. Even from his early days with Bottle Rocket and Rushmore to The Fantastic Mr. Fox and now Asteroid City, these films are all very different, but still one would say are uniquely Wes Anderson. His films are a bit divisive, and I completely understand, but those who are fans tend to really love his work. Personally the only my favorite from him is Moonrise Kingdom; it was a perfect blend of style, charm, and heart; then he has a film like The French Dispatch that got plenty of critical love, but I just couldn’t really get into it. That brings us to his newest release, Asteroid City, which boasts a huge ensemble cast with many familiar faces from his previous films and some big-name stars we get to see him work with for the first time. Is this a trip to the desert worth taking, or should you simply take a viewing detour?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 24th, 2023
When Superman was first introduced to us, it was in Action Comics #1 back in 1938 from the writer Jerry Siegel and the artist Joe Shuster. Since then the character has become a cultural phenomenon that’s been featured in just about every form of media from radio shows, TV shows, cartoons, movies, and everything else in between. The character has evolved quite a bit since those early comic book days, and one of the characters biggest evolutions came with the Max Fleischer cartoon series. It was 17 animated short films that played in theaters before the feature film began, but these short films would draw in audiences that wanted to see this caped hero and his amazing adventures
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 22nd, 2023
I’ll admit it; when it comes to Netflix, I’m a fan of the shows that they put out, but their movies rarely impress me. I kind of look at Netflix films as the modern version of direct-to-video releases. They have big stars, but the quality just isn’t up to par with the big releases you’ll see in the theater. Even big name stuff like The Irishman -- it was good, but not the masterpiece I was expecting. Honestly, my favorite films on Netflix are The Babysitter films with Samara Weaving, just a fun little film, that is basically the kind of expectations I have for a Netflix film, and even the more recent release of We Have a Ghost I thought was charming and may have done well on the big screen. As for Knives Out 2, fun but forgettable. So when I see films from the streaming service get Oscar nominations and even win, I can’t but feel the need to pull the wax out of my ears and make sure I heard that right.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 9th, 2023
I remember when The Golden Compass came to theaters. I know I saw it because I was a projectionist and had to screen the print, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember anything about the film. Perhaps that’s why that when I first heard about HBO doing a TV series adaption of the beloved book series His Dark Materials I wasn’t all that thrilled. I’d never read the -adult series, and considering the amount of awful YA film and TV adaptations that have bombarded us for nearly two decades, it played a role in squashing any excitement I may have had in different circumstances. I was definitely pessimistic about watching the show, but when I finished Season 1, I was excited about where the next season would take us. I loved the characters, the daemons and the worlds that the show took us to. Not since Stranger Things had I been more excited about a new series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 25th, 2023
If someone were to read my biography below, one would probably learn one of two things, I have an unhealthy obsession with Alyssa Milano movies, and I deeply appreciate Basil Rathbone, the man who popularized Sherlock Holmes films. While many would argue who the best Holmes would be (Downey, Brett, Cumberbatch, etc), my heart will always go to Basil. So naturally, when I saw the movie Rio with him in the starring role had come to Blu-ray, I jumped at the opportunity to review it. Let's take a look.
