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Kenny G:Live at Montreux 1987/1988

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2010

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In 1987 Kenny G had released three albums already, but most of the world still didn’t know who he was. He was already an accomplished musician who had played as part of Barry White’s orchestra. He had dreams of taking his talents a bit further than that. But it’s incredibly hard to get on the pop charts with instrumental music. It doesn’t happen very often. That’s not to say that it’s unheard of. There have been a few instrumental pieces and musicians that have found huge success riding the international pop charts. Up until now Kenny G could not be counted as one of them.
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Broken Lizard: Stands Up

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 23rd, 2010

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Written by Diane Tillis

Broken Lizard is the comedy group composed of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. I recognized the group as the minds behind the films Super Troopers (2002) and Beerfest (2006). They decided to return to their comedic roots and go on tour in this DVD comedic show at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, California. The five men would take turns to perform a solo sketch. It allowed the audience to distinguish them as individuals.
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Fraggle Rock: Scared Silly

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2010

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When Jim Henson had finally finished up with The Muppet Show, it was time to take his puppet creations in a slightly different direction. Fraggle Rock, like The Muppet Show before it, was originally produced and aired outside of the United States. With the Muppets it was England that gave the guys their break. This time it was CBS in Canada. The show did quickly find a home in the United States, this time on cable. HBO was just beginning to stretch its legs and break out of its reputation as merely a place to watch movies after their box office run was completed. The network also had a bit of a reputation as more of an adult network.
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Sherlock Holmes Double Feature: Sherlock Holmes Faces Death and Sherlock Holmes in Washington

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2010

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“Sherlock Holmes, the immortal character of fiction. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he’s ageless, invincible and unchanging. In solving significant problems of the present day, he remains — as ever — the supreme master of deductive reasoning.”

In 1887, readers of the popular periodical Beeton’s Christmas Annual were to receive quite a special treat. There wasn’t much fanfare or hype to the event. Inside the pages of the magazine was a story called A Study In Scarlet. It was a detective story, perhaps like many published before, except for the detective himself, a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
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Untitled (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 20th, 2010

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Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. It is an interpretation of a visual that is different from what most perceive as normal. Art is no longer simply drawing a bowl of fruit but rather what the fruit means to the artist. Recently, I found myself trying to interpret a film named (Untitled), which takes a journey down the road of abstract art and music. After a great deal of reflection, I believe I am still confused.
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The Lottery (2010)

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 20th, 2010

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This documentary follows four different families as they await the date for a charter school lottery in Harlem. As the date approaches, we bear witness to the heated debates that go on between those that wish to implement more charter schools (a charter school being one similar to public schools but relies on stringent academic results and standards from its students and operates as an autonomous public school) into a “project” area, and members of the community who believe that their children would be excluded and object to the idea of closing public schools who have failed to produce positive results.
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Jimi Hendrix The Guitar Hero

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 18th, 2010

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This documentary is a mainly a sea of praise for the late guitar legend, as it promises to not focus on “drudging up scandal and outworn hypothesis about his lifestyle and ultimate death.” historical footage tells the biographical portions while high-profile interviws with the likes of Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead), Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), Stephen Stills (Crosby, Stills & Nash) and moany more, plus narration by super-fan Slash (Guns N Roses).
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Electric Light Orchestra -Live: The Early Years

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 1st, 2010

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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. That 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.
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The Lost Skeleton Returns Again/Dark And Stormy Night

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 31st, 2010

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Back in 2001 Larry Blamire and his troupe released The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra. Blamire was obviously a fan of the science fiction films of the 1950’s and decided to take many of those standard elements and pretty much have a blast with the material. The end result was an over-the-top spoof that left you laughing, not because the material was all that funny. You laughed because they sometimes hit those ludicrous devices so perfectly that you have flashbacks to your favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode.
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Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Season One, Part One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 29th, 2010

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The original Batman: The Animated Series is one of my favorite cartoon shows of all time. Depending on which day you ask me, I might go ahead and say it is my favorite (the other times, I’ll probably mention X-Men or Johnny Bravo). It was the perfect blend of cartoon super-hero drama, with a dose of dark and foreboding circumstances. Enter 2008, Batman: the Brave and the Bold, another Batman cartoon but on the lighter side of the equation. Would this show hold up as much as the historic original?
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Adopted

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 25th, 2010

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Pauly Shore seems to be trying to steer his career from being a washed up b-lister to being a self-aware washed up b-lister. Pauly Shore is Dead was his first dabbling into mockumentaries about himself, and now he has followed it up with Adopted. This yarn is about Shore, following the trend set by Angelina Jolie and Madonna, of flying to Africa (and later Cambodia) to adopt a child, with the hopes that being a father would fill a void in his shallow Hollywood hills life.
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Pawn Stars: Season Two

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2010

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“I’m Rick Harrison, and this is my pawn shop. I work here with my old man and my son, Big Hoss. Everything in here has a story … and a price. One thing I’ve learned after 21 years? You never know what is going to come through that door.”

Remember that PBS show where some old-stuff expert would come to your town and sift through a lot of junk that folks found in their basements or attics? Remember that he would give you a story about the items these people brought in? The idea was that once in a while someone discovered valuable treasure in those dusty rooms. Remember that show? This isn’t that show.
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The Universe: Our Solar System (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 23rd, 2010

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“In the beginning there was darkness. And then bang, giving birth to an endless expanding existence of time, space, and matter. Now, see further than we’ve ever imagined. Beyond the limits of our existence. In a place we call The Universe.”

Up until now these History releases have been season sets of the documentary series. This release is the first which appears to be a planned series of specific subject titles. It does create a bit of confusion when you see a series called The Universe and all of the episodes on the set deal with our own back yard
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Gangland: Complete Season 5

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 23rd, 2010

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“They rob, kill, and terrorize, and they’ve left their mark on our nation’s history.”

It’s hard for me to believe that Gangland has been on History for five years now and I’ve only recently heard about it. Certainly, there are a ton of shows on every year, what with so many new networks trying to come up with original material. History has found a way to consistently bring out relatively solid programming without having to spend a lot of cash on the production budget. Everybody wants their 15 minutes, and it’s exactly shows like Gangland that manage to take full advantage of that fact.
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Ca$h

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 23rd, 2010

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A robber tosses his loot onto a freeway and it lands on the hood of a random passerby. Said passerby decides to keep the $600,000+ and use it to buy brand new…everything, for him and his wife. While the robber gets incarcerated, he offers half the money to his twin brother if he can track it down. If the young couple flashes their money around and started paying cash for big ticket items, they will be hunted down…they do, and they are.
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Loose Screws: Screwballs II

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 23rd, 2010

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The biggest troublemakers at Beaver High (get it?) are sent to a remedial school for the summer. There (wait for it), they make life miserable for the principal while (you’re not gonna believe this) finding various ways to see the female students naked, not to mention getting it on with the (but of course!) sexy French teacher. It’s hijinx and nudity, 80s style.
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Secrets of Great Barrier Reef

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 19th, 2010

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There have been a ton of specials to come out over the last few years dealing with some of the planet’s extraordinary places and life. From The BBC to National Geographic, these specials have populated the science networks, and have even begun to shine in beautiful high definition. In just this last year I feel like I have been transported to some of the most spectacular sites on Earth and witnessed many of the most extraordinary creatures that inhabit this planet. Few of these places compare to the Great Barrier Reef that lies off the coast of Australia.
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Escape from New York (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 18th, 2010

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Some of you are aware of this but my favorite movie of all time is Escape from New York. To me, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell represent the perfect director/actor combination. The director knows how to play the actor’s strengths (and minimize weaknesses) and the actor knows how to bring out the best in the direction. It is my sincere pleasure to cover this film on its first trip to the Blu-ray format.
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Graphic Sexual Horror (Special Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 11th, 2010

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“This documentary is about a website that engaged in the commercialization of bondage and sado-masochistic imagery and performances. It in no way represents bondage and sado-masochism as practiced by many adults in their private lives.”

In recent years the horror film industry has created the term torture porn. When you hear the term, it usually applies to that sub-genre of film where there are intense depictions of torture, mutilation, and most often death. Eli Roth’s Hostel films are likely the most cited examples,
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Finding Bliss

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 10th, 2010

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Jody Balaban (Leelee Sobieski) is a newly minted film school grad who, heady with the success her student film has brought her (an award presented by Garry Marshall!), heads off to Hollywood to find fame and fortune. Instead, she finds doors shut to the newcomer, the closest she can get to a major studio job being a stint directing traffic. But then she is offered a job as an editor. The only problem is, the studio in question is a porn outfit. Her dismay is all the greater since she has been put off sex due to the enormous childhood traumas of having been spanked
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NOVA: Mt St. Helens: Back from the Dead

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2010

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NOVA is one of the longest-running series of documentaries in television history. It has been a mainstay on public television since 1974 when the first episode took us behind the scenes of the filming of a nature biography. Since then the series has explored everything from space to mathematics. Episodes have focused on people, places, and things. Classroom curricula have been built around the series. In case you’re keeping track, that’s 37 years that the show has been on television.
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The Hunger — The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2010

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The second (and final) season of this erotic horror anthology series follows the pattern set down by the first. David Bowie replaces Terence Stamp as host, and takes up the job of briefly uttering portentous statements before each story rolls. These stories star such luminaries as Giovanni Ribisi, Eric Roberts, Jennifer Beals and Lori Petty, and are based on tales by a pretty impressive line-up of line-up of writers: Poppy Z. Brite, Kim Newman, David J. Schow, Gemma Files and Ramsey Campbell, to name but a few.
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The Hunger — The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2010

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In 1983, director Tony Scott wasn’t quite as prone to self-caricature as he is today, but he was already enamored of glossy, pretty surfaces, and if nothing else, his vampire movie The Hunger was glossy and pretty. The film arguably remains the most high-profile mixture of eroticism and horror, its place in libidinal history cemented by the love scene between Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve, and Deneuve’s body double. The film’s lasting cult appeal resulted in a short-lived TV horror anthology series, presented by brothers Tony and Ridley Scott, and running two seasons (1997-8 and 1999-2000). Here we have Season 1, hosted by Terence Stamp.
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Courage the Cowardly Dog: Season One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 26th, 2010

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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.
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Cinema Pride Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 26th, 2010

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As the name suggests, this is a collection of ten movies on LGBT themes. In chronological order, here’s what we have:

The Children’s Hour (1961): Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn are the headmistresses of a girl’s school, and their lives are turned upside down when one ghastly little child accuses them of being romantically involved. It is clear, though, the MacLaine would very much like to be. This was director William Wyler’s second stab at adapting Lilllian Hellman’s play, and this time was able actually to deal with the play’s central issue, rather than disguise it as he had to
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