Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 9th, 2012
My mother was born in Poland thus making me 50% full Polish. Growing up, I was often told stories about the Second World War and how my grandfather primarily was affected by it. So much so, that he never really spoke of it (I got my stories second hand through my grandmother and mother) most likely due to the horrors endured to the Polish invasion and other unspeakable depictions of violence. Today’s review takes us to an interesting Anime that is set in Russia during the same war with a supernatural feel.
1942, Russia. The Eastern Front. The Soviet Union is trying to withstand Germany’s attacks and avoid defeat at any costs. We change our focus to a battle inside Russian lines with one of the Russian commanders yelling instructions at his troops. As he does so, he does not notice a giant black knight on a horse swinging about to swing a sword at his head. The commander’s head goes clean off in a brilliant fashion. Blackness. Then a little girl named Nadya wakes up who is traveling with a troupe to entertain the troops.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 24th, 2011
With smaller cable networks stepping up in the last few years and producing high-quality, original programming, we are living in a veritable Golden Age of television.
And yet.......
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 23rd, 2011
Most people know me to be a pretty big fight fan (with the exception of boxing which has gone tremendously downhill since the eighties). I love wrestling (even though it is scripted) and watch a great deal of Mixed martial arts, better known as MMA. The thrill of combat, the fascination of pure athleticism and talent is what straps me to my seat and never lets me go. I had the immense pleasure to catch the movie Warrior before it hit theaters and now I get to visit it a second time on DVD.
(*Author’s Note: Most of this is borrowed from my review when I watched it in theaters. However, I have added a few notes along with video/audio/extras. Enjoy.*)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 20th, 2011
"In the farthest corner of America lies the nation's largest swamp. A hidden world where nature rules and man fights back. Welcome to the swamp."
Leave it to History to find yet another profession that they can deliver to our living rooms and home theaters so that we can be entertained by someone else's reality. When I first heard the title of Swamp People, I had something entirely different in mind than what I ended up with. I guess I was prepared for some hidden creature-folk who might be spotted between the swamp gas and the Spanish Moss Monster from an old Kolchak episode. Perhaps those are the images they intended for us to conjure, at least at first. But these swamp people are regular hard-working stiffs like the rest of us, only they make their living off of the swamp itself. It provides food, transportation, income, and entertainment. Much of their Cajun lifestyle has been handed down for centuries from generation to generation. And one of those traditions is gator hunting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 19th, 2011
I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have, in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing.
The characters have shown up in quite a few areas over the years. There have been other specials and a couple of regular cartoon television shows. One of those was The Charlie Brown And Snoopy Show. It lasted only 18 episodes, and it's that final episode that is featured here. In it Charlie Brown recounts a Christmas in a letter he's writing. Lucy's putting together another play, and Sally wants to help Linus raise money for the production.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2011
"Your mission, should you decide to accept it..."
Those words have certainly been a part of the American pop culture for almost 50 years. It all started with the Desilu television series that hit the airwaves in 1966. That first year is probably unfamiliar to most of us. It was in black & white and starred Steven Hill as the leader of the Impossible Mission Force. A year later the show jumped to color and Peter Graves took over the team as the indomitable Jim Phelps. The show lasted a good 7 seasons. The Impossible Mission Force was a black-ops team that worked under the "secretary" who would disavow their mission should any of the team be caught or killed. The show had a pretty good run before ending in 1973. Gone, but never forgotten.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 4th, 2011
This historical film looks at the three-year siege of Leningrad during World War 2. The film follows a Russian, female police officer who aids a stranded, English news reporter as they try to survive the siege. Said survival goes beyond enduring the battles between Russian and German forces as a lot of focus is placed on the starvation of the denizens of Leningrad as supplies become desperately limited and the people must live off of 300 grams of rations a day, an amount that declines as days go by.
There is a nice balance between depictions of those fighting the battles and civilians just trying to survive. The battles themselves are accurately brutal at times, and the city of Leningrad is looks as cold and wreaked with famine as its inhabitants. Visually, this film does a wonderful job of recreating the horrible images of war. There are dead bodies frozen on the streets and battlefields that the characters have to become acclimatized to.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 28th, 2011
For those who might not already be aware, I am currently living in the state of Texas. I would say great state of Texas but my lack of a straight face would give that away. “Go back to where you came from”. Well, I would love to go back to North Carolina and perhaps the Minnesota transplant that is using four letter words against me can do the same. However, I am very interested in how some of these states got their shapes. Perhaps the first season of “How the States Got Their Shapes” can help.
Most people take the shape of their states for granted. However, the shapes of the United States of America have went through a library list of changes to get to their current shape. Often, the story of that shape is far more interesting than the cracks and bends that many states currently possess. Thankfully, we have our host: Brian Unger who is willing to be our Johnny Cash of cable television and “Walk that Line”.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 23rd, 2011
To say I am a sucker for hard rocking music films is an understatement. One of my favorite films in this genre is Rockstar of which I am still waiting for a good blu-ray release. Other films like This is Spinal Tap or even The Runaways also hold my interest for a good time. So, I was a little interested when I saw Trigger come to my doorstep, a tale about two reunited female musicians who are brought back together for one great night.
Two girls tear up the stage and put on a great performance of rocking their hearts out set to a peaceful piano number. The music ends with some guitar bashing, lead singer boozing and general chaos. Ahhh, so peaceful. We fast forward to ten years later and arrive in a fancy restaurant. Vic (played byTracy Wright) shows up (the guitarist) and is seated at a table. About forty five minutes to an hour later, Kat (lead singer) (played by Molly Parker) shows up and apologizes for being late.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 18th, 2011
"It finally happened – Comedy Central messed up and gave me a show."
I have to admit that I had not heard about Gabriel Iglesias before I saw a recent Blu-ray concert film. Gabriel is a rather rotund comic. For him, it's not a liability at all. Honestly, he's turned it into a cash cow, of sorts. It's a huge, pun intended, part of his routine. In fact, to understand his nickname "Fluffy" you have to be clued into one of his signature routines. He identifies six levels of obesity. They range from Big, Healthy, Husky, Fluffy, Damn, and the latest level, Hell No. As you might guess, Gabriel considers himself in the Fluffy category. Still, for all of his pounds he has quite a bit of energy, and he moves along the stage quite well for his weight. His body and child-like face make him disarming and more than a little bit charming on stage.
![First Squad [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/first-squad-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Attack on Leningrad [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/attack-on-leningrad-blu-ray-large.jpg)
