Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 17th, 2012
A wealthy mother of three has a secret revealed about her past when her well-meaning son brings a homeless man over for dinner. This production is a play that has been filmed (not adapted) with a laugh-track spliced in, making it resemble a television show. It’s meant to be inspirational but it’s really just a big mess.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 5th, 2012
For those who do not know, I am half polish. My mother was born in Poland during the 1950’s after the second World War. Often through my youth I would ask my mother for stories of World War II from her father. However, this was met with much resistance as my grandfather was rather tight lipped about anything that happened in that time period. It was understandable, but I still wanted to learn. In fact, today we visit World War II and more specifically the Nazi Collaborators in our dvd review.
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Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on October 28th, 2012
Most people know I’m a sucker for cartoons and I am willing to give any new toon a try. Often in this day and age I might be let down as a lot of newer cartoons do not always hold up against many of the well defined classics of my childhood. However, I rarely get jaded and I am always eager for the next new show to come chomping down the block. The title for us today to review is Regular Show and 16 of the best episodes that a single disc can buy. Let’s take a look.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 23rd, 2012
The best thing about Gone in 60 Seconds is that the film knows exactly what it is. Just take a look at the breathless blurbs on the Blu-ray case for the latest release. “Over 500 crashes!” “93 cars wrecked in the 40-minute car chase!” No one involved with this movie thought they were making an intimate character piece. I mean the top-billed star is “Eleanor.” Did I mention that Eleanor is a 1973 Ford Mustang?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on October 15th, 2012
There have been numerous DVD releases of Spongebob episodes that are linked together by a theme. Holidays are obvious choices and Halloween is an inevitable choice for any series that has multiple seasons under their belt. As expected as it may be, that does not dampen the loony fun that comes along with Sponebob.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 13th, 2012
Ever wonder what a martial arts epic directed by Baz “Moulin Rouge” Luhrmann would look like? Me neither. But that’s pretty much what we get with Legendary Amazons, (loosely) based on the exploits of the Yang family during the Song Dynasty. The story has an intriguing hook — the men of the Yang clan are massacred in battle, leaving their women to throw on armor and take to the battlefield — but is ultimately bogged down by its cartoonish tone and embarrassingly bad production values.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 10th, 2012
Direct to Video movies is usually just a clever term to mean “We have a small budget and B-List stars so we are going to skip the theater and go straight to video and hope to capitalize on the people who might pick this up on a very slow Friday night.” Today’s review is about a man simply known as the “Courier”. It could be a ripoff of the Transporter. It might be a mailman who handles packages by day and the ladies by night.
Bad B-Movies aside, let’s see how this one plays out.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 3rd, 2012
The residential cartoon aficionado is reporting for duty. I often think when I am 80 or 90 years old (if I live that long), I will be in my easy chair with a glass of Metamucil and my cane off to the side while I enjoy a heaping dose of cartoons. Then I will go yell at some kids and tell them to get off my lawn. That is the life, I am telling you. Today, I will be reviewing the third best of Adventure Time dvd with the always lovable Jake and Finn.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on October 3rd, 2012
Dora sets out to teach kids a little English here, and a little Spanish there, as she goes on some Halloween themed adventures; most of which involving costume parades. The formula for each episode (Halloween themed or not) is identical, allowing kids to speak along with the characters, while grating the patience of nearby adults.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 30th, 2012
Oregon may have been the 33rd state to join our union — and Portland may be its most populous city — but Portlandia is a state of mind. And according to the surreal IFC sketch series created by stars Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and director Jonathan Krisel, that state of mind is happily stuck in the simpler time represented by the ’90s.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 27th, 2012
The presidential election is right around the corner. We have two candidates where either one could realistically win. We just hope that there is no funny business and that all of the voting is on the up and up. Regardless, the History Channel has produced many specials over the years that deal with different facets of the presidency. Let’s take a look at three of those specials in this 3-disc set.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 18th, 2012
The changes in the 6th season of The Virginian were not intentional, to be sure. They were the direct result of a real-life tragic event. Actor Charles Bickford who was playing John Granger became ill. He was temporarily replaced by John McIntire, who joined the cast as his brother Clay. Clay and his wife Holly, played by McIntire’s real-life wife Jeanette Nolan, were looking after the ranch while John was out of town. Bickford continued in the credits, but was not fated to return. His illness lead to his death, and the characters of Clay and Holly remained
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Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 12th, 2012
There is a long line of adaptations of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and here we have a modern re-telling of the classic horror tale. Like the original, Dr. Jekyll is experimenting on a wild potion, but while experimenting on himself a malevolent alter-ego named Mr. Hyde emerges from within him to go on killing sprees.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 10th, 2012
Geared towards pre-schoolers, and their fascination with dinosaurs, this show teaches us about dinosaurs, one at a time, in 10-minute episodes. A group of young dinosaurs, eager to learn, travel on a magical train through time to meet the dinosaur highlighted in their episode.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 2nd, 2012
This Naval Criminal Investigation Service lead by Agent Jethro Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon) continue to sift through suspense filled tales of deviance in the military that takes them from all the way from political offices to the streets to battle villains.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 26th, 2012
The “cast” of Jersey Shore have returned from their adventures in Italy as Season 5 is back to the American location that is the show’s namesake. This means a return to their familiar zones for more partying and more…talking about how they partied.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on August 26th, 2012
The Blu-ray case for The Viral Factor — an impressive, preposterous Hong Kong action offering available Aug. 28 — proudly boasts that the film comes “From the star of The Green Hornet“, possibly marking the first and last time anyone has bragged about their involvement with The Green Hornet. (Don’t look at me: I’m one of the few people who really enjoyed it.) Nevertheless, you shouldn’t shy away from this one just because it may somewhat be selling itself short.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 16th, 2012
The wife and I have spent quite a few weekends within the last year going to antique shops and malls, flea markets and basically any place where we might go through a pile of stuff to find that one special item for our collection. The search has produced many interesting items and it brings us joy to see all of the items that simply do not show up in a retail store. Today, we are reviewing American Pickers volume 4, a show that lives on the art of finding that next treasure by going through America’s backyards.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 14th, 2012
Living here in Texas, I have to be blunt and admit I do not spend much time outdoors. This is mostly due to the fact that it seems to be summer for almost ten months out of the year and somehow I just don’t dig 90 and 100+ degree temperatures. When I can afford it, I would love to go somewhere with respectable temperatures and be able to walk around in decent weather. Perhaps the Beautiful Planet set is for me, where I get to see beautiful high definition video of some of the planet’s most wonderful places.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 13th, 2012
Stand-up comedy almost always puts me in a good mood. Even when it is bad, it can be unintentionally good and what is good can often be spectacular. Needless to say, I always am on the lookout for new comics or comics that I have overlooked. Today, we get to take a look at Todd Barry, a man who has been in standup for about 15-20 years. Yes, I believe I have completely missed this one.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 10th, 2012
A group of teenage faeries are graduating from their Faerie academy, and set off on a grand adventure to stop an evil force from…doing evil in general. Meanwhile, one of the faeries is searching for her birth parents, while the rest are giggling about boy faeries and various colouful, giggle-inducing cute items.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2012
Earth From Above is a French nature documentary series dubbed into English for its American and British Blu-ray release. The host, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, garnered international attention with his renowned photography. He’s best known for his best selling coffee table book, Earth From Above, chronicling his world travels with stunning photos from a bird’s eye view. He then branched into filmmaking, using his unique aerial photographer’s eye to draw attention to world’s conservation and preservation needs. This resulted in an Earth From Above full length feature and eventually this running French series of the same name.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 2nd, 2012
“You have been summoned to a place beyond this Earth, a place beyond your understanding. A place with laughter and love, safety and happiness for all eternity. A trusted friend will accompany you to this other plain of existence. And your journey will begin. Watch for the signs, my friend. Godspeed and good luck.”
The place you are being summoned to is that wacky film study group that is MST3K. Classes are about to begin again thanks to Shout Factory and their continuing release of these classic films and the men who hate them.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 1st, 2012
Like a lot of people in general, I strive to get more bang for my buck. Whether it is in grocery shopping, video games or a pizza buffet, I always want to pay the bare minimum and reap the maximum benefit. Another area this holds true is movies. In my collection, there are double packs, triple features and quadruple showings. Today, it just so happens that we have a triple feature from Mill Creek Entertainment that brings us three thrillers: D.O.A, Playing God and Color of Night. This might be a long night.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on August 1st, 2012
We all have That Friend. We’ve known him/her most of our lives, and he/she was a perpetual screw-up even when we were kids. We hoped they’d grow out of it as adults, but they always seem to rope us into their drama or cockamamie schemes. Yet we can’t completely cut them off because, even if it’s sometimes hard to remember why you’re still friends, it’s hard to get rid of anything that’s been a part of our lives for so long. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I regret to inform you that you probably are That Friend.
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