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.
Air Force One (44:51): This hour long (with commercials) specials focuses on the most famous plane in the United States, Air Force One. The first thing we learn is that Air Force can be any plane the president flies (it is a call signal). However, the plane most associated with Air Force One is a Boeing VC-25. A very heavily modified Boeing VC-25. But there is a lot more to Air Force One than just a big fancy plane with special cargo inside.
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. McIntire finally replaced Bickford in the opening credits and nothing more was ever said about John Granger. It's a bit of a surprise the death was not addressed and left hanging.
The Virginian set itself apart from the others in two ways. The first was found in the source material. The series was based on a 1902 novel by Owen Winsler, a man who actually lived in the Wyoming badlands during the time the series was set. The source material helps to add a sense of authenticity that might well have been a slight step ahead of the rest. It wasn't as violent as the others, again reflecting a more realistic sense of direction.
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.
The original tale is told from the point of view of the attorney enlisted to help solve this problem. In this film, the attorney is both an aid to Jekyll and a love interest. While this added romantic element does make for some added moments of increased tension when Hyde attacks the woman Jekyll is falling for, it mostly just makes the movie feel more cliché and makes the flow of the story much more boring and predictable with the plot falling into the usual "final-girl" or "boy must save girl" trappings when relying on their relationship to be the anchor of the conflict, when there are so many more interesting elements at play.
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.
This particular DVD collection focuses on the biggest of the dinosaurs, the sauropods (long neck behemoths). The lack of variety might hinder whatever education this show is wishing to tender to it's young viewers. Making a dinosaur one neon colour versus another doesn't do enough to distinguish each beast. There are unique mini-adventures attached to each lesson but there is hardly enough narrative or even gags for children to be grabbed by this. If your child happens to be a huge fan of this type of dinosaur...then by all means, feed them this assembly line of incredibly similar beasts.
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.
Previous seasons of NCIS have been covered on this site, such as this:
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.
Offering up any sort of synopsis of this show would purely consist of something along the lines of: (Person) got drunk and hooked up with (Person) which angered (Person) at a party. (Person) then talked about it endlessly except to go to the gym, tan or drink. Repeat this formula for each episode for all Five Seasons.
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.
While escorting a criminal scientist from Jordan to Norway, International Security Affairs agent Jon (Jay Chou, Kato in The Green Hornet) and his team are ambushed. Unfortunately, a member of Jon's team is a traitor who puts a bullet in Jon's head, kidnaps the scientist, and threatens to unleash a deadly virus on the world. Doctors inform Jon that the bullet is lodged in his brain and he only has a few weeks until it causes complete paralysis. So far, I'm thinking we've got the ingredients for a pretty solid action flick. Jon has to race against time to get revenge against his traitorous colleague Sean (Andy Tien) and save the world before his body breaks down, right? Well, not exactly.
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.
For those who are not familiar with what exactly is American Pickers about, here is a short synopsis There are these two guys, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz who roam the United States in search of knick knacks, car parts, collectibles, anything that will bring them money. A picker. Their method is somewhat unorthodox as they actually visit people’s homes, storage sheds, and any other place where somebody might store their collection.
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.
Beautiful Planet: England & the Low Countries:
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.
Beautiful Planet: England & the Low Countries:
