Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 21st, 2012
The fourth Mission: Impossible entry exchanges digits for a subtitle, and brings in Brad Bird to direct his first live-action feature. So the man whose The Incredibles made fun of the sort of thing that is the bread-and-butter of the M:I franchise is brought in to revitalize said franchise. Result? Job done.
Gotcha. You thought I was going to say, “Mission accomplished,” didn’t you?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2012
"In the pantheon of predators, it's one of the greatest discoveries since the T-Rex: a snake 48 feet long, weighing in at 2,500 pounds. Uncovered from a treasure trove of fossils in a Colombian coal mine, this serpent is revealing a lost world of giant creatures. Travel back to the period following the extinction of dinosaurs and encounter this monster predator."
With a title like Titanoboa: Monster Snake you might be expecting the latest huge monster mash-up from Roger Corman or the latest cheap CG creation from the SyFy's Original Movies series. Huge snakes have been common fodder for both of these places. But the monster snake depicted in this film comes to us from The Smithsonian Channel, and this guy really existed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Bob Ross on March 25th, 2012
The strangely compelling pop-rockers first played publicly in February 1977. Almost exactly 34 years later, the B-52s soared again into their hometown, delivering an exuberant, hit-filled set at the Classic Center in Athens, Ga. Fortunately for concert-party aficionados, the show was captured in high-def, widescreen glory for the Blu-ray winner, The B-52s With the Wild Crowd! Live in Athens, GA. If you’re already a fan of “the world’s greatest party band” (it says so right on the dust jacket), this 96-minute celebration is an obvious must-have. The old new-wavers haven’t lost a step as they crossed one at a time into AARP territory. But even first-time flyers will feel the power generated by the B-52s time-tested crew. This high-energy set kicks off with a driving kickoff of “Pump” and the ever-catchy hook of “Private Idaho.” The pace doesn’t seriously slacken for another 90 minutes of bouncy dance-rock, lively melodies and irresistible harmonies.
While lead singer Fred Schneider takes on key front-man duties, this expertly edited program shows that he’s the captain of a totally talented team. Schneider’s wit as a vocalist and emcee are charmingly apparent here, but we also get time to appreciate Kate Pierson’s far-ranging warble, Cindy Wilson’s rich vocal counterpoints, and Keith Strickland’s stinging guitar riffs. (Strickland was the band’s original drummer, who switched to guitar after the death of founding member Ricky Wilson, Cindy’s brother.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2012
In the 1930’s, the orphaned Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives in the access tunnels of the Gare Montparnasse in Paris, winding the clocks, making sure that no one knows his guardian uncle has long-since gone AWOL, and filching bits and pieces of mechanisms that will allow him, he hopes, to repair the automaton he keeps in his living quarters. This is his last connection to his deceased father, and his dream is that the repaired machine will grant him a message from the beyond.
But there are obstacles to his quest. Foremost is the tyrannical station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), who likes nothing better than rounding up street urchins and packing them off to the orphanage. Hugo also runs afoul of the bitter, disappointed old man (Ben Kingsley) whose toy store has been the source of much of his material. This encounter proves fateful for them both. The old man is none other than Georges Méliès, whose films are the ground zero of all fantasy in cinema, but who has since been forgotten by the industry he helped create. Hugo and Méliès’ granddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) become allies, determined to give Méliès back the sense of joy and wonder he once gave to so many.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on March 14th, 2012
“You already started reading the evil words, didn't you? Then could you pass me my blood mop? I'm gonna need it later.”
Somehow I was never aware of Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil: The Complete First Season until I received the DVDs to review. Based on the 2003 short film of the same name, Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil debuted on Canada's Space Channel in September of 2010 and was picked up for broadcast in the United States by FearNet, which started showing the series in August of 2011.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on March 9th, 2012
“It has skin like silverfish.”
After suffering through the vast majority of low-budget indie horror films whose only motivation seems to be to make a quick buck on distribution deals, it is truly a delight when you stumble on to something wonderful like writer/director Mike Flanagan’s Absentia. Building on a cast of unknowns, with the exception of an incredibly creepy cameo by genre fave Doug Jones, Flanagan weaves a web of creepy, atmospheric horror in this effective low-budget chiller.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 2nd, 2012
With the release of the book written by Jack Ketchum (author of Offspring) to coincide with the theatrical release of the film, Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee bring us a horror story not quite like anything we’ve seen for a while. The Woman is a continuation of the film/novel Offspring that followed a tribe of cannibals struggling to survive. The Woman is not a story about cannibal, but instead a story about a family being ripped apart by the many secrets they try at all costs to keep hidden.
Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) is a small-town lawyer who embraces the role of the alpha male. He runs his household with an iron fist alongside his timid wife Belle (Angela Bettis) and their three children. Chris is an avid hunter, and it is on one of his hunts that he discovers a feral woman. His discovery does more than excite him as he quickly has his family clear out the cellar for a surprise he plans to share with his family. Following another trip to the woods Chris captures the woman and secures her ‘safely’ down in the cellar. It’s down in the cellar where Chris decides that it is his duty to help rehabilitate this woman.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 27th, 2012
Carlos Santana is too cool for words. When I say that, I refer to both his widely-acknowledged status as a "Guitar God" and to the fact that he doesn't utter a single word until the 21-minute mark of his latest concert film, Santana — Live at Montreux 2011. Santana may not be chatty, but he and the rest of his eponymous band do a valiant job of holding your attention throughout most of this 167-minute concert in Montreux (which is in Switzerland, and I'm only a little ashamed to admit I had no idea where Montreux was located before I watched this disc).
The music starts almost immediately after you press play — following a short and sweet on-stage introduction by festival creator Claude Nobs — and what follows is a no-frills performance with minimal between-song banter that will nevertheless delight fans of salsa, jazz and rock and roll, genres that Santana has been masterfully fusing for decades. Santana performs his most popular hits — including "Black Magic Woman", "Oye Como Va", "Smooth" and "Maria, Maria" — a few personal favorites of mine (like the playful "Foo Foo") and more than a handful of instrumental numbers that seamlessly blend into one another. There were a couple of instances where I didn't even realize a new song had started until I checked the handy track list on the pop-up menu. (That 23-track song list also allows you to skip ahead to your favorite tunes.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 24th, 2012
One of the more popular characters from the Shrek franchise steps into the starring spotlight here, in an adventure whose locale is rather different from the familiar swamp-forest-castle fairy-tale settings of the parent films. Seeking to steel magic beans from the husband-and-wife thugs Jack and Jill, Puss (Antonio Banderas) and rival Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) become caught up in a wild scheme masterminded by the duplicitous Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis).
The plot is really more of a premise, serving as the means to set up a grab bag of set pieces (an extended flashback showing Puss and Humpty’s past, and how the latter betrayed the former; the spectacular sprouting of the beanstalk; the dance-off between Puss and Kitty and the Glitter Box). There is a lot going on here, and the jokes come a fast clip. Younger viewers will likely get the most out of this, but there are plenty of bones thrown to the adults in the crowd, including such touches as the in-joke casting of Banderas and Hayek bringing in a whiff of Desperado to the antics. The animation is stunning, and while I can’t speak to the 3D theatrical incarnation of the film, it looks simply stunning in 2D.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 23rd, 2012
Looking over my sports dvd library, one might notice a lot of contact type titles. From Wrestling to MMA to high intensity action films, I have my fill of male testosterone fueled viewing. The question remained what would I think of some bare knuckled fist fighting in the documentary that took over ten years to make: Knuckle. Would it be simply too barbaric or would I crave more?
We see a man punching a bag held by another man with his bare fists and then the same guy sparring later on the beach. This soon prompts a scene with a police cruiser where they have to explain themselves that not only are they shooting a documentary that has lasted the last ten years but this Irish man is preparing for an upcoming fight in London. This man is simply known by the name of James Quinn McDonagh. And the credits roll.
