Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 29th, 2012
In my comic travels, I usually do not read the really popular heroes. Sure I have read Spider-Man, SuperMan or Batman but if you had to ask me my favorites, it would not be among these three. My favorites include the likes of Daredevil, Robin (any of them pretty much) along with Conan and others. It just so happens that this three pack before me today includes another couple of favorites of mine. The Incredible Hulk and Dr. Strange. That and it also includes yet another origin story on Iron Man. Let us see how it looks.
(*Note: some of this material is re-used from not only my Planet Hulk on Blu-Ray review but also the Avengers 3-pack I reviewed earlier this week. These are the same discs previously provided by Lionsgate just in an amazing value 3-disc package. Yes, Planet Hulk did lose its digital copy, you will live*)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 24th, 2012
Most of us are aware (well movie and comic book fans anyway) that on May 4th, the Avengers movie will be released to the public. For years now we have watched the Iron Mans, Thor, Captain America and even a Hulk movie or two in anticipation of something greater. With that day coming closer all the time, I received a very nice 3 movie set of Avengers, animated style. Avengers might be the best movie of the summer (sorry Dark Knight), but this might be the best animated blu-ray value of the spring.
Ultimate Avengers
World War II among many other things brought us a great hero, Captain America. Steve Rogers with the help of a Super Solider serum became the mighty hero and was very successful in fighting the Nazis. However, after a missile explosion, Rogers crashes into the North Atlantic and is frozen for decades. Years later, Nick Fury and a SHIELD team would find his frozen form and revive him back to full health.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 30th, 2011
The Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) has made a tidy living preaching the Gospel and working his specialty: exorcisms. But he has lost his faith and, along with it, his willingness to fleece the gullible. He does, however, acknowledge that an exorcism can prove psychologically beneficial if the recipient believes in the ceremony. All that said, Marcus wants out of the business, but he takes on One Last Case, and a film crew tags along with him to the backwoods (where else?), where the devout Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum) is convinced that his daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) is possessed. Marcus slips into his routine, but soon discovers that there is is much more afoot here than he could have imagined.
The first half or so of The Last Exorcism is not without interest. It does, in some ways, handle the faith-vs-reason question more interestingly than The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and it does a credible job of gradually building suspense. But as we approach the climax, the cracks in the found-footage conceit begin to show, and the resolution blasts straight past “frightening” and into “ridiculous” and makes nonsense of the entire mockumentary premise. Maybe it’s time to retire what is rapidly becoming a tiresome cliché. In the end, then, the film is a misfire, but kudos to Ashley Bell for her disturbing physical performance – she does all the back-breaking double-jointed shenanigans without the benefit of special effects.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 1st, 2010
As the resident video game expert for the site, certain movies will always fall into my lap. Any movie that includes something about video games, good or bad I will get the chance to review. Sometimes, I'm not so thrilled and sometimes I'm simply elated to take on the task. But then every once in a while, I get a movie where I'm not sure what to expect. The movie Gamer seems to take that tone. But perhaps the journey will lead to some rather unexpected but pleasant surprises.
Kable (played by Gerard Butler) is the most famous Slayer in history. He has survived twenty-seven matches and has only three matches left to his ultimate goal of freedom. The Slayers show is a third-person multiplayer shooter game where the contestants control the shooters. The shooters are death-row inmates who are given the opportunity to gain their freedom. The only catch is that they have to survive thirty matches. The other issue, is that nobody has ever made it; Kable might become the first.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2010
"Hello. I want to play a game."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2009
Walt Disney has always had as a main theme in its movies the idea of empowering children. It didn’t matter what circumstances the children might find themselves in, Disney always found a way to bring them out of their predicaments with an inner strength that they never really knew or believed that they had. It’s likely one of the reasons the studio has been so successful with children’s films over the decades. Escape To Witch Mountain is one such film. It’s certainly not the greatest from the Disney vaults, but you could do a lot worse. The film holds a certain element of charm that I remember from my own childhood, and it appears to still have some miles in it 30 years later.
Tony (Eisenmann) and Tia Malone (Richards) are orphans. They have no memory of their real parents or of anything that happened to them when they were much younger. Now they find themselves, yet again, transferred to a new orphanage, after their latest foster parents were killed. They may not know about their past, but they are aware they have special powers that other kids don’t have. They have the power of telepathy and molecular manipulation. Tia’s powers are a bit stronger. She can put her thoughts in Tony’s mind, and she can use her levitation powers almost limitlessly. Tony must still move his lips to send thoughts to Tia. He also relies on an external force, in this case a harmonica, to focus his powers. They make no secret of these abilities, at least to the other children. Almost at once, Tony uses his abilities to defend himself against the orphanage bully. When the kids are on a field trip, Tia exposes her ability to predict the future when she saves the life of a man about to have a tragic accident. Unfortunately, the man, Lucas Deranian (Pleasence) has been on the lookout for psychic powers. His wealthy employer and benefactor has an obsessive desire for such things. When Aristotle Bolt (Milland) hears of the encounter, he desires to possess the children. Deranian poses as their long lost uncle with forged papers in order to get the children. Once at Bolt’s mansion, they are tempted by a life of luxury and excess. But the men did not anticipate their telepathy skills. When the children learn of their plans for them, they escape with the help of an ornery horse. It appears the children can also communicate with animals telepathically. They are aided, at first unwittingly, in their escape by a kindly, but rather gruff on the outside old loner, Jason O’Day (Albert). The three bond, and eventually they work to unravel the mysteries of the children’s’ true nature, and where home really is. But to get them home, the trio must evade Bolt, Deranian, and the police.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 16th, 2008
Most people who know me know that Daredevil is my #1 Superhero of all time. Number #2 is Batman. Third is somewhat of a surprise for a lot of people. It’s the Punisher. It’s surprising because the Punisher is portrayed as a nemesis of Daredevil quite often in the comic books. However, like Batman and Daredevil, Punisher is a classic flawed hero. In the comics, his family was gunned down gangland style and he seeks out to “punish” those responsible. In the proceedings, he finds that the greatest enemy is not those who executed his family but himself. Drinking, suicidal thoughts, and endless pursuit to extract justice at any cost chip away at this very core. Enter 2004, and director Jonathan Hensleigh decides to bring the story of the Punisher to the big screen.
Howard Saint (played by John Travolta) is a powerful and influential mob boss. He has a wife, Livia (played by Laura Harring) and twin boys, Bobby & John (played by James Carpinello). Bobby Saint wants to do something to impress his father. Micky Duka (played by Eddie Jemison), a lackey of Howard Saint, along with Bobby go down to the port at Tampa Bay to negotiate an arms deal. There they meet Otto Krieg (played by Thomas Jane) and the rest of the Russian arms dealers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2008
Despite being very thoroughly dead, Jigsaw is up to his old games again. This time, SWAT commander Rigg must race against time to rescue to kidnapped fellow officers. Jigsaw's messages send him all over town, to one gruesome event after another. Meanwhile, the FBI is also on the case, interrogating the killer's ex-wife, which means the audience finds out quite a bit more about Jigsaw's backstory.
The film gets right down to work with an extremely detailed autopsy of Jigsaw, so the target audience should feel well-served. The torture devices are as baroque as ever, and the deaths are elaborately gruesome. “Elaborate” and “baroque” are pretty good terms to describe the plot as well, only not necessarily in a good way. The main problem here is excessive flashbacking (rarely a good tactic in cinematic narrative) and equally excessive reliance on the audience remembering every detail of the previous entry. On the other hand, there are some very nifty transitions between scenes, and I confess to being rather more caught up in the story than I was expecting, this many episodes in. For the most part, this is actually an improvement over the third entry. Then there's the difficulty of the ending. The need to have each film end in a twist here results in a conclusion that's borderline incomprehensible rather than shocking.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 16th, 2008
What we've got here is a nasty case of the Sequels. Rush Hour, the original Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker vehicle, was a fun action-comedy with an amusing twist on the buddy-cop genre. Rush Hour 2 was a re-hash, bigger but not better, but still worth a rent. Six years later, Rush Hour 3 proves the third time is definitely not the charm, with 121 minutes of recycled gags, bad acting and uninspiring action.
This two-disc release may be a top-notch DVD, but I certainly hope you don't get suckered by a nice transfer, good audio and a whole whack of extras. No matter how well you dress it up, this film's a walking, talking turd.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 9th, 2008
Back in the summer of '89, a popular action flick was calling my name from the shelves of the local video rental store. It was Young Guns, and I'd heard it was wild, gun-toting ride from start to finish. Problem was, I was eight years old and there was no way my folks were going let me see such a violent movie, for fear two hours with Billy the Kid would make me a career criminal.
Boy, have times changed. Granted, Young Guns wasn't the baddest film on the block 18 years ago, but it was reflective of the then-current action standards. In 2007, we've got stuff like Shoot 'Em Up, a film so over-the-top violent that the tables have turned — I wouldn't let my parents anywhere near it, for fear they'd have simultaneous, massive myocardial infarctions.
