Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2012
If you haven't heard of South Park by now there is certainly something wrong with you. You're just not paying attention. More important, you've got a lot of catching up to do. The show is entering its 16th season on Comedy Central, and Paramount is now giving us the 15th season on high definition Blu-ray. And, if you are just hearing about South Park for the first time, what a wonderful journey you have ahead of you. You might need an airline sickness bag on occasion, but you are in for a solid treat.
After 15 years you would think any show might have to start losing steam. It's true that South Park did appear to suffer some during the middle years, and I was one of those critics asking how much longer the show could go on. But the series experienced something of a renaissance in the last couple of years and is better than it has ever been.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 24th, 2012
After watching The Son of No One, I'm afraid I have some good news and (significantly more) bad news. The good news is that I get to say the following sentence for the first time in at least ten years: Al Pacino was probably the best thing in this movie. The bad news is Pacino has only a relatively tiny role in this dramatically stagnant crime drama that ends up squandering a talented cast, a vividly-realized setting and some interesting ideas.
Channing Tatum stars as Jonathan White, a young cop who has been transferred to the 118th Precinct in Queens where his late father was a cop and located in the same district where White grew up. The precinct's captain (Ray Liotta) is troubled by some anonymous letters published in a small local newspaper by a persistent reporter (a miscast Juliette Binoche). The letters claim the police covered up two murders 16 years ago in the same neglected housing project where White grew up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 16th, 2012
Despite their pop culture ubiquity these days, zombies are getting somewhat of a raw deal. To be clear, I'm talking about the old-school, George Romero-style creatures that slowly lumbered toward their victims and whose only ambition in life was to snack on human flesh. Nowadays, a lot of filmmakers seem to be more interested in making zombie movies that don't technically have "zombies" in them ("infected" is a popular alternative term) and who are almost fast enough to earn a spot on their country's track and field squad for this summer's Olympic games. Even The Walking Dead — fresh off setting a new ratings record for basic cable viewership earlier this week — has conspicuously avoided having any of its characters refer to the living dead as "zombies" over its two seasons. (Instead, they're "walkers" or, most recently, "lame-brains.")
The Dead strives to be a return to Romero-esque horror. Billing itself as “the first zombie road movie set against the spectacular scenery of Africa,” the film follows American Air Force Engineer Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman), who survives a plane crash in war-torn, zombie-infested West Africa only to find himself in a brutal, unforgiving landscape that is completely barren...except for the undead shuffling in his direction. Murphy eventually crosses path with Sgt. Daniel Dembele (Prince David Osei, a poor man's Djimon Hounsou), whose village has been ravaged by the reanimated dead and who is determined to find his missing son.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 11th, 2012
To say I am not a big fan of racing is something of an understatement. I never find myself watching the races, Nascar or Indy and could really care less about the sport where you turn left a whole lot. When it comes to cartoons or video games, it is a somewhat different tale since I have enjoyed the show Wacky Races as well as loved to play anything in the Burnout series of video games. So when it came to reviewing the anime film, Redline, I was not sure exactly what to think but looked forward to the review.
“In the far distance future when cars are giving up their wheels in the change over to air-cars, there still exist fools who carry on a vanishing spirit of racing.”
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 Gino Sassani on December 14th, 2011
"Long ago in ancient China, the peacocks ruled over Gongmen City. They brought great joy and prosperity to the city, for they had invented fireworks. But their son, Lord Shen, saw darker power in the fireworks. What had brought color and joy could also bring darkness and destruction. Shen's troubled parents consulted a soothsayer. She foretold that if he continued down this dark path, he would be defeated by a warrior of black and white."
We all know who that warrior is, don't we?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 10th, 2011
As one could probably surmise from reading many of my reviews, I don't know a thing about women. I am after all a man, that is really the only reason I need. But then again, we are slow witted creatures. But I do know I like watching women (that does not sound too perverted does it?). So perhaps when I saw a list of titles to review, I gravitated towards one called Tanner Hall which follows the story of four teenage girls becoming women. I probably still will not learn a thing.
They say the first time in life you have a chance to do something wrong, you end up doing it anyway. Fernanda finds out first hand that bad things can happen to people on purpose when she witnesses her childhood friend, Victoria release a pet bird that is not hers. But that was many years ago and we rejoin the present day. Fern (played by Rooney Mara) is taking the five hour journey to Tanner Hall, a boarding school for young women.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 5th, 2011
As some might be able to figure out from my personality, I tend to stay away from political and war type movies. Political movies (except for the special ones) tend to confuse the viewer until the final curtain is drawn. War movies on the other hand tend to be more about explosions and male bonding which is usually enough to put me to sleep. What happens when you combine the two of them? Well then you might get a movie like 5 Days of War directed by the one and only Renny Harlin .
Hiram Johnson, a US Senator once said that “The first casualty of war is truth.” We join the movie in Iraq, year circa 2007. Thomas Anders (played by Rupert Friend) is an American reporter. He is riding along with his camerman, Sebastian Ganz (played by Richard Coyle) and his fellow reporter/girlfriend, Miriam (played by Heather Graham). Sebastian is recording the two and asking them all sorts of relationship type questions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2011
John Bonito has had very little experience in filmmaking. He's done a few wrestling tidbits and one earlier film called The Marine, and that was nearly six years ago. Chances are you haven't heard of either. If Carjack is any indication of his limited ability, the new film out on Blu-ray isn't going to help with that name recognition. So, with a no-name director and a direct-to-video release, the film really left small expectations. We might go into a film like this expecting a rather dull, "been there, done that" feel to it. In that sense Bonito doesn't disappoint at all. But take a closer look at the cast and hope emerges for something perhaps a little better than that. The only response I can offer for that is that a car wasn't the only thing jacked here. Someone made off with nearly a couple hours of my life. In that Bonito is guilty of grand theft, while some of you might plead it down to petty larceny.
Lorraine (Bello) is trying to put together the pieces of a broken life. Her husband has left her and is threatening to take her son away. She was once negligent and he wondered off into the night alone. She's in group therapy trying to work out those kinks in her life. Her therapist tells her she needs to take control more, and that aspect of her development is about to be tested.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 9th, 2011
"All things are intrinsically connected, no matter how different they may appear. Hi. You know me -- Robert Axle. As a fabricator, I bring existing, often different, items together, maximizing their atomic and molecular potential. Making ordinary inventions infinitely more prolific."
Kevin Spacey has been quite prolific himself in the last couple of years. It seems no matter where I go these days, I see him in another movie I'm reviewing. In just the last 6 months I've seen him in Horrible Bosses, Margin Call, Casino Jack and now Father Of Invention. In fact just since 2009 he's appeared in 10 films. One might expect the energy to be a bit sapped in that much production. But he continues to provide wonderful performances. At times he carries the entire burden on his own shoulders and makes a moderately average film just a little bit better. And while there is a pretty good supporting cast here, that's exactly what happens in Father Of Invention.
![Redline [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/redline-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![First Squad [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/first-squad-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Tanner Hall [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/tanner-hall-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![5 Days of War [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/5-days-of-war-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Carjacked [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/carjacked-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Father of Invention [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/father-of-invention-blu-ray-large.jpg)
