Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 17th, 2010
Zeus' mighty bolt has been stolen, and whomever holds it may have the power to topple the king of the Gods. Zeus suspects Poseidon's estranged, half-human son is the Lighting Thief and threatens his wrath upon the entire realm if it is not returned. Percy Jackson is Poseidon's son, making him a Demi-God, but as far as he knows, he is a just a high school student living with Dyslexia, ADHD and struggling to live with his abusive step-father. As mythic monsters and Gods all start to threaten Percy's life, his best friend and his mother both reveal themselves to be protectors of his life, both with connections to Greek Mythology. Percy;s mother is taken to the underworld and so he sets out on a quest to discover the truth about his Demi-God heritage while fighting to get his mother back from the clutches of Hades, as well as discover who the true Lighting Thief is.
The story moves by at a fast pace, which helps keep the attention of younger, easy to bore audiences, but the conflict set-ups and exposition are a bit too been-there, see-that for my liking. We are meant to assume that Percy is an outsider, thus easier to relate to and sympathize with, because he has issues, but his Earthly problems (step-father, dyslexia) seem hastily tacked on and it doesn't take long before his super-human capabilities are revealed. This is especially aggravating during a wickedly illogical training scene where all of the demi-God children of Camp Half-Blood play capture the flag (fighting with real swords for no good reason!) and Percy earns the respect of the entire camp simply by being able to heal from any wound by touching water and inheriting a wondrous fighting ability from his father's side, without having picked up a sword before. The friends who join him on his quest also have amazing agility and skill, so we have a pack of kids with Superman syndrome, but none of them have enough have that 'Clark Kent' side to give them a mien of humility (do enough people reading this understand where I'm going with that analogy?).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 16th, 2010
When I met my husband, and found out he wrote reviews, I never pictured myself writing as well. I had never really played with the concept, other than some short stories. But here I sit, once again, in front of my computer screen with another disc in front of me. And what do we have this time? A romantic comedy. Yes folks, I love the torture. I was asked to do Letters to Juliet as a favor for my busy husband who is adjusting to his busy new job. This has to land me home made waffles in bed sometime in the near future. But was this one really that bad? Could there be a decent romantic comedy out there? Meh, we shall see. And away we go!
We open the movie with a scene of busy New York (A very nice skyline picture I might add). We meet Sophie Hall (Amanda Seyfried), a fact checker for the New Yorker, on her way around town. She stops in at her office to turn in a piece of work on the famous “V-J Day in Times Square” picture (The sailor kissing the nurse), and that's where we find out she is on her way to Verona for a pre-honeymoon. She leaves the office and heads over to a restaurant that looks to be in progress. Meet Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), Sophie's very Italian fiance, who is in the kitchen surrounded by pasta hanging everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean it. A little bit of chatter, and away to Verona!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 15th, 2010
This Blu Ray is the merging of two previously released concert DVDs. One taking place in Boston comes from their reunion tours of recent years, and the other is an extremely rare acoustic appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. By having these combined into one package makes for a nice compare and contrast for both fans and newcomers of this highly influential, alternative rock band. Both setlists are enormous and ensure that this is a must buy for longtime fans.
The Boston “electric” show is much truer to the Pixies sound, as always orchestrated by frontman Black Francis (aka Frank Black; aka Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV). This show demonstrates the band in top form as they ease into the frenetic punk energy they've had since their 1980s debut. Meanwhile the acoustic show makes for an interesting experiment but I have a feeling that only true fans will be able to listen past the new arrangements and strange lead guitar changes to hear what they are meaning to play in all of their “classic” tunes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2010
Mention the name Jackson Browne and one thinks less of the performances and more of the music itself. While he never achieved quite the fame of many of his peers, his style and songwriting has had a lasting impact on some of the biggest names in the music industry. He was part of the whole Troubadour scene in the early 1970's where he hung out with the likes of James Taylor, The Eagles, and other notable artists who were about to find their golden tickets to larger stages and the crowds, money, and fame that went along with them. The likes of Crosby, Stills, & Nash have been inspired both by his ability to write and his passion for the causes he believes in. In the 20 years from 1979 to 1999 he organized and performed at over 1000 benefit concerts. It's not so much an accomplishment to be willing to give up your own time for the causes dear to your heart. Brown has a reputation in the business of being someone they can't say no to. His biggest cause has been his stand against nuclear power plants. Agree with him or not, Browne used his fame in a responsible way that today's artists can learn from. He did his preaching at the events and not so much at his paying gigs.
"For more than two decades, Jackson Browne has been one of the most compelling artists in popular music. In August of 1994, The Disney Channel presented Jackson Browne: Going Home, a chronicle of Jackson's remarkable career. Jackson Browne: Going Home contains interviews, performances, and rare footage spanning twenty-five years featuring Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, David Crosby, Graham Nash, The Eagles, David Lindley, Jennifer Warnes and many more."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 22nd, 2010
A renowned street fighter's brother is murdered, so he flees to a small town where his crippled father lives. While there he discovers an underground circuit of Mixed Martial Arts competitions and raw, street fighting prize matches. With the help of a former MMA champ (played by real-life UFC contender Michael Bisping), our hero fights his way up to the top of the underground action in order to pay off the gangster who slayed his brother, earn the respect he deserves, and what the heck...win a new love interest too.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2009
“Its cold outside, There's no kind of atmosphere, I'm all alone, More or less.
Let me fly, Far away from here, Fun, fun, fun, In the sun, sun, sun.
I want to lie, Shipwrecked and comatose, Drinking fresh, Mango juice, Goldfish shoals, Nibbling at my toes, Fun, fun, fun, In the sun, sun, sun…”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 9th, 2009
My history with romantic comedies is not a good one. Okay, I cried at the Notebook. *Looks nervously at the man card floating in his wallet*. So, what I cried at Rocky and Bloodsport too. I feel better now. But normally, I look at romantic comedies and want nothing to do with them. But every once in a while, along comes a romantic comedy with a decent cast and a somewhat different story. Even though I can see the ending coming a mile away, hopefully the journey there is interesting and thoughtful.
Andrew Paxton (played by Ryan Reynolds) is the best assistant in the world. He gets to work on time, he always has the right latte for his boss, and his shirt always looks perfect (even if it is borrowed from a co-worker). He works at Colden Books, a publishing company and his dream is to become an editor, especially after three years of being an assistant. He is an assistant to the executive editor-in-chief Margaret Tate (played by Sandra Bullock).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2009
It just wouldn’t be summer without The Discovery Channel’s Shark Week extravaganza. What started back in 1988 as a themed week of specials has turned into the longest running annual series of programming on cable. Every year The Discovery Channel gives up its normal collection of educational shows to concentrate on that feared predator of the deep. Man’s always had a rather natural, and healthy, fear of sharks, but it was perhaps the 1975 film Jaws that brought all of those primordial fears bubbling to the surface of our pop culture. Since then sharks have taken an almost mythic position in our culture. They invade our fears, but more importantly they fascinate the heck out of us. Young or old, it doesn’t matter. Sharks are the new dinosaurs, and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. As Discovery plans out yet another annual invasion of these perfect killing machines, you get to have an encounter of the high definition kind. Come face to face with some of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, with a level of clarity and detail that was once reserved only for those who shared their waters.
It’s quite nice to have a collection of these shows on Blu-ray and in high definition. There are some downsides, however. The shows aren’t necessarily the best I’ve seen on the series. Most of them are pretty recent. I suspect many of the classics aren’t going to be as easily available in HD. The second problem is redundancy. I’ve always been a big critic of editing shows for home release. Here I think it might have been a good idea. Many of these shows do rather extensive recaps each time they come back from an anticipated break. Of course, here there are no breaks, so we have to watch some material several times in the same 40 minute segment. The point really gets driven home. I have to ask myself if it is really that necessary to recap so often. Are the breaks so long that we can so easily forget what we were watching? I’d suggest that Discovery give a little more credit to their viewer’s intelligence.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2009
“A movie filled with so much terrible horribleness, you’ll crap someone else’s pants”
Bruce Campbell has carved out himself quite a little niche in the acting game. No one would consider him a superstar, and the films he’s most notable for are the kind of cult favorite films that critics tend to hate, all except this particular critic. What’s kind of funny about the whole thing is that Campbell has appeared in some seriously successful films, including all three Spider-Man movies. His parts in these affairs might have been small, but Sam Raimi fans know that it wouldn’t be a Raimi film if it didn’t have Bruce Campbell somewhere. Campbell got his start with the Raimi brothers doing little backyard films with them as children. When Raimi got the opportunity to create something a little higher profile, his first choice as the lead was Bruce. That film became the fan favorite Evil Dead and spawned two sequels. The Evil Dead films don’t take themselves or the zombie genre very seriously. They’re a farce, and a failure to recognize that is why the critics hate those films so much. Just take another look at them. The blood effects border on the ridiculous, and Campbell plays such an anti-hero that we laughed far more than we screamed at those movies. For Raimi it meant the chance to become one of the best selling directors out there. For Bruce Campbell it meant wearing the title of schlock king for the next 30 years. If you understand what I just said about The Evil Dead films, than you understand Bruce. And you simply have to understand Bruce, or you will hate this movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2009
“Safety is the greatest risk of all, but safety leaves no room for miracles, and miracles are the only sure thing in life.”
Spike Lee finds a noble cause in the experiences of the Buffalo Soldiers, fighting in Italy during World War II. There’s no question that history hasn’t always dealt fairly with the contributions the black soldiers have made on the battlefields that have, at times, defined our nation. From the American Revolution through to today’s War On Terror, the black soldier has risked and often laid down his life for a country that at least during World War II, didn’t honor his service or humanity. The problem is that Lee lost focus of whatever it was he was trying to say or whoever it was he was attempting to honor here. This movie never is about these particular soldiers or their contributions. There is no history, to speak of here at all. We don’t see the formation of these units, and the film doesn’t go into their overall importance in the war effort. Instead the film is more about the Italian resistance during Nazi occupation and the politics and betrayals of that movement. It’s almost as if these few black soldiers are merely witnesses to a series of events that were never under their control.
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