Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 2nd, 2011
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise what it is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would be, you see?"
To be perfectly honest with you, I have never read either of the two Lewis Carroll books on which this film has been based. Under ordinary circumstances, that would put me at a decided disadvantage in both watching the film and certainly in providing an insightful review of the movie. But these are not ordinary circumstances. The characters and their stories, originally told in both Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There, have become an indelible part of our culture. One need not have read a word to be intimately familiar with Alice and her fanciful friends and rivals from Underland, which Alice herself interprets for us as Wonderland. There have been animated features as well as other live action attempts. The characters have become iconic and have appeared in advertising campaigns and even an episode of Star Trek. The surprise isn't that I feel like I know this story without having read the source material. The real surprise would be if there was anyone out in the civilized world who wasn't familiar with these characters. They were originally oral stories told to a group of sisters, one of which was Alice Little, the inspiration for the tales. They would only end up in book form at the insistence of the young Alice.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 2nd, 2011
When a film is successful enough, it’s a relatively natural assumption today that a sequel will follow. In that sequel we expect more of the same and hopefully something new as well. Unfortunately, there is a disturbing sideline for the animation sequel. Because the actors aren’t really on camera at all, there is the temptation to replace them so that you can do a much cheaper, often direct-to-video sequel. The folks who did Madagascar didn’t go that route, but the folks who did Open Season did. Gone are the likes of Martin Lawrence, Gary Sinise, Ashton Kutcher, and Debra Messing. These voices are replaced by Matthew W. Taylor, Diedrich Bader and Kirk Baily.The result is a decidedly inferior film that was relegated to the Wal-Mart bins instead of the box office.
Boog is upset because no one wants to join him for guy's trip. Even Elliott has backed out of the annual camping trip. So he sets off on his own. He sees a sign for a circus that is coming to town and decides to check it out. There he runs into a circus bear Doug, who is looking to get out of the circus and live with the animals in the woods as the king of the forest. When Boog encounters Doug, he gets conned into switching places with the bear. Of course, both discover the grass really isn't always greener on the other side.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 31st, 2011
"He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing. He does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement, he eats up the ground. He cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds."
Disney has a grand tradition of putting out a certain kind of sports film. You know the type well. There is a champion that must overcome incredible odds and usually their own flaws to rise to the top of their game. Secretariat fits that mold, but only to a point. Usually the movie centers on the athletes themselves, and it's something from within that must change or conquer. With this film, the champion is a horse, and while that often doesn't stop the folks at Disney from allowing us to hear from their perspective, this is based on a true story and remains firmly planted into a reality, of sorts. But, we can't hear from Secretariat himself. Instead this is really the story of his owner Penny Chenery, and it's not a very flattering story at all. I'm afraid that I didn't find myself cheering for the hero this time, and therein lies the fatal flaw of Disney's latest rise-of-a-champion story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 22nd, 2011
Allen Ginsberg is often regarded as one of the most important poets of the 20th century. He is seen as a symbol of the Beat Generation and contributed to the San Francisco Renaissance. His most important work, Howl has created both worldwide controversy and praise. It escalated into a 1957 obscenity trial of the poet and Lawrence Ferlinghetti who had published Howl along with other selections from Ginsberg. The film is a celebration of Ginsberg’s life as well as the results of this trial.
In 1955, an unpublished 29 year old poet presented his vision of the world as a poem in four parts. His name was Allen Ginsberg (played by James Franco) and the poem was Howl. In 1957, Allen and his work would be put on trial for obscenity. The trial would be prosecuted by Ralph McIntosh (played by David Strathaim) and defended by the prominent Jake Ehrlich (played by Jon Hamm). Judge Clayton W. Horn (played by Bob Balaban) would preside over the proceedings and render judgment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 20th, 2011
"Give me a stage where this here bull can rage."
Under normal circumstances and certainly under less skillful hands the story of Jake La Motta would not be one worth telling. His life is a story without heroes. It's a life of abusive behavior and an almost unredeemable personality. The only way he was ever capable of expressing himself was in the boxing ring. Even there he was doomed to feel inadequate most of his life. Even as he was rising toward the middleweight championship of the world, he was obsessed by his own small hands and the realization that he was fated to never test himself against the world's very best fighters. He alienated everyone around him. He was utterly and completely self-destructive, and you either left his sphere of influence or you let him drag you down in to his own dark abyss. Why in the world would anyone want to see, let alone make a film based on the life of Jake La Motta?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2011
When I first started watching the new comedy concert by Kathleen Madigan, I grew somewhat fearful. She was introduced by Lewis Black, who appears to be one of her closest friends. That scared me more than a little. Lewis Black is nothing but an angry old man who preaches tolerance of anyone who agrees with him. If you don't agree with him, you are subject to the most venomous of attacks of hatred I've ever seen from a stand-up. If Kathleen Madigan was going to be a female Lewis Black, this was going to be a long hour, indeed.
I was pleasantly surprised. I suppose I shouldn't have been. It seems the lady has been around the block for over 20 years. Somehow her name has escaped my particular notice. If I had been familiar with her work, I would have known that she doesn't roll anything like Lewis Black. Darth Vader, he rolls more like Lewis Black. Check that. Vader did have a couple of lucid moments where he wasn't pure evil. No one rolls like Lewis Black.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 18th, 2011
"You have conquered and I yield. Yet, henceforward art though also dead - dead to the world, to Heaven, and to hope. In me did thou exist - and, in my death, see by this image, which is thy own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself." - Edgar Allan Poe
The last of the Lionsgate / AfterDark double features covers the middle of the road. The films both deal more in science fiction or alternate realities than they do in any form of horror, one with the idea of a menacing world of doppelgangers and the other with changing the past through time travel. Both of these themes have been played to death before. Do they offer anything more here? Let's examine the evidence, shall we?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 18th, 2011
"Between 1954 and 1976 nearly 600 children were voluntarily submitted for participation in a number of behavioral studies. These experimental facilities were privately funded and tucked away in secluded regions of the South. Families were paid a fee for their involvement and were told the studies were harmless. Most of the children were never heard from again."
What we have heard from again are these little independent films from Lionsgate and After Dark. You might remember them as the 8 Films To Die For. They were usually around Halloween on DVD. Now, for the first time, a wave of these films is being re-released on high-definition Blu-ray. It's kind of a nice Halloween treat, and it isn't even Halloween.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 18th, 2011
"O joyful. O delightful. O fortunate one. Weep no more, this departed son. Read these words. Sound thy voice. Revel and sing. Rejoice! Rejoice! Life's for the living, not for the dead. Forget tomorrow. Live now instead. This night you breathe, while they cannot. So dance ye soul on their resting spot."
It's another double feature from Lionsgate and AfterDark. This one offers one of the best of the series with a rather flat companion. Of course, it's that two-for-one thing that makes it so attractive anyway. Consider Gravedancers the main feature and Wicked Little Things that budget extra feature you used to get when you went to the old drive-in shows.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by BABY on January 14th, 2011
Baby here. Yeah, I'm the German shepherd/chow mix that runs security here at Upcomingdiscs. I also get called upon to help out with the dog movie reviews from time to time. Now, somebody needs to get themselves a good book on proper mammal identification around here. You see, Alpha And Omega is about wolves. I'm a dog. That spells D O G. Look at it this way. That's God spelled backwards, and that's no coincidence. If you doubt me, just let me get a couple of seconds with one of the delivery guys. Now wolves are a whole different animal. I know there are nut jobs out there who say that dogs did something called evolving from wolves, but those same guys call you humans a bunch of monkeys. Get my point? And that spells F A N G. Dogs are these nice furry buddies who sleep in your bed on cold nights and eat tissues on your nightstand when you're not lookin'. Okay, so I get in a little trouble for that last thing. Wolves are wild animals who don't really do any of those cute snuggly things. If you spell wolf backwards you just get flow, which reminds me of something else I get into trouble for. And that spells B A D. Now Gino says I have to pull my weight around here and write a wolf movie review. Well, I'll show him who's boss. I won't do it, and that's final.
(ed. note: We've had a long talk with Baby and after threatening to take her ball away, I think we've come to an understanding.)
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