Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 1st, 2019
When it comes to Body At Brighton Rock, there was an opportunity for this to be something pretty awesome. After all, when you think about it, only a few years ago The Revenant was showing just how great a film can be about surviving in the wilderness and how intense a bear attack can be. Well, to be fair, I don’t believe Body At Brighton Rock was aiming to be in the same ballpark of The Revenant, but as I was watching this, it was difficult to not think about what could have been. Really, the film is a simple little tale about a state park employee who gets lost in the woods and stumbles upon a dead body in the process. It’s a good start for the film, but sadly this turns into a bit of a snooze-fest despite some spurts of promise.
When we meet Wendy (Karina Fontes), she’s already late for work, something she seems to do quite often. She works for the State Park Service, which seems to have more people on duty than I would have guessed. Wendy from the start just doesn’t seem to be right for the job. Even her coworkers can’t help but make jokes at her expense. But to help a friend out, she decides to swap positions with her, so rather than sticking to the indoors, Wendy sets out on the trails to post signs and do whatever it is a Park Service officer does. It doesn’t take long before she gets lost, and in the process of trying to find her way she stumbles across a body. Sure, I can believe anyone can get lost in the woods, but when it comes to Wendy’s abilities in the wild, well, it’s hard to believe she’d ever be hired not knowing simple basic survival skills. Another frustrating aspect: she’s carrying around a pack just for the specific purpose of helping keep her alive in case of emergency, but it seems nothing you would actually need is in this pack.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 19th, 2019
Warner Brothers has done an impressive job when it comes to their live-action DC Universe television shows. Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow have been fun, entertaining experiences. Now with them starting up their own streaming service, they have upped the ante by releasing Titans. When I first heard about this one I wasn’t sure what to think, considering I wasn’t much of a fan of the animated series, but I’m so glad I came into this show with an open mind, because this show is jam-packed with coolness. Since this was made for a streaming service and not broadcast television, not only do we get superheroes dropping F-bombs, but we get some edgier storytelling along with some violent action you may not expect. Seriously, this one is not for the kids. The show introduces us to Dick Grayson, aka Robin ( Brenton Thwaites) a year after he has fled Gotham City and has moved to Detroit to become a detective. It doesn’t take long before we find out he’s made the move from being Batman’s sidekick because he’s started to develop a taste for dispensing violence and is worried about what he could become. Don’t worry; he’s still down for inflicting some vigilante justice, but we see it comes at a price over the course of the season. It’s not long before he meets a young girl, Rachel Roth (Teagan Croft), who has some dark supernatural powers that are drawing some negative attention her way which eventually leads her to Dick. The heart of the show is about these two orphans at different stages in their life. Dick is attempting to step out into the world and make a name for himself, while Rachel is alone and in desperate need of help. There is some nice chemistry between these two as we see them develop a sort of brother-sister relationship, and it’s the strength of this bond that makes it easy to want to invest our time in these characters.
We also get to meet Kory Anders, aka Starfire (Anna Diop), who has powers of her own but has lost her memory, though she has reason to believe Rachel is the key to getting back her memories. Along the way we also meet Gar Logan, aka Beast Boy (Ryan Potter), who has a gift for turning into any animal (though we only see him as a tiger), and he develops his own unique relationship with Rachel. The four together make up the core group of the Titans, though there are plenty of other characters who weave their way in and out of the storyline.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 12th, 2019
"After the bridges blew and the government declared Gotham off-limits the city was up for grabs. Given over to criminals and murderers. Now territory is controlled by whoever has enough power to hold it. I mean we have Penguin in City Hall for God's sakes..."
Gotham City. You know the name, just as you know the names of Metropolis and Smallville. These are important places in the DC comics universe that have existed as part of modern American mythology since the 1930's. Warner Brothers has decided to tackle Gotham in much the way it spent 10 years bringing us to Smallville. But there is a decided difference to be found here. Smallville was indeed the origin story of Superman, and while the obvious answer might be that Gotham serves the same role for Batman, I found that to be a bit of an oversimplification. This is not the origin story for Batman, and while many of the future major villains from that universe take their first baby steps here, this is not their origin story either. This is an origin story for the city of Gotham itself. Unlike many heroes, Batman was a product of his environment. This is the story of how one city devolved so badly that a hero like Batman was necessary. What we see taking shape here is a place where a certain Dark Knight can thrive and spread his wings. That's finally going to happen in the final moments of this the fifth and final season of Gotham. It's out now from Warner Brothers, and it's the last 12 episodes of the Batman origin story. But Gotham was more than that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 12th, 2019
Dolph Lundgren is one of those guys that I enjoy watching and can make a bad action movie worth watching. Even when he starred in Masters of the Universe, it wasn’t the He-Man I was used to, and it was a B-movie mess, but he pulled off playing the character. Many love the guy from his performance in Rocky IV, and for me I’m a fan of Universal Soldier, but he never quite reached the superstardom I feel he deserved. Thankfully, decades after his heyday on the big screen, he is still starring in films, though unfortunately a good portion of them are B-caliber action flicks that are simply not taking full advantage of the man’s awesomeness. Dead Trigger is the latest and the newest forgettable film to add to the actor’s catalog. From its opening moments where it seems to be riffing on Starship Troopers but with zombies, I was certainly hopeful that this could be a fun cinematic romp. While Lundgren does his best to deliver the goods, it’s everything that surrounds him in front of and behind the camera that seems to be working against him.
We’re quickly introduced to these new recruits who are joining a special government team that has developed a special video game to help find recruits. The game simulates a zombie infestation that decimates the world, and it just so happens a zombie outbreak is now occurring in the real world. Well, these recruits are taken into a boot camp. It’s here we get an explanation on what a “Dead Trigger” is; basically it’s a soldier with a low life expectancy. Lundrgren is Capt. Walker, who is tasked with making them battle-ready. Their training is cut short when a lab attempting to make a cure for the zombie virus is attacked and the general orders them to rescue his daughter (one of the doctors) and anything they can that has to do with the cure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 10th, 2019
Dateline: September 13, 1999
Mankind has been storing all of our nuclear waste on the far side of the moon. On the other side of the lunar surface was Alpha Base. Here mankind had a research station which also served as a launching point for deep-space missions. An unfortunate chain of events led to the unthinkable. The nuclear waste pile was ignited, and the whole dump exploded with a force so powerful that it tore the moon out of Earth's orbit and sent it hurtling through space. The 311 inhabitants of Alpha were swept along for this uncontrolled flight into uncharted space. Of course, the year 1999 is no longer science fiction to us now. It's going on ancient history. There has never been a base on the moon. In fact, we haven't been back since the end of the Apollo program in the 1970's. If you check tonight, you'll find that our only natural satellite is still firmly planted in its familiar orbit around our planet. Space 1999 never happened.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 30th, 2019
My wife has been a part-time travel agent for roughly the last year or so. In that time, I have learned much about airlines, cruise ships, and of course hotels. I have also thanks to her guidance and knowledge been able to stay at a few nice hotels in the past year which were much more comfortable than I could have ever expected. However, despite my travels with my lovely better half, I seriously doubt I will ever come upon a hotel quite like the one depicted in Okko's Inn anytime soon. Let us spend the next few minutes looking at an anime where your lodging is the best part of your trip.
We open to a festival of sorts, called a spa by the locals. Music is playing; it is time for a show. We see a couple of people perform traditional dance numbers, while Okko, our main character, watches. Her father and mother are also on hand to explain the traditions to our young heroine and how they wish they could be part of the show. The show speaks to the theme and the spirit of "Welcoming Everyone".
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 26th, 2019
I think it’s safe to say that television has never been better. With so many channels and streaming services, everyone is trying to get viewers, and to do so they know the quality has to be at a certain level. The problem is, with so many options, there is no doubt that occasionally a gem is going to get past us. Patrick Melrose was almost that gem I could have missed if not for a last-minute switch at Upcomingdiscs headquarters. Despite how much quality entertainment is out there, I can say with full confidence that this is not just one of the best limited series of 2018, but this is easily one of the best in the past decade. It’s only five episodes long, but in those five episodes, from start to finish, it is exceptional television.
Patrick Melrose is an adaptation from the novels by Edward St Aubyn. Though I’ve never read any of the books, after seeing this I eagerly want to read one of these books. There are five books that he has written about the title character Patrick Melrose (Benedict Cumberbatch), and each episode of the series is based on one of the books. This immediately makes this show unique, because each episode tells us a unique story that revolves around Patrick from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s. The show even bounces around in its timeline to tell us this story of an unlikeable drug addict to a family man attempting to redeem himself. It’s a character arc that is so well fleshed out and performed so well by Cumberbatch that I’m surprised to say he manages to outshine all his previous performances.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 21st, 2019
With the 50th anniversary of the murders committed by Charles Manson’s followers coming up in August, it’s no big surprise that we’re seeing films that focus on those events popping up on the big screen. Hollywood has always had a fascination with the crimes. After all, it involved a rising starlet, Sharon Tate, and director Roman Polanski was making a name for himself in the states after the success of Rosemary’s Baby. We all know what happened with Manson and his followers and the unfortunate fall Polanski took, despite managing to maintain a directing career long after the child rape accusations first percolated. It’s a tragic story all around, and it’s no surprise why it continues to fascinate people. Already there has been the film Charlie Says from Mary Harron (American Psycho), and next month we’ll be getting the long anticipated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from Quentin Tarantino, whose film takes place around the time of the murders. But right now, the focus is on The Haunting of Sharon Tate, a film that takes the approach that Tate had predicted her murder because of dreams she had of the massacre long before they took place. It’s a film that poses the “what if?” question that if she had known what was going to happen, could she have changed the outcome. It’s not a bad idea, and it opens plenty of possibilities, but how does it turn out?
First let me say I’m all for films that attempt the alternate reality direction, playing with the notion of how things could have gone. I went into this film with an open mind and really just was hoping for something unique, something that could balance between horrific and entertaining. Considering this IS a true story, to go for a fun, campy slasher would just be in poor taste. Well, unfortunately, that’s sort of what this aimed to be, and it just fails miserably.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 17th, 2019
Short stories and films are often great ways to focus in on a singular theme. Whether you get yourself down to a few pages or fifteen minutes, you really get your message across instead of being misinterpreted across a longer medium. Disney and Pixar have done this for a number of years, and even though many have dismissed them as simple shorts or cartoons, it's often the part of the movie that holds the viewer in the strongest way. Japanese studios such as Studio Ghibli have done this as well. Studio Ponoc, founded in 2015 and fronted by Yoshiaki Nishimura, released the smash film, Mary & the Witch's Flower in 2017. Then last year, they came out with a trio of shorts for all of us to enjoy. Let's take a look.
Kanini & Kanino by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
There are birds singing and fairies flying. Streams are bubbling, and we are introduced to a family of crabs (who are depicted as tiny humans who can swim and breathe on land and in sea). There is the brother, Kanini, and the sister, Kanino. The mother is very pregnant and has gone away to the surface to give birth. Their father has stayed with the brother and sister to help them get food and protect them from threats of the sea. However, one day something sinister takes away the father, and it's up to the two kids to find and save him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 12th, 2019
For many years Acorn Media has been the best source for a lot of those classic British drama shows that you've seen reviewed here and elsewhere. They've brought us some of the best British stars in some landmark work spanning decades of British broadcast. These shows were always something produced by someone else, most notably the BBC itself. So while we can be thankful to Acorn for distributing these shows particularly here in the United States, they haven't actually been responsible for the actual content. That all changes with the release of London Kills Series 1 from Acorn Media. For the first time the company has created its own straight-to-series production. If this first effort is any indication of what we might expect in the future, I'd say there is great promise here, and while I didn't find it quite as compelling as favorites like the George Gently series, I saw a ton of potential. There are some very good reasons why I didn't enjoy this as much as many others, and I'll get into that in a moment.
Hugo Speer is Detective Inspector David Bradford. He has been on leave because his wife has disappeared. Detective Sergeant Vivian Cole is played by Sharon Small, and she has been running the unit while he has been away. When her squad is called in on a grisly murder scene where a mutilated body is hung from a tree as if to suggest suicide, she fully expects to lead the investigation. But when Bradford shows up at the crime scene, she sees those plans dashed. There's absolutely some tension and even a bit of hostility between the two. It's equally obvious that they have some unpleasant history. Cole is also not so popular with her Detective Constable Rob Brady, played by Bailey Patrick. He's happy to see Bradford's return. He's also the squad's tech geek. Under Brady is Trainee Detective Constable Billie Fitzgerald, played by Tori Allen-Martin, who is appearing in her first show. It's her first day, and between the bizarre case and the newly arrived Bradford, she's going to get a running start on her career.
