Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 13th, 2017
When a film like The Survivalist comes along, you somewhat have an idea what to expect when it’s being marketed as a “dystopian thriller”. I like these kinds of films, but for the most part many of them are just not very good and are just a carbon copy of previous dystopian films that came out prior to it. For years I’ d say the Mad Max series was the gold standard on what you should want to be. Waterworld at least attempted to be Mad Max, but rather than a desert wasteland it went the direction of the high seas. The Survivalist goes another direction; rather than a barren wasteland, or the ocean, it instead plunges deep into the wilderness after society has apparently collapsed and food has become scarce.
The film follows a man who is simply credited as the survivor (Martin McCann), and we see him dragging a body away and dumping it into a shallow grave. It’s an ominous opening that has the viewer questioning if this is a guy we should root for or not, but following this scene we go on to see his daily routine in his boring isolated life. Apparently one of his routines is having a little private time with himself, and the camera has no problem shying away from this. This goes up there as one of the most pointless gratuitous nude scenes I’ve seen at least since the opening sequence of Nocturnal Animals. I’m far from a prude, but I’m a believer that everything we see on the screen should have some meaning to drive the story forward. This instead just became a distraction.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 12th, 2017
In 2003 Open Water hit the screen; it was a success since at the time the found-footage genre hadn’t yet saturated the market. I thought it was a fun little movie that was creative, and what impressed me most of all was the use of the sharks in the film. The danger always felt real, and to a point it was a convincing film. It was inevitable that a sequel would follow, though it came and went so fast, it’s not big surprise that many seem to have forgotten the film existed. Now it’s nearly a decade since the sequel came out that we now have a third installment, Open Water 3: Cage Dive.
It’s unfortunate for this film that 47 Meters Down also happens to come out the same year. (You can check out my review of that film on the site as well). With a bigger budget, polished cinematography, and a recognizable cast, it’s no wonder that 47 Meters Down was the one to score at the box office while Open Water 3 managed to sink with barely a whimper. This isn’t the first time films with similar plots have released at the same time, but most often the case there is one that stands out; this isn’t the film to do that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 11th, 2017
Things are about to change in big ways for the Disney series Once Upon A Time. The sixth season is now out on Blu-ray, and the seventh season has just begun its run on ABC. If you try to go back and forth between these seasons, you might be puzzled more than usual. The show goes into a serious reboot this year. The economics of the show have been pulling it towards either cancellation or pulling in the purse strings. While the ratings aren't exactly blockbuster, it's been a clever way for the Mouse House to keep their properties buzzing as they continue to remake many of their fairy tales in live action these days. So there's a value beyond merely ratings and advertisement revenue to be gained here. The best solution was obviously to rework the show, and that meant most of the cast are not returning. Only Regina (Parrilla), Hook (O'Donoghue), and of course Rumple/Gold (Carlyle) are returning as regulars in Season 7. So if you want to see the show's swan-song (pun intended), pick up Season 6 on Blu-ray.
Well, you're invited; now gather up your Disney Fastpass and get in line for more television adventures in Storybrooke. Ah, but before you get on the boat for this year's ride, you might want to be sure you're all caught up on the adventures of these characters. This is not the place to start. The mythology of Once Upon A Time gets quite complicated over the previous seasons. This is not the place to start if you want to watch the show. Check out our previous reviews of the first four seasons of Once Upon A Time. Bang it here to get caught up: Once Upon A Time Reviews.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 11th, 2017
“You know, there comes a time when even the greatest leader has gone as far as he can go.”
Winston Churchill was once voted the Greatest Briton Ever, beating out the likes of Princess Diana and William Shakespeare. Although Churchill had a staggering number of accomplishments throughout his long life, he is most closely associated with being Great Britain’s prime minister during World War II. That’s why the notion that Churchill vehemently opposed the D-Day invasion at Normandy in the days leading up to the pivotal battle is a provocative premise for this well-crafted, well-acted movie. The only problem is that it remains unclear whether that was actually true.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 10th, 2017
I was first introduced to The Who through the original Tommy album. It was one of my mother's favorites when I was young, and she had actually written out by hand her interpretation of the story the rock opera appeared to tell. I can't remember those scribblings, and I'm not even sure if they're still tucked away in that Decca album I have around here somewhere. But the music always stayed with me. Now, I didn't ever become a huge fan of the band. I always liked them and collected a couple of their albums over the years. I did play a lot of pinball, however. I fell more in with the likes of Elton John. So you can imagine how excited I was in the summer of 1975 when my favorite musician was cast to play the Pinball Wizard in a movie from the music that had been stuck in my head for years. And while the soundtrack version has been the version I've often found stuck in my head, the original album was never far away either. Apparently that's also the case with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.
The decision to do a live version of Tommy 50 years after the album's release is tied to a worthy pet project that Daltrey has been running since 2000. He has recognized that teens have been a big part of the band getting its start back in the 1960's and worked to create Teenage Cancer Trust, which helps teens deal with cancer not only on the medical side but by providing them with unique experiences and activities. The Tommy performance in April of 2017 was the 100th performance from musicians all over the world in support of the cause. One of the parts of this show that I wish we'd seen is only talked about in the Behind the Scenes extra. Kids were provided with instruments and access to the Royal Albert Hall where they were encouraged to write songs inspired by The Who. After the concert they took the stage and got to present them to the band. That must have been a moving event.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 29th, 2017
With a title like 2:22 it’s more than a little on-the-nose to point out something major is going to occur at this time. For a film about premonitions, it’s a shame the film opens up as it does, because it leaves no mystery to the audience and simply tells us what is going to happen, or at least something close enough in the film’s final act. I hate films that are done in flashback just as much as I hate it when it doesn’t put in the effort to conceal how things are going to unfold. In a lot of ways the film is like Groundhog Day, only instead of the same day replaying over and over, it is the same events occurring over and over for our protagonist to figure out.
Dylan (Michael Huisman) is an air traffic controller who is good at his job; he claims it’s his ability to see patterns that helps him do his job as well as he does, though after a freak accident in the control center nearly causes two planes to collide, he is put on a temporary suspension. It just so happens that Dylan meets Sarah (Teresa Palmer), who was on one of the flights that almost collided, and the two seem to fall for one another at first sight.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 27th, 2017
“Ma'am, you need to understand that the president doesn't actually want you to do anything other than continue to be a woman — which you're doing a pretty okay job at.”
While Selina Meyer has done a passable job as a woman throughout the first five seasons of Veep, the vice president-turned-(temporary)president and her staggeringly incompetent staff have failed at pretty much everything else. The good news is Veep itself still does far more than an okay job of poking profane fun at the absurdity of Washington, D.C. and its swollen egos, even though season 6 finds Selina's squad more scattered than ever.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 27th, 2017
"My name is Oliver Queen. After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal: to save my city. Today I fight that war on two fronts. By day, I lead Star City as its mayor. But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow..."
Who the heck is this Green Arrow of whom you speak? If that's your first question, you need to go back a couple of grades and catch up with the rest of us. The comics are good place to begin, but the television universe is its own place and not tied so tightly to the DC comic book universe. Your best place to go to catch up would be the first three seasons. It'll be worth the effort, and I can get you started with those reviews found Here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 23rd, 2017
Mixing science with comedy appears to not only be funny; it also has some serious staying power. It's been 10 years since Big Bang Theory first exploded on our television screens. The show continues to be one of the highest-rated comedy shows on television and seems to be going strong. The show takes the time and money to employ actual science consultants, so you might even learn something along the way. The secret to the show's success is that it's a situation comedy that really manages to be about the characters. All of that geek and science talk is background music to the main theme, which continues to be the characters and their relationships. Watching the 10th season I found myself a little amazed at how little story movement often occurs over a single 20 minutes. I was also amazed how little most of that mattered. But there is a formula here that delivers predictable laughs and has found quite a comfort zone with fans.
If there is a theme at all to the 10th season, it's certainly that of family. You can't miss the point from the very first episode of the season where Leonard (Galecki) and Penny (Cuoco) perform a second wedding ceremony so that their out of town family members can be a part of it. We already met Leonard's mom as the somewhat snarky psychologist Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, played by Christine Baranski from The Good Wife's (and its new spin-off The Good Fight. We had just met Leonard's father, Dr. Alfred Hofstadter, played by Judd Hirsch, at the end of last season. Hirsch might be best known from the 1970's classic Taxi, but he's been a constant force on television and films ever since. Of course, these two don't get along, and to the horror of both Leonard and Sheldon (Parsons) it seems as though he might be hitting it off a little too well with Sheldon’s mother, reprised by Laurie Metcalf.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 22nd, 2017
“I don't want to be just guys in a house.”
Since its debut, Silicon Valley has brilliantly lampooned the tech industry by showing us both the proverbial “guys in a garage” and the self-important, aggressively eccentric billionaires obsessed with staying ahead of the curve. The show's central tension (and cruel joke) is that the ultimate endgame for the scrappy underdogs is to become...self-important, aggressively eccentric billionaires obsessed with staying ahead of the curve. Season 4 pushes the limit of the immoral behavior our alleged heroes will justify while continuing to deliver the best mix of brainy and bawdy laughs on television.
