Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 18th, 2022
Favorite movies are usually easy to come back to. It's a familiar song, stars you feel at home with, and even if you recite all the lines by heart, you can find something new to come back to. In the case of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, even though I had seen the movie probably around a dozen times or more, I was lured by the promise of new deleted and extended scenes but also a 4K-quality picture. But as with life, you don't always get everything you want. Let's take a look.
Please note that portions of this review came from my 2011 article on the Blu-ray, and I have improved on it where possible (and it makes sense to).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 5th, 2022
Many people will agree to disagree on the existence of ghosts. It is probably easier to agree on the point that if those ghosts do exist, they were wronged in some fashion, or there is something left to their story that is unsolved. That mystery is what makes the concept of ghosts so fascinating. Today, we have another GKids anime production, this time by the genius loundraw. It's called Summer Ghost. Let's take a trip into the paranormal.
A light burns. Three friends who haven't seen each other have gathered in this special place. Summer is here again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 26th, 2022
"Look at them praying for a miracle that isn't coming. Who knows? Maybe it's my curse to leave one betrayal behind only to find a greater one here amongst the stars. They could have stopped this, but none of them had the strength to do what must be done. But I do."
Crossovers have been big events in the CW Arrowverse shows. They would involve characters from all or most of the current shows, and the episodes would play across the shows themselves. The events were always huge so that they required the combined force of the many DC heroes. Times have changed, and now The Flash is pretty much the only Arrowverse show left on the air. That creates a bit of a logistic problem for the whole crossover event idea. Or does it? This season there is a crossover, of sorts. It plays out over five episodes and includes characters from some other Arrowverse shows even though they are no longer on the air. The Flash begins its eighth season with a crossover event called Armageddon. It encompasses the first five episodes of the season and features characters from the other shows.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 19th, 2022
"You think we just work at a comic book store for our folks? This is just a cover. We're dedicated to a higher purpose. We're fighters for truth, justice, and the American way."
In the 1980's The Two Corey's became somewhat of a Hollywood fad and worked well to bring the teens out to the movies. They did eight films together, and it all started with The Lost Boys. The guys' paths had crossed several times, with both being up for some of the same parts. But it wasn't until this film that they actually met, became friends, and started a trend. Unfortunately, times would not go well for either Corey. The life would take its toll, and Corey Haim died at a too-young 38 in 2010. Corey Feldman would not do much better. His own experience with sexual abuse in the industry bought him a hard time getting roles for a while, as the industry wasn't too happy that he was opening up these Hollywood closets. He turned it into a cause and has worked to help others in that same situation. He was literally a decade or so ahead of his time. Today these accusations are taken much more seriously, and he's been more than vindicated over the years. But it all began with The Lost Boys, a film that made vampires more fun and kid-friendly. Now Warner Brothers has brought it out in UHD Blu-ray in full glory 4K.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 18th, 2022
“Space … the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”
Nearly 20 years after the original Star Trek left the network airwaves, Gene Roddenberry set out to discover whether he could catch lightning in a bottle once again. Some say he did an even better job with Star Trek: The Next Generation. There are times I tend to agree. The Star Trek sequel series had a lot more advantages from the moment it was conceived. Star Trek, a series that barely registered on the ratings during its three-year primetime voyage, became a huge sensation in syndication. By the time The Next Generation came on the scene, the original show had been syndicated in over 20 different languages all over the world. It had launched an animated series, and a fifth feature film was already in the early stages of consideration. So it isn’t quite fair to judge the success or quality of The Next Generation over the original series. One thing is inarguable. The second would never have existed if not for the first.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 17th, 2022
1982. I was seven years old, and my mother, who loved horror movies, wanted to take me to see Poltergeist. Unfortunately, around this time, my dad was usually on the road, and so there was no one really there to say maybe we shouldn't. Honestly, even if my father was there and did say no, I doubt my mom would have listened. It was PG; how bad could it be? In the next two hours, I was treated to something that resonates with me to this very day. From the moment I heard "They're Here", I knew I would never see static on televisions the same way.
Please note that parts of this review are borrowed (story, critique, special features) from the 2007 DVD review I did 15 years ago. However, where possible I am enhancing what I wrote, as I think I write better these days. Maybe I have lost a touch of my creativity, but that's a story for another day.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2022
"There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie."
No one knew those rules better than Wes Craven. He helped to create them, after all. Starting in 1972 with the cult favorite The Last House On The Left, he followed that just two years later with The Hills Have Eyes, which led to a sequel. But it wasn't until a decade later that he would deliver his masterpiece and most successful franchise, Nightmare On Elm Street. Wes Craven introduced the world to Freddy Krueger, and our dreams have never been quite the same since. While others attempted to reproduce the same results with many sequels, it was Craven himself who put Freddy to bed with New Nightmare exactly 10 years after his birth. A remake never got much traction, and Wes Craven's place in horror history was assured. In 1996 he decided to take one more stab at the slasher genre and delivered one of the best films to look directly back at the audience and celebrate the genre. Scream was another hit and another franchise staple. He took a then relatively unknown cast and made them household names with future amazing careers and decided that it was time to also poke a little fun at himself and his colleagues. The result was four films and an upcoming kind of reboot/sequel after a three-year television series examined the material. More importantly, it led to an entire sub-genre of films that include the Scary Movie franchise and others. Now, just in time for the holidays and the new film, you can see Scream in 4K with this UHD Blu-ray release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 12th, 2022
"There's a bizarre version of Superman on the loose."
They are the most famous couple in comic book history. Together they are Superman & Lois, and they've joined the ever-expanding Arrowverse for their second season now out on Blu-ray from Warner Home Entertainment. While this is still a young series, the characters and these actors portraying them are not new to the Arrowverse. Tyler Hoechlin as Superman and Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane have been here for a few years. Both have shown up on Supergirl, and both appeared in a couple of the crossover events that have pulled together the various Arrowverse shows in the past. Now the focus is on them. They have their own show, and it's quite a different approach to the characters and their story. There has also been a departure that puts the show no longer in the official Arrowverse. I suspect that move comes on the heels of The Flash now entering its final season and I suspect closing the Arrowverse going forward.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2022
"No one would have believed in the middle of the 20th century that human affairs were being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's. Yet, across the gulf of space on the planet Mars, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely joined their plans against us. Mars is more than 140 million miles from the sun, and for centuries has been in the last status of exhaustion. At night, temperatures drop far below zero even at its equator. Inhabitants of this dying planet looked across space with instruments and intelligences that which we have scarcely dreamed, searching for another world to which they could migrate."
War Of The Worlds is perhaps one of the most iconic and often infamous science fiction works in literature history. The book by H.G. Wells was published in 1889 but would not see a feature film version for quite some time. Cecil B. DeMille worked with Paramount to obtain the rights from Wells in the mid 1920's. He appeared to appeal to Wells himself, who was a fan of DeMille's work, and the rights were purchased. But the film fell on hard times. On Halloween in 1938 Orson Welles, no relation, produced his famous radio drama of the story. While there were stories of people killing themselves because they believed it was a real radio broadcast of a Martian invasion, most of those stories are myth. It did cause panic, but only because folks ignored the many times the show announced that it was a radio drama. But interest spiked to do the long-dormant film. DeMille approached Welles to do the film, believing that the hysterics from the radio broadcast would make him a natural for the film. When Welles refused, he turned to Alfred Hitchcock, who also turned down the property. Finally George Pal agreed to do the film in the 1950's but soon ran into trouble. You see, the rights were obtained so long ago that they were exclusively for a silent film. The estate of the author was so pleased with Pal as the choice to produce that they fixed the details, and the film was finally released in 1953. It has become a classic in the decades that followed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 28th, 2022
“Bend, never break.”
Of the DC animated movies, I’d rate this one as quite possibly my favorite of them all. Now when you consider that there are around 47 films created with another five films planned, that is quite the accomplishment. When it comes to Batman: The Long Halloween, the element that I really enjoyed is the mystery portion of it. It felt more like a detective story than a superhero movie. This was also the element that I most enjoyed about the Matt Reeves helmed live action film, The Batman. Not surprising that I identified with this aspect, as the 13-issue limited series that this film was adapted from was also one of the inspirations for the Reeves film. This animated film, like the comic it is adapted from, is centered on Batman efforts to identify and stop a serial killer known as Holiday. Holiday appears to be engaged in a war against the Falcone and Maroni organized crime families. Notably, the film also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman's enemy, Two-Face. Contributing to the success of this adaptation, would be the top-notch cast of voice actors, some repeats from another animated films and a couple of fresh faces. Jenson Ackles, who was last voiced Jason Todd for the Under the Red Hood animated film, upgraded to voice Bruce Wayne this time around. Batman staple Alastair Duncan, who has voiced Alfred Pennyworth in at least four other Batman properties, returns to voice the character for a fifth time. Then there is Troy Baker, who has voiced multiple Batman characters to include the bat himself, as well as multiple members of the Dark Knight’s rogue’s gallery across film, television, animation, and video game installments. This outing, he lends his talents to voice the Joker. Rounding the cast are fresh faces: Josh Duhamel as Harvey Kent/Two-Face, Billy Burke as Commissioner James Gordon, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, and most notable the late Naya Rivera as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
