collectorz.com.jpg

DTS HD 5.1 MA (English)

Space: 1999 – The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 10th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

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.
Read More

Okko’s Inn (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 30th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

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.

Read More

Patrick Melrose (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 26th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

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.
Read More

The Haunting Of Sharon Tate (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 21st, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

With the 50^th 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.
Read More

Modest Heroes: Ponoc Short Films Theatre (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 17th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

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.

London Kills: Series 1 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 12th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

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.
Read More

Lost In Space: Season 1 (2018)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 7th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

I’m constantly told that streaming services like Netflix are the way of the future. But it appears that to build that future it is necessary to look to the past with a television series from the 1960’s that looked to the future, but itself was based on material from the past. If you’re becoming a little dizzy, I get it. Of course, I’m talking about Netflix’s reboot of the Irwin Allen television milestone Lost In Space. Allen originally pitched a serialized version of the famous Swiss Family Robinson story and was rejected. So he took that story and set it into the future and marooned the Robinson family not on a contested pirate’s treasure island, but on a flying saucer marooned far from Earth. It lasted three seasons and introduced several phrases into the pop culture like “danger, Will Robinson” and “the pain, oh, the pain”. Even if you’ve never seen an episode of the original show, you’ve heard these little references. And that’s exactly what Netflix is counting on by delivering a modern take on Lost In Space now out on Blu-ray from Fox Home Entertainment.
Read More

A Star is Born: Encore Edition (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 7th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

It hasn’t quite been four months since A Star is Born was released on Blu-ray and 4K and already we have a new release, only this time the film is about 11 minutes longer. For some this might seem like a double dip, while others this is exactly what fans of the film have wanted. For me, I’ve always been a fan of extended cuts of films where we get to see how certain deleted scenes actually fit in the film. Sometimes the extended cuts of films can improve the experience. The Lord of the Rings series is one set that comes to mind. As for A Star is Born, does it breathe new life into the Oscar-nominated film, or does it drag it down?
Read More

A Dark Place(Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 29th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

Did you ever wonder what it would be like if on the many journeys Forrest Gump took, one of them involved him trying to solve a young boy’s disappearance and eventual murder? I didn’t think so. I’m not trying to be funny, but for the most part that is basically the gist of A Dark Place, where we see a young man who is on the spectrum become obsessed with solving a murder. It’s not that people who are on the spectrum can’t be highly intelligent and problem solvers, but this film takes things to another level, to where disability or not, no one could get away with what occurs in this film. Sure, there are movies that are about escaping reality, and one shouldn’t judge it for its realism, but when a film is attempting to be a slice of life in this small town that is devastated by the loss of a missing child, well, there comes a point where the audience should be allowed to call BS.
Read More

Princess Mononoke Collector’s Edition (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 14th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

Hayao Miyazaki is an amazing Japanese animator and filmmaker. His films include Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Howl’s Moving Castle among other legendary pictures. I can safely say I have enjoyed most of his films but unfortunately only owned a couple at the time of writing this review. That’s why I was quite astonished when this collector’s edition of Princess Mononoke came across my desk. I was ready to dive in with both feet and re-visit this movie that I had not seen since, well, almost twenty years ago.

Level 16 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 11th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

“A clean girl is always attentive and dutiful. A clean girl embraces obedience. A clean girl is always humble and patient. A clean girl embodies sweetness. A clean girl is always temperate. A clean girl is honest and forthcoming. A clean girl gives the school loyalty.”

… and is thrifty, healthy, and wise. Watching the beginning of Level 16 reminded me a little bit of that Boy Scout Oath we used to stand and deliver in the gymnasium of Saint Margaret’s when I was a young teenager. There are also several aspects of the film that reminded me a little of the disciplined regiment at Saint Margaret’s Elementary School. But there’s something more sinister afoot at Vestelis Orphanage than a few sadistic nuns packing yardsticks or a scout leader who smelled of stogies.
Read More

Justice League vs.The Fatal Five (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

If it wasn’t clear enough before, I think the Avengers: Endgame box office mauling put the final point on the situation between Marvel and DC. When it comes to Cinematic Universes, DC has had an impossible task of keeping up. Avengers took in more on the first weekend than Aquaman did its entire run. The box office round goes to Marvel, and it appears DC has started to come to grips with that fact and has started to transform their own films away from the team-up/combined universe and is going back to basics. Where DC has built a rather strong shared universe for their characters is in the animated feature department. In the last handful of years DC has released some very strong animated films, and that’s where there appears to be a place where they not only compete with Marvel but leave them in the dust. The latest proof of that idea comes with the Warner Brothers release of Justice League vs. The Fatal Five out on UHD Blu-ray in 4K. It’s a solid film with plenty of cheerful action and adventure that always got bogged down in the films with the notable exception of Wonder Woman.
Read More

Alien: 40th Anniversary Edition (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

“In space no one can hear you scream.”

That was the slogan that drew a conglomerate of horror and science fiction fans to theatres in 1979. Was it horror or sci-fi? Alien turned out to be a rare cross-genre film that managed to satisfy both audiences. Ridley Scott started out by bringing the “space ship” film away from the glamorous bright future and depicted a world startlingly very much like our own. In Scott’s gritty future, companies are quasi-government agencies, and these astronauts are not explorers out for glory and heroism. They are strictly blue-collar workers trying to make a buck. It’s hard to imagine that most of the cast, including Sigourney Weaver, were relative unknowns at the time. Weaver would create a new model for female leads that would later pave the way for actors like Linda Hamilton.
Read More

Destroyer (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 1st, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

If I’m being honest, I never would have guessed that Nicole Kidman could ever pull off playing a dirty undercover cop. I’m not saying she’s a bad actress; I just never thought the day would come that she would play such a lowdown gritty role, and I’m so glad she did. How Kidman wasn’t showered with awards this past year for her performance in Destroyer is beyond me. This isn’t just a good performance, but what we get in this film is a woman who transforms herself into a role so different from what she’s done in the past that I respect the chance she took with this role, and the result is mesmerizing even if the film suffers from some pacing issues.
Read More

Welcome to Marwen (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 16th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

When it comes to Robert Zemeckis films, you never know what you’re going to get. Like most, I’m a fan of his Back to the Future trilogy, and then there is Who Framed Roger Rabbit that to this day I feel is his best work. While he’s churned out many good films, there are films of his that I’m simply not a fan of. Forrest Gump happens to be one of those films. For the most part he makes audience-friendly films, but what I’ve always admired about the guy is how he’s always attempting to integrate new technology into his films. Zemeckis has become one of the pioneers of motion-capture technology. Ever since The Polar Express (2004), he’s been making improvements with the technology, and now with Welcome to Marwen, it is stunning to see just how far he has come.
Read More

The Mule (UHD Blu-ray (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

Ever since I was a kid I used to love to hear and read stories about the iconic filmmakers from the days before I was born. I soaked up material on John Ford and Hitchcock. Fritz Lang and James Whale were superhuman, it seemed. Meeting Robert Wise was a dream come true, and getting an invitation by Ray Harryhausen himself to attend his Hollywood star ceremony was an honor. But all of these folks were either already gone or at the end of their careers by the time I got to this planet. Since that time there have been plenty of great talents, but the only one in my lifetime who ever seemed to live up in that rarified air was Clint Eastwood. As both an actor and director, I’m not sure anyone has made more of a mark during my generation. Clint’s approaching 90, and reality dictates that his days of directing movies are coming to a close.
Read More

The Last Man (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 19th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

This is one of those films where the cast had me equally excited and concerned with how the film would turn out. On one hand it has Harvey Keitel; the guy is a living legend between his roles in Reservoir Dogs, Bad Lieutenant, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, and countless others. Keitel is one of those actors who elevates just about any film he’s in, and he’s in several films I’d even call classics. Then on the other end of the spectrum there is Hayden Christensen, one of the most lifeless performers to ever grace the screen in my opinion. I still have bouts of anger when I see him as Anakin Skywalker. But I’m always ready to have an actor surprise me, and I always go into a film with an open mind once I sit down and start watching it. Unfortunately The Last Man is a dud and was a film I struggled with so many of you won’t have to.
Read More

The Favourite (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 14th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

“I love a comedy. Is there cake?”

The Favourite is a somewhat awkward film. Director Yorgos Lanthimos took on a rather brave but dangerous task when he decided to create a farce. Most audience members don’t understand the term. They use it rather synonymously with comedy or spoof, but it is truly something very different. A comedy is meant to deliver as many laughs as possible. You get pratfalls, one-liners, slapstick, and other over-the-top methods to bring about those laughs. Spoofs take a specific subject or genre and expose some of the more innate aspects of the material, all in good fun. Leslie Nielsen was a master of the spoof with his Airplane and Naked Gun films.
Read More

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 7th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

It may only be March, but I’m willing to bet The Standoff At Sparrow Creek will make the list of my top films of 2019. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is the next breakout film people will be talking about, because it’s just that damn good. Think about what Reservoir Dogs mashed up with Glengarry Glen Ross would be like if they were mashed together and the characters were all members of a militia; then you’ll somewhat have an idea of what The Standoff at Sparrow Creek has in store for you. We’ve all heard rumblings about militia groups, the kind that have their hidden bunkers that have stockpiles of weapons and ammunition that are ready to go into battle at a moment’s notice.
Read More

Lu Over the Wall (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 15th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

It is interesting to see two or more of a director’s works in a short period of time. One sees similarities, differences, and how the filmmaker hones his craft as they improve with every production. Masaaki Yuasa is certainly one of those directors, and if you enjoyed my review on Night is Short, Walk on Girl, then you will want to go ahead and read my review today on Lu Over the Wall. While there are similarities, I can safely say that is quite the departure from the previous film. Let us take a look in the animated world of merfolk and the people who live around them.

The Old Man And The Gun (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 8th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

When Robert Redford first announced that The Old Man and the Gun was going to be the last film he was going to be acting in, it became a film that shot to the top of my must-see list. Since that announcement he’s backed off on his comment, but if this were his last film, this would be one heck of a way to close out an amazing career. What writer and director David Lowery has delivered here is sort of a love letter to all of Redford’s greatest hits, and by the time the credits end, well, you simply know you’ve watched something special. It’s a film from another era, when special FX didn’t come out of a camera and cinema just was different.
Read More

The Shield – The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 1st, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

When did it become mainstream to root for the bad guys? Certainly our pop culture has been propagated with colorful villains since Shakespeare, goons we love to hate or even just love. Still, the rule always seemed to be that the white hats always win and the black hats get what’s coming. Television once demanded that shows follow that simple code. When Alfred Hitchcock did his television show, the stories often ended with the bad guys appearing to win. To comply with the code, he developed a habit of offering us a usually humorous sidebar about the unfortunate fate of the stories’ bad guys. It became a trademark that was created to keep to a moral code. But when did all of that change? Was it with The Sopranos? We all became enamored by this lovable teddy bear of a guy in Tony. We don’t have to spoil it by pointing out he’s a killer, adulterer, and all-star criminal sociopath
Read More

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on January 30th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

“Extremely rich, very married, eminently corruptible, and a willing infidel.”

That description is used to describe the unwitting marks targeted by the titular con men in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. But except for the “very married” part, it’s also a pretty accurate depiction of the Scoundrels themselves, played here by Steve Martin and Michael Caine in a pair of very different but equally winning performances. The movie was released a little more than 30 years ago — Christmastime 1988 — which makes this a fine time to revisit the breezy, sleazy con men comedy thanks to this Collector’s Edition from Shout Select.

Lawrence Jamieson (Caine) is a suave and sophisticated English con man who operates in the town of Beaumont sur Mer on the French Riviera. With the help of corrupt police official Andre (Anton Rodgers), Lawrence seduces and scams rich married women by posing as a prince in peril. It’s a very lucrative set-up until Lawrence bumps into Freddy Benson (Martin), an upstart American hustler making his way to Beaumont sur Mer. Lawrence has received word of a con artist known as “the Jackal” operating in the area, so he is on high alert when Freddy enters the picture.
Read More

Speed Kills (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 17th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

John Travolta is one of those guys I like, but it seems like it has been ages since he’s done a great film. Sure, he was great in The People vs. OJ Simpson where he played attorney Robert Shapiro, but apart from that role, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Travolta really make a splash at the box office. Personally I love seeing the guy on screen. Blow Out, Get Shorty and Pulp Fiction are just a few of my favorite films that he has been in, and I keep hoping his career will bounce back, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’ll be happening any time soon. Speed Kills is a film that has a story that is oozing with so much potential that if it were put in the hands of Brian De Palma or Michael Mann you could almost guarantee this film would be destined for greatness. Unfortunately the result is a frustrating mess that manages to make boat racing and drug smuggling in the age of the “cocaine cowboys” seem boring.
Read More

When Harry Met Sally…30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on January 16th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

“You know, the first time we met, I really didn’t like you that much.”

I didn’t become acquainted with When Harry Met Sally… until well after the Billy Crystal/Meg Ryan flick had established itself as a bona fide romantic comedy classic. (I was 7 when the film came out in 1989.) So when I finally got around to watching it in my late teens, the “I’ll have what she’s having” punchlines and general set-up involving an unlikely romantic pairing felt overly familiar. I enjoyed it just fine, I definitely appreciated it, but I wouldn’t quite call what we had love. Shout Select, an imprint of Shout! Factory, has released a 30th anniversary Blu-ray of When Harry Met Sally… And after revisiting this film years later, I’m asking myself the same question that Harry and Sally ponder after being friendly for years: is this love?
Read More

«< 6 7 8 9 10 >»