Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 14th, 2012
"If there's a theme, you could call it The Return..."
Warner Brothers has entered the popular scene with yet another vampire series taken from yet another powerful franchise of popular books. Enter The Vampire Diaries. While I've avoided the Twilight series so far (I've had my fill of teenage angst as a high school teacher). The series follows loosely the series of novels written by L.J. Smith. If you're a fan of the books, you have to take a few things into consideration. Characters work differently on screen than in a book, so many of them have been changed. Perhaps the biggest change is that Elena's four-year-old sister is now a teenage younger brother. You may not like the change, but it does make for better prime-time drama, doesn't it? The crew attempted to keep as close to the source material as possible, while attempting to create their own special television universe. I'm not sure about the books. I've never read them. I do know that this show works.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 12th, 2012
Less than 100 years ago, the Mexican government declared war on the Catholic Church. This movie tells the story of the ensuing conflict known as Cristiada (also called the Cristero War), which took place between 1926 and 1929. In showing us all the different ways war can affect a country and all the different ways rebels can contribute to a cause, the movie sort of forgot to tell us why the Mexican government declared war on the church in the first place.
For Greater Glory is told from the perspective of the brave souls who stood up to the oppressive Mexican government led by President Plutarco Elias Calles (Ruben Blades). This includes members of the non-violent National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty like real-life figure Anacleto Gonzalez Flores (Eduardo Verastegui) and a woman named Adriana (Catalina Sandino Moreno). The men and women who take up arms to join the cause — including a flashy, badass rebel named Victoriano “El Catorce” Ramirez (Oscar Isaac), who earned his nickname by single-handedly killing 14 men — are known as Cristeros.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 10th, 2012
Remember when I mentioned the difficulty of reviewing a season in the middle of the show’s run? This week, I shall attempt to review two different HBO shows at the end of their respective run. Yes, I will be piecing together a show that is in its last season with very little (or no knowledge) of the seasons before. This should be a fun ride and our last entry is the third season of the HBO Comedy: Hung.
Our very own M.W. Phillips was able to review the second season of this show, so feel free to check that out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 10th, 2012
If you have a low tolerance for quirky indie comedies, just listening to the premise of Goats might be enough to make you gag. The film follows Ellis, a responsible 15-year-old Tucson boy who decides to attend a prestigious East Coast prep school. Left behind are his flaky, New Age-y mother and Goat Man, a pool man/weed grower who is also Ellis’s primary father figure. In case you’re already rolling your eyes, let me assure you there’s slightly more going on here than quirk for quirk’s sake.
The central joke is that the most stable adult Ellis (a mature, non-showy Graham Phillips) has ever known is Goat Man (David Duchovny), a kind soul who appears, at first glance, to have worse hygiene than the goats he spends most of his time with. Then again, Goat Man pretty much wins by default because Ellis’s mother Wendy (Vera Farmiga) is more interested in her own spiritual rituals and new boyfriend (Justin Kirk) than she is in trivial things like paying her bills. (Ellis handles all the finances.) Wendy, however, is lucid enough to become enraged when Ellis decides to attend Gates Academy, the same prep school where his father (Ty Burrell) studied.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 6th, 2012
Everyone on TV has nicer clothes and a bigger house than you do. And I’m not just talking about TV doctors or lawyers. Even small-screen characters with relatively modest incomes manage to live in palatial apartments. (Friends is probably the most famous example.) We complain about how unrealistic it is for a barista and a line cook to be able to afford such a nice place, but part of the appeal of turning on the tube is temporarily turning off our real-world problems.
CBS’s 2 Broke Girls — along with Fox’s Raising Hope and ABC’s The Middle — seeks to follow in the blue collar sitcom tradition of shows like Roseanne and Sanford and Son. (Though 2 Broke Girls is nowhere near as good as either of those shows.) Despite the fact that their apartment is big enough to literally fit a horse, 2 Broke Girls is one of the few shows on TV where the main characters actually worry about money. (Not counting shows where the main characters are gangsters or meth dealers.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 5th, 2012
“Ride into this world all alone. God takes your soul. You're on your own.
The crow flies straight, a perfect line on the devil's back until you die.
Gotta look this life in the eye”.
If you've already read previous reviews, skip ahead to find out what's new this season. When these guys send a message, they don’t use Western Union. Not only will they blow up your warehouse, but they’ll catch one of your guys and plant a stick of dynamite in his butt cheeks to set off the explosion. That’s the world of the motorcycle club, the Sons Of Anarchy. In the wake of The Shield, FX stays true to form with the latest from that show’s alumni Kurt Sutter. Sons Of Anarchy has a familiar tone and quality to it for fans of that now-gone cop drama. There’s a lot of handheld camera stuff, and you have very similar themes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 5th, 2012
"There is a town in Maine, where every storybook character you've ever known is trapped between two worlds, victims of a powerful curse. Only one knows the truth, and only one can break her spell."
ABC has had a very important asset going for it for years. It's one that the network has seldom taken any advantage of. That asset is its parent company. You see, ABC is part of the Walt Disney family. With the rich history of stories the studio has in its arsenal going back to the 1920's, it was only a matter of time before some clever people decided to find a way to use that rich history in a television series. That time has arrived and the result is Once Upon A Time. It's the most clever and original series to hit the tube in a long time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 4th, 2012
Before watching this Blu-ray my knowledge of Staind consisted of only what I’ve heard in passing on the radio. I wouldn’t call myself a fan or go so far as to say I dislike them, I simply view (or hear) them as something to fill the void when the radio is on. Where I did grow a bit of an appreciation for the band was in an interview that’s included on the disc that turned out to be more insightful than the standard fluff piece you may expect.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on September 4th, 2012
“Money, right yeah it matters, but it’s one piece of the puzzle. Let me tell you something. Sometimes who you are doing business with is a lot more important than the business that you are doing.”
When How to Make It in America season two begins, Ben (Bryan Greenberg) and his best friend, Cam (Victor Rasuk) return from their business trip to Japan after spending their new-found cash on a load of “Japanese soft cotton” hoodies they intend to silk screen with their new Crisp fashion label and find a way to mass distribute. Ben’s ex-girlfriend Rachel (Lake Bell), now unemployed, hits the job market and scores a gig with an uptight home improvement magazine. Thug with a heart, Rene (Luis Guzmán), continues his rocky road to legitimacy, enjoying the new-found success of his Rasta Monster energy drink while struggling to please his skeptical girlfriend Debbie (Andrea Navedo).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 4th, 2012
Remember when I mentioned the difficulty of reviewing a season in the middle of the show’s run? This week, I shall attempt to review two different HBO shows at the end of their respective run. Yes, I will be piecing together a show that is in its last season with very little (or no knowledge) of the seasons before. This should be a fun ride and our first entry is the third season of the HBO Comedy: Bored to Death.
Our very own M.W. Phillips was able to review the second season of this show, so feel free to check that out. He will probably be much kinder than I am.
