Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2010
“Things never happen the same way twice.”
C.S. Lewis created an incredibly imaginative world when he wrote his Chronicles Of Narnia. The stories were an escape, of sorts, from a war-torn Europe. They integrated elements of Christianity in an effort to provide a semblance of hope in the form of a children’s fairy tale. And like all such tales, the world of Narnia was first and foremost a place of magic and bewilderment. It was a place where fantastic creatures of both good and evil thrived, living out epic lives of adventure. It was also a world where only children could enter. The stories became hugely popular, first in England, and eventually around the globe. Since that time we live in a different planet than the one Lewis was attempting to offer a respite from. Still, the images and ideals are remarkably relevant today. With such sweeping grand adventures and marvelous creatures, it’s no surprise that the franchise has found its way into films. The only real mystery is why it took so long. Perhaps it was necessary for the technology to finally catch up, providing a far more realistic and captivating experience. Some credit must also go to the enormous success of the Harry Potter and even the Lord Of The Rings films. With the investment of time and money required to bring such a world into existence on celluloid, there must be some reasonable assurance that, if done correctly, there was a large enough profit to be found. These earlier, and continuing, franchises have overwhelmingly proven that point. It was only a matter of time before the studio that practically invented movie magic would find such a place as Narnia and claim it for their own. When you combine these extraordinary histories together, can there be any question as to the results?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2010
I can't help it. Whenever I see David Boreanaz I can't stop seeing the brooding vampire Angel. It's not really his fault. This character couldn't be farther from the Angel character, but that's what I see. It's also true that Bones, now entering its sixth season has been around longer than Angel. It's also very likely that he now has fans that aren't even aware of that previous character. It has been quite a few years. I'm usually better at letting go of a character once the show has ended and the actor has moved on. But there it is. Agent Booth ends up doing something silly, and it throws me for a bit of a loop. It's probably a testament to how good of an actor Boreanaz actually is, that he's ingrained himself so fully in my brain. And, I haven't watched near as many episodes of Bones, to transfer that identification. But it's Bones that's here now, and based on its current popularity, it's likely to be here for a while longer yet.
Dr. Temperance Brennan, or Bones (Deschanel) is the world's leading bone specialist. She works in Washington, D.C. for the famous Jeffersonian (I assume it's intended to be the Smithsonian). Her talents have proven themselves very helpful in solving crimes where skeletal remains are all that there is to go on from the victim. Her FBI agent/liaison is Seeley Booth (Boreanaz). Together they have an uneasy relationship that grows into a kind of friendship. The problem is that Bones doesn't have a ton of social skills. She relies on Booth to guide their social interactions. More on that later. The lab is run by Dr. Camille Saroyan (Taylor) who has become a bit of a guiding mother to the team. Dr. Hodges (Thyne) is the trace-elements expert and tries very hard to be cool and hip. He's generally the opposite of Bones. He says pretty much what comes into his head and is a bit of a science-fiction geek. Angela (Conlin) is an artist who uses her skills to reconstruct facial details from the skulls. She also works on enhancing images and restructuring evidence. She's a bit of a romantic and has probably slept with every male in the lab. Dr. Sweets (Daley) is a young FBI agent and psychologist. He profiles victims and suspects as well as serves as a counselor to the team. He's a bit over-eager at times, looking up to Booth as a mentor, of sorts. The lab also has a few interns that show up from week to week, likely depending on actor availability.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 22nd, 2010
Some of you might know that even though I couldn't fight my way through a sturdy paper bag, I am an avid fan of all types of martial arts and combat sports. There is something about the grittiness of two men pounding each other into submission that keeps me riveted to my seat. My curiosity was peaked when I saw a copy of Human Weapon, Season One appear on my doorstep. Hopefully this History Channel show would help me appreciate martial art combat that much more.
Imagine traveling the globe from week to week learning about various martial art styles from the originating country. Once you get to that country, you spend a whole week in intense training from a variety of experts that happen to live there. Then you take all that you gathered that week and use it against somebody who has studied the martial art for years, perhaps even a master and try to beat him. Sound impossible? Well tell that to Jason Chambers and Bill Duff.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2010
Dear Faithful Readers, Due to the nature of Sam Kinison's work on stage and off stage, this review may contain foul but funny humor, bad but heeeeelarious language, and not so politically correct (but correctly off the wall) jokes. Please be aware before you continue to read. Yours Always, Noms
*Yells into a microphone* NOW LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! Oooooooo owwww owww owwwwwwww! For those of you who don't know, Sam used to be a preacher. No, I am not a liar dangit, look it up! But after his divorce with his first lousy skeeze who broke his heart into a billion pieces, I mean *cough* wife... he left that behind and became a comedian. And not just any comedian, an effin legendary comedian. It is just sad that his life was cut short, and not because of drugs or alcohol that HE used (which everyone and their mothers swore was gonna be the cause some day) but due to a drunk driving, 17 year old, kid. The world works in mysterious ways.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 21st, 2010
As a kid and teenager, I watched a steady diet of cartoons (I still do). I never really adventured much into the high school television programs and movies except maybe ones like Saved by the Bell or Head of the Class. Most of them were too sweet and perfect and last time I checked I’m not perfect so I couldn’t relate (the sweet jury is still out). Hopefully 16 Wishes which did quite well on the Disney Channel would be a little different. I wouldn’t count on it.
Abby Jensen (played by Debby Ryan) is about to wake up to a very special day. It is her 16th birthday!! (Papers and streamers everywhere, oh glorious!) In fact, this little lady right here has something more than a 16th birthday, she has 16 wishes printed on construction paper!! (More streamers!!). They are wonderful wishes but there is a special one at number sixteen, a picture of Logan Buchanan (played by Keenan Tracey), high school quarterback, yadda yadda yadda. She must want to make kissy face with this boy, we'll see if she ever gets her chance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 19th, 2010
Here is a second volume of episodes from the Marvel cartoon's first season, which is geared towards young children. The review for the first volume, written by the highly skilled and suspiciously well-dressed Michael Durr, can be found here: https://upcomingdiscs.com/2010/07/12/marvel-squad-vone/ . Dr. Doom is still using his many evil minions to obtain fractals of the shattered Infinity Sword before the Superhero Squad, a team of Marvel heroes assembled for their unique skills depending on the mission as led by Iron Man, can stop him.
As it has been for every episode in this first season, the humour ranges from quirky one-liners that only slightly older viewers may catch, to extremely low-brow bodily function gags, mostly pertaining to farts and burps; though the latter only arises whenever Mole Man or Hulk are involved. Not to say that this makes it uninteresting for viewers young or old but is more unifying. As well, each episode often features cameos by many characters from the Marvel universe, much of whom are rather obscure as only hardcore Marvel geeks might know (show me an 8-year-old who knew who Thanos was before this show and I'll eat my Thor shirt!). Perhaps the most amusing cameo is The Punisher, being voiced by Ray Stevenson who actually played the violent vigilante in an R-Rated adaptation of the comic Punisher: War Zone; only here, he uses a metaphor about brussel sprouts when speaking about crime...but still has many a gun go off at random in an especially amusing scene.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 18th, 2010
They’ve been called The Greatest Generation, and who are we to argue the point? Sitting here writing reviews from my comfortable seat in a state-of-the-art home theater, I’m in no position to lay claim to the title. They fought in the bloodiest conflict in modern human history. Over 20 million were killed. That’s a staggering number. If you’re like me, it’s not even real. I can honestly say that those facts have never really reached home as much as they did while watching this footage.
World War II has been a favorite topic for Hollywood films since before the war itself ended. There have been some truly remarkable efforts and some equally unremarkable disasters. Many of these films have been long forgotten. Heck, many of them deserve to be forgotten. But something that should never be forgotten is the stuff of this footage. To do so would be a sacrilege of the worst kind. But these war films, no matter how startling the scenes, no matter how real we might think they are, no matter how visceral the experience might appear, nothing can ever capture the reality like this footage has done.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 18th, 2010
"My name is Bob Baer. I used to be a CIA agent stationed in Lebanon during the Civil War. It was chaos. Bu, the real threat was always the car bomb."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 18th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
On the outskirts of Reno in 1976, a pink building complex is illuminated by neon lights that read ‘The Love Ranch’.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 17th, 2010
It was in 1843 that celebrated writer Charles Dickens created one of the most iconic symbols of Christmas with his publication of A Christmas Carol. It was a cautionary tale for an industrial revolution that was getting caught up in its material worship. Dickens intended the story both to entertain and to put the spotlight on what he considered already then was an over-commercialization of the Christmas season. Little did he know that his very story would become a huge part of that commercialization. While the writer gave us many memorable characters like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Little Nell, perhaps none have become so well known as Scrooge and Tiny Tim. It's certainly true that no other story has been used as much in film, television and on the stage.
For most modern folks it all started in 1951, almost 100 years after the story's publication, with the definitive film staring Alastair Sim. That movie has captured the hearts of several generations. But it didn't begin nor did it stop there. The three Christmas ghosts have haunted over 100 film and television versions over the years. Even Fred Sanford was visited by the specters, resulting in at least a temporary temperance of his biting grouchiness. With such a classic tale, it was only a matter of time before the computer-animated genre and the motion-capture technology were used to deliver a new movie for the holiday masses. Thank our lucky stars, my gentle reader, that it was Walt Disney Studios that took up the task. The results could have been rather unfortunate.
![Human Weapon: Complete Season 1 [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/human-weapon-complete-season-1-bl-large.jpg)
![16 Wishes [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/16-wishes-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The World at War [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-world-at-war-blu-ray-large.jpg)
