Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2007
Beverly Hills 90210, although I never watched this growing up, I knew a lot of people who did. Often compared as The OC of the 90’s, the show does in fact share a lot of similarities with The OC; two popular primetime soap operas based around the posh lives of rich teens. The main difference between the two shows is the fact this 90210 lasted 9 seasons and 10 years on air, which made for a vast array of storylines and ever developing characters. Some people might not remember the show all ...hat much, but I’m pretty sure everyone remembers the teen idols that it produced which include Luke Perry and Jason Priestley. Of course the storylines are at times a little over the top, but also address serious problems that teenagers and young adults might deal with, but in an entertaining manner.
Incase you don’t know, Beverly Hills 90210 takes place in Beverly Hills, California a city known for its exclusivity ranging from shopping to housing. These elite teenagers enjoy a posh lifestyle that is a constant drama fest. From love triangles too serious issues like child abuse, divorce, and teenage pregnancy - this show has it all. In true soap opera fashion these mid to late twenty actors play seventeen year olds, but I can get past that I just thought I’d throw that out there.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2007
I will admit that on occasion I have enjoyed a romantic comedy or two, and when I initially saw the trailer for Failure to Launch, I anticipated it to make the list. Aside from the film’s stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey, Failure to Launch has a rather well assembled list of co-stars, including Kathy Bates (Misery), Terry Bradshaw (Former NFL Quarterback), Justin Bartha (National Treasure), and Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers). Sounds good enough, how does it turn out?
Matthe... McConaughey plays Tripp, he enjoys a successful career as a high end boat broker, he drives a Porsche, and he spends all his free time outdoors maintaining his six pack. Sounds like quite the bachelor. There’s only one drawback - he’s 35 and he lives with his parents. Whenever a relationship is getting too serious he brings the girl home, she discovers he lives with his parents, and as a result breaks up with him. Life seems good for Tripp and his buddies who also live at home, they spend their free time swimming with the dolphins, mountain biking, rock climbing, paintballing, and well anything physical. Well, things turn upside down when Tripp’s parents hire Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) to get Tripp to fall in love and finally get him to move out. But things get complicated when Paula actually starts falling for Tripp. Was their love doomed from the beginning? Or will these two end up with each other? Well, I think you all know the answer, but to find out for sure you’re going to have to watch the movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2007
Synopsis
Five different horror stories play out in this film, though they are all loosely interconnected, in that main characters in one story put in cameos in another, and the same locations are revisited. A sullen teenage girl comes home to her fractious family to see her father struggle with a newfangled remote. It doesn’t change the TV channel, but does zap her through alternate universes. A young man living in a dilapidated building starts taking orders from his possessed radio. A serial killer ...all girl encounters a vampire. And so it goes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Dreamgirls created a substantial amount of buzz when it was first released at the end of 2006, and has since won two Academy Awards. Although this movie never really struck me as being something I just had to watch, I've been curious to check out what all the praise was about. For those of you that don't know, Dreamgirls is a musical, a whole whack load of singing intertwined with the ongoing plot; much like Grease or Chicago. Like most musical films, Dreamgirls is adapted from a pl...y of the same name, and inspired by the history of Motown Records.
The film takes place during two separate eras, the first taking place between 1962 and 1965. We then skip ahead a few years where the story continues between 1973 and 1975. Back in Detroit 1962, a trio of women (Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce Knowles, and Anika Noni Rose) known as The Dreamettes enter a talent competition with the hopes of awing the crowd with their apparently sensational singing. Things work out even better than they could have hoped when the R&B superstar James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy) is in the need of backup singers for his evening’s performance. Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx) an aspiring young Cadillac dealer further arranges with Early's manager Marty (Danny Glover) for The Dreamettes to tour as backup singers. As time goes on, the group rapidly gains popularity and Curtis turns his Cadillac dealership into an office for his newly formed record label, Rainbow Records. After a short period of harsh times the group finds their way to the Apollo Theater and other top clubs. Along with the success comes a number of problems for the group, affairs, payola schemes, and betrayal amongst each other.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Holy crap, this movie made a boat load of money for Fox when it came out around Christmas 2006, making $250 million and running second only to the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel for box office money. And to see Ben Stiller finally appear in a film that could be considered a blockbuster success was nice too. And in Night at the Museum, he gets to play Larry, night security guard in the New York Museum of Natural History.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Hey lookee here, in this movie called Off the Black, there are two Oscar nominees and one Oscar winner! So with this pedigree of talent, you’d expect to be a gangbusters piece of dramatic storytelling, right? Well, not exactly.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Posted in Disc Reviews by Joshua Noyes
The Jerk, released in 1979, is a rags-to-riches-to-rags comedy film of belated self-discovery. This was Steve Martin's first starring role in a feature film and was also written by him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2007
Catch and Release is appropriately dubbed as a chick flick. Written by Susannah Grant, who also makes her directorial debut, is responsible for the screenwriting of some rather dismal movies in the past, including Ever After, Erin Brockovich, and 28 Days. Although I hint at a dislike for romantic comedies, I'll have you know that in the past I have enjoyed several, and am going into this completely unbiased.
The movie starts off on a sad note, Grey (Jennifer Garner) a grieving a...most widow mourns the death of her fiancé Grady. Originally they were to be married on that day, but due to an accident on a fishing trip, Grady was killed. Dealing with the loss in her own way, Grey sits in a bathtub where she can be alone with her thoughts. Before long, Grady's friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant) bursts in and seduces a waitress. Waiting until the woman leaves, Grey reveals herself and tells Fritz she never understood why Grady was his friend.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2007
Grace (Sophia Bush) and Jim (Zachary Knighton) are your average college students. They love each other and with the arrival of Spring Break, they want nothing more than to spend a week down in Mexico with their friends. Leaving their campus, everything is progressing smoothly until they nearly run over a man who simply wants a ride to the nearest motel. They speed off thinking they obviously shouldn’t pick up any stranger, especially in the pouring rain. Once they arrive at the nearest gas station, they’re shocked to...find out that the same man they didn’t pick up has just arrived at the gas station after receiving a ride. Now comes the fun part. The man asks Jim for a ride and, for some reason, Jim can’t refuse. Enter your midnight psycho who calls himself John Ryder (Sean Bean) who decides to torture these folks and you have yourself a decent remake of the 1986 classic.
As I just mentioned, this film is a remake of the 1986 film of the same name by Rutger Hauer. This film was clever and downright horrifying. You had the similar psycho killer who simply wanted to play a few mind games with our two lead characters. But where the 1986 film had a few twists and actual real horror that felt, well, real, this 2007 remake lacks everything that made the original so good.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2007
Synopsis
Well in the ever ongoing series of reviews of the James Bond series, this particular installment is the last of the Pierce Brosnan collection (the others are on the site, so go find them). And in Tomorrow Never Dies, I saved it for last because well, I needed some form of drama to keep me going.
![Failure to Launch [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/failure-to-launch-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Dreamgirls (Two-Disc Showstopper Edition) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dreamgirls-two-disc-showstopper-edition-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![The Jerk [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-jerk-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
