Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 29th, 2016
Fresh out of the vaults comes another cult classic. Vestron Video has decided to unleash Return of the Living Dead 3 for horror fans to snatch up this holiday season. Considering the titles that Vestron has already released, for some this might be a title that will leave fans scratching their heads about there being an urge to re-master this film, much less crank out a Blu-ray with so many features. Well, the simple answer is that the person in charge of acquiring and releasing these titles knows that there are fanboys like me out there who will shell out the money for a product that’s given this kind of attention. Return of the Living Dead is a cult classic and is mostly responsible for casual moviegoers making the connection with zombies and brain eating (yes, we real horror fans know better, but I always thought it was cute when an old girlfriend would dress as a zombie for Halloween and shuffle around moaning “brains”). If I’m being straight with you, I can’t remember the sequel at all, but the third I do remember, and there are some fond memories that still hold up with this title.
When Curt (J Trevor Edmond) picks up his girlfriend Julie (Melinda Clarke), he’s got a surprise for her, only it ends up being the start of the many bad decisions to follow. He’s decided to steal his dad’s key card and use it to access Top Secret areas on the base his father works at. His father is Colonel John Reynolds (Kent McCord), and as it would turn out, the Colonel is in charge of a program that uses a unique chemical, Trioxin, to re-animate corpses. That’s right; the military is at it again trying to create a weapon that will no doubt turn against them. Curt and Julie slip far enough into the base to get a glimpse at some of the gruesome experiments and reluctantly decide they’ve seen more than they can handle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2016
"Stop me if you've heard this one before."
The first thing you need to know about The Secret Lives Of Pets is that it's not terribly original. Fans of the Pixar Toy Story Franchise will find pretty much every element of this script has been lifted from one of the three Toy Story films. Of course, if you're going to lift an idea, you might as well steal from the best. Of course, there are always formulaic ideas in films, particularly animated films geared mostly toward children. And while I really did enjoy almost everything about this film, I just can't escape the fact that I've seen it all before. Sometimes that feeling got a little uncomfortably obvious. And by sometimes, I mean the entire length of the movie. Look beyond the plagiarism, and you will find the film a delightful collection of characters and circumstances that just so happened to have been ripped off from Toy Story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 24th, 2016
There is a way this film could have been great if not a little amusing. Imagine if James Bond was being stalked by Q; what would Bond do? Sure, I’ll admit it’s a silly notion, but it’s all I could think about as I watched this film about a millionaire and his family being stalked by a disgruntled I.T. worker. In general, it’s a story we see a couple of times a year, the seemingly charming figure that comes into a person’s life that turns out to be crazy and throws everyone’s life into chaos. Films like Cape Fear and One Hour Photo are just a couple of examples of films that tackled the stalker sub-genre; even last year’s overlooked gem The Gift showed you can still be terrifying with a little creativity.
Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan) is a millionaire who has it all. He has a beautiful, loving wife, Rose (Anna Friel) and a teenage daughter, Kaitlyn (Stefanie Scott) as well as a successful enterprise. Mike is looking to expand his brand and create a new business venture, one that looks to embrace the future of technology as our society continues to grow all the more dependent on our smart phones and computers. After helping save Mike’s pitch to the company, Ed (James Frencheville), an I.T. temp, gets hired full time to the company. Impressed with Ed’s talents, Mike even goes so far as to invite the new I.T. guy out to his home to check out his home security system. I don’t think you need a Magic 8-Ball to see where this is going.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2016
"Space...the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one man gone before!"
Of course, we never did get five years from that original show when it ended after just three years in 1969. The new film series has tried to fix that for us. The latest film picks up the five-year mission just after three years have gone by. It's a double homage to the original show. The number of days reflected the series start, and it picks up where they left off...kind of. But we did get a fourth and partial fifth year of the original voyages, and while it has never been considered truly canon, the original cast joined many of the original writers in 1973 to bring Star Trek back to the small screen. It was Filmation's Star Trek: The Animated Series, and it appeared on Saturday mornings from 1973 until 1974.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 23rd, 2016
It’s been a while since Nicolas Cage has been in a big studio-released film. It doesn’t mean he’s doing bad movies; it just means he’s not doing any tent-pole releases that flood the multiplex. Seeing Nicolas Cage in a film like Army of One is simply a snapshot of how modern cinema has to evolve for better or for worse. Really, I don’t mean to come off as though this is a bad film or inferior to any other films past or present, but ten years ago this is a film that would have had a much wider release and would easily have gotten more attention. After all, who could resist Nicolas Cage in a film helmed by the director of Borat?
I vaguely remember hearing the story in the news. American Gary Faulkner (Cage) decides to set off on his own to capture Osama Bin Laden and bring him back to the US. It was a story that was a little more than a blip in the headlines, but thankfully we have Army of One that delivers a film that embraces the insanity of the scenario and takes some liberties with the true story, all in the name of comedy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 18th, 2016
“Does death only come for the wicked and leave the decent behind?”
Throughout its first five seasons, Game of Thrones has been relentlessly cruel to its viewers heroes in a way that shocked audiences and upended genre expectations. But as Thrones edges toward its conclusion — and as the TV adaptation becomes more unmoored than ever from the George R.R. Martin novels that inspired it — certain storytelling conventions seem to be inevitably taking over. I seriously doubt this saga will have a traditional “happy ending,” but season 6 is as close as the show has ever come to being a full-blown crowd-pleaser.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2016
"What we do has consequences, intended and unintended. The decisions we make, the actions we bring have weight."
When upcoming heavyweight contenders like Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Andrew Ross Sorkin get together, you have reason to expect big things. And Billions is very much about heavyweights. The entire show is one big metaphor for a heavyweight prizefight. In one corner you have U.S Attorney Chuck "The Scholar" Rhodes, played by Paul Giamatti. He's the reigning world champion with a record of 80+ to 0. In the other corner is Bobby "Axe" Axelrod, played by Damian Lewis; he could also be considered undefeated. He runs a sexy brokerage firm. He's the people's champion because he gives very freely to notable charities and particularly to first responders because his wife's brother was a fireman killed at ground zero on 9/11. Both of these guys walk and talk like champs. There's a lot of trash-talk between them, but both have very lurid and potentially devastating skeletons in their perspective closets. And most of the first season plays out like the traditional preliminaries of the big fight. They are headed to an ultimate collision, and it's even-money who, if anyone, walks away with the belt.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 10th, 2016
“No rules, no ref. Just your wit and skill to keep you alive.”
Last year, Creed became a critical and audience favorite by reviving a beloved dormant franchise and re-casting its brawny original star in a supporting role as a mentor. I'm not going to pretend that 1989's Kickboxer (starring Jean-Claude Van Damme) is anywhere near as beloved — or as good — as Rocky. But Kickboxer: Vengeance, a reboot/remake of Van Damme's campy action favorite, hits some of the same notes as Creed...except for the part where it's a critical and audience favorite.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 4th, 2016
"This train don't stop." That's what we're told in an Elton John ballad. But it doesn't matter if it's that Midnight Train to Georgia or a freight train, you can bet the farm that it's going to run out of track. That's for sure, and you can expect more than a little crying over it all. The saddest news, however, is the show's final year. You really should not even think about joining the series from this point. I suspect it will still be quite entertaining, but for the full experience you do have to start from the beginning. The evolution of the Cullen character from Civil War veteran out for vengeance to the man who we see in the fifth season is a rather nice journey to witness. So saddle up for the first four. You can find the reviews for other seasons here.
We start with the second part of the final season. These are basically the last seven episodes of the show's run. It's a rather interesting place to start. I'd say this is the episode where things begin to be resolved. Cullen must race to protect his family from The Swede, who has been defeated and will lash out by killing his wife and son. This marks the final confrontation between the two enemies. It won't go where you think it is going, and it's a turning point in the Cullen character. We then turn to his final confrontation with Chang (Mann), so that within just a couple of episodes Cullen's enemies are no longer a problem.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 3rd, 2016
“You're no spring chicken anymore.”
It's been more than four years since Jackie Chan — the legendary Hong Kong superstar who has been kicking butt and scoring scoring laughs on screen since the 1970s — announced he was retiring from action movies. Sure, Chan quickly backpedaled, but I don't know that anyone would've held it against the actor (who is now 62) if he'd stuck to his word. After decades of grueling injuries, Chan has noticeably slowed down. That being said, the old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve in Skiptrace.
