collectorz.com.jpg

DVD

Seire

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on September 11th, 2023

Buy at Amazon.com

Korean horror has picked up in the last twenty years tenfold. From films like Bedevilled and Thirst, they took on the revenge and vampire themes that a lot of classic horror films are built upon. But honestly, I’ve been most impressed with films like The Wailing and Train to Busan. The latter bred new life into the very tired zombie genre and made a darn watchable film, while The Wailing knew exactly what buttons to push when it comes to religion but then used that to make an interesting and thought-provoking film. That’s why when I saw that we had a copy of Seire, I knew I had to review it, even though I probably would be too scared to write about it for a few days. I’m so glad I did.

The King of Laughter

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on May 24th, 2023

Buy at Amazon.com

I think all of us want to be on stage, at least in theory. For me, it started with some plays in high school. But from there, those aspirations were cut short due to my father telling me that I needed a real job (which was his favorite thing to tell me in high school and college). I don’t think the decade I spent in karaoke bars (and actually singing) really counts for anything either. So I’ve always been fascinated with theater, particularly when it comes to comedy. When I saw King of Laughter as a possible review title, I took a peek at the trailer and decided to give it a shot. After all, what’s not to like about a story featuring the famous actor/playwright Eduardo Scarpetta in a battle with the courts over the concept of parody? Let’s take a look.

Hinterland

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on May 10th, 2023

Buy at Amazon.com

One of my favorite movies of all time is Se7en. Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, and Kevin Spacey star in this amazing film about a senior and rookie pair of cops on the hunt for a serial killer who is murdering victims depicting the seven deadly sins. It’s so breathtaking, and so long overdue for a 4K release, it’s ridiculous. It has also led me when I receive packages to blurt out, “What’s in the box?” in the deadpan tone that Brad Pitt uses in the movie. So naturally, whenever I hear of a film that draws comparisons to this fine film, my head certainly does a double take. Enter Hinterland. In this film, Peter Perg who just came home after World War I, is searching for a serial killer who is taking out former soldiers in a very ritualistic pattern. Let’s check it out.

Chess Story

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on May 8th, 2023

Buy at Amazon.com

Films about World War II and Nazism are hard for me to watch. No matter how well-intentioned they may be, I can barely make it through Schindler’s List or Dunkirk or even something like Inglorious Bastards (I do, however, find The Producers to be hilarious). Most of the time, it hits a little too close to home. For you see, my Polish grandfather (may he rest in peace), his parents were taken away to a concentration camp. So anytime I watch a film set in that time period, I think, well, what if he had been taken away. It’s not like those horrible people showed any sort of restraint on children, and then where would my grandfather be? Or my mother? Or myself? Anyway, I got lured into Chess Story by the promise of a thriller with the game of chess as the backdrop. Unfortunately, by the end I was reminded of the horror, but also that there is still great modern moviemaking even with Nazis. Let’s take a look.

Miracle

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on December 6th, 2022

Buy at Amazon.com

Hopefully, most of you have enjoyed my review of Unidentified, the first in a series of three films directed by Bogdan George Apetri set in a small town in Northern Romania. It is a nontraditional trilogy, as all three stories share the same universe but do not require the viewer to watch them together or in a certain order. Well, today I have received the second film in this series, entitled Miracle. Since they were filmed at the same time, one would hope that it is just as good and just as brilliant as the first film. Let’s take a look and see what it has to offer.

Unidentified

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on November 10th, 2022

Buy at Amazon.com

I certainly do not want to get political here, but cops as a rule have a certain extent of power that we as common folk typically do not enjoy. It is often a plot point in many thriller movies that we sit and watch the officer harasses suspects or perhaps uses some shady tactics in order to get their man (or woman). It’s common, heck it’s probably in film school 101 and some might even see it as a bit cliché. Today’s film is Unidentified, a Romanian film where a detective enters a very grey area in order to catch the perpetrator. It’s also the first film in a trilogy. Yes, you read that right but more on that later. Let’s take a look.

Krypto the Superdog: The Complete Series

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on October 25th, 2022

Buy at Amazon.com

As many of you are aware, DC League of Super Pets was recently in the theaters (technically it’s still in theaters, but at the end of its run) and drew an estimated $93 million with another $110 million worldwide for a total of over $200 million. Certainly a hit on most fronts, I unfortunately was stuck at work while my wife and seven-year-old decided to go to a showing. They both enjoyed it very much, and having caught it later on HBO MAX, I can certainly see the appeal. Little did I know, but about 15 years earlier, a short-lived cartoon series named Krypto the Superdog ran for 39 episodes (72 half episodes and three full length specials). To my amazement, the set showed up on my desk the other day in all of its complete series glory. My son was pleased.

Final Set

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on September 11th, 2022

Buy at Amazon.com

My fascination with tennis has come in spots throughout the early part of my life. In the 1980’s, I was fascinated by John McEnroe with his brilliant play and fiery emotion. In the 1990’s I was smitten with Jennifer Capriati, but also impressed by her tenacity at such a young age. I still remembering listening to the broadcast of Goran Ivanisevic finally winning at Wimbledon in the early 2000’s. And that’s where I stopped watching, really, still eager to see the amazing game play, but no longer finding the characters I so desperately wanted to look for. Today’s film is Final Set, which follows an aging tennis player who has one final shot at becoming the player he always learned to be.

Curiosa

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on September 10th, 2022

Buy at Amazon.com

A good erotic movie is actually harder than it sounds. Sure, you have to have skin, word play, arousal, and yes, that other kind of play. But the good erotic films like Basic Instinct, 9 1/2 Weeks, and Embrace of the Vampire (You thought I was going to say Fatal Attraction, didn’t you?) are very entertaining and have a story that draws you in to keep you there even when the spicy bits aren’t on the screen. Today’s erotic film is Curiosa, which certainly hits all of the skin elements, but does it have a story that I would want to watch again and again? Let’s check it out.

Caged Birds

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on August 13th, 2022

Buy at Amazon.com

Nelson Mandela once said, “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Most people, even in today’s society, think of prisoners as lower than the ground they walk upon. Prison abuse is as old as Greek and Roman times. Heck, true prison reform didn’t start in the United States until the 1960’s. But what about other countries? In Caged Birds, we explore the Switzerland of the 1980’s and how one lawyer named Barbara Hug tried to change that very system.

Jesus Kid

Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on August 8th, 2022

Buy at Amazon.com

Some of my favorite movies are ones where they use the “author” as the focal part of the story. Films like Secret Window, Misery, and The Ghost Writer are ones that immediately come to mind for me. However, Westerns tend to be somewhere down on the list of genres for me, and only ones like Tombstone or Unforgiven tend to spark any interest. So when I received Jesus Kid, which features a Brazilian author who likes to write Westerns, well, you can kinda understand my apprehension. However, my curiosity was also piqued at the same time for the very same set of reasons.

Bakugan: Battle Planet – Origin of Species (S1V1)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 26th, 2019

Buy at Amazon.com

Bakugan was originally a toy first envisioned by an inventor named Aldric Saucier, who thought he could fit a small action figure inside a marble. He then presented the idea to Spin Masters, who accepted it eagerly, as they were in search of a marble for the 21st century. Ultimately they sent the idea to Sega Toys in Japan, who came up with the concept to turn it into a game complete with cards and miniatures. From there it was only a matter of time before Bakugan became a cartoon show as well. Today, we are reviewing Bakugan: Battle Planet, the newest series to feature these bio-mechanical creations in their animated form.

Power Rangers: Chojin Sentai Jetman – The Complete Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 11th, 2018

Buy at Amazon.com

When you have done movie reviews for a very long time such as I have, you acquire knowledge about certain films and movies that in a normal life span one would probably never come across. One of those for me has been the Power Rangers series. I have reviewed several of the American adaptations for the site, and while they are not my cup of tea, I am familiar with how they work and operate. Last week, I received one of the Japanese original Super Sentai series, Chojin Sentai Jetman, and I was eager to check it out. Let’s see how this all unfolds.

Read More

Ben 10: Villain Time

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 14th, 2018

Buy at Amazon.com

New cartoon series these days are a hard watch for me. Gone are the days of classic shows like X-Men, Batman: The Animated Series and even newer favorites like Regular Show which ended about a year ago. Now we get shows where it seems like it is one cheap joke after another including Teen Titans Go and that show about some kid named Steven. So, I wasn’t too thrilled to get the newest incarnation of Ben 10 on my review desk a couple of weeks ago. That’s when I decided to employ the talents of my 2 year old son, Keaton and see if he can offer some insight.

Read More

Glory (2016)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 28th, 2017

Buy at Amazon.com

Honestly, looking back at my life I can’t say I really have acquired any heirlooms from my father. I do have a picture from when I was a young boy in a railroad hat with my dad holding me that I always keep in plain sight, but that’s very different from what most people know as a heirloom. I certainly don’t have a special watch (though I imagine I will inherit a grandfather clock when my father passes on), especially one with an inscription. However, if I did have one like Tzanko Petrov did in our movie, Glory, I certainly can imagine the emotional toll that would take on a man.

Read More

Fuller House: The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 19th, 2017

Buy at Amazon.com

Like most people my age (I’m not telling), I watched my fair share of Full House. I wished I could be as cool as John Stamos, be as funny as Dave Coulier and wished Bob Saget was my dad. Then I grew up and realized I wasn’t as cool as John Stamos, didn’t find Dave to be quite as hilarious (sorry Dave), and still wished Bob was my dad (Actually, even more so when I found out he was quite the dirty comic). Fast forward about twenty years and the Full House theme has been brought back into the present with some familiar faces and a few new ones. Let’s take a look at Season 2 of Fuller House.
Read More

Unforgettable – The Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 25th, 2014

Buy at Amazon.com

Detective Carrie Wells (played by Poppy Montgomery) and her former boyfriend/current crime fighting partner Al Burns (played by Dylan Walsh) have been noticed because of their uncanny crime solving percentage in the upper 90% (a fairly common thing in TV crime shows, but nearly unheard of in the real world) and get promoted to the NYPD’s Major Crimes unit. With this move, and the fact that this program bounced in and out of cancellation quagmire between the first and second season
Read More

Californication – Season Six

Posted in No Huddle by William O'Donnell on April 1st, 2014

Buy at Amazon.com

Six seasons (and several fictional years) in and Hank Moody (David Duchovny) is still drinking, snorting, womanizing and procrastinating from doing anything productive with his writing. Hank is still riding on the success of his first book and the subsequent money he received after it was adapted into a motion picture. Hank seems like the type of character who is incapable of any personal growth (aside from around his trousers…which is just the kind of joke he’d try to make) but with his daughter wanting to live abroad, which threatens his chances at reuniting with his on-and-off girlfriend, perhaps this season he’ll mature.
Read More

Flashpoint: The Final Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 16th, 2014

Buy at Amazon.com

It is true what they say, every time you think you are done, you get pulled back in. I had been working on cleaning up my house and trying by any means necessary to get it on the market (42 gallon trash bags are your friend). But the big boss of Upcomingdiscs.com asked if I would like to review the final season of Flashpoint. I looked at my movie spinner and saw nestled between the Flash (the short lived TV series) and Freakazoid Season 1(okay, I’m odd, I get it), the first 5 volumes of Flashpoint. At that point, it was pretty much a done deal.
Read More

Bubble Guppies/Team Umizoomi: Into the Snow We Go!

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 21st, 2013

Buy at Amazon.com

Nickelodeon has released a Holiday compilation DVD before(http://upcomingdiscs.com/2011/11/15/nickelodeon-favorites-merry-christmas/) which makes this particular release a sort of sequel to that. This time around only two shows are featured, and there is half the episodes featured than in the previous release.
Read More

Gentle Ben – Season One

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 16th, 2013

Buy at Amazon.com

In the Florida everglades, the Wedloe family have a 650-pound tame bear for a loyal pet. A very young Clint Howard stars as Mark, the son of a game warden (played by Dennis Weaver),who leads Ben around on several adventures and merry mishaps. Though “merry” may be the wrong word as Mark and Ben encounter their fair share of real life dangers.
Read More

Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 13th, 2013

Buy at Amazon.com

Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol is vastly re-imagined with characters from Dora. Swiper replaces Scrooge as the one who travels through time in order to learn the true meaning of Christmas. This special is twice the length of a normal episode.
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” Kindred: The Embraced – The Complete Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on October 30th, 2013

Buy at Amazon.com

There are five clans of Vampires that are secretly living amongst humans. Said secret is maintained by a code of conduct called the “Masquerade” which states that vampires can never reveal themselves to a human; nor can they “embrace” (bite and convert) a human without approval from the highest council. Defying this means that your lengthy life is forfeit. A detective discovers the truth about the Masquerade when his girlfriend loses her life after defying these very rules, and he sets out to reveal the entire realm of vampires in San Francisco.
Read More

Awkward – Seasons 1 & 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on October 12th, 2013

Buy at Amazon.com

Jenna Hamiton (played by Ashley Rickards) is looking to make a great impression in high school but things get off to a dreadful start. After breaking her arm in a bathroom accident (sounds less gross than it is), rumors spread throughout her new school that she attempted to commit suicide. She has plenty of attention but not the sort she wanted. Now her quest is to take the misunderstanding and turn into an opportunity to shine. Cris-attunity! (as Simpsons fans would say).
Read More

Beauty & the Beast – The First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on October 12th, 2013

Buy at Amazon.com

A New York city homicide detective is haunted by the night where her mother was murdered by two gunmen, who themselves were killed by a mysterious being. A decade after that night she finds out that the mysterious being is still around. As this “Beauty” and her “Beast” finally meet, they start investigating the truth behind their secret ties to each other.
Read More

1 2 3 4 5 >»