Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2018
The Matrix (1999) was a landmark film in the Sci-Fi genre. While its box office intake was dwarfed by Episode 1, it was The Matrix that had people talking. Andy and Larry Wachowski’s story of a post-apocalyptic world where humans serve as biological generators of energy for the machines that rule the planet challenged people’s perceptions of what reality was. Computer hacker extraordinaire Neo (Reeves) has this gut feeling that life isn’t all that it seems to be. Turns out he’s right in a big way. A group of revolutionaries led by the thought-to-be-mythical Morpheus (Fishburne) open his eyes to the Matrix.
The Matrix, it turns out, is nothing more than an elaborate computer-generated reality intended to mollify humanity who are in reality nothing more than sheep, or in this case a renewable energy source, to feed the machines that have inherited the Earth. Morpheus believes Neo is “The One”, a prophesized savior who can bend the Matrix to his own will, who will eventually lead humanity out of slavery. What follows is enough eye candy to give an army of Swiss chocolate factory workers diabetes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 31st, 2018
So the director had my undivided attention until he went completely sideways. I mean, I was engaged; I was feeling the message behind the film. I found the characters to be original, and the things that they had to say were unlike anything I had seen in recent years. Not to mention that opening scene was the perfect way to bring the audience into this world; and then it all came crashing down. Despite this disappointment, Sorry to Bother You remains among one of the most creative cinematic experiences that I had this year. I wanted very much to love the film, but sadly I can’t say that. I liked it a lot, especially the first half. It is the kind of film that was likely the gem of the film festival circuit. The number one slot at the box office will be out of reach for it, though.
The movie is centered around Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield, Straight Outta Compton), a directionless young man who has yet to find something that matters to him. He lives in his uncle’s garage, and he is struggling to find work. Needless to say, he does not have a lot of hope, with the exception of his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson, Creed), a talented artist and revolutionary who brings sunshine into our lead’s otherwise dreary world. Eventually he finds work as a telemarketer, but he has trouble keeping his customers on the line. You all should understand; what is your number-one response when someone tries to sell you something? It is only when he receives a tip from a coworker to use his “white voice” that things begin to turn around for him. Suddenly, he begins to rack up sells left and right, causing him to quickly rise through the hierarchy of the company.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 30th, 2018
Apollo 18 at one time was meant to be one of several missions NASA had set up that would take astronauts back to the moon. Due to the fallout from the incident involving Apollo 13 and budget cuts, all the missions were scrapped and focus shifted to the shuttle program. Conspiracy theories have seemed to always swirl around the Apollo missions, the more famous being about whether or not man ever reached the lunar surface and whether everything we saw about the moon landing was really filmed on a Hollywood soundstage. The Landing takes things a step further as a faux-documentary about an Apollo 18 launch that resulted in one of NASA’s greatest disasters (that never happened).
The films focus is on Bo Cunningham (Don Hannah), who was the pilot for the Apollo 18 mission. A lot of effort is put into having us believe that he was part of this old shuttle mission, as we are shown numerous old photos of a young Cunningham in NASA clothing and interviews with those that were part of the NASA program. All this is nicely done to set up for the disaster where there was a mishap during reentry and Cunningham was forced to crash-land in the desert of western China. Where the conspiracy aspect comes into play is, did Bo cause their mishap on purpose?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 29th, 2018
Get Shorty was one of my fondest cinema experiences. I was twenty years old, in college, and had just met a lifelong friend named Robert. He took a bunch of us to a place where you could actually eat a meal, have a drink, and watch a movie at the same time. Back in 1995, that was a big deal; now, of course, we take that experience completely for granted, with such places as Alamo Drafthouse. Anyway, the truth was that most everybody except me wasn't really interested in the movie. Of course, being the cinephile I am, I absorbed every moment, and it became one of my favorite pictures. It's only fitting that I finally get to do a disc review about this amazing movie.
We start off the movie in Miami, Chili Palmer (played by John Travolta) and Tommy Carlo (played by Martin Ferrero) are talking about an old theater on Biscayne that they should buy. Ray "Bones" Barboni (played by Dennis Farina), also a gangster, comes up and makes a couple of horrible jokes at Chili's expense and then leaves. Soon, Chili and Tommy leave the diner, but not before Chili has to retrieve his coat.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 25th, 2018
"You are about to witness the strength of snake knowledge."
That's me. In addition to being the senior writer here at Upcomingdiscs, I also have been a snake breeder for an even longer period of crimes. So, when a box arrived from our friends at Lionsgate with a rubber snake, a couple of syringe pens, and a movie called Snake Outta Compton, I knew this was one I was going to tackle. The snake in the box was rubber and caused no fright here. The syringe pens on the other hand... Let's not talk about those. Snake Outta Compton attempts to bring the world of Snakes On A Plane to Straight Outta Compton. It's a giant cold-blooded snake vs. some cold-blooded rapper wannabes. The result is a modern schlock-fest that looks like it escaped directly from the SyFy Network. This one is not for the weak. By that I mean the folks who walk out of bad movies. You might not even let your DVD player get warm.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 25th, 2018
“I don’t know how to sing about love when I’m not feeling it.”
I have a surprising confession to make: I’m a huge movie musical nerd (that’s not the surprising part), but I thought the first Mamma Mia movie was absolutely terrible. Obviously, I was in the minority: the 2008 ABBA jukebox musical grossed more than $600 million worldwide. So the second least surprising thing about the perfectly-named sequel, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, is that it took 10 years to get the band back together. The first most surprising thing is that I actually thought this movie was...kinda good.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 25th, 2018
"My father told me about these men, about their natures. All I knew were the stories I was told of monsters and the valiant men sworn to slay them. I fear the stories I've heard may have been clouded, the truth more than clouded. It would seem these monsters are men, sons, brothers, fathers. And it would seem these men face their own monsters..."
Move over, Captain Jack Sparrow. There are some tougher pirates on the block, and they sail into our living rooms from Lionsgate on Blu-ray in Starz’ Black Sails. The high seas adventure series combines historical people and places with the fictional characters of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island. I am a little disturbed that Stevenson gets no mention in the credits for having created many of these characters. What's up with that, Starz? Likely the material is in public domain, but credit where credit's due, yes? They certainly acknowledge him in the extras.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on October 24th, 2018
“Why make things simple when they can be painful and difficult?”
The current TV landscape is overflowing with “limited series” and anthologies that reboot themselves each year with new characters and storylines. The Affair, which premiered in 2014, seemed ready-made for that formula: each season could’ve followed different adulterous encounters in a wide variety of settings. Instead, the perspective-shifting Showtime drama has followed the same group of sad sacks through multiple years as they deal with the fallout of a single Long Island dalliance. The good news is this fourth season serves as both a soft reboot for the series and a swan song for a couple of major characters.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 23rd, 2018
It seems there isn’t an action film Bruce Willis can say no to. It feels as though every couple of months there is an action film that has an appearance from Willis, and frankly it’s a little disappointing. He’s a guy who can bring in the major box office dollars, but it seems more and more of the action stars are settling for the direct-to-video route for the simple paycheck and moving on to the next. With the number of films being churned out for the cinemas, DVD and Blu-ray, and the streaming services, it seems the film industry is simply becoming a business of quantity rather than quality due to the amount of demand needed. Reprisal is the latest example of this demand for quantity rather than quality as we get a pedestrian action film that plays by the numbers and will be forgotten by the year’s end, and that’s a shame considering its two leads.
Frank Grillo takes the lead as Jacob, a bank manager who is living the ideal life with a wife and daughter, until his bank falls victim to a calculating bank robber. Jacob is traumatized by the event that left a security guard dead and no suspects to be held responsible for the crime. This is where his neighbor, James (Bruce Willis) steps in to lend some comforting support and eventually is a sounding board for Jacob to work out how the robber pulled off this violent heist. It works out that James used to be an ex-cop, but for some of the logic this film uses, it wouldn’t have mattered if James was a celebrity chef; these guys play by their own set of rules.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 22nd, 2018
“You came out here city slickers, you’re gonna go home cowboys.”
I still remember pretty clearly my dad suggesting we go check out a matinee of City Slickers. I was visiting him in New York City during the summer of 1991, and my 8-year-old self had no idea what a “city slicker” (or even what a Billy Crystal) was. That being said, I was completely delighted by the movie and have re-watched it many times throughout the years. (The calf birthing scene, in particular, stuck to my innocent, 8-year-old brain.) I recently got a chance to revisit the crowd-pleasing, cowboys-and-yuppies comedy once again thanks to this new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory.
