Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 14th, 2018
“Why are they doing this to us?”
Back in 2008, The Strangers stalked its way into theaters. The movie was an especially nasty bit of home invasion horror; its stunningly simple premise (three masked psychos terrorize doomed couple) and the random nature of its killings was both what the movie's fans admired about it and what left its detractors wanting more. Ten years later, The Strangers: Prey at Night hits a lot of the same notes while incorporating a self-aware tone about horror movies and some '80s-inspired flair. Call it The Strangers Things.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 13th, 2018
“A straight line…you just go, and you never…look…back.”
Well, I hope you’re ready to have everything you know about the Terminator franchise turned on its head. As a franchise known for his alternative timelines where the things we come to know are often turned around, my previous statement may sound like the usual bread and butter to you. However, I must say that I feel like the latest incarnation of the franchise, Terminator Genisys, has really outdone itself this time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 13th, 2018
“I am someone who wakes up in a different body every day.”
Every Day manages to be both clumsily straightforward and frustratingly vague about its fantastical premise. The movie centers on a mysterious traveling spirit known as “A,” which — as you can read above — inhabits a different body every day. Unfortunately, there's little-to-no exploration as to why or how A (conveniently) only inhabits the bodies of camera-friendly teens. The best thing about this premise is that it injects the otherwise tired and homogeneous teen romance genre with a new look. (Actually, it ends up being closer to 15 new looks.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2018
Eddie Murphy has a ton of films under his belt. If you’re like most folks, his antics have long ago become tired and worn out. Come with me now to a time when Murphy was young and full of energy. Trading Places was really only Murphy’s second film after 48 hours. In Trading Places, we get vintage Eddie Murphy. You can tell he was still hungry. Today he simply calls too many performances in. Dan Aykroyd was also at a turning point in his own career. It hadn’t been too long since he lost his longtime partner Jim Belushi to a drug overdose. He was just learning to stand on his own. Put these two guys together today, and there’s not much chance you’d get the solid gold that was possible in 1983.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2018
Remember when Eddie Murphy was funny? You know, before the fat suites and fart jokes. I guess many of you hadn’t even been born yet. Ronald Reagan was still president of these United States. CD’s were the latest thing. VHS was just catching on. The Rams were still in L.A., and it was the Cardinals that were playing in St. Louis. No one had ever heard about DVD, Blu-ray, 4K, MP3, or Wi-fi. It was 1988 and Eddie Murphy was staring in Coming To America. This is the second of 2 classic 80's Eddie Murphy films that Paramount is delivering on Blu-ray this week. They happen to be 2 of his best films in 40 years.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 11th, 2018
“Drugs are tested by the people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analyzed using techniques which are flawed by design, in such a way that they exaggerate the benefits of the treatments.” Forbes
This is the quote that opens up the film Altered Perception. It lets us know right out of the gate that we are about to watch a film that involves drug testing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 7th, 2018
“I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
The infamous line from the classic The Wizard of Oz is what kicks off this film, and this is simply as close as it gets to ever achieving the greatness of the original film. Over the years we have had several remakes and sequels to the story we love that takes us on a journey through the magical world of Oz, so when a steam-punk version of the material came along, it was something I got a little excited for. Unfortunately the version of the film we get this time around seems to be full of fun ideas but nothing that actually delivers to the screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 7th, 2018
Up until roughly 3 to 4 weeks ago, I had only heard of RWBY. I watched a lot of Red vs Blue, even owned their ten year blu-ray box set and their season 11-13 steelbook. I was fully aware that RWBY was a product of Rooster Teeth, I just had largely ignored it because what 42 year old guy watches an anime show with four teenage girls as the leads? Then the head honcho of this site told me we had this blu-ray set available for review. I thought about it a couple of minutes, and went for it. Then in the next 2-3 weeks leading up to the review, I proceeded to binge watch the entire run of RWBY from Amazon Prime, VUDU (Free Movies on Us) and even YouTube, the primary vehicle to watch the show on. In a word, I was hooked.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 6th, 2018
"Look at 'em. Every day people are buying more and more of them Amazon and Google thingies while we just sit here and lose our jobs. It ain't right. Automated personal assistants and self-driving trucks. Whatever happened to people jobs?"
Not sure machines will ever take over writing good television. With the release of season 21, the one-year experiment South Park had with the year-long story arc has come to an end. I think it's more than fair to say that the vehicle just doesn't work on a show that has always flipped off the idea of continuity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 6th, 2018
“We can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.”
Much has been made about the fact that Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time is the most expensive movie ever directed by a woman of color, carrying a reported $103-million price tag. The good news is the filmmaker has absolutely infused her own personality and perspective into this live-action Disney spectacle (no small feat, by the way). The bad news is that DuVernay has taken those considerable resources and made a wildly uneven movie that, at various points, somehow manages to look both way more expensive and way cheaper than its budget would suggest.
