Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on May 15th, 2014
As soon as you saw the title of this review or caught a glimpse of the DVD cover art to the right of this paragraph, chances are you either rolled your eyes or squealed with delight. In less than five years, One Direction has become a worldwide boy band behemoth. The group’s devoted fans call themselves “Directioners” and serve as a helpful reminder that “fan” is short for “fanatic.” This DVD is purportedly aimed at those same fans, but I imagine there’s not much here a true Directioner hasn’t already seen on Twitter or YouTube.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 14th, 2014
"I was cast into being in the winter of 1795 a living corpse with a soul, stitched, jolted, bludgeoned back to life by a madman. Horrified by his creation, he tried to destroy me..."
We all know the story told by the young teen wife of a poet: Mary Shelley. Told to entertain guests on a stormy night, it has become the stuff of legend. Brought to life by Colin Clive's mad scientist in the shape of Boris Karloff in the Universal Golden Age of horror, the monster has had a face. Since that time studios from Hammer to Paramount have left their own marks and scars on the creature that often mistakenly bears the name of his mythic creator. The name of Frankenstein.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 14th, 2014
With a title like The Zombinator you basically know the kind of B-movie spectacle you are getting into. Any notions of great special f/x or even a good script should be cast aside, and you simply have to tell yourself to sit back and enjoy the silliness that should follow. But what the title did was build up these crazy thoughts of a cyborg from the future to take out hordes of zombies. Well, this isn’t that movie. Even the cover art gives promise to this kind of cheesy film, but there are no cyborgs from the future; instead we get another run-of-the-mill film about a documentary film crew that stumbles into trouble.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on May 14th, 2014
by Alan Robinson
Poseidon Rex is a movie that, at the very least, should be able to be laughed at. It serves as traditional B-movie fare, littered with poor special effects, terrible acting, and clichés around every corner. Unfortunately, nothing screams of that “so bad it’s good” quality that we’ve come to expect from these kinds of monster movies. Poseidon Rex follows an average couple, Rod and Jane, during their vacation on a small tropical island.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 14th, 2014
With a new Transformers film on the horizon, it is no surprise that the animated series finds its way on DVD. Shout Factory releases the entire series of Transformers: Energon in a 7-disc set with 51 episodes that amount to over 18 hours of Transformer fighting goodness. Over the years there have been numerous incarnations of the hit animated series; just how well does this series fare? Honestly it surprised me how much fun this series turned out to be, and it left me wishing that Michael Bay had drawn some inspiration from this series.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 13th, 2014
It's hard to review a series starting from the fourth season, which is exactly what I had to do when Rookie Blue arrived for review recently. In the early days of television, it wouldn't have been a problem. Most shows, cop shows in particular, had a full story with each episode and a continuity that didn't require you to see any episodes in any particular order. This was a must if a show were to find an afterlife in syndication where show orders were largely disregarded.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on May 13th, 2014
by Alan Robinson
Made-for-TV movies are rarely remarkable works. Usually, they are poorly-written science-fiction films with laughable special effects, or some sort of dramatic “based on a true story” event. Survival Code, however, is one of those films that comes along every so often that truly has potential to become something bigger. And perhaps that’s where the film’s greatest weakness lies; it never really lives up to that potential.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 13th, 2014
“Whoever tells the best story wins.”
This bit of lawyerly wisdom is given by John Quincy Adams in Amistad, Steven Spielberg’s account of a real-life 19th century slave revolt. President Adams is offering advice on how to mount the most effective case on the slaves’ behalf, but his words ring true well beyond the courtroom. Spielberg has been telling some of the best stories since the 1970s. Amistad may not be top-tier Spielberg, but the film — making its Blu-ray debut — is an absorbing historical drama in its own right.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 13th, 2014
Her is someone you could fall in love with. Her is full of wonderful qualities. Her is elusive and unattainable as well as enticing and satisfying. Her is the awkward title of the new Spike Jonze film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson (though not all of her), Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde and Chris Pratt. It does not star Samantha Morton, Carey Mulligan or Chris Cooper. It might have, but the project evolved so much that they dropped by the wayside. It grew out of the third collaboration between Jonze and Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) but Charlie Kaufman also dropped out, and this became a written-by-Spike Jonze project.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 12th, 2014
“You are not to leave this building. America is closed.”
That's certainly a far cry from “give me your tired, your poor...your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It's also the predicament faced by Viktor Navorski, an accidental refugee who falls through a proverbial crack in the system and winds up trapped at JFK International Airport. The harsh, sobering command comes early on in The Terminal, a large-scale, feel-good parable. Even 10 years ago, a tonally-tricky studio movie like this one could only find its way to multiplexes if someone with the clout of a Steven Spielberg or Tom Hanks decided to make it.
