Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 24th, 2013
"There's nothing like good wine and friends. Or cheap wine and relatives."
No one is going to get you closer to Mama for the holidays than Time-Life and Star Vista. It's the moment that fans have waited for over 20 years to arrive. The complete series of Mama's Family is finally out on DVD, and that means there's a lot to talk about. No one is trying to say that Mama's Family was the best sit-com to hit television. I'm not even sure I'd put it in the top ten. But it's the little show that could and survived six years on television and even longer in reruns. Few shows have beaten the odds this many times and come out on top. Mama's Family did just that, and here's how it happened.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 24th, 2013
The Furious 5 are back in the new collection of episodes from the Nickelodeon hit show, inspired by the film Kung Fu Panda. It wasn’t too long ago that I reviewed the first batch of episodes in the collection Good Croc, Bad Croc, and I had a good time with that set. Now with the new collection, would it fare as well as the first, or will it blow my mind with its kung fu awesomeness? Well, why waste any more time, and get right to it. For those unfamiliar with the show or movies, that is fine, because the opening credit music does a good job catching you up to speed telling Po’s story from working at his father’s restaurant to becoming the great dragon warrior and defender of the village. In the feature films, Po was voiced by Jack Black, but for the animated series Mick Wingert takes over the voice work duties, and he nails it.
In this DVD release we are given seven exciting episodes that the entire family can enjoy. The first episodes Scorpions Sting and Love Stings focus on the female villain Scorpion; though small, she makes up for it with her cunning ways and ability to create dangerous potions. Whether it’s Scorpion using her abilities to turn Monkey into a mind-controlled zombie or brainwashing Po’s father into falling in love with her, she always manages to have a trick up her pincher. Love Stings actually has one of my favorite moments in the set, where Po and Monkey practice in the new art of Dizzy Kung Fu; it’s silly and fun and seems to be a wink to Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 23rd, 2013
Hollywood (rightfully) gets a lot of flack these days for being creatively bankrupt. But you can’t throw a rock down Broadway without hitting the marquee for a musical that’s based on an existing film. It’s not exactly a new phenomenon — and it doesn’t always work — but some of the most successful and beloved musicals feature stories you already know and fell in love with on the big screen. The trend seems to have really picked up at the turn of the century, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. So adapting a massive hit like Shrek for the stage must’ve been a no-brainer.
Then again, Shrek wasn’t your typical cartoon musical. The most notable "musical number" involved Smashmouth’s cover of “I’m a Believer” — remember when “Smashmouth” was a thing? — and the film, based on William Steig’s book, actually took some not-so-thinly-veiled shots at the Disney machine. Although I’ve enjoyed the various Shrek films on their superficially lighthearted terms, I’ve always had an irrational grudge against the first one after it beat out the infinitely-superior-in-every-way Monsters Inc. for the Best Animated Feature Oscar more than a decade ago. However, I’m a semiprofessional, so I put aside my bias when I sat down to review Shrek: The Musical, now out on Blu-ray.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 23rd, 2013
“Maybe this could be whatever happens on tour, stays on tour.”
Yeah, because that always ends so well; when are people going to learn that there’s no such thing as continuous casual-nobody-gets-hurt sex? Sooner or later (especially sooner), feelings develop on both sides, or on one side rather. In the case of one-sided feelings, Plush is the latest in films to show us what could possibly happen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 23rd, 2013
In the wake of Captain Phillips being released in theaters, another tale of a ship being held hostage by Somali pirates is released on Blu-Ray and DVD. This true story comes out of Denmark and has made a successful run through the festival circuit, but how does it fare up against the mighty Tom Hanks and his tense, nail-biting thriller? Well, to be fair, though the two films deal with the same subject matter, the execution is vastly different, but A Hijacking manages to deliver an equally stunning film filled with great performances and filmed in such a way we feel as though we are one of the hostages on the ship, or in the negotiation room where numbers are crunched to ensure survival of the crew but also preserve the company’s bottom line.
On board cargo ship,The Rozen, the ship and its crew is getting ready to head into Mumbai where the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbaek) is excited about returning home to his wife and daughter. Unfortunately those plans are indefinitely delayed once the ship is taken over by a group of pirates. In Denmark, the CEO of the shipping company, Peter (Soren Malling) is notified about the ship’s capture, and the motions quickly roll into place to return the ship and the crew safely.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2013
The Three Stooges might well be one of the most famous comedy teams in American entertainment history. What started as a Vaudeville act in the early 1920's would take theater audiences by surprise in the Depression years of the early 1930's in the famous shorts for Columbia Pictures. The shorts featured brothers Moe and Curly Howard with Moe's vaudeville partner Larry Fine. The shorts found them in all manner of situations from plumbers to Civil War soldiers. Moe was the domineering leader of the trio who ruled with an iron fist, usually slammed against Curly's head or Larry's jaw. The boys took slapstick rather literally, and before long their routines became part of the pop culture. The shorts appear violent even today. Moe wouldn't think twice about slamming a sledgehammer into Curly's head. The show's sound effects would become iconic as well.
In the 1960's and 1970's the Stooges found new fame when their shorts showed up on television. A brand new generation was introduced to the Stooges, who had gone through a few line-up changes over the years. When Curly became too ill to go on, brother Shemp joined the gang. Other incarnations included Joe Besser and finally Joe DeRita as Curly Joe. Moe and Larry remained for the entire run. It's these television airings that first introduced me to the boys.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 22nd, 2013
James Wan is simply a director who continues to impress me. Ever since Saw was released, I’ve been a fan of his visual style that he brings to every film. Let’s face it, Saw is pretty much the biggest horror franchise of the past decade, and it all started with a simple little indie film that took place mostly inside a dirty bathroom. When Death Sentence came out, I was floored by how well he managed to construct a Death Wish film for a new generation. The parking garage scene was just freaking awesome. Then along came Insidious, which was another massive smash for Wan. Sure, the movie had its creepy moments, but for me the final act just fell apart. Now Wan is set to release The Conjuring upon the masses; is it another smash hit like Saw and Insidious, or will this be destined to fall flat as Dead Silence did?
The Conjuring is based on a true story about famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who are staples of the paranormal investigation history and made famous for their “findings” with the Amityville investigation in Long Island. With ghost-hunting shows saturating the cable channels, it was inevitable that we would finally get a tale about the investigators who somewhat started it all. But this isn’t so much just about the Warrens, but instead about the most terrifying case of their lives.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 22nd, 2013
I can recall with perfectly clarity my first encounter with this television series: it was rainy day and I was extremely bored; my vast collection of DVDs held no appeal, and I was eager for something new. I was in Target, browsing for something to fit the bill, and I came across the first season on sale. At this point I had heard of the show, but the only thing I knew about it was that NPH (for those not in the know, N.P.H. are the initials of Neil Patrick Harris) was involved. Now what started as a way to alleviate a boring day has spawned to watching all 184 episodes (that count does not include the season currently airing) and still being just as captivated as I was with the series as when I watched the pilot.
When the series left off last season, Barney had become engaged to Quinn (his stripper girlfriend), Marshall and Lily are now parents of a little boy that they named after Marshall’s dad, Robin is dating someone; however, the news of Barney’s upcoming nuptials hits her hard though she does her best not to show it, and as for Ted, he has been reunited with Victoria, his girlfriend from the first season. She has just run away from her own wedding and made her way to Ted and proposed that the two run off into the sunset together. The final shot of the season showed the pair doing just that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 19th, 2013
So, it is the Upcomingdiscs.com 31 Nights of Terror and your favorite columnist, Mr. Michael "Hey, were you expecting John Ceballos?" Durr has stepped in for a review about some of his favorite subjects. Cheesy Horror flics and Alyssa Milano. Today's title is an absolute cult classic and that is the original 1995 Vampire thriller, Embrace of the Vampire. So strap yourself in, and prepare to watch something so beautiful that it brings a tear to this columnist's eyes. (Tissue please)
*Warning*, the following post may contain absolute chicanery. Any attempt to make sense of this review should probably require a trip to the local psychiatrist's office for an immediate appointment. While there, you might want to ask for my mind back. I seemed to have lost it on my way to the Badminton for Divorcees convention. Thank you for your cooperation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 18th, 2013
"46,000 people died here. Do you think it's haunted?"
It would have been so much better for me if I had seen the first season of American Horror Story. Of course, it isn't necessary. This has to be one of the most clever television ideas I've encountered. You don't have to have seen the first season because, while the actors are pretty much the same, they play completely different parts in a completely different story in the second season. This kind of television takes you back to the early days of sketch television and reparatory theater. The difference is that this stuff has an edge. It has an edge so sharp that you're very liable to hurt yourself if you're not very careful.
