Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 24th, 2012
It sounds like nothing new. Hard-boiled detective uses computers and other forms of technology to solve cases. It isn’t anything new, except the detective in question is Joe Mannix, and the series started in 1967. The computer that Mannix used took up an entire room and was queried using cardboard punch cards. This wasn’t science fiction. We’re not talking some newly discovered Irwin Allen series. Mannix didn’t go after aliens or robots. This was a down-to-earth gritty detective show. Mike Connors played the tough-as-nails detective. He was perfect for the part and blended into the role seamlessly for eight years.
The show was created by the team of Link and Levinson, who later gave us the detective in the rumpled raincoat, Columbo. It was groundbreaking in so many areas. While it might not be remembered today as one of the top detective shows, there can be no argument about the impact Mannix had on the genre. A decade later one of my favorite television detectives, Jim Rockford, would borrow rather heavily from Mannix. Like Rockford, Mannix was getting beat up a lot. They both had the same sense of style, wearing rather ugly sport jackets. Neither was afraid to bend the rules, or the law, when necessary. Again like Rockford, Mannix often falls for the wrong girl at the wrong time. Mannix was good with a gun and equally adept with his fists. The show received a ton of controversy from the start for the amount of violence it employed. Tame by today’s standards, Mannix was quite aggressive for its time. The joke was that the show’s producers mandated a fight or car chase every 15 minutes whether it was needed or not. I’m sure that wasn’t true, but nonetheless the show opened the floodgates for the detective shows that followed. In this first season, Mannix worked for the enigmatic detective agency, Intertect. They supplied him with the latest in modern technology and with his cases. His main company contact was Lou Wickersham, played by Joseph Campanella. Now Mannix is on his own and begins to resemble more and more these detectives that would eventually follow in his tire tracks.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 23rd, 2012
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table has always been an interesting subject for me to research and learn about. It is a story of chivalry, adventure, and fantasy. It has great characters and even though it is hard to pinpoint an actual person in history that this legend could be assigned to, nobody can neglect the impact it has had on English culture. The History Channel decided to give us a collection of specials on the subject entitled: King Arthur and Medieval Britain
There are five specials included in this 2 disc package. They are basically programs that aired on the History Channel or A&E from the last 15 years on the subject of either King Arthur or Britain during this time period. The time period they are discussing is primarily 5th-6th century A.D. and it spreads to roughly 12th century where a lot of this material was written down by various authors.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 23rd, 2012
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table has always been an interesting subject for me to research and learn about. It is a story of chivalry, adventure, and fantasy. It has great characters and even though it is hard to pinpoint an actual person in history that this legend could be assigned to, nobody can neglect the impact it has had on English culture. The History Channel decided to give us a collection of specials on the subject entitled: King Arthur and Medieval Britain
There are five specials included in this 2 disc package. They are basically programs that aired on the History Channel or A&E from the last 15 years on the subject of either King Arthur or Britain during this time period. The time period they are discussing is primarily 5th-6th century A.D. and it spreads to roughly 12th century where a lot of this material was written down by various authors.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 20th, 2012
The Paranormal Activity franchise steps back in time for this third entry, revealing how and why sisters Katie and Kristi come to suffer demonic assaults later in life. We are back in 1988. The blended family of mother Julie (Lauren Bittner), daughters Katie (Chloe Csengery) and Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown) and stepfather Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith) are settling in to life together when the first odd things start happening.
Wedding video producer Dennis is the first to suspect the outright paranormal, and sets up cameras upstairs and down to capture events. Ominously, little Kristi has an imaginary friend, Toby, who, in proper Captain Howdy style, reveals himself to be all too real. What is he saying to Kristi? What does he want of her? Answers are forthcoming, and they are not reassuring.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 20th, 2012
"As you know, in less than two hours liquor will be declared illegal by decree of the distinguished gentlemen of our nation's Congress. To those beautiful, ignorant bastards. Rest assured that, dry though the country may be, I am in the midst of concluding arrangements that will keep Atlantic City wet..."
Lately, you might have heard a lot of folks talking about getting home for a little Nucky. Well... it's not what you think. They're talking about Nucky Thompson, played by Steve Buscemi on HBO's latest gangland series, Boardwalk Empire.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 20th, 2012
"Goooood morning, Vietnam! Hey, this is not a test! This is rock and roll! Time to rock it from the Delta to the D.M.Z.!"
Since his early days on Mork and Mindy, Robin Williams has been in a lot of movies. Some of them are pretty good films. Others are even downright awful. He does have a habit of going over the top. Ask anyone you might meet for their favorite Robin Williams movie and the answers will most certainly differ. Still, two things are pretty certain.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2012
Written by Joe Gause
Where to begin? I guess I’ll tell you the plot (if you want to call it a plot). The Ghost. (Daniel Baldwin) is a crazy kidnapping murder, who loves young girls. But not hot girls; average, boring girls. (This isn’t my opinion, they state this in the film.) Trying to catch him are two detectives (enter the beyond bad acting). The female detective played by Jessie Metcalfe is something out of a made for TV movie, dressing like a hooker and acting like a middle school drama student. (My apologies if you read this, Jessie, but come on.) Other than Daniel Baldwin, don’t expect to recognize anyone in the cast.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2012
Written by Joe Gause
What can be said about Dead Poets Society that has not been said before? This is what I consider a landmark in filmmaking. Director Peter Weir demonstrated true vision in the film process to deliver what some call an epic cinematic achievement. Combine that with an all-star cast (though many of them were just starting their careers), and it’s a true work of genius.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2012
Written by Joe Gause
After watching this movie, it really makes me wonder how Hollywood is still allowed to make movies. Although funny in some points, all in all, it’s a very run-of-the-mill college movie. Basically, the story centers around Paul Tarson (Christopher Gorham), a college student who is unable to make decisions, especially when it comes to where he wants his life to go. He is given a chance to follow in his father’s (Ralph Williams) footsteps and be a college professor. As he ponders if this is the road he wants to follow, he ends up falling in love with a student (Arille Kebbel) and thus sparks a typical college love story with all the ups and downs (gee, I think I’ve seen this movie before a hundred times). Just when you thought it couldn’t have any more story lines, Paul decides the meaning of his life is to win a pub trivia contest with his two drinking buddies. So he blows his college professor interview, sleeps with his student girlfriend in the library, and enters the trivia contest.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2012
Frozen World is a four-part History Channel mini-series about the Ice Age. The History Channel tends to have a sensationalistic bent to a lot of its programming. That’s one way of saying that they like history to come alive. This series begins with the battle between Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal human cavemen 40,000 years ago in Clash of the Cavemen. It outlines the differences between these totally different kinds of humans. The Neanderthal is stronger. The Cro-Magnon is smarter. The scientists are just beginning to differentiate between the DNA’s of the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. We know little about them except they were more brutish and animal like. The Neanderthals had to travel at the time when the ice pushed them south into Germany. Leading scientists are interviewed on the many differences between the two types of humans that led to the eventual extinction of the Neanderthals.
The second installment is called Volcanic Winter. It deals with a massive volcanic explosion 75,000 years ago that shrouded the world in ash and smoke. It details the earth-changing climatic shift caused by the event. The volcano was called Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. This explosion was 3,000 times bigger than Mount Saint Helens. There has not been a volcano since that has ever been even a small fraction as massive. The closest was another Indonesian explosion in 1815 at Mount Tambora. It was called the year without a summer. Strangely, after the effects of the massive volcanic explosion 75,000 years ago subsided, then a 1,000-year ice age took hold. Once the climate change was established, it fed on itself. Some scientists suggest that the climatic shift was already happening naturally and this event just added a catalyst. Also worth noting is that there are many potential super volcanoes that potentially exists even today. The biggest potential threat is in Yellowstone National Park.
![Boardwalk Empire: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/boardwalk-empire-the-complete-firs-large.jpg)
![Good Morning, Vietnam (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/good-morning-vietnam-25th-anniver-large.jpg)
![Dead Poets Society [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dead-poets-society-blu-ray-large.jpg)
