Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 27th, 2009
Superman: The Animated Series was made in the same fashion as Batman: The Animated Series. The tone was a little more serious and a lot more action. It was first produced in 1996 and made 54 episodes through the year 2000. The show received high praise for raising the bar but at the same time keeping what was important to the mythos of Superman. In fact, it even received a nomination for an Emmy. Besides Smallville, this probably stands out as the best television adaption of the one known as Superman, the Last Son of Krypton and hero to the planet Earth (and beyond).
Most of us know the story of Superman, but perhaps it is best that we run it over a little bit adapted to the actual animated series. Krypton is approaching devastation but only one scientist believes it to be true, Jor-El. He feeds his information to a computer named Brainiac who is in charge of the planet and all of its major operations. The computer analyzes the information and says the planet is safe. Jor-El knows the computer is lying and can't convince the others of the danger.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 22nd, 2009
Enzo Castellari, Tarantino fave and director of the original Inglorious Bastards, here gives us a tale of wartime intrigue that sweeps from the retreat of Dunkirk to the Battle of Britain. During the Dunkirk evacuation, a team of Nazi saboteurs don English uniforms and mingle with the embarking troops. Captain Paul Stevens (Frederick Stafford) finds evidence that this has occurred, but no clues to the identities of the saboteurs. Indeed, the second-in-command of the group, Martin (Francisco Rabal) has become his close friend and roommate. The saboteurs target Britain's radar system, a critical part of the island's defense against the Luftwaffe. It's up to Stevens and his specially assigned team to stop the saboteurs before the Battle of Britain is lost.
It's amusing, of course, to watch a film all about England's fate hanging in the balance with not a single English actor in the mix. But the story is a good one, and the action is relentless, ranging from the epic scale (the Dunkirk scenes are quite spectacular) to the more personal (plenty of exciting gunfights around the radar installations). The dogfights are a somewhat less satisfying combination of rather obvious models and stock footage, but Castellari's inventive use of split screen keeps the visual interest high.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 24th, 2009
In 1996, the Mighty Morphin moniker was retired from the Power Rangers. Ever since, they have changed their cast, name, & plot every year and have been running for seventeen seasons. The most current incarnation is called Power Rangers: RPM and is being currently broadcast on ABC. In fact, there a couple of new episodes that should air this Friday (9/26). So, let’s catch you up on some of the earlier episodes on this DVD.
Three years before this series got started, a computer virus with intelligence named Venjix took over all of the computers on the Earth. All communication has become useless and worse yet, Venjix has sent an army of droids to take over the planet. The last place for humanity is the city of Corinth. But the people are surrounded by the evil forces and a large force field. Only the RPM Power Rangers can save the day as they protect Corinth from being destroyed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2009
This was the final of Miramax 4 martial arts classics released as a collection or separately on Blu-ray. The collection featured some extraordinary action and top line star power for the most part. Zatoichi, for the most part, is the weakest of the four films. It is almost a solo effort by renowned Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano. He participated in writing the script. He is also the director, editor, and star of this rather off the wall martial arts film. The character of Zatoichi has appeared in many films and is as much a part of martial arts culture as Jackie Chan. Kitano does quite a superb job in portraying the blind swordsman, but it is in the other areas that he falls considerably short of the intended mark. Instead of reaching for the classic staples of the genre, he decides to take this tale in a far more fantastical direction. Swords blaze with such speed it’s impossible to really appreciate the skills, because you never actually see the sword. It’s out, slice and dice, and resheathed all in a blink of an eye. Rather impressive the first 20 times it occurs in the film, but before long it’s merely an old punch line that’s been repeated one too many times by a desperate comedian who doesn’t really have anything else. It’s sad, really. Because, Kitano does have something else to offer, and we certainly get glimpses of that. In the end, however, Kitano pushes the boundaries too often for me to take this film seriously at all.
The film is really a Western guised in the form of a martial arts film. The plot rings of Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter. When a blind masseur wonders into a village, he finds that it has been terrorized by a gang that extorts shop owners for protection and runs the local gambling and geisha houses. The blind drifter has startling skill with a sword he hides sheathed in his seeing eye cane. He has an uncanny ability to hear enough from his environment to counter any blow raised toward him and cut up his opponent quickly and quite efficiently. He meets up with Genosuke (Asano) who supplies the comic relief here. Genosuke is a degenerate gambler who can’t seem to catch a break in the local dice parlor. But he is impressed with the uncanny ability the masseur has of hearing the correct lay of the dice. The two of them clean up at the game. Deciding to spend some of their winnings at the geisha house, the pair meet two geisha girls who are actually more than meets the eye. They are the sole surviving children of a family slaughtered by the mob kingpin running the local gang. Together they plot to discover the identity of the boss and rid the village of the gang forever. The gang has employed the services of a very skilled samurai to enforce their will on the people. It doesn’t take much time to figure out that all of this is leading to a wild west style showdown between the samurai and the masseur.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 21st, 2009
Some of you might remember my review of the first two volumes of X-Men, the Animated Series. After the first thirty plus episodes, I secretly hoped that I would be able to bring you reviews of the rest of the series. Luckily, I was blessed enough to make this a reality when I received volume 3 & 4 at my door just before my fall vacation. How sweet it is.
When we last left the X-Men at the close of the original Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey in the form of the Phoenix had defeated D’Ken and saved the universe from the power of the M’Kraan crystal. In such, the crystal (with D’Ken trapped inside) had to be taken far away and flown directly into the sun. Phoenix accepts this mission and the mind of Jean Grey says goodbye to her fellow X-Men.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2009
Only two social classes existed in the tiny town of Chekian, China, circa 1858: the peasant citizenry, and those who lived in the Governor’s palace. Lawlessness was the order of the day; the streets of Chekian crawled with scum and villainy of every degree, from pickpockets to kidnappers to roving gangs of thugs and extortionists. The worst of all was none other than Governor Cheng himself, the greedy and corrupt ruler of the town (James Wong). The governor’s latest profitable but nefarious practice: to hoard the town food supply and gouge the poor and starving for every sliver of their meager livings. Fortunately for these peasants, they have one advocate with the smarts and the guts to stand up for them: the mysterious Iron Monkey (Ronggaung Yu). To the Governor, he’s a masked rogue fit to be tortured when caught, but to the people he’s a saint clad in black, the Chinese Robin Hood or Zorro, a swashbuckling super ninja who employs his skills mainly in pilfering gold from the governor’s house, oftentimes from right under his nose.
The governor doesn’t just hate Iron Monkey, he’s absolutely terrified of him (as demonstrated in typical over-the-top, grindhouse kung-fu style histrionics). He’s gone to all sorts of measures in an effort to capture this righteous and elusive bandit, from doubling his private security staff, to setting elaborate traps, to hiring powerful but corrupt Shaolin monks. Try as he might, nothing works, and the Iron Monkey always escapes with his prize. Come hell or high water, Cheng is going to stop Iron Monkey once and for all. His underhanded technique uses the son of a Shaolin monk to get the father to promise to bring down the Monkey.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 17th, 2009
“People give up their lives for many reasons. For friendship. For love. For an ideal. And people kill for the same reasons. Before China was one great country, it was divided into 7 warring states. In the Kingdom of Qin was a ruthless ruler. He had a vision to unite the land, to put and end once and for all to war. It was an idea soaked in the blood of his enemies.”
I have to say that Hero has to be one of the most beautifully shot films I might have ever seen. This is the first time I’ve watched a martial arts film and embraced it as a total high definition experience. The film contains many incredible fighting scenes that are brilliantly choreographed and brutal in nature. But it all takes a back seat to the incredibly breathtaking cinematography coupled with seamless and fantastical CG enhancements. The film is stylish in the extreme, and it might be easy for the story or characters to get lost in this marvelous imagery. They don’t. Fighting scenes might move from black and white to blazing color. Back and forth with incredible rapidity. Yet everything is intensely clear and is never jarring. There is a distinctive Sergio Leone influence from the music to the angles. Too often films use a frenetic pace to hide a multitude of visual sins and hope it’s accepted as brilliant artistic flair. Here you’re invited to savor each moment. The filmmakers dare you to pick apart the imagery or the fighting stunts. You’re encouraged to linger and take it all in. All of the fighting from huge battles to intimate hand to hand takes place in the most exotic and unreal of settings. The film is a study in contrasts at almost every turn. Bloody battle takes place amid stunning beauty. It’s all a rather provocative yet effective blend of traditional Asian cinematography and modern filmmaking. It’s not the kind of film you see. It’s the kind of work of art you experience.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2009
“A hero lives but a few seconds. Ma master holds on to his life. It is more important to forgive than to fight.”
But they don’t know Jackie Chan. When Popeye gets into a jam, he rolls out a can of spinach and down the hatch it goes. Next thing you know that old sailor pipsqueak is kicking butt and taking names. When Jackie’s Wong Fei-hung gets into a jam, he looks for a bottle of sake or maybe a 5th of Jack Daniels. When Jackie drinks, his enemies get the hangover. That’s the art of drunken boxing. The idea is that the alcohol loosens up your body and allows you to fight because you are limber and flexible.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 13th, 2009
An insubordinate officer (Bo Svenson), an African-American who Has Been Pushed Too Far (Fred Williamson), a thief, a gambler, and a coward are among the prisoners loaded up onto an Allied convoy in 1944. When the trucks come under attack from the Germans, the prisoners escape, and decide to make their way to Switzerland. But their journey is a complicated one, with another firefight around every corner, culminating in a particularly violent case of mistaken identity, which results in their volunteering to tackle a suicidal train-jacking.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 28th, 2009
The Green Lantern character has always been one of my favorite DC comic book heroes, right after the likes of Batman and the Flash. As far as Earth-born GL’s, Hal Jordan has always been first in my heart and even though the John Stewart was shown predominantly in the cartoon series: Justice League Unlimited, it was hard wrapping my head around him as the Green Lantern. I was excited to see that due to recent success with other characters, the people at DC decided to release a direct to disc release for the Green Lantern sub-titled: First Flight.
Hal Jordan is a test pilot for the military. He’s testing one of the newest planes when suddenly his ship is enveloped in a green energy beam to a crash site. There he finds a dying Abin Sur, the current Green Lantern of sector 2814. Before he dies, he bequeaths his ring to Hal Jordan, proclaiming him the new Green Lantern. Moments later after the passing of Abin Sur, several current members of the Green Lantern corps arrive and take Hal Jordan to the headquarters where the Lanterns and Guardians of the Universe meet.
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