Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 29th, 2008
My college life was usually spent doing two things. Okay, actually three things. One, studying (nearly unsuccessful) . Two, trying to get women to sleep with me (mostly unsuccessful). Three, playing Dungeons & Dragons. I owned a good dozen dice from a D3 to many assorted D20's. Want to scare a fellow gamer? As DM, roll for damage and bring out 5 D20's. Anyhow, around this time I also discovered D&D adventure books. I read primarily the works of R.A. Salvatore & Ed Greenwood (Drizzt & Elminster). So needles to say, I was a little intrigued when I saw a Dragonlance movie in my pile. The original book was published in 1984, a few years before I really got into D&D. But with dragons, elves & a mad mage; it was a surefire recipe for something wonderful.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 28th, 2008
Beowulf is one of the oldest written stories known. The story began as a heroic tale passed from generation to generation only by word of mouth. Naturally there’s no way to know how much the story changed during those years of oral tradition. The author of the piece is unknown, and it is likely several persons contributed to the work. By the 8th Century an epic poem was written that forms the story as it is remembered today.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 20th, 2008
Turok is a property that seems to come and go. In the 1950's, it was introduced to lure kids away from the television sets because it had dinosaurs and intriguing stories. It was later updated when it got inserted in the Valiant comic world and rose to sell nearly 2 million copies with its first issue for the universe. In more recent times, Turok has become a series of video games by Acclaim. So it was only natural that an animated dvd would also hit the mix. However, would the character be more representative of its roots or perhaps take on a more futuristic feel akin to the current property portrayed in the video game?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 9th, 2008
The Aristocats has the distinction of being the very last animated project that was greenlit by Walt Disney himself before his passing. The film reveals all of the classic elements that Walt believed a good animation project should contain. He went to the famous Sherman Brothers to provide sing-a-longable songs and utilized the best voice talents in the Disney arsenal. While the animation is not quite as good as some of the other films made during this animation golden age, it still met the high standard Walt Disney had already established.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Athena on February 8th, 2008
OK. Listen up. My name’s Athena and I’m a 12 year old Siberian Husky living in Florida. When I heard Gino say he needed a break and some down time, I decided to pitch in. It turns out that pulling a speaker from the shelf was not the kind of “break” he was talking about, and maybe not what he meant by “down” time either, now that I think about it. So, in between the “bad dogs” and those funny little words that come out whenever I get creative, I was able to figure out what he was really talking about.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2008
Here we are again with a semi-themed collection of SpongeBob cartoons (seven in all, for a brief 77 minute running time). Food is the recurring theme here, with the title episode seeing SpongeBob creating a Krabby Patty so perfect that he falls in love with it, and keeps it with him until Patty can be charitably described as “festering.” Collections like this don’t exactly have the same value as a complete season, but that doesn’t change the fact that the nautical nonsense at work here is, as ever, pretty damn funny.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 22nd, 2008
As expressed before, I have a certain fondness for Garfield. The larger than life orange tabby cat has been a staple of my comic strip reading diet for more than 20 years. I've watched Garfield & Friends, seen the longer animated specials, and even sat through the first of the full length movies (I couldn't stomach the nerve for the second one). So naturally, I was a little excited when I heard that Garfield would be a full CGI showing in a new dvd called Garfield Gets Real I just hoped it would be better than what I've heard about the Tale of Two Kitties
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 21st, 2007
Something strange happened to me this week. I had two particular films arrive that I was to review. Stardust and Underdog. I expected to love one of them and basically tolerate the other. If you’ve read my recent Stardust review, you already know which was which. I expected to love Stardust and ended up hating it. I expected just a lot of silly nonsense from Underdog, and that’s what I got, except I had a great time watching it. The film is far more entertaining even to adults than I ever could have imagined.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 30th, 2007
I love some Adult Swim. There are some real standouts shown that have fun plots, edgy animation, and a whole lot of outlandish humor. Venture Bros, Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force immediately come to mind. Heck, I've even gave smaller shows like The Boondocks and Metalocalypse a try and liked them on some level. So needless to say, I was interested when I received Squidbillies Volume 1. Twenty episodes staring a Georgia-based hick squid family. How bad could it be?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 26th, 2007
In 1988 the original Land Before Time animated feature enjoyed moderate success at the box office. This is the 12th direct to video sequel in what Universal describes as a billion dollar franchise. A lot has changed since the original film. None of the voice actors from the feature remain. The animation is really Saturday morning cartoon quality and has none of the detail work that Don Bluth gave to the first film. It seems these little gems have been coming out about once a year since around 1994.
