Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on February 25th, 2012
“At this very moment, I have no desire to stab you in the neck.”
Between Weeds and Nurse Jackie, Showtime has the corner on shows about drugged up, ethically challenged women. The great Edie Falco somehow keeps Nurse Jackie relatable even though she is an unrepentant drug addict, thief and manipulative narcissist. It doesn’t hurt being surrounded by such a smart supporting cast and given lines that crackle with poignancy and humor.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 21st, 2012
I completely understand if you bailed out on Weeds a long time ago. The fact is the current show bears little resemblance to the subversive, suburban sitcom that became one of Showtime's first comedy smashes. That's partly because the tone of the show took a dark turn into Mexican cartels and human trafficking after the end of season 3. Even worse, the once-fresh characters had become, at best, reliably annoying — think Kevin Nealon's Doug Wilson — or, at worst, completely unlikable (like Mary Louise Parker's Nancy Botwin, the leader in the clubhouse for the title of TV's Worst Mom.)
But here's why I'm actually ok with the way Weeds has played out (besides my immense crush on Mary Louise Parker): what else were creator Jenji Kohan and her team supposed to do? If season 7 rolled around, and Nancy was still dealing pot in Agrestic, the show would get crushed for never evolving. In fact, given Nancy's relentless ambition and reckless behavior, I think the show has progressed in a semi-realistic way. Well, except for the part where she always gets out of impossible jams.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 15th, 2012
Mexico's most powerful crime lord, Julian Perez, wishes to redeem himself in his mother's eyes. Her wish is for him to find his estranged younger brother and return him home to Mexico. Julian agrees before knowing that his brother has been taken hostage while he was serving with the US Army in Iraq. A misfit team of mercenary types are assembled to infiltrate Iraq and fulfill Julian's vow to his mother.
The characters in this film all look like caricatures of 1970s cop movie characters merged with hipster cowboys. Obviously a team of warriors that look this unusual could only exist in a comedy. And indeed, this film is billed as an action-packed comedy. Though I fear that much of the more subtle humour is lost in translation for me as I found most of gags existed in the aforementioned costuming of the characters. Then again, not all was lost on me. Some of the gags, both physical and verbal, were effective. In fact, I am particularly partial to the reoccurring joke about their chosen war cry of “Tomatoes!”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Bob Ross on February 10th, 2012
This April will mark 35 years since Woody Allen emerged as a world-class comic filmmaker. Although Annie Hall was his seventh feature (if you include the voice-over spy-spoof What’s Up, Tiger Lily?, which you certainly should), and although Allen already had a sizable group of admirers (including this longtime fan), his 1977 mainstream smash gave him commercial clout and a little something called the Best Picture Academy Award.
What kind of movie wins major awards, earns big box-office, and puts its writer-director-star in position to make a feature a year for the next 35 years? Here’s the catch: You can’t cram this gem into one easy category. Sure, it’s essentially a romantic comedy, and you can call it that without getting huge arguments. But the story of neurotic, selfish comedian Alvy Singer (Allen, of course) and his up-and-down affair with equally neurotic, selfish Midwesterner Annie Hall (Diane Keaton in a bravura, signature performance), is much more than your basic boy-girl three-act love story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 8th, 2012
First was the play, then came the film, and now we're 140 episodes deep in Meet The Browns sitcom. Like a lot of Tyler Perry projects, the family dynamic can be a bit bamboozling at times. So...it's an elderly man living with his daughter and his niece and her husband and their adopted kids, with regular appearances by his neighbour who is also Aunt to...oh heck, let's just get on with the review...
My mind immediately wanted to draw comparisons between this and another Tyler Perry sitcom, House of Payne (a volume of which I have panned on this very site: https://upcomingdiscs.com/2011/07/23/house-of-payne-volume-8/). To my relief, this show is nowhere near as stereotype ridden nor aggravating as “Payne.” That being said, this is, by no means, a great comedy. The stories are rehashed (the season opener even uses the heavily treaded Flintstones gimmick of having someone become a new man after being bashed on the head), the character dynamics confusing (one of the adopted children looks nothing like his “family” and is interacted with so little at times that I thought his character might have been a ghost living in the house), and the laughter often only comes when they resort to some sort of slapstick when a punchline couldn't be conjured up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 30th, 2012
Jack Lemmon is a rather meek insurance company employee who is slowly working his way up the corporate ladder by lending his apartment to married executives looking for a place to take their girlfriends. Life is rather inconvenient, as he is locked out of his home at all hours, but things become even more complicated when the big boss (Fred McMurray) takes an interest. The good news is that Lemmon gets another promotion. The bad news is that McMurray’s affair is with Shirley MacLaine, the elevator girl for whom Lemmon is carrying a torch.
Billy Wilder’s follow-up to Some Like It Hot certainly has plenty of funny moments, most involving Lemmon’s doctor neighbor (Jack Kuschen). But the film doesn’t shy away from the darker implications of its storyline (up to and including a suicide attempt). The result is a romantic comedy-drama that is sweet without being sentimental, and hard-nosed without being cynical. And the audience’s emotions are thus sincerely earned.
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: 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: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 16th, 2012
Here we go with more romantic comedies boys and girls. Captain Post Office did not listen last time when we told him no more hokey and predictable romantic comedies featuring pretty boys and girls doing really stupid things for some horrible laughs. Alright, let us see what we got. I Don’t Know How She Does It? featuring Sarah Jessica Parker?!!. Oh geez, what did I do to deserve this one. I am so sorry oh great one, but why did you forsake me? WHY???!!!!
Allison Henderson (played by Christina Hendricks) has known Kate Reddy for about six years now. Allison thinks she is a great at being a mother and well, everything else. However, she has had her slip ups here and there, including one three months last winter. The slip up centered on the Kindergarten bake sale for her daughter Emily. We now take you to the action (couldn’t we have stayed with Christina just a little bit longer?).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2012
It would still be two years before Kate Beckinsale would don her fangs, blue contacts, and black cat suit and become a blip on the radar for the guys among us. Yes, she had done Pearl Harbor, but how many guys thought that was just a romance story that happened to revolve around a particular historic event. Can anyone say Titanic? Serendipity came out the same year as Pearl Harbor, so 2001 was likely the year that Beckinsale really came out, at least to the women in the audience. Of course, Serendipity didn't bring in near the kind of cash that Pearl Harbor did, and honestly, it's kind of fallen by the wayside in the last decade. Mirimax is doing something about that with the new Blu-ray release of John Cusak and Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity.
Jonathan Trager (Cusak) and Sara Thomas (Beckinsale) are both doing a little Christmas shopping for their significant others. In a department store they both attempt to lay claim to the last pair of black gloves on the counter, each tugging on a separate glove. They share a little laugh and conversation and Jonathan offers to allow Sara to have the gloves in exchange for a coffee together. While they both are in relationships, they begin to have feelings for each other. They appear to keep bumping into each other, and Sara is a believer in fate, or serendipity, if you will. She decides to leave their future in the hands of chance. She will write her name and number on a book and sell it to a random bookstore the next day. He puts his information on the back of a five dollar bill, and she spends it at a newsstand without peeking. The idea is that if they were meant to be together, the information will find itself back to them.
![Good Morning, Vietnam (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/good-morning-vietnam-25th-anniver-large.jpg)
![I Don't Know How She Does It [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/i-dont-know-how-she-does-it-blu-r-large.jpg)
![Serendipity [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/serendipity-blu-ray-large.jpg)
