Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 6th, 2010
Everybody’s favorite Small Wonder is back for another season. Most of you will remember my first season review of Small Wonder. The show wasn’t as great as I remember but if Shout Factory is willing to release a second season on dvd, I’m willing to give the show another try. Let’s see how the Lawsons and Vicki spend the next twenty four episodes of mayhem and laughter.
Vicki (played by Tiffany Brissette) is adapting well to human life. She participates in many chores and even participates in home schooling with Joan (played by Marla Pennington-Rowan). She plays with Jamie (played by Jerry Supiran) and even has learned how to slam the door in the face of Harriet (played by Emily Schulman). If Vicki had feelings, it would be safe to say that she could be described as happy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2010
Meg Ryan arrives at her country home a day early, catching hubby Timothy Hutton in the middle of writing her a note telling her that he wants out of their marriage. Knocking Hutton out, Ryan duct-tapes him to a chair, and declares that he will remain her prisoner until he loves her again. Hutton is understandably skeptical that this tactic will work. He is also furious and freaked out. He is even less happy the next day when Ryan heads out to do some grocery shopping, and a thief (Justin Long) breaks enters the house.
Fans of Meg Ryan hoping for a romantic comedy will be disappointed. This is a much darker piece of work, and one that defies viewers to like anyone on the screen: Ryan is nut, Hutton is a jerk, his mistress is a dolt, and Long is a thug. Realizing from the start that we are in the realm of the black farce helps, and there is fun to be had in the performances. Still, what with most of the film taking place in a bathroom, there's a bit of a filmed-theater feel to the experience, and the ultimate denouement is obvious to all but the characters, leaving frustrated viewers to wait impatiently for the pennies to drop.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2010
The title is grammatically ambiguous. Is this a film about vampire killers who happen to be lesbians, or killers of lesbian vampires? The former might have given the film some nicely subversive potential, but the latter is the case. Our heroes are the gormless pair of the serially dumped Jimmy (James Corden) and the piggish Fletch (Mathew Horne) – basically Shaun and Ed from Shaun of the Dead, minus the wit. Heading out to a randomly picked village in rural England for a low-budget vacation, the duo happen upon a VW bus filled with women who, based on the available evidence, have just finished a gig as background dancers for a hip-hop video. The group arrives at a decrepit mansion and proceed to party, unaware that the area is cursed by the lesbian vampire queen Carmilla. Seeking to resurrect their matriarch, her minions proceed to vamp all but one of the women, and the stage is set for a supernatural battle of the sexes.
There have been many horror comedies in the wake of Shaun of the Dead's well-deserved success, and while there have been some worthy entries, there have also been plenty of reminders that just calling something a comedy and having characters bug out their eyes and run around screaming doesn't mean the film is funny. And here we have a case in point. The production design is handsome, and echoes the Hammer flicks of yore, but the witless dialogue, clumsy action choreography, and vacant characters will soon have you wishing you were watching an actual Hammer film (or even Carry on Screaming). Then there's the premise. The filmmakers apparently never though it the least bit problematic that they were serving up repeated scenes of women being impaled and decapitated (and then exploding in a splash of white, milky fluid) for laughs. The results would be even more offensive if the viewer weren't numbed by the tedium – the 83 minutes feel twice that long.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 28th, 2010
Bob (Bryan Callen) and Cheryl (Alexie Gilmore) are about to be married. Bob already can't win with his in-laws-to-be, and his latest mistake is to forget to arrange for pre-marriage counseling, which must be undergone or the church won't allow the ceremony to take place. There is only one couple available at the last minute, and it turns out to be the massively dysfunctional set of overbearingly enthusiastic Dick (Matt Servitto) and cynical and rapacious Nora (Jane Lynch). The counseling sessions become a series of disasters.
Callen comes across as a poor-man's Ben Stiller, essaying different variations of baffled panic and pained humiliation through events that feel like deleted scenes from Meet the Parents. Jane Lynch turns in yet another of her trademarked hard-boiled characterizations. She's good at this, but she could also do this part in her sleep. The script gives the cast very little to work with, and the direction is utterly flat. Scenes that should be frantic are merely dull, and there's a fight scene between Gilmore and Lynch that is one of the most badly choreographed I have ever seen. Painful stuff all around.
Hmm. I'm looking at the back of the case. What exactly does “16:9 (1.78) Full Screen” mean? Seems to be a rather contradictory set of specs. In fact, what we have is 1.78:1 non-anamorphic. The picture is decent enough, but a bit on the soft side, and the reds are a little strong. Contrasts are okay, but the picture, like the movie itself, lacks energy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 22nd, 2010
"The Douglas family is back and ready for seconds in volume two of the second season of My Three Sons. Join America's favorite pipe-smoking single dad Steve Douglas as he raises sons Mike, Robbie, and Chip with a winning combination of laughter, love and world-class fatherly advice."
Just to look at it you would think that My 3 Sons was a Disney production. Its star Fred MacMurray had appeared in many Disney films of the 50’s and 60’s and is most likely recognizable from those appearances. Two of the three boys were also known for work with Disney. The eldest boy, Mike, was played by Tim Considine, who starred with MacMurray in Disney’s The Shaggy Dog. Middle son Robbie was played by a former Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer, Don Grady. The youngest son, Chip, was played by Stanley Livingston, the only non Disney alum in that group. Another reason for the confusion is the decidedly Disney-like material the series covered. Steve Douglas (MacMurray) was a widowed single parent who was trying to balance his job with that of raising his three sons. Most of the stories involved the warm and fuzzy heartwarming stuff that Disney had pretty much cornered the market on in the films. Whatever troubles arose, no problem was so bad that a heart-to-heart talk couldn’t fix it. The style would prosper and continue in the form of 70’s shows like The Brady Bunch. The four guys were also joined by Steve’s father-in-law, Bud, played by I Love Lucy favorite William Frawley. That was no surprise, since the show was actually produced, not by Disney, but the Desilu studios.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 21st, 2010
Most people who read this site frequently are aware with my love for cartoons. More often than not, my favorite cartoons are those from the 90’s or 80’s cartoons and included such shows as Batman Animated, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Darkwing Duck. But there are some cartoons that have been made in the last decade that twenty years from now will be considered classics. As it turns out, I got to review one of those modern classics with the help of a very special and biased friend.
Hi there, my name is Michael Durr and you might remember me from such great reviews as Superman: The Complete Animated Series and Duckman, Seasons 3 and 4. Today, we are talking about Johnny Bravo: Season One. Johnny Bravo was a fantastic cartoon on the Cartoon Network that premiered on July 7th, 1997 and would then last sixty seven episodes until it ended in the hot summer of 2004.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 16th, 2010
"What you are about to see has a mechanical gopher in it."
Recently I was having a bit of a playful, and at times aggressive, back-and-forth with a friend over our top 50 films of all time. While we disagreed at almost every turn (of course his list had Speed and Pretty Women and not Jaws, Unforgiven, King Kong, or Gladiator). What we did seem to agree upon was that neither of us was willing to allow very many comedy films into our lists. There's something about a very good comedy that doesn't fit with the likes of The Godfather or Gone With The Wind. Caddyshack wasn't on either of our lists. But Caddyshack did make AFI's funniest films back in 2000. I suspect it made a lot of lists over the years. It should. It's a very funny film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2010
In 1999, a troupe of US marines must transport some equipment across Romania. Leading them is Captain Doug Jones (Armand Assante), a man so committed to his duty that he does a pretty convincing job of appearing passionate and proud about what is, on the face of it, a rather dull, two-bit assignment. As matters develop, the mission is far from dull, though it is not interesting in the way Jones might have hoped. The train is waylaid in the small town of Capalnita by the corrupt stationmaster, and a comical clash of cultures ensues.
Director (and co-writer) Cristian Nemescu was killed in a car accident before he had finished editing the film, and it is likely that his final version would have run less than the current 154 minutes, which is long for a comedy. Nonetheless, there has been no second-guessing of his artistic intent, and the film is presented as he left it, and if it isn't as tight as it probably would have been, had Nemescu been able to complete it, it's still a remarkable piece of work, with wonderful, finely observed (and performed) characters, and a sharp, wry sense of humour.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 11th, 2010
My relationship with romantic comedies has not been one of wedded bliss. More often than not, it is something I get forced into. Once you are forced into something, then you automatically have a pre-disposed attitude against the movie. Hence, I haven’t liked too many of these things. Thankfully in the last few years, if I see a romantic comedy it’s been mostly because it ends up in my review queue. This in turn has given me a softer approach to these movies but don’t think I’m going all sentimental just yet.
Beth (played by Kristen Bell) is a successful art curator for the Guggenheim. After a great art show, she is talking to her friends and mentions how she hates her ex-boyfriend: Brady Sacks’ guts (played by Lee Pace). Of course, he’s standing right behind her. They talk for a while and it appears that Brady is bitter over the fact that he got dumped at Applebees (he probably wasn’t allowed to get the Riblets, I hear they are divine). Brady then mentions he is engaged.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 11th, 2010
One thing I’ve learned about family sitcoms is that it usually defined by one principle character. For example, Different Strokes had Arnold Jackson (played by Gary Coleman, may he rest in peace), the Simpsons had Bart Simpson and Unhappily Ever After had Mr. Floppy (I love Bobcat Goldthwait). Family Matters is no different. The show was a very successful sitcom and had one of the best breakout characters of all, Mr. Steve Urkel.
The Winslow family is your typical family that lives in the city of Chicago. The head of the family, Carl Winslow (played by Reginald VelJohnson) is a city cop and knows how to put away a doughnut. His wife, Harriette Winslow (played by Jo Marie Payton) works for the Chicago Chronicle, a local newspaper. Harriette has a sister named Rachel (played by Telma Hopkins), a widow with a baby named Richie (played by Joseph and Julius Wright ).
![When in Rome [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/when-in-rome-blu-ray-large.jpg)
