Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on July 20th, 2017
We here at UpcomingDiscs strive to provide our beloved readers with the most informative and well-thought-out reviews, regardless of the movie or TV show genre that comes flying through the door. Collectively, our awesome little staff covers a wide range of interests. But when swing dancing documentary Alive and Kicking arrived at UpcomingDiscs HQ…there was only one man for the job. The toe-tapping doc is equal parts enlightening and entertaining, whether you’re a swing dancing novice (like my wife/occasional movie-watching partner) or — like me — a guy who’s been into this stuff for the last 15 years.
“Swing dancing is the pursuit of happiness.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on July 13th, 2017
In 2003, a commercial director named Sandy Collora made an 8-minute short film called Batman: Dead End, in which the Caped Crusader does battle with the Joker…along with Alien and Predator! While this sounds like a heavy dose of fanboy wish-granting, the film was Collora’s very serious attempt to show Hollywood big wigs what he could do. The mini-movie turned heads among the Comic Con crowd due to its gritty tone and impressive production values on a shoestring budget. Not surprisingly, this overlong Behind the Mask documentary is at its very best when it chronicles the making of what is widely-regarded as one of the best fan films ever made.
“Every kid in America knows what Batman should be.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2017
I was eight years old when Armstrong first stepped on the moon in July of 1969. Like every kid my age, it filled me with a feeling that I was lucky enough to get in on the ground floor of humanity's grand exploration of space. By the time I was 15, we had landed the first probes on Mars. We were certainly on our way. The sky literally wasn't the limit anymore. But then it all stopped. By the 80's we had shifted our focus to low Earth orbit, and we haven't explored the limits of space with a manned mission in nearly 50 years. Even the Space Shuttle is gone, and we don't even have the capability to send Americans to the space station that we mostly paid for without hitching a ride with the Russians. And if you've been following world events at all, that ride isn't a sure thing anymore. That 8-year-old with the mile-wide grin would never have believed we'd be so earthbound by the time he reached his mid-50's. Along comes National Geographic with the new mini-series Mars. Is it enough to get today's 8-year-old dreaming once again? I don't know. But it provided enough to give the 8-year-old still here a little bit of hope mixed with more than a little what-might-have-been.
Mars is a six-part series that looks to be returning with more episodes in the future. The focus and drama of the first three episodes is found in the first manned mission to the Red Planet set in 2033. The crew of the Daedalus faces fierce challenges in order to establish a foothold on Mars. Each episode has several components that make it somewhat unique in its storytelling. While we witness the close calls and successes of the crew, we also learn more about the characters and the mission from flashbacks and pre-flight interviews that remind me a little of those "confessional" segments you find on the "reality" television shows. Here we also see the politics of the international crew and the agency that heads the mission. There are also documentary segments found throughout each episode. These bring us back to 2016 and cover the attempts by SpaceX to develop the technology to eventually make the 2033 drama a reality. There are interviews with scientists who talk about the real challenges in that kind of mission and how we are working to resolve them. Of course, many of these pieces deal with issues that the fictional crew encounters. It's very much a standard documentary style during these segments.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 4th, 2017
“America is the only industrialized nation with a higher murder rate than countries at civil war.”
2016 might technically be in the rearview mirror, but it feels like last year left an indelible mark on the psyche of the United States. In addition to the most polarizing presidential election in a very long time, last year was marked by the deadliest shooting in U.S. history about an hour away from where I’m currently sitting, along with other highly-publicized instances of gun violence. So it feels like an appropriate time to revisit The Killing of America, a 1981 documentary that was never granted a commercial U.S. release after being deemed too exploitative.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2016
Victor Garber appears to me a man of extremes, at least in his climate preferences. Of course, the actor was aboard James Cameron's ill-fated Titanic when it struck an iceberg before Leonardo DiCaprio dies because he was too stupid to climb aboard a huge floating door. On television recently, Garber jumps to nuclear fire as one half of the superhero Firestorm in the DC television universe. For this release, actually filmed a few years ago he heads back to the ice, and not just any ice. This time Victor Garber narrates an IMAX documentary called Wonders Of The Arctic. Shout Factory has released the documentary as part of their impressive IMAX titles in 4K on UHD Blu-ray. This one is no less impressive and takes us on a journey to the top of the world, a place we refer to as the Arctic Circle.
The documentary isn't so much about the Arctic as a region but really is the story of the ice itself and how it impacts on both human and animal populations. It does sound the warnings of climate change, but I give it a lot of credit for not attributing such change to anything in particular. Instead the documentary does what all good documentaries should do. Present us with some facts. Show us some interesting stories. Leave us educated, thrilled and entertained. Wonders of the Arctic actually accomplishes all three of these goals.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2016
Scuba diving is the closest thing I've ever experienced to being on an alien world. Everything around you looks and feels totally different from what we see on land. Even our relationship to gravity changes. There's nothing like it on this Earth. The ocean is a diverse place and quite resilient. The Last Reef makes this point rather dramatically in the opening minutes of the documentary. It begins with a newsreel that takes us to the nuclear explosion experiments that were conducted off the Bikini Islands in 1946. Yes, that's where the swimsuit got its name. The Islands were making the newsreels because of the tests. Of course, the entire landmass and surrounding sea were saturated with radiation. The Islands reef was destroyed. It was pretty much left to its own devices for over 50 years. And now it is once again a flourishing reef teeming with incredible life.
From the tests the film shifts gears and becomes more of a standard journey into the waters of several reefs around the world. The film begins to make the connection between a reef and a thriving metropolis like New York City. We're treated to time-lapse video of various aspects of New York City, particularly the traffic throughways and outside cafes. Of course, these moments are frantic, particularly in time-lapse form. We're then exposed to the slower, more tranquil versions of some of the same ideas: schools of fish all moving in one direction compared to those highways and feeding stations where rays and sharks can have parasites cleaned from their bodies by waiting fish. The connections are a stretch, yes, but it's a nice effective way to compare and contrast these two distinctly different "cities".
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2016
“Our planet holds a kind of parallel universe. A place of wonder where giants roam free. For thousands of years, we could only wonder about humpback whales. Now, by exploring their world, we’re getting surprising glimpses into their lives.”
In 1986, Leonard Nimoy led Kirk, Spock and their mates back in time to collect a couple of humpback whales and bring them to the 23rd century where they are extinct. If the whales aren’t there to communicate with a deadly probe, Earth is in deep trouble. Fortunately, thanks to conservation and educational programs, there should be plenty of humpbacks in the 23rd century to answer that long-distance telephone call. The animals have made an incredible comeback, and while the numbers are a long way from pre-whaling populations, they can be found all over the world. Most of us can’t afford the tickets to Alaska, Hawaii, or the Tonga Islands to see them firsthand. Shout has bought us a couple of roundtrip tickets to see these amazing marine mammals. The magic of 4K brings them right into your living room or home theatre. It’s so lifelike that you might just get wet. Enter the splash zone of Humpback Whales.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 12th, 2016
"They once roamed the earth by the tens of thousands. Their whistles spoke of distant places, of adventure and romance."
No, we're not talking about dinosaurs or some other extinct animal. Of course, we're talking about the steam-engine train. I'm old enough to have ridden them myself. I had a grandfather who realized in the early 1970's that these steam trains were about to disappear. He made it a point to explain this to me and made sure I appreciated my rides from Reading, Pennsylvania (literally a train city) to Philadelphia, where my Mom was sure he was a bagman for the mob and was using me as a cover. My grandfather wasn't a bagman; we never visited any Don. We would explore the various wonders of America's birth city. We'd visit the zoo or some historic site. Often we'd take in a Phillies game or hang out at the Italian markets in South Philly. I may not remember the details of everything we did. But I never did forget riding those steam-engine trains. And my grandfather was right. They've disappeared except for amusement parks and tourist attractions. But if you want to take a ride just like I did with my grandfather, all you have to do is pick up your ticket from Shout Factory and hop aboard The Rocky Mountain Express on UHD and in the dynamic color of 4K.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 20th, 2016
Pop quiz! Which of the following titles belong to Shark Week specials, and which of them are the names of SyFy original movies? Zombie Sharks, Sharkageddon, Monster Hammerhead, Lair of the Mega Shark, and Sharksanity. (I'll give you a few seconds to mull it over...ok, ready to guess?) The answer, of course, is that *all* of those titles belong to Shark Week, Discovery Channel's long-running, wildly popular, and increasingly ludicrous summertime ritual.
The very first Shark Week aired in 1988, and its longevity is a testament to viewers’ enduring fascination with the majestic, sharp-toothed creatures. Of course, the flip side of that longevity is that coming up with new material each year is getting more and more difficult. Jawsome Encounters is a 13-episode DVD set that (mostly) features episode from 2014.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 6th, 2016
"We began as wanderers, and are wanderers still. We have lingered enough on the shores of the Cosmic Ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars" - Carl Sagan
The Shout Factory documentary Journey To Space is the kind of release that the 4K market was made to serve. Most of this material was filmed in 65mm or with digital cameras in as high as 10K resolution. It was made for screens that are up to three stories tall and still show off the wonders of the images presented. That makes it the perfect kind of item to put on a 4K disc. It was created to be seen with this kind of resolution and color clarity. The material isn't completely original. There is footage here from several other films: The Dream Is Alive, Destiny In Space, Mission To Mir, Space Station 3D, and Hubble 3D. All are created for IMAX theaters. Call it a space odyssey of greatest hits.
