Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 22nd, 2016
Disaster films are something that for me screams American cinema of the 90’s. I know there were films before that had come out, but a good portion of my teen years of the 90’s were of the mega-blockbuster variety like Twister, Dante’s Peak, The Perfect Storm, and so forth. Now we have The Wave, the first disaster film to come out of Norway, and from the looks of the trailers they were going for something BIG. This is a film that comes out with so much potential and is a film that could even possibly find an American audience that could look past the fact that subtitles may be involved. With the way technology has come along over the years, smaller countries have been able to produce films as big as anything released in our cinemas here in the states. Now here’s the question: is it any good, though?
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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 16th, 2016
“Ok, so hear me out…ever watch action movies?”
It’s clear that Canadian filmmaker Allan Ungar and practically everyone involved with Gridlocked have seen their share of action flicks. More specifically, this crew is out to recapture the raucous, rowdy, R-rated spirit of late ‘80s and ‘90s franchises like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. While Gridlocked doesn’t come close to matching the wit or winning formula of those action classics, this straight-to-DVD effort still manages to be a pretty fun throwback.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 16th, 2016
“He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's flames before I give him up!”
After its shortened three year run, it looked like Star Trek was dead and gone. A very short lived animation series was the first attempt to carry on. Before long it too was a thing of the past. Then something rather amazing happened. Star Trek found a home in syndication. The local television markets aired the shows in a somewhat edited form, and they were rewarded with record-breaking local ratings. It didn’t take long before Paramount saw the possibilities
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2016
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
The rumors were rampant, and I won't address them at all here. Chances are you know the spoilers, if you want to know them, already. I won't chance ruining it for the few that have avoided any information on the film. I will tell you that Abrams has managed to weave a touching love letter to the Trek faithful into what again is a hugely mainstream film that should kick some serious butt at the box office once again. It's almost as if he wanted to thank the fans who did finally climb aboard his Enterprise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 15th, 2016
“It's ok to be upset. We're all upset.”
A War is about a Danish commander and his weary, overwhelmed young soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. But besides finding a fresh angle to explore a conflict that has essentially been going on for the entire 21st century — Denmark sent nearly 10,000 military personnel to Afghanistan between 2002 and 2013 — this morally complex movie succeeds because it fully explores the toll war takes on everyone involved. In this case, that also includes the unfortunate civilians caught in between the gunfire and at least one weary, overwhelmed wife/mother back home with three young children.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 15th, 2016
Bad Robot, in my eyes, is simply the best at keeping things a secret. In this day and age, to be able to surprise audiences is just about an impossible task. When the first Cloverfield trailer was released in 2007 in front of Transformers, it was a trailer that had us all guessing up until its release. In my opinion Cloverfield was one of the best found-footage films to come out and was a grand achievement, considering it was a monster film that had been pretty much been kept under wraps until its actual release. Bad Robot managed to surprise us again, releasing a trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane that set the internet on fire with theories and hopes for this to be a long-awaited sequel. But is that what this really is?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 13th, 2016
In 1979, Ridley Scott taught us that in space no one can hear you scream. More than 35 years after Alien established him as a top directorial talent, Scott has slightly amended that statement to read “in space no one can hear you…blast disco music and binge watch Happy Days.” These lighthearted coping mechanisms — used here to deal with a truly horrifying and hopeless situation — are strong indicators of what you’re in for with The Martian, which is both brainier and much funnier than your average space epic. Now the sci-fi blockbuster returns to home video with an Extended Edition.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 10th, 2016
“I don’t know what kind of trouble he can get into in a day.”
At first glance, those words — spoken by a father in the midst of a particularly eventful weekend with his estranged son — sound like a filmmaker giving himself permission to put his characters in the most outrageous situations possible. But The Confirmation actually shines by keeping things simple. The movie is a low-key, thoroughly affecting story of a father and son forging an unexpected connection.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 8th, 2016
"Roots: The Saga of an American Family literally blazed across this nation's screens."
In 1977 the entire country became Africans for eight consecutive nights. The name Kunta Kinte would become a household name. It was unprecedented on so many levels that even the ABC executives that made the decision to air it believed it was going to be a ratings disaster. The decision to run it on so many consecutive nights was made to avoid the ratings collapse from lasting more than a week. But by the time the final episode aired, Roots had become the most-watched television mini-series of all time.
