Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 13th, 2013
“Well, when you love someone you don’t have to be nice all the time.”
In this current age of message boards and morning-after recaps, the pressure is on to make your voice the loudest if you want to be heard in the wilderness of the Internet. For snarky TV critics, that often means declaring something is either the “Best ____ Ever” or the “Worst ____ Ever”, with little room for anything in-between. But even within these sharply-divided times, I believe HBO’s Girls — which is brilliant just as often as it is maddening — stands out as the most polarizing show on TV.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 12th, 2013
Let's face facts. War is heck. Sure, we can go back to ancient times with the Romans or more modern offerings such as the World Wars or even Vietnam, but perhaps more recent offerings between smaller countries and territories can be just as brutal. But what can be surprising is the emotional and physical toll it takes on those soldiers even years after it happens. Our film today, Killing Season takes us into two different sides in the aftermath of a very brutal altercation, the Serbs and the Bosnians.
We get text across the screen. In 1992, the Serbian Army invaded Bosnia starting a war marked by large-scale massacres of civilians in the name of ethnic cleansing. Over two hundred thousand people died. We watch as brutal war scenes take place. In 1995, Operation Deliberate Force was created by American and NATO forces to finally put an end to the horror of that long and dreadful altercation complete with prisoner of war camps and deadly surrenders.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 10th, 2013
Plenty of movie critics out there like to praise the artsy movies like they are the second coming. We see it all too often. Critically acclaimed, revolutionary, captivating, all over used words to described the latest movie that often is nothing more than a good reason to sleep for two hours. For me, I love a different type of movie, in a generic term, the cult classic. A movie that is so awful, it is often fantastic in its own way. A frequent subsection of this is the campy erotic thriller. One of those films is on the docket today, and that film is the DePalma classic: Body Double.
Let's cue the scary music! Bring in the fog! As we roll back from the very fake graveyard, we see a rock and roll vampire (played by Craig Wasson) laying in his coffin. As he is about to hit his moment and rise from the grave, he gets an unfortunate case of claustrophobia. Cut! Cut! It appears the actor, Jake Scully is having issues on set. Director Rubin (played by Dennis Franz) wants to know what happened out there and Jake does his best to explain it away. They almost go back for a second shot but not before the graveyard catches on fire thus calling it quits for the day.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 8th, 2013
"With a name like Banshee how can you not be drawn in?"
Alan Ball got my attention in 2001 with HBO's black comedy Six Feet Under. It was one of the most original shows I had ever seen, and to this day I find it hard to characterize the series when asked to do so. It was there that he also introduced me to Michael C. Hall, who continues to amaze me in the role of Dexter over at Showtime. When Six Feet Under left the airwaves, Ball didn't waste very much time in bringing his quirky style back, this time to the horror genre. True Blood would put a rather strange twist on the lovesick vampire craze, and while that show has not kept up the same kind of clever writing and wickedly brilliant stories, Ball has lent his name and talents to another cable show. This time it's on Cinemax, and the series is Banshee. And while Ball is a producer and not the day-to-day runner of the series, it is nonetheless another pretty strange show that defies any particular genre or characterization.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 7th, 2013
For those who don't know, I have been married twice in my life. I am currently going through my second divorce. At nearly thirty eight years old, I have lived the relationship life of arguably several lifetimes but something usually keeps me coming back. Am I done with love? Only time will tell. Today's blu-ray review is about a six year old girl who sees life through the divorce of her mother and father. Something tells me we are in for a very long and bumpy ride.
Susanna (played by Julianne Moore), a mom puts her six year old daughter, Maisie (played by Onata Aprile) to bed. Susan decides to sing "Rock a Bye Baby" to the daughter before breaking out the acoustic guitar and playing a few gentle chords as Maisie slowly goes to sleep. The day begins again or rather we see Maisie paying for some pizza as we hear a heated argument in the background.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2013
The time was that following the death of a good king, England was left without a clear heir to the throne. During the time without a king, England had descended into dark times. Suddenly as if through divine intervention a sword appeared in an anvil of stone. An inscription decreed that whosoever could remove the sword would become king. Think you’ve heard the story before? Well, of course you have. It is none other than the story of King Arthur. Most of us have heard the many stories. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone that Walt Disney himself was quite taken with the tale, when you consider it it’s about as natural a fit as one can find. Disney’s early works were replete with tales of seemingly ordinary people with extraordinary destinies. From Sleeping Beauty to Cinderella, Walt had put his own touch to many such tales.
Our story begins in this England of dark times. A wizard named Martin… eh, that’s Merlin … is sitting in his humble room awaiting the arrival of a special lad. Gifted with the ability to see forward in time, Merlin knows that this lad will soon be arriving, and it will be his responsibility to educate the boy. When the young man referred to as The Wart does arrive, it seems unlikely he could be destined for much of anything. He’s rather physically awkward and appears none too ambitious. Still, Marvin, that is to say, Merlin, takes on the task with an eagerness that becomes somewhat annoying to his companion, the owl Archimedes. The lessons involve for the most part magical transformations and a few catchy tunes. Before long “The Wart” aka Arthur finds and fulfills his destiny. This story is more about the journey than the destination. Arthur doesn’t have his encounter with the sword, often erroneously identified as Excalibur, until the last minutes of the film. There is a hint that more stories would follow, but they never really did.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2013
“Once upon a time in New York City…”
Walt Disney might well have been the storyteller of more than one generation of kids. Is it any wonder that when we think of such characters as Winnie The Pooh or Peter Pan our minds conjure the images wrought by Disney animators and not necessarily the classic literature descriptions? That might not be the case with this Charles Dickens story, retold through Disney’s trademark animal point of view. Oliver & Company doesn’t appear to have had the staying power of films both before and after its time. After watching the film again, perhaps for the first time since its release 20 years ago, I can’t imagine why it has never quite caught on. From a popular culture standpoint the film has all of the elements that have led to other more beloved Disney classics. The Dickens story is a familiar one, read by most literature students as a matter of course. Many of the era’s biggest names lent their voice talents to the characters, including Billy Joel and Bette Midler. The songs are about as catchy as anyone might have hoped for. Just what was it that relegated this little seen Disney adventure to the bargain bin of animation classics?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2013
"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
With the success of Best Of Both Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation would make frequent use of the season-ending cliffhanger. Believe it or not, that wasn't so common in those days. The fourth season ended with part one of Redemption.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on August 5th, 2013
The fact that Kumail Nanjiani decided to call his first Comedy Central special Beta Male immediately gives you a sense of his self-deprecating style. Fortunately, the ability to laugh at himself is merely one of many comedic gifts this on-the-rise comic possesses. This consistently funny, frequently hilarious hour-long set — filmed in Austin’s Moody Theater — touches on a wide range of topics, including his Muslim upbringing, cats disguised as pizza delivery men, and outdated rollercoasters.
Nanjiani has made his way into numerous “Comics to Watch” lists, but most audiences probably know him from scene-stealing turns in Franklin & Bash and Portlandia. He’s also got plenty of comedy geek cred, lending his voice to Adventure Time and collaborating with Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black for the short-lived Michael and Michael Have Issues. This is my drawn-out way of telling you Nanjiani’s humor ticks a lot of boxes with audiences.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 2nd, 2013
I’ll say this about a program that has remained consistent in quality for twenty seasons…it makes for challenging reviews. Talking about each season of Gunsmoke is difficult in that you either write briefly to try to avoid redundancies, but might seem too hasty, or you have to labour over each episode, in which case, you’re only going to have hardcore fans paying attention. Since this website has touched on previous seasons: ( https://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=gunsmoke ) I shall opt for the former option, and hope y’all out there catch that I’m not being hasty…but respect a show that warrants no fresh complaints after 9 years a-runnin’ thus far.
The format has been full hours stories since season 7 and it hasn't lost any steam in season 9. The cast saw a little shifting as Ken Curtis' character Festus is introduced just before longtime sidekick Chester (played by Dennis Weaver) departs at the end of this season.
