Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 28th, 2022
“Bend, never break.”
Of the DC animated movies, I’d rate this one as quite possibly my favorite of them all. Now when you consider that there are around 47 films created with another five films planned, that is quite the accomplishment. When it comes to Batman: The Long Halloween, the element that I really enjoyed is the mystery portion of it. It felt more like a detective story than a superhero movie. This was also the element that I most enjoyed about the Matt Reeves helmed live action film, The Batman. Not surprising that I identified with this aspect, as the 13-issue limited series that this film was adapted from was also one of the inspirations for the Reeves film. This animated film, like the comic it is adapted from, is centered on Batman efforts to identify and stop a serial killer known as Holiday. Holiday appears to be engaged in a war against the Falcone and Maroni organized crime families. Notably, the film also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman's enemy, Two-Face. Contributing to the success of this adaptation, would be the top-notch cast of voice actors, some repeats from another animated films and a couple of fresh faces. Jenson Ackles, who was last voiced Jason Todd for the Under the Red Hood animated film, upgraded to voice Bruce Wayne this time around. Batman staple Alastair Duncan, who has voiced Alfred Pennyworth in at least four other Batman properties, returns to voice the character for a fifth time. Then there is Troy Baker, who has voiced multiple Batman characters to include the bat himself, as well as multiple members of the Dark Knight’s rogue’s gallery across film, television, animation, and video game installments. This outing, he lends his talents to voice the Joker. Rounding the cast are fresh faces: Josh Duhamel as Harvey Kent/Two-Face, Billy Burke as Commissioner James Gordon, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, and most notable the late Naya Rivera as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 13th, 2022
The people of Taiwan have been searching for an identity for a long time. When martial law was lifted over the People's Republic of China in the 1980's and shifted to a more democratic form, the people have increasingly wanted their own identity and no longer to be known as a part of China. Sure, they might maintain the status quo and appear to work with China (which hasn't been exactly the case lately), but they strive to be known as Taiwanese, separate from the mainland influence. Our film today, Vive L'Amour, takes place in the 1990's Taiwan, where life was extremely hard for the average young adult. So hard that many of them didn't even have a permanent residence.
We open to see a key is left in the door of a dwelling. Nearby a salesman named Hsiao-kang (played by Lee Kang-sheng) finishes up a door-to-door sales call and after a few moments decides to take the key. He goes to the convenience store, grabs a water, and sees a camera where he adjusts his hair. The next scene, he is driving on his motorcycle and arrives at the location where he grabbed the key from. He starts to unlock the door, hears sounds from inside, and quickly leaves.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on September 11th, 2022
My fascination with tennis has come in spots throughout the early part of my life. In the 1980's, I was fascinated by John McEnroe with his brilliant play and fiery emotion. In the 1990's I was smitten with Jennifer Capriati, but also impressed by her tenacity at such a young age. I still remembering listening to the broadcast of Goran Ivanisevic finally winning at Wimbledon in the early 2000's. And that's where I stopped watching, really, still eager to see the amazing game play, but no longer finding the characters I so desperately wanted to look for. Today's film is Final Set, which follows an aging tennis player who has one final shot at becoming the player he always learned to be.
A tennis player serves a ball in slow motion. It takes a couple of minutes, and then it stops.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on September 10th, 2022
A good erotic movie is actually harder than it sounds. Sure, you have to have skin, word play, arousal, and yes, that other kind of play. But the good erotic films like Basic Instinct, 9 1/2 Weeks, and Embrace of the Vampire (You thought I was going to say Fatal Attraction, didn't you?) are very entertaining and have a story that draws you in to keep you there even when the spicy bits aren't on the screen. Today's erotic film is Curiosa, which certainly hits all of the skin elements, but does it have a story that I would want to watch again and again? Let's check it out.
A curiosa is an erotic object, book, or photograph. We start the movie with a little photography as we watch our two main characters, Pierre Louys (played by Niels Schneider), who is taking pictures of Marie de Heredia (played by Noemie Merlant). Marie is set to marry Henri de Regnier (played by Benjamin Lavernhe), but she does not love him. She is actually in love with Pierre, who is Henri's best friend as well.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 9th, 2022
"Space ... the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!"
From the moment of the first UHD releases, I have had a wish list of films I wanted to see in 4K. Most of them have finally reached my home theater video shelf, but there remain a few elusive titles that I am still waiting for. Paramount is doing a great job. The Star Trek wait is somewhat over. I say somewhat because this new release from Paramount contains the films not included in the first release: Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. But it does not include The Next Generation films.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 9th, 2022
"Nothing had prepared me, no books, no teachers, not even my parents. I heard a thousand stories, but none could describe this place, it must be witnessed, to be understood, and yet I've seen it and understand it even less than before I first cast eyes on this place. Some call it the American dessert, others The Great Plains, but those phrases were invented by professors at universities surrounded by the illusion of order and the fantasy of right and wrong. To know it you must walk it, Bleed into its dirt, drown in its rivers, then its name becomes clear, it is hell, and there are demons everywhere. But if this is hell and I'm in it, then I must be a Demon too and I'm already dead.."
We're a visual people, and so most of you will recognize Taylor Sheridan from his role as a chief of police in Sons of Anarchy when the controlled puppet regime had finally left the scene. It's not a remarkable role, and it's not a complete surprise that Sheridan found his calling more recently behind the camera. As a writer his first script hit it out of the park. Sicario is an awesome film populated with compelling and interesting characters who thrived on a broken system. That theme appears to have stuck with him, because Yellowstone appears to take us back in time to the days of open frontiers and cattle barons who struggled to keep their land amid lawless communities and raiding parties of American Indians who were portrayed as savage beasts who kill women and children in the middle of the night to become to shadows of nightmares and the stories told to keep children in line. These themes were all there, but it takes place in a modern setting that does indeed make for an interesting new twist on an old idea. This is the dawning of the modern western where lands still stretch for miles and are still owned by a single family. It's Bonanza in the 21st century, and Kevin Costner thought enough of the idea to star in this television drama series for The Paramount Network.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2022
"I've been acting like this because I can't take these shutdowns anymore and I'm scared what it's doing to me. I'm looking for who to blame, saying I'm trying to help people to make myself feel better, because the truth is I just want to have fun again. I wanted to see that I could go out into the world and do the things I used to do... I want my life back. I just want my life back."
This has been a tough year for everyone. Productions all around the world have been uprooted because of the pandemic. I guess I thought there might have been one place on this planet that was safe. OK, I made that last part up. We always knew that South Park was going to have a field day with COVID. Let's be honest; the amount of material for the irreverent show is simply off the scales. There's nothing like a global catastrophe to bring out the sharp wit of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The pandemic meant we saw the long-running animated series limited just like everyone else. So instead of a 10-episode run, the 24th season of South Park is made up of two double-length "Pandemic Specials", but just for whats and giggles, let's call it South Park The Complete 24th Season and get a look at it in Blu-ray.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 25th, 2022
Mamoru Hosoda's directing career basically started with the world of Digimon where he directed a few shorts, episodes and even the original Digimon movie. But where he really started to show off his directing chops was Samurai Champloo which has been often cited as one of the greatest anime shows right up there with Cowboy Bebop. It would then continue with the first film that he could truly call his own in the Girl Who Leapt Through Time. From there, Hosoda could have been content at that point but he would go on to direct more and more animated classics. Today, we take a look at Hosoda's latest film, Belle and I don't think any fan would be disappointed with this one.
Welcome to the World of U. U is the Ultimate Virtual Community and was created by 5 Sages called the Voices. They preside over the intellect of the community of five billion users. Just use the App and plug in. An avatar is called "AS" and the virtual world will create this avatar based on your biometrics. It is another reality, another you.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 23rd, 2022
"Bigger. Why do they always have to go bigger?"
You don't really need me to answer that one, do you? What started with Jurassic Park in 1993 and even earlier with the blockbuster book by the late great Michael Crichton has actually been 65 million years in the making. When an idea has been percolating for that long, you have to go bigger, or the audience will go home. Expectations take a bite out of your option,s and by a sixth film you really have to come up with a game stopper, so what do you do? You reinvent the franchise after two sequels failed to capture the magic and awe that was Jurassic Park. You let the idea sit for a decade or so, and then you bring it back with enough of the new and enough of the old to bring folks back into the theaters. And that's just how they did it with the Jurassic World trilogy. The first two films gave us a new cast of characters with the likes of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. A Jurassic Park has finally opened, and it's called Jurassic World. Someone decided a slight rebranding might be for the better. Jurassic World ends up suffering the fate the first film tried to warn them would happen. But by the end of the second Jurassic World film we finally get what I felt I was promised a long time ago. The dinosaurs are no longer apart from the world on a secluded island where dinner has to be delivered, usually by helicopter or crashed plane. Now the dinosaurs are loose around the globe, and the dinosaurs finally get a wide variety of snacks with six billion menu choices.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 19th, 2022
When I am not writing reviews, playing games, having a family, oh, and also having a job (because writing reviews doesn't exactly pay), I do try to dabble in the occasional short story. Perhaps it's fantasy or science fiction, but I like spinning tales about a world that I want to be a part of even if its just for a few minutes. It's relaxing, and that's why when I saw the opportunity to review Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, a collection of three tales steeped in chance, culture, and some wonderful word banter, I knew I'd enjoy my time. Let's take a look.
The stories are broken out in "Episodes". Here is a brief summary of each one:
