Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on July 15th, 2012
In ranking the popularity of sports in America, there's football and then there's everything else. The hierarchy for sports movies, however, is a little more competitive. I've got boxing edging out baseball for the top spot due to two Best Picture wins (Rocky, Million Dollar Baby) that should've been three (Raging Bull), and the fact that even a recent movie like The Fighter can bank almost $100 million at the domestic box office while snagging a couple of Oscars despite boxing's profile currently being in the toilet in this country. Boxing and baseball are probably followed by football, hockey and basketball, in some order. You'll have to go further down the list to find soccer, sailing and long-distance running, the three sports covered in this DVD triple feature.
The Miracle Match, known as The Game of Their Lives when it was released in 2005, tells the story of the 1950 U.S. national soccer squad that defeated a heavily-favored team from England — the country that invented the sport — during the World Cup in Brazil. Since soccer wasn't exactly a top priority at the time, the American team was put together 10 days before the World Cup and was comprised of recreational players. The film mostly focuses on a group from The Hill — an Italian immigrant community in St. Louis — led by goalie Frank Borghi (Gerard Butler).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 13th, 2012
Taking place in the 41st century, an astronaut named Barbarella (played by Jane Fonda) has been ordered to search out a missing Earth scientist named Durand Durand. On this mission, she is forced to land on a Planet called Lythion where she must overcome various erotic obstacles in this psychedelic camp classic.
When it comes to campy productions like this, one does not sniff around for Oscar worthy performances...no...we come to see Jane Fonda stiptease in zero gravity. In fact, throughout this tale, Fonda's Barbarella uses her sexuality as her weapon of choice in the fight against robots, mad scientists, and other extra-terrestrial baddies whom wish nothing more than to see intergalactic angels slaughtered (I swear to you, that was not just me cobbling together random words...all of those things actually happen in this film).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 12th, 2012
Two sales executives have a rambunctious party at a strip club that inadvertently results in their boss's death. Though they are not fired, they are demoted to the level of secretaries, while their former cohort, whom they used to pick on relentlessly, is elevated to be their new boss.
In their new work position, these two lads are humbled into losing their misogynistic ways and turn their pranks into acts of chivalry and gender equality in the workplace. There is also a romantic subplot for each of them, but neither is all that compelling.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 11th, 2012
An undisclosed infection has decimated the world's population. This film follows a family of four who are trying to survive the fallout of this viral apocalypse by escaping a city via the woods, in search of a rural area they used to live in.
Collaborative duo Justin McConnell and Kevin Hutchinson do a fair amount with very little in this film. An amping up of tension helps to replace any large set pieces or dynamic action scenes. Though they are clearly working with a small budget, their minimalist composition does not come off as amateur for they have a nice sense of composition, made clear with their shot choices and editing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 11th, 2012
Right before this movie hit theaters, I made a snarky joke about how I was already mentally preparing myself for American Funeral in about 20 years. (I imagined the gang reluctantly reuniting following the death of a 50-year-old Steve Stifler in a tragic, orgy-related accident involving high school girls...except it turns out Stifler faked his death to get the crew back together and shenanigans ensue.) It was an easy joke to make because I felt American Reunion came with a detectable whiff of desperation. Cast members who were missing from 2003's American Wedding were suddenly available now that they weren't quite as busy as they were nine years ago. Instead, I'm happy to say that the fourth film in the franchise — I'm willfully ignoring the straight-to-DVD American Pie Presents... titles — is mostly a love letter to fans and a pretty decent raunchy comedy on its own merits.
The film even acknowledges the odd timing for this particular reunion. I'm not even sure 13-year high school reunions are a real thing (it's not exactly a nice, round number), but that's what brings the American Pie gang back to East Great Falls, Michigan. We spend the first portion of the movie catching up with the characters' lives in their early 30's. Jim and Michelle (Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan) are still married, but in the kind of sexual rut that all married couples with children seem to suffer in movies and on TV. The amusing opening scene reminds us that there is no end to Jim's humiliation and the rest of the film confirms that Jason Biggs' penis is still a reliable source of comedy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 10th, 2012
One of my favorite television pastimes is watching some Storage Wars episodes. Initially, it was the lure of finding that goldmine buried beneath a pile of trash in a storage locker. But as I got more into it, I realized that it was the people who kept me coming back episode after episode. Barry, Jarrod, Brandi (she is a cutie), Darrell and even occasionally Hester all intrigue me as I watch each episode. Here in my hands is Volume 3, let’s see if the viewing pleasure continues.
If you need to learn about the Storage Wars regulars, you can check out my Volume 2 review at https://upcomingdiscs.com/2012/02/19/storage-wars-volume-2/.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 9th, 2012
As expressed many times on these reviews, I grew up with the original G.I. Joe, the original Transformers, He-Man and so forth. In those shows, I tended to perhaps forgive some of the quirkiness and things that we would probably never see in a cartoon in this decade simply because I loved them so much as a kid. But would I be so forgiving with a G.I. Joe series that started out in the 90’s, when I was already in high school? We shall soon see when I review Season 2 of the second series of G.I. Joe.
The second series of G.I. Joe officially started in 1989 by DIC Entertainment with a 5 part mini-series which soon launched them into about forty to fifty episodes that lasted until early 1992. With this review, we are taking a look at the final twenty episodes of the show. Let us take a peek at some of the key moments.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 9th, 2012
When Duran Duran's new concert film arrived at UpcomingDiscs headquarters, the staff was practically fighting over the Blu-ray. ("You take it!" "No, YOU take it!") Needless to say, no one was tripping over themselves to spend a significant amount of time with a band once dubbed "the prettiest boys in rock." When I expressed admiration for a few of their songs, I became this site's Duran Duran Fan (By Default). After watching this lively 2011 performance, I feel pretty good about removing the "By Default" portion of my title and simply calling myself a fan of the band.
Filmed in Manchester's MEN Arena in December 2011, A Diamond in the Mind capped a roller coaster year for the band. (More on that in the Special Features section.) Duran Duran was formed in Birmingham, England in 1978 and quickly achieved superstardom in the early 1980s. Though there have been several different groupings throughout the years, the "classic" Duran Duran lineup — singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist Andy Taylor, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Taylor (believe it or not all the Taylors are unrelated) — reunited in the early 2000s. That same lineup (except for Andy Taylor, who left in 2006 and was replaced by Dom Brown) is featured in A Diamond in the Mind.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on July 8th, 2012
“Come on Ryan! These are big existential questions, best left for boring Russian novelists and teenagers on acid. Real people don't think about this shit!”
As Wilfred: The Complete First Season begins, Ryan Newman (Elijah Wood), a miserably depressed out of work lawyer, just reached the end of his rope. One night, after meticulously composing the final draft of his suicide note, he downs a handful of pills, chugs them back with a bottle of NyQuil and heads off to bed. Nothing happens. He can’t even fall asleep. The following morning his hot next-door neighbor, Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann), shows up at his door asking if he would watch her dog Wilfred for the day. Thing is, where everyone else sees a big, shaggy mutt, Ryan sees a scruffy Australian man (Jason Gann) in a furry dog suit… a wisecracking, pot-smoking, frequently profane man who stands upright and seemingly has opposable thumbs under his costume.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 7th, 2012
An aimless slacker named Jeff shambles out of his mother's basement (where he lives, hence the movie title), tasked with a chore, but is sidetracked by a theory that he is being given signs. What are these “signs” meant to mean? Not even Jeff knows as he runs into his brother and mother along his seemingly random path. The films asks, is said path truly random? Or is he finally on a journey to find true meaning in his life?
This film is essentially about people who are dissatisfied about their placement in life and are in need of something drastic to shake them out of it. Jeff, played by Jason Segal, seems to focused on fruitless theories and journeys to ever make something of himself. His brother, played by Ed Helms, suspects his wife of infidelity after she blows up at him over buying a new Porsche without consulting her. Their mother, played by Susan Sarandon, is a widow who has not had excitement in her life since her husband passed on. When an anonymous love note arrives, she takes the chance of discovery who her “admirer” is.
