Genre

The Affair: Season Four

Posted in No Huddle by J C on October 24th, 2018

“Why make things simple when they can be painful and difficult?”

The current TV landscape is overflowing with “limited series” and anthologies that reboot themselves each year with new characters and storylines. The Affair, which premiered in 2014, seemed ready-made for that formula: each season could’ve followed different adulterous encounters in a wide variety of settings. Instead, the perspective-shifting Showtime drama has followed the same group of sad sacks through multiple years as they deal with the fallout of a single Long Island dalliance. The good news is this fourth season serves as both a soft reboot for the series and a swan song for a couple of major characters.
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Reprisal (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 23rd, 2018

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It seems there isn’t an action film Bruce Willis can say no to. It feels as though every couple of months there is an action film that has an appearance from Willis, and frankly it’s a little disappointing. He’s a guy who can bring in the major box office dollars, but it seems more and more of the action stars are settling for the direct-to-video route for the simple paycheck and moving on to the next. With the number of films being churned out for the cinemas, DVD and Blu-ray, and the streaming services, it seems the film industry is simply becoming a business of quantity rather than quality due to the amount of demand needed. Reprisal is the latest example of this demand for quantity rather than quality as we get a pedestrian action film that plays by the numbers and will be forgotten by the year’s end, and that’s a shame considering its two leads.
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City Slickers (Collector’s Edition) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 22nd, 2018

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“You came out here city slickers, you’re gonna go home cowboys.”

I still remember pretty clearly my dad suggesting we go check out a matinee of City Slickers. I was visiting him in New York City during the summer of 1991, and my 8-year-old self had no idea what a “city slicker” (or even what a Billy Crystal) was. That being said, I was completely delighted by the movie and have re-watched it many times throughout the years. (The calf birthing scene, in particular, stuck to my innocent, 8-year-old brain.) I recently got a chance to revisit the crowd-pleasing, cowboys-and-yuppies comedy once again thanks to this new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory.
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“31 Nights Of Terror” Ash vs. The Evil Dead: The Complete Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 20th, 2018

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From the moment that STARZ announced that they were pulling the plug on Ash vs Evil Dead after its third season, my heart has been a bit crushed. The Evil Dead franchise has always been special to me. Growing up I watched the trilogy of films to the point one may consider I had an unhealthy obsession with these films, and to be fair, they may have had a point, but these movies were a blast. These were the films where writer and director Sam Raimi made a name for himself in the horror genre with his cinematic style, over the top gore, and injecting his love of The Three Stooges. For decades fans had waited patiently for a fourth installment in the franchise, with teases of there even being an Ash vs Freddy vs Jason, but alas that concept fizzled as a film. So when the news came along that STARZ would be bringing Ash (Bruce Campbell) to the small screen for a 10-episode series, well, it was something horror fans could get excited about
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Ant-Man and The Wasp (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 18th, 2018

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This past summer, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was turned upside down in a snap. Avengers: Infinity War was the culmination of 10 years worth of origin stories and world-building. That blockbuster featured (almost) every MCU hero in the galaxy, universe-spanning stakes, and an unforgettable cliffhanger. So you can excuse Marvel for scaling things back (waaaaay back) with its next entry. Of course, any superhero flick that came immediately after Infinity War was going to feel small by comparison, so who better to take on that task than the tiniest hero of them all?
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Arizona (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 17th, 2018

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“I’m sorry…I’m a really good person.”

I absolutely loved The Big Short, which managed to extract smart, insightful comedy from one of the gloomiest chapters in recent American history. But if there’s one minor critique I had, it’s that the 2015 Adam McKay film sort of glossed over the human cost of the nationwide financial collapse. On the other hand, Arizona — a violent, over-the-top black comedy that’s billed as being “from the producers of Eastbound & Down and Brooklyn Nine-Nine” — is set in 2009 and focuses almost exclusively on a handful of hard-luck losers trying to survive the housing crisis.
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Vikings: Season 5 Vol 1 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2018

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“All things change. This world is impermanent and deceiving. Many things are not what they seem. You will have many adventures here. And if we live, many stories to tell at the Great Hall. If we live.”

When Vikings started five years ago, I found it to be quite an ambitious task for a network that usually featured documentaries and reality shows about odd jobs. I approached this one with some caution. Now I’ve thrown caution to the wind for these compelling characters. I was particularly drawn into the lead. Travis Fimmel was outstanding as the Viking leader Ragnor Lothbrook. When his character was killed off after three years, I suspected things would be winding down for this experiment.
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“31 Nights of Terror” Constantine: City of Demons — The Movie (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 13th, 2018

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“But this place…too much light.”

To put things mildly, Warner Bros. still has a bit of a ways to go before its stable of DC Comics superheroes catches up to Disney’s dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Warner and DC have long had the upper hand on both the small screen (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow) and with their animated, direct-to-video offerings. Constantine: City of Demons represents the best of those latter two worlds: City of Demons began its life as a short-lived TV series before bringing smart-ass occult detective John Constantine back to life for this moody and thoroughly entertaining feature-length adventure.
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Skyscraper (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 12th, 2018

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Dwayne Johnson appears to be a pretty busy guy. In addition to the HBO series Ballers about to enter its fourth season, Johnson puts out a couple or more films a year. We’re not talking about small independent films, but rather huge, high-budget and big f/x films. Next year will see Jungle Cruise and Jumanji 2, following with San Andreas 2, Suicide Squad 2, Black Adam, and a remake of Big Trouble In Little China, all arriving in the next couple of years. This year saw Rampage, which comes to home video next week. It’s a busy life for Dwayne Johnson, who appears to have dropped “The Rock” from his name. I sure hope it didn’t hit anyone on the head. Now he’s starring in Skyscraper, which shamelessly combines elements of Die Hard and The Towering Inferno. In Skyscraper, Johnson shows us that he’s intent on hanging around for a while… this time from 220 stories high.
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The Catcher Was a Spy

Posted in No Huddle by J C on October 12th, 2018

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“The Nazis gave the task of building an atomic bomb to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Werner Heisenberg. In response, the U.S. government sent a Jewish baseball player to assassinate him. His name was Morris “Moe” Berg.”

Growing up in Puerto Rico, baseball was my first (sports) language…but I’d never heard the name Moe Berg until I sat down to watch The Catcher Was a Spy. Berg played 15 years in the major leagues, but this stylish, uneven movie suggests that baseball was the least of his talents.
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Power Rangers: Chojin Sentai Jetman – The Complete Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 11th, 2018

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When you have done movie reviews for a very long time such as I have, you acquire knowledge about certain films and movies that in a normal life span one would probably never come across. One of those for me has been the Power Rangers series. I have reviewed several of the American adaptations for the site, and while they are not my cup of tea, I am familiar with how they work and operate. Last week, I received one of the Japanese original Super Sentai series, Chojin Sentai Jetman, and I was eager to check it out. Let’s see how this all unfolds.

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“31 Nights of Terror” Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (UHD-Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 10th, 2018

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“Why would anybody create a Nazi puppet?!”

There are two types of people in this world: A) the sort of person who reads the question above and says, “That’s offensive! I have absolutely no idea” and B) the joyful weirdo who replies, “Why would anybody stop at creating just *one* Nazi puppet?” If you’re in Group B, you’re in luck…the people behind Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich didn’t stop at one Nazi puppet. (Not even close!) More importantly, this bloody reboot of the 1989 cult horror classic features some of the craziest and most disgusting kills I’ve seen in a while. (I promise that’s a compliment.)
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Big Fish and Begonia (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 5th, 2018

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As some of you might know, I have a son, a three-year-old toddler. Since we live in the suburbs, we unfortunately don’t get out as often as we like to places like the beach or any other places where we might be able to explore the animals and creatures that inhabit the wondrous ocean. As a result, we have a tendency to watch plenty of underwater nature documentaries or whichever Pixar animated Nemo or Dory show we can find. Today, we have for review an animated tale about creatures who can turn into beautiful red dolphins so they can be a part of the human world. Is the movie as beautiful as it seems, or much like the dolphins, is it something else in disguise?

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“31 Nights Of Terror” The First Purge (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 4th, 2018

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“This is the greatest s— show on Earth!”

The First Purge arrives in theaters a little more than five years after the (lowercase) first Purge rampaged into moviegoers’ consciousness as a nasty bit of R-rated, summer blockbuster counterprogramming. The movies are obviously quite popular, but I’ve never felt that any of them fully lived up to the killer concept at the center of this franchise. Unfortunately, that still holds true for The First Purge, which had a chance to deviate from the established formula in a variety of interesting ways, but ends up playing a lot like The First Three Purges.
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“31 Nights of Terror” Exorcist II: The Heretic (Collector’s Edition) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 3rd, 2018

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“The world doesn’t want any more saints.”

Maybe the world didn’t want any more Exorcist movies…at least not any that looked like Exorcist II: The Heretic. This follow-up to William Friedkin’s 1973 genre-defining horror classic is not only regarded as one of the weakest sequels of all-time, but some consider it to be one of the worst films ever made. I hate to throw out a ***SPOILER ALERT*** so early in my review, but…I don’t think this is the worst film ever made. ***END OF SPOILER ALERT*** Instead, I find Exorcist II to be a nonsensical, somewhat intriguing disaster whose fatal flaw is that it took everything that everyone loved about The Exorcist…and decided to do almost the exact opposite.
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X-Men: 3 Film Collection (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2018

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“Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.”

Fox is taking full advantage of their version of the X-Men Universe these days. By this time next year, the group of mutants will once again be back with Marvel at Disney, and I suspect they will quickly join that studio’s MCU. I can’t blame Fox for getting as much out of it now as they can. With the pending release of Dark Phoenix and two television shows running, this was the perfect time to release the original film trilogy on UHD in ultra-high-definition.
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DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 28th, 2018

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“How will we be remembered? Will it be for saving the world…Twice? Nope. We’re the team who broke time. That’s right. History has been torn to shreds, which means it’s up to us to put it back together again, piece by piece, finding these so-called anachronisms before we get torn to shreds. So please, don’t call us heroes. We’re legends.”

At the end of the second season the team broke one of the cardinal rules of time travel. You can’t revisit a time and place that you already visited. The result is that you break time, and that’s exactly what the Legends of Tomorrow have done. The result is that they have been recalled and dismissed from service by the newly-formed Bureau of Time. Now our legends are back in the mundane world, where Sara (Lotz) is working as a clerk at a bed and shower store, having fantasies of killing her boss.
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Occupation (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 28th, 2018

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“Told you it was aliens.”

What if Michael Bay was Australian and he was only given $6 million to make an alien invasion movie? The result might look a lot like Occupation, a rollicking, gleefully dumb sci-fi/action flick that works best as a throwback to simpler (i.e. dumber) times at the multiplex. But while Occupaton has its charms, the movie’s shoddy special effects and production values consistently undermine the kickass story it’s trying to tell.
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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert — Encore (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 27th, 2018

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“So here we are…in the belly of the beast. A lot of power and money in this room.”

That cheeky line came from Iggy Pop during The Stooges’ induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. It’s also featured in Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert — Encore, a wonderfully comprehensive collection of the four induction ceremonies between 2010 and 2013. The 2-disc Blu-ray set features over 8 hours of content, including full induction speeches and 44 musical performances from rock and roll icons and rising stars. Iggy was right about the power and money in the room; this set features some of the biggest names in the history of music…plus A-listers like Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey!
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X-files: Season 11 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2018

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“Is there life out there? Good heavens! To doubt it is a failure of more than the imagination. It is a failure to recognize the limits of our own stupidity. The nascency of our science. The rudiment of our tools. We listen. We search. We hope for a sign, as if our eyes and ears are good enough, our brains large enough, our egos small enough.”

By the time The X-Files had reached its seventh season, the two stars of the show were feeling the stress of doing over 20 episodes of the series every year. In the eighth season David Duchovny was going MIA, and Gillian Anderson’s Scully character had a new partner in Robert Patrick’s Agent Doggett.
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Solo: A Star Wars Story (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2018

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“A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…”

Yes, those lines open this Star Wars story, because the filmmakers want to be sure you know what you’re watching. This is Star Wars. Just in case there was anyone at all in the audience who had no idea they just bought a ticket to Star Wars. If he were dead, George Lucas would be rolling over in his grave. Instead, maybe he’s just having some restless nights with little sleep. It is Star Wars. And that means there will be a droid as a main character, space battles, and some good old fashioned one-reel-serial-days adventure. It’s a heck of a visual amusement park ride, and the film will certainly entertain. But I have to open by saying it is my least favorite of the Disney Star Wars films to date.
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The Row (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 26th, 2018

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With Halloween just around the corner, it’s that time of the year when the studios start cranking out horror films to fill up the shelves hoping that eager fans will scoop up any new horror titles they can add to their collection. The Row is one of those releases that has the cover with beautiful girls and the tease of murder and mayhem to ensue. Does it deliver what the cover is attempting to sell? Well, the simple answer is yes, but to call this film horror is the equivalent of calling a toddler’s finger painting art. This is a film that sadly is a product of the times. Though it has an R rating, the film seems tame, and considering the director claims he was aiming for Spring Breakers meets Friday the 13^th, I have to wonder if he saw either of those films.
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Once Upon A Time: The Complete Final Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2018

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“Once upon a time there was a magical forest filled with fairytale characters. One day a powerful curse trapped them in a city which had no magic, and each of them forgot who they really were. This is how it happened…”

Once Upon A Time hasn’t been a big ratings winner for the last few years. Each season the show appeared on the bubble and ended up getting renewed at the last minute. One of the reasons the show managed to escape the axe was because it had some value for the network’s parent company, Walt Disney Studios.
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2018

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“Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur? The first time you see them, it’s like a miracle. You read about them in books, you see the bones in museums, but you don’t really believe it. They’re like myths. And then you see the first one alive.”

By the time you get to the fourth sequel of a film, the results are usually not very good. Even a groundbreaking film like Jurassic Park has been followed by at least one terrible sequel. The problem with these kinds of things is pretty easy to figure out. You can’t please all of any film’s diehard fans, and it’s hard to continue to deliver on the formula’s expectations, all the while breaking new ground without the result feeling more contrived than original.
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Supergirl: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 23rd, 2018

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“My name is Kara Zor-El. I’m from Krypton. I’m a refugee on this planet. I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin. But my pod got knocked off course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up and become… Superman. I hid who I really was until one day when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world. To most people, I’m a reporter at CatCo Worldwide Media. But in secret, I work with my adoptive sister for the D.E.O. to protect my city from alien life and anyone else that means to cause it harm. I am Supergirl.”

So, you’re asking yourself, who the heck is Kara Zor-El, and what is this D.E.O.? I get it. You’re just not caught up on the CW series Supergirl. It’s not such a good idea to start here, however. You can check out our reviews for the first two seasons here. Catch up on the episodes, and then join the rest of us for Supergirl: The Complete Third Season.
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