Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on July 21st, 2021
"Throughout history, different cultures all over the world reference a great tournament of champions. That dragon marking, I think it's an invitation to fight for something known as Mortal Kombat."
While I do rate this adaptation of the popular video game better than its incarnations that came before it in the 90s, I still wouldn’t categorize it as a great movie. It’s a bit too short on explanation to reach that level. It starts off promising with a showdown battle between the two most popular characters of the game, played by Joe Taslim (Sub-Zero) and Hiroyuki Sanada (Scorpion). The fight is everything that I expected it to be; well-orchestrated with the right amount of bloodshed. However, as the story goes on, the quality of the storytelling takes a hit as the film takes the position that the audience is already well-versed in the backstory of the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 20th, 2021
Bigger doesn’t always mean better. Eight years following the success of the first 48 Hrs film and the rise of Eddie Murphy’s stardom, Murphy came to the studio proposing to do a sequel, and they happily obliged him, allowing him to also produce it under his budding production company. Walter Hill had gone on to direct some successful films, but nothing like the box office success of 48 Hrs. Brewster’s Millions, Streets of Fire, and Red Heat are just of few of the films that stood out during this time for Hill, but the potential of another big moneymaker that could give him the clout to go on and direct more of the films that he wanted was the draw he needed. It was a paycheck movie that could have had potential, but with a rumored 30 minutes cut from the film just before its release on top of the 20-plus minutes cut down from the first cut followed by a rushed script to get the film into production, well, it’s no surprise that the film falls short of the first film.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 20th, 2021
In 1982 when production was getting started on 48 Hrs, Walter Hill had plenty pf success with The Warriors, The Long Riders, and Southern Comfort, and many would think he was taking a bit of a risk by casting Eddie Murphy as the second lead of his film. Sure, Murphy would go on to be a giant success, but at the time of this film all he had was being a cast member of SNL. The gamble would of course be a success for not just Walter Hill and the film, but 48 Hrs would be the film that lit the fuse to a successful career that would launch Eddie Murphy into superstardom. The movie is a classic for more than just making a career for Eddie Murphy; it’s also the movie that remolded what the “buddy action” film can be by having the leads at one another’s throats while the bullets and fists fly. While this isn’t my favorite Walter Hill film (that number one slot will always be The Warriors), 48 Hrs. is a staple film of his career that I feel is required viewing for those who love 80s action films, or simply good films, period.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 9th, 2021
“Bueller … Bueller …”
When it comes to the 80’s teen comedies, I think we can all agree John Hughes is the king, and I feel just about every kid who grew up during that time has a strong opinion on what the “BEST” John Hughes movie is. The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles are pretty much all classics that he wrote and directed, but that doesn’t count the numerous others that he just wrote. When I heard John Hughes died, it was a sad day, even though he hadn’t directed a film since 1991’s Curly Sue. I think we all were kind of holding out hope he’d be able to step back behind the camera one more time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 6th, 2021
I remember when The Golden Compass came to theaters. I know I saw it because I was a projectionist and had to screen the print, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember anything about the film. Perhaps that’s why that when I first heard about HBO doing a TV series adaption of the beloved book series His Dark Materials, I wasn’t all that thrilled. I’d never read the young adult series, and considering the amount of awful YA film and TV adaptations that have bombarded us for nearly two decades, it too played a role in squashing any excitement I might have had in different circumstances. I was definitely pessimistic about watching the , but when I finished Season 1, I was excited about where the next season would take us. I loved the characters, the daemons, and the worlds that the show took us to. Not since Stranger Things had I been more excited about a new series. Season 2’s can be a make-or-break for a lot of shows. Expectations have been made by the audience, and sometimes things just fall apart, but sometimes there is the rare occasion where Season 2 manages to only get better. I’m happy to say in the case of His Dark Materials, things definitely improve.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 1st, 2021
"We're 10 years in now. I was a little kid. I can barely remember the Night The Sky Fell, let alone what the world was like before. We still live behind walls, and the dead still have this world. And I think that with everything that went away, with everything we lost, with everyone we lost, some people think it can happen again. Some people think that what we have can't last. Some people can't believe. But I'm certain of our home city and our alliance with Portland, with the Civic Republic, and I'm certain what's ahead. We are monuments to the past, but everyone here, all of you, you are the future. We are the future. I'm sure of it."
There is life after death. For The Walking Dead that life has a pretty solid run.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 29th, 2021
Long before super-hero films became the rage of American cinema, the Western was the original bread and butter that would draw in its audiences to flock to the silver screen. Hollywood cranked out so many Westerns I seriously doubt anyone knows just how many of these films were shot by the studios, not to mention the others that were re-cut with scenes inserted with new stock footage just to re-title a film and put it back out onto the screen. There are some directors that elevated the genre, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Clint Eastwood, Sam Peckinpah, and then there’s John Sturges who is mostly famous for helming The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. Sturges had a strong 30 year career directing and though he had a few misses when his films were good they were really good so when the offer came along to review one of his Westerns I hadn’t seen I was happy to jump aboard to review the Last Train From Gun Hill.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 18th, 2021
Just in time for the first days of shooting on the next and final Indiana Jones film, Paramount cashes in on the renewed interest with the long-awaited, at least from this reviewer, release of the first four films in the Indiana Jones franchise on UHD Blu-ray in full ultra high definition complete with HDR and Dolby Vision. OK, I lied about the long-awaited four films. Most of us have long-awaited two out of the first four films, but Paramount gets that. That's why the original Blu-ray release and again the 4K release doesn't give you the option yet to just pick the two you want. If you want Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Last Crusade in 4K, you're stuck with the other two. I'll take that deal, and you should, too. Here's why.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 18th, 2021
Ever since the release of Godzilla in 2014, just the possibility of this film has been highly anticipated. The last time we got to see these two titans go head to head, it was in the 1963 version of Kong vs, Godzilla. Sure, it has some value as a campy romp, but you’ll have a difficult time convincing anyone that it was actually a good movie. No matter what fans may think of the new Monsterverse that we’ve gotten, I feel what can be agreed upon is that each of the films has given us an impressive look at these monsters, not just in their design, but in their fights. While I’m pretty open about my affection for these titans and how happy I am to see them finally get their due beyond the man-in-suit films (which of course I still enjoy and adore), it’s still no surprise to me that the weakest parts have always been the human aspect of the films.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 4th, 2021
By David Annandale
It is 1979. While filming a Super 8 horror movie, a group of young friends on the cusp of adolescence witness a spectacular train wreck. They later discover that they accidentally captured evidence that there was an alien creature on the train, and it is now loose in their small town. But if the mysterious disappearance of dogs, engines, and (increasingly) people wasn’t trouble enough, the military descends upon the community with an agenda far more merciless and inhuman than that of the alien itself. I was 12 in 1979, and I was shooting Super 8 monster movies, so I get the nostalgia that writer/director J.J. Abrams is going for here, and this is an utterly unapologetic exercise in nostalgia. Abrams is out to recreate the experience of a Spielberg movie from that era, and with the man himself acting as producer, the mission is accomplished
