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.
When Last Train From Gun Hill was made, Paramount studios had created a new style of film called Vista Vision, a flashy name and style to attract audiences to the cinemas. Basically it was 35 mm film shot horizontally, this was a method that would later be used in 70mm to create IMAX film. The quality of the picture when using the Vista Vision is incredible and it was pretty much the first thing I noticed while watching this films, the sweeping landscapes look more impressive and just about every shot looks fantastic here, cinematographer Charles Lang who had a successful run of films shooting for Billy Wilder does a incredible job with this smaller scaled western. Sure the Vista Vision may have been nothing more than a gimmick but the look of this film is what immediately jumps out at me and reminds me of what audiences are missing from movies shot on genuine film.
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.
Harrison Ford was once the top selling actor in Hollywood. He owes this distinction in no small part to a couple of trilogies he did early in his career. While Star Wars might have been a chance for Ford to break out, Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels defined his abilities. Indiana Jones is the perfect hero. He’s strong, intelligent, and above all, moral. Unlike the stereotypical hero, Jones is also vulnerable, and at times flawed. Credit Steven Spielberg for the iconic stature Indy occupies today. Left to his own devices, George Lucas would have given us Tom Selleck as the cigarette-smoking, morally bankrupt Indiana Smith.
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. While I believe Peter Jackson’s King Kong may be the best of all the monster films by blending story, FX, and monster mayhem, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) was quite simply a beautiful take of just monster mayhem, and it really amped up everyone’s expectations to finally get to see Kong and Godzilla finally do battle with a budget and FX that are deserving of them both.
Right from the start the film is setting it up that Godzilla is the “bad guy” while he destroys a tech facility in Florida called Apex Cybernetics. Is it a random attack, or is there something more sinister going on at the facility? Of course, something is rotten in Denmark there, but just what is going on we don’t get the full details on till much later. For fans seeing Godzilla as the villain isn’t anything new; he’s a force of nature that just enjoys destroying cities and getting into scraps with any giant monsters that get in his way. When we meet up with Kong, he’s pretty much the polar opposite. It’s been about 50 years later since his last romp on Skull Island, and he’s just trying to live his life and be happy. Apparently Skull Island has been destroyed, and Kong is really housed in a giant facility where he is under 24-hour watch. In this time he’s made himself a friend, Jia ( Kaylee Hottle), a girl with a hearing disability that has developed a sweet bond with the giant ape. For Hottle this is her first role, and as an actress with a real hearing disability, well, she’s impressive and does a great job as being the heart of this film. How she’s able interact with this giant CGI character and have it look so genuine is definitely what saves this film on the human side of things.
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. Super 8 plays like the Lost Spielberg Movie, with all the wonder, thrills, and sentimentality one would expect. There is so much here that works beautifully. The young cast is terrific, the dialog crackles, the effects are spectacular, and the creature is both menacing and sympathetic, like some unholy version of ET reworked by H.P. Lovecraft.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 1st, 2021
When I was in grade school, I remember reading High King, the fifth book in the Prydain Chronicles, as part of a reading assignment (since it was a Newbery Award winner). I also at some point watched Black Cauldron in my youth, but I'm pretty sure it was on a crummy VHS tape. Anyhow, many years later, with an old friend, I was gifted a treasured copy of Prydain Chronicles (all five books in a hardback format). Being much older, I took the time to read the entire hardback collection, and ever since then I've been tracking down related items including the Black Cauldron movie from Disney to revisit. It might not be the wonderful series of books, but it's still an excellent movie on its own accord. Let's explore the recent release from the Disney Movie Club.
In the mystic land of Prydain, there was once a king so evil and cruel that even the gods feared him. He was imprisoned in a crucible of molten iron since no prison could hold him. His demonic spirit was harnessed in the form of a great black cauldron. That Black Cauldron lay hidden while evil men tried to find it. The one man who did would be able to harness a power to resurrect an evil army which would then rule the world.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 1st, 2021
"I can see it now... Supernatural: The End. And the cover is just a grave stone that says 'Winchester'. Fans are gonna love it. Welcome to the end"
The brothers made an emotional announcement during the airing of the previous season that the 15th year would be the final season of the show. It's hard to believe that we'll soon know a television landscape without the Winchester brothers. It's the last show that goes back to the original WB Network that eventually lead to the current CW Network that has become more and more the home of the Warner Brothers-owned DC Comics television universe. But in the middle of speedsters, archers, aliens, and time travelers, there was always room for the Winchesters. It'll be a bit of a culture shock to have them gone. Hard to imagine, but if you were a young 15-year-old kid when you started to watch the show, you're now 30, likely with kids of your own. You live in an entirely different world than you did when you first came aboard. How will you feel without it? We'll always have over 300 hours and 15 seasons to watch whenever we want thanks to these wonderful releases on Blu-ray from Warner Home Entertainment. So let's give the boys one hell of a sendoff. If you have no idea who these guys are, you are in for one sweet treat, I can tell you that much. But you can't start here. You'll never understand what's going on, and it will taint your experience. You have a lot of watching to do to be ready for this release. Check out our long list of reviews here and start binge-watching fast. Once you're caught up, continue on. Caught up? Excellent. On to the final season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 28th, 2021
On December 15th, 1967 the Silver Bridge which connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia to Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed under the stress of rush hour traffic and killed forty six people. Later on, it was determined that the collapse was due to a small defect only .1 inches in a single eyebar in one of the suspension chains along with poor maintenance. However, sightings of the Mothman during that time period had citizens attribute this disaster to a far more sinister cause. That led to a book in 1975 by John Keel. Twenty seven years later, the film The Mothman Prophecies would be released based on these events. Let's take a look at the Imprint #39 release arriving on blu-ray.
John Klein (played by Richard Gere) is a reporter for the Washington Post. Despite urging from his office, he won't be attending the Christmas party. Instead he has a date with his wife, Mary (played by Debra Messing). He makes the call to his wife who is busy taking a shower and leaves a message. It appears that the happy couple is on their way to buying a house together.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2021
By John Ceballos
“She’s quite a common girl, very common indeed.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 18th, 2021
It started in 2013 with Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. DC decided to follow the Marvel MCU model and release a series of DC property films in a 16-film phase that ended last year with Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. After 16 films with a couple of branch-offs, that phase/story has come to a close, and a new phase begins with Justice Society: World War II. The stories were pretty much based on the New 52 reboot of the DC comics universe. There have been some exceptional films in the series and a couple of duds. The animation styles varied and conformed to the type of story being told. With the release of Justice Society: World War II we enter a new phase, and so far the theme or source of the new films hasn't been revealed. We know the next two films will be based on the Batman: The Long Halloween comic. After that it appears the DC folks' lips are sealed. While that two-part adventure looks quite enticing, the new series of films opens with a very average entry.
The film begins with President Franklin D. Roosevelt being briefed on a secret Nazi project. This is going to tempt you to fetch your Indiana Jones fedora and whip. You see, this secret Nazi project has Hitler sending teams out to look for "magical" or supernatural objects to help him win World War II. The film presentation gives us an idea of the kinds of artifacts the project is seeking, including... wait for it ... the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. No sign of Harrison Ford. FDR is also briefed on a special project the Allies are running. It's a group of superheroes who have been gathered to fight for the Allies. The group is led by Wonder Woman, voiced by Law & Order: SVU's Stana Katic with a rather humorous Russian accent. The team also includes Hawkman, voiced by Omid Abtahi, Hourman, voiced by Matthew Mercer, Jay Garrick's Flash, voiced by Armen Taylor, Black Canary, voiced by Elysia Rotaru, and Wonder Woman's main squeeze, Steve Trevor, voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos. We get to see them kick a little Nazi behind before we jump to the present where Barry Allan's Flash, voiced by Matt Bomer is helping Superman, voiced by Darren Criss, beat up on Brainiac, voiced by Darin De Paul. This is all pre-Justice League, and they go out of their way to let you know that this team-up is really something new. Barry tries to protect Superman from a Kryptonite projectile when he is suddenly thrown back in time and ends up on a World War II battlefield.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 13th, 2021
After filming Cold Pursuit in 2019, Liam Neeson announced he was done with his flirtation with action films. They had opened a new genre to the actor starting with Taken and created a nice boost to his career as an unlikely action star. He said he had some reservations about the genre. It didn't help that he revealed at the same time that he once roamed the streets looking for a black man to kill over the rape of a friend. It looked like it wasn't just action films that were over for the actor. I honestly expected there to be more trouble than there was, given the current climate. Somehow he kind of got a pass after apologizing for the remark. But he wasn't being offered the kind of high drama roles he was expected. So in less than a year he was back as an action figure, and that appears to be something he won't really be quitting in a long time. I get it. I was about to attend my fourth Elton John farewell concert since the first one back in the early 70's. There's something about getting the bug deep in your bones that makes it hard to let go. And let's be candid here, shall we? The pay ain't to bad either.
Liam Neeson plays Jim. He's a recent widower who lives on a ranch in Arizona at the Mexican border. His wife died about a year ago from cancer, and her medical bills have left him pretty much wiped out. He's on the cusp of losing his ranch. He spends his free time patrolling the area for illegals. He's got a walkie talkie that puts him in contact with the local border patrol where his stepdaughter Sarah (Winnick) is in a command position. On one of these patrols he happens upon a woman, Rosa (Ruiz) ands her son Miguel (Perez) slipping through a hole in the fence. He stops them but ends up in a gun battle with cartel warriors who are trying to get to the woman and her child. Her brother got himself in deep trouble with them, and now they plan on killing his family. The gunfight leaves Rosa dead after securing a promise from Jim to get her son to the safety of family in Chicago. He instead turns them in.
