Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2010
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was the first movie I ever saw on HBO. These were the very early days of the cable network. It was before the dawn of any real home video. It was at my Aunt Shirley's house that several members of the extended family gathered in dining room chairs around a 19-inch television to watch a movie uncut and without commercial interruption for the first time in our lives. A lot has changed since that 1970's afternoon at my aunt's house. Today we have hundreds of such choices on our television dials. I've seen a huge wave of home video technologies since that day that have included CED video discs, VHS/Beta, laserdisc, DVD, and now high-definition Blu-ray and movies on demand. The entire game has changed since that gathering 35 or so years ago. One thing has not changed a bit. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was a dynamic and compelling film that day. It remains so today.
R.P. McMurphy (Nicholson) is a repeat criminal who has caused more than his share of trouble in the system. He is sent to the Oregon State Hospital to have his sanity evaluated. There the head psychiatrist Dr. Spivey (Brooks) doesn't really think he's crazy. But McMurphy is held over for observation. He's placed inside a general population ward where he comes into contact with the resident "crazies" of the hospital. He takes a particular liking to Billy (Dourif) who is a sexually repressed teenager who stutters and lacks any kind of self-confidence. In a big way, he is the opposite of McMurphy himself, who is quite the extrovert and borders on manic most of the time. There is an Indian man who is about as big as a mountain who the staff and inmates simply call Chief (Sampson). At first Chief is the subject of mockery from McMurphy, but the allegedly deaf and dumb Indian soon earns McMurphy's respect, something we quickly understand is a rarity for McMurphy. Other patients include the childish Cheswick (Lassick), the shy and naive Martini (DeVito), the borderline psychotic Taber (Lloyd), and Harding (Redfield) who was pretty much the crew's unofficial leader before McMurphy came along. In charge of the ward is the indominable Nurse Ratched (Fletcher). A battle of wills soon develops between McMurphy and the cold nurse. What McMurphy doesn't know is that she has the power to keep him even after his original jail sentence has expired.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2010
I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have, in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing.
He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown: Snoopy’s driving the neighborhood crazy, and they want Charlie Brown to do something about it. That means back to The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for everyone’s favorite flying-ace beagle, and obedience school. But along the way to the farm Charlie Brown discovers just how much he loves Snoopy, just the way that he is.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 5th, 2010
For somebody who does a lot of the cartoon reviews on this website, I often miss many new cartoons that crop up on Saturday mornings, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, etc. One such animated show cropped up on my review slab. In the spirit of Halloween, (but not an official Nights of Terror post), it is my pleasure to take a look at Ugly Americans, the newest animation from Comedy Central.
Mark Lilly is a newcomer to Manhattan. He moves into his first apartment that he found on Craiglist, a nice two-bedroom with a roommate. One little problem, his roommate is a flesh-eating zombie named Randall Skeffington. Randall became a zombie in an attempt to win over a hot girl who was into zombies. The only issue is that the hot girl had moved on to warlocks by the time Randall had turned.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 5th, 2010
Bruno Hamel (Claude Legault), a surgeon, and his wife Sylvie (Fanny Mallette) enjoy an afternoon tryst while their young daughter Jasmine (Rose-Marie Coallier) heads off to school. Tragedy strikes, though, when Jasmine is assaulted and killed by pedophile Anthony Lemaire (Martin Dubreuil). Bruno and Sylvie are devastated, and each deals with the tragedy an unhealthy way, with Sylvie withdrawing from the world and her husband, and Bruno plotting vengeance. Lemaire is caught, but doesn't remain in police custody long, since Bruno kidnaps him and carries him off to a secluded cottage in the forest. His plan: torture Lemaire for the seven days leading up to what would have been Jasmine's birthday, and then kill him. The police investigation becomes at least as much about saving Bruno's soul as it is about saving Lemaire's life.
Rightly or wrongly, so-called “torture porn” is one of the more reviled subgenres of horror film. While there is no denying that the worst films of this type can be among the most mind-numbing and depressing bits of celluloid stupidity, aesthetically as well as ethically bankrupt, it is just as true that the best can force the viewer into some extremely uncomfortable, but artistically and philosophically vital, territories. One should also bear in mind that though the term “torture porn” is new, that type of story has been around forever. No less a figure of classic horror than Bram Stoker himself wrote a short story called “The Squaw,” wherein a character experiences a sexual thrill by installing himself in an iron maiden (until, of course, things go rather wrong). And if we go all the way back to the birth of literary horror, with the arrival of the Gothic novel at the end of the 18th century, the Marquis de Sade was right there at the start, penning works that articulated what the English Gothics only hinted at, and that depicted horrors that go far beyond anything Eli Roth has dared put on the screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 4th, 2010
"1.2 billion TV viewers saw the home-made autopsy film in 1995. Experts have been divided over its authenticity ever since ... until now."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 4th, 2010
"General George S. Patton. His bold attacks are legendary. See the war the way he saw it and ride along with his hard-fighting troops as they battle their way through World War II. On this 360-degree battlefield, Patton's enemies could be anywhere and everywhere. There's nowhere to run, when the war is all around you."
Patton 360 does for the European theatre of World War II what Battle 360 did for the fight in the Pacific. Just as in that earlier program, we are brought into somewhat intimate contact with one of the most prolific and successful fighting corps in that part of the war. Patton was a larger-than-life general who often got into his own way more than the enemy ever did. He was nicknamed Old Blood & Guts based on a standard speech he delivered when addressing the troops. He was the most successful general in the European war. From Normandy he pushed across France and into Germany liberating towns along the way. The French citizens loved him and considered him a hero. His troops respected him and drew confidence from him, even if they did not necessarily love the man himself. He didn't suffer what he considered foolish behavior very well. He found himself suspended and out of the war for nearly a year when he slapped two battle-fatigued soldiers with whom he had lost patience. However, it would be impossible to discuss the Great War without spending some significant time on George S. Patton. This series does just that ... and with a certain flair.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 4th, 2010
It's a classic moment in holiday cinema history. Ralphie, Flick, and Swartz are gathered around a flagpole in the dead of winter. Flick is scoffing at the idea that your tongue will stick to a metal surface under these extreme cold conditions. So Swartz commits a small violation of etiquette when he goes right for the triple dog dare. There isn't any way out for our friend Flick. The results are predictable, but nonetheless hilarious. I wish I could say the same for the teen angst film Triple Dog. For me, there truly was no way out. You, my gentle reader, might yet save yourself.
Eve (Fast) is having a birthday sleepover. The guests include her best friend Chapin (Robertson), who is a bit of a loudmouthed troublemaker. She's carrying a pretty dark secret that is causing her to act out and behave in a self-destructive manner. There's also Liz (Taylor-Compton) who is the dark school outcast. She's nicknamed "rat girl" because she carries a pet rat in her backpack. She and Chapin really do not like each other. Liz wasn't really invited, but their mothers are friends and she's pushed into the sleepover party. Cecily (Parish) is the rich girl in the group. Her father owns a local store. She's also the proper class president and academian in the group. Sarah (Tennant) is a strait-laced Catholic girl who is the uptight do-gooder in the group. Finally there is Nina (McKillip), who is the typical dumb blonde girl in the group.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 4th, 2010
Eddie Murphy was at his best when he did Saturday Night Live and his own stand up comedy. I would even say that some of his earlier films were okay. He is far better when given the opportunity to be himself, and improvise a little. I miss the days of Delirious and Saturday Night Live. Now at most we get Dr. Dolittle and Shrek. I miss the vulgar side. So let's take a trip down memory lane, and have a few laughs.
We interrupt this review to bring you this special report. Good evening, Teh Noms reporting, we have just received word that Buckwheat has been shot. Brought to you by Texxon, Life goes on, and Texxon is there. *cough* You have to have this set of sketches in order for this to be a "Best of". It goes on and on and on... With them showing the video of Buckwheat being shot at least 10 times. It doesn't start to get funny till the 4th or 5th time of seeing the video. The funniest thing is how they repeat the lines. Heeelarious.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 3rd, 2010
The other day, I was conveying to my better half that she should do an open review about a movie called Secretary that was fairly new to Blu-Ray. She ultimately decided against it because she felt she could not do a PG review for such a risqué movie. It is only fitting that a week or so later, I find Bad Lieutenant, a NC-17 movie in my own review pile and I was faced with the same task. Take an absolutely gritty, dark and disturbing movie and do what you can to make it a wholesome review. I always did like challenges.
Harvey Keitel plays a very bad cop. In fact, he's actually a Lieutenant of a local New York precinct (btw, he's never actually given a name, so we'll call him Lt.). He's had the crazy life that echoed the overzealous nature of the 80's. He has a family complete with a wife and children but the wholesome image stops right there. In his time out on the streets, he boozes, gambles, steals evidence, womanizes and does drugs including a whole lot of cocaine.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 3rd, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Paranormal State is a paranormal reality documentary television series that premiered on the A&E network in 2007. The series follows a group of students from Pennsylvania State University who formed the Paranormal Research Society (PRS) under the guidance of leader Ryan Buell. The students travel across the country investigating instances of paranormal activity at the behest of people looking for answers.
![Patton 360: The Complete Season 1 [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/patton-360-the-complete-season-1--large.jpg)
![Triple Dog [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/triple-dog-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Bad Lieutenant (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/bad-lieutenant-special-edition-b-large.jpg)
