Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2009
“Ride into this world all alone. God takes your soul. You're on your own.
The crow flies straight, a perfect line on the devil's back until you die.
Gotta look this life in the eye”.
When these guys send a message, they don’t use Western Union. Not only will they blow up your warehouse, but they’ll catch one of your guys and plant a stick of dynamite in his butt cheeks to set off the explosion. That’s the world of the motorcycle club, The Sons Of Anarchy. In the wake of The Shield, FX stays true to form with the latest from that show’s alumni Kurt Sutter. Sons Of Anarchy has a familiar tone and quality to it for fans of that now gone cop drama. There’s a lot of handheld camera stuff, and you have very similar themes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2009
Dexter Morgan (Hall) is a forensic lab rat for the Miami-Dade Police. He really knows blood splatter. He should, because he moonlights as a killer. It seems that poor old Dex just can’t help himself. His parents were criminals, and he witnessed his mother’s brutal slashing by a chainsaw gang when he was just a young boy. He was adopted by Harry Morgan (Remar), a police officer. Harry saw the killer instinct in Dexter and taught him how to channel the urges for the sake of good. Dexter adopted Harry’s Code, which means he only kills others that he’s able to prove were killers themselves. Working for the police with his officer sister, Debra (Carpenter), Dexter is constantly just on the verge of getting caught.He has to adapt and evolve to avoid capture. Dexter’s also trying to have a relationship, mostly because he knows it helps him blend in. Buffy and Angel’s Darla, Julie Benz, plays Rita. Dexter doesn’t really feel anything, but he’s trying to act the way he sees others act in the same environment.
“Most actors toil in obscurity, never stepping into the spotlight. But, if you hone your craft, work diligently you might just find yourself cast in the role of a lifetime.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2009
The Untouchables took on a perhaps too convincing appearance of reality. Remember that the audience was made up of folks who grew up getting their news from newsreels at the local theater. It was a stroke of genius to have real life news reporter Walter Winchell narrate the series. Everything from that narration to the gritty dark photography carried a documentary style feel to every minute of the action. You can only imagine why too many Americans thought it was too violent. The show wasn’t too violent. It looked and felt too realistic. Robert Stack literally becomes the persona of Elliot Ness. The show was also based on a book that was co-written by Ness himself but was highly fictionalized by the time it reached millions of homes each week. In truth, Ness’s team didn’t exist long after bringing down Capone for tax evasion. In the series the team becomes a strike force of sorts against an entire mug book of criminals real and imagined.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2009
It’s a disc loaded with pilots. No, you won’t find any daring men and their flying machines here. These pilots owe more to Philo T. Farnsworth than The Wright Brothers. Farnsworth transmitted the first televised image in 1927. In case you’re wondering, that image was a dollar bill. These pilots follow in those footsteps; that’s because these pilots are television shows. They’re the first episodes of some of the best action series to appear on CBS over the last few decades. Going back as far as the 1960’s, these shows represent a nice cross section of television action entertainment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 23rd, 2009
This is a new release of the film, and its main interest, for those who already have a copy, is the meatier set of extras (even though some on the other disc are now gone). As for the film itself, what I said before still goes, so once again, I quote myself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 21st, 2009
Shortly before World War II, British officer Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon), vacationing in Bavaria, puts his sterling hunting skills to use by framing Adolf Hitler in his gun sights. He pulls the trigger on an empty barrel, not really planning to perform an assassination. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he loads the gun, but is captured before anything history-changing occurs. The Gestapo leader Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders) wants him to confess to being an assassin working for the British government. Thondike refuses. He manages to escape, and Quive-Smith's forces (including the always sinister John Carradine) pursue Thorndike to England, where he falls in with innocent Cockney lass Jerry (Joan Bennett).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 21st, 2009
In the first season of Showtime’s Californication, we were introduced to David Duchovny’s character, bitter yet upbeat writer Hank Moody. Hank, after moving to Los Angeles on the heels of his first novel - a critical darling entitled “God Hates Us All” - has recently lost his long-time love and, by extension, his daughter, to a straight-arrow bore who makes his girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) feel safe.
The first season told us the story of Hank’s attempts to win Karen back and his increasingly perilous relationship with a sixteen-year-old Lolita whose inclination for combining sex with a wicked right hook leads to one of television’s all-time great novel titles. Oh yeah, and it also featured lots and lots of raunchy sex between Hank and many gorgeous women. This was a major reason for the show’s notoriety, but what really makes the show work is Duchovny’s portrayal of Hank. He imbues him with a charming kind of good-natured nihilism and, even when he is being a grade-A jackass, we still like him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 20th, 2009
“Unlike the rest of us, sex, lies, and scandal never take a vacation. Instead they take the Long Island Expressway and head East to the Hamptons. Some would say summer is their busiest season. Think Park Avenue, but with tennis whites and Bain de Soleil. The players change, but the game remains the same.”
And for fans of the series Gossip Girl, the place may have changed at least for the season two premiere, but it’s still the show that’s become somewhat of a guilty pleasure to so many viewers. The show picks up during Summer Break in the Hamptons for our East Enders, but don’t worry. They’re back in their East End familiar surroundings before too long at all. As the opening narrative implies, the game does indeed remain the same.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 20th, 2009
“Take hope from the heart of a man, and you make him a beast or prey. And the beast eats away at you if you’re not careful. The beast will eat it all and you will have nothing and you are nothing.”
Patrick Swayze stars as Charles Barker, an FBI undercover specialist. He handles the deep cover missions, the kind that requires a total commitment to the mission. He’s the kind of agent that knows where the line is so that he knows where to cross it. He’s a grizzled veteran. His new partner is young Agent Ellis Dove, played by Australian actor Travis Fimmel. Ellis is a bit uncomfortable with Barker’s all in approach. Still, he’s a loyal student and will do what it takes to catch the bad guys. The two agents are handled by an agent named simply Conrad. Conrad is played by everyone’s favorite comedy relief from the new Mummy films, Kevin J. O’Connor. He was the cowardly rascal Beni in those first two films. Each episode brings us a special set of circumstances where the FBI feels Barker’s special brand of work ethic might work. Still, the feds are a bit worried about just how far he has gone over that line. They try to get Ellis to snitch on his new partner to no avail. Larry Gilliard, Jr. plays Ray, the persistent internal affairs agent who wants the goods on Barker.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 20th, 2009
Marketing is very important for a movie. Many think that star power or an impressive audio track will do the trick. Even if you crank up the special effects to eleven, it might do nothing for the film. That is unless some solid marketing executives do their best to get it out there and into the minds of the ticket buyers. Take a film called Delgo. It boasted one of the worst grossing wide releases in recent history. However, the animated movie had a solid speaking cast and the animation was very respectable. So what exactly happened? Marketing.
There are two primary types of creatures on the planet of Jhamora. There are the Lokni, which are best described as humanoid like lizards with the special gift of stone magic. The other group is known as the Nohrin. They resemble humanoid like fairies gifted with wings that enable them to fly. They were given permission to habitat the land by the Lokni. However, soon we found that various members of Nohrin wish to take over the land and away from the Lokni people.
![Sons of Anarchy: Season One [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/sons-of-anarchy-season-one-blu-ra-large.jpg)
![Dexter: The Complete Third Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dexter-the-complete-third-season--large.jpg)
