Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2017
"Man, we'll die with you. Just don't ask us to do it twice."
Remember the old days of the action movie? Those films where someone like Stallone or Schwarzenegger would run around and take out armies of bad guys while barely breaking a sweat. You know the kind of movie I'm talking about. The ones where the hero goes up against a hail of bullets and explosions and manages to pick off the bad guys without catching a single slug himself. These were the days when a guy like Bruce Willis could fall thirty floors, get a spike impaled in his ribcage, have a ton of concrete wall fall on his head, and get run over by a truck, but still manage to take out the bad guy while muttering some witty little catchphrase that we would all be repeating, because if we could deliver the line just right that meant we were tough guys too, and we didn't even have to fall out of an airplane to prove it. Well, you won't have to remember. You just have to watch Sly Stallone's love letter to the action movie fans. It's called The Expendables, and it's out right now on UHD Blu-ray in 4K from Lionsgate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by John Delia on May 2nd, 2017
When’s the last time you saw a good dog movie with love, devotion, and heroism? Not the animated type, but one that stars dogs doing some awesome stunts, creating the love for animals and even inspiration. Well, you can find all that and more in the movie A Dog’s Purpose, a fun, adventure of a dog’s life that runs full circle. It’s fun for the whole family, but don’t be surprised when your youngster starts begging for a new furry friend. After escaping from a cage, a starving young pup gets saved by Elizabeth (Juliet Rylance). Her son Ethan (Bryce Gheisar) wants to keep the dog, and after an intervention with his father, Elizabeth wins out. Young Ethan names his new-found friend Bailey (narrated by Josh Gad), and they get along famously. As time goes by, Ethan (KJ Apa), now a popular high school football player, finds his true love with the help of Bailey.
The film goes on from there as Ethan finds himself losing a chance at a college scholarship when he gets hurt in a fire-related accident. Director Lasse Hallstrom does a very good job of changing from one breed of dog to another, showing all the quirks of the new pup’s personality. He provides a lot of comedy with the different dogs, touching scenes that warm the heart and some very dramatic situations that lead to heroic deeds. Mixed in with the passage of time the audience does get exposed to very strong scenes showing abuse, so please be cautioned when taking the immature youngsters to see A Dog’s Purpose.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 1st, 2017
Even though I was born in 1975, I don't remember a thing until I was about 5 years old, therefore I missed most of the "Disco" era. My dad would play music from the 70's, but that consisted of Led Zeppelin, Queen and Black Sabbath among other bands; no disco in sight. But one faithful day in my middle school years, I did find my mother's record and 8-track collection. There was some Barry Manilow, Julio Iglesias, and something called the Bee-Gees. I wouldn't say anything crazy like it turned my life around, but after listening, I clearly understood. I clearly understood that my mother was crazy and I was much better off listening to Whole Lotta Love. Anyway, we have a movie to review, let's continue with Saturday Night Fever.
A train whistle calls in the distance as we overlook the Verrazano Bridge. A tune to the name of Staying Alive chimes in. Tony Manero (played by John Travolta) walks down the street in his red shoes; perfectly in time to the music swinging a paint can. He checks out a few girls, orders a couple of slices of pizza and then makes his way to the paint & hardware store. Apparently, he works there for Mr. Fusco (played by Sam Coppola).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2017
"Everyone outside the family is a mark. Family comes first."
Meet the most dysfunctional crime family since The Sopranos. Not quite at the same level either on-screen or in quality, but once again we're drawn toward another dangerous clan with criminal intent. I guess we could call them The Baritones. Actually Animal Kingdom is an apt description for television's latest baddies. They're about to head into their second season of mayhem on TNT where the series was the network's top ratings winner during its run. Now that first season is out on Blu-ray from Warner Brothers, and it's one crazy ride, of that you can be certain.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 24th, 2017
The WWE is like a dog with a bone, refusing to let this franchise as well as its other one (12 rounds) go. I will give them this: they are maintaining some consistency with Mike “The Miz” Mizanin reprising his role of Jake Carter for the third time for The Marine 5: Battleground. This time around, however, the series won’t just star one WWE superstar, but six. That’s right you read correctly, six WWE superstars have come together for this action film. With the addition of The Mix come Bo Dallas, Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Naomi, and Maryse Ouellet Mizanin. Didn’t recognize any of those names? Don’t worry; me neither, as my days of watching wrestling ended with the end of the attitude era.
This time around, Jake Carter has returned stateside and is now working as an EMT. Working to make a difference, he finds himself drawn into a conflict with a notorious biker gang. After the murder of the president of their club, biker Alonso (Bo Dallas) is tasked to hunt down the shooter and gain revenge for the club. Accompanied by two more murders in the club (Curtis Axel and Naomi), they track the perpetrators to an underground parking garage at an amusement park. At the same time, Jake and his partner are called to the scene to find one man dead and the other critically wounded. With the bikers on the hunt, Jake must make the difficult choice, which turns out not to be a choice at all, of staying or leaving the man to his fate. I’m sure you all know what decision he made. Keeping them all alive will require all his acquired skills, especially when the bikers’ reinforcements arrive, leaving him severely outnumbered.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2017
I was eight years old when Armstrong first stepped on the moon in July of 1969. Like every kid my age, it filled me with a feeling that I was lucky enough to get in on the ground floor of humanity's grand exploration of space. By the time I was 15, we had landed the first probes on Mars. We were certainly on our way. The sky literally wasn't the limit anymore. But then it all stopped. By the 80's we had shifted our focus to low Earth orbit, and we haven't explored the limits of space with a manned mission in nearly 50 years. Even the Space Shuttle is gone, and we don't even have the capability to send Americans to the space station that we mostly paid for without hitching a ride with the Russians. And if you've been following world events at all, that ride isn't a sure thing anymore. That 8-year-old with the mile-wide grin would never have believed we'd be so earthbound by the time he reached his mid-50's. Along comes National Geographic with the new mini-series Mars. Is it enough to get today's 8-year-old dreaming once again? I don't know. But it provided enough to give the 8-year-old still here a little bit of hope mixed with more than a little what-might-have-been.
Mars is a six-part series that looks to be returning with more episodes in the future. The focus and drama of the first three episodes is found in the first manned mission to the Red Planet set in 2033. The crew of the Daedalus faces fierce challenges in order to establish a foothold on Mars. Each episode has several components that make it somewhat unique in its storytelling. While we witness the close calls and successes of the crew, we also learn more about the characters and the mission from flashbacks and pre-flight interviews that remind me a little of those "confessional" segments you find on the "reality" television shows. Here we also see the politics of the international crew and the agency that heads the mission. There are also documentary segments found throughout each episode. These bring us back to 2016 and cover the attempts by SpaceX to develop the technology to eventually make the 2033 drama a reality. There are interviews with scientists who talk about the real challenges in that kind of mission and how we are working to resolve them. Of course, many of these pieces deal with issues that the fictional crew encounters. It's very much a standard documentary style during these segments.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 20th, 2017
“As it turns out, there’s a virtually unprecedented tie in the Electoral College.”
If you thought the latest U.S. presidential election cycle was a soul-crushing and unpredictable mess, you should take a peek at what's happening on Veep. (At least we got a definitive real-life result...eventually.) The show's outstanding fifth season begins with President Selina Meyer — who assumed the office after her predecessor resigned — locked in a frustrating Electoral College tie as she seeks to become the first woman to be *elected* to the highest office in the land. President Meyer sums up her predicament in a manner befitting HBO's caustic, constantly-cussing comedy: “didn't those Founding F---ers ever hear of an odd number?!”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 20th, 2017
When it comes to writer/ director M. Night Shyamalan, it’s hard to find a more polarizing director between film critics and film geeks. I was a fan up until he did The Village. It’s not as though I “hated” the film; I just was getting sick of the gimmick plot twists that seemed to go hand in hand with his work. As he continued to release films, I just would shrug at the trailers, and my enthusiasm for his films quickly declined. For me Unbreakable has grown to be my favorite work of his, which is funny to me because the first time I saw it I had a hard time deciding how I felt about the film. It was a comic/ superhero film that showed us perhaps what it would be like in the real world if some regular Joe realized he was perhaps meant for something greater. It’s been 16 years, but Shyamalan has finally released a film in my opinion that can stand toe to toe with Unbreakable, and it’s with his new film Split.
Split is a return to form. Gone are the big budgets and special effects. What Shyamalan delivers is what got us to appreciate him in the first place: great real-world characters caught up in an extreme circumstance. Kevin (James McAvoy) is not your average guy, at first glance he may seem normal, but trapped inside are 22 other personalities who have their own agendas and are wanting to take control of his mind and body. Why he isn’t locked away in some padded cell is a question that is never answered to my satisfaction in the film, but if he were locked away, there wouldn’t be much of a film, so I suppose I’ll have to let this slide. For Kevin and his numerous personalities there is something frightening about to occur: the rise of a new personality, one which has been deeply suppressed and is possibly the most dangerous of them all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 14th, 2017
Every year there are dozens upon dozens of horror films released, each with the intention to make an impact on the genre. Horror is easily my favorite genre in film, but it’s a genre that easily allows itself to spill into other genres. It doesn’t matter to me what the budget is, or whether the special effects are on point; what matters most is if the story holds up. I mention this because going into The Bye Bye Man I had heard some pretty bad things, but I don’t usually let that get in the way of my opinion of a film; after all, everyone has their own tastes. For me the film’s tagline “Don’t think it. Don’t say it.” should have the added line, “Don’t remember it.”
Three friends decide to move in together in an off-campus home, Elliot (Douglas Smith) and his girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas) seem to be the happy couple as Elliot’s childhood best friend, John (Lucien Laviscount) seems to be the third wheel. They think they are supposed to be moving into a fully furnished home, yet upon walking through the door, the furniture is out of sight. After investigating the new home they find that all the furniture has been stashed away down inside the basement.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 13th, 2017
“Think inside the box.”
One of the major through lines in season 3 of Silicon Valley is that our heroes at Pied Piper have created a product so ahead of its time that it is failing to connect with consumers, which puts the start-up company in peril. Fortunately, HBO’s brainy and bawdy tech comedy hasn’t had any problems connecting with its audience: the show’s confident and hilarious third season seamlessly mixes talk of “compression algorithms” with outrageous sight gags involving horses getting, um, familiar with each other.
