Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 4th, 2014
The list of bad videogame movie adaptations is as ridiculously long as the titular weapon in this animated offering. In fact, the film that has best captured the spirit of gaming wasn't even based on an actual videogame. The bottom line is it's hard to translate the highly-interactive thrills of videogames into a satisfying, relatively passive moviegoing experience. So maybe the answer lies in targeting inherently cinematic games like Heavenly Sword.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 29th, 2014
“You were always such a clever troublemaker.”
When Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) entered the barn in the conclusion of season 3 of Haven, all “the Troubles” were supposed to come to an end for the small seaside town of Haven, Maine. Sure everything seemed to go as planned, that is until Duke (Eric Balfour) took the plunge into the barn before it disappeared, leaving Sheriff Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) behind.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 22nd, 2014
"Welcome to the SyFy Channel."
OK, not really. Revolution aired on sister network NBC, both part of the Universal family. Usually the sibling resemblances are not very visible. Revolution, however has all the elements of a typical SyFy Channel series. These shows almost always start with strong source material or a crazy but clever idea.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 12th, 2014
"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
The sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is arguable one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise. There are likely many reasons for this.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 5th, 2014
"You're different. You don't fit into a category. They can't control you. They call it Divergent."
In the wake of Hunger Games and Twilight studios have been snatching up the rights to young adult fiction and gearing up for franchises, all in the name of capturing the hearts and wallets of the legions of fans of these book series. Though there have been a few hits, the failures have been plentiful i.e.: City of Bones, The Host, and The Vampire Academy. As a guy approaching his mid-thirties, it’s safe to say I’m nowhere near being the target audience for this film, but call me crazy, I actually dug it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 21st, 2014
"Maybe it was all inevitable. An unavoidable collision between mankind and technology."
Just about any project that Christopher Nolan has any attachment to is going to get my attention. And from the first glimpses of the film in the early teasers, Transcendence always felt like a film Nolan would seem right at home making. Instead, taking the helm for the first time as director is Wally Pfister. Though this may be his first time in the director’s chair, Pfister is no stranger to working on pictures of large scale; after all, he’s been Nolan’s director of photography since Memento back in 2000.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 17th, 2014
First I just have to say that the cover art design for this film is one of the best looking covers I’ve seen in a long time. The fact that they actually took the effort to get an artist to design their cover is simply the first step in sucking the viewer into this 80’s sci-fi/ horror realm. Looking at this cover simply reminded me of the days working in a mom-and-pop video store when most of the horror titles were not just a collage of pictures thrown together in Photoshop, but instead an artist would be assigned and create these beautiful and amazing covers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 5th, 2014
“Our planet, our war.”
Those four words neatly summarize the overriding theme for the third season of Falling Skies, TNT’s earnest alien invasion drama. While the show still takes its broad thematic cues from the American Revolutionary War, this batch of episodes directly references some of the uneasy alliances formed during World War II. So in between the numerous instances of human characters shooting at aliens — and at each other — the show explored the question of whether the enemy of my enemy really is my friend.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 3rd, 2014
What makes us human? That is the primary theme of Robocop, the remake of the 1987 film of the same name. The 1987 film was a huge blockbuster success, spawning two sequels, and no doubt that is the hope for the remake at the very least. Joel Kinnaman steps into the suit made famous by Peter Weller, and he is not the only big name to grace the film: Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish, and Jackie Earle Haley, as well as the great Gary Oldman playing the doctor who made Robocop possible: with such a top-notch cast, how could the project fail?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 7th, 2014
"In our findings on Gamera, we've ascertained that: Firstly, it is attracted to and consumes fire. Secondly, it also seems to possess an internal power plant, of sorts. This emits a signal frequency that can jam radio communications. In order to store up energy reserves, Gamera consumes inorganic resources. Not only does it consume petroleum as well as other mineral and fossil fuels, but Gamera may also seek out atomic bombs."
Ask anyone about Japanese monster movies and Gamera usually won't be the first name that comes into their minds.
