Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2011
"On every world wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact midpoint, everybody stops and turns and hugs. As if to say, "Well done! Well done, everyone! We're halfway out of the dark." Back on Earth, we call this Christmas, or the Winter Solstice. On this world, the first settlers called it the Crystal Feast. You know what I call it? I call it expecting something for nothing!"
In 2005 the BBC decided to bring back the gone-but-never-forgotten character. Christopher Eccleston would become the ninth Doctor, and a brand new series was started. The Doctor was revived in a more traditional hour long episodic format. Gone were the cheap f/x, and now with the use of CGI and a more respectable budget, Dr. Who could be given the high-end treatment it deserved. But would all this new slick production be able to retain the magic of the original? As it turns out, much of that charm remains, and a brand new generation has gained access to Dr. Who. Sadly, Eccleston would retain the part for only a year. In the second season David Tennant would take over the role. It is this tenth Doctor who has changed twice more to the one you’ll find in this sixth season (or series as the British like to call them). The old theme is back but far more modernized and performed by the National Orchestra of Wales.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 28th, 2011
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 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 dialogue 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 Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2011
"My name is John Crichton...an astronaut. Four years ago, I got...shot through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. I ending up on this ship...this living ship, populated by escaping prisoners...who became my friends. I made enemies..."
Take a magical journey with me now. I don't mean into outer space. It's a journey back in time to a day when the SyFy Channel was called the Sci-Fi Channel. A day when it was an exciting and promising place on the cable dial. After a few fledgling years showing old repeats it was time to grow, and grow they did. When the powers that be decided to begin making new original programming they teamed up with Brian Henson who was just getting his feet running his late-father's Jim Henson Company. Yeah, the Muppets guys. He believed it was time to do something darker, something with an edge and targeted more to an adult audience. His father began the journey with The Dark Crystal. Now it was time for more of that kind of thing. The two companies found their solutions together in a show called Farscape.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 11th, 2011
In the 1980’s, I feasted on a bevy of animation growing up. I watched typical cartoon shows like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Voltron. Honestly, my habits were to watch every piece of animation that came across in those days at least once. Yes, even the Care Bears. But sadly despite all of that, I completely missed some great ones. One of those truly great ones was the Robotech series. Now, with an 85 episode behemoth of a complete series set, I get a chance to rectify that grave injustice.
Robotech originally ran March of 1985 in the United States. It had started out as a Japanese series and then Harmony Gold USA came in, reworked the dialog and content so that they could sell it to stations in the US as first-run syndication. However, Harmony tried hard to include most of the complexity and drama of the source material. Producer Carl Macek supervised the proceedings and the sweeping epic was born. The show did very well and had attracted a more mature audience that was not expected.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 8th, 2011
This is the DVD release of the film whose Blu-ray incarnation was reviewed by Gino, so I’m going to let him take it away for the review of the film itself. I’ll check back in for the specs.
"It’s back to the 1950?s with its telltale alien invasion science fiction matinees. There’s Doo Wop coming out of the radio. The cars have tail fins and plenty of color and chrome. That’s right. This is 1950?s Americana. Well … almost. You see, the alien invaders are humaniacs. They turn the helpless population into mind-controlled zombies, and they eat brains for breakfast. Those sure are the classic cars, all right. But they’re rounded, and instead of wheels they ride on a cushion of air. And then there’s the “people”. They’re green. They have tentacles for hair. And they have only 4 fingers and toes on each hand or foot. Can anyone say, “Give me a high four”?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on November 7th, 2011
"For the first time in the history of the world, man has sent a rocket 1500 miles into space. You can't expect such an experiment to be perfect."
There's this home video of my sister as a strawberry blonde toddler at a family picnic. Sticky watermelon caresses her cherubic face as she sings the phrase she captured that day, “And again? And again and again, and again?” Yes, chipmunk-voiced Bela: again and again. That's how often I'd watch Quatermass Xperiment. It's so rich in storytelling and layered delivery that I'll watch it more than once to fully appreciate it, and discover something new every time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2011
In the world of Marvel comics Captain America was indeed the first Avenger, and as the full title implies we're going quite a way into the past to create this hero. But the first shall be last, and it's certainly true on this long road to the May 2012 release of The Avengers on film. You see, this is the final piece to the puzzle for that great assembly of heroes. We've had two chances to witness both The Hulk and Iron Man and a recent film introduction to Thor. Other characters like Black Widow and Hawk Eye came as guests on the other films. But the introductions are now complete.
Steve Rogers (Evans) is a 98-pound weakling. He's the guy you see in the comics all right. The guy getting sand kicked in his face on those old Charles Atlas ads we used to read on the comic back pages. But he has a heart of solid gold, and he doesn't like bullies. So when Hitler and his boys begin to goosestep over Europe, he tries desperately to enlist. Each time he's shot down and denied his chance to contribute to the cause. That is, until he comes under the eye of Professor Abraham Erskin (Tucci). He has been tasked with reproducing a Nazi experiment to create a supersoldier. He admires Steve's heart and decides to make him the test subject. The experiment works, and Steve receives super strength and agility. But he can't seem to win the respect of Colonel Phillips (Jones). And when Erskin is killed in a Nazi invasion, not even a brave performance to get the bad guy convinces Phillips to give him a chance. He remarks: "I was promised an Army, and all I got is you". But the papers noticed his performance, and soon the country was shouting for Captain America.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 27th, 2011
In the wake of the financially successful but critically drubbed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay and company return to the fray with this considerably more coherent exercise. Given that this movie committed to advancing the cause of 3D like no other film since Avatar, the question arises as to how well its visual splendour and over-the-top technological extravagance will translate to home video. The answer is: pretty damn well.
Following the events of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the Autobots are working hand-in-mechanical-glove with human authorities (in other words, the apparently all-powerful CIA), keeping close watch for Deception activity, but also helping out in human-on-human conflicts. Meanwhile, Shia LaBeouf has traded in improbably hot girlfriend Megan Fox for the equally improbable Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (an improbability that the script does have some fun with). He is also out of work and dismayed at not being given due consideration as a saviour of the planet.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 23rd, 2011
It all started as an internet show. Amanda Tapping was fresh from her stints as Samantha Carter in the Stargate franchise, and the SyFy Channel saw some worth in keeping her around for something else. The show was unique in more ways than just its origins. There are few sets on the series. Most of the show is shot in huge green screen rooms where even ordinary environments are computer generated. It's an evolution of the film Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow. I guess it was my complete disenchantment with that film and a shrinking regard for the more recent projects at SyFy that led me to pass on this show when it made the jump from web series to full television show. This was my first exposure to the world of Sanctuary and I was, at least somewhat impressed with what I saw.
Dr. Helen Magnus (Tapping) has been around for a little over 150 years now. She was part of a group of five Oxford students who conducted experiments with vampire blood among other things. It was somewhat of a wild group that included Jack The Ripper (Heyerdahl), Nikola Tesla (Young) and Nigel Griffin (Gale), also known as The Invisible Man. A sixth man Adam Worth (Tracey) wanted in and was the inspiration for Stevenson's Jekyll & Hyde. Now Dr. Magnus heads a place where "abnormal" creatures can be protected. The place is called Sanctuary, and it's part of a global network begun by her father.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 16th, 2011
Written by John Delia
If you are looking for action and adventure then you will not want to miss X-Men: First Class, a top-notch production that thrills. The explosive storyline under the able direction of Matthew Vaughn contains all the explosiveness you would expect from a prequel to Marvel Comics’ famous X-Men.
![Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/doctor-who-the-complete-sixth-seri-large.jpg)
![Farscape: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/farscape-the-complete-series-blu--large.jpg)
![Sanctuary: The Complete Third Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/sanctuary-the-complete-third-seaso-large.jpg)
![X-Men: First Class (+Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/x-men-first-class-digital-copy-large.jpg)
