Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 9th, 2009
Guns is a Canadian TV mini-series that came to fruition in late 2008. The premise of the series is slightly convoluted. Paul Duguid (Colm Feore) is a legitimate arms dealer that sells to governments around the world. However, Duguid also sells illegal weapons to gangs around Toronto as well. Duguid comes under police scrutiny when his son Bobby (Gregory Smith) goes to a street level gun dealer’s house that is under police surveillance. Bobby also becomes implicated in the murder of the father of a U.S. Senator. During all of these events, Bobby’s girlfriend Frances (Elisha Cuthbert) volunteers to smuggle guns across the border. The multiple storylines on display here work well in a TV mini series. However, when shown in 180 minutes on a DVD, they are difficult to appreciate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 7th, 2009
“Believe me, that weren’t no shark.”
Sea Beast began life with the title Troglodyte, but I’m not sure what that had to do with anything on this movie. Perhaps someone just thought it was a clever name, but realizing they didn’t have a clever film to go with it, they decided on the more mundane Sea Beast. Whatever the reason and whatever the title, nothing can change the fact that this is one really bad horror film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 4th, 2009
At first glance, it is quite easy to see why this show has been compared to Sex and the City by many critics, and is about to again by yours truly. Mainly this comparison occurs because of the shows’ similarly humorous approach to sex, never wavering from any sort of topic therein. The first similarly I noticed though was the meta-cinematic use of our heroine Hannah (who escorts under the moniker “Belle”) when she talks to the audience directly. This device was only utilized in Sex and the City’s first season but we still see a similar mix of voice-over narration (which would take over Sex and the City) and the viewer being acknowledged (used more often than not with Secret Diary…).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 4th, 2009
Everwood was a fairly long running show that started in 2002 and continued until 2006 for a total of eighty-nine episodes. It ran on the WB and was a casualty of the WB/UPN merger into the CW Television Network. Years later it has shown up on ABC Family and around the globe gaining fans here and there. It's a serious drama that involves the medical practice of Dr. Andy Brown (played by Treat Williams). Set in the fictional town of Everwood, Colorado (in reality it was a few towns located in Utah), we find ourselves figuring out how a death can alter the lives of everybody in the town and how they struggle to cope.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 29th, 2009
Teenagers go through a lot. They hit puberty and a multitude of decisions at the same time. Some of them take on adult decisions way too soon such as sex, pregnancy, drugs and just figuring how to fit in. ABC Family is the home of a teenage drama called The Secret Life of the American Teenager which is made by the same people as 7th Heaven which lasted 11 seasons. The show has gained more viewers episode by episode and a copy of the 2nd season showed up in my mailbox to review. We'll see if the show is complete cheese or hopefully it has a good dose of story telling and family values.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 26th, 2009
When the second season of Lost hit the airwaves, expectations were very high. The show enjoyed a very successful first year in the ratings, and many of us were looking to see if the show would suffer the all too common sophomore slump. Lost exceeded our expectations. The show changed dramatically, yet managed to keep us hooked with the same blend of mystery and solid storytelling that made the show such a huge hit to begin with.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 24th, 2009
It’s time to go back to the beginning and see how it all began. If you’re a fan, you’ve already seen these episodes, likely several times. You also probably have the DVD sets that have come over the last couple of years. You might be trying to decide if a television show is really worth your while to upgrade to high definition. The answer is a resounding yes. Lost is one of the most innovative series to arrive on network television in quite some time. In an age where the true quality appears to be dominated by cable stations anymore, it’s refreshing to know that there’s a show once in a while that can entertain, thrill, and make you think all at the same time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 24th, 2009
The whole trick to watching the new educational series from the Smithsonian Channel is to keep your head. Someone once said that was the key to battle, to keep your head while those around you are losing theirs. Well, it appears a ton of folks have been losing their heads for centuries. On the surface Tomb Detectives is a real life Bones. The half hour episodes explore ancient bodies, usually merely skeletal remains, and attempt to answer some basic questions: How did they die?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 19th, 2009
“Back to the days of the Gold Rush, as Sergeant Preston with his wonder dog, Yukon King, meets the challenges of the Yukon … A land inflamed with gold. Men who came quickly learned the heroism of sacrifice and the treachery of greed.”
These words first reached across the radio airwaves in 1947. Children and adults alike would gather around the warm glow of their large radios to hear the exploits of Canadian Mounties Sergeant Preston and his trusty companions Rex, his horse, and Yukon King, his Alaskan Malamute.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 17th, 2009
Back in 1998 there was a very promising television series on the Fox Network. Unfortunately, the network never gave it a fighting chance, and it was soon gone as quickly as it had appeared. It was called Brimstone. The idea was that a dead cop (Horton) went to Hell for killing his wife’s rapists. He gets a second chance when the Devil (Glover) offers him his life back if he would become Hell’s bounty hunter. He would capture souls who had escaped from Hell. I loved the show and even participated in its attempts to be reprieved.
![Lost: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/lost-the-complete-second-season-b-large.jpg)
![Lost: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/lost-the-complete-first-season-bl-large.jpg)
