Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on November 5th, 2018
“We had a job to do.”
When The Americans received a two-season renewal back in 2016, the news was met with unanimous enthusiasm. Fans of FX’s acclaimed (but low-rated) spy drama were guaranteed two more years’ worth of stories, while TV critics applauded the fact that creator Joe Weisberg and Co. could carefully plot out their show’s endgame. Sadly, the first half of that deal resulted in a penultimate fifth season that frustratingly punted a lot of the show’s more pressing plotlines. The sixth and final season of The Americans offers a thrilling and heartbreaking conclusion, even though it also kind of comes off as the brilliant kid who waited until the very end to cram before a big test.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 2nd, 2018
When I think of buddy cop movies, two movies spring to mind as favorites. No, not Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop. Not Bad Boys 2 and Rush Hour, either. While all of those are good films, the best for me are Hot Fuzz and 48 Hours. 48 Hours was a classic match-up of Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte, while Hot Fuzz lampooned every single cliche they could think of and then some. Also, if you said The Heat or Ride Along as your two favorite buddy cop movies, I'm going to need you to move along. Move along to reading my Blu-ray review for Dragnet, because seriously, you need better taste.
"Because even in the City of Angels, from time to time, some halos slip. That's where I come in, doing my job to the best of my ability on a daily basis. I work here. I carry a badge."
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2018
"It's alive!"
After nearly 90 years the Universal Horror cycle stands as one of the most enduring collection of horror movies today. Their influence on modern horror is unmistakable. There have been literally thousands of incarnations of Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster, but the first image that comes to your mind will always be the nightmare creations of those Universal films. Studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr. was trying to break away from his father's control and create a studio culture of his own. The results would start in 1931 when an unknown Hungarian actor named Bela Lugosi jumped from the stage to the screen in Dracula directed by Tod Browning. Laemmle's niece, Carla Laemmle, is the girl in the coach headed for Borgo Pass as the film opens to the musical strains from Swan Lake. She is reading a travel brochure about vampires and thus speaks the very first lines ever spoken in a horror film in the era of sound. Lugosi was mesmerizing, and the film was a hit. There was a depression on, but that didn't stop crowds from lining up around theater blocks to be hypnotized by Lugosi's Dracula.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2018
The Matrix (1999) was a landmark film in the Sci-Fi genre. While its box office intake was dwarfed by Episode 1, it was The Matrix that had people talking. Andy and Larry Wachowski’s story of a post-apocalyptic world where humans serve as biological generators of energy for the machines that rule the planet challenged people’s perceptions of what reality was. Computer hacker extraordinaire Neo (Reeves) has this gut feeling that life isn’t all that it seems to be. Turns out he’s right in a big way. A group of revolutionaries led by the thought-to-be-mythical Morpheus (Fishburne) open his eyes to the Matrix.
The Matrix, it turns out, is nothing more than an elaborate computer-generated reality intended to mollify humanity who are in reality nothing more than sheep, or in this case a renewable energy source, to feed the machines that have inherited the Earth. Morpheus believes Neo is “The One”, a prophesized savior who can bend the Matrix to his own will, who will eventually lead humanity out of slavery. What follows is enough eye candy to give an army of Swiss chocolate factory workers diabetes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 31st, 2018
So the director had my undivided attention until he went completely sideways. I mean, I was engaged; I was feeling the message behind the film. I found the characters to be original, and the things that they had to say were unlike anything I had seen in recent years. Not to mention that opening scene was the perfect way to bring the audience into this world; and then it all came crashing down. Despite this disappointment, Sorry to Bother You remains among one of the most creative cinematic experiences that I had this year. I wanted very much to love the film, but sadly I can’t say that. I liked it a lot, especially the first half. It is the kind of film that was likely the gem of the film festival circuit. The number one slot at the box office will be out of reach for it, though.
The movie is centered around Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield, Straight Outta Compton), a directionless young man who has yet to find something that matters to him. He lives in his uncle’s garage, and he is struggling to find work. Needless to say, he does not have a lot of hope, with the exception of his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson, Creed), a talented artist and revolutionary who brings sunshine into our lead’s otherwise dreary world. Eventually he finds work as a telemarketer, but he has trouble keeping his customers on the line. You all should understand; what is your number-one response when someone tries to sell you something? It is only when he receives a tip from a coworker to use his “white voice” that things begin to turn around for him. Suddenly, he begins to rack up sells left and right, causing him to quickly rise through the hierarchy of the company.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 30th, 2018
Apollo 18 at one time was meant to be one of several missions NASA had set up that would take astronauts back to the moon. Due to the fallout from the incident involving Apollo 13 and budget cuts, all the missions were scrapped and focus shifted to the shuttle program. Conspiracy theories have seemed to always swirl around the Apollo missions, the more famous being about whether or not man ever reached the lunar surface and whether everything we saw about the moon landing was really filmed on a Hollywood soundstage. The Landing takes things a step further as a faux-documentary about an Apollo 18 launch that resulted in one of NASA’s greatest disasters (that never happened).
The films focus is on Bo Cunningham (Don Hannah), who was the pilot for the Apollo 18 mission. A lot of effort is put into having us believe that he was part of this old shuttle mission, as we are shown numerous old photos of a young Cunningham in NASA clothing and interviews with those that were part of the NASA program. All this is nicely done to set up for the disaster where there was a mishap during reentry and Cunningham was forced to crash-land in the desert of western China. Where the conspiracy aspect comes into play is, did Bo cause their mishap on purpose?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 29th, 2018
Get Shorty was one of my fondest cinema experiences. I was twenty years old, in college, and had just met a lifelong friend named Robert. He took a bunch of us to a place where you could actually eat a meal, have a drink, and watch a movie at the same time. Back in 1995, that was a big deal; now, of course, we take that experience completely for granted, with such places as Alamo Drafthouse. Anyway, the truth was that most everybody except me wasn't really interested in the movie. Of course, being the cinephile I am, I absorbed every moment, and it became one of my favorite pictures. It's only fitting that I finally get to do a disc review about this amazing movie.
We start off the movie in Miami, Chili Palmer (played by John Travolta) and Tommy Carlo (played by Martin Ferrero) are talking about an old theater on Biscayne that they should buy. Ray "Bones" Barboni (played by Dennis Farina), also a gangster, comes up and makes a couple of horrible jokes at Chili's expense and then leaves. Soon, Chili and Tommy leave the diner, but not before Chili has to retrieve his coat.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 25th, 2018
"You are about to witness the strength of snake knowledge."
That's me. In addition to being the senior writer here at Upcomingdiscs, I also have been a snake breeder for an even longer period of crimes. So, when a box arrived from our friends at Lionsgate with a rubber snake, a couple of syringe pens, and a movie called Snake Outta Compton, I knew this was one I was going to tackle. The snake in the box was rubber and caused no fright here. The syringe pens on the other hand... Let's not talk about those. Snake Outta Compton attempts to bring the world of Snakes On A Plane to Straight Outta Compton. It's a giant cold-blooded snake vs. some cold-blooded rapper wannabes. The result is a modern schlock-fest that looks like it escaped directly from the SyFy Network. This one is not for the weak. By that I mean the folks who walk out of bad movies. You might not even let your DVD player get warm.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 25th, 2018
“I don’t know how to sing about love when I’m not feeling it.”
I have a surprising confession to make: I’m a huge movie musical nerd (that’s not the surprising part), but I thought the first Mamma Mia movie was absolutely terrible. Obviously, I was in the minority: the 2008 ABBA jukebox musical grossed more than $600 million worldwide. So the second least surprising thing about the perfectly-named sequel, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, is that it took 10 years to get the band back together. The first most surprising thing is that I actually thought this movie was...kinda good.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 25th, 2018
"My father told me about these men, about their natures. All I knew were the stories I was told of monsters and the valiant men sworn to slay them. I fear the stories I've heard may have been clouded, the truth more than clouded. It would seem these monsters are men, sons, brothers, fathers. And it would seem these men face their own monsters..."
Move over, Captain Jack Sparrow. There are some tougher pirates on the block, and they sail into our living rooms from Lionsgate on Blu-ray in Starz’ Black Sails. The high seas adventure series combines historical people and places with the fictional characters of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island. I am a little disturbed that Stevenson gets no mention in the credits for having created many of these characters. What's up with that, Starz? Likely the material is in public domain, but credit where credit's due, yes? They certainly acknowledge him in the extras.
