Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 24th, 2018
“Who do you think you are, Jackie Chan?!”
I'm going to do my very best to describe how insane this movie is, but it still might not be enough. I want to try and be fair because there aren't many people who have worked harder to entertain audiences than Jackie Chan. The 64-year-old martial arts legend has more than 100 acting credits to his name in a career that has spanned well over 50 years. Naturally, there are bound to be some turkeys along the way. Unfortunately, Bleeding Steel — an obnoxiously incoherent sci-fi departure for the action star — firmly (and gloriously) falls into the turkey category.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 23rd, 2018
"This is not just about Gotham. This is all about Bruce Wayne."
It really is about Gotham. And it's about Jim Gordon. It's also very much about Bruce Wayne. The third season ended with Bruce finally starting to embrace his vigilante role, but it was crude and very much only a shadow of the hero he will become. There's a reason why all of the episodes of this season are subtitled The Dark Knight. Bruce is becoming more and more like Batman. Bruce even confronts his future alter-ego in a vision state.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 23rd, 2018
For eight years Blue Bloods has been a staple on CBS, giving Tom Selleck a chance to completely redefine his television career. The once cocky and carefree Magnum P.I. now has established himself as the wise patriarch. It's a transition that a 1970's audience would never have bought. But now he's become a new kind of airwaves icon. The show has also managed to make it through eight years with very little change in the cast, and most of that coming from additions. This season is the first for the show to lose one of the major players and a rather beloved character on the show. Instead of making the season weaker, I think this might well be one of the strongest yet for the series.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 21st, 2018
"There's been a new development."
Actually there have been many. But first I have to credit Blindspot's creator Martin Gero with providing one of the more memorable moments on television with the opening minutes of the series in the first season. We see a police officer in Times Square approach a bag with a sign on it that asks the FBI be alerted. The cop approaches the bag a bit frightened it might be a bomb and blow up on him at any time. It could have been a nice iconic moment when he opens the bag to reveal a naked woman who is covered with tattoos. She is shivering as the camera pulls back to reveal the emptied Times Square.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 20th, 2018
“We take a look back at the films that helped shape, change, and innovate the world of documentary.”
Between the rise of streaming services like Netflix and the growing number of nonfiction films making noise at the box office, documentaries have never been hotter…or more accessible. At the very least, they certainly don’t feel like the cinematic equivalent of eating your vegetables anymore. As a result, this feels the perfect time for Mill Creek to release the first two seasons of IFC’s obsessively hilarious comedy series Documentary Now!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 19th, 2018
“Welcome to the future.”
This is how Josephine (Ellen Burstyn) introduces a church group that is touring her geodesic home, which also doubles as a museum dedicated to inventor R. Buckminster Fuller. Josephine and her grandson, Sebastian (Asa Butterfield) have their own way of living in their home, a place where it is assumed Sebastian has never left long enough to experience how the real world functions. His interactions with the public don’t stretch beyond the casual tourists who come by the home, and as a teenager he’s never experienced “junk food” of any kind. But Sebastian’s reality crumbles after his grandmother has a stroke in the middle of a tour and he meets Jared (Alex Wolff).
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on August 19th, 2018
This one proved to be too juvenile for my kiddo and was way too juvenile for me. However, I maintain that with the right demographic, it is guaranteed hit. Muppet Babies: Time to Play is a reimagining of the original series and airs on Disney Junior. It brings back everyone’s favorite muppets, including Kermit, Piggy, and of course Gonzo. Imagination is key for this disc, as the characters transport themselves out of their daycare class and into several fantastic scenarios, like flying a plane or imagining themselves as a knight to overcome a fear of the dark. As I said, not really my cup of tea, but it was done in a charming way that it is easy to see it appealing to a younger audience. Just not my kid, who immediately asked to watch something else.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 17th, 2018
When it comes to films about man vs. nature, we typically see films where they are defending themselves in the wild where weather and predators are the biggest dangers they have to face. (The Grey and The Revenant are the titles that first come to mind.) In the new release Flora, writer/director Sasha Louis Vukovic is here to show us that there is more to fear than wolves and bears, but how deadly pollen can be. Somewhere I can imagine M. Night Shyamalan is happy to see that someone else has tackled this subject since his disastrous film The Happening made a whimper at the box office years ago. Fortunately for Vukovic, he didn’t make the same mistakes and instead has crafted a film that is perhaps one of the more realistic horror scenarios that has come out in some time.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on August 17th, 2018
Never before have I seen a series that managed to captivate my daughter the way that Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins did. I mean, it was amazing. To give you some context, my daughter is six years old and has enough energy to exhaust a brand new puppy. Her attention span is usually no more than five minutes, but when I put this show on; she never looked away from the television. In fact, I’m not even sure that she blinked. I will admit that I enjoyed the series myself, especially the two-part titular episode that focused on the fictional Jaquin creatures that serve as the guardians of Avalor. Charming, and full of catchy original music, Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins is an excellent bonding experience for both child and parent.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 17th, 2018
"Some of you may know he history of The Section. Rumors of operatives going rogue, the Whitehall assassination. None of that matters now. What matters is that Section 20 stood for something. They were the soldiers who kept going when others fell, who saw the odds and didn't blink, who got the job done, even when it meant paying the ultimate price."
Two years ago I wrote a review for the fourth and final season of the Cinemax series Strike Back. Now here I am telling you about the fifth season. So what's up with that?
