Disc Reviews

“By 2017, the world economy has collapsed. Food, natural resources, and oil are in short supply. A police state, divided into Paramilitary Zones, rules with an iron hand. Television is controlled by the state, and a sadistic game show called "The Running Man" has become the most popular program in history. All art, music, and communications are censored. No dissent is tolerated, and yet a small resistance movement has managed to survive underground. When high-tech gladiators are not enough to suppress the people's yearning for freedom ... more direct methods become necessary.”

This is quite a unique experience for me. Having recently reviewed the 2025 remake, I now have the opportunity to review the 1987 version. So, I essentially get to this in reverse. Naturally, I’ve seen the 1987 version years ago, but it being years ago, there a details that were no longer fresh in my mind, which essentially gave me the unique position of it being a new experience again. I relished that. I enjoyed the 2025 version, and I was curious about how I would view the original film post watching the remake. Answer: I like them both, and while I give the remake credit for its modernization, there is still something intriguing about the Arnold Schwarzenegger cult classic. Part of it’s the backstory from the original film, which deviates away from the book source material. Schwarzenegger is a former cop framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and his path to freedom is through a dangerous life-or-death game.

"I need the waves, man. I need the movement. The open ocean. I used to ... as a kid I used to wander down to the Sonoran Desert, outside of Gilbert. It was terrifying, man. Just nothin'. But nothin' everywhere I looked. And I just felt it out there, all of it. You know, whatever it is. Just felt it. And I get the same exact shit whenever I'm out on the water. I just know it when I feel it. It's there. It feels like I'm at peace, you know? It feels like home."

I know exactly what the guy is talking about here. I inherited a love of the sea from my father, who lived and breathed salt air. So I approached the film feeling a certain connection. The film is also based on events that happened here in the Tampa area. While this was filmed in Malta, the events happened in February of 2009 off the coast of Clearwater, Florida. It's the spring training home of the Phillies and also home to Upcomingdiscs. It's nice to go into a film with some connections, and that's exactly what I felt preparing to watch Not Without Hope now out on DVD. The film is based on firsthand accounts of the event from the lone survivor, Nick Schuyler, in a book he co-wrote with Jere Longman a year later in 2010.

"When my father smells oil, nature repents! And there'll be oil; when it flows - and flow it will - my father will be right here with a bonus for everybody! It'll be Saturday night in a few hours, and I've only one more duty - to see our Mexican workers and wish them a safe journey 'home'. You all have a happy weekend and wish me one; we've labored hard, and we deserve the happiness that all Americans know to be their birthright!"

It was Sam Spiegel who first saw the potential of the Horton Foote novel and play The Chase back in the 1950's. It was suggested as a vehicle for Montgomery Clift, but the rights languished for almost 10 years. Spiegel finally got the film off the ground and lured a pretty solid cast into the fold. Marlon Brando was a huge star, but the futures of actors like Robert Redford and even Robert Duvall hadn't quite risen yet. He brought on director Arthur Penn, who was a year away from his breakout film Bonnie And Clyde. He also gave John Barry his very first film score. John Barry would go on to compose one of the most familiar themes in movie history. He went on to compose the scores for 11 James Bond films, more than any other composer, and his twangy electric guitar theme has taken center stage on every official Bond film no matter who writes the score.  And just to eventually top off his career, he composed scores for Out Of Africa and Dances With Wolves. It wasn't exactly clear at the time, but The Chase was packed with both stars of that time and stars of the future in all areas. It never did well at the box office, and it's one of those gems most of you have never seen. Now's your chance with the release of the film on Blu-ray in high definition. It's a keeper.

I’ve never really thought of Josh Duhamel as an action star. I know that he’s done a few action movies, with the most notable being the Transformers franchise, and one could consider his 2003 NBC television series as an action drama. However, for whatever reason, the idea of John Duhamel and action star has just never been synonymous with me. That has officially changed, and interestingly enough, it’s because of a film that I suspected was going to be cheesy and full of tropes. And yet, it surprisingly turned out to be a movie that managed to be a balance of fast-paced action and emotional depth. Color me shocked. London Calling represents a first-time foray into the comedic side of filmmaking for director Allan Ungar, who typically creates biographical and psychological thrillers. He and Duhamel have chemistry, having previously worked together on the film Bandit. The film was also my first introduction to Jeremy Ray Taylor, Duhamel’s unlikely partner in crime, as the two endeavor in what can only be called a hitman ride-along.

Duhamel plays down-on-his-luck hitman, Tommy Ward, an ex-pat working for London’s biggest crime lord. After a job goes sideways resulting in him mistakenly killing a relative of his boss, he goes on the run, taking refuge in Los Angeles. Forced to sever contact with his son when he went on the run, Tommy reluctantly accepts an offer from his new employer, who offers to facilitate his safe passage to the UK in exchange for him teaching his socially awkward son Julian how to become a man. This “man” training takes the form of Tommy bringing Julian along on his latest assignment to toughen him up.

"If you live long enough, you can see your dreams die a slow death. Young people don't know how good they have it. Not 'cause they can, uh, touch their toes and screw all night. They haven't learned that most things just don't work out. Most times, you just mess it up, so it's easier not to try. We're all just looking for some hope. But at my age, hope is hard. Hope's not enough."

Song Sung Blue is a remake, of sorts. The film was first made as a documentary on a couple who called themselves Lightning & Thunder, and they made a pretty big splash in the music business as a Neil Diamond tribute band. It was written and directed by Greg Kohs. What's ironic here is that he didn't want to do a documentary. He wanted to do a feature film, but no studio would take it because they thought the idea was a bit too crazy for fiction. He even had trouble getting Neil Diamond to allow him to use the music. He ended up going through Eddie Vedder, because Lightning & Thunder  once opened for Pearl Jam. The film was presented at a Memphis film festival, where Craig Brewer saw the film and immediately approached Kohs to option the rights for that feature film that was never made.  Brewer wrote the screenplay for the feature film, which shares it's name with the documentary, which was named after a Neil Diamond song: Song Sung Blue. Now you can check out the film everyone thought was too crazy except Craig Brewer, because it's out now on Blu-ray .

"This is a true story. Whenever possible the dialog has been based on official documents."

The very idea of a serial killer is very much an American one. Around the globe it's considered somewhat of an American affectation. While that may be the reputation, of course that's not true at all. One of the earliest and most documented cases of the serial killer is Jack the Ripper from London's 19th century. John Christie was also a British serial killer. He never received the kind of notoriety and lasting fame as Jack, but that's likely because Christie was caught and Jack never was. With Jack we can speculate and contrive all kinds of "truths" because there's no way to prove or more importantly disprove any of it. In 1971 director Richard Fleischer took on Christie's story in the thriller 10 Rillington Place. The film gets its name from the book about the case written 10 years earlier by Ludovic Kennedy. Kennedy also made himself available to the film as a technical advisor, as did London's long-time hangman Albert Pierrepoint, who did Christie's execution. The film had to wait a bit before it could be made, because English law prohibited films about real-life murders until 50 years after the events actually unfolded. Thanks in part to Kennedy's book, the death penalty was abolished in England, and the prohibition against such films was also abolished. All of this opened the way for Richard Fleischer to tackle his second film based on a real-life strangler.  Fleischer directed The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis in the titular role just nine years prior. While 10 Rillington Place never gained the same kind of enduring classic status as several of his previous films, it remains one of the more interesting. Now the film is out on Blu-ray, and you have another chance to check out one of the better films you likely didn't see when it was first released.