Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 2nd, 2014
With the clock ticking till the release of Batman vs. Superman, Warner Bros needs to do all it can to get the fans on board for the arrival of the the Justice League. When it comes to the handling of the DC universe, though fans may be divided on the films, it seems just about everyone will agree the animation is about as good as it gets when it comes to comic adaptations. In the case of the Justice League perhaps the only way to get it right is through animation, considering there seems to always be something massive going on that it would seem nearly impossible to translate in a live-action setting.
The Legion of Doom, headed by Lex Luthor, has managed to reach the Arctic Circle, where Lex sets in motion one of his most fiendish plans, to absorb water from around the globe, increasing the shorelines to which he has previously purchased the land. The Justice League arrives just in time, and in the process of their fight, Lex is trapped in a block of ice where he is thought to have perished.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 29th, 2014
I have to admit when I first went into this film I went in with some rather low expectations. I turned out to be more than a little surprised by this little underdog story that has a lot of heart as well as plenty of knuckle-crunching fights. Sure, this follows in the footsteps of Rocky and The Karate Kid, as we follow a young fighter who overcomes great odds to achieve victory, and we’ve seen it before. What helps this film stand alone is that it’s also a tale about revenge set in the world of small-time cage fighting.
Ever since witnessing the murder of his parents in a carjacking gone wrong, Michael Shaw (Cody Hackman) has been a bit of a reckless youth. Constantly in and out of trouble with the law and poor grades in school, Michael is given one last chance as he is forced into doing community service at a local dojo. The dojo is run by Reggie (Michael Biehn), a Karate instructor who at one time knew Michael’s father. Stuck with janitor duties, Michael watches from the sidelines as Reggie trains his students, and this sparks Michael’s interest in taking up martial arts again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 28th, 2014
On the surface, The Color of Lies resembles many other murder mysteries set in a close-knit community. The 1999 film, however, is a late-career effort from Claude Chabrol, the French New Wave director who first gained acclaim alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut in the late 1950s. So it’s not surprising to learn The Color of Lies is really a subtle, stylish exploration of the various ways people deceive each other.
The body of a 10-year-old girl is found near the home of struggling artist Rene Sterne (Jacques Gamblin) and his wife Vivianne (Sandrine Bonnaire). Rene was the girl’s art teacher and quickly becomes the prime suspect in an investigation conducted by Inspector Lesage (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the town’s new police chief. Despite the fact that Inspector Lesage has zero hard evidence connecting Rene to the crime, he becomes a pariah in his small Breton village and gradually loses the rest of his art students. And if things weren’t bad enough for Rene, he also has to contend with vain local celebrity Germain-Roland Desmot (Antoine de Caunes), who is aggressively pursuing Rene’s wife. (It doesn’t help that Vivianne isn’t exactly rebuffing Desmot’s advances.)
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 27th, 2014
Just when you think you'd heard about everything there was to hear about World War II, the Smithsonian Channel offers some insight into a few "lesser-known” events of the war. Mix in a little conspiracy theory that's become all the rage since Dan Brown's novels hit the best seller list. What you end up with is a DVD like Secrets Of The Third Reich. The release cobbles together four episodes each telling a unique story that may or may not be completely true. With the use of reenactments, historical footage and interviews with survivors and their kin, the episodes attempt to explain some of these stories in a somewhat new light. The results are decidedly mixed, and no conclusive answers are really provided.
You get the following episodes:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2014
by Eric Mitchell
G.W. McLintock (John Wayne, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn) made most of his money by being a cattle baron. He made so much money, in fact, that the film’s fictional town was named after him. How cool is that? But all is not milk and honey in McLintock’s life. He has an estranged wife who does not live with him (Quiet Man co star Maureen O’Hara), and now wants a divorce.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 26th, 2014
Christian Slater has managed to make a decent career lately by simply appearing in numerous direct-to-DVD productions for several years now. It seems as though every month the former 80s-90s heartthrob is slumming his way through productions as though he never once looked at the script and instead was just adding another lackluster credit to his IMDB profile. As a longtime fan of the actor from the days of Heathers, True Romance, and Pump Up the Volume, I can’t help but hope the guy will make a resurgence (though appearing in Lars Von Triers Nymphomaniac is a good start to that career revival).
As for Slater’s new release Way of the Wicked, he somewhat takes the back seat on this film despite appearing on the Blu-ray box art. Henry (Slater) is a priest who seems to have an obsession with a young boy who is held responsible for the murder of a classmate even though there was no physical evidence to show for it. Several years later Robbie (Jake Croker) returns to the small town, and as he returns to school he immediately seems to embrace the role of outcast.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2014
By Zach Abati
“America is under attack on the fourth of July.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on May 26th, 2014
I'm as excited as you are to (finally!) have a three-day weekend. But between scarfing down hot dogs or hopping from one pool party to the next, it can't hurt to take a few moments to acknowledge why we observe Memorial Day in the first place. You probably know the annual holiday pays tribute to the men and women who have died while serving in the U.S Armed Forces. What you may not know is that Memorial Day originated shortly after the U.S. Civil War. This three-part documentary miniseries strives to examine “America's Bloodiest War” from every angle.
“The legacy of the war survives in the objects left behind.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 26th, 2014
"The First World War shaped the 20th century. It sparked the Russian Revolution, and it launched America as a world power. The fault lines from its failed peace settlement led to a second terrible world war barely 20 years later. We all live with its unresolved consequences..."
The First World War long existed in the shadow of the second. When it was fought, the term World War was not yet in existence. Until after the Second World War, it was referred to mostly as The Great War. The footage from this war is far more rare. Most of us have seen little of it. Clips from the Second World War have been used over and over for countless documentaries. There are no longer any survivors left alive from that Great War. You won't find them interviewed on television, and you won't hear their stories told to the extent you've heard accounts of other conflicts. The results of that war do still live with us today, but how many of us truly understand any of it? The First World War: The Complete Series changes all of that. It's appropriate as we honor our brave soldiers on Memorial Day and as we begin to live through the 100 year anniversaries of that war to look back... and remember.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on May 22nd, 2014
Jackie Mabley, the trailblazing subject of this HBO Films documentary, earned plenty of superlatives during a comedy career that spanned more than 50 years. She was touted as “the funniest woman in the world.” The DVD cover art crowns her as “the Original Queen of Comedy”, and one of the film's interview subjects calls her “the original cougar” thanks to her on-stage predilection toward younger men. Of course, Mabley would probably prefer it if you just called her “Moms.”
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley examines how the comic shattered gender and racial boundaries. The list of comedians she influenced — and who lined up to offer their thoughts for this movie — includes Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. (Murphy admits Granny Klump from The Nutty Professor was a direct nod to Mabley’s stage persona.) Sidney Poitier turns up to praise her material as “familiar and honest.” Leading the charge is actress/comedian/talk show host Whoopi Goldberg, who used to recreate Mabley routines on stage early in her own career.
