Disc Reviews

The World War 2 genre has been done to death by Hollywood, but The Monuments Men gives us a fresh look at the war and delves into a story that is a breath of fresh air to the genre.  Despite all my history classes that delved into the atrocities of World War 2, it was never discussed about what happened to the great landmarks that were spread throughout Europe and encountered the cold hand of war.  Granted, when measured against the staggering amount of lives lost throughout the war, the thought of a sculpture being destroyed or a Picasso painting being incinerated simply seems petty by comparison.

In 1943 as the war seems to be making its final push toward the defeat of the Nazi party, Frank Stokes (George Clooney) delivers a pitch to President Roosevelt about the importance of preserving the art of the past before the war destroys it all. His pitch is passionate though idealistic, but still it is enough to convince the president that assembling a small unit simply to help preserve certain classical monuments couldn’t cause any harm.  Stokes goes on to gather a team of scholars, most of whom are well past their prime, to join him on this quest to protect and preserve the past.

With a title like The Zombinator you basically know the kind of B-movie spectacle you are getting into.  Any notions of great special f/x or even a good script should be cast aside, and you simply have to tell yourself to sit back and enjoy the silliness that should follow.  But what the title did was build up these crazy thoughts of a cyborg from the future to take out hordes of zombies.  Well, this isn’t that movie.  Even the cover art gives promise to this kind of cheesy film, but there are no cyborgs from the future; instead we get another run-of-the-mill film about a documentary film crew that stumbles into trouble.

I don’t have a problem with this found footage/documentary style that seems to saturate the horror market these days but at the same time with so many films that get it right, you’d imagine all these up-and-coming filmmakers trying to emulate this style would latch on to what works and figure out ways to improve upon it.  George Romero’s Diary of the Dead, as well as the film Rec, are examples of how to do it right.  But what usually comes from these films are large doses of shaky cam and shots that never really show the viewer enough of what they want to see.

by Alan Robinson

Poseidon Rex is a movie that, at the very least, should be able to be laughed at. It serves as traditional B-movie fare, littered with poor special effects, terrible acting, and clichés around every corner. Unfortunately, nothing screams of that “so bad it’s good” quality that we’ve come to expect from these kinds of monster movies. Poseidon Rex follows an average couple, Rod and Jane, during their vacation on a small tropical island. After an eventful snorkeling trip, the couple, along with their instructor Henry and a stranger named Jax, discover the existence of a prehistoric beast living deep in the ocean. Unfortunately for them, the terrifying T-Rex can survive outside of the water too.

With a new Transformers film on the horizon, it is no surprise that the animated series finds its way on DVD.  Shout Factory releases the entire series of Transformers: Energon in a 7-disc set with 51 episodes that amount to over 18 hours of Transformer fighting goodness. Over the years there have been numerous incarnations of the hit animated series; just how well does this series fare?  Honestly it surprised me how much fun this series turned out to be, and it left me wishing that Michael Bay had drawn some inspiration from this series.

The series picks up 10 years following the last war between the Autobots (the good guys) and the Decepticons (the bad guys).  The Decepticons that remain work alongside the Autobots helping to collect energon, a resource that give energy to the Transformers. The humans are trying to harness its power as well.

It's hard to review a series starting from the fourth season, which is exactly what I had to do when Rookie Blue arrived for review recently. In the early days of television, it wouldn't have been a problem. Most shows, cop shows in particular, had a full story with each episode and a continuity that didn't require you to see any episodes in any particular order. This was a must if a show were to find an afterlife in syndication where show orders were largely disregarded. Starting a show in year four merely required understanding the set up, getting to know the quirks of the characters and watching it all play out. Since Hill Street Blues changed the landscape of the cop drama, we've learned to follow story threads over multiple episodes and even seasons. Since then that concept has been jacked up to the nth degree, and there are shows you wouldn't even think about joining in the fourth season. Fortunately, Rookie Blue isn't quite there.

Even the most complex of shows often provide what are called "buy-in" points. These usually occur at the beginning of episodes or mid-season breaks. They allow new viewers a convenient place to join with minimal confusion. Shows must grow or die. Somehow even the most mythology-based shows have to grow their audience. With Rookie Blue, there are only 13 episodes per season, so there isn't a lot of time to provide that entrance ramp. If you already know the show, you've already seen these episodes and likely have decided if you're going to pick them up. The rest of you might be curious. What you want to know is can you "buy-in" at season four, at least enough to keep from feeling left out. The answer is yes and no.

by Alan Robinson

Made-for-TV movies are rarely remarkable works. Usually, they are poorly-written science-fiction films with laughable special effects, or some sort of dramatic “based on a true story” event. Survival Code, however, is one of those films that comes along every so often that truly has potential to become something bigger. And perhaps that’s where the film’s greatest weakness lies; it never really lives up to that potential.