Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 19th, 2013
So, it is the Upcomingdiscs.com 31 Nights of Terror and your favorite columnist, Mr. Michael "Hey, were you expecting John Ceballos?" Durr has stepped in for a review about some of his favorite subjects. Cheesy Horror flics and Alyssa Milano. Today's title is an absolute cult classic and that is the original 1995 Vampire thriller, Embrace of the Vampire. So strap yourself in, and prepare to watch something so beautiful that it brings a tear to this columnist's eyes. (Tissue please)
*Warning*, the following post may contain absolute chicanery. Any attempt to make sense of this review should probably require a trip to the local psychiatrist's office for an immediate appointment. While there, you might want to ask for my mind back. I seemed to have lost it on my way to the Badminton for Divorcees convention. Thank you for your cooperation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 18th, 2013
"46,000 people died here. Do you think it's haunted?"
It would have been so much better for me if I had seen the first season of American Horror Story. Of course, it isn't necessary. This has to be one of the most clever television ideas I've encountered. You don't have to have seen the first season because, while the actors are pretty much the same, they play completely different parts in a completely different story in the second season. This kind of television takes you back to the early days of sketch television and reparatory theater. The difference is that this stuff has an edge. It has an edge so sharp that you're very liable to hurt yourself if you're not very careful.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on October 17th, 2013
“Zoe Hart, you went from no boyfriends to two in one night… which one you gonna keep?”
That’s the burning question at the heart of this charming dramedy's second season. Most of the fish-out-of-water shenanigans from the previous year are done now that city girl Zoe Hart has settled into her medical practice in fictional BlueBell, Alabama. As a result, season 2 of Hart of Dixie focuses heavily on the many romantic entanglements of BlueBell’s citizens, led by the least convincing doctor since Dr. Pepper.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 17th, 2013
The Halloween holiday season is upon us, and as kids count down till the day they can trick or treat dressed as their favorite ghoul or goblin, leading to candy binges that would put me in a diabetic coma. It’s also appropriate that the kids get to watch some films to have some thrills and chills that are age-appropriate (don’t make the mistake of showing a six-year-old Friday the 13th 2). With the release of A Monsterous Holiday, we get a short film that clocks in at 48 minutes; the cover art may appeal to some, but looks are deceiving.
Andy (Drake Bell) is one of those boy geniuses that would rather tinker on science projects in the garage than worry about sports. Finally it seems like it just may be his year to beat out a pair of twins who always seem to come out ahead. Unfortunately after one explosion too many, Andy’s dad decides to find a place for him on the football team. To make matters worse, the night of the big science fair happens to be the same night of the team’s big Halloween game.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 17th, 2013
My knowledge of Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal bands can be counted on one hand with a couple fingers to spare. So as you can probably imagine, when this discs found its way to me, my enthusiasm or my confidence in it was not high. So when I say that Black Label Society: Unblackened was not what I expected, it is not an indictment; quite the opposite, in fact. The concert started right as I hit play, I expected to see the band come out, pick up their instruments, and possibly do a little introduction (that came towards the end of the concert) but that was not the case. As soon the banner drops, the group launched into the first song of their set, Losing Your Mind; no muss, no fuss. The song had a catchy and enticing chorus, but other than that, it did not resonate with me, possibly due to the fact that I had trouble understanding what vocalist Zakk Wylde was saying. I don’t attribute this inability to him but rather my ears adjusting to this new experience.
Needless to say, I did not take an immediate liking to the group and their brand of music, but by the third song of the set, Sold My Soul, I had been brought into the fold. There was palpable passion behind the vocals of that song, making it one of the most relatable songs of the set in my opinion. From then on, I was a member of the crowd; if I knew the words I would have been singing along.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 16th, 2013
"We always thought that alien life would come from the stars, but it came from deep beneath the Pacific."
The only thing we seem to love more than giant monster movies are movies about giant dudes going a few rounds with said giant monsters. It was huge television fare in the 1960's and 1970's. We had Ultraman, Space Giants, and Johnny Socko. All of them were Japanese imports that gave us daily or weekly monsters doing the old "Tokyo Stomp", and just when things appeared at their darkest, the giant hero would arrive and give us a show more akin to the weekend wrestling shows than anything else. We'd get choke-holds and body slams that would make the rubber suits jiggle as they fell. It was all in good fun and appears to have pretty much disappeared from the television and film landscape. That is, until Guillermo del Toro brings us one of the summer's eagerly awaited tentpole films: Pacific Rim.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 16th, 2013
Direct-to-video sequels of successful animated films are tricky at best. The video release is usually a sign that either the studio is trying to cash in quickly on the franchise or they are just not confident enough in the sequel to put it up on the big screen, usually with good reason. Smaller budgets mean less impressive animation and a lack of A-list voice actors. Every studio has been guilty of one or the other and more often both. But what's the story when the original film made a disappointing $25 million at the domestic box office? That usually signifies that a sequel of any kind is not likely in high demand. Such is the quandary of Alpha & Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure.
The original film wasn't near as bad as the box office figures would have you believe. It was pretty much an average computer-animated feature film. It had a very solid voice cast that included such talent as Justin Long, Danny Glover, Dennis Hopper and Christina Ricci. It just didn't have a lot of punch to it, and it fizzled. I'm not sure how anyone thought that this one would have any more heart or punch after you take away the great talent and substitute relatively unknown names. That doesn't mean untalented, by any means. They do pretty much what's expected of them here. I just wish I could say it was entertaining.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 15th, 2013
Embrace of the Vampire is a remake of the 1995 erotic bloodsucker thriller of the same name. The original’s only greatest claim to fame is that it starred Who’s the Boss? cutie Alyssa Milano in her first, ahem, “grown up” role. In other words, the bar wasn’t exactly sky high for the remake. (This is not Gus Van Sant doing a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho.) The well-made newer film certainly “embraces” the erotic thriller DNA of the original. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem overly concerned with the "vampire."
Charlotte Hawthorn (Sharon Hinnendael) is a shy college student who arrives at a co-ed campus after previously attending an all-girls Catholic school. We are quickly introduced to her friendly roommate Nicole (Tiio Horn) and Eliza (C.C. Sheffield), Charlotte’s snarky rival on the fencing team. We also learn Charlotte suffers from violent, vivid dreams — involving sex and buckets of blood — that lead to her waking up in unexpected places.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 15th, 2013
Me and my big mouth; as you may have guessed it wasn’t destiny that brought me and the first season of Teen Mom together. Reality television is not one of my favorite programs. So by now I imagine that it is pretty obvious that I went into this program with high reservations. But as it turns out, even I wasn’t about to keep them up the entire time. Deciding to think of it as a long-running documentary, I see the importance of a show like this in regards to raising awareness among teenagers considering becoming sexually active, and after watching I am grateful that a show like this exists.
Picking up where its lead-in show, 16 and Pregnant, left off, Teen Mom continues to tell the tale of Amber, Catelynn, Farrah, and Maci now that their kids Leah, Carly, Sophia, and Bentley respectively are now out of their wombs and in their arms; highlighting the struggles that each one must now undertake as they attempt to find balance and incorporate some semblance of their old lives with their new circumstance:
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2013
Leland Orser is an actor. You've seen his face a lot over the years playing deranged or demented or despondent characters. He is married to Jeanne Tripplehorn, who is probably better known from the HBO series Big Love and movies like Basic Instinct and Waterworld. Orser decided to write and direct his first movie and have his wife play his wife in the movie. It is an intense character study that includes other top actors like Laura Linney, Eliot Gould, Kyle Chandler, Jason Ritter and Julie White. Everyone in the movie seems to be in support of Jeanne Tripplehorn, who has been given quite a character to play.
Tripplehorn plays someone who seems to be falling apart. The movie starts with her husband on top of her while she stares distractedly out the window. Their relationship seems to become even more disjointed as the day begins. They both begin to completely unravel. It takes a while to get an idea what might be going on. But this movie is in no hurry to clear things up for the viewer.
