Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 13th, 2012
Taking place in the 41st century, an astronaut named Barbarella (played by Jane Fonda) has been ordered to search out a missing Earth scientist named Durand Durand. On this mission, she is forced to land on a Planet called Lythion where she must overcome various erotic obstacles in this psychedelic camp classic.
When it comes to campy productions like this, one does not sniff around for Oscar worthy performances...no...we come to see Jane Fonda stiptease in zero gravity. In fact, throughout this tale, Fonda's Barbarella uses her sexuality as her weapon of choice in the fight against robots, mad scientists, and other extra-terrestrial baddies whom wish nothing more than to see intergalactic angels slaughtered (I swear to you, that was not just me cobbling together random words...all of those things actually happen in this film).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 12th, 2012
Two sales executives have a rambunctious party at a strip club that inadvertently results in their boss's death. Though they are not fired, they are demoted to the level of secretaries, while their former cohort, whom they used to pick on relentlessly, is elevated to be their new boss.
In their new work position, these two lads are humbled into losing their misogynistic ways and turn their pranks into acts of chivalry and gender equality in the workplace. There is also a romantic subplot for each of them, but neither is all that compelling.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 11th, 2012
An undisclosed infection has decimated the world's population. This film follows a family of four who are trying to survive the fallout of this viral apocalypse by escaping a city via the woods, in search of a rural area they used to live in.
Collaborative duo Justin McConnell and Kevin Hutchinson do a fair amount with very little in this film. An amping up of tension helps to replace any large set pieces or dynamic action scenes. Though they are clearly working with a small budget, their minimalist composition does not come off as amateur for they have a nice sense of composition, made clear with their shot choices and editing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 11th, 2012
Right before this movie hit theaters, I made a snarky joke about how I was already mentally preparing myself for American Funeral in about 20 years. (I imagined the gang reluctantly reuniting following the death of a 50-year-old Steve Stifler in a tragic, orgy-related accident involving high school girls...except it turns out Stifler faked his death to get the crew back together and shenanigans ensue.) It was an easy joke to make because I felt American Reunion came with a detectable whiff of desperation. Cast members who were missing from 2003's American Wedding were suddenly available now that they weren't quite as busy as they were nine years ago. Instead, I'm happy to say that the fourth film in the franchise — I'm willfully ignoring the straight-to-DVD American Pie Presents... titles — is mostly a love letter to fans and a pretty decent raunchy comedy on its own merits.
The film even acknowledges the odd timing for this particular reunion. I'm not even sure 13-year high school reunions are a real thing (it's not exactly a nice, round number), but that's what brings the American Pie gang back to East Great Falls, Michigan. We spend the first portion of the movie catching up with the characters' lives in their early 30's. Jim and Michelle (Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan) are still married, but in the kind of sexual rut that all married couples with children seem to suffer in movies and on TV. The amusing opening scene reminds us that there is no end to Jim's humiliation and the rest of the film confirms that Jason Biggs' penis is still a reliable source of comedy.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 11th, 2012
It sounds like nothing new. Hard-boiled detective uses computers and other forms of technology to solve cases. It isn’t anything new, except the detective in question is Joe Mannix, and the series started in 1967. The computer that Mannix used took up an entire room and was queried using cardboard punch cards. This wasn’t science fiction. We’re not talking some newly-discovered Irwin Allen series. Mannix didn’t go after aliens or robots. This was a down-to-earth gritty detective show. Mike Connors played the tough-as-nails detective. He was perfect for the part and blended into the role seamlessly for eight years.
The show was created by the team of Link and Levinson, who later gave us the detective in the rumpled raincoat, Columbo. It was groundbreaking in so many areas. While it might not be remembered today as one of the top detective shows, there can be no argument about the impact Mannix had on the genre. A decade later one of my favorite television detectives, Jim Rockford, would borrow rather heavily from Mannix. Like Rockford, Mannix was getting beat up a lot. They both had the same sense of style, wearing rather ugly sport jackets. Neither was afraid to bend the rules, or the law, when necessary. Again like Rockford, Mannix often falls for the wrong girl at the wrong time. Mannix was good with a gun and equally adept with his fists. The show received a ton of controversy from the start for the amount of violence it employed. Tame by today’s standards, Mannix was quite aggressive for its time. The joke was that the show’s producers mandated a fight or car chase every 15 minutes whether it was needed or not. I’m sure that wasn’t true, but nonetheless the show opened the floodgates for the detective shows that followed. In this first season, Mannix worked for the enigmatic detective agency, Intertect. They supplied him with the latest in modern technology and with his cases. His main company contact was Lou Wickersham, played by Joseph Campanella. Now Mannix is on his own and begins to resemble more and more these detectives that would eventually follow in his tire tracks.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 11th, 2012
If you weren’t around in the 1970’s, you might be surprised to find out that film superstar Michael Douglas was once in a television cop show. It was this influential crime drama that allowed Douglas to show off the acting chops that would earn him a spot in the Hollywood elite for decades to come. It didn’t hurt any that he was able to team up with Karl Malden, an undervalued talent in his own right. The two of them literally bring the show to life. The series was run by Quinn Martin, himself no stranger to groundbreaking television. Martin was the same talent who created the crime drama with The Untouchables. His uncanny ability to come up with a clever premise was responsible for such milestones in television history as The Invaders and The Fugitive. Later he would continue to shape the look of television with shows like Tales Of The Unexpected, The FBI, and Most Wanted. He was the Steven Bochco of his time. Long before NYPD Blue, Martin was able to make San Francisco, the city itself, an iatrical character for Malden and Douglas to interact with. The show had tremendous style, even if the cases were purely formula. Certainly you won’t find anything in these plots you haven’t seen a hundred times before. What you will find is a unique presentation that somehow makes even the most mundane story appear quite compelling. If you enjoy the Bochco and Wolf dramas or fall in with such classics as Starsky and Hutch or Miami Vice, you owe a tremendous debt to Martin for setting the table for all of those fantastic meals that would follow.
Inspectors 81 are back on the tough streets of San Francisco for a third season of gritty police work. Remember, these are the same streets Dirty Harry worked during the same decade. There are some memorable moments in this next half season release of “Streets”.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 10th, 2012
A serial killer is on the loose in New York dispatching up-and-coming hip hop artists. Is it a feud between rappers, a crazed fan, or is it all part of a conspiracy connecting all the homicides involving rappers reaching back to the days of Tupac and the Notorious BIG? Chances are if you’re anything like me you couldn’t care less. I take rappers about as seriously as Carrot Top, and I’m willing to wager it’s Carrot that has more talent. But people still enjoy the music, and as long as the fans are happy that’s all that matters.
It doesn’t take long to figure out who the killer is, but what does seem to drag through this film is the reason why the murders are taking place to begin with. As the investigation of the murders goes on, our lead detectives Johnson (James McDaniel) and Francelli (Michael Mosley) explore the many avenues that lead to why the hip hop scene is how it is. The murders create buzz which raises the sales of albums, so it’s made clear that violence between artists is more than welcomed by the record companies. Even the hip hop magazines stand to make a profit when they manage to release an article or the last interview with a fallen artist.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 10th, 2012
One of my favorite television pastimes is watching some Storage Wars episodes. Initially, it was the lure of finding that goldmine buried beneath a pile of trash in a storage locker. But as I got more into it, I realized that it was the people who kept me coming back episode after episode. Barry, Jarrod, Brandi (she is a cutie), Darrell and even occasionally Hester all intrigue me as I watch each episode. Here in my hands is Volume 3, let’s see if the viewing pleasure continues.
If you need to learn about the Storage Wars regulars, you can check out my Volume 2 review at https://upcomingdiscs.com/2012/02/19/storage-wars-volume-2/.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 9th, 2012
As expressed many times on these reviews, I grew up with the original G.I. Joe, the original Transformers, He-Man and so forth. In those shows, I tended to perhaps forgive some of the quirkiness and things that we would probably never see in a cartoon in this decade simply because I loved them so much as a kid. But would I be so forgiving with a G.I. Joe series that started out in the 90’s, when I was already in high school? We shall soon see when I review Season 2 of the second series of G.I. Joe.
The second series of G.I. Joe officially started in 1989 by DIC Entertainment with a 5 part mini-series which soon launched them into about forty to fifty episodes that lasted until early 1992. With this review, we are taking a look at the final twenty episodes of the show. Let us take a peek at some of the key moments.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 9th, 2012
When Duran Duran's new concert film arrived at UpcomingDiscs headquarters, the staff was practically fighting over the Blu-ray. ("You take it!" "No, YOU take it!") Needless to say, no one was tripping over themselves to spend a significant amount of time with a band once dubbed "the prettiest boys in rock." When I expressed admiration for a few of their songs, I became this site's Duran Duran Fan (By Default). After watching this lively 2011 performance, I feel pretty good about removing the "By Default" portion of my title and simply calling myself a fan of the band.
Filmed in Manchester's MEN Arena in December 2011, A Diamond in the Mind capped a roller coaster year for the band. (More on that in the Special Features section.) Duran Duran was formed in Birmingham, England in 1978 and quickly achieved superstardom in the early 1980s. Though there have been several different groupings throughout the years, the "classic" Duran Duran lineup — singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist Andy Taylor, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Taylor (believe it or not all the Taylors are unrelated) — reunited in the early 2000s. That same lineup (except for Andy Taylor, who left in 2006 and was replaced by Dom Brown) is featured in A Diamond in the Mind.
