Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 24th, 2011
Hard-rock guru of the seven seas (as long as you count the porta-johns) here with another musical review courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment. This one is entitled: Bad Co.: Live at Wembley. The concert played on April of 2010 to a packed house. As the booklet inside the package indicates, “...for a band to achieve this level of brilliance is extremely rare, to capture it on film, nearly impossible.” Well that is exactly what they did and it is my pleasure to bring that review home to you.
Bad Company (or Bad Co. to their fans) was actually a supergroup that formed in 1973. The original line-up consisted of Free former members: singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke. It also included former Matt the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist, Boz Burrell. Their first album sharing the same name as the band would go on to sell 5 million copies in the US alone and have three hot singles.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 23rd, 2011
I have never been a huge fan of Tyler Perry's creations. Particularly, House of Payne is something I really don't care for. Mostly this is due to the fact that the original story that made the household dynamic of mixed family members what it is throughout the series came from a story about a woman who was a crack addict and arsoned her own house. After seeing this story, and the completely insensitive way it handled drug addiction struck me as so foul that I have yet to find forgiveness. So here I stand, weighing my possible bias' versus my standard issue journalistic neutrality as a reviewer, and hoping my opinion remains respectable.
This bundle of 24 episodes continues the series' usual path of melding corny humour with major issues such as theft, drugs, racial topics and so forth. As much as it tries to be poignant, the setup and execution of each story is too unnatural to be ever be taken seriously. As well, there are just far too many negative black stereotypes being used for my own comfort level. I'm not asking it to be like the Boondocks and try to explode stereotypes while displaying them, but there certainly could be a lot more efforts made to not fall into such ugly situations or characters (none of which I shall honour by repeating here...if you are a masochist, investigate the show yourself).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 23rd, 2011
When it comes to westerns, I certainly have a love hate relationship. For most westerns, especially anything with Clint Eastwood or spaghetti in the description, I have an extreme loathing and it is honestly hard for me to sit through. But then there is Tombstone which I think is one of the best movies of all time. This summer, I am even excited to go see Cowboys & Aliens. Maybe I just need a western that is out of the ordinary. However, I received Posse to review and by the looks of the cover, this might be a very conventional western or perhaps not.
An old black man (I don't normally get into race, but it is important here) (played by Woody Strode) spins us a story about black cowboys. He tells us to forget about the past and truth. One out of every three cowboys was black. He then goes into a few more facts before telling the tale of Jesse Lee and his posse. It all started long ago during the Spanish-American War, more specifically in Cuba around the year 1898.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by David Annandale on July 22nd, 2011
MGM's Limited Edition Collection heads into enjoyable but far-from-classic territory with this goofy horror tale. Tom Selleck is an art historian living in the Philippines with his in-therapy wife (Barra Grant). He buys a painting (supposed to be centuries old, but looking for all the world as if it were commissioned for a motel) that depicts witches being burned, and the central witch bears an uncanny resemblance to Grant. Then the weirdness begins.
The painting keeps changing. Other women, looking exactly like the other witches, show up with a mysterious agenda. Cultists make repeated attempts on Selleck’s life. Grant oscillates between terror and acting possessed. Will Selleck solve the mystery before his wife is inducted into a Satanic cult?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 21st, 2011
The fourth season of The Virginian was a milestone year for the groundbreaking western. Four of the show's regular characters would be appearing in their final episodes. Lee J. Cobb was never completely happy doing the show, and while he always acted professionally, his castmates all knew he wanted to leave. Cobb finally left halfway through this season even though he would remain on the opening credits for the entire year. This would also be the first and last year for Diane Roter as Jennifer Sommers, the Judge's niece. She was a replacement for Roberta Shore's Betsy, who left the previous year but would return for one episode in year four to offer the character closure. Roter was a kind of Annette Funicello lookalike and only really appeared strongly in a handful of episodes. Finally, this was the last season for Randy Boone as Randy Benton. It's your last chance to hear a riff from the young character's guitar.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 21st, 2011
Mr. Skin and Panik House Entertainment have teamed up to provide us with what can only be described as a schlock-o-rama of 1980's exploitation cinema. After the run of blacksploitation and grindhouse films of the 1970's, we found ourselves in a cycle where the subject shifted to women behind bars. You could still find the same level of low-budget movie making here but with the added "bonus" of watching hot chicks, for the most part, used and abused while being usually unfairly incarcerated. This three-pack of movies includes the first uncut release of Chained Heat in North America. Now, I'm not really familiar enough with the movie to tell you what might have been added back into the mix, but I'll bet we can all guess, can't we?
Chained Heat (1983)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 20th, 2011
Bands tend to change members about as often as I change my disposable razor. Heck, in some cases perhaps more often. (I really need to get a new razor) Whether it is a lead singer or perhaps a drummer, in some cases nobody is safe when people start arguing (ask Michael Anthony of Van Halen). But for this review, I was presented with a band that had changed members quite a few times. In fact, only one of the original members remains and he is the drummer. Meet Deep Purple.
Deep Purple was formed in the late 1960’s. The original lineup included Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Nick Simper, Rod Evans, and Ian Paice. The band was originally called Roundabout but after their first tour quickly changed their name to Deep Purple after Blackmore grandmother’s favorite song. They broke thru the rock world after and released three albums numbers that would do quite well in the US as well as abroad in the UK.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2011
"A picture's worth a thousand words."
James Wan first came to national attention when a short film that he made set the stage for one of the most successful horror franchises in recent years. That short, of course, was Saw, and after no less than 6 sequels that franchise appears to be over, at least for now. Wan has teamed with the writer that also helped to bring about the original Saw film, Leigh Whannell, to try and turn the horror world on its head once again. But, lightning just doesn't strike the same place twice, or does it?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2011
They say that when an alligator grabs hold of something tasty to eat, the reptile won't let go for anything. I guess the same thing could be said for Roger Corman. He's earned the title as King of the B Movie and has held reign for nearly 60 years. So we shouldn't be surprised that his relationship with SyFy and their monster mash-up series of original films would feature a few entries from Corman. Dinocroc came in 2004, followed by Supergator in 2007. Both found fitting places in the series from SyFy. Now Corman and the network have pitted the two against each other in the latest joint venture: Dinocroc vs. Supergator.
Two genetically-altered crocodilians have been developed in secret by the laboratories owned by Jason Drake (Carradine). The lab was funded by the government to create super-versions of food plants to solve the world's hunger problems. But these guys got greedy and decided to use the technology to develop a weapon out of an alligator and a crocodile. The result is two giant predators that soon break out of containment and threaten a Hawaiian island. There's plenty of the expected mayhem and chaos as the two creatures make their way through the population.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2011
MGM has really started to roll out the titles in their Limited Edition Collection. The result is that you're going to start seeing titles that are quite obscure. While many of the names involved might be known to you, I'm sure you'll find plenty of titles you've never heard of before. Even a movie lover like myself comes across a film from time to time that has managed to escape my notice. This time the film is The Killer Is Loose, and it has escaped my attention for about 50 years. Most of the time there's a good reason why a film lives in obscurity. Usually it's well deserved and to resurrect it now even under such limited conditions is a waste of time. But every now and then a film comes along that looks more like an unpolished gem and deserves a second look, even so many years later. This is just such a film.
Leon Poole (Corey) is about as unassuming fellow as you are likely to find anywhere. His old Army buddies called him Foggy because he always seemed like he was walking around lost in a fog. He works as a meek bank teller. It is there his ability to be invisible comes in handy. The bank is robbed, and the police soon come to the conclusion it had to be an inside job. Their number one suspect is none other than Poole himself. When Detective Sam Wagner (Cotten) comes to arrest Poole, he fires through the closed door and injures one of the cops. He shouts out the clichéd "You'll never take me alive" line which causes the cops to bust in with their guns blazin’. Only it isn't Leon Poole who gets shot, but his innocent bystander wife (Crawford). She's killed, and it devastates Poole.
![Bad Company: Live at Wembley [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/bad-company-live-at-wembley-blu-r-large.jpg)
![Posse [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/posse-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Phoenix Rising [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/phoenix-rising-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Insidious [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/insidious-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Dinocroc vs. Supergator [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dinocroc-vs-supergator-blu-ray-large.jpg)
