Disc Reviews

"Let's just cut the crap and get on with it, shall we?"

You shouldn't need a primer on the NCIS franchise by now. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last decade or longer, you're up to speed on these guys. If not, you still could have some fun and enjoy the CBS DVD release of NCIS: L.A., but NCIS has been around for nearly 20 years, and this particular version has been around for 12 seasons now. That's a lot of characterizations under the bridge and a ton of character evolution and stories that can't help but give you maximum mileage out of the release. If you aren't up to speed, you can check out over 30 seasons of various NCIS reviews by just banging it here: NCIS Reviews.

It was 1975, and cop shows were all the rage. The only way a crime show might be able to distance itself from the crowd was to introduce the audience to a group of cops that were not quite so known and show off special-unit kinds of skills and equipment. The solution in 1975 was the L.A. SWAT team. Most folks didn't know what SWAT was. It stands for Special Weapons And Tactics. They are the guys who have the cool armored trucks and go where the serious action can be found. Hostage situations and severe firepower that overwhelms the typical cops on the beat are no match for these elite forces. So Steve Forrest and Robert Urich took our televisions by storm. The amazing thing is that the series was a mid-season replacement in its first year and only really lasted one complete season.

Have you ever wondered what the Jurassic Park franchise would have looked like if instead of a amusement park, it was a hunting preserve? Yeah, me either, but someone must have, because that is essentially the embodiment of the film Jurassic Hunt. After watching the film, I’ve come to the conclusion that some films just don’t need to be made. Especially if they are going to be done with cheesy special effects and sub-par storytelling. To put it mildly, this was not a movie for me, and if you are a fan of high-quality content, I’m pretty sure you will feel the same. I suppose the film reaches the level of a sci-fi made-for-TV movie, but other than that, I can see no higher aspirations for it. The film kind of puts you right into the thick of things; no real back story or anything like that. We are just kind of launched right into the hunt. On this type of film, I would have expected background information to be paramount.

“By 2014, hundreds of young women had left Europe to join ISIS. Their journeys began on social media platforms where they found new friends and chose new names.”

Based on the non-fiction novel, In The Skin of a Jihadist, this film tells the story about one reporters journey to create a groundbreaking story and how she nearly lost herself in the process. Valene Kane (The Fall) plays Amy Whittaker, a freelance reporter struggling to make ends meet when she decides to investigate the recruitment of young European women by ISIS. As part of her investigation, Amy creates a fake Facebook profile of a young woman who has recently converted to Islam. Before long, she is contacted by Bilel (Shazad Latif, Star Trek: Discovery), an ISIS fighter from Syria. On the surface, he is charming and he speaks of his chosen cause with great passion and conviction.

Not bad for a B-movie alien invasion dystopian film. That was a nice surprise, as I was all prepared to endure a bunch of cliches and basic character archetypes. However Occupation: Rainfall delivers a moderately decent movie experience. There were some obvious timing issues towards the film’s conclusion, but we’ll get into that later. Speaking of surprises, I was surprised to discover that this film is actually a direct sequel of a film that was released in 2018. Granted, there were some changes, such as Jet Tranter replacing Stephanie Jacobson as Amelia Chambers, or Amelia the human as she is referred to more frequently than by her real name. The film also features the addition of The Originals’ Daniel Gilles and Jason Isaac as a hilarious character. All in all, minus that timing issue I mentioned earlier, Occupation Rainfall delivered a surprising and overall enjoyable experience.

What a great time it was to be a teen in the late 1970’s. No, I’m not referring to disco music. It was a great time to go to the movies. It was the culmination of the perfect date, and Hollywood was riding the beginning of a trend that remains alive and healthy today. I’m talking, of course, about the slasher film. You could argue that Hitchcock started the ball rolling in 1961 with Psycho, but it would be decades before that film would find its true audience and plethora of imitators. Although The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween came before Friday The 13^th, can it be argued that any horror film franchise is as widely known? The truth is that even the man behind the film, Sean Cunningham, never really knew what it was that he had. It was never his intent to follow the film with a barrage of sequels. He also scoffed at the idea that Jason could become the centerpiece for future films.

When I first saw Nashville, it was back in my days of working at a video store in the 90’s, and I was consuming a ridiculous amount of films a week. For many, it’s considered a classic and one of the better films that Robert Altman put out. Before re-watching the film for this review, I couldn’t remember all that much about the film aside from it having a lot of music in it and there being something involving a political campaign. I’m a fan of Robert Altman. Personally, Short Cuts and The Player are my favorite films by him, but I can appreciate that his way of storytelling paved the way for one of my favorite writer/directors Paul Thomas Anderson. Just watching Boogie Nights and Magnolia you can see the influence of Altman’s work from the script to the way they are filmed.  Now that I’m older, perhaps it was time that I revisited this film. After all, for many it’s considered a classic. Perhaps this time it could make a greater impression on me.