Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2007
Smallville, although well shot and portrayed has never been a favorite series of mine. Growing up I was a Marvel comics fan, I hardly ever crossed into the DC market and if I did, it was for Batman, never Superman. Of course, for those of you that don't know Smallville follows the life of a young Clark Kent in the years prior to him becoming Superman. Of course it started out in season 1 with Kent in high school, very unsure of his potential but six seasons later he's very Superman esque. That's the aspect I really like about this show, the character arcs and the development of Clark Kent into Superman. We get to learn why he is the way he is, and why the people around him are the way they are.
For those of you that read the Superman comics you know that Clark Kent grew up in the fictional town of Smallville, first introduced in a Superman comic nearly 60 years ago. During the first 5 seasons of Smallville we get a taste of just about everything Superman, from the origins of Lex Luthor to The Fortress of Solitude. Without a doubt this show is a spectacular Superman spin-off for fans, but if your like me and could really care less about The Man of Steel, Smallville Season 6 isn't going to strike a chord with you unless you rewind a bit and start watching from season 1.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2007
Meet The Robinsons follows the story of young orphan Lewis. He’s quite the young inventor but ends up with more failures and near misses than anything successful. His tendency to blow things up doesn’t help his adoption chances too much either. One day his life is changed when a kid from the future arrives to give him a boost of confidence. Back in the future Lewis is temporarily trapped, and the guest of the manic family Robinson. Each family member is a zany character unto themselves. Uncle Art, cleverly voiced by Adam West, is an intergalactic pizza delivery guy, and mom has trained frogs to become big band singers. Before long Lewis finds he has more in common with family patriarch Cornelius than he suspected. The villain is the mysterious Bowler Hat Man, bent on getting his revenge on Lewis and taking credit for his inventions. Armed with a catchy slogan culled from one of Walt’s own statements, Keep Moving Forward, and a new found confidence, Lewis sets out to create the future of his dreams.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2007
Slow Burn delivers exactly what the title suggests. A whole lotta slow and a little burn. District Attorney Ford Cole (Liotta) is running for Mayor. He’s got a no nonsense reputation for fighting crime. He’s been locked in a near mortal struggle with crime lord Danny Luden, an elusive criminal who has more than once humiliated Cole in the past. His ace assistant, Nora Timmer (Blalock) has just shot a man she claims attempted to rape her. The story begins to unravel when Luther Pinks (LL Cool J) arrives with an alternate story that paints Timmer in a very bad light. The two tales are told through flashbacks and narrative, and it’s left to the audience to come up with the truth. The only problem is the pacing is erratic and often confusing. After an hour and a half of clichés and snail’s pace plot movement, you find yourself too fatigued to give a crap who is playing who anymore.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2007
The box art boasts that “You have never seen The Wonder Years’ Fred Savage like this before”. Right. And will you please all bow your heads and join me in prayer that we never see him like this again. Forget for the moment that I just can’t get the character of Kevin Arnold out of my head any time I see Savage, but watching him turn into some sex crazy maniac is like catching your sister on the toilet. The image is there forever burned into your corneas like some visage of Hell to torment you for the remainder of your natural life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 19th, 2007
Connoisseurs of Eurosleaze will be pleased with this nasty little variation on the gothic. In an isolated castle, a fractious, failing aristocratic family has gathered. There is no more money in the family, except indirectly: one brother, now in a vegetative state, is married to a rather wanton woman, who now holds the purse strings. The matriarch suggests that her other son marry her, even though his brother is still alive. The man is properly horrified by the suggestion, and he is also still in mourning for his wife. But then something – the spirit of his wife? a demon? – invades his teenage daughter, who then starts acting out sexually and recreating scenes from The Exorcist.
Nothing hugely original here, and many scenes are SO blatant in copying The Exorcist that one might as well assume that Friedkin’s film was the last word on possession symptoms. What is interesting, though, is that, unlike Friedkin’s film, the connection between the possession and the hypocrisy of the upper class is made perfectly explicit (in every sense). In fact, much of the misbehaviour on display has nothing whatever to do with the demon – it serves primarily to force the characters into a realization of what they really are.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 17th, 2007
Director Peter Bogdanovich has a theory that you can make almost any movie better by cutting the first 20-minutes off of it. Exposition is intended to set-up the background of the characters for the audience, but it usually just ends up slowing things down until the conflict eventually arises. After watching Bug, I would be willing to accept Bogdanovich's argument, and double it.
Bug is the story of a down-on-her-luck waitress (Ashley Judd, doing her best impression of Charlize Theron from Monster) who lives in a cheap motel and works as a waitress in a honky tonk bar in Oklahoma. Her only friend comes by one night to party, and leaves a drifter behind when she leaves for the evening. The drifter turns out to be a pretty interesting character, though clearly of mysterious origins. The two form a quick bond, and as the drifter's pre-existing mental illness starts to present itself, the waitress buys in to his delusions, with disastrous results.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2007
With season seven already underway, our favourite TV drama about young Clark Kent's journey to becoming Superman is still going strong. Back in 2001, I have to admit I wasn't all that optimistic about the show's prospects. The pilot was strong, but after viewing the first few freak-of-the-week episodes, thing weren't exactly looking up, up and away. At least not for me, anyway. Thankfully, I don't make the decisions, because Smallville grew to become an entertaining show with decent story arcs and interesting twists in the lives of its characters.
By the time this sixth season rolled around, Smallville had moved well beyond the constraints of high school drama, and added more heroes and villains than you can shake a stick at. But is bigger better? The jury's still squabbling over that one, in between bites of their free lunch. In the meantime, I'll pass judgment on this DVD set.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2007
I had a decided advantage going into the
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2007
The Invisible requires far too much setup before we really get into the major ideas of the film. The first 40 minutes of the film is a complicated series of events that place a heavy burden on our patience. Finally, in an unfortunate series of events that would rattle Lemony Snicket, two lives are placed on a collision course.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 15th, 2007
Do you know what happens when creative people get toys and wacked out people get a tv show? Robot Chicken happens. The first season was a great success on Adult Swim, so that meant two things. One, creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich would be able to move out of their parent's house (okay, not really) and we would get Season 2. Robot Chicken for those who don't know is toy figures (or special sculpted toys) put to life in hilarious sketches and parodies with the use of stop motion capture technology. The show has gotten such fanfare that it recently produced a Star Wars parody sketch show that was even supervised by George Lucas himself. Unfortunately that was the start of Season 3, and isn't on this dvd (but there is the infamous Star Wars sketch included that led to the whole sketch show in this box set).
The amount of bizarre pop culture references in this show is staggering. From the Brady Bunch meets the Mr. & Mrs. Smith to Inspector Gadget meets Terminator 2 Judgement Day, the show goes everywhere and beyond. Sometimes it finds the references too obscure and depending on the audience might not get all of the jokes. One that is brought to mind is the Spy Hunter 11:00 News Sketch. Not everybody like me has played the game 40-50 hours and gets the "joke". I might be on the floor for it but the person next to me might have a totally blank expression. However, where one fails, the next ten might be gold. That is where the show really succeds. The other great thing about Robot Chicken is the amount of talent on the show when it comes to voices. One of the great things is that they go and get the original voice talent in what it parodies with their toys. From little guys such as Michael Winslow (Police Academy) to the Coreys (Haim & Feldman) to big stars like Charlize Theron. It adds realism and humor to the show in spades.
![Smallville - The Complete Sixth Season [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/smallville-the-complete-sixth-sea-large.jpg)
