Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on July 12th, 2019
He is heralded as the gold standard of traditional country music. He has released 16 albums, including three greatest hits albums, two Christmas albums, and two gospel albums. He has sold over 80 million records. His accolades include two Grammy awards, 16 CMA (Country Music Association) awards, 17 ACM (Academy of Country Music) awards, and he was inducted in both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame. However, before this disc I had never even heard his name. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a big country music fan, but I have some familiarity, so I figured I should recognize him. Then I realized that all the country musicians I know pay homage to this man. That alone establishes the mark this man has had on the music genre.
“Alan is the greatest country singer since Merle Haggard.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 11th, 2019
"This drama is based on the true story of a police investigation in Southwest London between 2004-2006. Some names have been changed, and some characters and scenes have been created for dramatic purposes."
Serial killers have mostly been the stuff of American dramas and unfortunately the American reality. This particular brand of sociopath doesn't appear to thrive in the confining environments of most countries. Of course, for some it's that they shy away from the designation, and for others it's pure denial. But in the period between 2004 and 2006, Great Britain was terrorized by this very kind of human animal. The criminal's name was Levi Bellfield, and for two years an English task force hunted this killer. The lead investigator was Deputy Chief Inspector Colin Sutton. DCI Sutton ended up writing a bestseller book on the case, and now it has become an ITV series out on Blu-ray from Acorn. It's called, appropriately enough, Manhunt. It's a short little series containing only three episodes. A second season, or series as the Brits like to call them, will be airing sometime in 2020. For now this is a chance for the American audiences to discover the case and the series firsthand.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 10th, 2019
Dateline: September 13, 1999
Mankind has been storing all of our nuclear waste on the far side of the moon. On the other side of the lunar surface was Alpha Base. Here mankind had a research station which also served as a launching point for deep-space missions. An unfortunate chain of events led to the unthinkable. The nuclear waste pile was ignited, and the whole dump exploded with a force so powerful that it tore the moon out of Earth's orbit and sent it hurtling through space. The 311 inhabitants of Alpha were swept along for this uncontrolled flight into uncharted space. Of course, the year 1999 is no longer science fiction to us now. It's going on ancient history. There has never been a base on the moon. In fact, we haven't been back since the end of the Apollo program in the 1970's. If you check tonight, you'll find that our only natural satellite is still firmly planted in its familiar orbit around our planet. Space 1999 never happened.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2019
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: single gal(s) looking for love — among other things — in the big city. On television, the trope dates back to the days of Laverne & Shirley and continues with more contemporary entries like Sex and the City and Girls. It’s an effective, well-worn story hook that has now gotten a funny, tremendously weird spin thanks to Comedy Central’s Broad City. Broad City began life as a web series. Now CBS has brought together all five seasons of the series and put it in one big release. You get 11 discs. Each season has 10 episodes spread out on two discs. You also get an extra disc with all new bonus features that give you an added reason to pick this collection up.
Abbi and Ilana do interact with a recurring cast of characters that includes Lincoln (Hannibal Buress), Ilana’s nurturing, supportive sex buddy; Bevers (John Gemberling), Abbi’s roommate’s slovenly boyfriend, who spends way too much time at her place (the joke is we never actually see Abbi’s roommate); Jaime (Arturo Castro), Ilana’s sensitive, drug-dealing gay roommate; and Jeremy (Stephen Schneider), the nice guy neighbor Abbi has a massive crush on. These characters mostly float in and out of Abbi’s and Ilana’s life, with the exception of Ep.7/“Hurricane Wanda”, which has all of them — plus a temperamental sibling — holed up in Abbi’s apartment during a storm. It’s an extended showcase for the supporting cast, while also featuring the hallmarks of any Broad City episode: sharply-observed humor involving sex and drugs, Ilana going to insane lengths to help Abbi, and clever sight gags. Oh yeah: there’s also an extended sequence involving a turd. (Would you believe me if I told you it’s not even the most disgusting gag involving a toilet? That dishonor goes to the Season 1 finale, “The Last Supper.”)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 2nd, 2019
"I don't wanna be buried in a pet sematary."
It's an inescapable fact of life that some things get lost in translation. Italian poetry loses its imagery. War And Peace is apparently much more compelling in Tolstoy's original Russian. And I've been told that Abbott & Costello is painful when told secondhand. You can add to that axiom that Stephen King really doesn't translate very well on the silver screen. The notable exceptions are films based on non-horror works like The Shawshank Redemption and the barely-horror-related Stand By Me. Both are wonderful films that manage to capture King's knack for the absurd in everyday life. While some consider Kubrick's The Shining a classic, you'll find just as many King fans who hated it, "Here's Johnny", and all of that. I've read most of Stephen King's books and a couple of them multiple times. Pet Sematary is one of my favorites, and I've read it at least three times. When the 1989 film was released, I was eager to see it. That was a mistake, but an even bigger mistake was made by all involved in what was essentially a mess. I blame Denise Crosby, but then again I blame Denise Crosby for hurricanes and urban blight. I don't blame Fred Gwynne. He was the only part of that film that reminded me even remotely of the printed word. Now writers Matt Greenberg & Jeff Buhler join directors Kevin Lolsch & Dennis Widmyer in a remake that while not the disaster of the 1989 film still fails to capture the imaginative prose of the novel. I think it's a translation thing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on July 2nd, 2019
"You've seen a horsefly. You've seen a dragonfly. You've even seen a housefly. But you haven't seen anything until you've seen an elephant fly. Let's get ready for Dumbo."
So, Dumbo was never one of my favorite Disney classics. In fact, when news initially broke about a live-action version being filmed, I wasn’t moved one way or the other. I figured I would end up seeing it for the sake of my daughter, but I figured it would just be something that I would have to endure. I speak these words with the full knowledge that I now have to eat them, as Dumbo has gone from one of my least favorite Disney films to one of my favorite movie experiences of the year. With an all-star cast that includes Colin Farrell, Eva Green, Danny DeVito, and Michael Keaton, Dumbo is a fantastical and wholesome family experience that I will be taking my daughter to, but dragging her to it if she puts up a fight. Helmed by Tim Burton, Dumbo is the first of three live-action Disney movies expected this year, with the others being Aladdin and The Lion King. Of those three, I was expecting The Lion King to be the biggest audience draw, but as it stands, Dumbo has set the bar extremely high, and the other two have a lot of work to do if they expect to compete.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 30th, 2019
My wife has been a part-time travel agent for roughly the last year or so. In that time, I have learned much about airlines, cruise ships, and of course hotels. I have also thanks to her guidance and knowledge been able to stay at a few nice hotels in the past year which were much more comfortable than I could have ever expected. However, despite my travels with my lovely better half, I seriously doubt I will ever come upon a hotel quite like the one depicted in Okko's Inn anytime soon. Let us spend the next few minutes looking at an anime where your lodging is the best part of your trip.
We open to a festival of sorts, called a spa by the locals. Music is playing; it is time for a show. We see a couple of people perform traditional dance numbers, while Okko, our main character, watches. Her father and mother are also on hand to explain the traditions to our young heroine and how they wish they could be part of the show. The show speaks to the theme and the spirit of "Welcoming Everyone".
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 29th, 2019
The youth of today don't appear to understand that movies and pictures used to be taken on a physical medium called film. The problem, of course, was that you didn't get to see your masterpieces immediately. You had to take the film to be developed. So perhaps that little generational disconnect explains why some filmmakers don't get that plots, like old film stock, also need to be developed. We live in a world of instant gratification, but the only trouble with instant gratification is that it takes too dang long. The same can be said for film plots. Today there are writers and directors who begin and end that process by throwing in some trending words and concepts from Google, and you have an instant plot that's sure to bring in an audience. At least that's what it appears happened with Crypto, directed by John Stalberg, Jr. What amazes me is that it took three writers to do the Google searches. Let's see... you punch in crypto-currency, Russia, and corporate greed, throw it into your computer word processor, and out comes a script. Let's call it, I know, Crypto. You have to have a mysterious-sounding one-word title.
Beau Knapp is terribly in over his head playing Marty. Both character and actor have taken on more than they bargained for. Marty is a compliance officer for a huge corporate bank called Omni. He discovers some stuff that ends up not very convenient for the suits and gets sent into exile to his small home town of Elba. He makes the comparison that a certain short French general was once exiled to a place with the same name and came back to conquer France. It's no surprise that he doesn't want to go back to Elba. He's estranged from his stubborn farmer father, played by Kurt Russell, who I'm sure made a mad dash to his own bank to make sure the deposit cleared before he showed up on the set. His brother (Hemsworth) is suffering from PTSD (another Google search?) and is trying to help his father with a failing potato farm. It's also no surprise that Marty uncovers some "irregularities" at the local Omni branch having to do with an art gallery. He also reconnects with his high school friend Earl Harris, who owns a small liquor store but has a backroom that looks like it could serve as mission control for the next Mars mission. He uses the setup to track and investigate crypto-currency like bitcoin. Wouldn't you know it? He finds out Omni might be trying to manipulate and dominate the system, and he helps Marty hack into some restricted files.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 26th, 2019
I think it’s safe to say that television has never been better. With so many channels and streaming services, everyone is trying to get viewers, and to do so they know the quality has to be at a certain level. The problem is, with so many options, there is no doubt that occasionally a gem is going to get past us. Patrick Melrose was almost that gem I could have missed if not for a last-minute switch at Upcomingdiscs headquarters. Despite how much quality entertainment is out there, I can say with full confidence that this is not just one of the best limited series of 2018, but this is easily one of the best in the past decade. It’s only five episodes long, but in those five episodes, from start to finish, it is exceptional television.
Patrick Melrose is an adaptation from the novels by Edward St Aubyn. Though I’ve never read any of the books, after seeing this I eagerly want to read one of these books. There are five books that he has written about the title character Patrick Melrose (Benedict Cumberbatch), and each episode of the series is based on one of the books. This immediately makes this show unique, because each episode tells us a unique story that revolves around Patrick from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s. The show even bounces around in its timeline to tell us this story of an unlikeable drug addict to a family man attempting to redeem himself. It’s a character arc that is so well fleshed out and performed so well by Cumberbatch that I’m surprised to say he manages to outshine all his previous performances.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 21st, 2019
With the 50th anniversary of the murders committed by Charles Manson’s followers coming up in August, it’s no big surprise that we’re seeing films that focus on those events popping up on the big screen. Hollywood has always had a fascination with the crimes. After all, it involved a rising starlet, Sharon Tate, and director Roman Polanski was making a name for himself in the states after the success of Rosemary’s Baby. We all know what happened with Manson and his followers and the unfortunate fall Polanski took, despite managing to maintain a directing career long after the child rape accusations first percolated. It’s a tragic story all around, and it’s no surprise why it continues to fascinate people. Already there has been the film Charlie Says from Mary Harron (American Psycho), and next month we’ll be getting the long anticipated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from Quentin Tarantino, whose film takes place around the time of the murders. But right now, the focus is on The Haunting of Sharon Tate, a film that takes the approach that Tate had predicted her murder because of dreams she had of the massacre long before they took place. It’s a film that poses the “what if?” question that if she had known what was going to happen, could she have changed the outcome. It’s not a bad idea, and it opens plenty of possibilities, but how does it turn out?
First let me say I’m all for films that attempt the alternate reality direction, playing with the notion of how things could have gone. I went into this film with an open mind and really just was hoping for something unique, something that could balance between horrific and entertaining. Considering this IS a true story, to go for a fun, campy slasher would just be in poor taste. Well, unfortunately, that’s sort of what this aimed to be, and it just fails miserably.
