Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 1st, 2011
Our Planet is a merging of a large handful of documentaries that originally aired on the History Channel. Here they are packaged together to thematically display the “Past, Present, and Future of Earth.”
HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 31st, 2011
There is a place in London of the United Kingdom that is down in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea that used to be the first Church of Christ. However, throughout the years the populace decreased that flowed into the church and it became a shell of its former self. Still a goregous location, in 2001 it became home to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. That building is called Cadogan Hall. Fast forward to 2009, a band called Marillion decided to play there which led to this 2011 release.
Marillion is classified as neo-progressive rock music. If you are not in the know, you might ask yourself, what the heck is neo-progressive rock music? Well according to what I could find, it is deeply emotional music with dramatic lyrics and an almost theater like quality on stage. One really won't see guitar and drum solos on the spur of a moment. They will be carefully staged with help from other instruments such as keyboards and percussion. If you are thinking of influences such as Genesis or Yes, you would be in the right area.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 30th, 2011
The Nazis have been the subject of countless documentaries and films. On this occasion, The History Channel has decided to place the focus on the people of Germany, with a time line that starts at approximetaly the First World War and leads to the end of the Second World War. With the aid of newly discovered home videos gathered from Germany & Russia, we see a combination of German life during this time, as well as public and private views of Nazi discourse and planning.
There is one film hobbyist in particular who's home movies become the basis for a story within the story. This one family are typical of the German people, and their lives are documented as they, like many others, go from joy, to desperation, to a sense of empowerment, to denial, to horror as their nation is seized by Hitler and his enforcers. There have been many written accounts of what the people felt and experienced, in fact many biographies are quoted and/or use as narration script in this film, but it is all the more rare to have visual records outside of propaganda films or some news reels, especially of Nazi Germany. It is such rare glimpses that makes this film so special to behold and the history of it feel all the more real.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 23rd, 2011
A sure sign that Easter is just around the corner is yet another home video release of perennial seasonal favorite The Ten Commandments. In years past, we got the multi-disc edition, complete with original silent version of the film. This particular version is rather more stripped down, as far as features go, but it does mark the film's extremely welcome arrival on Blu-ray.
The first act of Cecil B. DeMille's epic is as much a tale of Egyptian power politics as it is the story of a man coming to terms with his identity and destiny. We follow Moses (Charlton Heston) as, rising from triumph to triumph, he has the throne of Egypt within his grasp (much to the displeasure of Yul Brynner, the Pharaoh's actual son and rival for the affections of the sinuous Anne Baxter), only to lose all worldly power when he realizes he is actually the son of Hebrew slaves. Cast out of Egypt, he returns to demand the liberty of his people, and comes clutching a fistful of plagues to make sure his former brother pays heed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 9th, 2011
"This is Fairfax County in the state of Virginia. I was born here. It's peaceful, beautiful, and a long long way from Wyoming; beautiful, too, in its special way. Vast, proud and lonely; it's my country now, Wyoming. But not exactly a peaceful one."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 21st, 2011
It's funny how the zeitgeist works, in that it is hardly unusual for two films with very similar high concepts to hit the screens at close to the same time. Dante's Peak and Volcano. Deep Impact and Armageddon. Hell, The Towering Inferno came about as a result of Fox and Warner cooperating in order to avoid making identical films. And this year, two animated features with super-villains as their protagonists: Despicable Me and our current subject: Megamind.
His childhood consistently ruined by the budding Metro Man (Brad Pitt), Megamind (Will Ferrell) becomes the super-villain he feels he was destined to be. But when his latest scheme actually succeeds in destroying Metro Man, he finds life curiously empty, and so sets about creating a new super-hero: Tighten (Jonah Hill). But Tighten, it turns out, is more villain than hero, while Megamind, thanks in no small part to a budding relationship with reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey), moves ever closer to hero territory.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 3rd, 2011
My teenage years were set firmly in the 80’s and early 90’s. As a result, I watched my fair share of cheesy television shows and loved every minute of it. Shows like Sledge Hammer, Silk Stalkings, and Alf. But alas, some shows even escaped my cheese-dar until well into my adult years. One such show is Zorro, yes that Duncan Regehr vehicle where he wore a mask and carved Z into various objects while wooing the ladies. How could I ever miss that one?
Since, I’m dealing with a box set that covers a ton of episodes, I will do my best to break this down season by season with major changes between them. To be honest, from what I’ve seen, the show’s story is the same from start to finish. Even though some of the actors do change, it’s still Duncan Regehr running around in a mask with a sword. Too frank you say? Ha, ha (in best evil guy’s laughing voice)!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 14th, 2010
7th heaven reaches its 11th and final season of rampant political correctness and lessons of family togetherness through Christian love. Yes, that was a mildly passive aggressive summary of this show, but I feel sometimes one strong bias deserves another to challenge it. This show, the story of a very large family lead by a Minister (and don't deny it, he leads them) as they convey their socially and politically conservative Protestant Christian point of view of “real-life” situations.
To be a fair reviewer, I shall put aside my personal objections to critique how the show works just as a family drama for a moment. The 11th season is quite hard to get into as there are countless references and relationships that have been building up for a very long time. I'm not asking it to be like a Law and Order brand of storytelling, where a viewer can jump in at any episode to enjoy a fully encapsulated story, but this show becomes an undeniable challenge to watch if you are seeing it without any background knowledge of the characters and their previous stories.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2010
"Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, we have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first Bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster."
I remember as a kid we used to imitate the Bionic Man when we would be playing in the playground. We would run in slow motion and make that distinctive "chchacha" sound and pretend we were bending steel bars or lifting tons of weight. In the 1970's bionic play was everywhere. For a time it was the most popular thing on television.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 17th, 2010
"My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident and I woke up in 1973. Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time? Whatever happened, it's like I've landed on a different planet. Now, maybe, if I can work out the reason, I can get back home."
I kind of did things a little backwards. I saw the single-season American version of Life On Mars quite some time before I managed to get my hands on the two seasons of the original British version of the show. The idea of a British television series being adapted for American screens is really nothing new. Lately a lot has been written about the phenomenon as if it’s some recent trendy invasion of English telly. We’ve been watching British hits since at least the 1970’s. In those days it was the sit-com that got the most attention from across the pond. Till Death Do Us Part and Steptoe And Son became All In The Family and Sanford And Son, respectively. Both shows became even bigger hits here in the states and are remembered by more folks on both continents than the originals today. The latest hit from England was The Office. Unfortunately, Life On Mars was never destined to join those Anglo/American success stories.
![The Ten Commandments (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-ten-commandments-two-disc-spec-large.jpg)
