Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 5th, 2010
So here we go with yet another heaping helping of public domain offerings from Infinity. I last looked at their Abbott & Costello package, which concentrated on TV shows and only featured a couple of movies. This Mickey Rooney set is heavily oriented towards the movies. Here's what you get:
Disc 1:
Officer Thirteen (1932)
The Big Chance (1933)
Lost Jungle (1934)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 25th, 2010
Oh how the rich can get into mischief. This DVD set is smack dab in the middle of Dynasty's successful nine season run. The mud slinging, both literal and figurative, was at its height in this fourth season, and no $200 haircut or $1000 outfit was left unruffled by the various scandals and plots set into the web of these wealthy Denver residents. In fact, this season was the one and only time this series won a Golden Globe for best TV Drama.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2010
I'm a huge fan of Roger Corman. Who isn't, right? But these films are not the typical Corman offerings. Some of them have no apparent connection to the man himself. The ones that do are mostly as producer and not director. Some of the films might be notable for being an early film for this actor or that. But I would hardly classify any of these films as classics of any genre or good representations of the mastery of the B film that was Roger Corman's signature.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 6th, 2010
It would appear that Michael Landon, Jr. is attempting to cash in on his late father's Little House On The Prairie appeal. He is one of the driving forces behind this series of made for television films. He has directed several of them and serves as an executive producer on them all. He has also been involved with some of the writing on the series. They are based on a series of books written by Janette Oke. They follow three generations of women in the days of the Western frontier. When I say that Landon is spending on his father's legacy, you need look no further than the common elements of the films themselves to understand how I come to that conclusion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2009
“You got everything money can buy, except what it can’t. It’s pride. Pride is what got you here. Losing is what brung you back. But, people like you, they need to be tested. They need a challenge.”
There have been a ton of boxing films. They’ve been popular going back to the Silent Era. Most of them have many of the same themes. But there was always something about Rocky that stood out above all of the rest. That “something” can’t really be described or defined. As the Supreme Court once said about the definition of obscenity: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.” That’s all you can say about Rocky. Some might call it heart. That’s about as good a word for it as anything else.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 16th, 2009
So here we are for the third season of the farcical political adventures of NYC Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty (Michael J. Fox) and his crew. We follow them work to keep the buffoonish mayor (Barry Bostwick) in power and out of trouble, while finding plenty of time to get themselves into all sorts of predicaments. This is one of those shows that, back when it aired, struck me as clever, but not as clever as it could be, and that impression remains. The cast is a crack team of wits, and they bounce off each other with great energy and snap. There are numerous situations and plenty of lines that are funny indeed. And yet, there is a certain laziness to the humour, too. This is a comedy set in a the world of politicos and spin doctors, for crying out loud.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 13th, 2009
“In the 1940’s, a new genre – film noir – emerged from the world of hard boiled pulp magazines, paperback thrillers and sensational crime movies. These films, tough and unsentimental, depicted a black and white universe at once brutal, erotic, and morally ambiguous.”
And so Sony collects 5 of these films as part of what looks like is going to be an ongoing series. But what exactly is film noir? You hear the word used from time to time, but what does it mean?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 5th, 2009
Sam Fuller lived quite a life before he ever even thought about working in the film industry. He was a crime beat reporter at 17 years old. He served in the infantry in World War II, turning down a cushy press corps assignment. Both of these experiences would shape the man, writer, and filmmaker he was to become. His newspaper experience gave him access to a lifetime of stories, an understanding of the newspaper business, and a honed writing skill. That ability would serve him most. Fuller was a writer more than a filmmaker, and it was with his typewriter that he most excelled.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 7th, 2009
This season finds the protagonists well beyond high school, now having adventures in the adult world. So writer Lucas, in the midst of promoting his book, proposes to Peyton. Brooke fights to save her clothing business from the clutches of her mother From Hell. Piece of work Dan is flattened by a car and then finds himself in the hospital, helpless, badly injured, and at the mercy of a sadistic nurse out for revenge. Basketball player Nathan doesn't know that his mother is having an affair with one of his friends. And on we go, and I haven't even mentioned the episode that's a fantasy construction of Lucas', relocating the entire cast and setting to the 1940s.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 21st, 2009
Some of you might remember my review of the first two volumes of X-Men, the Animated Series. After the first thirty plus episodes, I secretly hoped that I would be able to bring you reviews of the rest of the series. Luckily, I was blessed enough to make this a reality when I received volume 3 & 4 at my door just before my fall vacation. How sweet it is.
![Rocky: The Undisputed Collection [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/rocky-the-undisputed-collection-b-large.jpg)
