Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 3rd, 2012
As of late, I have found myself picking up some classic albums by Madonna. Her early stuff mostly, but I have even picked up Truth or Dare on Blu-Ray within the last week or so. Why? I honestly can not explain. Maybe I miss her voice, her sex appeal and the music that has made her a legend. What I did not expect was that I was going to be reviewing a movie directed by her. So let us sit back and see how the movie W./E. plays out.
A faint radio plays out. It talks about the greatest love story of the 20th century or the king who gave up his throne for the woman he loved. Wallis Simpson was her name and she started a constitutional crisis when the King of England, Edward VIII decided to leave the throne to marry this woman. They became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The legend lives on today. An answering machine clicks after Walli is told that she is loved but will be alone that night.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on April 23rd, 2012
“Here in Tresock, I believe the old religion of the Celts fits our needs at this time. Isn’t that all you can ask of a religion?”
In 1973 Director Robin Hardy captured lightning in a bottle with the classic The Wicker Man. Based on David Pinner's 1967 novel Ritual and loosely adapted into Anthony Shaffer’s sharp screenplay. Shaffer painstakingly researched paganism giving the film an undeniable authenticity, The Wicker Man became a genre of its own known as Folk Horror. The beauty of the film was the war of counter-religions, Christianity vs. Celtic Paganism. Both religions were well respected and represented, never sinking to the point of parody or cynicism. Of course, the lion’s share of the cultural clash leaned to the side of the pagans, robustly embracing their music and daily rituals. The film served as a horror movie for Christians and a victorious feel-good movie for pagans. Either side found it unforgettable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 15th, 2012
I was flipping through the latest issue of Sad Trombone magazine the other day, and it contained an article revealing — through entirely unscientific research — that the general consensus appears to be, "People suck." As a result, I was already in the proper mindset when I sat down to watch The Divide, probably the most pessimistic movie of the past year.
After a nuclear attack, a group of nine survivors huddle in the basement of their apartment building. They are initially led by Mickey (Michael Biehn, looking like his Aliens co-star Lance Henriksen these days), the building's profane, racist, anti-social superintendent. With absolutely zero communication with the outside world, the days go by and the secluded group — which is afraid to go outside because of the potential for radiation poisoning — gets hungrier, crankier and more desperate. (Oddly enough, that's exactly how I got the last time I went camping overnight in a tiny tent.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2012
Most of us first heard about camel spiders in the early 1990's during the first Gulf War. Apparently, these 6-inch bugs were causing quite a stir with the troops and were responsible for as many horror stories as the war itself. We were told they were instantly deadly and could grow to enormous sizes in a matter of days. Rumors had it that the creatures were killing machines that roamed the Middle Eastern deserts feeding off camels of all things. Or humans if they got in the way.
Of course, the reality is that none of it is true. They aren't even really spiders. They don't have any poison at all, and they only grow to about six inches. Turns out that the camels are perfectly safe, as well. None of that comes as too much of a surprise to me. What does amaze me is that it took this long for someone to make a monster movie about the critters. And, if you're surprised that it was Roger Corman who did it, you don't know very much about the history of the B horror film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 12th, 2012
"What must it be like to be the most famous woman on Earth?"
In My Week with Marilyn, one character relays this very question — apparently asked recently by Queen Elizabeth II — to Marilyn Monroe herself. The main problem with this movie is that it is less interested in exploring that query with a great amount of depth, and more interested in answering the considerably less provocative question, "What is it like to hang out with someone super famous?" (That's what Entourage was for.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 24th, 2012
After watching The Son of No One, I'm afraid I have some good news and (significantly more) bad news. The good news is that I get to say the following sentence for the first time in at least ten years: Al Pacino was probably the best thing in this movie. The bad news is Pacino has only a relatively tiny role in this dramatically stagnant crime drama that ends up squandering a talented cast, a vividly-realized setting and some interesting ideas.
Channing Tatum stars as Jonathan White, a young cop who has been transferred to the 118th Precinct in Queens where his late father was a cop and located in the same district where White grew up. The precinct's captain (Ray Liotta) is troubled by some anonymous letters published in a small local newspaper by a persistent reporter (a miscast Juliette Binoche). The letters claim the police covered up two murders 16 years ago in the same neglected housing project where White grew up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 16th, 2012
Despite their pop culture ubiquity these days, zombies are getting somewhat of a raw deal. To be clear, I'm talking about the old-school, George Romero-style creatures that slowly lumbered toward their victims and whose only ambition in life was to snack on human flesh. Nowadays, a lot of filmmakers seem to be more interested in making zombie movies that don't technically have "zombies" in them ("infected" is a popular alternative term) and who are almost fast enough to earn a spot on their country's track and field squad for this summer's Olympic games. Even The Walking Dead — fresh off setting a new ratings record for basic cable viewership earlier this week — has conspicuously avoided having any of its characters refer to the living dead as "zombies" over its two seasons. (Instead, they're "walkers" or, most recently, "lame-brains.")
The Dead strives to be a return to Romero-esque horror. Billing itself as “the first zombie road movie set against the spectacular scenery of Africa,” the film follows American Air Force Engineer Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman), who survives a plane crash in war-torn, zombie-infested West Africa only to find himself in a brutal, unforgiving landscape that is completely barren...except for the undead shuffling in his direction. Murphy eventually crosses path with Sgt. Daniel Dembele (Prince David Osei, a poor man's Djimon Hounsou), whose village has been ravaged by the reanimated dead and who is determined to find his missing son.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 7th, 2012
Recent Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain famously appeared in a whopping six movies released in 2011. These include two Best Picture nominees (The Help, The Tree of Life), and two other movies that briefly generated a small measure of Oscar buzz (Take Shelter for Michael Shannon's performance, and Coriolanus for Vanessa Redgrave's work). Unfortunately, when people try to recount Chastain's outstanding breakout year, Texas Killing Fields is destined to become the sixth movie no one can remember. Heck, it's not even her best 2011 movie co-starring Sam Worthington. (That would be The Debt.)
Inspired by true events, the film derives its name from an area just outside Texas City where more than 60 dead bodies have been found since 1971. Worthington (Avatar) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) co-star, respectively, as Texas City homicide detectives Mike Souder and Brian Heigh. Though Souder and Heigh have their hands full trying to solve the Texas City murder of a young girl, Heigh allows himself to be pulled into a case involving another missing girl whose abandoned car was found in the killing fields, despite the fact that it's out of his jurisdiction. Chastain co-stars as a detective from the neighboring county (and Souder's ex-wife) while the gifted Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Hugo) plays a troubled Texas City girl who Heigh protects.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 16th, 2012
Here we go with more romantic comedies boys and girls. Captain Post Office did not listen last time when we told him no more hokey and predictable romantic comedies featuring pretty boys and girls doing really stupid things for some horrible laughs. Alright, let us see what we got. I Don’t Know How She Does It? featuring Sarah Jessica Parker?!!. Oh geez, what did I do to deserve this one. I am so sorry oh great one, but why did you forsake me? WHY???!!!!
Allison Henderson (played by Christina Hendricks) has known Kate Reddy for about six years now. Allison thinks she is a great at being a mother and well, everything else. However, she has had her slip ups here and there, including one three months last winter. The slip up centered on the Kindergarten bake sale for her daughter Emily. We now take you to the action (couldn’t we have stayed with Christina just a little bit longer?).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 11th, 2012
To say I am not a big fan of racing is something of an understatement. I never find myself watching the races, Nascar or Indy and could really care less about the sport where you turn left a whole lot. When it comes to cartoons or video games, it is a somewhat different tale since I have enjoyed the show Wacky Races as well as loved to play anything in the Burnout series of video games. So when it came to reviewing the anime film, Redline, I was not sure exactly what to think but looked forward to the review.
“In the far distance future when cars are giving up their wheels in the change over to air-cars, there still exist fools who carry on a vanishing spirit of racing.”
![I Don't Know How She Does It [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/i-dont-know-how-she-does-it-blu-r-large.jpg)
![Redline [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/redline-blu-ray-large.jpg)
