Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 22nd, 2010
A renowned street fighter's brother is murdered, so he flees to a small town where his crippled father lives. While there he discovers an underground circuit of Mixed Martial Arts competitions and raw, street fighting prize matches. With the help of a former MMA champ (played by real-life UFC contender Michael Bisping), our hero fights his way up to the top of the underground action in order to pay off the gangster who slayed his brother, earn the respect he deserves, and what the heck...win a new love interest too.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 22nd, 2010
Wolverine and the X-Men is the fourth time Marvel Studios have decided to animated the Uncanny X-Men into a show. Despite the successful runs of Evolution and the Animated Series, this show didn't quite fare so well. It only lasted the typical twenty six episodes that a lot of animated shows go through. However, Marvel has stayed true to the fans and released this sixth and final volume of the show chronicling the last three episodes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 19th, 2010
"Tyger Tyger burning bright..."
The 1794 poem by English wordsmith William Blake provides the title and much of the inspiration in this modern thriller/man vs. nature film by director Carlos Brooks. It's only the director's second feature film. There is very little experience among the many writers of the story and screenplay. Excuse my jaded reviewer skepticism, but this was not a film I was particularly looking forward to seeing. I expected this to be on par with the beast-of-the week scenario that those made for television SyFy films have been putting out for years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 10th, 2010
After watching plenty of terrible horror movies in my life, I start to wonder if this is easiest thing in Hollywood to produce. Work with a small budget, come up with a scare and hire some shapely actors to play the ones in peril. Oh, and make sure you have plenty of fake blood. Our example today is Open House, a recent horror movie directed by Andrew Paquin.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 4th, 2010
Johnny Handsome is based on a rather obscure and dated novel called The Three Worlds Of Johnny Handsome. Walter Hill must have found something in the dated material that attracted him to the project. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to attract audiences. The film made a very paltry $7 million at the box and has been little heard from since. In spite of a solid cast and a script that does tend to move along at a nice clip, the film has never really found an audience and is somewhat of a surprise to be found on Blu-ray.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2010
"I always wondered why nobody did it before me. I mean, all those comic books, movies, and TV shows. You'd think that one eccentric loner would have made himself a costume. I mean, is everyday life really so exciting? Are schools and offices so thrilling that I'm the only one who ever fantasized about this? Come on. Be honest with yourself. At some point in our lives, we all wanted to be a superhero. Who am I? I'm Kick Ass."
You have to give the folks at Lionsgate some serious credit for the way they promoted Kick Ass. The film was generating a lot of buzz almost a year before it actually came out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2010
I'm reminded of my innocent childhood days when Mr. Rogers would come on my black & white television to change his shoes and put on a sweater. I have to say that I always found the guy a little creepy. He would sing to us in a soft hypnotic voice: "It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day in the neighborhood. Could you be mine. Would you be my neighbor." Mr. Rogers had quite a fanciful neighborhood indeed. The place was mostly populated with puppets and strange creatures of all sizes. And while today he'd look and sound like a pedophile, Mr. Rogers welcomed everyone to his neighborhood. So, I can't help thinking how he'd feel about "The Girl".
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2010
"This is Hell, and I'm going to give you the guided tour."
There have been a lot of great prison and prison break films over the years. Who can forget Dustin Hoffman in Papillon or Clint Eastwood in Escape From Alcatraz? Of course, more recently we had The Shawshank Redemption. Lock Up won't ever taste the rare air of those classic films. In fact, it's not really a prison break film at all. There is an attempted break, but it's not quite the focus of the film. I almost felt like I was watching the sequel to a break film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 21st, 2010
"Don't act like the hypocrite, who thinks he can conceal his wiles, while loudly quoting the Koran." - Hafez (14th Century Iranian Poet)
The Stoning Of Soraya M is based upon a book written by Freidoune Sahebjam. The book is currently banned in Iran as well as other countries. It is based on a true story. The book and now the film have caused quite a bit of controversy over the years. Director Cyrus Nowrasteh is no stranger to controversial topics. He appears to have a flair for significant historical events, and his work has shown some insight into the actual significance of his subjects
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 21st, 2010
In Florida we have some very large bugs. There's this one particular spider that is quite a problem in my house. It's real name is a huntsman spider, and it grows to about 16 feet, not including the legs. It sports 27-inch fangs and tends to move the furniture around at night while it stalks its prey. Yes, it stalks its prey at night in my house while I'm trying to sleep. Years ago I coined my own name for these clever, ferocious killers. I call them Rambo Spiders. The name fits these long-legged freaks perfectly as they perform their recon missions throughout our home. When I find them, I terminate them with extreme prejudice.
![Beatdown [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/beatdown-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Johnny Handsome [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/johnny-handsome-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Lock Up [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/lock-up-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The Stoning of Soraya M. [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-stoning-of-soraya-m-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Rambo: The Complete Collector's Set [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/rambo-the-complete-collectors-set-large.jpg)
