Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 14th, 2010
I'd like to think that the concepts of what makes a good children's movie is somewhat international. While cultures may vary, kids all over the world are pretty much the same. They look for the same kinds of characteristics in their heroes. While the martial arts film is somewhat cultural, there have been more than enough child-friendly martial arts films for me to conclude that these kinds of acrobatics and old fashioned good kicking-evil's-butt themes work for kids of any nationality. The recent Jackie Chan The Spy Next Door outing is one good example of the genre-crossing martial arts children's movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 10th, 2010
Pulse:
Plenty of Japanese horror films have storylines that vary from the oblique to the opaque. Pulse is no exception, so forgive me if this synopsis is a bit confusing (or confused). An internet website offers visitors the chance to see actual ghosts. Viewing the footage seems to make one vulnerable to an actual visitation, and when someone encounters a ghost, that person withdraws from others, shunning all society, and becomes consumed by loneliness to the point of suicide or something even more bizarre.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 26th, 2010
The first District 13 movie was considered a modern day cult classic. It featured a number of meticulous and daring stunt scenes that were worked without the use of wires or computer generated effects. It was written and produced by Luc Besson famous for Fifth Element & Leon. But would the sequel set in the future 3 years later be able to hold the same interest?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2010
"The year is 208 AD. After 30 years of civil war, a deathly calm has fallen over northern China. One by one the rebel warlords have met their end under the sword of Prime Minister Cao Cao. Now even the Emperor bows before his power. Yet, from the south a challenge is heard. Two leaders rise against Cao Cao's tyranny. The aging Liu Bei and the inexperienced Sun Quam. So Cao Cao petitions the Emperor to brand these men as traitors and declare a new war against the peaceful southlands."
And so the stage is set for John Woo's enormous epic Red Cliff. The scale of this film is simply one that must been experienced to quite understand. It has the grandeur of any of the largest films in Hollywood's history
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 29th, 2010
Metaphors are often effective tools in filmmaking. They can be used in a variety of unique and clever ways to either highlight a particular aspect of story and/or character. They can be used to add an artistic flourish to a movie. They can even be used to drive a plot, if you're careful enough to avoid becoming too abstract. Then there are films like The Burning Plain which attempt to create a film that is metaphor itself. What you often end up with, and certainly here, is something difficult to follow and more acceptable at the festival circuit than at the box office
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 27th, 2009
James Gray’s Two Lovers revolves around the troubled Leonard Kraditor (Joaquin Phoenix). Leonard has moved back into his childhood home to recover from his recent break up. In quick succession, two women enter Leonard’s life: Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), an entertaining and peculiar neighbor who transcends Leonard’s world and Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) a classy, traditional woman who is the daughter of a businessman attempting to purchase Leonard’s family business. Leonard becomes confused between desire and love and the story unfolds from there.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 13th, 2009
Jeff Daniels plays Arlen Faber, author of the mega-bestselling Me and God, a book of self-help spirituality that comes across as an aphoristic mix of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Purpose-Driven Life. The book is coming up for its twentieth anniversary, and Arlen hasn't written anything since. He is now a cynical recluse, but begins crawling out of his shell when he encounters a struggling single-mother chiropractor (Lauren Graham) and an alcoholic used bookstore owner (Lou Taylor Pucci). They are looking to him for wisdom, though he doesn't really believe he has any to give. In turn, they are teaching him how to live again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 13th, 2009
This is the story of two Vikings who are mistakingly left behind in Newfoundland in the year 1007. As these two find ways to survive, they encounter Irish monks and Aboriginal people, and these same encounters ultimately lead to rifts in their bond with each other. The beautiful landscapes become a backdrop for a sometimes violent look at the people who discovered North America centuries before Columbus or any other discoverer. Oh, and we also get bad translations of Old Norse, a lot of metal music and a scene of actual defecation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2009
“So he Lord God banished him from the Garden Of Eden to serve the ground from which he had been taken.”
I love playing video games. I have since I was in my early 20’s and the first home console systems were being launched. Today I play platform games on my PS3. One of the unfortunate trends to come to modern video games is the ability to provide longer and more elaborate cut scenes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 21st, 2009
So Toby Wilkins will be helming The Grudge 3. That's a bit of a shame. Not because I think he's the wrong man for the project. Rather, it's the wrong project for the man. Or, less glibly but more precisely, he is showing real promise as a filmmaker, and it would be a shame to see more talent squandered on a franchise that should definitely be put out to pasture. I base this evaluation on the evidence presented in Splinter, a nifty little creature flick .
![Power Kids [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/power-kids-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![District 13: Ultimatum [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/district-13-ultimatum-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Red Cliff (Theatrical Version) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/red-cliff-theatrical-version-blu-large.jpg)
![The Burning Plain [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-burning-plain-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The Answer Man [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-answer-man-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Eden Log [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/eden-log-blu-ray-large.jpg)
