Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 8th, 2014
Anyone who ever sat through an elementary school science class knows that about 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered in water. We've all heard the spiel, but I don't imagine most of us spend much time contemplating how truly staggering that figure really is. Watermark seeks to convey the many different ways humans and the planet's water supply affect one another. The documentary is maddeningly scattered, but it also manages to capture and convey a small part of the world's awe-inspiring bigness.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on July 3rd, 2014
“He's old! How he gonna relate to me?!”
For a good portion of his latest stand-up special, Sinbad playfully berates a 15-year-old audience member named Cory. It's mostly standard-issue, old man, “back in my day” ribbing. But the most incisive observation comes when Sinbad points out that Cory would probably much rather be in the audience for a Kevin Hart show. The feeling that Sinbad is no longer the hot comic of the moment — and hasn't been for a while — informs much of this inoffensive, baby boomer-friendly set.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 30th, 2014
It's a sad state of affairs. The road that Blood Ties has taken to get to this Blu-ray release is far more interesting than the film itself. It all starts with a French film Les liens du sang that was itself a reflection on the American cop drams genre. One of the original French screenwriters collaborated to bring the idea full circle to become an American cop drama. The film made the film festival circuit with mixed reviews and results. For some reason Director Guilaume Canet decided to go back to the editing room and remove nearly a half hour of the original film's running time.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 30th, 2014
What happens when you splice together the killer-couple kicks of Bonnie and Clyde and Natural Born Killers with the ritualistic depravity of torture porn offerings like Hostel and Saw? I'm not really sure who — if anyone — was looking for an answer to that particular question, but that didn't stop Scavenger Killers from going to extreme lengths to provide one. Unfortunately, this low-budget slasher flick/wannabe satire is entirely too clumsy and non-committal in its tone to pull it off.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 27th, 2014
“I like the fact that there's no desk. I like the fact that he's not wearing a suit and tie. And I like the fact that there's not some over-hyped studio audience being prompted to laugh at topical jokes that we're all gonna forget about in the next few days.”
For its second season, IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang! got bigger and bolder in the way it manically skewered decades of talk show and pop culture conventions. Not surprisingly, the show also got even weirder.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 26th, 2014
“It begins as a whisper. A promise. The lightest of breezes dances above the death cries of 300 men...”
It may have started as a whisper, but 300 quickly became synonymous with roaring, instant-classic declarations after it burst onto the scene in 2007. Zack Snyder's muscular adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel was an outta-nowhere blockbuster. When a movie achieves that level of success, there's usually a sequel in the works even as the opening-weekend grosses are still rolling in. Of course, that proved to be a bit trickier given what happens to the heroes at the end of 300.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 25th, 2014
When the first Wolf Creek was released it was one of those films that had a lot of hype around it, and when I got around to watching it, I dug it. It’s one of those films where the more I’ve watched it the more I’ve gotten to appreciate it, not just for its gore, but the film has a solid story, and I appreciated that the film at no time allows you to get too comfortable. At any moment a character could be brutally murdered. It’s the character of Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) who could equally make me smile with his crude outback charm or make me squirm with uneasiness the moment his hands took hold of a weapon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 25th, 2014
Detective Carrie Wells (played by Poppy Montgomery) and her former boyfriend/current crime fighting partner Al Burns (played by Dylan Walsh) have been noticed because of their uncanny crime solving percentage in the upper 90% (a fairly common thing in TV crime shows, but nearly unheard of in the real world) and get promoted to the NYPD's Major Crimes unit. With this move, and the fact that this program bounced in and out of cancellation quagmire between the first and second season
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 24th, 2014
It’s hard to believe it was way back in 2001 when Joy Ride was first released. You can lump me in with the crowd that didn’t expect there to be a sequel, much less a third entry into this series. The second Joy Ride I seemed to have missed altogether, so when I was given Joy Ride 3, I have to admit I was a little hesitant about checking this film out. Now that I have checked out the Blu-ray and all its extras, all I can think is that I had a good time with this film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 24th, 2014
It’s that time of the year again to dust off the old hunting rifle and shake out the camouflage suits, because Duck Commander is back in action. Duck Dynasty comes to Blu-ray on its fifth season, and though I was a little underwhelmed with the previous season, this new release brings the show back to the backwoods charm that gained my appreciation from the start. Yes, I still have a hard time calling this a reality series, since just about every episode and sequence seems more scripted than most hour-long dramas, but the characters are so likeable and goofy that a lot can be forgiven.
