Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 18th, 2013
"Now, this game has 12 rounds. You win more than you lose, I turn myself in. You don't, a lot of people die including you. If you refuse to cooperate, people die. If you make any attempt to contact the police, people die."
I'm usually pretty skeptical when it comes to movies that are made by any of the various fighting federations out there. W?? usually stands for "What The F***". I get it. There are a lot of tough guys out there who would like to follow in the footsteps of guys like The Rock. But for every successful transition to acting there are a hundred stories of mindless muttering substituting for actual... I don't know.... words
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 18th, 2013
The pint-size heroes of The Dragon Pearl battle greedy thieves and come face to face with a centuries-old dragon, but their biggest challenge may be overcoming a pair of skeptical/clueless parents. It’s a familiar plot device in kid-centric adventures, yet it’s one I’m becoming more sensitive to as I get older. For example, I was absolutely sure at an early age that the bumbling Wet Bandits were the bad guys in Home Alone; however, as I’ve grown older and not-necessarily wiser, I realize the real villains are the nincompoops who left little Kevin McCallister behind in the first place. To be fair, the parents in this film are being asked to swallow a much more fantastical story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 17th, 2013
Earlier this year, Warm Bodies become a solid box office hit by giving its zombie hero a heart. The Amazing Adventures of the Living Corpse seeks to carve its own uniquely bloody path by saddling its undead protagonist with a soul. It’s a clever way to go considering there’s not much new territory to cover in zombie fiction 45 years after George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead shambled into pop culture immortality. I just wish this provocative promise had yielded a better movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on June 17th, 2013
Hank Williams, Sr. was arguably one the most influential country artists of all time. During his short life (he died at the young age of 29) he had more than 30 #1 singles. His music has been covered by not just country artists, but has also crossed over into the pop, gospel and blues genres. With The Last Ride, this music legend joins Johnny Cash and Loretta Lyn in having their lives put on film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 13th, 2013
"Me and my boy here, we're gonna put a whuppin' on ya!"
In case you haven't been paying attention, 2013 is turning out to be the year of the returning action stars. The Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with Korean action director Jee-woon Kim to deliver a very entertaining ride in The Last Stand. Sly Stallone teamed up with action icon Walter Hill to bring us the not-so-entertaining Bullet To The Head. Of course, perhaps the most eagerly awaited return was Bruce Willis back in the role that made him an action star in the first place
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 13th, 2013
For a significant part of the last century, the Western was the dominant form of entertainment, ruling the Hollywood roost on both the big and small screen. Some of moviedom’s most iconic sounds — galloping horses, trusty six shooters, Ennio Morricone’s best work, “In this world, there’s two kinds of people: those with loaded guns and those who dig” — have come from the genre. And it all started In Old Arizona.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 12th, 2013
Hansel and Gretel, everyone has heard of this fairy tale, right? The Brothers Grimm tale about a brother and sister lost in the woods who come across a house made of candy. They go inside and are soon captured by a witch who goes about stuffing them with candy to fatten them up to be slaughtered. Somehow the cunning pair manages to escape their shackles, and while the witch is distracted with the oven, they push her into the oven and destroy her. We have all heard the tale, but what happened afterwards?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 12th, 2013
“In the old days, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to.”
Sounds simple enough, so what’s keeping everyone from doing the news well? Well, other than a country that feels more politically polarized than ever and a population that mostly seems interested in cherry picking the “facts” they’d rather hear, I can’t think of a single thing. In fact, HBO’s The Newsroom pointedly compares the idea of putting on a quality news broadcast that educates the electorate and earns great ratings to Don Quixote embarking on one of his foolish quests.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2013
"You're capable of more than you know."
Walt Disney was always fascinated with the world of Oz. After his Snow White experiment proved that fantasy films were economically possible, he was planning to journey to Oz next. Unfortunately, he was a victim of his own success. It was the very box office magic that Snow White brought in that inspired MGM to purchase the rights to The Wizard Of Oz and create their iconic film. Because of that turn of events, the rights were not available for Walt and his magic studio.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2013
"Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead."
And there are a lot of secrets to be found on the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars. It seems that Alison (Pieterse) was murdered in the small Pennsylvania town of Rosewood. She was the "queen bee" of a small clique of girls. She was fond of manipulating those around her, and it seems her head games have finally caught up with her. That leaves her four close friends behind to get on with their lives. That's going to be hard now. Allison's body has finally been discovered, the missing-person investigation is now a homicide investigation, and the four little busy bees are at the heart of the storm.
