Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on September 25th, 2011
“...and now the killer video that kills you seven days after you watched it, we're the only station that has it and we are showing it all night.”
Gone are the Wayan Brothers and in their place, David Zucker (Airplane, Naked Gun), one of the pioneers of the spoof movie, takes the helm. In some ways this is an improvement, in some it loses some of the naughty punch the Wayans brought to their films Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2. Gone are Shorty and Ray (and most of the sex and drug jokes with them) and in their place we have a not-yet-insane Charlie Sheen, the great Leslie Nielsen and a very funny Simon Rex. The spoofs are not quite as wide ranging, focusing primarily on The Ring and Signs, but they still manage to slam 8 Mile (not funny) The Others (still not funny) and The Matrix Reloaded (should have been funnier). The wisest thing Zucker did was center the movie around the star really carrying this franchise, Anna Faris.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on September 24th, 2011
“Cindy, this is a skeleton, this is bones! Would you run from Calista Flockhart?
The quote above is from one of my favorite scenes in Scary Movie 2. A reanimated skeleton stalks Cindy (Anna Faris) through the halls. She runs into Brenda (Regina Hall) and begs her to help. Brenda looks down the hall and sees it is just a skeleton. She kicks its ass and rearranges the bones to humiliate it. The problem is the Calista Flockhart reference. She might have been a cultural icon in the late 90s, but she’s been off the map for over a decade. The shelf life of pop culture parodies like Scary Movie 2 is very short.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 23rd, 2011
It all started as an internet show. Amanda Tapping was fresh from her stints as Samantha Carter in the Stargate franchise, and the SyFy Channel saw some worth in keeping her around for something else. The show was unique in more ways than just its origins. There are few sets on the series. Most of the show is shot in huge green screen rooms where even ordinary environments are computer generated. It's an evolution of the film Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow. I guess it was my complete disenchantment with that film and a shrinking regard for the more recent projects at SyFy that led me to pass on this show when it made the jump from web series to full television show. This was my first exposure to the world of Sanctuary and I was, at least somewhat impressed with what I saw.
Dr. Helen Magnus (Tapping) has been around for a little over 150 years now. She was part of a group of five Oxford students who conducted experiments with vampire blood among other things. It was somewhat of a wild group that included Jack The Ripper (Heyerdahl), Nikola Tesla (Young) and Nigel Griffin (Gale), also known as The Invisible Man. A sixth man Adam Worth (Tracey) wanted in and was the inspiration for Stevenson's Jekyll & Hyde. Now Dr. Magnus heads a place where "abnormal" creatures can be protected. The place is called Sanctuary, and it's part of a global network begun by her father.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2011
"It's the summer of 1863, more than two years into our nation's devastating Civil War, and the stakes have never been higher. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Robert E. Lee, crosses into Pennsylvania. Trailed by the Union's Army of the Potomac, Lee's 75,000-strong army heads toward Harrisburg, but the forces meet instead near Gettysburg, a quiet farm town that would become synonymous with the epic battle that all but decided the outcome of the American Civil War."
The Civil War is still the bloodiest war that Americans have ever experienced. The battle at Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of that war. While the war raged on for two more years, there is little doubt that the turning point came here at this place and time. It's not really a surprise to find that History put together a riveting documentary about the pivotal battle. It's a bit surprising that they pulled out all of the stops and created quite an epic documentary produced by the famous Scott Brothers Ridley and Tony.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2011
"The body is the proof. It will tell you everything you need to know if you just have the patience to look."
And patience is exactly what you're going to need with this new ABC drama. Body Of Proof was a mid-season entry by the network; it debuted at the end of March and ran for only 9 episodes so far. It has been renewed, so it will have the opportunity to develop into something better than what it is. So far I see a ton of potential, but these first 9 episodes didn't exactly leave me on the edge of my seat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 21st, 2011
If left to my own devices, I would probably have dismissed Jeff Dunham as nothing more than a novelty act. He’s a ventriloquist and most of their profession relies on the fact that they can throw their voice and perform various parlor tricks with their dummies. However, my wife and others have turned me on to the fact that Jeff is more than a novelty act. He’s a comedian and a darn good one at that. He just happens to employ characters (certainly not dummies) to help him.
Jeff Dunham was born in Dallas, Texas in the early 60’s. Early on, actually as early as eight years old he was already looking into ventriloquism. Influences included legendary performer, Edgar Bergen. At a young age, he was already attending conventions and competitions. He did so well that eventually organizers of the Vent Haven ConVENTion actually declared him a retired champion since other performers were afraid to compete against him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2011
When you think of Sam Peckinpah, Straw Dogs usually isn't the film that comes to most people's minds. For most of us it's the 1967 classic The Wild Bunch. Straw Dogs did little business at the box office in 1971. In fact it was banned in many countries including England where it was shot. The movie was criticized for its unrestrained violence and the rather brutal depiction of a rape. Critics were unimpressed at the time, and the film faded away for a while. It received a bit of a resurrection in the mid-1980's when the film showed up at second run houses and eventually on home video. Perhaps it can be appreciated now, in a time where these taboos have been broken consistently and the film no longer appears to be the controversial piece it was then. If you have any doubt on that score you need look no farther than the remake in theaters now. While you'll find it often a word-for-word retelling, the level of violence has been amped up considerably. If you take the time to watch the original, you might find yourself asking what all the fuss was about.
David Sumner (Hoffman) is a mild math teacher who wants pretty much to be left alone to do his quiet research. He decides to return with his wife Amy (George) to the small rural English town where she grew up. It sounds like the perfect place for David to do his research in peace and quiet. To try and be a good guy he hires several local tradesmen to do work on the estate his wife recently inherited from her father. There's a roof that needs fixing and a rat problem that needs to be controlled. The group of locals happens to be led by Charlie Venner (Henney) who was also an old love interest of Amy's. The locals begin to leer a bit at Amy, and she is upset at her cowardly husband who doesn't appear willing to stick up for her. The teasing by the group extends to both of the Sumners and escalates to the point where a cat ends up killed. Still David refuses to push the issue. When the guys take him out on a hunting trip, it's really to keep him busy while two of the gang rape Amy. Still, she keeps quiet about the attack, while David is finally upset that the guys stranded him out on the moors.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2011
"Book 'em Danno."
It's been 30 years since we last heard that phrase. Still it persisted in the modern lexicon along with the term Five-0, which is still shouted in high-crime areas in cities all over the country whenever a police presence is felt closing in on the bad guys. Hawaii Five-0 ended in 1980. That's when Tom Selleck took over the sets and production crew on Hawaii to work as Magnum P.I. until 1988 when it all closed down for good, or did it? Wouldn't you know it, the show has been resurrected and became the hottest new drama on television last year. A younger Steve McGarrett and company are back in action and Hawaii ...the world might never be the same again. Roll wave...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2011
For the second year in a row Private Practice has decided to tackle a huge and emotional issue for the characters at Oceanside Wellness Group. Last season began when Violet had been brutally attacked. A crazy woman believed Violet was carrying her baby, so she showed up and cut the baby out leaving her to die on the floor. Of course, she survived, but the season was all about the scars left from the attack in her mind. It was quite an intense storyline and one the show decided to try and top in season 4. Charlotte King, played by Kadee Strickland, suffers an equally brutal attack and is sexually assaulted. It's quite an intense episode that digs deep into the emotional trauma as well as the physical. It will change some of the characters forever. One thing you can't say about the folks running Private Practice. You can't accuse them of being unwilling to take chances and push the boundaries of our own limits as members of the audience. The show also suffers the death of one of its beloved characters in the previous season finale. Dell's death has an impact on the beginning of the season. But the man who killed him ends up coming to Pete to save his life.
Shonda Rhimes had a big hit on her hands with Grey’s Anatomy, so after five years she did what comes naturally in her situation. You spin the success off in the hope that the fans can’t get enough in just one night. At first it appeared to me she had chosen the wrong character to put out on her own. I mean, I never considered Kate Walsh as Addison to be one of the show’s more compelling characters. The show was presented as what the business calls an imbedded episode on Grey’s. What that means is that the situation is set up during one of the original show’s episodes. In this case a two-parter called The Other Side Of Life. The idea is that you want to be sure that your existing show’s fans at least watch the pilot in the hope that they will consider it a part of their beloved series. I got to watch that episode when I was called upon to review the fifth season of Grey’s.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on September 20th, 2011
“You're like the maid of dishonor.”
Bridesmaids, from director Paul Feig, producer Judd Apatow and based on a script by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, became the highest grossing R-rated female comedy of all time, edging out Sex and the City. Although coined by many as the female version of The Hangover, and there are certainly similarities, this does the movie a certain injustice. Where The Hangover is funny in a mean-spirited, rude-boy way, Bridesmaids taps into Apatow’s gift for producing comedies with human characters we care about and balancing the comedy with a touch of pathos without crossing into dramedy territory. Both movies are structured around an upcoming wedding and deal with sex and body functions in a frank and explicit way, but that’s where the similarities end.
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