Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 29th, 2020
"Everyone in this country is getting dumber, and I wish marijuana was illegal again!"
If anything can push the weed cause back 20 years, it's Tegridy Farms. South Park starts its 23rd season with a bit of a new twist on things. For the entire first half of the season, the opening credits change to make it look like a Tegridy Farms show. It's cute and funny for like the first three minutes. I was sick of the concept already last season. So for the first half of Season 23, you're going down to Tegridy farms. In fact it's only the 10th season where the credits and show come close to returning to normal. After Tegridy Farms, there's PC Babies, which actually made me pine for Tegridy Farms for a few minutes. The season sees a few highs, and I don't mean in Randy March's pot farm. Mostly the boys appeared to coast this season, and with a new 3-year deal in place to keep South Park airing into its 26th season, I hope the coast was merely a break so that everyone could catch their wind just a little bit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 26th, 2020
It continues to amaze me how Warner Brothers does so well with their DC products in the television universe but manages to execute so poorly with their films. Despite being a bit formulaic, the CW DC shows are still a blast to watch, but it’s the more adult-oriented shows Titans, Doom Patrol, and Swamp Thing that have left me most impressed. Now they have released Pennyworth for the Starz Network. Despite the confidence I have in the other shows, I went into this one with cautious optimism. The biggest question that bothered me was do we need another series that delves into the Batman universe? Gotham recently wrapped up, there’s a Batwoman series, Joker was last year, and a new Batman film coming next year, not to forget all the other incarnations of the Dark Knight. What had me interested, though, is the notion of finally getting to see Alfred Pennyworth as the former SAS officer in his prime and the chance to see how he became entangled with the Wayne family. Was the series a letdown or yet another success for the DC television universe?
The series was brought to life by Bruno Heller, a writer with experience in this universe since coming off from writing for Gotham. Now, if you’re thinking you enjoyed Gotham and perhaps this is a prequel you can enjoy with the kids, let me stop you for a moment and say, this one is not for the kids. This series embraces its adult content with its over-the-top violence and an abundance of sex, drugs, and profanity that more closely resembles a Quentin Tarantino film than a comic book series, and I love it for that. Heller pretty much writes most of the series, and because of this mostly singular voice (there are a couple other writer credits, but Heller it seems wrote 8 of the 10 episodes), it definitely succeeds in setting a clever and unique tone that somewhat blindsided me.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2020
"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
After nearly 20 years, it's hard not to already consider Ridley Scott's Gladiator a classic. But not in the same way we think of Blade Runner, which has become more of a cult classic, or Alien, which has all the trappings of a genre film, blending horror and science fiction into a nice little package. Gladiator is a mainstream film that took the deserved Oscar for best picture along with four others in the 2001 awards ceremony. With this film, Scott was able to explore more powerful themes that, like the actions of Crowe's Maximus, echo through eternity. Maximus (Crowe) is Rome greatest general and surrogate son to Marcus Aurelius (Harris), Caesar of the Roman Empire. Marcus wants Maximus to be his successor and turn Rome over to its people. Commodus (Phoenix), son of Marcus, has other plans. He murders his father, and when Maximus won’t pledge his loyalty, orders that he be executed. Maximus escapes. Nearly dead from the journey, Maximus discovers his family slaughtered. He is found and sold into slavery. Former gladiator Proximo (Reed) trains him to be a gladiator. With the same skills and presence he once used to defend Rome, he now wins the hearts of the people of the arena. Maximus uses this to bring him to Rome and a chance to avenge his family with Commodus. With the help of Lucilla (Nielsen), sister to Commodus and a former lover, Maximus conspires for the fall of his enemy. Unable to compete with Maximus in the hearts of his people, Commodus agrees to fight Maximus in the Coliseum after striking him with a poison dagger. Of course, Maximus has his revenge before joining his family in the afterlife.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 2nd, 2020
"This is this. This ain't something else. This is this."
When it comes to picking “the greatest Vietnam War film” it’s one of those arguments that can get pretty heated with fans of cinema. Platoon, Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter are typically the three I tend to hear named the most, as for me it has always been The Deer Hunter, not just because of its intense portrayal of the war but because of the journey it sets us on, a journey so profound I can easily say it’s one of the best films ever made. I don’t feel like I’m saying anything bold after all it did win Best Picture in 1978 as well as several other Oscars that year. It’s a film though that every time I sit down and watch it, the experience manages to impact me in a way I’m never quite ready for. I first saw it when I was a teenager, didn’t know anything other than it had Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken, I didn’t know what to expect and by the time it ended I was floored. Everything from the visual scope of the film, the intensity of the violence, the performances, I was maybe 14 and didn’t quite have a grasp for what epic cinema could be but after watching The Deer Hunter it became the film I’d hold others up to this standard. It is now decades later and Shout Factory has gone through the process of restoring the film and released it in 4K, how does it hold up after all this time?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 29th, 2020
Despite my tender age of 44, I didn't see Escape from New York until I was in my early twenties. My parents never talked about it, my college friends didn't seem to care, and the Internet wasn't nearly as prevalent as it is now. But it has become my favorite movie of all time. What's curious is that the sequel to the film, Escape from L.A., is what introduced me to Kurt Russell and the character of Snake Plissken (and became the foundation of everything I consider to be "cool"). It holds a giant chunk of my movie heart, and I'm glad today to bring you this review of the Collector's Edition Blu-Ray released by Shout Factory.
It is 1998, hostile forces inside the United States were growing strong. Los Angeles is ravaged by crime, and the US Police Force is formed to keep the peace. A political candidate (played by Cliff Robertson) emerges and predicts a millennium earthquake that will destroy Los Angeles in divine retribution. An earthquake measuring 9.6 on the Richter scale hits at 12:59pm on August 23rd in the year 2000.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 28th, 2020
"Surprise."
It wasn’t all that long ago that Universal was seriously attempting to develop a Dark Universe for their classic monsters. Things changed after the releases of Dracula Untold and The Mummy and their poor box office showings, but having seen those two films, I feel fans were spared in the long run from a disaster that could have been. Then in 2019 word got out that Blumhouse was going to be doing The Invisible Man, and this somewhat reignited the talks of a Dark Universe project. When I first heard Blumhouse was backing the film, I was cautiously optimistic about the project; where the company does have its hits like Happy Death Day and Get Out, there are plenty of duds as well. It’s when Leigh Whannell got attached that I had some hope for the film. For those unfamiliar with the name, Whannell is the writer responsible for the Saw franchise as well as the Insidious franchise. Now the wait is over and the film has been seen; how does it turn out? The film opens up with Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) attempting to escape from her home while her husband is asleep. This opening sets the tone masterfully, and as much as I hate the phrase “will leave you on the edge of your seat”, that is simply what this sequence is. So much is revealed in the visuals of the home and the performance that Moss delivers that the audience can appreciate that characters need for escape. If anything it’s in these opening moments of the film as Cecilia is wandering through the home that almost too much is revealed about the story that will follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 27th, 2020
"Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac. Nobody knows what's gonna happen next: not on a freeway, not in an airplane, not inside our own bodies, and certainly not on a racetrack with 40 other infantile egomaniacs."
Back in 1986 a young Tom Cruise teamed with director Tony Scott for Top Gun. The film ended up pulling in over $170 million. A sequel appeared out of the question, but that wasn’t going to stop this box office dynamic duo from figuring something out. They decided to just refilm Top Gun. So, if jets go fast, what else goes fast? Before long someone realized that racing cars go fast. So, before you know it Tom Cruise was once again teaming with Tony Scott as a cocky young upstart, this time in the race game. If you watch the two films back to back, the code really isn’t that hard to break. All of the same plot points and beats are exactly the same, just in a new environment. The public wasn’t fooled then; the film took in less than half what Top Gun brought. You shouldn’t be fooled now. Days Of Thunder is Top Gun redux.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 23rd, 2020
"On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to insure that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN."
Back around the time I was born, when Tom Cruise had an ounce of sanity, a little movie called Top Gun swept across the globe, raking in over $350,000,000 worldwide, as well as sparking an interest in the US Navy and everything Tomcat, Skyhawk, and MiG related. Ever since its original release, Top Gun has kept a hold on its audience, being played almost weekly, and now it makes its way into the world of ultra high definition with its release on UHD Blu-ray. The timing couldn't be any more obvious. The long-anticipated sequel has been in production, and while delayed by the global circumstances, the film will be arriving soon (at least in release terms). This is a pretty good way to get you up to speed, pun intended. The film isn't alone in cashing in on the Tom Cruise upcoming slate of both the Top Gun sequel and two Mission Impossible films being shot at the same time. This is one of three Cruise films getting the 4K release treatment along with Days Of Thunder and the Spielberg remake of the War Of The Worlds George Pal film. Once the box office returns you're going to be getting a lot of Tommy, so these films are intended to put you in the mood and get the party started a little early.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 20th, 2020
"No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us."
Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a middle-aged divorcee with a blue-collar job and a rundown home in the New Jersey suburbs. When his ex-wife unexpectedly drops his estranged kids—ten-year-old Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and sixteen-year-old Robbie (Justin Chatwin)—off for the weekend, Ray is less than pleased. He’s always struggled with his parental duties, but now finds it increasingly difficult to communicate with his children. However, events beyond his control are about to force Ray to come to terms with his responsibilities. Bizarre lighting storms herald the arrival of alien tripods, which explode from beneath the Earth’s surface and begin dispensing death and destruction on the surrounding countryside. Narrowly avoiding the first attack, Ray returns home, grabs his kids, and embarks on a frantic journey across country to find their mother in Boston.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 29th, 2020
“If you wish to be the king of the jungle, it's not enough to act like a king. You must be The King. And there can be no doubt. Because doubt causes chaos and one's own demise.”
After the horrific attempt at King Arthur, Guy Ritchie was dead to me. His films have always been more style than substance, but there have been moments when that style really told a story and told it well. Of course, I’m talking about films like Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. That was just a fun film to watch. King Arthur wasn’t fun to watch. So when The Gentlemen showed up on my doorstep in UHD to be reviewed, it was a roll of the dice for me. Which version of Ritchie was going to show up? Fortunately, it was the brilliant filmmaker who knows his strengths as well as the strengths of his cast and plays completely to those strengths. And with a few irritating flaws, this was the kind of film I’ve been waiting for from the director for several years. Universal has released it on a rather nice UHD Blu-ray (4K) release, and it should be a fun night of action for anyone who gets their hands on it.
