Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 23rd, 2018
"This is not just about Gotham. This is all about Bruce Wayne."
It really is about Gotham. And it's about Jim Gordon. It's also very much about Bruce Wayne. The third season ended with Bruce finally starting to embrace his vigilante role, but it was crude and very much only a shadow of the hero he will become. There's a reason why all of the episodes of this season are subtitled The Dark Knight. Bruce is becoming more and more like Batman. Bruce even confronts his future alter-ego in a vision state.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 20th, 2018
“We take a look back at the films that helped shape, change, and innovate the world of documentary.”
Between the rise of streaming services like Netflix and the growing number of nonfiction films making noise at the box office, documentaries have never been hotter…or more accessible. At the very least, they certainly don’t feel like the cinematic equivalent of eating your vegetables anymore. As a result, this feels the perfect time for Mill Creek to release the first two seasons of IFC’s obsessively hilarious comedy series Documentary Now!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 19th, 2018
“Welcome to the future.”
This is how Josephine (Ellen Burstyn) introduces a church group that is touring her geodesic home, which also doubles as a museum dedicated to inventor R. Buckminster Fuller. Josephine and her grandson, Sebastian (Asa Butterfield) have their own way of living in their home, a place where it is assumed Sebastian has never left long enough to experience how the real world functions. His interactions with the public don’t stretch beyond the casual tourists who come by the home, and as a teenager he’s never experienced “junk food” of any kind. But Sebastian’s reality crumbles after his grandmother has a stroke in the middle of a tour and he meets Jared (Alex Wolff).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 17th, 2018
When it comes to films about man vs. nature, we typically see films where they are defending themselves in the wild where weather and predators are the biggest dangers they have to face. (The Grey and The Revenant are the titles that first come to mind.) In the new release Flora, writer/director Sasha Louis Vukovic is here to show us that there is more to fear than wolves and bears, but how deadly pollen can be. Somewhere I can imagine M. Night Shyamalan is happy to see that someone else has tackled this subject since his disastrous film The Happening made a whimper at the box office years ago. Fortunately for Vukovic, he didn’t make the same mistakes and instead has crafted a film that is perhaps one of the more realistic horror scenarios that has come out in some time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 17th, 2018
"Some of you may know he history of The Section. Rumors of operatives going rogue, the Whitehall assassination. None of that matters now. What matters is that Section 20 stood for something. They were the soldiers who kept going when others fell, who saw the odds and didn't blink, who got the job done, even when it meant paying the ultimate price."
Two years ago I wrote a review for the fourth and final season of the Cinemax series Strike Back. Now here I am telling you about the fifth season. So what's up with that?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 16th, 2018
“Nothing...no one...will ever separate us. We are one.”
Four young siblings take this vow shortly after arriving in America from Great Britain, having just experienced their latest tragedy. Unfortunately for them, these words are spoken less than 10 minutes into Marrowbone, so you just know their vow is bound to be severely tested. But while the movie looks and sounds like a typical horror flick on the surface — and is even largely set in what seems like a classic haunted house — Marrowbone is much more of a soulful, spooky family drama than it is a bloody good time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 15th, 2018
"Thanos Is Coming..."
Whenever a filmmaker is doing a middle film in a trilogy, or merely a film that's intended to be a companion film in a series, they often talk about attempting to capture The Empire Strikes Back. For years it's been the standardbearer for anyone trying to end a blockbuster with a cliffhanger knowing it might be years before the ending is resolved for the audience. That's harder to do today than it was in the 1980's. I often say that the only thing wrong with instant gratification is that it simply takes too darn long. The Avengers: Infinity War is exactly that kind of film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 15th, 2018
In September there is going to be a new film in The Predator franchise called The Predator. It's directed by Shane Black, who actually starred in the 1987 original film and soon after went on to develop the Lethal Weapon series and make a bit of a name for himself in the buddy-cop genre. It's no surprise that Fox wants to capitalize on the release by giving us UHD/4K releases for the other three films in the franchise. Let's try to forget those Alien vs. Predator disasters and focus on the three films of this particular franchise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 15th, 2018
"My name is Oliver Queen. After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal: to save my city. Today I fight that war on two fronts. By day, I lead Star City as its mayor. But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow..."
Who the heck is this Green Arrow of whom you speak? If that's your first question, you need to go back a couple of grades and catch up with the rest of us. The comics are good place to begin, but the television universe is its own place and not tied so tightly to the DC comic book universe.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 9th, 2018
"You know me, always saving the day."
After the disappointment that was the recent Suicide Squad animated feature, Warner and DC needed to save the day with the release of The Death Of Superman, and that's exactly what they did. The Death Of Superman was a major milestone in the history of The Man Of Steel in the comics. It all started in December of 1992. DC announced they were killing off their most iconic hero and ending the Superman run of comics. Of course, that was only partially true. Once Supes was "killed off", the comic split into four new branches, as the vacuum created by his death needed to be filled both in the fictional universe as well as the commercial side of ours.
