Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 20th, 2013
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 high definition with its release on Blu-ray 3D.
For the few of you out there who don’t know, Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible) plays Pete Mitchell, better known to the rest of us as Maverick. He’s young, cocky, and he pilots an F-14 Tomcat. His wingman Goose (Anthony Edwards, Zodiac) keeps him in check with a cool head, and is the more cautious of the two. After another pilot turns in his wings, the two are given the opportunity to join the Top Gun fighter pilot school in which only the top 1% of fighter pilots are invited. Upon getting into the school Maverick believes himself to be the best there and borders on the line of being reckless, creating an enemy of fellow pilot Iceman (Val Kilmer, Heat). As the movie plays out Maverick falls in love, contemplates his lifestyle, loses people close to him, and faces death while trying to make it through the training. The movie pretty much wraps up in typical Hollywood style with a bow on it, but still manages to be a good watch.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 6th, 2013
Can a scumbag also be considered a hero? Lance Armstrong fans probably mull that question each time a new, unsavory revelation about the now-disgraced cyclist comes to light. The issue was addressed in 1992’s Hero, which starred Dustin Hoffman as a low-life who saves a group of passengers on a crashed airplane. Flight also takes to the not-so-friendly skies to examine whether it’s possible to reconcile a lifetime of destructive behavior with an extraordinary act of valor.
You wouldn’t necessarily guess that from the film’s punchy trailer, which painted Flight as a cynical gloss on the Sully Sullenberger story. (The movie’s protagonist even has a similarly folksy, alliterative name: Whip Whitaker.) Instead, Flight is an R-rated drama that presents one of the most unflinching portrayals of drug and alcohol addiction you’re likely to ever see in a mass-appeal film from a big-time director and starring one of the world’s most famous movie stars.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 31st, 2013
No matter how much you hated Prometheus — parts of it were startlingly dumb, but people who seriously talk about it like it’s the worst film of all time need to take a deep breath — Ridley Scott has a pretty strong case to be included on any list of Top 10 Living Directors. His work has helped redefine genres (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator) given us indelible images (that final still from Thelma & Louise) and even provided a few smaller-scale delights (Matchstick Men is my favorite of this group). So I’m proposing we take a quick break from trashing his last movie to discuss his very first one.
The Duellists follows a pair of officers in Napoleon’s Army during the early part of the 19th century. The film opens in Strasbourg with the mercurial Lt. Feraud (Harvey Keitel) critically injuring the mayor’s nephew during a duel. An even angrier general orders the dutiful Lt. D’Hubert (Keith Carradine) to place Feraud under arrest. Feraud is an avid duelist and thinks he did nothing wrong, so he feels insulted by D’Hubert's accusation. The fact that Feraud is with a woman when D’Hubert arrives to arrest him only adds to his embarrassment. Naturally, Feraud has no choice but to challenge D’Hubert to a duel.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 28th, 2013
Here’s the thing. Fans of the franchise should be pleased with the latest entry. The series has been a solid October tradition for some time now. When you consider the low cost of creating one of these films with the proven box office numbers, this was all really a no-brainer, to say the least. You’re going to get more of what you are expecting, and the film throws in enough new angles and tricks to keep the idea as fresh as possible. However, there is a flip-side to all of this. I don’t think it’s very likely that you can enjoy this film quite so fully if you have not seen any of the previous films. The history is of vital importance if you’re going to appreciate where all of this is going. That isn’t to say newcomers won’t be entertained. There are enough jumps and shocks to have a relatively good time. Still, if you haven’t gotten yourself caught up in the franchise’s mythology, you might want to make that effort before going to see this film. It was my intention to watch the first three again before I saw this one. I couldn’t find the time. I wish I had. I did see the first three films, and I still feel like I needed to refresh myself before the journey into number four. Alas, that was not meant to be, and this review will suffer somewhat because of that. I very strongly encourage you to take in the story so far before venturing to your local multiplex.
You say you don’t have the time either? Here’s a quick history lesson to get you caught up. You should be warned that here there be SPOILERS of the first three films:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on January 19th, 2013
Spongebob Squarepants, the flagship cartoon for Nickelodeon for the last few years, has been churning out DVD specials inbetween releases of complete seasons. Sometimes these are linked by a theme (such as the Halloween DVD I reviewed in October https://upcomingdiscs.com/2012/10/15/31-nights-of-terror-spongebob-squarepants-ghouls-fools/ and this would mean taking episodes from numerous seasons. This particular special mostly contains more recent episodes, all of which have some sort of "extreme" or somewhat violent/action oriented story. 
To avoid some redundancy I'll repost my summary of Spongebob from my previous review:
Spongebob Squarepants is the children’s show that seems geared more for the college-age crowd than toddlers. This is not a revelation in cartoons, but I feel like this particular DVD set emphasizes this fact about Spongebob more than previous DVD releases of this show. The zaniness translates to all ages (just as it has from Tex Avery right through Ren & Stimpy) but this particular assembly of episodes displays some unnerving imagery that younger viewers may not be able to appreciate as much as older ones. Yes, there are subtle jokes spliced in that kid’s will not catch (such as Spongebob’s best friend Patrick explaining that looking at clouds helps to calm his “inner demons”), which is perfectl harmless, but it might be a bit much for someone just entering grade school to see Spongebob’s eyes melt before bursting into a pile of spiders or being infested with the ghosts of snakes. Such imagery, to me, is a testament to how little concern this show for being stricly for youngsters, and how much it wants to be lapped up by that media hungry 14-30 crowd.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 14th, 2013
"Space... The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. No, this is not a Charles Dickens review. It very accurately describes the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The first season went over much better than anyone really expected. The Trek faithful embraced the series and the new characters. It was now time for the show to find its own feet with a second season. Unfortunately, several things went wrong. The Writers’ Guild went out on strike, and that meant no new scripts. Paramount was even talking about getting rid of the series. That was until someone remembered that this was not the first attempt to resurrect Star Trek for the television screen. In the late 1970's Paramount was preparing to launch its "4th" network. The anchor was to be a return of Star Trek, commonly referred to as Star Trek: Phase Two. All of the original cast would return with the notable exception of Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. The show would basically continue that crew's voyages. Then Star Wars lit the box office on fire. Combined with the scrapping of the network, until later, the television series became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Spock returned along with two new characters. You might recognize Riker in Decker and, of course, Troi in the Deltan Ilea. The series was no more, but several scripts had been written and shelved. With some tweaking, Star Trek: Phase Two's scripts became Star Trek: The Next Generation's foundation for season two.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on January 12th, 2013
Probably most known for his roasts on Comedy Central, Anthony Jeselnik offers an hour (included the many long pauses) of stand-up comedy that is 100% bad taste. Dark humour and a huge ego are Jeselnik's shtick so you have absolutely every reason to walk away from this...except you might actually catching yourself laughing.
Jeselnik never attempts to make friends with the audience. It's common for a comedian to talk to members of the crowd and perhaps take a few shots at them. Jeselnik sets out to offend and elevate himself above everyone in the room with him. Again...this is his act. Could he be a true egomaniac? Perhaps. He's certainly good at portraying one onstage. More importantly, is it funny? The answer: sometimes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on January 7th, 2013
(I have covered the first season on this site already so this review shall begin with that one then segway into new write-up for Season 2):
A successful writing team, who also happen to be a married couple, are the creators of an award-winning show in the UK that has just completed after four seasons. An American network wishes to create a US version of the show. The couple are flown to LA, put up in a lavish mansion and are introduced to the Hollywood method of creating television…and it nearly destroys them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 19th, 2012
The debut season of this Comedy Central program was entitled "Hoodies" on it's DVD and Blu Ray release. Season 2 is called "Deep V's" in honour of the garment Daniel Tosh, the host, wears in each episode. Very little is different as far as format or new segments are concernced since the last time I wrote about this show (https://upcomingdiscs.com/2012/06/05/tosh-o-hoodies-blu-ray/. To avoid redundancy I shall simply add to that review with a couple new relevant points for this season.
YouTube had all but killed off the idea of mailing silly home videos to the likes of America’s Funniest Home Videos. These days, people prefer to stream dozens of videos on their computers and save themselves from the watered down jokes of Bob Saget or current host Tom Bergeron. Tosh.O takes a similar format of displaying such silly videos, but focuses on things that have gone “viral” online. Like AFHV, Tosh.O adds their own commentary and sketches to the presentation but in a much more crass, cable-savvy manner.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 11th, 2012
I’ll say this about a program that has remained consistent in quality for twenty seasons…it makes for challenging reviews. Talking about each season of Gunsmoke is difficult in that you either write briefly to try to avoid redundancies, but might seem too hasty, or you have to labour over each episode, in which case, you’re only going to have hardcore fans paying attention. Since this website has touched on previous seasons: ( https://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=gunsmoke ) I shall opt for the former option, and hope y’all out there catch that I’m not being hasty…but respect a show that warrants no fresh complaints after 7 years a-runnin’ thus far.
The most obvious change to the show that happened in this Seventh Season is expanding from half and hour to a full hour for each episode. This can be a great challenge for a show that was not originally created in this format. Doubling the length of each episode has allowed for more focus on developing the guest characters. There are no major plots that overlap several episodes so we can see how the hour long format aids this type of show, as well as helping to lay the groundwork for hour-long adventure and/or crime dramas to follow.
