Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 12th, 2009
“When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born. It never forgives. It never forgets. The curse gathers in that place of death. Those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury.”
Here we go again with the American remake of the Asian classic. To be fair, The Grudge was one of the first after the great success of The Ring. There are some significant differences between this effort and the countless remakes we’ve encountered over the last decade or so.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2009
“Symbols are a language that helps us to understand our past. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words, but which words? Understanding our past determines actively our ability to understand the present. So, how do we sift truth from belief? How do we write our own histories, personally and culturally, and thereby define ourselves? How do we penetrate years, centuries of historical distortion to find the original truth? Tonight, that will be our quest.”
Conspiracies can be fun. We all buy into them to one degree or another.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 27th, 2009
The title of Spectacular Spider-Man was once used to refer to a second-rate line of comics about the web-crawler. The Amazing Spiderman always led the way in sales but the Spectacular production always had its line of fans too. As well as the critics. The critics were often on the books because they had a more casual tone and sometimes didn’t even go along with the original book in terms of plot development. The comic eventually died off and in 2008, the Kids WB decided to use the name for their new animated show. Two seasons and 26 episodes later, this show has done quite well. Volume Four is now released and includes episodes 10-13.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 24th, 2009
Every once in a while a movie comes along that has a very strong social message, but never comes across as heavy handed or preachy. What Doesn’t Kill You is one of the best of those movies that I’ve seen in some time. It’s based upon the real life struggles of Brian Goodman, who wrote the screenplay while he was in prison. Goodman was a lifelong criminal who was also addicted to booze and drugs. With the inspiration he gained from his two young sons, Goodman turned his life around. He got himself sober and avoided the temptations that would lead him back into a life of crime and ultimately prison.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2009
“I found out that if you wanna know the purpose of a thing, you can’t ask the thing to tell you. A car doesn’t know why it’s a car; only the manufacturer knows what it was meant to do. And I guess that’s the same way it is with God.”
Not Easily Broken was written by a minister, Bishop T.D. Jakes. So you should expect a very spiritual message when you watch this movie. If that’s not your cup of tea, as they say, this really isn’t going to be the film for you.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2009
"She was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens 'Til her boyfriend kicked her out in one of those crushing scenes. What was she to do? Where was she to go? She was out on her fanny... So over the bridge from Flushing to the Sheffield's door. She was there to sell makeup, but father saw more. She had style! She had flair! She was there. That's how she became the Nanny! Who would have guessed that the girl we've described Was just exactly what the doctor prescribed? Now the father finds her beguiling. And the kids are actually smiling. She's the lady in red when everybody else is wearing tan... The flashy girl from Flushing, the Nanny named Fran!"
Not exactly Mary Poppins.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 25th, 2009
This is not your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. If you’re at all like me, you grew up on the 1960’s cartoon series and, of course, the Marvel comic. A lot has changed since those early days of the web slinger. There’s been a not too successful television live action attempt. The comics themselves have changed significantly. You can’t discount the enormously profitable Sam Raimi films, that have given new legs to an old superhero. It stands to reason that a new cartoon series was in order. Enter The Spectacular Spider-Man, the 10th series based on the Marvel character.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 17th, 2009
On October 9th 1986 the network television landscape did something that hadn’t been done successfully in its 40 year history. A fourth network broke on the airwaves. It was called FOX and wasn’t even going to broadcast 7 days a week. Most pundits in the television industry never gave it a chance. Most of the channels were in the double digit UHF range. This had long been considered the independent station area, and a lot of televisions didn’t pick up this band as well as the established VHF band. And for a while it looked like the network was going to disappear almost as quickly as it appeared. But by 1987 the network suddenly had two big hits on its hands.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 17th, 2009
In 1976 a New York media group conducted a survey of the NYPD detectives. The question was: “Of all the TV cop shows, which most accurately portrays life as a detective?” The overwhelming response was the comedy Barney Miller. Seems real cops related to the daily grind and weekly wackos of Barney Miller. Let’s not put aside that this was also one of the most consistently funny shows on television. I remember it took me a while to accept Abe Vigoda in such a light role as Fish. My first exposure to Vigoda was the ruthless mobster in The Godfather. Barney Miller always managed to be funny while still telling a good short story. The characters were always wonderful.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2009
Long before the magicians of movie special effects had computers to conjure up monsters and otherworldly creatures, or even talking dogs, they relied on more physical tricks of the trade. One method, used perhaps most famously in 1933’s King Kong, is stop-motion animation. Kong inspired a young boy who would go on to master the art form and establish himself as a legend of fantasy filmmaking: Ray Harryhausen. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, Harryhausen produced some of the most delightful moments ever captured on film, wowing audiences and inspiring people to believe in movie magic.
![The Grudge [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-grudge-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The Da Vinci Code (Two-Disc Extended Cut + BD Live) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-da-vinci-code-two-disc-extende-large.jpg)
![Not Easily Broken [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/not-easily-broken-blu-ray-large.jpg)
