Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 23rd, 2010
"I have come to tell you a story..."
Director Phillip Noyce is no stranger to the spy-and-espionage genre. His father was an intelligence officer with the Australian government, and he spent many years of his childhood listening to tales of derring-do. He often recounts in interviews how he would play spy as a young man. He would pick out some stranger he'd see while out and about.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2010
Written by Dave Younger
Young Adam (2003, 98 min.), set in drab postwar Glasgow, Scotland, combines the kitchen-sink dramas of late 50s/early 60s northern England with a Hitchcockian tale – what if you discovered your girlfriend floating dead in a river? Throw in explicit full-frontal NC-17 sex (most movies, like Blue Valentine, will do anything to avoid this kiss of death, but Young Adam embraces it; they wanted to cut Ewan McGregor’s junk for the American release, but he fought to keep it in)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Lake Placid (1999) was a humorous film which played on our fears of animal attacks. It depicted a gigantic man-eating crocodile living in a lake near a rural town in Maine. The idea of crocodiles in Maine was a creative parallel to the alien-invasion scenario. The humans (park rangers, anthropologists, and wildlife experts) had to defeat the murderous alien (giant crocodile) before it destroyed the world (Maine). This concept continued in two direct-to-DVD films
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 18th, 2010
"I never wanted a war. I just wanted people to know what happened here. 98 men, women, children ... my husband. And yet no one believed. They rebuilt the town. Life went on. But I was already dead inside. I never wanted a war."
In October 2007 30 Days Of Night was unleashed at the box office to less than stellar numbers. In fact, the film took in only $39 million off of a $30 million budget. That's not usually a good sign for any potential franchise. But the film was received very well by the folks who did like it. I was one of those people. I found myself defending the film to a lot of others who were obviously not so impressed with the take on the vampire legend.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2010
We all remember the classic underdog film from 1984. Then it was awkward child star Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita in the lead roles. It was a coming-of-age story that taught some valuable lessons about discipline and patience. It was an immediate classic that pulled in a much more than respectable $90 million at the box office. It spawned three sequels which did not do near as well as the original. Now we find ourselves in an age where just about any movie ever made has to be remade/reimagined/rebooted/ or merely capitalized upon. Should there have been a new Karate Kid?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 23rd, 2010
This might be a newsflash to some, but I can’t dance. I can’t groove, shimmy or even lay down some dope moves. As such, a whole generation of movies is probably lost on me. In it, young hip kids move around and perform moves that would have made Fred Astaire jealous. It is a showcase of talent on the most basic level. One such movie appeared on my review plate named Stomp the Yard: Homecoming. Hopefully with some fresh moves, we can get an interesting story to boot.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 16th, 2010
Most people are aware that I don’t care for romantic comedies but nothing gets under my skin more than a horrible prison movie. My attempts to forget the movie are usually successful until the next time a similar movie appears in my review pile. Maybe it is the cliché plot, the contrived and stereo-typed characters, or the male on male forced action. How would a movie fare where it simulates the jail experience in a behavioral experiment? I dare to find out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 29th, 2010
Most of the male reviewers in this industry loathe romantic comedies. It is the only thing in the industry that we conceive to be as easy to make as a poorly written horror movie. Insert female who is looking for love in all of the wrong places and give her an unique situation to find that special love. Insert hunky guy who is a bit quirky to sweep her off her feet. Love, love, love and they go off to get married and make babies. So I did what any man would do in this situation, I begged my better half to write the review.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2010
It's almost impossible not to compare The Square with No Country For Old Men. The themes are very much the same. The talent behind this Australian movie even includes a couple of brothers, but their name doesn't happen to be Cohen; however, one of these brothers is also named Joel. One of the original writers on the film is Joel Edgerton. The idea passed through a couple of other folks along the way to director Nash Edgerton who saw more potential in the film. So, a modest budget and a collection of relatively unknown actors combined to create a movie that does not easily fall into any one category
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 5th, 2010
For most of you who read my reviews, I can be rather harsh when reviewing movies of a Christian nature. One needs to look no further than my scathing review of Fireproof. More than often they tend to be too preachy with messages and heavy themes that suggest a way of life too strict for many people’s tastes. Naturally, I was a little skeptical when I received To Save a Life. But as the movie teaches us: one should not be judged on appearances alone.
![Salt (Deluxe Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/salt-deluxe-unrated-edition-blu--large.jpg)
![The Experiment [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-experiment-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The Back-Up Plan [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-back-up-plan-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The Square [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-square-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![To Save a Life [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/to-save-a-life-blu-ray-large.jpg)
