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Warner Bros.

Arthur (2011) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 1st, 2011

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Back in 1981 we all got a little lost between the moon and New York City as Dudley Moore played the spoiled and perpetually drunk title character in the surprise hit Arthur. He was in love with Liza Minnelli, but his rich family had plans for the socialite played by Jill Eikenberry. Arthur’s only real friend was the guy who was paid to be there for him, but nevertheless had a soft spot for him. That was butler Hobson, played by Sir John Gielgud. It was a quirky little romantic comedy that turned out to have legs.
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Thundercats: The Original Series – Season 1 Part 1

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 12th, 2011

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My childhood was full of cartoons from all walks of life. There are classics such as the Jetsons and Daffy Duck (notice I did not say Bugs Bunny) and then more recent products of my time period like Transformers and X-Men. But I always had an eye out for those cartoons that were anything but conventional. I recently got the chance to review Thundercats and I hoped that my childhood memories would hold up. Thundercats, HOOOO!
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Unknown (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 6th, 2011

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Liam Neeson has always been somewhat of a versatile actor. From Oskar Schindler in Spielberg’s moving Schindler’s List to a Jedi master in the rebirth of Star Wars, there don’t appear to be very many types of films he hadn’t tried. Taken introduced us to a tough-guy character that we hadn’t really seen before, even in the film reboot of The A-Team. There he played an intelligence officer trying to rescue his kidnapped daughter. It was a rather powerful performance, so I can’t say I was very surprised to see him play the one-man army role once again in Unknown. It’s another very fine performance by Neeson
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Hall Pass (Blu Ray + DVD combo)

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 6th, 2011

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A pair of serial “gawkers” are getting into awkward spots in their marriages until their wives offer them a 6-day “Hall Pass” that grants them freedom to act as single men for that time. As each couple go their separate ways, each do battle with the temptation to act on their freedom, versus learn some sort of lesson about the virtues of domestic monogamy.
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FBI: Season One Part 1

Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2011

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“The mission of the FBI is to protect the innocent and to identify the enemies of the government of the United States.”

In 1965 ABC would launch the long-running series based on the cases of the FBI. The series starred Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Chief Inspector Lewis Erskine. He was a seasoned veteran with a keen instinct for tracking down some of the nation’s most elusive criminals.
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Southland: The Complete Second Season

Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on June 16th, 2011

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“Look sharp, act sharp, be sharp. These guys coming out of prison? They’re buff, been on drugs. You do what they teach you in the academy, you will die. Knucklehead wants to take your gun. So if it’s you or some 300-pound naked guy on PCP, you take his ass down any way you can. You ride with me, you back your badge.”

There probably isn’t a group of people who have been profiled more than the men and women serving in the LAPD.
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Supernatural: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 14th, 2011

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If you are a fan of the original Kolchak: The Night Stalker, you were more than likely disappointed in the remake a couple of years ago on ABC. Your hope is now once again restored. Supernatural is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to The Night Stalker. Like Kolchak, the Winchester brothers are faced with weekly incarnations of evil. They’re forced to research these legends and figure out a way to stop them. As Kolchak discovered, it’s a thankless job. Sure, Supernatural is populated with all sorts of beasties and nasties, but it also manages to hold on to a sense of humor
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Pretty Little Liars: The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2011

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“Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead.”

And there are a lot of secrets to be found on the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars. It seems that a year earlier Alison (Pieterse) disappeared in the small Pennsylvania town of Rosewood. She was the “queen bee” of a small clique of girls. She was fond of manipulating those around her, and it seems her head games have finally caught up with her.
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Childrens Hospital: Complete First and Second Seasons

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 28th, 2011

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One could say that I watch a healthy dose of Adult Swim. My favorites are Robot Chicken and the Venture Bros but I usually find that I can enjoy just about any of the shows given a few episodes and the inability to change channels. Seriously, the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network produces quality television and stuff you won’t find anywhere else. Childrens Hospital is one such show that explores the lighter side of medicine. As long as there aren’t any clowns in this, we should be okay.

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The Rite (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 21st, 2011

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“Do you believe in Sin?”

The Exorcist was one of the most chilling films ever made. William Friedkin used subliminal images as well as those quite famous scenes of Linda Blair being taken over by Satan himself. Ever since that time filmmakers have been trying to cash in on the phenomenon. Exorcism movies have become almost a sub-genre in the horror field. There have been everything from no-budget to mega-budget attempts. There have been both sequels and prequels to the original film.
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Upstairs Downstairs (2010)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 10th, 2011

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In the 1970’s the critically acclaimed Upstairs Downstairs was a television mainstay in England. American audiences were soon introduced to the series through PBS broadcasts in the late 1970’s and beyond. It was a unique kind of drama that served both as a period piece and an examination of the class lifestyles. The series began at the turn of the century and led up to the events of World War I and the period that soon followed. We were witness to the wealthy Bellamy family who occupied the estate at 165 Eaton Place.
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Human Planet

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 10th, 2011

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“Only one creature has carved out a life for itself in every habitat on Earth. That creature is us. All over the world we still use our ingenuity to survive the wild places, far from the city lights, face to face with raw nature. This is the Human Planet.”

Most of us live in, or at least near, a modern city. We live a life where our food comes from a grocery store. Sure, you might have a garden or even raise a few animals, but unless you live on a farm, you likely purchase most of what you eat from metal shelves in large buildings
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Growing Pains: The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 25th, 2011

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In the 1980’s, I grew up watching a lot of sitcom family shows as I am sure a lot of kids my age did. Somewhere in my late teens and twenties, I ran away from sitcoms and straight in to cartoons and wrestling. (you thought I was going to say reality shows didn’t you?) But before that happened, I probably saw every last one of those crazy family sitcoms. Including Growing Pains. So when I received Growing Pains Season 2 to review, I knew I didn’t need season one and could dive right in. (
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Life Unexpected: The Complete First and Second Seasons

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2011

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When the WB merged with the UPN to form the hybrid CW, a lot of good things happened. The new network stepped away from the twenty-something shows that began to all look the same after a while. The network began to take on cutting edge genre shows like Supernatural and Smallville. But deep down inside there was still that family drama mentality that drove at least one of the parent networks. Life Unexpected is, unfortunately, a totally expected result of that dark place.
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Charlton Heston Presents the Bible

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2011

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“How did The Bible come to be? The Bible wasn’t always a book or even a series of books. In the beginning there wasn’t even a written language. The prophets and holy men who roamed these lands seeking the truth and preaching God’s word as they perceived it were talking to illiterate audiences who could only be reached by the witnessed testimony and the spoken word.”

That’s where Charlton Heston comes in.
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King of Kings (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2011

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“And it came to pass in these days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. So it was that Joseph, a carpenter, went up from Galilee unto Bethlehem to be taxed with his wife, Mary who was with Holy Child.”

Every spring around the time of Easter you could count on several annual films to make their way to televisions across the country for special family presentations. For Easter you had The Greatest Story Ever Told and King Of Kings.
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Imax: Hubble

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2011

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“May, 2009 – Seven brave astronauts are about to launch on the most challenging and risky missions ever flown in space. This is the last chance to save the Hubble Telescope.”

You have to really go back to April of 1990 to get to the start of the story. That’s when the shuttle Discovery launched from Cape Kennedy with the Hubble Telescope in its cargo bay waiting to bring the ends of the universe to our waiting eyes. I was there that day among the crowd of hopefuls as the shuttle ignited its thrusters and pierced the sky for space.
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Yogi Bear (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 29th, 2011

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“Jellystone Park, one of the nation’s oldest and most beautiful stretches of wilderness. For years, families have headed out from the busy city eager to enjoy a little camping, fishing, and, of course, observing the park’s natural wildlife…”

He’s smarter than the average bear. Children and adults alike have been watching his adventures since 1959. Yogi and his young sidekick Boo Boo were one of the most popular of the Hanna-Barbera stable of talking animal characters
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Hereafter (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 24th, 2011

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The home video release of Hereafter, like its Asian box office release, is the victim of bad timing. The movie has been pulled from theaters in Japan since the tragic events that have struck that country in recent weeks. It’s unfortunate that the movie opens with one of the most realistic depictions of a tsunami that I’ve ever seen. The ultra-realism will be an emotional pang for anyone who shares the sadness of the current disaster. The film has suddenly been criticized for its graphic portrayal, but that kind of statement bears the mark of the worse kind of insincerity
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Scarecrow and Mrs. King: The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 22nd, 2011

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While Scarecrow And Mrs. King first aired in 1983, this show is really one of the last of the 1970’s crime dramas. It was an early attempt to bring in more of the female audience that seemed reluctant to join the popular detective shows of the era. While not really a “detective” show (they were spies), it employed a lot of the 1970’s conventions. Even the film footage has that distinct style from those days and type of shows. The idea worked, and the series did bring in a sizeable female audience, but it never really caught on with the guy crowd who found it a bit too relationship-heavy. The two leads were chosen less for their character appeal than for their apparent “easy on the eyes” look.
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Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Season One, Part Two

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 16th, 2011

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Some of you might remember my review of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the first thirteen episodes which can be found here. I found it to be a great little series that was rich in its roots. Well, six months have passed and we finally get a chance to look at the next thirteen episodes. With a little bit of luck, maybe they will be just as good if not better than our first look into the series.
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Felicity: An American Girl Adventure

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2011

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The American Girl series appears to have started as a collection of dolls. The collection featured various girls from a wide range of historical periods. The dolls came with rather unique histories that provided both a chance to bring the doll to life in the imagination of the child and also teach a little of what life might have been like for girls that lived in these different eras. Of course, the collection had to have accessories, and before long an entire industry was born. The dolls led to a series of books that fleshed out the adventures these characters might have had in their time periods.
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Due Date (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Bob Ross on March 5th, 2011

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There are two ways to address a familiar film plot. The easy route, of course, is to dismiss it as recycled fluff, reciting the similarities to its predecessors. The more discerning course is to give the newcomer a chance to prove itself as a creative variation on the theme. That’s how you can give Due Date its due. In the first few minutes, you’ll notice the script verges on carbon-copying Trains, Planes and Automobiles, the 1987 John Hughes hit
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Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated: Season 1 V.1

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 4th, 2011

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Scooby Doo has spanned generations and over 40 years. Since the 1960’s the name and conventions have become a part of the pop culture. The original cartoon series had a series of conventions. The Scooby Gang would drive around in their green Mystery Machine van and solve ghostly mysteries. Fans of the show quickly grew to learn that these spirits and goblins were usually just normal people using scare tactics to get revenge or make a profit
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Tom & Jerry 1: Fur Flying Adventures

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 4th, 2011

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In the 1930’s and 40’s MGM was trying to get in on the lucrative animation game. The field was dominated at the time by Warner Brothers with their Loony Tunes shorts, and of course, the iconic cast of animated characters coming out of the Walt Disney Studio. For years they had failed to find the right property to take advantage of the market.
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