Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 12th, 2011
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!
We are aboard a spaceship flying away from a planet. Jaga, an elder tells a younger Thundercat, Lion-O to watch as their home planet, Thundera explodes and is no more. The spaceship represents the last of the creatures as they try to find a planet that is like theirs in air quality. Jaga also introduces the young cat to the Sword of Omens which contains the legendary Eye of Thundera.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 6th, 2011
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, but this time the film itself doesn't quite hold up to the previous outing.
Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) is a scientist attending a conference in Germany with his wife Elizabeth (Jones). On his way to the hotel he is in a serious car crash that sends his taxi into the water, and the good doctor Harris clinically dead for a short time. He wakes up in a hospital where no one knows who he is. His troubles are about to get worse when the hotel employees do not remember him and his wife denies knowing him. In fact another man is now claiming to be Dr. Harris, and has been accepted by everyone as the real guy. With the help of the cab driver Gina (Kruger) and an old cold war operative (Ganz), he attempts to find out what happened. Of course, there appear to be some folks out there who want him dead. The only man who seems to have any real answers is his old friend Rodney Cole (Langella). But Harris might not like the answers he gets.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 6th, 2011
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.
Each scene has the actors standing in such a staged manner that nothing feels natural about this film. Not that the token R-rated language and lowbrow gags didn't already give that effect, but there is something to be said about actors being able to deliver their lines without cheating their bodies towards the audience, as if this were a theatre production. If only this were some magical new form of performing where a camera is able to show the audience angles of a performer we cannot see from stage, without the actor having to move at all! My goodness, what a marvel that would be! Alas, the Farrely bros have forgotten what century we live in and let each scene look the first off-book day for amateurs in an Intro to Comedy Acting course.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2011
"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. He received his instructions and cases from Arthur Ward, played by Philip Abbott. Ward answered directly to the director himself. He usually gave Erskine a free hand, but was responsible for getting results from his best investigator. Erskine's partner was Special Agent Jim Rhodes, in the first few seasons played by Stephen Brooks. In these early episodes, the family life of Erskine was also part of the story. He had a daughter played by Lynn Loring, and she was in love with his partner. His wife had been killed by a bullet that was meant for him. After a couple of years the family stories disappeared completely, and the show remained focused on the cases.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 16th, 2011
"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. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. It's a large city with an incredibly diverse population. Oh, and it doesn't hurt any that Hollywood's a part of this particular asphalt jungle. So we get to see a lot of L.A. or New York cops on television. Even long before Jack Webb was asking for the facts and only the facts, the cops of L.A. have had more than their fair share of screen time in film and television. With that in mind, it is awfully difficult to do anything new with the LAPD.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 14th, 2011
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 that rounds out these adventures to make this one of the most entertaining shows around. When UPN and WB merged, I was a little worried about Supernatural. You do the math (that was another review). Two networks worth of shows, one network worth of programming time. Half of the shows needed to vanish, and I was concerned Supernatural would be one, if history of respect for genre shows was any indication. Fortunately for us, the show has not only survived, but it has thrived, looking to be around for quite a while yet.
In season 1 Sam Winchester (Padalecki) was in college. His fiancée was attacked by a creature that had once also taken his mother. Enter brother Dean (Ackles) who arrives to take the mourning Sam on a cross-country search for their missing father. It turns out that Daddy Winchester has been on a self-imposed crusade to find the monster that took his wife and any other demon or creature he might be able to hunt along the way. We also find out he’s trained the boys to be quite capable monster hunters themselves. Most of the first year dealt with the brothers fighting their way to their dad. It ended in a hell of a cliffhanger. Season 2 didn’t waste anytime picking up the action. The action picks up the moment we were left waiting last May. If the first year gave the boys their mission, the second is about consequences. All of the expected monsters are there for the hunt, and year two turned out twice as good as the first. If you didn’t think that was possible, check out this second-year DVD set.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2011
"Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 28th, 2011
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.
*looks at box* Crap!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 21st, 2011
"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. Some of these efforts have been truly worthy films with effective moments and compelling plots and performances. None have come close to the original film. The Rite is another attempt to create a modern version of The Exorcist. It's not a bad film at all, but it's not even close.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 10th, 2011
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. The family lived in the upstairs rooms, while the servants who kept the place in order occupied the rooms downstairs. Each episode would bring the dramatic events of the world to the doorstep of the home and we would see how they affected the two classes. We got to know members of both classes, and as the series progressed, observed the stark differences while also seeing the common humanity the two worlds shared. It was a huge hit and has lived on in syndication in all of the years since. The original series ran from 1971 until 1975 and covered the years of 1903 until the market crash of 1929 and the death of the patron of the estate. The whole thing had to be sold and the characters dispersed to their own lives from there.
Enter Heidi Thomas, who was eleven when the original series ended. The show stuck with her, and she made it a sort of life mission to bring the series back. In 2010 that's exactly what she did. The result is the three episode run that we have in this release.
![Unknown [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/unknown-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Supernatural: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/supernatural-the-complete-second-s-large.jpg)
