Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 7th, 2006
Synopsis
Bernard Campan, diffident office worker with a bad heart, enters an Pigalle brothel/bar and informs prostitute Monica Bellucci that he has just won 4 million Euros. He will pay here handsomely to live with him until the money runs out. She agrees. Campan’s doctor friend disapproves, being particularly worried about what a bombshell like Bellucci will do to Campan’s heart. Can the couple find true love? Or is the relationship only based on money? And what about loquacious gangster Gérard Depa...dieu, the other man in Bellucci’s life?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 6th, 2006
Proof that HBO was gutsy before The Soprano's comes with season five of Tales from the Crypt. By this point, the series had become a well-respected cult favorite, and these 13 episodes, spread over three discs, are some of the series' best. The show, based on a classic comic book series, really became my generation's version of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. It was a half-hour series that told twisted tales of mystery and horror, and was hosted by a very decomposed Crypt Keeper. The Keeper was full of really bad puns, yet that was part of the show's charm. He was the one thing that ties each episode together, and he became something of a pop culture icon, on par with both Freddie Krueger and Jason Voorhees.
One of the really great things about this show is that the creators somehow convinced Hollywood's elite actors and behind-the-scenes personalities to lend their crafts to the production. Each week featured a different director or actor that viewers would be surprised to find working on the series. This season saw guest appearances from Tracy Lords, Martin Sheen, Steve Buschemi, Billy Zane, The Who's Roger Daltrey and more. This is a series that is just plain fun. If you start watching these episodes, you may very well find yourself going back and picking up the seasons you may have missed. The good news is, this is not a show that you necessarily need to watch in the correct order, so there's no reason why viewers can't start here, and pick up the earlier seasons later. The important thing is that you start somewhere.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 5th, 2006
16 Blocks is what separates petty criminal Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) and broken down cop Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) from exposing several corrupt NYPD detectives. Jack Moseley an aging alcoholic NYPD detective is faced with a crucial decision whether or not he will sell out his long time friends/colleagues or trust a criminal he had just met. The movie takes us through the crowded streets and narrow ally ways of New York City as they scramble to understand themselves and each other. We come to learn of their se...arate and equally interesting pasts, and even plans for the future.
16 Blocks is more than your standard action movie, it is nicely balanced with acting and a constantly advancing story line. We feel claustrophobic as they run down the streets of New York with little time to make it to the courthouse, and the suspense is constantly escalating. We come to care for the characters, and what is going to happen to them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2006
Whichever generation you’re from I think we can all remember watching this movie as a child. I have great memories of this film, and when watching the newly released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I found myself comparing it to these memories. Finally I’ve gotten the chance to sit down and watch it again for the first time in years, and on HD DVD what a treat, so how does it hold up after all these years?
The movie centers on a young boy named Charlie Bucket, living with his mother and bedridden...grandparents. Charlie like any child loves chocolate, so when it’s announced that the famous Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) is allowing five children to spend an entire day in his factory, he wants to win more than anyone else. There are five golden tickets placed randomly inside Wonka candy bars, they could be in any candy shop, in any town, anywhere in the world. As the days go on we find that an overweight chocolate obsessed boy in Germany named Augustus Gloop has found the first ticket. The second by a nagging spoiled brat in England named Veruca Salt. The third an overachieving competitive girl from The United States named Violet Beauregarde. The fourth is a lazy television obsessed boy named Mike Teavee, also from The United States. All hope is lost for Charlie when it is announced that the fifth ticket has been found… but that wouldn’t make for much of a movie, would it?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2006
We’ve all been at that age where we begin to challenge the thought of how just one man could travel around the world in one night. This inevitable dilemma has been showcased nearly every year in a motion picture, so how does The Polar Express stack up against them?
Based on the 1985 short story written by Chris Van Allsburg, Robert Zemekis and Tom Hanks set out to make a memorable Christmas classic. Besides producing, Hanks voiced a numerous amount of the characters encountered throughout the film. Th... movie begins on Christmas Eve as the main character, referred to as “Hero Boy” is lying in his bed hoping to hear the sounds of Santa’s sleigh. Like every child at that age, doubt about the reality of Santa begins to set in. Soon falling asleep appearing to have lost hope, our hero boy is awoken to the sounds of and old time steam train. Upon investigation The Conductor (Hanks) reveals that the train is bound for the North Pole. Hesitant at first “Hero Boy” hops aboard and soon meets several other children, all hopeful of meeting Santa Clause himself. We find out that each of the children has been given a golden ticket by the Conductor with two letters punched into them. At this point we do not know the importance of these tickets, only that they are important.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006
Written By Jeff Mardo
I never got into La Femme Nikita, but I can certainly appreciate it. This was a breakthrough series that defined the modern spy and con genres for both television and film. The show was just a bit too 80's for me. It sometimes took itself too seriously, like a rerun of Airwolf. When you really stop and think about what is going on in some of these episodes, the whole thing is just a bit silly.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006
When the idea came to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, many wondered why would this need to be done? What in the world could be accomplished that Willy hadn’t previously done? Naturally that never stops Hollywood from making a film now does it? Thankfully, Warner Brothers decided to hire a feasible director in the visionary Tim Burton to helm this remake. Having made such previous visual masterpieces including The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences knew they were in for quite the ...reat when the film would come out. However, when the film came out, I kept on hearing that the film was very odd and almost too scary. Johnny Deep’s portrayal of Wonka was odd and confusing to audience. Still, this didn’t stop the film from making some extreme bank at the box office. Having never seen the film, I figured I’d give it a shot on the newly released HD-DVD version.
While the original Wonka focused on a more cheerful story, this version tells of a story 15 years before where Wonka, one day, simply closed his factory, laying off all of his employees in the process. One of the employees happened to be Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), grandpa to Charlie (Freddie Highmore). Grandpa revives old memories and let’s us know that Wonka was a delightful man who simply loved his business and all his workers provided everything he could for them. Charlie asks his grandpa how could chocolate still be being made if all the workers went home? That is one of the mysteries of the factory, a place Grandpa Joe wishes he could see one more time. Well, as many of you know, this is the part of the film where Wonka’s Oompa-Loompa’s go out into the night posting signs about a contest Wonka is holding. He has placed five golden tickets inside five of his chocolate bars. The five lucky souls he can obtain these tickets will win a tour of the factory lead by Wonka himself with one of the five winning a special prize. As we all know, Charlie does obtain the last ticket, but not without some suspense (particularly the candy bar sequence his parents get him for his birthday).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006
When the idea came to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, many wondered why would this need to be done? What in the world could be accomplished that Willy hadn’t previously done? Naturally that never stops Hollywood from making a film now does it? Thankfully, Warner Brothers decided to hire a feasible director in the visionary Tim Burton to helm this remake. Having made such previous visual masterpieces including The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences knew they were in for quite the ...reat when the film would come out. However, when the film came out, I kept on hearing that the film was very odd and almost too scary. Johnny Deep’s portrayal of Wonka was odd and confusing to audience. Still, this didn’t stop the film from making some extreme bank at the box office. Having never seen the film, I figured I’d give it a shot on the newly released HD-DVD version.
While the original Wonka focused on a more cheerful story, this version tells of a story 15 years before where Wonka, one day, simply closed his factory, laying off all of his employees in the process. One of the employees happened to be Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), grandpa to Charlie (Freddie Highmore). Grandpa revives old memories and let’s us know that Wonka was a delightful man who simply loved his business and all his workers provided everything he could for them. Charlie asks his grandpa how could chocolate still be being made if all the workers went home? That is one of the mysteries of the factory, a place Grandpa Joe wishes he could see one more time. Well, as many of you know, this is the part of the film where Wonka’s Oompa-Loompa’s go out into the night posting signs about a contest Wonka is holding. He has placed five golden tickets inside five of his chocolate bars. The five lucky souls he can obtain these tickets will win a tour of the factory lead by Wonka himself with one of the five winning a special prize. As we all know, Charlie does obtain the last ticket, but not without some suspense (particularly the candy bar sequence his parents get him for his birthday).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2006
Synopsis
As if the urge to capitalize on the spirits and success of the Pokemon children’s franchise weren’t enough, someone decided it would be best to create an American version loosely based on the addictive game, or hobby, or whatever the hell it is that makes Pokemon so popular, and at least as of this writing, heading into it’s fourth season of episodes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 21st, 2006
Written By Jeff Mardo
TNT is slowly becoming the poor man's HBO. Their programing quality has improved dramatically over the past couple of years, and even their original films are starting to look more like features than made-for-TV time wasters. More often than not, they provide quality programming that is a step above what you usually find on cable television.
![16 Blocks (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/16-blocks-combo-hd-dvd-and-standard-dvd-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory [HD-DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/willy-wonka-the-chocolate-factory-large.jpg)
![The Polar Express [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-polar-express-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Charlie & the Chocolate Factory [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/charlie-the-chocolate-factory-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
