Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2021
"Scared yet? You should be."
There have been a ton of changes in the Arrowverse that started in 2012 with the CW premier of Arrow. It told the story of Oliver Queen, The Green Arrow. Other shows and heroes were added along the way that included time-traveling heroes of The Legends Of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Stargirl, and most recently Batwoman and Superman and Lois. But the best of these Arrowverse shows has always been and continues to be The Flash. But a lot has changed since then. The mothership, Arrow, has been gone for two years. Supergirl ended last season along with Black Lightning, and Legends Of Tomorrow appears to be fading fast in just plain silliness. Too bad DC doesn't own the rights to Howard The Duck. He'd fit right in. Of the new shows, Stargirl shows a lot of promise with a pretty solid ensemble. Batwoman, for so many reasons, is a complete mess, and Superman & Lois looks to be the most promising future of the Arrowverse. The jury is still out after only one season. But The Flash remains the touchstone of quality in this collection and is now the longest running of the entire franchise. There's a reason for this, and Season 7 will give you even more reasons to run toward The Flash. However, if you're thinking of joining The Flash for the first time in Season 7, that's not going to work out so well for you. Hopefully you're a speed watcher, because you have 6 to go. You're going to love what this series has cooking, but you need to start with getting yourself caught up in order to fully appreciate what is in store for you here. In addition to the many seasons, crossovers, and other shows, COVID has reared its ugly head and kind of mixed up the order of some things. That means you're not really getting Season 7 from the beginning when you buy this set. You're getting the last three episodes of Season 6, and Season 7 starts on the fourth episode and gets a bit truncated by the shorter production schedules. That's a lot to get caught up with, so check out our reviews of the previous releases here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2021
"There's a war coming to Gotham, and now there's no Batwoman stop it."
Well ... that's halfway true. After just one season in the cape and cowl, Ruby Rose rather abruptly quit the show. That's a pretty big red flag when you lose your titular star and character after just one season. For many shows that might have been the end of the road. Not true for Batwoman. They had several choices. They could have recast the part and just pretend it's the same character with a new look. They could have killed the character off and found a new one to replace her. Of course, with the multiverse now closed down, the most likely option of replacing her with another Earth's Kate Kane might have been the best option. The announcement came pretty much on the heel of Rose's departure that they would not recast the part. That turned out to be partially true, but more on that later. The choice was made to put an entirely new character into the suit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2021
"I must admit I didn't think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him; looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. That was my first impression of the man."
Our first, middle, and last impression of writer Stephen King has always been one thing. He's considered the King of the Modern Horror Novel. Pretty much everything he has ever written has found its way to the small or large screen and often with various versions over the years. The problem is that King is such a visceral writer, and his novels tend to be so long that it's very difficult and damn near impossible to translate a good King story for television or the box office. No matter how hard some of the best filmmakers have tried, an alarming number of King's written masterpieces have fallen flat at the box office. There have, of course been notable exceptions. The recent two-film version of It is one of the finest of those attempts. But for nearly three decades it turned out that the most successful film adaptations of King's written work weren't horror stories at all. They were also based on shorter works instead of those multi-thousand-page novels. Stand By Me, based on the novella The Body, is one of the most endearing and enduring, and while a title like The Body certainly carries the King ominous connotations, it's actually a quite unscary coming-of-age story. The Green Mile took us to death row, not for a story about a demented killer about to seek revenge as a reanimated executed criminal, but a whimsical fantasy about a death row guard with a rather amazing pet mouse and accompanying story. But perhaps the greatest of this trilogy of King non-horror dramas is likely The Shawshank Redemption, based on the novella Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption. It remains the favorite film of my wife, and while it's not even in my top ten, it is certainly my favorite King adaptation and a wonderful film in its own right. It's about time this wonderfully atmospheric film got a 4K treatment and a release on UHD Blu-ray.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 18th, 2021
When Justice League hit the box office in 2017 it was met by relatively good box office numbers but not warmly received overall. It was a troubled shoot. During production Zack Snyder had to leave the director's chair when his daughter Autumn passed away. When you consider how hard the folks at DC have been chasing the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was no surprise that they brought in Joss Whedon to pick up the pieces and finish the film. Whedon, of course, directed the first Avengers film for Marvel, which turned into the perfect example of how to bring a diverse group of heroes together for a film. Whedon was also the king of the ensemble cast from his early days on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and later Firefly. The first problem was that Whedon and Snyder have very polar opposite styles. Snyder rules with tons of angst, darkness and brooding characters. That's great for Batman. Not so much for Superman. Whedon loves to keep things light no matter how big the stakes of the film's events might be. It's night and day, and it's no wonder it really didn't work out so well. Later we would start to hear stories of abuse by Whedon on the set, mainly from Ray Fisher who played Cyborg. The studio fumed, and the fans expressed their disappointment by demanding that DC/Warner Brothers allow Snyder to go back and make the film he really wanted to make, and so the wheels began turning.
DC eventually relented, and after nearly four years, they put a pile of money on the table and granted the Snyder fanboys their wish. But things are different now, and a new cinematic release is pretty much out of the question. So it was originally decided there would be a mini-series made for HBO-Max, the company's streaming service. The idea of a series and film went back and forth, and eventually a kind of hybrid ended up taking the slot. What we got was a four-hour film separated into seven distinct chapters and a decidedly obvious halfway point. So you could watch it in seven roughly half-hour segments, two films, or one mega-marathon film. The HBO-Max numbers were pretty good, and so now the film is available on UHD Blu-ray in 4K in a much better-looking presentation than it had during its initial life as a streamer.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 9th, 2021
It would seem that the animated film and the 2021 live-action film suffer from the same issue: more time is dedicated to setting up the tournament than the actual tournament itself. I suppose I should take solace in the fact that the two are consistent; however, I’m afraid that is not the case for me. I would have much preferred that proper time be allocated to what is supposed to be the main plot of the film. The whole point of this franchise is to show champions fighting to protect the Earth realm, but it would seem that more time is shown depicting the underhandedness that the other realms attempt to use in order to secure Earth realm by other means. If that was the case, hell, why even have a tournament, if our fate is going to be decided through other measures. OK, that is my little rant about the film, but in truth, it is not a great film, but I wouldn’t go so far as to categorize it as terrible one. There are a few things to enjoy about it. Want to know more? Keep reading.
So the film maintains a good measure of continuity with its preceding film (Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge). Following Earth triumph, there should have been peace, but of course that wouldn’t make for a good movie. So to resolve this disharmony, we are thrown back into the thick of it. Basically, Shao Kahn, as expected, is a sore loser about losing the tournament, so he declares war on Earth realm. He sends his Outworld army to take the Earth realm by force. Also as expected, Earth’s champions rise up to defend humanity. Though initially succeeding in holding back the forces of Outworld, Lord Raiden agrees to Shao Kahn’s demand that another Mortal Kombat be held in order to determine the fate of Earth realm once and for all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 2nd, 2021
Every decade or so sees the popularity of a Broadway stage show become something of a cultural phenomenon. When I was young, Cats and Annie were the big-event shows. Over the years it's been Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom Of The Opera, and more recently, Rent. In these last few years the stage champ has been Hamilton, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. To say that it has been one of the more popular shows in the last few years would be an understatement. Based very loosely on the historical life of Alexander Hamilton, it is still currently the hardest ticket to get in New York City. Lost in the excitement and fame over Hamilton is that Miranda has had another rather large success with In The Heights. The play was selected best musical in 2003. While it never did come close to the success of Hamilton, it was also once a hard ticket to obtain. Just one year after Hamilton made it to the big screen, In The Heights will get its chance to offer moviegoers something to help bring them back to the cinemas.
As the film begins, we are introduced to Usnavi (Ramos) (there's a rather amusing story about how he got the unusual name), who has gathered a few children together to tell them a story. We are introduced to the idea of suenito, or a little dream. And that's the theme that will carry you through Usnavi's tale. It all takes place in a little corner of New York City called Washington Heights. We're encouraged to say it out loud so that it won't disappear. And that's where it all happens. We are introduced to a few of the citizens of this cultural neighborhood who each have their own little dream. Usnavi runs a neighborhood bodega, but his little dream is to return to his native Dominican Republic, where he dreams of rebuilding his father's destroyed bar and living in his own corner of paradise. He's not the only one with a dream. He's trying to connect with Vanessa (Barrera), who works for a local hair salon that is about to be yet another business leaving the neighborhood. She finds she can't find a place where she's going to be accepted in that new neighborhood, and her little dream is to have a fashion boutique where she can design and sell clothes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 1st, 2021
What James Wan did with The Conjuring (2013) was something I don’t think anyone expected, he didn’t just deliver a haunted house film that’s genuinely scary as well as being a technical achievement, but also he kicked off a successful franchise that’s now seven films deep with no signs of stopping. I’ll admit when it comes to the stories about Ed and Lorraine Warren I have a bit of a bias. I’m a sucker for just about any and every paranormal show out there, and I’ve read numerous books about the Warrens and their case files. Everything from the “true” story behind the Amityville house, the “real” Annabelle, to some of the not-so-famous cases (at least the ones we haven’t seen a movie about). Whether you believe in the paranormal or feel the Warrens were nothing more than skilled hoaxers, the stories behind their cases are the stuff that will always make for a great campfire story, and as it’s been proven, some successful and entertaining films. So when it was announced that the next film was going to be about case where a man is being put on trial and uses the defense of possession, claiming the devil made him commit the crime, I was excited. Seeing how this was a real murder case that the Warrens were involved with, I was hoping we’d see a break from the traditional possession and haunted house film and delve into a courtroom drama; alas, that isn’t the case. While the new film does take a somewhat different approach, I definitely have some mixed feelings on this one.
My biggest concern from the get-go about this film was that James Wan was not involved with directing the film. Granted he may have only done The Conjuring and its sequel, but I feel we can all agree these films outshine the other entries in the franchise by a great deal. Wan is simply one of the best directors working in film period. Though he may only stick to genre films, his work with crafting stories and his work with a camera is well above many of his contemporaries in the genre. Then to decide to use Michael Chaves, the director of The Curse of la Llorona, to helm the film was immediately cause for concern for me. To be blunt, I hated that film. It was one of the worst films I saw that year. The saving grace was that at least Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga would be reprising their roles of Ed and Lorraine.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 25th, 2021
It continues to amaze me how well Warner Brothers does with their DC products in the television universe but manage to execute so poorly with their films. Despite being a bit formulaic, the CW DC shows are still a blast to watch but it’s the more adult oriented shows Titans, Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing that have left me most impressed. Now they have released Pennyworth for the Starz Network, despite the confidence I have in the other shows I went into this one with cautious optimism. The biggest question that bothered me was do we need another series that delves into the Batman universe? Gotham recently wrapped up, there’s a Batwoman series, Joker was only 2 years ago and a new Batman film coming next year, not to forget all the other incarnations of the Dark Knight. What had me interested though is the notion of finally getting to see Alfred Pennyworth as the former SAS officer in his prime and the chance to see how he became entangled with the Wayne family. Was the series a letdown or yet another success for the DC television universe?
The series was brought to life by Bruno Heller, a writer with experience in this universe since coming off from writing for Gotham. Now if you’re thinking you enjoyed Gotham and perhaps this is a prequel you can enjoy with the kids let me stop you for a moment and say, this one is not for the kids. This series embraces its adult content with its over the top violence, an abundance of sex, drugs and profanity that more closely resembles a Quentin Tarantino film than a comic book series, and I love it for that. Season one was a fun little romp that sets up the story of how Thomas Wayne, Martha Kane and Alfred Pennyworth all met. Season 2 delves deeper into the development of their friendships and relationships and in the process shows how Lucius Fox was brought into the fold. This is all done while a battle is taking place between London and the Raven Union which is led by Lord Harwood (Jason Flemyng) whom we met in the first season. Season two, while it does continue the story I’m a little disappointed with the direction it goes with this so much focus on a war and take over by the Raven Union, my disappointment is with how little most of it doesn’t involve Alfred at all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on July 21st, 2021
"Throughout history, different cultures all over the world reference a great tournament of champions. That dragon marking, I think it's an invitation to fight for something known as Mortal Kombat."
While I do rate this adaptation of the popular video game better than its incarnations that came before it in the 90s, I still wouldn’t categorize it as a great movie. It’s a bit too short on explanation to reach that level. It starts off promising with a showdown battle between the two most popular characters of the game, played by Joe Taslim (Sub-Zero) and Hiroyuki Sanada (Scorpion). The fight is everything that I expected it to be; well-orchestrated with the right amount of bloodshed. However, as the story goes on, the quality of the storytelling takes a hit as the film takes the position that the audience is already well-versed in the backstory of the film. For me, this seemed liked the wrong approach to take, especially if you are trying to attract a younger generation to the series. We have to remember that Mortal Kombat is based off a video game series that is nearly thirty years old. Granted, it has seen much revamping over the proceeding years that has kept the series current, but even so, a voiceover explaining the backstory of the tournament would have gone a long way. We get a title card that offer some details, but it’s not enough.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 6th, 2021
I remember when The Golden Compass came to theaters. I know I saw it because I was a projectionist and had to screen the print, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember anything about the film. Perhaps that’s why that when I first heard about HBO doing a TV series adaption of the beloved book series His Dark Materials, I wasn’t all that thrilled. I’d never read the young adult series, and considering the amount of awful YA film and TV adaptations that have bombarded us for nearly two decades, it too played a role in squashing any excitement I might have had in different circumstances. I was definitely pessimistic about watching the , but when I finished Season 1, I was excited about where the next season would take us. I loved the characters, the daemons, and the worlds that the show took us to. Not since Stranger Things had I been more excited about a new series. Season 2’s can be a make-or-break for a lot of shows. Expectations have been made by the audience, and sometimes things just fall apart, but sometimes there is the rare occasion where Season 2 manages to only get better. I’m happy to say in the case of His Dark Materials, things definitely improve.
Season 1 left us off with a bit of a cliffhanger as we see Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Will (Amir Wilson) stepping through portals from their worlds, and we’re just not sure where they’ll end up. Well, the pair end up in a city called Cittagazze, a place where there are no adults. Only a few children are living in hiding in the town because of these wraithlike figures called Spectres that basically suck the “dust” or human life-force from adults. The set design for this new world is impressive, which is a good thing because a lot of time is spent at this location over the stretch of Season 2. Lyra’s daemon, Pan (voiced by Kit Conner) is still going through multiple changes and remains one of my favorite aspects of the show, though thankfully daemons are not in constant peril this season. Instead more focus is placed in the importance of Lyra and Will and how the pair fit into a prophecy that of course will impact the world and all its multiverses.
