collectorz.com.jpg

1080p

Logan’s Run (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 18th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“Sometime in the 23^rd Century the survivors of war, overpopulation, and pollution are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the forgotten world outside. Here in an ecologically balanced world, mankind lives only for pleasure, freed by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything. There’s just one catch. Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of Carousel.”

Logan’s Run started life as a pretty successful novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. The source material was really quite dark and more like Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner than the 1976 film based on the work.
Read More

The Answer Man

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 13th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

Jeff Daniels plays Arlen Faber, author of the mega-bestselling Me and God, a book of self-help spirituality that comes across as an aphoristic mix of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Purpose-Driven Life. The book is coming up for its twentieth anniversary, and Arlen hasn’t written anything since. He is now a cynical recluse, but begins crawling out of his shell when he encounters a struggling single-mother chiropractor (Lauren Graham) and an alcoholic used bookstore owner (Lou Taylor Pucci). They are looking to him for wisdom, though he doesn’t really believe he has any to give. In turn, they are teaching him how to live again.
Read More

Monsters, Inc. (4-Disc Edition) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 11th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“The future is bright at Monsters Incorporated. We power your car. We warm your home. We light your city. Carefuly matching every child to their ideal monster to produce superior scream. Refined into clean, dependable energy. Every time you turn something on, Monsters Incorporated is there. We know the challenge. The window of innocence is shrinking. Human kids are harder to scare. Of course, Monsters Incorporated is prepared for the future. With the top scarers, the best refineries, and research into new energy technologies. We’re working for a better tomorrow, today. We’re Monster’s Incorporated. We scare because we care.”

When you do this job you get asked the same question a lot.You get it from friends, family and people who just met you. They all ask the same thing. “What is your favorite movie of all time?”
Read More

The Negotiator (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 11th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“The perpetrator is an expert marksman. He’s an expert in explosives and tactics. Gentlemen, play this one by the numbers. Maintain your fields of fire… We’re blind and he’s seeing in 20/20… We have not contained him. He’s contained himself.”

“He” is Samuel L Jackson in the 1998 action thriller The Negotiator. Jackson stars as Danny Roman. He’s a Chicago Metro hostage negotiator. As the film opens we get to see him in action saving a little girl from a tight hostage situation. He’s obviously good at his job and he has the respect and admiration of his fellow officers and commanders.
Read More

Heat (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

The names of the characters are hardly consequential, as they are used to further storylines more than develop character. But Pacino plays a cop who is tracking a group of robbers, among them Val Kilmer (Wonderland) and Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan), a group headed by DeNiro. The group receives offers for work from Jon Voight (Runaway Train), and they rob anything from gold, to coins, to bearer bonds. They are all ex-cons, and know all the ropes. They are a highly professional crew, which you see in the opening moments of the movie, despite the addition of a new man to the crew.
Read More

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 6th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

This new version of The Taking Of Pelham 123 falls under the category of unnecessary remakes, reimaginings, reboots, or retellings. That’s not to say that it’s a bad movie. In fact, it’s a pretty good movie. I guess my big problem is that this latest trend to redo so many things that have come before suggests a lack of originality in today’s artists. I don’t believe there is a lack of creativity in this generation. I do, however, think there is a laziness that pervades almost every aspect of our society, and this endless chain of copies is a symptom of that disease. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not one of these critics who believes that films and television shows can’t or should not occasionally be redone.
Read More

IMAX: Mummies – Secrets of the Pharaohs (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 5th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“For the Egyptians, life was eternal. They searched the globe for ingredients to preserve their bodies and their immortality. With knowledge gained from centuries of practice, their priests have created the finnest mummies the world has ever known.”

Ever since Howard Carter first entered the tomb of the legendary King Tut, most of the world has had an incredible fascination with the mummies of ancient Egypt. Hollywood has done its best over the ages to create fear by making monsters of these preserved corpses. Universal and Boris Karloff started the ball rolling,
Read More

Up (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 4th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

It sure seems like Pixar has a lock on the computer animated film industry these days. Their films appear to always hit just the right amount of adult and children content to win with both audiences. We may not all be laughing at the same jokes, but we do laugh. When we’re not laughing, we appear to be captivated by endearing characters that immediately feel like we’ve known them our whole lives. We are instantly concerned about the things that happen to them. All of this happens without a single live entertainer on the screen to guide us into these emotions. That’s because Pixar also happens to be the most state of the art studio out there churning out these kinds of films.
Read More

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

I’ve often spent a lot of time talking about how Pixar has dominated the computer animation, at least as far as full length features go. With few exceptions there isn’t anything out there that even comes close. Most films rely on toilet humor and crude innuendo to get a few laughs. A lot of the kids and adults might suck that stuff up, but they can’t hold a candle to Pixar. There are, as I’ve mentioned, some quite notable exceptions. The Fox Blue Sky Studios has had enormous success with their Ice Age films. And when you take a look at the third and latest entry in that franchise, you’ll understand why.
Read More

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“A changing of the seasons brings wonder to the world. For ages has the magic of the fairies been unfurled. But nature’s greatest changes come beneath the Autumn sky and mysteries reveal themselves as harvest time draws nigh. This year a shimmering blue moon will rise before the frost. Perhaps its rays can light the way to find what has been lost.”

After giving us Tinker Bell’s origin story in the first film of this franchise, we get a chance to look even more deeply into this wonderland of fairies and magic. Ever wonder where that magical pixie dust comes from that allows fairies to fly?
Read More

Stargate 15th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 2nd, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

There have been a couple of releases of Stargate. Mostly it’s been reissues of the same transfer. This time it really is an improvement. The Blu-ray contains a director’s cut which is about 16 minutes longer than the original. If you like the original better, you get that one as well. This was Devlin and Emmerich’s first real blockbuster. I found Independence Day and The Patriot to be better films, but Stargate has its moments. It’s a little hard for me to accept Kurt Russell as Jack O’Neal after 7 years of Richard Dean Anderson. I did gain a new appreciation for how closely James Spader and Michael Shanks portray the pivotal character of Daniel Jackson.
Read More

Away We Go

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 2nd, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are a pair of 30-somethings who are expecting their first child. They have been counting on Krasinski’s parents to step in and help, but when these two suddenly announce that they’re moving to Belgium, our “heroic” couple embarks on a road trip to find the perfect place to settle down and have their baby. Numerous encounters with eccentric characters is the order of the day.
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” Wrong Turn 3 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

This time it’s a quad of whitewater rafters looking for some high adrenalin action. It doesn’t take long before they’re introduced to our favorite clan of cannibals and their arrows. This one doesn’t waste any time with a setup. You know what that title represents, and the filmmakers decide to give you what you want with no delay. Okay. Actually the raft trip IS the setup here. As the rafters escape into the woods, we just know they’re going to run into those snares and traps. And there you won’t be disappointed.
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” Wrong Turn 2 – Dead End (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“It’s the end of the world. Society is in chaos. Government’s no longer in control. The world has been devastated by a catastrophic disaster, but you’re still alive. Overnight, you’ve been thrown back into the Stone Age. Modern conveniences are a thing of the past. Would you have the guts to survive? Welcome to the Apocalypse. Over the next 5 days contestants will be put to the ultimate test. These 6 contestants have been thrown together in a devastated wasteland with only the clothes on their backs and the will to survive. Rain or shine, in 5 days only one will be alive.”

At least they got the last part right. That’s the premise of the new reality show Ultimate Survivalist. Reality star Kimberly Caldwell is racing to join the cast of the new pilot.
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” Wrong Turn (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

I guess they didn’t tell the producer and director of Wrong Turn that an official remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be gracing the screens in October of 2003. This movie borrows very heavily from the horror classic in terms of the setup, the killers, and the level of gore. Now that being said, this is an above average horror film with excellent makeup and special effects delivered by one of Hollywood’s greatest – Stan Winston,
Read More

Yellowstone: Battle for Life (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“Yellowstone. Volcanic wonderland. Two million acres in the heart of North America, Yellowstone is deep in the Rocky Mountains, an isolated high plateau defended by rugged peaks; in the middle is the National Park. The park and the surrounding mountains form one of the most important and spectacular wilderness areas on Earth.”

There have been a lot of these nature shows coming to Blu-ray high definition lately. No less than two of them cover the beauty that is Yellowstone National Park.
Read More

Eagles Over London

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 22nd, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

Enzo Castellari, Tarantino fave and director of the original Inglorious Bastards, here gives us a tale of wartime intrigue that sweeps from the retreat of Dunkirk to the Battle of Britain. During the Dunkirk evacuation, a team of Nazi saboteurs don English uniforms and mingle with the embarking troops. Captain Paul Stevens (Frederick Stafford) finds evidence that this has occurred, but no clues to the identities of the saboteurs. Indeed, the second-in-command of the group, Martin (Francisco Rabal) has become his close friend and roommate. The saboteurs target Britain’s radar system, a critical part of the island’s defense against the Luftwaffe. It’s up to Stevens and his specially assigned team to stop the saboteurs before the Battle of Britain is lost.
Read More

“31 Nights of Terror” Hardware

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 18th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

A mysterious figure digs up the shattered remains of an android in the desert wastes of a very grim, polluted future. The man brings the head and hand in for barter, and they are picked by Hard Moe Baxter (Dylan McDermott, in a role that nicely deconstructs Mad Max). Moe takes the hardware back to the flat of his artist girlfriend (Stacey Travis), who incorporates the pieces into a sculpture. Unfortunately, these remains are part of the M.A.R.K. 13 military droid, and when Moe absents himself, the robot reactivates and goes on the rampage.
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” The Children (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

If Santa’s making a list, he won’t have to check it twice when it comes to these cheerful little tykes. Lionsgate brings back their popular Ghost House Underground series from last October. The series title likely borrows a bit from the old Grind House Theater that Quentin Tarantino brought back to fashion in the last couple of years. I assume it is intended to denote a horror film that skirts the art house scene. So, how does The Children fit into that mold?
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” The Thaw (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“What is sacrifice? What does it mean to make a real difference?”

What do Al Gore and horror films have in common? To begin with both have been making money trying to scare the crap out of you. The second is that the plot of The Thaw sounds like it could have been penned by Captain Al himself. Lionsgate brings back their popular Ghost House Underground series from last October. The series title likely borrows a bit from the old Grind House Theater that Quentin Tarantino brought back to fashion
Read More

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“Its cold outside, There’s no kind of atmosphere, I’m all alone, More or less.
Let me fly, Far away from here, Fun, fun, fun, In the sun, sun, sun.

I want to lie, Shipwrecked and comatose, Drinking fresh, Mango juice, Goldfish shoals, Nibbling at my toes, Fun, fun, fun, In the sun, sun, sun…”

If you recognize that silly ditty, then you know it can only mean one thing. After 10 long years of silence, witness the return of the BBC science fiction comedy, Red Dwarf. With the huge success of the rebirth of Doctor Who, it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” Offspring (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

What do a messy divorce and a clan of flesh eating cannibals have in common? Well, in both cases someone gets their heart eaten out. They also share plot points in Offspring. Lionsgate brings back their popular Ghost House Underground series from last October. The series title likely borrows a bit from the old Grind House Theater that Quentin Tarantino brought back to fashion in the last couple of years. I assume it is intended to denote a horror film that skirts the art house scene. So, how does Offspring fit into that mold?
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” Seventh Moon (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 12th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

“On the full moon of the seventh lunar month, the gates of Hell open and the spirits of the dead are freed to roam among the living” – Chinese Myth.

I wonder if there’s a roaming charge on that plan. Lionsgate brings back their popular Ghost House Underground series from last October. The series title likely borrows a bit from the old Grind House Theater that Quentin Tarantino brought back to fashion in the last couple of years. I assume it is intended to denote a horror film that skirts the art house scene and Seventh Moon certainly fits that description.
Read More

Proposal, The (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 9th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

My history with romantic comedies is not a good one. Okay, I cried at the Notebook. *Looks nervously at the man card floating in his wallet*. So, what I cried at Rocky and Bloodsport too. I feel better now. But normally, I look at romantic comedies and want nothing to do with them. But every once in a while, along comes a romantic comedy with a decent cast and a somewhat different story. Even though I can see the ending coming a mile away, hopefully the journey there is interesting and thoughtful.
Read More

“31 Nights Of Terror” Misery (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 7th, 2009

Buy at Amazon.com

Of the many films based on books by prolific writer Stephen King, Misery ranks near the top. Falling somewhere between the horror and thriller genres, this film about a twisted obsession is frightening because the premise seems very real.

Directed by Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men), who first visited King territory with his 1986 film Stand By Me, Misery tells the story of romance writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan, Elf) and the fan who rescues him after a car accident.
Read More

«< 77 78 79 80 81 >»