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

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

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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.
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition with DVD (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2009

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“Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”

Years ago a news magazine, I don’t remember which, conducted a survey. They discovered that more adults knew the names of the 7 Dwarfs than could name 7 figures in the federal government, including President, Vice-President, Senate, House of Representatives, and The Supreme Court. They say our educations begin very young. Well, since 1937 our youths have been entertained
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2009

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“I’m the best there is at what I do and what I do isn’t very nice.”

So what do you do after three successful, if not critically acclaimed, X-Men feature films that brought in over a billion dollars total when you factor in domestic and foreign box office and home video sales? It was getting a bit expensive to bring back such a large and growing in popularity cast. Even if you wanted to spend the money for such an ensemble, it gets awfully difficult to write effectively for so many characters at once. Someone’s going to get the dark end of the spotlight. Hurt feelings aside, you can’t continue to please such a wide diverse group of fans.
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Star Trek The Original Series: Season Two (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 17th, 2009

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“Space…The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before !”

Paramount was bold indeed when they undertook the remaster project of the original series. Not only did they clean up the prints, but they took the decidedly risky option of redoing most of the f/x shots from the original prints. We all know just how cheesy the old work looked when compared to today’s computer abilities. You could see a box around spacecraft that allowed the obvious cutout to maneuver through a cardboard star field.
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Fringe: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)

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

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“For those of you just joining us: What you are looking at is the work of ZFT, a terrorist organization responsible for at least a half a dozen biological attacks over the last several months. Everything we know thus far can be found in your packets (or Blu-rays), including a copy of their manifesto which elucidates their ideology and their methods. Which boils down to the following: Attempting to provoke or prepare for a war. With who? That’s the question, isn’t it? What we do know is that these bizarre acts seem to be increasing in frequency and that their targets are unpredictable and therefore unprotectable. Those of you assembled in this room now have a clear-cut goal…”

That goal is to rush out and pick up the high definition, Blu-ray release of the first season of JJ Abrams latest television enigma
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CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – The Ninth Season (Blu-ray)

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

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“Happy 200^th, everybody. Only 75 shows in the history of television have reached 200 episodes. Only 4 other shows currently on the air have produced 200 episodes, and of those only 2 feature live actors. And, it’s worth noting that both of those shows were in the top of the Nielsen ratings before CSI came along and knocked them off of that perch.”

And, after 9 years and over 200 episodes, CSI has enjoyed an almost unprecedented near decade as the number one show in the country. It’s a rare thing to go so long and keep the core of your team intact. Up until now CSI has added characters, but has not lost a major character. But things are about to change.
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Dexter: The Third Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2009

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Dexter Morgan (Hall) is a forensic lab rat for the Miami-Dade Police. He really knows blood splatter. He should, because he moonlights as a killer. It seems that poor old Dex just can’t help himself. His parents were criminals, and he witnessed his mother’s brutal slashing by a chainsaw gang when he was just a young boy. He was adopted by Harry Morgan (Remar), a police officer. Harry saw the killer instinct in Dexter and taught him how to channel the urges for the sake of good. Dexter adopted Harry’s Code, which means he only kills others that he’s able to prove were killers themselves. Working for the police with his officer sister, Debra (Carpenter), Dexter is constantly just on the verge of getting caught.
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Miracle (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 29th, 2009

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“Do you believe in miracles?”

Al Michaels’ famous coda to the 1980 Olympic Hockey Championship Game provides the title of this Walt Disney film based on the incredible feat. I have to admit that I’ve never been a big fan of the Olympic games. I’ve more times than not been annoyed at how much television time is preempted, and it dominates the headlines for over 2 weeks each time the games are played. Still, it was hard not to feel a little excited about this particular game. As Americans, we love those underdog stories.
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Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection (Blu-ray)

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

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“Space…The Final Frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!”

There sure has been a lot for Star Trek fans to cheer about of late. The new film has proven to be a commercial and critical success. The dawn of high definition has caught up with the original series, and there is the promise of much more before this year is out. Next up from Paramount we get the first 6 Trek theatrical films.
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Valkyrie (Blu-ray)

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

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“I swear by God this sacred oath: That I shall render unconditional obedience to Adolph Hitler, Fuhrer of the German Reich and people, Supreme Commander of the armed forces. And that I shall at all times be ready, as a brave soldier, to give my life for this oath.”

Taking a page from Roman history, Adolph Hitler required all of his armed troops to swear this oath, not to their country as most armed forces require, but to him personally.
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A Bug’s Life (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 21st, 2009

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It’s hard to imagine that this was only Pixar’s second ever feature length CG animated release. While Toy Story was the first, this was actually Pixar’s first film as an independent company. So, for many of us it feels like their first film. There must have been a tremendous amount of pressure on the young team. Toy Story was a break out smash hit that captured the hearts of audiences of all ages. Now on their own the team led by John Lasseter was determined to prove that Toy Story was no fluke and that they could stand on their own feet
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The Da Vinci Code (Two-Disc Extended Cut) (Blu-ray)

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

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“Symbols are a language that helps us to understand our past. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words, but which words? Understanding our past determines actively our ability to understand the present. So, how do we sift truth from belief? How do we write our own histories, personally and culturally, and thereby define ourselves? How do we penetrate years, centuries of historical distortion to find the original truth? Tonight, that will be our quest.”

Conspiracies can be fun. We all buy into them to one degree or another.
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Dexter: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2009

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Dexter continues his jump to the world of high definition as the second season finally makes its way to Blu-ray. The show is killer, if you’ll pardon the expression. In the first season, Dexter pointed out the contradiction of a crime scene in sunny Miami. The aftermath of brutality appears somewhat surreal in such a colorful and bright surroundings. On Blu-ray you really get to understand what he was talking about. It almost feels like the show shouldn’t look so clean, so crisp, so bright. But, of course, it should, and it does in this release.
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Bedtime Stories (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2009

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It’s official. I’ve just totally given up on Adam Sandler. Honestly, I haven’t laughed at anything he’s done since the music video for The Lonesome Kicker. How many times can the same absurdity and Romper Room antics work on a film audience? Even in a Walt Disney film that required Sandler to clean up his act a bit, the same sophomoric humor was showing through the threadbare shtick. You just knew there were times he wanted to let loose with some off color remark or obscene gesture. While I was pleased that he gave it the effort, it’s like asking a mute man to talk after you just tied up his hands.
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Bolt (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Athena on March 23rd, 2009

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Hi, Athena here. Well, this is going to be my last post for the doggie movies at Upcomingdiscs. Gino says it’s time to retire. He says my investments need to be cashed in so I can take it easy, before they’re all gone. I guess that means someone’s trying to eat up my treats. They better watch out or I’m going to go Siberian Husky all over them. I may be 14 years old and a little slow, but my teeth work just fine. Just ask Baby. She’s the newest member of the family here, and I had to let her know who the boss is right away, if you know what I mean.
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Pinocchio (Two-Disc 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2009

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“When you wish upon a star. Makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme.
When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do… Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through. When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.”

The song has become a standard. Every kid knows it. Walt Disney Studios has made it their theme song. You hear it each time you load up a Disney disc. If you have been fortunate enough to have visited Walt Disney World, you’ve heard it the entire day long.
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Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Blu-ray)

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

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Is it me, or have we been getting a lot of talking animal movies of late? I suspect the use of the CG technology that exists today lends itself to this kind of film. You might even make the argument that it hasn’t really been any different than the talking animal cartoons that have been with us forever. It’s just that now we can make live action dogs, or any other creature, for that matter, appear to be talking in a fairly realistic way. And as far as the use of that technology, Beverly Hills Chihuahua certainly blends the CG and live action footage seamlessly enough. And while I can’t really find much fault with this movie, it just seems like I’ve seen and heard it all before, a little too often as of late.
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Space Buddies (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Athena on February 13th, 2009

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Athena, here again sub “woofin’” for Gino. For those who don’t remember me, I’m a 13 year old Siberian Husky, and Gino lets me watch and review some of the movies for you guys. Times like these you need a dog’s eye view, and I happen to have two of them, a blue one and a brown one. Who says dogs are colorblind? I don’t get to go into the theater here a whole lot, something about fur in the equipment. I thought I was bein’ helpful because Gino’s always saying he doesn’t get enough software for his PS3. Hey, I got the softest wear around here. Well, Gino let me in again a couple of nights ago to watch the latest in the “Buddies” films.
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Mirrors (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 21st, 2009

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“When one starts to perceive one’s own reflection as a completely separate being, one is suddenly confronted with two entirely separate egos, two entirely separate worlds that can surface at any given moment. A feeling of self hatred usually triggered by a psychological shock can split the personality in two, hence creating two or more personalities with distinct memories and distinct behavior patterns within the same individual. The patient has the false perception of the existence of two distinct worlds, the real world and the world inside the mirror.”

Or maybe not so false, at least according to the 20th Century Fox thriller, Mirrors.
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Dexter: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)

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

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“Tonight’s the night, and it’s going to happen again and again. It has to happen…”

What is going to happen is that Dexter has finally come to Blu-ray. I can’t think of a better cable show to make the leap onto high definition. More than any current show, I think I’ve been looking forward to this release. Imagine what it would be like to visualize Dexter’s world in such wonderful detail. Imagine no longer. Dexter’s here, and he’s got something to show you.
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