Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 1st, 2014
The backwoods flesh-eating disease film Cabin Fever was writer/ director Eli Roth’s first dip into horror and helped establish Roth as one of the “it” guys of the industry despite having a limited film catalog. The film’s cringe-worthy deaths, not to mention the memorable bathtub sequence, made the film an overnight sensation, and when talk of a potential sequel came out, I was more than a little excited. Picking up the reins for Roth would be another young rising star of the horror genre, Ti West. The film made a valiant attempt at capitalizing on the fame of the original, but it just never made the connection with audiences. Now we have the third entry in the Cabin Fever saga, Cabin Fever: Patient Zero. This time the film trades in its familiar backwoods local on a tropical paradise in the Caribbean.
When you see the title Patient Zero, you go into this with the hopes that this would be the film to have the big reveal as to how the virus managed to make its way to a lake in the middle of the woods in the outskirts of a small mountain town. Or you would be like me and have your fingers crossed for more fun from the party guy himself, Deputy Winston. Unfortunately, we get no familiar faces, but instead two separate storylines that we know inevitably will cross over.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 29th, 2014
The first thing you should know about The Walking Dead is that it's unlike any television series you have ever seen before. The images here are intense, and the crew has been given a blank check to create this vision without the burden of censors looking over their shoulders. There are plenty of blood-and-gore effects that rival any of the Hollywood zombie films you've seen in the last few years. The makeup effects are handled by the very capable hands of KNB and supervised personally by Greg Nicotero (the N from KNB). KNB isn't treating this like a television production, and while I personally get tired of the cliché about making a movie each week, this one lives up to the hype. They aren't doing anything different here than they would do for a big-budget film. The zombies look incredible, and the effects are completely first-rate.
If you need to know more before considering the fourth season, you need to go back to the beginning. It will be well worth the time and money to do so. You can check out our reviews of the previous seasons by banging it here: Walking Dead Reviews. These will quickly get you hungry for the first three seasons and get you caught up with the rest of us and into the breach with Season 4.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 29th, 2014
“You were always such a clever troublemaker.”
When Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) entered the barn in the conclusion of season 3 of Haven, all “the Troubles” were supposed to come to an end for the small seaside town of Haven, Maine. Sure everything seemed to go as planned, that is until Duke (Eric Balfour) took the plunge into the barn before it disappeared, leaving Sheriff Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) behind. As cliffhangers go, this ranked right up there with the season 1 finale when we discovered that there were two Audrey Parkers. I loved season 3 of Haven; the pursuit of the “Bolt Gun Killer” as well as the show’s exploration into Audrey Parker’s past was excellent storytelling that continues to remind me of the David Lynch classic series Twin Peaks.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 28th, 2014
Considering the state the world is in, I’m a little surprised there isn’t more talk about a possible World War 3 scenario being played out. This isn’t something I want, but watching the news, it is certainly something that resonates in the back of my mind and gives a moment of reflection. Aftermath is the film that preys upon that fear of what a possible World War 3 could be. The results are far from promising, and it succeeds in telling the inevitable fate of the world, despite how bleak the outcome may be.
The film opens with Hunter (C.J. Thomason) hiking in the wastelands of Texas. Along the highway he comes across a mother and her son; together they witness what appears to be the beginning of a nuclear war. Hunter is quick to react, using his medical training to do what he can for the young boy who looked directly into the impact light and has now gone blind. The three set off together to find food and shelter, knowing they do not have long before the radiation spreads and begins to have its effects.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 28th, 2014
“You have just seen an authentic disclosure of conditions which unfortunately exist in some of our high schools today. The job of policemen will not be finished until this insidious menace to the schools of our country is exposed and destroyed.”
“Authentic” is probably a stretch, but High School Confidential! is certainly fascinating for a variety of reasons. Every generation has an alleged scourge that invades high schools and threatens to rip apart the very fabric of society. (Cue masterpiece eye roll.) In 1958, that menace went by the name “Mary Jane.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 27th, 2014
Here is a film that delves into a subject not many people care to openly discuss but poses a question that everyone who’s lost someone they love can relate to. When prayer and faith don’t seem to deliver the answers you want for those that need closure that therapy can’t seem to provide, where does one turn? It’s this hopeless feeling of loss that seems to be what attracts Michael King (Shane Johnson) to investigate the possibility of the supernatural.
The approach to this film is actually something that I’d like to see done in a real documentary form. Here we get to watch Michael, a self-admitted atheist, document himself as he meets with everyone from priests and demonologists to necromancers and psychics. His hope is to either document evidence or prove without a doubt that there truly is nothing that awaits us beyond the grave.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 27th, 2014
Adam Sandler took a bit of a beating with Blended. His previous, non-Grown Ups outing (That’s My Boy) was Sandler’s first comedy in a while to severely underperform at the box office, suggesting audiences might be tiring of the comic’s (critic-proof) brand of humor. Then came Sandler’s pre-release admission that he makes movies based on where he’d like to get paid to vacation. Blended went on to underwhelm at the box office, at least by the reliable standards of Sandler comedies. (It brought in $123 million worldwide on a reported $40 million budget, though only $46 million of that came from the U.S.) Maybe it was the lowered expectations, but I kinda liked Blended.
“Love is a many blended thing.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 27th, 2014
"It's like Prohibition never happened but for one thing. Prices will increase twenty-fold. We got a product a fellah's gotta have. Even better is that, we got a product he ain't allowed to have."
The fourth season of Boardwalk Empire began pretty much the only way it could have after the bloodbath that ended the previous season. It was an explosive season that delivered the best gangland war in television history. Now there has to be some kind of peace or at least status quo after the end of the violence. Nucky is making his peace with Arnold Rothstein and his people. He also owes Chalky White for saving his behind when war broke out. It's all going to cost him: money to Rothstein and the rebuilt club on the boardwalk for Chalky. The new Onyx club is now run by a man who is not allowed to sit in the front section of his own club.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 26th, 2014
“Could you please reduce your level of hysteria?”
There is a lot of yelling and a lot of outrage in The Normal Heart. The film chronicles the confusing, terrifying onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in the early 1980s and how a group of gay men (and one intrepid doctor) in New York fought to draw attention to the deadly disease. Their efforts are alternately frustrating and futile, which leads to a higher decibel level for much of the movie’s second half. Thankfully, The Normal Heart is shrewd enough to note that there’s more than one way to make a point. More importantly, the film does a strong job of illustrating the different ways the yelling and outrage were justified.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 25th, 2014
One of the miracles of modern technology is its ability to shrink the world down so you can practically (well, proverbially) hold it in the palm of your hand. The cheerily square Smithsonian Channel series Aerial America goes the other way. In fact, the best thing about the show is how it uses technology to fill every inch of your screen with some of the most famous — along with some of the more underappreciated — U.S. landmarks, employing a larger-than-life/bird’s-eye point of view most of us wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy.
Now, Smithsonian Channel and Inception Media Group have released another batch of episodes on Blu-ray.
A quick primer if you’ve never seen the show (as I hadn’t prior to reviewing the Southwest Collection): the series debuted in 2010, and each hour-long episode is devoted to a different U.S. state or region. Every one of those episodes is solely comprised of stunning, leisurely aerial shots of that respective state’s natural and man-made landmarks, along with a brisk history lesson courtesy of narrator Jim Conrad.
