1.33:1 Fullscreen

Edison Force

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006

Mix two parts hip-hop artists, two parts Oscar-winning actors, one part TV actor, and one part bad actor, and what do you get? The stars of Edison Force, that’s what. Now just because I specify one as a bad actor doesn’t let the others off the hook. Of course, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman are going to be tolerable. They’re phenomenal at their craft. Even the TV actor (Dylan McDermott) does a worthy job of bringing menace to his role as primary leg-breaker. But when it comes to poor performances, Cary …
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Curb Your Enthusiasm – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006

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Synopsis

Larry David plays Larry David, so thorough a narcissistic curmudgeon that he would be completely and utterly loathsome were it not for his unerring propensity to bring disaster down upon his head. Once again, we see him grump from episode to episode, never failing to make the worst possible decision at the worst possible moment in every social situation. A case in point: he dings another character’s car, gives the guy money to get the car fixed. Instead, the money goes to the man’s daughter,…
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Vicki

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 8th, 2006

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Synopsis

Jean Peters is Vicki, a top New York model, who is found murdered in the opening scene. Burnt-out cop Richard Boone comes pounding back from his vacation, rabid to take over the case. He is convinced her press agent Elliott Reid is the guilty party, and the screws are put to Reid. In flashback, we see Vicki’s rise to fame, and the effects it has on the people around her, including her sister Jeanne Crain, who might harbour feelings for Reid.

The film’s debt to Laura is obvio…
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Fourteen Hours

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 6th, 2006

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Synopsis

A young Richard Basehart climbs out onto the ledge of his fifteenth-floor hotel room. He could jump at any moment. Paul Douglas is the traffic cop who is first on the scene, and becomes the only person Basehart will willingly talk to. Hour after hour goes by as the authorities do everything they can to bring the troubled young man in.

The premise is so simple it’s high concept, and the film wrings every conceivable drop of suspense from the situation. Will Basehart jump? Why is he …
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South Park – The Complete Eighth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2006

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The boys are at it again in Season 8 of South Park. To say that this season provides more of the same would be a tad unfair. It appears to me that South Park optimally matures in its eighth year. No, not that kind of maturity. Cartman and the gang are as raunchy as ever, and yes, still at times over the top. The kind of maturity I refer to is more subtle. South Park no longer has to rely on the running gags epitomized by the old Kenny deaths. The show isn’t afraid to feature some of the more peripheral characters. …
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Just My Luck

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2006

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Synopsis

This is the second film starring Lindsay Lohan that I’ve reviewed for Upcomingdiscs, the first being Herbie: Fully Loaded. So I guess you could call me a LoFAN, get it? But in doing an IMDB scan for the credits on Just My Luck, I’ve found that one of the producers is Bruce Willis. Yes, Bruce Willis from Die Hard. So I guess the bigger question is why didn’t Bruce appear in this film? Surely he could have made it a little more entertaining for me to watch.

Written by a…
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Shock

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 1st, 2006

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Synopsis

Young bride Anabel Shaw arrives at a San Francisco hotel to meet her husband, on his way back from a POW camp. His plane is late, and as she anxiously awaits him, she witnesses Vincent Price kill his wife in the next room over. She lapses into shock, and is found in this state when her husband arrives. The best psychiatrist around is summoned, and uh-oh, that turns out to be Price, who realizes why Shaw is in shock. He has her carted off to his private clinic, where he and lover Lynn Bari pl…
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Vintage Erotica Anno 1920

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 1st, 2006

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Cult Epics’ series takes a step back in time with this release. The last one took us to the 1950s, and now we go considerably further back. Where to go next I’m not sure, but anyway, this is an interesting collection of antique porn. That this is a French import is obvious not only from the fact that all the films hail from there, but also from the fact that the jacket copy has been rather clumsily translated into English. But never mind.
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Canterbury Tale, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 23rd, 2006

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Synopsis

Arriving late one night at a village near Canterbury are an English sergeant (Dennis Price), and American one (Sgt. John Sweet) and a landgirl (Sheila Sim). As they leave the train station, Sim is set upon by a mysterious figure who dumps glue all over her hair. The trio become amateur detectives, determined to unmask the “glue man” and their suspicion first falls on Eric Porter, the local magistrate who is consumed by an enormous love for the countryside.

The film was made in 1944…
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Tracey Takes On: The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 15th, 2006

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There is a little more Tracey to go around with Tracey Takes On: The Complete Second Season, so fans of the show shouldn’t be disappointed. However, I find her humor quaint and dry in an inescapably British way. No one can deny her talent. But it’s hard to like a show when none of the laughs are connecting. Of course, humor – like beauty – is certainly in the eye of the beholder. With that said, I am not one of the lucky ones that can look at this raw oyster of a show and see the pearl. This season, Ullman inc…
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Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 3

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 15th, 2006

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Synopsis

Robert Mitchum shows up twice here, as does Robert Ryan. The two clash in The Racket (1951), where Mitchum is the incorruptible cop, and Ryan is the old-school gangster whose brutally direct methods put him in conflict not only with Mitchum, but with the more sophisticated crime syndicate spreading over the land. The focus of the film is rather split between the two, but is pretty tense, and is further enlivened by a memorably sleazy turn by William Conrad as a VERY corrupt cop.

Ronald Reagan – The Signature Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 13th, 2006

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I’ve said it before, and as long as Warner Brothers keeps putting these classic discs out, I am going to keep on saying it. No studio respects their classic film catalog like Warner’s. They have done marvelous things with their special editions of classic films, such as their fantastic 2-disc tin box release of King Kong. They have the largest collection of classic films on the planet, including the entire RKO Pictures catalog, and they are succeeding in introducing an entirely new generation of film fans to the best that cinema has to offer.

Full House – The Complete Fourth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 12th, 2006

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You would have to either be from another planet, been raised by wolves or be under the age of 15 to not have some sort of a personal history with Full House. The show was a staple of Friday night television for eight seasons, defying all logic and proving that the general public doesn’t always know quality when they see it. The story about a non-traditional household was inexplicably popular, despite the fact that it got consistently poor reviews year after year. Even more surprising was how many careers came out of the show.
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Ren & Stimpy – The Lost Episodes

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 10th, 2006

Ren and Stimpy was a wonderful throwback to the golden days at Warner. Embracing the charm and animation style of the early Warner greats John K (Kricfalusi) managed to work in his own rather twisted humor and create an endearing cartoon. For those of you who wish to remember Ren and Stimpy this way, I warn you, DO NOT buy this collection. In case you don’t know the story: John K left his creation after about a year and a half at the Nickelodeon Network. It seems his more adult themed ideas were not so in tune wi…
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Punky Brewster Season Three

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 8th, 2006

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Synopsis

Here we go again. Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) is pretty comfortably ensconced in the home of Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes) now. The season follows Punky through the usual round of problems at school, with friends, with boys, and so on. Will she do her homework and get to a rock concert? We await the answer on the edge of our seats. Frye is a few years older now, and so is moving from precocious youngster to tiresome tween. Lessons are learned in the most painfully didactic and mundan…
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RV

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 4th, 2006

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Synopsis

Robin Williams is struggling to keep his job, and struggling to keep his sanity in the face of his teenage children (particularly daughter Joanna “JoJo” Levesque). This all becomes more difficult when his boss forces him to cancel a trip to Hawaii and head off to Colorado instead. Williams rents an RV, packs his family in, and hits the road for misadventures and hijinx.

And everything plays out much as one would expect it to. The film looks slick enough, but it might just as well h…
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Bridezillas – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 3rd, 2006

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Synopsis

Well, Mark Dancer’s review of Season Two of Bridezillas pretty much echoes my general thoughts on the show. Now, for those of you who haven’t read his review, go there. Come back, and see what I do with it.

Now again, I basically agree with Mark’s comments. Bridezillas is another in a growing list of shows featuring women (or young girls, as is the case with MTV’s Sweet Sixteen) that are either in upper-middle class relationships or in a very safe position in life tha…
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Animaniacs – Volume 1

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 1st, 2006

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Synopsis

In 1930, the animation department at Warner creates three characters: the Warner Brothers and their sister, Dot. The siblings run riot, however, and are finally caught and imprisoned in the Warner water tower. Flash-forward to today, when they escape to once more wreak havoc.

From the opening song and credit sequence (which echoes The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour) on, this is an affectionate look back to the golden age of the Warner Looney Tunes, and mixes postmodern humour w…
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Weeds – Season One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 30th, 2006

Synopsis

I’m probably one of the few remaining “critics” that wasn’t familiar with the Showtime original series Weeds, and when Mary-Louise Parker (Fried Green Tomatoes) won a Golden Globe for Best Actress, like some other people who haven’t seen it, my response was “what the hell for?”

As it turns out, her win is not only well deserved, but openly makes me question the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for not nominating her for a Best Actress Emmy. She plays Nancy Botwin, a h…
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Tales from the Crypt – The Complete Fourth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 30th, 2006

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Synopsis

There are a lot of surprising things that I was not aware of about when it came to Tales From the Crypt. Not only is this the fourth season that I’m reviewing, but there were a couple more seasons on top of everything else. Now granted, the show’s executive producers have a bit of a good pedigree. There’s Richard Donner (16 Blocks), Walter Hill (Aliens), Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future), Joel Silver (The Matrix) and David Giler (Myra Breckenridge).

Bill Maher – New Rules

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 30th, 2006

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This is a really odd idea for a DVD release. In Bill Maher’s HBO television show, Real Time with Bill Maher, he does a short segment called New Rules. This segment is mostly made up of one-liner jokes that take shots at celebrities and the Bush administration. Each segment runs less than a minute, and this disc contains every one of them from the show’s three seasons.

The jokes themselves are funny enough, but my big complaint is that this entire disc just plays like one big overblown special feature.
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Blue Collar TV – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 30th, 2006

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Blue Collar TV is essentially a perfect balance between Hee Haw and The Man Show. As with all sketch comedy shows, some of the skits are very funny, and some of them never really go anywhere. The Blue Collar team of Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall have hedged their bets, however, by adding in some stand-up bits, and the occasional musical guest. This means that the average half-hour show might only have two or three skits in it, so the odds of those skits being funny are pretty good.

Dallas – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 29th, 2006

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Before there was Desperate Housewives, there was Dallas. Back stabbing, cheating, lying, romantic jerks with a ton of money. This show is what happens when a Soap Opera is taken seriously. Instead of cheesy organ music and dramatic zooms, this is a true hour-long evening drama. It is also one of the most famous shows of all time.

Season five opens with a dramatic kick off; the conclusion of Season Four’s finale that features a murder at the Southfork Ranch! Shock gives way to mystery as the investigation unfolds, and even the Sheriff’s department get caught in the middle of the family’s squabbles.
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Mr. Moto Collection, The – Volume One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 28th, 2006

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Synopsis

Starting in 1937, Peter Lorre starred in a series of eight films about the Japanese detective. In this set are the first, second, fourth and fifth in the franchise. WWII put an end, of course to a series with a Japanese hero played by a German-speaking actor. Whatever one might think of racist stereotypes (and it is best, in viewing such films, to try not to think of them at all), these are enormously entertaining programmers.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937) introduces us to Ken…
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The Incredible Hulk – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 25th, 2006

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Stan Lee and Jack Kirby have created some of the most iconic superheroes of our time. Marvel Comics brought us such great names like Spiderman, X-Men, Iron Man, and of course, The Incredible Hulk. Now, television has had a jaded history with comic superheroes as series material. A bad Spiderman and Captain America set of episodes are good examples. The Incredible Hulk is one of the exceptions. Why? Mostly because the series was less about super heroics and more about human drama. The Fugitive style set-up gives the writers the entire country to play with.
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