Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2022
"I've been acting like this because I can't take these shutdowns anymore and I'm scared what it's doing to me. I'm looking for who to blame, saying I'm trying to help people to make myself feel better, because the truth is I just want to have fun again. I wanted to see that I could go out into the world and do the things I used to do... I want my life back. I just want my life back."
This has been a tough year for everyone. Productions all around the world have been uprooted because of the pandemic. I guess I thought there might have been one place on this planet that was safe. OK, I made that last part up. We always knew that South Park was going to have a field day with COVID. Let's be honest; the amount of material for the irreverent show is simply off the scales. There's nothing like a global catastrophe to bring out the sharp wit of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The pandemic meant we saw the long-running animated series limited just like everyone else. So instead of a 10-episode run, the 24th season of South Park is made up of two double-length "Pandemic Specials", but just for whats and giggles, let's call it South Park The Complete 24th Season and get a look at it in Blu-ray.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 13th, 2022
Nelson Mandela once said, “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Most people, even in today's society, think of prisoners as lower than the ground they walk upon. Prison abuse is as old as Greek and Roman times. Heck, true prison reform didn't start in the United States until the 1960's. But what about other countries? In Caged Birds, we explore the Switzerland of the 1980's and how one lawyer named Barbara Hug tried to change that very system.
1980's Switzerland: a protest and all sorts of commotion in the streets. One of the signs reads, "Put the State on a Dinner Plate." However, this protest has turned violent. There are cops beating women, and a man is tortured by a female officer. Meanwhile, a young lawyer named Barbara Hugs (played by Marie Leuenberger) stands by and watches as she lights up a smoke. Elsewhere, a car is hot-wired by an escaped prisoner named Walter Strum (played by Joel Basman) who has just escaped a jail for the seventh time.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 8th, 2022
Some of my favorite movies are ones where they use the "author" as the focal part of the story. Films like Secret Window, Misery, and The Ghost Writer are ones that immediately come to mind for me. However, Westerns tend to be somewhere down on the list of genres for me, and only ones like Tombstone or Unforgiven tend to spark any interest. So when I received Jesus Kid, which features a Brazilian author who likes to write Westerns, well, you can kinda understand my apprehension. However, my curiosity was also piqued at the same time for the very same set of reasons.
Eugenio (played by Paulo Miklos) brushes his teeth late one night. He follows it up with a mouth rinse ... and a cigarette. Then a swish with some whiskey and some pills. Seems like a typical night for the author. Eugenio writes western tales about a cowboy simply known as Jesus Kid (that's Geesus, not Haysous). In fact, he's published twenty books about the character, and his latest manuscript entitled Ballad of the Nerves is ready for publication.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 29th, 2022
"It all started when a man named Bishop created a team of robots. He sent them back in time with one goal: to destroy the 20th century. These machines were programmed to think that they were beyond human. That they were superheroes. They made their way across country murdering some of the greatest figures in history, famous lawmen and men of science. Finally they kidnapped the inventor of time travel itself, and with his help set their sights on destroying all of history. No one could stop these so-called Legends. Not until we came upon the real flesh-and-blood superheroes whose job it is to put history back on track. We're the real Legends of Tomorrow."
If none of that made any sense to you, don't worry about a thing. It'll all become clear over the final 13 episodes of DC's Legends Of Tomorrow: The Complete 7th and Final Season. OK, I lied. No. It really is the 7th and final season, but it won't really become all clear. You see, that's the nature of the series. It's the crazy uncle of the Arrowverse that says a lot of things no one understands. But we all kind of nod our heads and suspect it will all be OK.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 16th, 2022
What do you get if you take The Sopranos and mix it with Animal Kingdom and place it in Ireland? That’s pretty much the best way I’d go about describing the first season of the new AMC television show Kin. The show only runs for eight episodes, but I have to say this is the most satisfying gangster story I’ve seen in some time. No, I’m not about to say it is better than The Sopranos, but it definitely has the potential to be in the same league if the show continues with the momentum it has going for it. What’s a shame, though, is that with so many cable channels and streaming services out there, this is a show that has gotten lost in the mass of content, and it deserves to be recognized. The Kinsellas family is a small-time crime family based in Dublin. The family runs their business under Eamon Cunningham (Ciaran Hinds) who is pretty much The Godfather over all of Ireland. Mostly Cunningham deals with drugs, but literally if you are involved with any sort of crime, he’s still collecting on it. Then there is Frank Kinsella (Aidan Gillen, aka “Little Finger” from Game of Thrones) who is in charge of the Kinsella family and their small ring of criminal activity. Frank is a fun and complicated character who is a crime boss with a bad habit of using coke but also gay dating apps. Frank is also a family man who not only is trying to do what’s best for the Kinsella family, he has to also deal with his hotheaded knucklehead of a son, Erik “Viking” (Sam Keeley). Amanda Kinsella (Clare Dunne) runs a car dealership that is used to help launder money for the family. Her husband, Jimmy (Emmet J. Scanlan) is one of the heads of the family who works beneath Frank. Frank’s brother, Michael (Charlie Cox) is recently released from prison, and he we can assume was the “heavy” for the family as we find out he’s responsible for a lot of deaths before his stint behind bars. And finally there is Bridget “Birdy” Goggins (Maria Doyle Kennedy), who is basically a family advisor. The power dynamics of this crime family are interesting, and how the show balances the “family” drama with the “crime” drama is definitely one of the show’s strengths.
Now that you’ve met the family, what is the show all about?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 9th, 2022
"My name is Kara Zor-El. When I was younger, my home planet was dying. Saving it was hopeless. My father sent me to Earth to take care of my baby cousin who went before me, and I thought we were the only two survivors, and that everyone else from our planet was dead, including my father. I can't lose him again."
They say all good things must come to an end, and for the fans of CW's Supergirl, that end has finally arrived. Arrow started it all so many years ago and has been off the air a couple of years even though the CW DC universe has been coined The Arrowverse. The Flash will remain as the likely flagship for the joined universe with Legends Of Tomorrow, Superman and Lois, and unfortunately Batwoman keeping the last embers alive. I suspect that it will all close shop within the next two years. It's been a good run with some exceptional superhero television and some memorable characters, but we're in the home stretch, to be sure. But you can't just step in after a decade of Arrowverse unseen. If you have not seen the show before, you must at least go back and check out the previous five seasons. It'll be worth the time. You can also take a look at all of our reviews of Supergirl here: Supergirl Reviews.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 23rd, 2022
You just have to watch a few minutes of this film to get what the filmmakers were going for, and if you’re a fan of 80’s sword and sorcery films, i.e. Conan The Barbarian, Red Sonja, this will certainly whet your visual appetite. But then if you also happened to be a fan of the animated films Heavy Metal, Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings, and Fire & Ice, then The Spine of Night is going to be cinematic catnip that will satisfy your geeky cravings. But if none of the films I mentioned above excite you, well, you might want to shuffle along, because this film just isn’t for you. Honestly, I was even on the fence with this film, but then I had to think of the teenage version of myself, and, well, back then in the glory days of VHS, if I had this title to watch, I would have been stoked to come across it. So just what is The Spine of Night? Well, it’s a love letter to a genre that simply doesn’t exist in the mainstream anymore, but it obviously still has its fans, and who knows, maybe a cult following with this film can help revive the genre.
Tzod (Lucy Lawless) is the swamp witch/queen who gets her power from a very rare blue flower of Bastal. She has her powers stripped from her and is left for dead while Ghal-Sur (Jordan Douglas Smith) takes the flowers and has plans to use the plant's power for more sinister means. As for Tzod, we watch most of her journey to collect the final plant that exists but is protected by The Guardian (Richard E Grant), and she tells him her story of woe before he grants her permission to take the plant. This is a very simple explanation for what goes on in this film, and there are several smaller stories that fill up the films running time. But it’s not so much the story that I feel the viewers are looking for, but just the entire experience of the film itself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 10th, 2021
Over the past decade we’ve seen a resurgence in reboots, remakes, and anthologies, so it isn’t much of a surprise that the beloved horror anthology Creepshow would get the reboot treatment. To be fair, this is an extension from what the first films set out to be, though the big difference is that instead of just being a film with a few stories, it is now a TV series, each episode containing two tales to horrify and entertain. When I first heard about the series I was cautiously optimistic. The first two films I consider classics, as do many other fans of the horror genre. Then there was that third Creepshow that I feel we all just want to forget and pretend never really happened. Without George Romero being around, I just wasn’t even sure I’d want to see a show that could possibly just water down everything that was great about the films and simply turn out to be a cheap imitation. Season 1 of the series I enjoyed, and it offered plenty of promise for things to come; did Greg Nicotero and his creative team deliver?
Episode 1 starts of strong with Model Kid/ Public Television of the Dead. I’ll just say I loved this episode. There is a lot of heart put into the first segment about a young boy who is obsessed with all things horror and how he shares his passion with his mother who is very ill. Everything works in this episode, and honestly I wish it was longer, because I simply wanted so much more with the story. The “horror” direction this episode takes is fun and macabre just as it should be for this series, and it definitely sets a tone. Then there is the next segment … This episode was a blast. Just think what could happen if the Necronomicon from Evil Dead was read allowed on a public television network, and the only person that could save humanity was Bob Ross (yes, that artist). While it may not be THE Bob Ross, we definitely get that that is who the character is supposed to be. Even adding Ted Raimi pretty much cements this episode as Evil Dead canon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 25th, 2021
When we got aboard the Snowpiercer, it would seem like a new world order was going to be happening. Well, that still holds true for Season 2, but not quite the way we were initially imagining. Did you see what I did there, “got aboard,” because it’s a train. OK, OK; that’s my one joke. Last we saw Daveed Diggs’ Layton, he’d finally managed to seize control of the train carrying the last of humanity following an apocalyptic freezing of the planet. His reign is extremely short-lived, however, as he is almost immediately threatened by the return of Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) and Melanie’s thought-dead daughter, Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard). I can tell you that after this cliffhanger of a season last season, I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation for the next season. And this season doesn’t disappoint, as the power struggle for the train is continued with a new adversaries, as old adversaries become new allies.
The series never takes its foot off the gas, as Layton finds himself thrust into a brand new struggle against the very person responsible for the train that is humanity’s salvation. Last season, Mr. Wilford was thought dead after being left behind by Melanie due to a fear that humanity would not survive under his leadership. She creates an elaborate ruse to keep the idea of Wilford alive in order to keep peace on the train, a ruse that is eventually discovered and leads to a degree of anarchy on the train, resulting in the uprising that has placed Layton in charge. Now he must confront the man who was originally supposed to lead Snowpiercer. In this respect, Melanie’s fears prove right, as Wilford is in possession of a truly sadistic and cruel nature. This nature is shown perfectly in flashback sequences that show just how ruthless the man can be.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 25th, 2021
"We are the only people who are capable of handling time-traveling aliens."
Of course, that can only mean The D.C. Legends Of Tomorrow. This is the sleeper of the entire Arrowverse. It's never really been one of the higher-rated shows, but it has a strong cult audience and has survived more than one season on the proverbial bubble and has beaten back a pandemic and outlasted such better shows as Arrow and Supergirl. I always enjoy it, but I do find it the hardest show to completely follow. It will delve into the silly and the absolutely crazy, and it's pretty much jumping sharks on a weekly basis. It doesn't help that every year sees a huge shakeup of the cast, and this season was no exception. The crew of the Waverider change over faster than teens at a fast food joint. Of course, you might be left asking yourself what is this Waverider of which you speak? It's hard enough to keep track of the players without a program, but it's a near impossible feat if you are trying to join the festivities in the fourth season. You might want to check out our reviews of the previous years and then rejoin me for the breakdown of the Blu-ray release of DC Legends Of Tomorrow Season 6. Just bang it here to catch up: Legends Of Tomorrow Reviews.
