Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 9th, 2012
"A high-octane, globe-spanning thriller with storylines ripped from today's headlines, Strike Back, Cinemax's first scripted prime-time original drama series, focuses on two members of a top-secret intelligence agency known as Section 20."
Cinemax has finally joined the world of original cable television programming. It's not really a first step since the powers that be at Cinemax are part of the HBO family of premium cable channels, and HBO's been in this game for a long time. They pretty much started the whole thing over 20 years ago. HBO is also distributing this home video version of Cinemax's first series, and it's an explosive series, to be sure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 7th, 2012
"Life is like jazz, son; never resolves."
Small-scale Christian (or faith-based) films have found modest-yet-passionate audiences in recent years. They also have a reputation among mainstream moviegoers for being overly earnest. Blue Like Jazz — based on the popular 2003 crisis-of-faith best seller by Donald Miller — curiously circumvents that criticism by employing an overly stylish approach and, more importantly, by not billing itself as a "Christian movie."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 6th, 2012
While I have watched a ton of cartoons, the same really can not be said of anime. Sure, I know my classics like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, or Vampire Hunter D but by and large I am not up on my anime. I certainly like it but when I look the shelves and shelves of television episodes or movies, I’m mostly overwhelmed. However, a little bit ago I saw a commercial for some Marvel Anime on G4, I was instantly interested. Little did I know that a couple of the series would end up on my doorstep.
Wolverine and Mariko overlook the city out on a boat. They are arm and arm and enjoying a peaceful life together. That is until three flying henchmen shoot out of the water and rain gunfire upon them. Wolverine is able to get Mariko out of the way and takes the brunt of the hit. His body is torn up but he is not out of the fight. Wolverine’s healing factor takes over and absorbs the bullets. His claws come out and he screams as we go straight into the opening theme song.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2012
Earth From Above is a French nature documentary series dubbed into English for its American and British Blu-ray release. The host, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, garnered international attention with his renowned photography. He’s best known for his best selling coffee table book, Earth From Above, chronicling his world travels with stunning photos from a bird’s eye view. He then branched into filmmaking, using his unique aerial photographer’s eye to draw attention to world’s conservation and preservation needs. This resulted in an Earth From Above full length feature and eventually this running French series of the same name.
As a staunch environmental activist, Arthus-Bertrand formed a partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and now travels the globe documenting extreme ecological changes, most of which not attributed to the now controversial subject of "climate change" and/or "global warming." This Blu-ray release covers two discs and four programs in the series including So the Great Rivers May Live, Of Forests and Man, 6 Billion People to Feed and Do Wild Animals Still Exist? Each segment is broken into two parts and was aired as two separate episodes in the series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 2nd, 2012
"It's one thing to see a great white shark on television or from the safe confines of a boat. It's another experience entirely to see the animals in their natural element. There simply is not a single creature on Earth that we're more afraid of."
Man’s always had a rather natural, and healthy, fear of sharks, but it was perhaps the 1975 film Jaws that brought all of those primordial fears bubbling to the surface of our pop culture. Since then sharks have taken an almost mythic position in our culture. They invade our fears, but more importantly they fascinate the heck out of us. Young or old, it doesn’t matter. Sharks are the new dinosaurs, and they aren’t going anywhere any time soon. Come face to face with some of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, with a level of clarity and detail that was once reserved only for those who shared their waters.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 1st, 2012
Who killed Mr. Boddy? Col. Mustard in the Library with the Wrench? Mrs. White in the Study with the Revolver? Maybe even the butler did it? A talented comedy cast bring the famous board game to life in a slapstick whodunnit where the chuckles mean more than solving the actual mystery.
The fun that is had in this film is created by the great ensemble cast, which includes Martin Mull, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean and Tim Curry as the frantic butler. Each character-actor plays off the others superbly well. There is a plethora of performances that vary from the straight-man persona to outright goofball, being employed as the body count rises and the suspicions reach a fever pitch.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 31st, 2012
"More than two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese. During the past 30 years, adult obesity rates have doubled."
After watching this documentary — developed with the Institute of Medicine, in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the National Institutes of Health, and in partnership with Kaiser Permanente and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation — I feel like I should be typing this review while walking on a treadmill instead of planted on my couch like a lazy lump.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 30th, 2012
Most people who read my reviews can realize that me and prison films just do not mix. Far too many of them are incredibly hokey and if I hear one more cliché about dropping the soap, I swear I might just go watch about a 12 hour Golden Girls marathon. However, our film today deals with a psychiatric hospital for criminals. It sounds a lot like a prison to me, but perhaps today’s review will take on a much gentler tone and provide us with something just a little different.
Allen Meneric (played by Nick Stahl) and his girlfriend (played by Haley Webb) drive up to a house. Allen is angry, upset and tells his girlfriend to get in the car and drive home. Apparently, the girlfriend was raped by a guy who just so happens to be here at the house ready for Allen to strike. The girl drives away sobbing. Meanwhile, Allen proceeds to pick up a wrench. That is when everything goes black.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 27th, 2012
While I have watched a ton of cartoons, the same really can not be said of anime. Sure, I know my classics like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, or Vampire Hunter D but by and large I am not up on my anime. I certainly like it but when I look the shelves and shelves of television episodes or movies, I’m mostly overwhelmed. However, a little bit ago I saw a commercial for some Marvel Anime on G4, I was instantly interested. Little did I know that a couple of the series would end up on my doorstep.
Eric Brooks hunts vampires. He is half human and half vampire. He is what is known as a day walker, able to harness the strengths of the vampire but not exhibit their weaknesses such as death by sunlight. Eric is on a mission to hunt these monsters for they infected and killed his pregnant mother. The vampires call Eric by another name, Blade. He is on the hunt…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 25th, 2012
Hopefully, a lot of the readers had a chance to read my Transformers Prime: Season One on Blu-Ray review. In it, they would have found a fantastic animated series that is almost on equal level to the Generation one cartoons. The series has captivating characters, amazing sound and a better story than those silly live action movie sequels. Today to review, I have the Prime special dvd: One Shall Stand. The dvd has four episodes from season one and three new episodes from season two cut into one huge movie. Let’s go shall we?
As we open, we listen to Optimus Prime tell the crew of a doomsday prophecy known as the Covenant of Primus that has the potential to destroy the earth. It seems to be only a few days away and is connected to the Decepticon leader: Megatron. It would be best to squash this prophecy before it begins. Meanwhile, we are transported to the war ship of the Decepticons where Megatron has been on stasis. He was fixed up by fellow Decepticon, Knockout.
