Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 11th, 2012
War Horse began life as a novel by Michael Morpurgo and went on to become a relatively successful Broadway play. I haven't read the book, and it's hard for me to imagine the material on the stage. But in the hands of Steven Spielberg there is little left to the imagination. This is definitely one of his most inspired films and contains some of the more beautiful and compelling images. That's saying a lot when you think about the many iconic images Spielberg has brought us from ET to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and the great white shark in Jaws. Yes, the images rank right up there. Unfortunately, the film itself doesn't come close.
The story begins with the birth of Joey, a thoroughbred horse. But this is not really the beginning of the story, is it? Joey is sent to auction where drunkard farmer Ted Narracott (Mullan) falls in love with the impractical animal. Helped by the taunts of his landlord Lyons (Thewlis) he bids too much for the animal and wins him. The problem is that he needed a working horse to plow his fields, and Joey isn't going to make wife Rose (Watson) very happy at all. But his son Albert (Irvine) instantly sees what his father saw and falls in love with Joey. He promises to train him. If he can't the family will lose their farm. But even this isn't really where the story begins.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 11th, 2012
Bob Newhart may not have a ton of range as a comic actor, but the television personalities he created in both The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart were lovable enough to bring great success to both of the shows. One could safely admit that he was really playing the same character in both, and the final episode of Newhart pretty much acknowledged that fact with one of the more clever series finales in television history. So, with two pretty solid hits under his belt, it wasn't a complete surprise to see the comic enter our living rooms once again in 1992 just a couple of years after his last show finished its run. The name could have been just as predictable: Bob.
Bob McKay (Newhart) had once created a comic book hero named Mad Dog. It was about a vet who conducted experiments with the adrenal gland of a Doberman. The result was a new superhero with the enhanced senses of a dog. The comic lasted just 12 issues and quickly faded into obscurity. During that time Bob was putting his artistic talents to use with a greeting card company, a job he hated. Along comes Mr. Terhorst (Cumpsty) whom we never see. He's always just a voice over the speaker phone. He's bought ACE Comics and wants to hire Bob to bring back Mad Dog. It's the chance of a lifetime, except he's teamed with Harlan Stone (Cygan) who grew up a Mad Dog fan but now has some radical ideas for the new book. Bob has to constantly rein him in to save the integrity of the hero. The office also includes Albie (Bilgore) who is the office gofer. He's shy and completely inept in social situations. There's Chad (Fall) the comic's colorist who is a super geek. Iris (Kobart) is the old crotchety woman who letters the book. His daughter Trisha (Stevenson) comes to work for the team as well. At home is faithful wife Kaye (Watkins) and their lively cat Otto.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 10th, 2012
Ben Affleck's dating life wreaked plenty of havoc on the moviegoing public during the early part of the 2000s. We all know about the infamous Gigli and Jersey Girl debacles with Jennifer Lopez. (It didn't even matter that J. Lo was barely in Jersey Girl — which actually has a few cute moments — or that the indefensible Gigli was just a deeply weird flick which happened to star two of the world's most famous, romantically-involved movie stars.) The film usually left off this dubious category is Bounce, a soggy romantic drama starring Affleck and former squeeze Gwyneth Paltrow. Although the pair — who, to be fair, also appeared together in the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love — keep this movie watchable, there's a reason Affleck mostly focuses on directing these days and hasn't made a movie with Jennifer Garner since they got married.
Affleck stars as hot-shot ad man Buddy Amaral. (We know he's a hot-shot because he speaks quickly, brashly and constantly has a drink in his hand...Mad Men taught me that.) After scoring a major account with an airline in Chicago, Buddy is stranded at the airport with a hottie (Natasha Henstridge) and friendly family man Greg (Tony Goldwyn). Greg allows himself to get bumped from the flight so he can use the airline compensation to take his family on vacation at a later date. Once the flight starts boarding, Buddy gives Greg his ticket so Greg can go home to his family sooner, but mostly so Buddy can hook up with the hottie at the airport hotel. The plane crashes, killing everyone on board.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 10th, 2012
I have read more than my fair share of comic books. In recent years, I made the jump into graphic novels which are basically the same thing with a fancy cover. There is also another trend that I have seen from time to time in the last several years, digital comics on dvd (and occasionally blu-ray). The concept of taking a comic, adding voices, sound effects and a little motion and coming out with a product that can reach new and old audiences. Let us take a look at Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous.
A female voice lets us know that something is coming, they can feel it. The view shifts to a young man who goes by the codename, Wing. He is a soon to be former X-Men in training. At one point in his life, he had the ability to fly. However, due to events not explained he lost that ability and in the process, he lost his will to live. He stands over a cliff and hopes for the powers to come back.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on April 10th, 2012
“Don't you ever touch the sacrificial fluids... okey dokey?”
“Okey dokey” indeed; in 1985, director Josh Becker gathered his friends, including Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and they shot Thou Shalt Not Kill… Except in Detroit around Campbell’s childhood home. Working with a microscopic budget, they created a tribute to the savage exploitation films of the sixties and seventies, full of bad lighting, crappy sets, leaden acting, cheap makeup gags, horrible dialog, and a certain goofy infectious fun.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2012
"In the pantheon of predators, it's one of the greatest discoveries since the T-Rex: a snake 48 feet long, weighing in at 2,500 pounds. Uncovered from a treasure trove of fossils in a Colombian coal mine, this serpent is revealing a lost world of giant creatures. Travel back to the period following the extinction of dinosaurs and encounter this monster predator."
With a title like Titanoboa: Monster Snake you might be expecting the latest huge monster mash-up from Roger Corman or the latest cheap CG creation from the SyFy's Original Movies series. Huge snakes have been common fodder for both of these places. But the monster snake depicted in this film comes to us from The Smithsonian Channel, and this guy really existed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2012
The Killing began life as a Danish television series. We are used to seeing British shows reinvented for American audiences, but it's rare to find something from Danish television that someone found so compelling they decided to work it for the competitive American television landscape. It's no surprise that such an effort would find its way on cable rather than network television, where boundaries can really be pushed and explored.
AMC is a pretty good choice to land such a show. They've committed to some pretty groundbreaking shows in the few years they have produced original programming. Anyone who has caught an episode of The Living Dead certainly knows what I'm talking about here. The once movie-exclusive network has already proven a willingness to push the boundaries of television. So with all of this boundary pushing you might expect a cutting-edge series that plays out unlike anything in the genre. You would think so, but you'd be pretty disappointed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 6th, 2012
Review writers like regular authors often have difficult times coming up with beginnings. Personally, I like to use an event from my history or relate some curious fact that parlays into the review. I figure I will be spending eight to ten paragraphs about the actual product, why waste the time and do more. Well today, I am reviewing the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest and let us just say if it was up to me, I would deviate as much from the source as I humanly could. But onto the review I go.
Author’s Note: This is a Warner Archive Disc (or two discs rather). It is supposed to be available on Amazon in addition to the WB Shop but at the time of this writing, it is not (4/6/12). So therefore, if you really want this addition to your Johnny Quest library, go the following address (WBSHOP) to purchase it:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 6th, 2012
Roman Polanski's seminal neo-noir finally makes it to Blu-ray. Gino has already handled the previous DVD release, so I'm going to turn the reins over to him for a while, then jump back in.
"Jake Gittes is a Chandler style detective with all of the trappings. From the office to the secretary and the cop friend, Gittes is a cliché. He appears to specialize in tracking down extramarital affairs. When he’s hired to keep an eye on a rich millionaire, the subject turns up dead, and maybe it wasn’t his wife at all who hired him. Gittes now must investigate to save his own hide. His investigation leads him to a corrupt water department taking advantage of a manufactured drought. His client has a dark secret that only complicates Gittes’ efforts.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 5th, 2012
Thankfully, I have never been scammed out of any large amount of money unless you count my ex-wife. *drum roll*. I think of myself as fairly intelligent but sometimes intelligence is not enough when a large enough pyramid or ponzi scheme walks across your front lawn. Furthermore, when somebody you trust tells you it is a sure thing, it is hard to look the other way. Let us proceed with a documentary on one of the most famous ponzi schemes of them all with deception played by one Bernie Madoff.
Melodramatic music go! Blood dripping! Fire crackling! Wife snoring! Oh wait, nevermind. In the beginning, we hear a quote that Wall Street has always been about making a profit. Then we hear a bunch of news reports about Bernie Madoff pulling off a $50 billion ponzi scheme. Outrage is rampant and people want to know why the SEC did not catch this sooner. Let’s join H. David Kotz, Inspector General for a sentence or two before we get more dramatic special effects.
