Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2010
"Maybe I'm not being clear enough. Maybe I need to be honest with you and tell you what I want. I want your soul to open up for me."
Clive Barker's name has been synonymous with horror for quite a long time. Along with Steven King, there is likely not another name out there that has been responsible for so much written terror. His stories have sold hundreds of millions of copies and inspired many films and television projects. He's been called the modern Edgar Allan Poe, and when you witness something so frightening at its very base as Dread happens to be, it isn't hard to understand how he came by that kind of a reputation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2010
An ancient facility beneath Antarctica becomes the launching platform to the lost city of Atlantis. Atlantis is buried beneath an ocean in another galaxy and can only be reached with an additional symbol on the Stargate. Because of power limitations this trip, at least for the time being, is a one-way adventure. A crew of scientists and military officers from many countries assemble to explore the Pegasus Galaxy from the Atlantis gate. Led by scientist Dr. Weir (Higginson) and Maj. John Sheppard (Flanigan) they take over the Atlantian command center and begin to explore.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 30th, 2010
In the long run what was more important to Pixar and its relationship with Disney wasn't the milestone that Toy Story provided being the first computer animated feature. Movies are, as much as we'd like to think otherwise, a business. In the end, a film has to make some money. Toy Story was like a private printing press for the two companies bringing in nearly $200 million at the box office. Add another nearly $200 million in foreign receipts, and this prototype of a movie pulled in nearly a half billion dollars before the first DVD was released. That's huge for what was basically a children's cartoon. The second Pixar film would be A Bug's Life, and it would bring in nearly the same kind of jingle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 30th, 2010
It's hard to believe it, but Toy Story was the very first computer generated animated feature film. CG graphics had already appeared as parts of films starting with the "Genesis proposition video" from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. It was a rather fitting movie for this Hollywood and technological first to occur. The piece was rather short and not as breathtaking as we've come to expect today, but, it did herald the beginning of a new era in filmmaking, to be sure. What better place for such an historical technological breakthrough than in Star Trek?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 30th, 2010
This series from Comedy Central began as a low budget film hosting show in a small television station in Minnesota. It was the brainchild of Joel Hodgson. It ended up running for 11 years and a feature film version.
Mystery Science Theatre is an acquired taste. For me, I’ve really got to be in that certain mood to watch it. That’s the beauty of these DVDs. You pop them in when you’re ready. The idea is pretty whacked. Depending on the season you’ve got, Joel or Mike is trapped in space on the “Satellite of Love”. Doomed to spend his life watching very bad films,
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 29th, 2010
My dad was an ex-Vietnam officer, 1st lieutenant in the United States Army. He gave a lot for his country but never forced me towards any military service. He wanted me to focus more on my studies and make sure I got a proper education. I don’t think I could comprehend what my father or any military personnel in a war situation goes through. However, with the dramatization in Brothers, I can see on some level the horror that some of our fine soldiers have to live with.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 28th, 2010
Around Thanksgiving of last year, I started to see trailers of a particular movie that quite literally made me laugh out loud. The reason behind it is because I knew with the title of the movie and the obvious plot, there was no way I was not going to review it when it came to dvd & blu-ray. I have a reputation for certain movies, I guess you could say. That movie was Ninja Assassin. Several months later, I am reviewing it for a mass audience. Funny how that works.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2010
When people reminisce about the great match-ups of all time, talk will inevitably hone in on Ali vs. Frazier, Tunney vs. Dempsey, or, for boxing non-enthusiasts, Eckersley vs. Gibson. For film fans, talk will likely drift to Godzilla vs. Mothra, McClane vs. Gruber, or even Feddy vs. Jason. Well folks, a new movie has thrown its hat into the ring, and it is called Carny. What potentially legendary match-up does Carny feature, you ask? Why, nothing less than Lou Diamond Phillips vs. the Jersey Devil. Will these two foes unseat any of the classic brawlers mentioned above? Read on and see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 25th, 2010
If you are a regular reader here, you know I'm not much for the romantic comedy department. I tried to pass this one off on the rest of the staff but couldn't find a taker. We finally got a woman to review this stuff, but not even she was enthused enough about this title to take it on. This experience is pretty typical when it comes to Did You Hear About The Morgans. With a $58 million budget and a $30 million gross at the box office, it would seem that a lot of folks took a pass on the movie. In less than 4 weeks it dropped from nearly 3000 screens across the fruited plain to just about 500.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 25th, 2010
"It killed 102 people, brutally mauling its human prey. Its victims are all women and children. The worst attack by an unknown beast in history; and, the basis for the legend of the werewolf. Two investigators set out to solve the mystery. Applying modern day forensics, they hunt to uncover the real wolf man."
With the Universal remake of one of its classic monsters you can expect to see a lot of related material come out of the woodwork to capitalize on the buzz. Unfortunately, the remake of The Wolf Man pretty much tanked, plagued more by too many internal problems than the full moon. Still, the legends and stories are out there, and it might be fun to check some of this stuff out.
![Ninja Assasin [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/ninja-assasin-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Did You Hear About the Morgans? [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/did-you-hear-about-the-morgans-bl-large.jpg)
