Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2009
“The crime you see now, it’s hard to even take its measure. It’s not that I’m afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don’t want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something that I don’t understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He’d have to say, ‘OK. I’ll be a part of this world’.”
We all know by now that No Country For Old Men became last year’s “must see” Academy Awards Best Picture.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 6th, 2009
My paying job in life is spent as a computer system administrator (unfortunately it is not writing reviews and columns). Often, I have wondered why I’m in the cubicle jockey life and not tried to find some job where I could use my writing skills more effectively and get paid for it. There is also a lot of bs and chicanery in the corporate world that annoys me to no end. It is little wonder that I was interested in the movie Side Effects which deals with the pharmaceutical sales industry. I wasn’t interested in pharmaceuticals but I was interested to see how one deals with the corporate crap that does go on. It made for an interesting experience.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2009
To Catch A Thief is not typical Alfred Hitchcock territory, but then again, it really is. It’s not a terribly suspenseful film coming from the acclaimed “Master of Suspense”, nor is it at all a frightening film even though it was directed by one of horror’s genius minds. What really is scary, however, is how close to a different film this almost was. Cary Grant had exiled himself into retirement. If you can believe his statements at the time, he was concerned that the moviegoing public was pretty much sick of seeing him and preferred the younger actors just then coming of age. He turned Hitchcock down for the role at least twice, before Hitch made a personal visit and appeal to the Hollywood legend.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2009
It’s amazing what a difference a hit movie can make. Your less worthy films are drummed out of obscurity. Not only that, but your billing even on these other films is suddenly pushed to the top of the class. Almost overnight, everything you did before gets pushed toward the public’s eye, for good or bad. Kristen Stewart has enjoyed a deserved boost to her career with the success of the teen vampire film, Twilight. Now the independent film The Cake Eaters is being released in time to coincide with Twilight’s own DVD release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2009
The Odd Couple began as a concept when playwright Neil Simon observed his recently divorced brother share an apartment with another divorced guy. He developed it into a very successful play. In the original play Walter Matthau played Oscar, but it was The Honeymooners star Art Carney who played Felix. Both actors were offered the parts for the film. Carney declined. It was because of the onscreen chemistry between Matthau and Jack Lemon on the film The Fortune Cookie that led to Lemmon being cast as Felix. The decision was a stroke of genius.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2009
A short time ago in a galaxy right in your own back yard….(cue music)
Star Wars Episode XXCV: The Clone Wars: A Galaxy Divided DVD Release:
It’s 2009 and the Emperor Lucas has come up with a new plan to extricate spending dollars from the public. With the defeat of his latest trilogy at the hands of the rebellion, he has turned his attention to a new kind of presentation. The first attempt was rather simple and not widely effective.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 2nd, 2009
A heavily armed group descends on a small-town supermarket. They gun down a customer, and announce that they are robbing the place. More killings ensue, but it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary robbery. A strange form of triage is taking place that determines who is shot and who is allowed to live. Before long, only a handful of employees and customers remain, and it becomes clear that the attackers are not thieves at all, but in fact humanity's last hope against an insidious alien invasion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 1st, 2009
For first time screen writer Allen Loeb, Things We Lost In The Fire is quite an ambitious script. It relies almost completely on the writing and the performances that can be gotten from the acting leads. There’s really no place to hide in this story for anybody. And while I certainly found several elements of the story forced or contrived, there was an underlining emotion to the whole thing that carried through strong enough for the actors to find some very solid grounding. With that grounding Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro delivered what should have been award winning performances.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 1st, 2009
Last year, Chris Rock hit the road with new material for Kill the Messenger, his latest comedy tour. HBO captured three of the performances – in London, Johannesburg and New York – and edited them together into one big comedy special. Now on DVD in this three-disc set, Rock fans can see the HBO special and the full-length shows at each of the locations above. If you love his stuff, that might be great news. But after more than a decade at the top, does Rock still have it? Read on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 1st, 2009
“Scooby-Dooby, Scooby-Dooby-Doo! There's a mystery in town, So call the coolest pup around, Call Scooby, A pup named Scooby-Doo! Join Shaggy, and the crew, Daphne, Freddie, Velma too! And Scooby! A pup named Scooby-Doo! When the ghostly ghoul attacks, Scooby eats a Scooby Snack! Scooby-Dooby-Doo! So come on, it's mystery time, You can help us solve the crime, With Scooby, a pup named Scooby, Scooby, a pup named Scooby-Doo!”
First there was Muppet Babies. Then there were Tiny Toons.
![Things We Lost in the Fire [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/things-we-lost-in-the-fire-blu-ray-large.jpg)
