Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 25th, 2011
Highway to Heaven was a television series that ran from 1984-1989. Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon) is an angel on a mission from God or “the boss”. After quickly finding employment as a handyman, Smith teams up with the ex-cop Mark Gordon (Victor French) to solve problems and help people with their everyday struggles. This series has plenty of sentimentality, spirituality, nostalgia, and unintentional comedy. As a newcomer to the series, I found myself unable to look away.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 25th, 2011
In the 1980’s, I grew up watching a lot of sitcom family shows as I am sure a lot of kids my age did. Somewhere in my late teens and twenties, I ran away from sitcoms and straight in to cartoons and wrestling. (you thought I was going to say reality shows didn’t you?) But before that happened, I probably saw every last one of those crazy family sitcoms. Including Growing Pains. So when I received Growing Pains Season 2 to review, I knew I didn’t need season one and could dive right in. (
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 25th, 2011
(What follows is my cohort Gino Sassani's review, as it was written for the Blu Ray release of this same film. I have only added changes for the Video and Audio sections as DVD is naturally different than Blu Ray).
The Picture Of Dorian Gray was actually Oscar Wilde’s only full-length novel. It was quite a controversial subject when it first arrived on the scene in 1890, but not because of the horror element. The book is often sexually explicit and contains more than a flirtation with homosexuality. The main themes have survived, but much of the work itself has been forgotten.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 25th, 2011
Dicky Eklund was the pride of Lowell, Massachusetts. While he constantly reminds the neighbourhood of his glorious fight against Sugar Ray Leonard, he has descended into a crack addiction that is breaking his family apart, and hindering the training of his up-and-coming brother, Mickey. As Micky inches closer to big opportunities in the fighting world, he must also battle the demons his family place upon him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 23rd, 2011
Boxing has never been a particularly popular sport for me to watch. The boxing world has always seemed to be one of lies and politics. But on the other hand, I will watch with interest any movie that has boxing as a major subject. Rocky, Raging Bull, heck The Great White Hype are all fine examples of exciting boxing movies. That is why when I received Knockout with Steve Austin, my interest was peaked a little to say the least. Let us see how it goes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 22nd, 2011
The Green River Killer was responsible for the deaths and disappearance of dozens of young girls during the 1980s. This two part miniseries, originally airing on the Lifetime network, chronicles the two decade long investigation made by Sheriff David Reichart.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 20th, 2011
"I guess every town has their own boogeyman stories... There's always a moral, mainly don't pick on the nerdy kids, don't have pre-marital sex, don't do drugs."
In the case of Blood Oath the local stories involve a family called the Krupps. Apparently they had trouble having a baby, so they sought supernatural help. A witch instructed them to place a drop of each of their blood in a vial and bury it at the base of an ancient tree. Suddenly the Krupps are pregnant with twin girls. Of course, every deal with evil requires a sacrifice, and when the Krupps refuse to give one of their two children, evil takes its own course.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 20th, 2011
"A trip down memory lane and right into harm's way."
From the first frame to the final credit sequence, you will at once feel like you're watching some lost 1980's slasher film that was somehow misplaced among the entire generation of low-budget formula horror films. The music sounds almost like a direct rip-off of John Carpenter's Halloween theme, and that's not intended as an insult. The cheap synth track was the soundtrack for an entire generation of late-night-date movie-goers from the mid 1970's until the 80's ended.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 14th, 2011
(checks calender) “my goodness its been a few days...time to review another Michael Madsen film”
Michael Madsen goes WAY outside of his normal acting niche and plays a badass killer. Really different from his previous roles (please refer to my two month old review of Madsen's Brazen Bull to reveal just how sarcastic this opening paragraph is https://upcomingdiscs.com/2011/02/23/the-brazen-bull/#more-15588).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2011
When the WB merged with the UPN to form the hybrid CW, a lot of good things happened. The new network stepped away from the twenty-something shows that began to all look the same after a while. The network began to take on cutting edge genre shows like Supernatural and Smallville. But deep down inside there was still that family drama mentality that drove at least one of the parent networks. Life Unexpected is, unfortunately, a totally expected result of that dark place.
