Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on January 13th, 2013
What do you do when you have to choose between the law and what is morally right? Lieutenant Danny Sefton (Seth Gabel, TV’s Dirty Sexy Money and Fringe) faces that very problem in Allegiance. Having lost the respect of the men in his command by transferring to a recruiting position right before they are to deploy to Iraq, Sefton faces a crisis of conscience when one of those men — Specialist Chris Reyes (Shad “Bow Wow” Moss, Like Mike, Roll Bounce) — has his non-deployment waiver revoked.
Reyes’ son is sick. However, due to conflicting diagnoses — one says Stage 4 lung cancer; the other chronic asthma — and the fact that he’s the best medic in the company (and they don’t have a replacement), Lieutenant Colonel Owens (Aidan Quinn, Jonah Hex, TV’s Elementary) decides to deploy Reyes. Having exhausted all his options, Reyes tells Sefton he intends to go AWOL and asks for Sefton’s help.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on January 12th, 2013
Probably most known for his roasts on Comedy Central, Anthony Jeselnik offers an hour (included the many long pauses) of stand-up comedy that is 100% bad taste. Dark humour and a huge ego are Jeselnik's shtick so you have absolutely every reason to walk away from this...except you might actually catching yourself laughing.
Jeselnik never attempts to make friends with the audience. It's common for a comedian to talk to members of the crowd and perhaps take a few shots at them. Jeselnik sets out to offend and elevate himself above everyone in the room with him. Again...this is his act. Could he be a true egomaniac? Perhaps. He's certainly good at portraying one onstage. More importantly, is it funny? The answer: sometimes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on January 7th, 2013
(I have covered the first season on this site already so this review shall begin with that one then segway into new write-up for Season 2):
A successful writing team, who also happen to be a married couple, are the creators of an award-winning show in the UK that has just completed after four seasons. An American network wishes to create a US version of the show. The couple are flown to LA, put up in a lavish mansion and are introduced to the Hollywood method of creating television…and it nearly destroys them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 31st, 2012
In the same fashion as Batman Begins, Casino Royale the 21st Bond film ït starts over the franchise with a new outlook. Daniel Craig stars as James Bond in this film based on the 1953 novel by Ian Fleming, which hopes to rejuvenate the series by getting rid of some of franchise trademarks as well as the gadgets they supply. Grossing nearly 600 million dollars worldwide, Casino Royale was commercially a great success, but does the new bond fall short of past expectations, or does this reboot on the series provide for good cinema?
James Bond isn't yet an agent of double-0 status, but in order to accomplish this he is sent to Prague to assassinate a rogue agent who has been selling British secrets, as well as his associate. After accomplishing this, the film opening begins in traditional bond fashion with a fresh gun barrel sequence followed by the opening credits. Already the film appears to be a lot darker than past Bond films, and I have yet to hear a corny catch phrase as well.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on December 30th, 2012
In my youth, I watched a healthy dose of A-Team. Four men who branded as war criminals for a crime they did not commit doing odd jobs for money. Perhaps that is over simplifying things, but it did provide me with tons of fun hours cheering for explosions and witnessing the genius known as Murdoch for my viewing pleasure. Today, we take a look at a film which might be in the vein of what the four guys of A-Team might have been like if they were transported to Africa during the turbulent 60's. We have today, the film called: The Wild Geese.
A plane flies into London and we find ourselves seated at an airport. Colonel Allen Faulkner (played by Richard Burton) sits at the airport lounge and drinks his whiskey until he is picked up by a driver and transported to a giant white house where a merchant banker Sir Edward Matherson (played by Stewart Granger) lives. Faulkner is met at the door by Matherson's assistant, Thomas Balfour (played by Barry Foster) and immediately led to the den where the banker is waiting for him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 30th, 2012
As The Walking Dead continues to smash ratings records (while compulsively changing showrunners, no less) and Summit Entertainment — the studio behind The Twilight Saga — prepares to throw its considerable marketing muscle behind February’s zombie rom-com Warm Bodies, it’s fair to say the shambling undead are having a major pop culture moment. Yes, zombies are hot right now, but a curious subgenre has already endured for many decades: I’m talking about the zombie Nazi movie.
From Shock Waves and Zombie Lake in the 1970s and 80s to recent examples like Dead Snow and this year's Outpost: Black Sun, filmmakers have delighted in mashing up one of history’s most infamous real-life group of monsters with one of cinema’s most popular terrors for decades. Though they’ve been enjoyable to varying degrees, the subgenre is yet to produce a classic film in the vein of George A. Romero’s work or even something that made a notable pop culture impact like Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead. I’m sorry to say War of the Dead won’t be the first.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 27th, 2012
An African American high school student fights against her school's longstanding decision to host racially segregated proms. This film is based on true events that occurred at a school in Butler, Georgia. Originally debuting on the Lifetime network in 2006, this is the film's first DVD release.
A couple of the actors seemed a little out of place in their roles. Jason Lewis' beauty is a bit of a curse as he is seems only suited to play male models. As a high school teacher, his hair is just a bit too gelled and his chin seems a bit too molded. This may seem like an unfair evaluation but sometimes I think the casting director needs to be more aware of whether or not an actor looks right for the part and Mr. Lewis just didn't have the mien of “small Southern town.” I don't even recall if he had the correct accent come to think of it...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 18th, 2012
I'm a Minnesota Vikings football fan. Yes, I accept the condolences. However, I didn't say that to get sympathy, and I'm not yet in need of the services of the suicide hotline. With two games to go, I will keep the number on speed dial, just in case. A thousand years ago we had a star player who made the by now infamous statement that he plays when he wants to play. For a young athlete with an already troubled past, it didn't go over too well. But over the last decade or so Clint Eastwood appears to be in that same mindset. He acts when he wants to. He's only appeared in three films in the last ten years. The difference is that Clint has earned the right to be picky about when he works. He isn't taking a paycheck when he isn't working, and when others depend on him to hit it out of the park, he rarely misses the ball. Trouble With The Curve won't ever rival Eastwood's other roles for action, intensity, or even one-liners, but it's a solid performance in every way. For all of those Eastwood critics in the glory days who said he couldn't pull off a performance without the trappings of Dirty Harry or The Man With No Name, I suspect you're having a hearty meal eating those words after seeing Trouble With The Curve. It's perhaps his simplest role yet. It also happens to be a home run.
Gus (Eastwood) has been a scout for baseball's Atlanta Braves for 40 years. He's responsible for the team's greatest talents going back to Dusty Baker. Now he's in his 80's. New, younger blood has invaded the world of scouting, and they've brought along all of their latest computer toys to do the job. Gus won't adapt to that new technological world. He can tell a hitter's talent by the sound of the ball leaving the bat or the sound of the batter's hands as he gets ready to swing. That's a good thing, because Gus is losing his eyesight. He trips over tables and chairs (enter your own RNC joke here) and isn't the safest person behind the wheel of his car. His old friend and head of scouting for the team is Pete (Goodman). He's still behind Gus, but the pressure is on. There are only three months left on Gus's contract, and the draft is approaching. Gus has one scouting trip to prove he's still got it, or he's going to be put out to pasture by owner Vince (Patrick).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 13th, 2012
A small mining community in Western Australia get visited by a vagabond dog. This Red Dog (named after the fact that the red dust of that desert region stained his fur that colour) has a deeply significant effect on every worker's life yet not one of them can truly claim to own him until an American bus driver begins working there. Red Dog was a big fan of hitchhiking across the country and seems to be attracted to riding great distances on a bus with his new best (human) friend.
I should have known what I was getting into when I saw that this was a dog story. All the best dog films are incredibly sad. This film was based on true events and its saddest portions include heavy references to the saddest (true) dog story of all time (nope, not Old Yeller), Hachi-ko, the story of a dog that waits for his master after they have died (was adapted twice onto film, as well as laid out the groundwork for the most depressing episode of Futurama “Jurassic Bark”). The story begins with miners resolving that they cannot shoot Red Dog after he ate poison, but this is not the saddest part. Over half way through the audience gets an emotional kick to the throat that I, for one, was not prepared for. By no means is this a criticism of their storytelling, more a warning to those that may think they're in for a family-ready delight (ok...they ARE but certainly not without a box of tissues as a prerequisite).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 11th, 2012
I’ll say this about a program that has remained consistent in quality for twenty seasons…it makes for challenging reviews. Talking about each season of Gunsmoke is difficult in that you either write briefly to try to avoid redundancies, but might seem too hasty, or you have to labour over each episode, in which case, you’re only going to have hardcore fans paying attention. Since this website has touched on previous seasons: ( https://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=gunsmoke ) I shall opt for the former option, and hope y’all out there catch that I’m not being hasty…but respect a show that warrants no fresh complaints after 7 years a-runnin’ thus far.
The most obvious change to the show that happened in this Seventh Season is expanding from half and hour to a full hour for each episode. This can be a great challenge for a show that was not originally created in this format. Doubling the length of each episode has allowed for more focus on developing the guest characters. There are no major plots that overlap several episodes so we can see how the hour long format aids this type of show, as well as helping to lay the groundwork for hour-long adventure and/or crime dramas to follow.
