Amy (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on December 2nd, 2015
“I don’t think I’m going to be at all famous. I don’t think I could handle it. I’d probably go mad.”
Amy Winehouse — the troubled English soul singer who died of alcohol poisoning at age 27 — says these sadly prophetic words early on in Amy. Hearing them almost five years after her 2011 death only adds to the powerfully haunting quality of this documentary. At its core, Amy is like every Behind the Music episode you’ve ever seen…except it is also a masterfully told story with thrillingly original flourishes.
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Tuesday Round Up: December 1, 2015
Posted in Contests, Tuesday Round Up by J C on December 1st, 2015
The calendar says it’s December, but it sure doesn’t feel that way down here at the UpcomingDiscs ranch. While we patiently wait for it to get cold enough to get the fireplace going — or at least make us reach for a light jacket — we’ve got another week’s worth of hot releases to review. Lionsgate gives us Amy, which examines the (tragically short) life of singer Amy Winehouse and is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. But that’s not all: Lionsgate also doubles down with Mississippi Grind, adheres to a Zero Tolerance policy, keeps watch with The Guardsman, settles down with Some Kind of Beautiful, and washes away Cooties. Meanwhile, Image Entertainment goes Where Children Play, and Cinedigm enlists War Pigs.
And since we had to find *some* way to get in the Christmas spirit around here…congratulations to November’s Tuesday Round Up contest winner Sherry McKay, who won Jingle Bell Rocks on DVD.
If you entered and didn’t win, don’t fret: a new contest kicks off right now. Once a month we’re going to give away a free DVD title to a lucky winner who comments in our weekly Round-Up posts. All you have to do is comment in a Round-Up post — like this one! — and tell us which of the featured titles you’re most excited to watch or read about. The winners and their prizes will be announced the first week of every month right here in our Tuesday Round-Up post. You can’t win if you don’t comment. Contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
One last reminder before signing off for the week: if you’re shopping for anything on Amazon — perhaps as you cross items off your Christmas list — and you do it through one of our links, it’ll help keep the lights on here at UpcomingDiscs. See ya next week!
CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED: Congrats to Vicki Wurgler, who won Field of Lost Shoes on DVD.
A Christmas Horror Story
Posted in No Huddle by Dan Holland on December 1st, 2015
I absolutely love it when I go into a film blind, save for my expectations after looking at the cover, and leave with a surprisingly pleasant experience. A Christmas Horror Story provided me with that exact experience. The cover depicts Krampus, the evil Christmas beast of German folklore, battling Santa in a snowy, mountainous area. This particular battle does not surface until the final moments of the film: instead, we are treated to three separate horror tales that are connected by the various characters that occupy them. Each one of the tales does a good job of maintaining the Christmas theme in creative ways.
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Swim Little Fish Swim
Posted in No Huddle by Dan Holland on December 1st, 2015
Swim Little Fish Swim is, above all else, a very charming film. In fact, it may have been a little too charming for me. I appreciate character-driven dramas, but it is the drama in the film that keeps me engaged throughout. Swim Little Fish Swim introduces some really interesting conflicts into the story, and each conflict has a good variance of high and low stakes. However, the conflicts are either never quite resolved or resolved in a rather unsatisfying way. I did really enjoy the film, but it left me wanting more.
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31 Nights Of Terror Winner’s Circle
Posted in News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2015
It’s time to tally up the body count for our 31 Nights Of Terror contests. Thanks to all who entered. If you didn’t win this time, keep trying. Thanks also to the studios that made it all happen.
Don’t forget we’ll be serving up our 12 Days Of Christmas Giveaways in December. That’s 12 straight days of contests.
Here’s the list. Final arrangements have been sent via email:
Lost After Dark on Blu-ray – Bill Norris
June on DVD – M.R. Street
Under Wraps on DVD – Sharon Cubic
Girls Gone Dead on DVD – Jason Farries
Halloween Stories on DVD – Ashley Turilik
Curse Of Oak Island Season 2 on DVD – Bobby Remmy
Amnesiac on Blu-ray – Richard Grady
Madcow on DVD – Jim Gardner
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No on Blu-ray – Michael Henderson
The Leftovers Season 1 on Blu-ray – Tommy
Our November Tuesday Round-Up winner was Sherry McKay who won Jingle Bell Rocks on DVD
American Ultra (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 30th, 2015
“Why are people trying to stab you?”
People in action movies aren’t usually inclined to stop and ask that question out loud. In American Ultra, a small army of CIA operatives repeatedly try to stab, shoot, gas, and blow up an underachieving slacker and his girlfriend. Seems like a lot of trouble for a panic attack-prone convenience store clerk who sketches a goofy graphic novel about an adventurous ape on his downtime. American Ultra is funny, violent, and tonally-jarring at times. However, it’s also a fun subversion of the action genre and (more specifically) “supersoldier” movies.
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Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Lionsgate
Posted in Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. Lionsgate has given us a lot of content this year. They also gave us the best film I’ve seen all year. That would be Mr. Holmes. From television to theatrical releases to direct to video. Lionsgate has something for you to put under the tree this year
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Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: CBS Television
Posted in Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 29th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. This time we turn our attention to CBS.
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Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: HBO on Blu-ray
Posted in Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 28th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. HBO is the spotlight today. A couple of television’s best shows had full-season releases in 2015.
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Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Warner Brothers Television On Blu-ray
Posted in Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 27th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. When it comes to getting the current shows out in high definition, no one does it better than Warner Brothers.
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Creed
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 26th, 2015
The last time we checked in on Rocky Balboa was 2006. It was a bittersweet coda to a franchise that provided 30 years and six films of the life and times of Rocky Balboa. Some were truly great films. I’d count the first and last as in that category. Some were near misses like the third and fourth films, while the fifth was pretty much a total disaster. In those years and films we watched Rocky go from a hungry Philadelphia wannabe boxer to the champion several times over. Like the franchise, the character had his own highs and lows. There’s no question that the Rocky franchise has gone the distance. And while it might have been a split-decision, the Rocky films still stand as the champion of the film genre.
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The Good Dinosaur
Posted in The Reel World by J C on November 25th, 2015
“You’ve gotta earn your mark by doing something big…bigger than yourself.”
It was actually 20 years ago this month that a certain animation studio made an indelible mark on cinema. When Pixar released Toy Story in November 1995, it was the very first computer-generated animated feature, and it made us believe that movies really could go to infinity…and beyond! In the ensuing years, the studio has produced an unprecedented and unparalleled run of films that mix breathtaking technical wizardry with inventive stories that touch moviegoers’ hearts along with their funny bones. The Good Dinosaur, Pixar’s latest effort, gets about half of that equation right.
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Ricki and the Flash (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2015
I’m going to start by listing a number of names that make up a kind of extended family. The names don’t have a lot in common at first, and it seems like a hodgepodge. I’m sure I’m going to leave someone out, but let’s start with Kevin Kline, Johnathan Demme, Diablo Cody, Sebastian Stan, Mamie Gummer, Audra McDonald, Joe Vitale, Rick Springfield, Bill Erwin, Bernie Worrell, Rick Rosas, and Charlotte Rae. I’m forgetting someone. Oh yeah, Meryl Streep. It’s that kind of a movie which is being sold as a star vehicle for the most praised and beloved actress of the modern era, but is really an ensemble piece.
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Tuesday Round Up: November 24, 2015
Posted in Contests, Tuesday Round Up by J C on November 24th, 2015
We are smack dab in the middle of the most wonderful time of the year. Thanksgiving week falls right in that sweet spot between Halloween and Christmas…and so does A Christmas Horror Story, courtesy of RLJ Entertainment. Comedy Central goes Inside Amy Schumer: Season 3, Lionsgate blazes through American Ultra, Wild Eye Releasing stops at the The Last House, and Sony jams out with Ricki and the Flash. Finally, Ol’ Blue Eyes does it his way with Eagle Rock’s Sinatra: All or Nothing At All.
This week is also your last chance to enter and win November’s Tuesday Round Up contest. Once a month we’re going to give away a free DVD title to a lucky winner who comments in our weekly Round-Up posts. All you have to do is comment in a Round-Up post — like this one! — and tell us which of the featured titles you’re most excited to watch or read about. The winners and their prizes will be announced the first week of every month right here in our Tuesday Round-Up post. You can’t win if you don’t comment. Contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
One last reminder before signing off for the week: if you’re shopping for anything on Amazon — perhaps as you cross items off your Christmas list — and you do it through one of our links, it’ll help keep the lights on here at UpcomingDiscs. See ya next week!
CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED: Congrats to Sherry McKay, who won Jingle Bell Rocks on DVD.
By The Sea
Posted in The Reel World by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2015
By The Sea is literally like a vacation. It is a beautiful time that is a little over two hours at a picturesque resort. It is an exquisite location with lovely views. By The Sea is a beautiful little movie. It is small and nice, but it has two very big stars, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie Pitt has written and directed the film and has co-starred with her husband for the first time (because Jolie was not married to Pitt when they made Mr. and Mrs. Smith). It is clearly something that is very important to Jolie and is probably very personal to her. I will get back to speculation about Jolie and her intentions.
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Secret In Their Eyes
Posted in The Reel World by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2015
The Secret In Their Eyes is a heavily plotted and intense police thriller, but there is much more to discuss about this film than that. The film has a lot of issues, both in the story and in the making of the film itself. One of the issues is the casting. We have two of the grand dames of cinema facing off for the first time, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman (which is surprising, though Nicole did co-star with Sandra Bullock once, which is close enough). If you detect a tinge of sarcasm, you are correct. Not to be sexist or ageist, but what those two actresses always sold was vibrancy and excitability. Here they are toned down and depressive.
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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Posted in The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on November 20th, 2015
It’s the one that fans have been waiting for. The conclusion of the only adaptation series to rival the star power of Twilight in my opinion (Divergent comes close, but the popularity is clearly with this Jennifer Lawrence-led series). Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 is the culmination of all the action set up in the first film. It’s time to finally take the fight to President Snow, and this film delivers in every aspect. Action sequences are tier-one as well as being character-driven, all the while staying faithful to the source material. Accomplishing all these tasks is always difficult; however, this film appears to do it with ease.
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Two Men in Town (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 19th, 2015
“There’s the legal system…procedure…the almost-theatrical aspect of the law. And behind all that…”
Those words are wearily spoken (in voiceover) by Germain Cazeneuve before we even realize the character is a social worker/passionate prisoner advocate. They also hang in the air until the conclusion of Two Men in Town/Deux Hommes dans la Ville, a blistering takedown of the French judicial system and capital punishment. (France used the guillotine to execute prisoners up until 1981, which is the year the country abolished the death penalty.)
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Dumb It Down
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on November 19th, 2015
Dumb it Down turned out to be a bit of an indictment on the state of present hip-hop affairs. A group of experts was brought together, both past and present industry professionals who gave their opinion on how the art form has transformed from a way for a person to express their thoughts to apparently the new tactic in advertising. As a fan of the genre, there is no denying that the music has changed from what it was originally. Admittedly, I find myself gravitating more towards songs with an actual message behind them rather than the club bangers (as they have come to be called). However, I have my doubts about the way this documentary is going to go over.
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The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 18th, 2015
Its spy vs. spy in Man from U.N.C.L.E., or at least it starts out that way. Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer play Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin respectively in this reimaging of the popular television series from the 60’s. Guy Ritchie is at the helm of the spy flick, which should give everyone high hopes that this will become the first film in a franchise. Though a bit dry at times, Man from U.N.C.L.E. proves to be a clever and engaging movie that stays true to the era it is set in.
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Crumbs
Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on November 18th, 2015
Crumbs is a film that has many unique elements to offer. It is a mixed bag like most films. It is a small independent, post-apocalyptic science fiction set in Ethiopia whose main character is probably under four feet tall. Candy (Daniel Tadesse) is a scavenger in alternately desolate and overgrown landscape. Candy lives in an abandoned bowling alley with his beautiful partner, Birdy/Seyat (Selam Tesfaye). A giant spaceship has hung in the sky for decades, seemingly inoperable but starting to show new signs of activity. Candy finds artifacts which he barters for survival. These artifacts are silly remnants of pop culture like toys, sneakers, and record albums referencing forgotten icons like Justin Bieber, Michael Jordan, and Michael Jackson.
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Tangerine
Posted in No Huddle by Dan Holland on November 18th, 2015
“Los Angeles is a beautifully wrapped lie”
Tangerine is a rather interesting comedy that is very reminiscent of Robert Altman’s ensemble comedies of the 1970’s. The film’s writing is especially intelligent given the contemporary issues it addresses, such as: transgendered women, prostitution, the entertainment industry and how it affects the lower class. Most of these issues are not directly addressed; they are represented in very minute but profound ways.
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Tuesday Round Up: November 17, 2015
Posted in Contests, Tuesday Round Up by J C on November 17th, 2015
UpcomingDiscs headquarters looks suspiciously like Middle Earth this week. Join us as we bid farewell to the Hobbit saga…again. Warner Bros. brings us the R-rated, Extended Edition of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Speaking of Warner, I spy The Man From U.N.C.L.E finagling its way into our midst as well. Finally, IndiePix jumps in the deep end with Swim Little Fish Swim.
There may not be as many options to choose from this week, but you still have a chance to win a free DVD by telling us how you feel about this latest crop of releases. (Not to mention all our other November titles.) Once a month we’re going to give away a free DVD title to a lucky winner who comments in our weekly Round-Up posts. All you have to do is comment in a Round-Up post — like this one! — and tell us which of the featured titles you’re most excited to watch or read about. The winners and their prizes will be announced the first week of every month right here in our Tuesday Round-Up post. You can’t win if you don’t comment. Contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
One last reminder before signing off for the week: if you’re shopping for anything on Amazon and you do it through one of our links, it’ll help keep the lights on here at UpcomingDiscs. See ya next week!
CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED: Congrats to Sherry McKay, who won Jingle Bell Rocks on DVD.
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on November 17th, 2015
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence is the title of a Swedish film that won the top award at Venice Film Festival. Many critics think it is one of the best movies of the year. It is also a movie that relatively few people will see. The main reason most people won’t see it is because it is an extremely odd film. It could be called boring and fascinating in the same breath. The film is made up a series of master shots depicting events that have very little narrative clarity. Some characters show up periodically but with little sense that their actions have any potency or potential purpose. The title suggests an underlying philosophy of existential confusion.
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Getting On: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 16th, 2015
The geriatric care wing of a hospital — where the employees are undermanned and overworked, and many of the patients are in a near-catatonic state — is not the most obvious sitcom setting. That’s partly the reason it took me a while to warm up to the first season of HBO’s Getting On, an adaptation of the British series of the same name. The biggest drawback, however, was that those initial episodes didn’t seem very interested in shaking the grim specter of the original show. But what a difference a year makes!
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