Hot in Cleveland: Season Five
Posted in No Huddle by J C on November 14th, 2014
I had never seen a single episode of Hot in Cleveland before I sat down to review this season 5 DVD set. So why did it feel like I’d been watching this show my entire life? Turns out, it’s entirely by design. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like I’m the target audience for Hot in Cleveland: I’m under 50 years old, and I’m a man. But if you look beyond the plastic surgery jokes and geriatric humor, you’ll find a show that aggressively channels — and ultimately appeals to fans of — many of the classic, multi-camera sitcoms of the past. In other words, Hot in Cleveland feels like you’re watching re-runs of a show you’ve already seen…and still enjoy plenty.
Read More
Contest: Queens of the Ring From Image Entertainment
Posted in Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on November 13th, 2014
Our friends at Image Entertainment are picking a fight with the ladies this time. Actually, it’s the ladies doing the fighting. We’re talking about Queens Of The Ring out now on DVD from Image Entertainment. A supermarket cashier talks her co-workers into joining her in a WWE Diva training program. It’s a comedy featuring cameos from WWE favorites like The Miz, CM Punk and Eve Torres. You won’t have to fight with anyone to get a copy for yourself. We’ve got 2 copies to give away.
To win just follow these instructions.
- Fill out your name and email address in the comment form below – your email address will remain private and visible only to us.
- Do not post your address as an actual comment! Instead tell us – Who is your favorite WWE Star?
- Only those comments that answer our question will be considered.
Contest is now closed Winners are DanV & Holly Kennedy
Winners are notified by E-mail. If you did not get a confirmation E-mail from us, check your Spam filter and contact us. Any prize not claimed in 2 weeks will be forfeit and be placed in the end of year contests next Holiday Season.
Satellite
Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on November 13th, 2014
Satellite is a small, micro-budget independent film that went to a bunch of film festivals and got a bunch of great reviews….in 2005. Why is it taking so long to get a proper DVD release? Such is the fate of many small, micro-budget independent films. It apparently also had some music rights issues, which can be hugely problematic because of the expense. There is also the problem of marketing and advertising, which can be expensive. Then they should be better in some way than the Hollywood product, or it doesn’t have a chance.
Read More
Contest: Win Frozen in Time On DVD From Arc Entertainment
Posted in Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on November 12th, 2014
Our friends at Arc Entertainment want to get a jump start on your Winter Holiday fun. They’re releasing Frozen In Time on DVD and it’s loaded with family fun in the snow. The film stars the voices of Ed Asner and Mira Sorvino. It’s an animated Groundhog Day for Christmas. When two siblings break their grandfather’s special clock Christmas Day is repeated over and over again. Sound like fun? Arc Entertainment has given us 3 copies to giveaway.
To win just follow these instructions.
- Fill out your name and email address in the comment form below – your email address will remain private and visible only to us.
- Do not post your address as an actual comment! Instead tell us – Where will you be spending Thanksgiving?
- Only those comments that answer our question will be considered.
Contest is now closed Winners are Rhonda Struthers, June S., Rajee Pandi
Winners are notified by E-mail. If you did not get a confirmation E-mail from us, check your Spam filter and contact us. Any prize not claimed in 2 weeks will be forfeit and be placed in the end of year contests next Holiday Season.
Welcome to the Space Show (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 12th, 2014
Welcome to the Space Show looks like what would happen if you combined Steven Spielberg’s E.T. — or the openly-Spielbergian Super 8 and Earth to Echo — with the boundless imagination and quirky charms of anime. The result here is intermittently dazzling, but this particular kid-friendly alien adventure is ultimately less than the sum of its parts.
Read More
Reno 911: The Complete Series
Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2014
Now that it’s over, Comedy Central has put together the entire six-season run of Reno 911 in one big DVD collection. The show that started out as basically a Cops parody (which is pretty funny on its own trailer-trash merits) had become a holy grail of sorts for the Comedy Channel. While some sketch shows like The Ben Stiller Show and Mr. Show have managed to touch on the Cops parody with their material, the only one that did it regularly was the show that used it for inspiration. The show spanned six seasons and a major motion picture. Reno 911 can be best described as a faux-reality show with a good deal of improvisational comedy performed by some very capable actors and actresses.
Read More
Jersey Boys (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 11th, 2014
“You sell 100 million records, and see how you handle it.”
If you’ve ever seen an episode of Behind the Music — or followed popular culture at all in the previous century — then you probably know artists tend to not handle that level of success very well. However, the rise and (inevitable) fall of the original Four Seasons lineup is unique for a number reasons. Unfortunately, very few of those reasons are captured in Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood’s oddly lifeless, workmanlike adaptation of the joyous, wildly popular Broadway musical.
Read More
Drive Hard (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 11th, 2014
Personally I’m not a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise, despite the fact that I tend to enjoy films from the genre. For me, I’ll take the old school films like Vanishing Point, Two-Lane Blacktop, and the original Gone in 60 Seconds over these big budget productions any day. All I can figure is that these films that I do enjoy are working with budgets that force the directors to be creative and understand most of their elaborate stunts only get one take and are not polished with CGI, but instead whatever the camera captures that is what we see on the big screen. The stunts are simply incredible, and the cars in my humblest opinion were simply cooler back then.
Read More
Getting On: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 10th, 2014
“It’s noble work. It is useful. You are angels of mercy…I just never thought that I would end up here.”
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. As a result, HBO’s comedy series Getting On isn’t exactly what I’d call a gut buster. But even though much of the humor seems hyper-specific to this particular circle of workplace hell, anybody who has ever been underpaid to do a hard, crappy job should be able to relate.
Read More
Exes: Seasons One & Two
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on November 10th, 2014
A show about divorce, now I know what you are thinking: “Yeah, Yeah what else is new, the market is flooded with shows about people trying to put their lives together after having their world rocked by divorce.” On the one hand I would agree with you; however, I challenge you to think about this. In my experience these shows are normally from the female perspective and deal with the woman dealing with a bum ex-husband, kids, and getting back into the dating pool. None of these things embody what The Exes is about.
Read More
Interstellar
Posted in The Reel World by Archive Authors on November 7th, 2014
Most movies are just not very good. Lots of money goes into turning out boring repetitive garbage. You watch it and then dispose of it and make room for the next thing. There are some who do more, but the more you do, the greater the risk. Most filmmakers are not given the freedom to take really big risks, but someone who has been given the opportunity to take the big risk is Christopher Nolan. Interstellar is $165,000,000 gamble shooting for the moon. Actually Nolan is shooting for something way past the moon. He wants to take us to another galaxy.
Read More
Planes Fire and Rescue (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by John Delia on November 7th, 2014
Flying into home entertainment, the animated comedy adventure Planes: Fire & Rescue delivers a fun film for the whole family. The film features some of the characters from the original and a whole lot of new ones. Brightly animated, having fine direction and with a new storyline, the film has several good values including heroism and friendship. In this episode we find Dusty Crophopper returning from his around-the-world racing tour and about to participate in annual Corn Festival.
Read More
The Newsroom: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 7th, 2014
– “We don’t have the trust of the public anymore.”
– “Get it back!”
The Newsroom took a pretty decent beating during its first season. Sure, plenty of people praised the show’s exceptional acting and ambition, but too much of the conversation seemed to revolve around its flaws and its polarizing creator. In this Blu-ray set’s bonus material, Aaron Sorkin cops to being “overly earnest” and “aggressively uncool” in his work.
Read More
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Extended Edition) (Blu-ray 3D)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 6th, 2014
“There are dark spirits, old and full of hate…The world is in great danger.”
A trilogy is a hard animal to pull off. Even when you have a popular franchise, it is extremely difficult. All of the pieces have to work just right, or you could have a disaster on your hands. It is even harder when you’ve already beaten the odds once and delivered a trilogy that is both loved and a huge box office success. You run into an almost insurmountable mountain of expectations.
Read More
Perry Mason Movie Collection: Volume 4
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 6th, 2014
Erle Stanley Gardner wrote crime fiction, and while many of his 100 or so works are unknown to most of us, he created a character who has become as identified with criminal lawyers as any other in fiction. It was in these crime novels that Perry Mason first faced a courtroom. He developed a style where he would investigate these terrible crimes his clients were on trial for. He would find the real killer, and in what has become a Hollywood cliché, reveal his findings in a crucial moment during the trial. While we may not remember the novels, we all remember the man in the persona of Raymond Burr.
Read More
Step Up: All In (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 5th, 2014
“Does it always have to end up in a big giant dance battle?”
If you’ve ever sat through a dance movie, then you know the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” Dance flicks are a somewhat different beast than movie musicals; they are less whimsical and tend to take themselves more seriously, which invariably makes them seem even sillier. Some of the movies in this genre — Dirty Dancing and Footloose — are beloved guilty pleasures. (And many people who love them don’t even bother feeling guilty.) In recent years, the “dance flick” itch for moviegoers has been scratched by the Step Up franchise.
Read More
Life of Crime (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 5th, 2014
This has been a review that has taken me a while to get to, not because it’s something I was dreading, but instead it had me revisiting some other Elmore Leonard adaptations to the screen. There have been countless adaptions of Leonard’s work on the big screen as well as television. Whether it’s his westerns 3:10 to Yuma, Justified or Hombre or his work on crime Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, and Get Shorty, there is a good chance at some point you’ve seen Elmore’s work, and those were just a handful of titles I mentioned. I was a teenager when I first discovered Elmore Leonard
Read More
Impractical Jokers: Season 2
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on November 5th, 2014
“WARNING: The following program contains scenes of graphic stupidity among four friends who compete to embarrass each other…”
They’re back!!! Tru TV’s smash hit Impractical Jokers is back with a season two that continues to show you that no one embarrasses you quite like your closest friends. The gang is all back; Q, Murr, Joe, and Sal, as they take their pranks to the next level. The stakes are the same: one infiltrates a prospective business such as dental office, movie theater, etc. and must do whatever the others order to push them out of their comfort zone; failure to comply results being subject to the consequences at the end of the episode.
Read More
Maleficent (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 4th, 2014
“Let us tell an old story anew, and we will see how well you know it.”
If Christopher Nolan’s take on The Joker isn’t the very best example of modern cinematic villainy, then it’s near the top of the list. Obviously, a tremendous amount of credit goes to Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance in The Dark Knight, but I’d argue the real thrill comes from the character’s arbitrary, inexplicable approach to evil.
Read More
The Wonder Years: The Complete Series Set
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 4th, 2014
“1968, I was twelve years old. A lot happened that year. Dennis McLain won 31 games, The Mod Squad hit the air, and I graduated from Hillcrest Elementary and entered junior high school…but we’ll get to that. There’s no pretty way to put this: I grew up in the suburbs. I guess most people think of the suburb as a place with all the disadvantages of the city, and none of the advantages of the country, and vice versa. But, in a way, those really were the wonder years for us there in the suburbs. It was kind of a golden age for kids.”
With all of the television I’ve watched over the decades, it’s more than a little surprising to me that I missed out on The Wonder Years.
Read More
Before I Go To Sleep
Posted in The Reel World by J C on November 1st, 2014
A jittery, strikingly blue eye is shown in extreme close-up. It belongs to a woman named Christine, who finds herself naked in bed with a strange man’s arm draped around her waist. She stumbles to a nearby bathroom, where she finds clues about her identity taped to a wall. The man appears shortly after and introduces himself as Christine’s husband. It’s an effective little opening that succeeds in making the viewer feel as disoriented as Christine. The problem with Before I Go To Sleep is that — even as the truth is unpacked — the disorientation turns into disengagement and (worst of all) disinterest. In other words, this is a thriller that isn’t particularly thrilling.
Read More
“31 Nights Of Terror” Halloween: The Complete Collection Limited Deluxe Edition
Posted in Super Round-Up by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2014
“I met him fifteen years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding; and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes… the devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply… evil.”
AnchorBay and Scream Factory have tapped into that pure evil. It’s the collection we’ve waited years to see.
Read More
Nightcrawler
Posted in The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on October 31st, 2014
“On TV it looks so real.”
When I first walked out from the theater after watching Nightcrawler, the thing that stuck with me the most is how great Jake Gyllenhaal was in this film. This isn’t the first performance he’s caught my attention in; he’s an actor who pretty much any time I see him in a film he’s one of the most memorable aspects of the film.
Read More
Whiplash
Posted in The Reel World by Archive Authors on October 31st, 2014
Whiplash has gotten so many raves that I want to make sure I address the things that are bad as well as the things that are good about the film. First thing I will say is that the movie is implausible, and I had a hard time to totally buy into it for different reasons. The film is about a young jazz drummer at a prestigious music academy who gets to play in the band of the top instructor at the school. It becomes apparent early on that the instructor is crazy. He browbeats and actually beats his students into compliance without a hint of mercy.
Read More
The Reckoning
Posted in No Huddle by Brent Lorentson on October 31st, 2014
Just because an actor shares the same last name of their more popular sibling, the talent doesn’t necessarily carry over as well. In the case of The Reckoning, the Australian thriller has two siblings with much more marketable star power. Jonathan LaPaglia comes into The Reckoning and ripping a few pages from his brother’s acting book in playing a detective whose partner is the victim of a heinous act of “random” violence. Also joining the film with famous siblings is Luke Hemsworth, whose brothers Liam and Chris Americans may be more familiar with. Does the hereditary star power help this little Aussie film, or does it flounder down under?
Read More