Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2019
"That's one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind."
July 20th, 1969. If you were alive and even somewhat old enough to be aware of your surroundings, you likely still remember that date. There are many such dates in history; unfortunately so many of them revolve around tragic events like 9-ll or the attack on Pearl Harbor. But on that night I was eight years old, and I know exactly where I was. I was watching Walter Cronkite on television as he brought us the first landing on the surface of the moon. Today that's a bittersweet memory. For an 8-year-old boy it was a promise that has remained unfulfilled. If you had told that 8-year-old who just saw humans walking on the moon that 50 years later we would have gone no further, he would have been dumbfounded. If you told him that not only would we go no further but that we would stop going to the moon in just a few short years, he would have been devastated. I can only imagine what that first man on the moon thought about it all so many years later.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2019
In the 1970's Pat Morita was pretty much a staple of the American television landscape. It's fair to say he often got work in a less politically correct era as a token Asian on situation comedies. He landed iconic recurring roles as Arnold, who owned the burger hangout in Happy Days, and Ah Chew, the target of Redd Foxx's bigoted antics on Sanford And Son. His is a long career in the annals of 70's television. While he did appear in a few feature films, none of these appearances had the lasting fame or adoration that he experienced as Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid franchise. The role would define him for the remainder of his days. When Karate Kid appeared in 1984, it delivered a modest return at the box office but found some enduring returns in the young home video market. It was enough to score a sequel in 1986 that would become the best moneymaker of the franchise's original collection of four films. It pulled in enough scratch to warrant a third film, and that's pretty much where it all went downhill faster than a speeding bullet which might have mercifully ended the movies on a high note.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on January 22nd, 2019
While this week might represent one small step for man, it’s also one giant leap for this here website. Not only will we soon be reviewing Universal’s Neil Armstrong drama First Man (4K), but we are days away from unveiling an exciting new redesign for this very site! (Be sure to check back in and tell us what you think.) Elsewhere, Fox shows us some love with The Hate U Give (4K), Lionsgate navigates politics and family with The Oath, and Shout! Factory swindles some laughs out of us with con man comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
FYI: we are wrapping up our 12 Days of Christmas giveaways at the end of this week, so be sure to head to our contest page and enter for a chance to win. 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!
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 21st, 2019
Any time you make a low-budget film that for a majority of the film takes place in a single location, it can be a bit of a risk. Factor in shooting a film on a small budget, small cast, then you have to hope that the idea can hook an audience, and it’s a script that will keep an audience hooked for the duration of the film. The problem After Darkness has from the get-go is it doesn’t have the budget to match its ambition, nor does it have the script to help the actors carry the burden of this film. Even with Kyra Sedgwick and Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), this film was a struggle to get through. For those brave souls who want to know more, it’s time to hunker down, ‘cause this one was a doozy.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on January 20th, 2019
We are only a couple weeks into the new year, and this weekend one of 2019’s most anticipated releases is M. Night Shyamalan’s conclusion to his superhero trilogy with Glass. This has been a trilogy 19 years in the making, following the release of Unbreakable and then 2016’s Split. When I first saw Unbreakable, I was a projectionist, and I had to screen it the night before it was released to make sure everything was spliced together and the film played properly, and I just remember not really liking the movie at first. I ended up giving the film another try, and I found I liked it a little more. Now over the years I’ve seen it several times, and the film has grown on me. I’ve grown to appreciate the film to the point that when that final scene in Split plays and we got the reveal of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), I was extremely excited at the prospect of seeing this character revisited. Before I get much further, if you haven’t seen Unbreakable or Split, if you plan on seeing Glass, do yourself a favor and watch the previous films first, and even if you have seen them, it wouldn’t hurt re-watching them just so the films are fresh in your mind while experiencing the conclusion of this trilogy. With all that out of the way, how was the film? It’s time to suit up and find out.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 19th, 2019
Ever have trouble finding two matching socks when trying to get ready in the morning? Ever had to go to school or work with mismatched socks? It is an uncanny phenomenon; all over the world people are losing socks, for them never to return. Well, according to this animated film, we now know who is the cause for the predicament. Apparently living among the human race are little creatures that feed off our socks for sustenance, but they adhere to a strict motto of never eating the full set. OK, obviously that is ridiculous, but it made for an intriguing story for The OddSockEaters, an animated movie based off a popular foreign book series. Looks like another great movie to get the Nalyce stamp of approval on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 17th, 2019
"Our Milky Way Galaxy is just one among billions of galaxies in the universe. In every way an ordinary galaxy. It's 100,000 light years across. There are hundreds of billions of stars here. Lost inside this huge swarm is one average-sized star. As stars go, it's quite unremarkable. Nevertheless, it's the most special place in all the cosmos. Orbiting this star is the only place we know in all the universe to harbor life."
Of course, that place is Earth, and while we can't say for certain, it is truly unlikely to be the only place in this vast universe or even this galaxy to contain life. We might one day have to rethink exactly what that term means one day. But for now, Earth is the only place we know that supports life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 17th, 2019
"I always knew he'd come back. In this town, Michael Myers is a myth. He's the Boogeyman. A ghost story to scare kids. But this Boogeyman is real. An evil like his never stops; it just grows older. Darker. More determined. Forty years ago, he came to my home to kill. He killed my friends, and now he's back to finish what he started, with me. The one person who's ready to stop him."
I was 17 years old when John Carpenter released The Shape, aka Michael Myers, on the world in 1978. It was a milestone film. Of course we didn't know we were watching something that would become so culturally huge. We were the target audience. Teens who were looking for some extra thrill in our films. These so-called slasher films became great escapes of fantasy to bring a date along. For a late-teen, there's no better way to spend an evening with a date than a film that might have her jump right into your lap. Great times. But the reason Halloween stands out from the crowded genre is because John Carpenter knew something about anticipation. He knew how to build towards a scare. And he understood how to use music, shadow, and pacing to truly immerse his audience into a film. I didn't watch Halloween in 1978. I experienced Halloween in 1978.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 17th, 2019
John Travolta is one of those guys I like, but it seems like it has been ages since he’s done a great film. Sure, he was great in The People vs. OJ Simpson where he played attorney Robert Shapiro, but apart from that role, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Travolta really make a splash at the box office. Personally I love seeing the guy on screen. Blow Out, Get Shorty and Pulp Fiction are just a few of my favorite films that he has been in, and I keep hoping his career will bounce back, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’ll be happening any time soon. Speed Kills is a film that has a story that is oozing with so much potential that if it were put in the hands of Brian De Palma or Michael Mann you could almost guarantee this film would be destined for greatness. Unfortunately the result is a frustrating mess that manages to make boat racing and drug smuggling in the age of the “cocaine cowboys” seem boring.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 16th, 2019
These days when the studios are cutting together trailers to promote their upcoming films, I feel one of the number one complaints people have is that the trailer gives too much away, so why bother shelling out the cash to see it on the big screen? When it comes to the trailer for Bad times at the El Royale, it gives you a glimpse at what is to come, but the result is something clever and ambitious. Unfortunately, it feels a bit too familiar. This is the second feature film from writer and director Drew Goddard, who first made a splash onto the screen with his hit film Cabin in the Woods. While I enjoyed his first romp that played with many of horror’s stereotypes, I still felt the film fell a bit flat. Unfortunately, though I enjoyed this fun little noir film he’s put together, I feel it too falls a bit flat, but mostly this is due to its 140-minute runtime.
On The Web
Sponsors
