Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 8th, 2018
My first attempt at watching Mandy wasn’t a successful one. After fifteen minutes I was nodding off, so I stopped it and held off viewing it for another night. This isn’t a movie you want to throw on too late at night. The first half is definitely a slow burn, but once this film picks up steam, you are in for one crazy, psychedelic, violent experience that will leave an impression on you. It’s no surprise that Mandy has already developed a buzz through the internet and is well on its way to becoming a cult classic. Is the hype for this film real? Can Nicolas Cage still deliver a memorable performance as his career has seemed to have dissolved into constant direct-to-DVD content? Well, the short answer to both these questions is yes, but this film is not for everyone, and to a degree I may be on the fence on the first half of this film.
Red (Nicolas Cage) is living the simple life in the woods as a logger and living with his girlfriend, Mandy (Andrea Riseborough). Mandy is a bit of an artist and enjoys reading fantasy novels. One could assume her and Red’s fate could easily be the storyline of one of the books that she’s read; their story is the fodder of hellish nightmares. Our time with Red and Mandy is spent showing us how well they work together as a couple, but it’s done so in a way that is filled with flat and monotone performances, with a drone-filled score that gently lulls the audience to the brink of sleep or boredom. This all changes when we meet Jeremiah (Linus Roache) and his loyal cult. It’s a strange obsession at first sight for Jeremiah when he sees Mandy for the first time and demands that she be brought to him, and everything that follows is simply another step further down this insane rabbit-hole that director Panos Cosmatos has orchestrated for us.
Posted in: The Reel World by John Delia on November 8th, 2018
By John Delia Jr.
The fabled story of the Nutcracker has many experiences, from plays, to musicals, to theater, and to operas; it has entertained us all for a century. What if these stories are real, and these Christmas toys really do have a world of their own? That would be a tale we all would love to hear. Enter Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. After the death of their mother, Clara (Mackenzie Foy), Fritz (Tom Sweet), Louise (Ellie Bamber), and their father, Mr. Stahbaum (Matthew Macfadyen), must endure the Christmas holidays without her. Struggling to move on with the events of the season, Mr. Stahbaum pushes them all to attend the annual event at Drosselmeyer’s house.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on November 6th, 2018
This week’s Round Up can best be summed up with one word: incredible. Disney has released its superpowered smash hit Incredibles 2 on Blu-ray, so keep an eye on the site for our review a little later this week. The Mouse House also returns to the Hundred Acre Wood to re-connect with Christopher Robin. Elsewhere, CBS fights The Good Fight: Season 2 and revisits a pair of TV hits from the past by casting a spell with Charmed: Season 1 and getting resourceful with MacGyver: Season 1. RLJE Films travels Beyond the Sky and pours its Blood, Sweat and Terrors into an action-packed anthology. Finally, Shout! Studios shares a few of its favorite things with a 60th anniversary edition of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music Live to commemorate the Broadway classic.
On the big screen, Fox Searchlight asks Can You Ever Forgive Me, while Universal gets green and mean with Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch. And now it's time for your customary reminder: 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 J C on November 5th, 2018
“We had a job to do.”
When The Americans received a two-season renewal back in 2016, the news was met with unanimous enthusiasm. Fans of FX’s acclaimed (but low-rated) spy drama were guaranteed two more years’ worth of stories, while TV critics applauded the fact that creator Joe Weisberg and Co. could carefully plot out their show’s endgame. Sadly, the first half of that deal resulted in a penultimate fifth season that frustratingly punted a lot of the show’s more pressing plotlines. The sixth and final season of The Americans offers a thrilling and heartbreaking conclusion, even though it also kind of comes off as the brilliant kid who waited until the very end to cram before a big test.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 2nd, 2018
When I think of buddy cop movies, two movies spring to mind as favorites. No, not Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop. Not Bad Boys 2 and Rush Hour, either. While all of those are good films, the best for me are Hot Fuzz and 48 Hours. 48 Hours was a classic match-up of Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte, while Hot Fuzz lampooned every single cliche they could think of and then some. Also, if you said The Heat or Ride Along as your two favorite buddy cop movies, I'm going to need you to move along. Move along to reading my Blu-ray review for Dragnet, because seriously, you need better taste.
"Because even in the City of Angels, from time to time, some halos slip. That's where I come in, doing my job to the best of my ability on a daily basis. I work here. I carry a badge."
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 1st, 2018
"Is this the real life or is this just fantasy?"
I think even Queen's biggest fans might have trouble distinguishing between the two in the Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. And that's absolutely okay. If you look at the film's trailers, the movie looks less like a bio-film and more like a celebration, and that's exactly the kind of experience you're going to have from beginning to end. I'm sure that a lot of film and Queen fans shared more than a little skepticism over the project. I know that I certainly did. But all of that magically disappeared when the first trailer hit the internet and we all watched in amazement as actor Rami Malek appears to be channeling the manic spirit of Queen front man Freddie Mercury down to the smallest of detail. Suddenly I believed that everything was going to be okay. But just as our hopes and expectations were about to hit the ceiling, the film started gathering controversy after controversy like a snowball rolling down a steep hill in the winter. Everyone already had an opinion before the film was even finished. For months the web has been filled with issue after issue, and it all seemed to threaten the buzz we all got from the trailers. We're going to talk about those issues, to be sure. If you let any of that filtercrap keep you from checking out Bohemian Rhapsody, you're going to be missing the next best thing to actually seeing Freddie and the boys live in concert. Since that's not going to happen, this is where you want to be.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2018
"It's alive!"
After nearly 90 years the Universal Horror cycle stands as one of the most enduring collection of horror movies today. Their influence on modern horror is unmistakable. There have been literally thousands of incarnations of Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster, but the first image that comes to your mind will always be the nightmare creations of those Universal films. Studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr. was trying to break away from his father's control and create a studio culture of his own. The results would start in 1931 when an unknown Hungarian actor named Bela Lugosi jumped from the stage to the screen in Dracula directed by Tod Browning. Laemmle's niece, Carla Laemmle, is the girl in the coach headed for Borgo Pass as the film opens to the musical strains from Swan Lake. She is reading a travel brochure about vampires and thus speaks the very first lines ever spoken in a horror film in the era of sound. Lugosi was mesmerizing, and the film was a hit. There was a depression on, but that didn't stop crowds from lining up around theater blocks to be hypnotized by Lugosi's Dracula.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2018
The Matrix (1999) was a landmark film in the Sci-Fi genre. While its box office intake was dwarfed by Episode 1, it was The Matrix that had people talking. Andy and Larry Wachowski’s story of a post-apocalyptic world where humans serve as biological generators of energy for the machines that rule the planet challenged people’s perceptions of what reality was. Computer hacker extraordinaire Neo (Reeves) has this gut feeling that life isn’t all that it seems to be. Turns out he’s right in a big way. A group of revolutionaries led by the thought-to-be-mythical Morpheus (Fishburne) open his eyes to the Matrix.
The Matrix, it turns out, is nothing more than an elaborate computer-generated reality intended to mollify humanity who are in reality nothing more than sheep, or in this case a renewable energy source, to feed the machines that have inherited the Earth. Morpheus believes Neo is “The One”, a prophesized savior who can bend the Matrix to his own will, who will eventually lead humanity out of slavery. What follows is enough eye candy to give an army of Swiss chocolate factory workers diabetes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 31st, 2018
So the director had my undivided attention until he went completely sideways. I mean, I was engaged; I was feeling the message behind the film. I found the characters to be original, and the things that they had to say were unlike anything I had seen in recent years. Not to mention that opening scene was the perfect way to bring the audience into this world; and then it all came crashing down. Despite this disappointment, Sorry to Bother You remains among one of the most creative cinematic experiences that I had this year. I wanted very much to love the film, but sadly I can’t say that. I liked it a lot, especially the first half. It is the kind of film that was likely the gem of the film festival circuit. The number one slot at the box office will be out of reach for it, though.
The movie is centered around Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield, Straight Outta Compton), a directionless young man who has yet to find something that matters to him. He lives in his uncle’s garage, and he is struggling to find work. Needless to say, he does not have a lot of hope, with the exception of his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson, Creed), a talented artist and revolutionary who brings sunshine into our lead’s otherwise dreary world. Eventually he finds work as a telemarketer, but he has trouble keeping his customers on the line. You all should understand; what is your number-one response when someone tries to sell you something? It is only when he receives a tip from a coworker to use his “white voice” that things begin to turn around for him. Suddenly, he begins to rack up sells left and right, causing him to quickly rise through the hierarchy of the company.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 30th, 2018
Apollo 18 at one time was meant to be one of several missions NASA had set up that would take astronauts back to the moon. Due to the fallout from the incident involving Apollo 13 and budget cuts, all the missions were scrapped and focus shifted to the shuttle program. Conspiracy theories have seemed to always swirl around the Apollo missions, the more famous being about whether or not man ever reached the lunar surface and whether everything we saw about the moon landing was really filmed on a Hollywood soundstage. The Landing takes things a step further as a faux-documentary about an Apollo 18 launch that resulted in one of NASA’s greatest disasters (that never happened).
The films focus is on Bo Cunningham (Don Hannah), who was the pilot for the Apollo 18 mission. A lot of effort is put into having us believe that he was part of this old shuttle mission, as we are shown numerous old photos of a young Cunningham in NASA clothing and interviews with those that were part of the NASA program. All this is nicely done to set up for the disaster where there was a mishap during reentry and Cunningham was forced to crash-land in the desert of western China. Where the conspiracy aspect comes into play is, did Bo cause their mishap on purpose?
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