Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2018
"We've got a whole new game of tiddlywinks."
It's the unlucky 13th season of Supernatural, and it might be the most loaded season ever. We have a basket full of bad guys and gals, and the Winchester Brothers have got their work cut out for them, as if last season wasn't busy enough. The Winchesters found and then lost their Mom. Crowley has finally bit the dust, and he will be greatly missed at least by this fan. Lucifer's son has finally been born, and there are going to be a lot of bad folks wanting to get their hands on that little guy. Of course, he isn't such a little guy any more. He's now the appearance of an older teenager, and he has some mad wicked power. The question is whether Sam and Dean can influence that power for good. Or will he go the way of his Pops and be the poster child for evil? Now if all of this is Greek to you, then you're in the wrong place. You have 12 years of lore to catch up on before you should even consider picking up Supernatural Season 13 from Warner. Check out our long list of reviews here and start binge-watching fast. Once you're caught up continue on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 6th, 2018
There is something about the notion of movie magic that I believe can grab hold of an audience member and pull them from their living room seat and into the story they are watching. This movie magic seems to occur more often these days, as special effects seem to take leaps and bounds every year as new technology is created to dazzle us all. Here’s the thing, though, sure, it’s great how we can now see lifelike 50-story monsters destroying cities, or how underwater worlds can exist, but none of it matters if the story or the characters are not relatable. If the story isn’t there, then your big effects are nothing more than overpriced cartoons that will be forgotten by the time the audience has exited the theater. When it comes to Higher Power, the best way to describe it is to use the overused expression, “all style and no substance.”
Co-writer and director, Matthew Charles Santoro comes from a special effects background, and you can tell he’s leaning heavily on his strengths with this film, and the result is a film that plays out more like a demo reel than an actual movie. Sure, there is a cast of characters to move the story forward, but the problem is none of it makes any sense.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on September 4th, 2018
With Labor Day in the rearview mirror, summer has officially come to an end. Yes, friends...fall is upon us. But while we won't start properly celebrating the spooky season until next month, we are getting a jump on our monster hunting duties this week. Thanks to Warner Bros., we are hitching a ride with the Winchester brothers for Supernatural: Season 13. Warner also takes us back to the first “Bazinga!” with Young Sheldon: Season 1. CBS heads back to the West Coast with NCIS: LA — Season 9, picks the right jury with Bull: Season 2, and books 'em (Danno) with Hawaii 5-0: Season 8. Finally, RLJE Films digs deep with Trench 11, and you can already check out our interview with director/co-writer Leo Scherman.
Before you run off until next week, here's 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: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on September 4th, 2018
This coming Veterans Day will also mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. I'm sure there will be plenty of events to mark the event. WWI is also the subject of the latest horror film out by RLJE Films called Trench 11. It appears those Germans have been developing a bio-weapon deep underground and all is not quiet on the Western front. An elite group of soldiers are sent to unlock the secret and what they find is... That would be telling. I got the story directly from the film's director and co-writer Leo Scherman. Now you can eavesdrop on our chat. Just bang it here and listen to my conversation with Leo Scherman.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 3rd, 2018
Amazon Prime Video is beginning to offer new scripted drama shows on their streaming service. One of the more recently acclaimed is a Jack Ryan series. That gives Paramount a great opportunity to take advantage of the situation and release the five Jack Ryan films on UHD/4K. Whatever the excuse, I'm happy to see these films get the UHD treatment. The release includes The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger, The Sum Of All Fears and Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit. It's a chance to see Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine all take the Tom Clancy CIA analyst to the big screen. You don't have to pick your favorite, because they're all here.
This is the film that literally started a trend. Within a decade, submarine films would make a huge comeback in the big-budget film industry. Titles like Crimson Tide, U-571, and K-19: The Widowmaker all took a little from Red October. Maybe the Cold War is over, but our fascination with that modern version of cowboys and Indians doesn’t seemed to have waned much in the last nearly 20 years. While our relationship with Russia might be up and down over the last two decades, there is still a part of our culture that can’t seem to let go of that classic game of good guys and bad guys. It’s not unique to the former Soviet Union by any means. World War II has been over for more than 60 years, but the occasional Nazi bad guys still make their presence known from time to time. Maybe it’s those accents. Whatever the reason, the seemingly dated subject matter of Red October is never a liability to the film. When Red October came out, the Soviet Union had just fallen a mere two years earlier, and there were some who suggested the film was an inappropriate reminder of those recent bygone days and might even be considered a slap in the face to the new regime in Russia. Fortunately this was not one of those instances where Hollywood let its often hypocritical sense of political correctness get in the way of a great film.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on September 1st, 2018
Social media, along with our growing number of mobile devices, are dominating our lives. Today it's how we shop. It's how we communicate. Hell, it's how we date. For many of us, our devices have become how we see and experience the world around us. The new electronic culture has also changed our movie experience, as more and more films and television shows are going directly to our devices instead of our television and multiplex screens. It's also changed the way films are made. Recently, I reviewed a film shot completely on an iPhone. It should come as no surprise that a film would come along that tells its entire story through the lenses of these devices. It's a natural extension of the found-footage genre and has been used in many films already. Searching delivers its entire story through the "eyes" of these devices. But this is more than a concept film. Searching gives us compelling drama and makes a significant emotional connection without ever breaking character. I found it to be a film with style and substance. That's a rare combination, and so Searching is well worth the visit to your local cinema. That is, if you can put your devices down long enough to enjoy it.
As the film begins, we get to see the evolution of the Kim family through their social media posts, their video and photograph posts, and their communications. We watch Margot (La) grow from a young girl to a teenager. We share the triumphs and tragedies of their lives, particularly the loss of her mother, through these posts and snapshots. With videos and posts we spy on the family's unfolding sorrow as Margot's mother slowly succumbs to cancer. We get to see the dynamics of a father and daughter dealing with the loss, and all through the window of various electronic devices. One night Margot goes missing ,and her father (Cho) begins to investigate where she might have gone. We witness the moment when he realizes how much of his daughter's online life he didn't know. The unknown passwords and who her friends really were. David Kim becomes an internet detective as he peels away each layer of her life. And all of this is seen through the eyes of apps, database programs, and social media.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 30th, 2018
Criminal Minds is about to enter its 14th season, and unlike some of the other long-running shows on CBS, this one has had a fair share of bad luck. Cast members have gone, and even returned after a couple of years. A year ago the show's top star gets fired for physically threatening people on the set. The series has had two attempts to spin off, but unlike CSI or NCIS, neither show could get out of its second year alive. Not even Gary Sinise could save the franchise. It's understandable that as the series went into its 13th year, fans were just asking themselves what can go wrong now. It turns out that 13 was a lucky year for Criminal Minds. There weren't any big cast shakeups, and the show has gotten back its legs and delivered one of the better years of its run. If you've been away hoping for the show to get back on track, this is the season for you to rejoin.
While no one appears to be leaving after this season, year 13 brought in a couple of the characters from Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, and unfortunately, none of them was named Sinise. It turns out to be a case of good news and bad news for the BAU team. The bad news comes in the guise of Kim Rhodes, who played the rather nasty assistant Director Linda Barnes. She spent a few weeks on the spinoff and joins here as an internal threat to the team. She's out to break them up. Her episodes bring a lot of team tension to the show, and she's pretty much like a threat from within. Fortunately, she isn't long for the show, and we get back to the traditional storytelling. Kim Rhodes is actually a pretty good actress, and many fans know her best as Sheriff Jody Mills from Supernatural, where she almost had her own spinoff of that show.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 30th, 2018
You can’t call your TV show Masters of Sex and not expect to elicit a few chuckles. (You also can’t be surprised if people go looking for it on Skinemax Cinemax rather than Showtime.) But placing its titillating title aside, Masters of Sex turned out to be an engaging, often-excellent, and low-key adventurous period drama for four seasons. The show shined brightest when it was conveying the thrill of discovery and exploration. (Also, it turns out there was a fair amount of sex.)
The series is based on the Thomas Maier biography, “Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love.” (Excellent call by Showtime and the creators paring title down.) The real-life duo studied human sexuality from the late 1950s until the 1990s. The show’s first season chronicles their first meeting, as well as the relentless effort it took to get their pioneering sex study off the ground.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 30th, 2018
After two seasons it seemed as though Lucifer had finally found its niche, and I was looking forward to seeing what season three would have in store. The story of Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) as the devil who has been vacationing on Earth is a fitting guilty pleasure of mine. This isn’t a show aiming to win Emmys; it’s simply a show that wants to indulge its audience for 44 minutes of fun, and week after week, it succeeds in doing just that. When Season 2 left off, Lucifer was kidnapped and left in the desert, and his wings had been returned to him. This is pretty much right where Season 3 picks up, and as expected, it’s a helluva fun ride.
Lucifer getting his wings back is a pretty big deal, and Season 3 spends a lot of time getting into what this all means and the sacrifice Lucifer made when he first removed his wings. This only further complicates things between Lucifer and his brother, Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside), who is now struggling with finding his purpose considering Lucifer has his wings back, while to Amenadiel’s dismay his wings have not returned. In episode 11, City of Angels, we get a flashback to when Lucifer first lost his wings. Personally this is one of my favorite episodes, and it feels like the writers and the cast had a lot of fun with this episode that is all about when Lucifer decided he wanted to stay on Earth. Everything from Lucifer and Amenadiel crashing a porn set to Amenadiel training to be a “human” fighter (with a sweet little homage to The Karate Kid), I mean, this episode is a fun ride.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 28th, 2018
"Ain't nobody feeling Team Kid Flash."
When Season 3 ended on The Flash, Barry Allen/The Flash (Gustin) is trapped inside the Speed Force where he sacrificed himself to free his friends. Months later we find Wally West/Kid Flash (Lonsdale) acting as the team's speedster. Iris (Patton) is now in charge of the team, while Caitlin (Panabaker) has left to tend bar, mostly running from her Killer Frost persona. Joe West (Martin) is lending police support where he can, and Cisco (Valdes) has honed his teleportation skills and gets the players where they need to be. But they are barely holding their heads above water, and the stress is finally getting to them. And that was before a robotic Samurai arrives threatening to destroy Central City if the team doesn't bring him The Flash. Of course Cisco comes up with a plan to free Barry, and it's no spoiler here to reveal that he does just that. After all, the show isn't called Kid Flash. It's called The Flash, and Barry is always going to be a key ingredient to that name. If all of this sounds a bit confusing to you, you're starting in the wrong place. Check out our reviews of the previous three years here.
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