Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2018
There's a lot going on with Fox's X-Men property these days. Legion became the first live-action television series based on that universe. It's an odd show that takes the franchise in more of a mental direction. There is a new film that features the First Class cast that deals with Jean Grey and her Dark Phoenix nature. While that film is being delayed...again, you can get your mutant fix with the release of the first season of The Gifted on DVD as well as the upcoming second season soon to air. This show is more in line with the kind of action and mutant powers display that fans of the franchise are likely looking for. It appears to exist in the X-Men universe created by Fox, as there are multiple mentions of the X-Men in the show. The first three films are now out in 4K, and there's a lot of X-Men stuff coming to your home theatre. Add to that list The Gifted: Season 1 on DVD.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2018
Mention the name J.K. Rowling, and the first thing that pops into your head is Harry Potter. She was a struggling writer just getting out of a bad marriage when her first Potter book took the world by storm. Now she's the wealthiest woman on the planet. The problem has been her life has since been Harry Potter all the time. I can well understand why she might want to find a way to distance future novels from all of that hype and expectation. So she invented Robert Galbraith and wrote a series of detective novels based on a character named C. B. Strike. The novels didn't come close to the sales of a Potter novel, but they did fairly well, particularly in England. So BBC One and HBO got together for a joint production of the show for both England and the United States. The result is a kind of mini-series that tackles three of the novels in seven hour-long episodes starring Tom Burke as the title character.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on October 2nd, 2018
It's here! The calendar has officially turned to October, which means it's time to dim the lights, dial up the frights, and celebrate 31 Nights of Terror. We'll be highlighting a different horror-themed offering every day this month, including The Originals: The Fifth and Final Season from Warner Bros. RLJE Films is wide awake for Sleep No More and lives in wedded bliss with The Housewife. (Be sure to check out our interview with Housewife star David Sakurai.) Random Media returns to The Landing to unearth a past trauma, while Paramount steps behind the plate for WWII drama The Catcher Was a Spy. Finally, Fox dials up 911: Season 1.
There's also a pair of big-time, big screen releases we'll be reviewing a little later this week: Bradley Cooper directs (and sings along with) Lady Gaga in A Star is Born, while Tom Hardy suits up for Sony's Venom. 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: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2018
31 Nights Of Terror is off to a quick start this year. RLJE Films is getting into the fray with their release of Housewife staring David Sakurai as Bruce O'Hara. It's out today on DVD. David plays a mystical cult leader who makes a rather extraordinary connection to the film's lead actress. I also had a chance to connect with David. We talked about the film and his motivation for the character. Now you get to make a connection and listen in on our conversation. Just bang it here to listen to my interview with David Sakurai.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 28th, 2018
"How will we be remembered? Will it be for saving the world...Twice? Nope. We're the team who broke time. That's right. History has been torn to shreds, which means it's up to us to put it back together again, piece by piece, finding these so-called anachronisms before we get torn to shreds. So please, don't call us heroes. We're legends."
At the end of the second season the team broke one of the cardinal rules of time travel. You can't revisit a time and place that you already visited. The result is that you break time, and that's exactly what the Legends of Tomorrow have done. The result is that they have been recalled and dismissed from service by the newly-formed Bureau of Time. Now our legends are back in the mundane world, where Sara (Lotz) is working as a clerk at a bed and shower store, having fantasies of killing her boss.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 28th, 2018
“Told you it was aliens.”
What if Michael Bay was Australian and he was only given $6 million to make an alien invasion movie? The result might look a lot like Occupation, a rollicking, gleefully dumb sci-fi/action flick that works best as a throwback to simpler (i.e. dumber) times at the multiplex. But while Occupaton has its charms, the movie's shoddy special effects and production values consistently undermine the kickass story it's trying to tell.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 27th, 2018
“So here we are...in the belly of the beast. A lot of power and money in this room.”
That cheeky line came from Iggy Pop during The Stooges' induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. It's also featured in Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert — Encore, a wonderfully comprehensive collection of the four induction ceremonies between 2010 and 2013. The 2-disc Blu-ray set features over 8 hours of content, including full induction speeches and 44 musical performances from rock and roll icons and rising stars. Iggy was right about the power and money in the room; this set features some of the biggest names in the history of music...plus A-listers like Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2018
"Is there life out there? Good heavens! To doubt it is a failure of more than the imagination. It is a failure to recognize the limits of our own stupidity. The nascency of our science. The rudiment of our tools. We listen. We search. We hope for a sign, as if our eyes and ears are good enough, our brains large enough, our egos small enough."
By the time The X-Files had reached its seventh season, the two stars of the show were feeling the stress of doing over 20 episodes of the series every year. In the eighth season David Duchovny was going MIA, and Gillian Anderson's Scully character had a new partner in Robert Patrick's Agent Doggett.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2018
Are you feeling a little déjà vu when you turn on a television or live stream these days? It seems like almost half the shows on television today are either revivals or reboots of shows that have aired before. Recently there have been revivals of The X-Files, 24, Prison Break, Growing Pains, Roseanne, and even Murphy Brown. The box office is filled with feature films of Star Trek, The Equalizer and Baywatch. While Tom Selleck is playing a family patriarch on Blue Bloods, Jay Hernandez is in Hawaii driving a bright red Ferrari in a new version of Magnum P.I. Hawaii 5-O is one of the most popular shows on CBS, and Charmed is bewitching an entire new generation of streamers on the internet.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2018
"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."
Yes, those lines open this Star Wars story, because the filmmakers want to be sure you know what you're watching. This is Star Wars. Just in case there was anyone at all in the audience who had no idea they just bought a ticket to Star Wars. If he were dead, George Lucas would be rolling over in his grave. Instead, maybe he's just having some restless nights with little sleep. It is Star Wars. And that means there will be a droid as a main character, space battles, and some good old fashioned one-reel-serial-days adventure. It's a heck of a visual amusement park ride, and the film will certainly entertain. But I have to open by saying it is my least favorite of the Disney Star Wars films to date.
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