The Love You Save
Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 17th, 2012
A wealthy mother of three has a secret revealed about her past when her well-meaning son brings a homeless man over for dinner. This production is a play that has been filmed (not adapted) with a laugh-track spliced in, making it resemble a television show. It’s meant to be inspirational but it’s really just a big mess.
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Lincoln
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 16th, 2012
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this…”
These were strong words, and the man who spoke them was certainly a dominant figure in American history.
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Friends: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 16th, 2012
“So no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job’s a joke, you’re broke, your love life’s D O A. It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear. When it hasn’t been your day, your week ,your month or even your year. But I’ll be there for you…”
And for ten years and 236 episodes, they were there for you. It was part of NBC’s famous Must See TV Thursday Night. The show has been a perennial Top 10 placeholder in the Nielsen ratings.
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The Day (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 16th, 2012
To be a cannibal or not to be? That seems to be the question we will all have to ask ourselves if we ever go on to live in a post-apocalyptic society. Sure it’s in the name of survival, but can things really get so bad that one day I could be huddled up with a group of survivors and everyone wondering whose the next to keel over and if there are any special recipes someone would like to try out? Remember it’s all in the name of survival,
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Disasters Deconstructed: A History of Architectural Disasters
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 16th, 2012
“This is your wake-up call.”
History is replete with disasters. Some are natural or acts of God. We see them almost every year. It might be a hurricane in the Gulf or an earthquake in South America. Lives are often lost, and damages toll into the millions. We can’t completely predict them. All we can do is try to be prepared when the next one strikes.
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Astonishing X-Men Collection (Blu-Ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 15th, 2012
Most of you reading this now have probably seen my reviews for part 2 and part 3 of this series. Well, the wonderful people at Shout Factory sent me a compilation disc in blu-ray nevertheless and I am very excited to bring it to the reading public for review. The important medium of digital or motion comics is about to receive its most significant package yet. But enough about an introduction, lets directly dive into the complete collection of Astonishing X-Men or better known as the Joss Whedon run of X-Men.
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2012
“Nice Greek girls are supposed to do three things: marry Greek boys, make Greek babies, and feed everyone until the day we die.”
If ever a movie could be negatively affected by monstrous box office numbers, it’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. When a five-million-dollar film rides a tsunami of critical buzz and excellent word-of-mouth past the two hundred million dollar box office gross (finally ending somewhere over $230 million), it’s impossible to see it for the first time completely free of expectation.
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Alice: The Complete Second Season
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 15th, 2012
“Early to rise, early to bed. And in and between I cooked and cleaned and went out of my head.”
There was a new girl in town for the 1976 television season. Well, she wasn’t exactly new. The whole thing started out as a feature film called Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore starring Ellen Burstyn as the title character Alice Hyatt. The film was one of the first feature films directed by Martin Scorsese. Burstyn won the Oscar for her performance as Alice, and the film achieved a ton of critical acclaim and two years later a sit-com on CBS that lasted nine seasons.
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Brave (Ultimate Collector’s Edition) (Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2012
“The ancients spoke of it. It is the heart of this fierce land. It is carried in the wind. Born of our legends, and when we are put to the test, it is the one thing that we must always be.”
Readers of this site already know that I have a particular fondness for most of the films that have come from Pixar. The studio pretty much invented the computer-animated feature film, and they’ve been setting the bar higher with each new release. I’ve always thought it was rather fitting that the studio ended up as part of Disney. After all, it was the Mouse House that invented the animated feature to begin with
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American Restoration: Volume 2
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2012
“Remember back in the day when things were made by hand and people took pride in their work? My name is Rick Dale, and I bring these things back to life.”
If you watch Pawn Stars on History, than Rick Dale really needs no introduction. From time to time the Pawn Stars guys get in something that they want to have restored to increase its value. For most of those projects they go to Rick and his team. Now Rick’s gotten his own spinoff series, and it’s set up very much like the other show, from the grunge guitar soundtrack to some of the same wheel-and-deal aspects.
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We Can’t Go Home Again & Don’t Expect Too Much
Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 14th, 2012
There are two films that are on the main disc; an experimental film by Nicholas Ray and a documentary by Susan Ray about the making of said film. They are perfect companions on this release and I feel one is crucial for the other, therefore I’m going to treat neither as simply a “Bonus.”
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Hirokin
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 13th, 2012
As a moviegoer, I love my share of epics. The bigger the storyline, the bigger the world, the more I probably enjoy it. Oh, it has to be sci fi/fantasy related too. Fantasy worlds in particular are often amazing since the creator is making it up from scratch. Today, we visit the world Aradius, a land where a very special mineral plays a very important part in the story. The story you ask? The story of Hirokin, the Last Samurai. Let’s explore, shall we?
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Snowmageddon (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 13th, 2012
People make fun of us Floridians for a variety of reasons. (Some of them don’t even involve our performance in presidential elections.) One of the most popular ways out-of-staters in the northern part of the country — as well as our Canadian readers — mock us is by chuckling whenever we dash to our closets and dust off our winter wear as soon as the weather dips below 60 degrees. So I can’t even imagine how we’d handle a full-blown Snowmageddon!
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Nitro Circus The Movie
Posted in No Huddle by Brent Lorentson on November 13th, 2012
What do you get when you mix Jackass with stunt master Evil Knievel? Well, you end up with the Nitro Circus. This group of guys (and one girl) is made up from a variety of extreme sports athletes and guys that simply enjoy pushing the limits of safety and sanity all for the sake of the ultimate adrenaline rush. Is this something that really needed to be a movie? Does anyone really want to see grown men (and one woman) doing bike jumps 400 feet in the air? Hell yeah we do!
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Outpost: Black Sun
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on November 13th, 2012
Think 28 days later set in 1945 with Nazis, or at least that was my first interpretation of Outpost: Black Sun. Considering how relatable it seems to that film, and being a huge fan of the Danny Boyle series, I really wanted to like Outpost. In reality, however, it took multiple viewings of the beginning for me to grasp the plot of the movie. Now I believe myself to by a fairly intelligent guy, so the idea of having to watch the beginning of a film more than once to comprehend the plot is enough to make me write a movie off. However, once I made it out of my cloud of confusion, something happened…it got interesting.
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Aim High: The Complete First Season
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on November 13th, 2012
“Killing is easy. High school is hard.”
Granted that it’s generally not really a good idea to endorse a series that advertises the idea of high school assassin (especially something that uses the quote seen above), but when it is done as well as Aim High, you sort of have to roll with it. A web series equipped with comedy, stunts, and a little bit of teenage melodrama, Aim High does in a fraction of the time what so many television shows failed to do…entertain.
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Fire With Fire (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 12th, 2012
“Every man’s got his dark side”
This is the most fitting quote to describe the exploration of Fire with Fire. My intrigue began with the film’s title, I just love that title. Nowadays most film titles have been reduced to using the name of one of the characters or including “the” in the title; it’s refreshing to have a title that encompasses the overall plot of the film. TV director and reputable stunt coordinator David Barrett takes the director seat for his first feature film (a quick IMDB search would tell you that this step was long overdue)
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Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 10th, 2012
After watching Tyler Perry’s Awkward Attempt at Action Stardom less than a month ago, it was oddly comforting to see the multi-media superstar back in his wheelhouse. Don’t get me wrong: I like to see a performer expand his horizons. It’s just that Perry looks infinitely more comfortable in his signature character’s wig and muumuu than tracking down a serial killer and grimly saying things like “I will meet his soul at the gates of hell before I let him take a person that I love from me.”
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Skyfall
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 9th, 2012
“Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don’t really go in for that sort of thing anymore.”
It was 1962 and Ursula Andress emerged from the tropical island surf sporting a provocative swimsuit, and a tradition was born. The seductive scene would become the first iconic image in a line that has lasted a half a century and counting. Fifty years; 23 movies makes it the longest running film franchise in motion picture history. He had many faces over those 50 years: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, George Lazenby and even David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen in a 1967 spoof. For the last three films he’s been played by Daniel Craig. They all had somewhat different styles. They all had a line of beautiful women. They all faced different challenges and foes. But they all shared the same name: Bond…James Bond.
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Metalocalypse Season Four (Blu-Ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 8th, 2012
My favorite genre of music to make fun of is Metal (even though I like listening to it). As an example, This is Spinal Tap, the best musical mockumentary ever, we learn that metal can be freaking hilarious. That’s why when my webmaster offered me Metalocalypse Season Four on Blu-Ray, I eagerly said yes even though I had only seen the cartoon once or twice. However, once I opened it up, I realized before me was perhaps one of the funniest dark comedic cartoons I have ever seen.
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Tyler Perry’s: Meet the Browns Season 7
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on November 8th, 2012
“Hold up! Wait a minute! Let me put some Brown in it.”
With this DVD I learned a valuable lesson (several actually), about not judging a book by its cover. Around the time it was announced that this show would premiere on TBS, I was in the middle of watching Tyler Perry’s first series on TBS, House of Payne. Assuming that Meet the Browns would nothing more than a variation on what House of Payne was, I ignored this show.
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Queen: Greatest Video Hits
Posted in No Huddle by J C on November 7th, 2012
Please put down the torches. The mediocre rating you see attached to this review is in no way an indictment of Queen, one of rock history’s most iconic bands fronted by, arguably, the best male vocalist of all time. No, this mediocre rating is specific to this two-disc DVD collection of Freddy Mercury and Co’s music video oeuvre.
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Tyler Perry’s I Don’t Want to Do Wrong – The Play
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on November 7th, 2012
Is it “absence makes the heart grow fonder” or “out of sight, out of mind”? That is the principle question of Tyler’s Perry’s newest stage creation, I Don’t Want To Do Wrong. As usual Tyler Perry continues to demonstrate his mastery of wearing multiple hats, acting as writer, director, and producer. It only requires watching this play a quarter of the way through before realizing that in the world of stage work, Perry has no equal. Balancing comedy, spirituality, and an important message, there’s no wonder why Tyler Perry has become the king of playwrights.
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Nazi Collaborators
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 5th, 2012
For those who do not know, I am half polish. My mother was born in Poland during the 1950’s after the second World War. Often through my youth I would ask my mother for stories of World War II from her father. However, this was met with much resistance as my grandfather was rather tight lipped about anything that happened in that time period. It was understandable, but I still wanted to learn. In fact, today we visit World War II and more specifically the Nazi Collaborators in our dvd review.
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Ruby Sparks (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 4th, 2012
“Quirky, messy women whose problems only make them endearing are not real.”
On the surface, Ruby Sparks could be mistaken for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl biopic no one asked for. In case you’re not familiar with this particular cinematic archetype, MPDG derisively describes any unabashedly artsy, quirky young female character that inevitably brightens the life of a brooding, young male protagonist. However, the quote at the start of this review only hints at the fact that this whimsical romantic comedy isn’t afraid to stare down the ugly side of relationships.
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