Bounce (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on April 10th, 2012
Ben Affleck’s dating life wreaked plenty of havoc on the moviegoing public during the early part of the 2000s. We all know about the infamous Gigli and Jersey Girl debacles with Jennifer Lopez. (It didn’t even matter that J. Lo was barely in Jersey Girl — which actually has a few cute moments — or that the indefensible Gigli was just a deeply weird flick which happened to star two of the world’s most famous, romantically-involved movie stars.) The film usually left off this dubious category is Bounce, a soggy romantic drama starring Affleck and former squeeze Gwyneth Paltrow.
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Astonishing X-Men – Dangerous
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 10th, 2012
I have read more than my fair share of comic books. In recent years, I made the jump into graphic novels which are basically the same thing with a fancy cover. There is also another trend that I have seen from time to time in the last several years, digital comics on dvd (and occasionally blu-ray). The concept of taking a comic, adding voices, sound effects and a little motion and coming out with a product that can reach new and old audiences. Let us take a look at Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous.
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Thou Shalt Not Kill… Except (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on April 10th, 2012
“Don’t you ever touch the sacrificial fluids… okey dokey?”
“Okey dokey” indeed; in 1985, director Josh Becker gathered his friends, including Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and they shot Thou Shalt Not Kill… Except in Detroit around Campbell’s childhood home. Working with a microscopic budget, they created a tribute to the savage exploitation films of the sixties and seventies, full of bad lighting, crappy sets, leaden acting, cheap makeup gags, horrible dialog, and a certain goofy infectious fun.
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Jo Koy: Lights Out
Posted in No Huddle by Brent Lorentson on April 10th, 2012
Back in 2009 comedian Jo Koy had his first comedy central special Don’t Make Him Angry and it made him a comedy star. I had caught his previous special on comedy central and had seen him do spots on the late night circuit, so I somewhat knew what I was getting into. I have to say, though, I was more than a little surprised how much he’s improved with time. Not to say he needed improvement before , but it seems with Lights Out he’s hit his stride and has polished himself, and he simply just knows how to work a room.
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Renee Zellweger 4 Film Collection
Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on April 10th, 2012
Miramax and Lionsgate have released two film collections starring American actresses who from time to time talk with British accents, Gwyneth Paltrow and Renee Zellweger. Lionsgate is flying high now with the gigantic success of The Hunger Games shooting its stock price through the roof. It’s time to visit the vault and relive some past successes. Renee Zellweger is one of those actresses that is hard to pin down.
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Gwyneth Paltrow 4 Film Collection
Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on April 10th, 2012
Miramax and Lionsgate have released film collections starring American actresses who from time to time talk with British accents, Gwyneth Paltrow and Renee Zellweger. Lionsgate is flying high now with the gigantic success of The Hunger Games shooting its stock price through the roof. It’s time to visit the vault and relive some past successes.
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Titanoboa: Monster Snake (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2012
“In the pantheon of predators, it’s one of the greatest discoveries since the T-Rex: a snake 48 feet long, weighing in at 2,500 pounds. Uncovered from a treasure trove of fossils in a Colombian coal mine, this serpent is revealing a lost world of giant creatures. Travel back to the period following the extinction of dinosaurs and encounter this monster predator.”
With a title like Titanoboa: Monster Snake you might be expecting the latest huge monster mash-up from Roger Corman
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The Killing: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2012
The Killing began life as a Danish television series. We are used to seeing British shows reinvented for American audiences, but it’s rare to find something from Danish television that someone found so compelling they decided to work it for the competitive American television landscape. It’s no surprise that such an effort would find its way on cable rather than network television, where boundaries can really be pushed and explored.
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Animals United
Posted in No Huddle by Brent Lorentson on April 6th, 2012
To just look at the cover of this DVD you would expect this would be your average run-of-the-mill talking animal kids’ film. Instead Animals United comes off as a call to arms for children to save the planet before it is too late. I could say how this movie suffers from having a weak script filled with the same characters we’ve seen from dozens of children’s films before, but that would just be too easy. Instead I want to praise this film, for while it lacked originality I appreciate the boldness of the message they are trying to send.
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Real Adventures of Johnny Quest: Season One, Volume Two
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 6th, 2012
Review writers like regular authors often have difficult times coming up with beginnings. Personally, I like to use an event from my history or relate some curious fact that parlays into the review. I figure I will be spending eight to ten paragraphs about the actual product, why waste the time and do more. Well today, I am reviewing the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest and let us just say if it was up to me, I would deviate as much from the source as I humanly could. But onto the review I go.
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Chinatown (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 6th, 2012
Roman Polanski’s seminal neo-noir finally makes it to Blu-ray. Gino has already handled the previous DVD release, so I’m going to turn the reins over to him for a while, then jump back in.
“Jake Gittes is a Chandler style detective with all of the trappings. From the office to the secretary and the cop friend, Gittes is a cliché. He appears to specialize in tracking down extramarital affairs. When he’s hired to keep an eye on a rich millionaire, the subject turns up dead, and maybe it wasn’t his wife at all who hired him. Gittes now must investigate to save his own hide. His investigation leads him to a corrupt water department taking advantage of a manufactured drought. His client has a dark secret that only complicates Gittes’ efforts.
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Jb Smoove: That’s How I Dooz It
Posted in No Huddle by Brent Lorentson on April 5th, 2012
When I first got this DVD I really had no idea what to expect. The title of the stand-up act, That’s How I Dooz It, didn’t inspire much confidence in this comedian I knew nothing about. Instead of checking him out online and getting a feel for the guy, I decided to risk it and go in with a blank slate; after all, it’s only 60 minutes and can’t be that bad. So I slid the DVD in the player and got comfy.
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Chasing Madoff (Blu-Ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 5th, 2012
Thankfully, I have never been scammed out of any large amount of money unless you count my ex-wife. *drum roll*. I think of myself as fairly intelligent but sometimes intelligence is not enough when a large enough pyramid or ponzi scheme walks across your front lawn. Furthermore, when somebody you trust tells you it is a sure thing, it is hard to look the other way. Let us proceed with a documentary on one of the most famous ponzi schemes of them all with deception played by one Bernie Madoff.
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Dysfunctional Friends
Posted in No Huddle by J C on April 4th, 2012
Nine college friends are reunited by the death of a beloved former classmate. While attending his funeral, they learn their wealthy friend has left behind a will stipulating that each of them will receive a big chunk of his fortune if they can stay at his mansion for five days without a single person leaving. So basically, this terrible movie is an unholy mash-up of The Big Chill and The House on Haunted Hill. Come to think of it, I would’ve liked this flick a lot more if everyone had been murdered by ghosts.
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Wallace & Gromit: World of Invention (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2012
Wallace and Gromit is the brainchild of animator Nick Park. The British filmmaker tried for years to bring his clay creations alive, but on his own finished a mere 10 minutes in a little over two years. When he met up with Aardman Animations, he was teamed up with the creative talents he needed to make his dream come alive, and come alive these two characters did indeed. They’ve become an overnight sensation in the UK and now all over the world. I was introduced to the characters with the full length feature Wallace And Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.
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South Park: The Complete Fifteenth Season (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2012
If you haven’t heard of South Park by now there is certainly something wrong with you. You’re just not paying attention. More important, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. The show is entering its 16th season on Comedy Central, and Paramount is now giving us the 15th season on high definition Blu-ray. And, if you are just hearing about South Park for the first time, what a wonderful journey you have ahead of you. You might need an airline sickness bag on occasion, but you are in for a solid treat.
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Sidewalls
Posted in No Huddle by Michael Durr on April 3rd, 2012
Much like a relief pitcher, sometimes a substitute has to fill in for a movie review. The person is usually a specialist, one who can write up a review in a snap, the blink of the eye. Well, sometimes the relief pitcher runs into a tough power hitter or a wiry runner. I find myself in a similar situation with the dreaded foreign film. It sounds clichéd and uncultured perhaps, but I did not even want to read today! Okay, anyway on to the show of Sidewalls.
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Phil Collins: Live at Montreux 2004 (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2012
When Peter Gabriel left the band Genesis to pursue his own solo career, it was the break of a lifetime for the band’s drummer, Phil Collins. He took over the front-man duties with style, and before long Genesis was enjoying the most commercial success of their lives. Collins provided the smooth, easy-to-listen-to voice that Gabriel really never had. The tunes were instantly more recognizable and stuck with you for a long time. Of course, that meant that Collins would go out and work on that solo career as well.
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Baseball’s Greatest Games – 2011 World Series Game 6 (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on April 2nd, 2012
They came back to tie the game five different times. They were down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth and facing a closer who had been a perfect 6 for 6 in save situations during that postseason. They were down to the last strike of their entire season two different times. I guess what I’m trying to say is, at a certain point, it became obvious — painfully obvious, if you happen to be a fan of the Texas Rangers — that there was no effing way the St. Louis Cardinals were losing Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.
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A Lonely Place To Die (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 31st, 2012
I think most of us can agree that being buried alive would be a horrible way to go. Several movies — Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Vanishing (not the soft American remake) and, of course, Buried — have exploited that terror to varying degrees of success. Though the action in A Lonely Place to Die centers around a girl found buried in the Scottish Highlands, the camera frequently pulls way back to show us the desolate beauty (and danger) of the mountainous setting. I really wish director Julian Gilbey had kept the action on those mountains.
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Wrath Of The Titans
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 30th, 2012
“You’ve got to control your fear.”
It appears that Greek mythology has become the fodder for a ton of movies of late. From young adult films to the hardcore action movies, audiences are getting their fill of the familiar gods and beasts from mythology lore. Some are calling it a trend or hot phase, like vampires and robots. Whatever it is, it isn’t a phase, and it isn’t merely passing through.
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The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 30th, 2012
“It’s going to be like old times…”
Well… not exactly. The Lion King began with The Circle Of Life and a newborn prince to the royalty of Pride Rock. That prince was Simba, and we all know by now how that ended up. The circle of life continues in The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride. Of course, it’s not really the second Lion King film since the first sequel was cleverly called The Lion King 1 1/2 and pretty much covered the events of the first film from a different perspective.
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The Lion King 1 1/2 (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 29th, 2012
“We’re going way back to before the beginning…”
In 1994 Disney’s second golden age climaxed with, perhaps, their greatest animated film of all time. The Lion King broke every animation record, and those records still stand today. The film appealed to old and young alike and told a compelling story that included some rather memorable songs from Tim Rice and Elton John. It was never a question of if there would be a sequel, but merely a question of when and in what form that follow-up would take. There was simply too much money at stake for there to be any other outcome.
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Looney Tunes Show: Season 1 V.3
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 29th, 2012
Bugs Bunny and his special Looney Tunes friends have been around for a long time. He first appeared in 1938 in his most familiar form. During the second World War he was a popular choice with the fighting men. Many of the cartoons of the era were patriotic, and some might even call them propaganda. They certainly pushed the war effort in a supportive way. When the war was over Bugs and his pals took on a wide range of subjects. Often movie stars were spoofed, and the series of shorts soon became a satire on the pop culture of the time.
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Frida (Blu Ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 28th, 2012
Frida Kahlo’s life was tragic, romantic, epic, and inspiring. This film takes on the immense challenge of telling the story of such a complex life in the time frame of a stand-alone feature film. Frida is about art just as much as it is about an artist. Often stylized, but never unapproachable, Frida is a rare success by the way it managed to capture and display a part of Frida Kahlo’s artistic soul.
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