Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on July 19th, 2017
Over the last eight years or so, the abstract concept of nostalgia has become a commodity. Film, television, and videogames have been adjusting their aesthetic to incorporate stylistic visuals that are intended to draw in what seems to be a relatively specific demographic: “80’s kids.” Whether it be Stranger Things, Kung Fury, or Turbo Kid, these films have succeeded (and failed) to create a new style out of this “nostalgia aesthetic.” However, being a child of the 90’s, I have noticed that these “nostalgia aesthetics” have shifted toward my decade. I have seen this shift typically in contemporary music videos (see Swang, directed by Max Hilva), but Game Changers most certainly fits into this category, as the lead characters are my age and occupy their time with everything I have ever done for fun.
The film introduces us to Bryan and Scott. They have always been best friends since middle school, playing games such as Magic the Gathering, or hosting big LAN parties of Halo with friends. Eventually, Bryan learns that he can make money by playing video games professionally. Naturally, he takes Scott, and the two succeed beyond their wildest dreams. Now, about twelve years later, they both work in the IT department of the company owned by Bryan’s father. Scott enjoys the structure of the 9-5 work day, whereas Bryan yearns for the days of glory as a professional gamer. After a lot of coercion, Bryan convinces a reluctant Scott to join his new team of elite gamers. Soon after, their personalities begin to clash.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on July 18th, 2017
You’ve probably heard that there’s a War for the Planet of the Apes raging at your local movie theater. Meanwhile, the granddaddy of all great big-screen apes is swinging into UpcomingDiscs this week! Join us as we venture to Kong: Skull Island in 4K, courtesy of Warner Bros. Elsewhere, Universal takes aim with Shooter: Season 1, while Warner counts on The 100: Season 4.
One last reminder before signing off for the week: 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: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 16th, 2017
They know who you are. They know how you think. They have mastered the nuances of your language. Most important, they know exactly what it is you like to do in that little dark room you have tucked away in a corner of your home. They know all about that private little collection, and they know how you use it. It's not the NSA. They're an electronics company called Oppo, and if you are an audio-videophile like me, they know you cold. And the reason they pay so much attention to what you want is because they are committed to giving you the best home video player of any kind, hands down. I'm talking about the Oppo UDP-205. It's been only months since Oppo entered the world of UHD Blu-ray and they quickly dominated it. Now Oppo is already delivering what I consider a second generation (but not really) player before most companies have figured out their first players.
We use our players hard here at Upcomingdiscs. I dare say few people put a player through the kind of use that we do. I average over 2000 television episodes a year and a little over 300 films. I have worn out plenty of equipment before its time. But no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to wear down any of our Oppo players. Three of Upcomingdiscs staff members rely on them to deliver our reviews. We are able to provide the kind of audio and video detail with confidence that we are seeing the best any particular disc is going to look. Sometimes I get an email from one of our readers who complains that they didn't experience some of the results I've described in a review. I always tell them the same thing. That's because you're not using an Oppo player. Every now and again, said writer picks one up and thanks me for the advice. As my favorite comic book writer is fond of saying: "'Nuff said".
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on July 14th, 2017
"All of human history has led to this moment. The irony is we created you. And nature has been punishing us ever since. This is our last stand. And if we lose... it will be a Planet of Apes."
I was always a fan of the original Planet Of The Apes series of films. While they often flirted with a camp style, I was impressed with John Chambers' makeup effects and the performances of Roddy McDowall as both Cornelius and Caesar. Then came the television show, and I was just as enchanted, and that was helped along by McDowall's appearance as a third ape, Galen. The show didn't last a season, and before long the Apes franchise was left in some kind of limbo. Then along came Tim Burton, and I was excited to see what he could do with the material. Could this be the beginning of a new series of films? No, it was horrible, and the franchise suffered another lingering death. I had now given up hope that the Apes would ever return. Then came Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, and I was suddenly enchanted once again. Little did I know that combined with Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and now War For The Planet Of The Apes, science fiction's greatest trilogy would emerge. Where will they go from here?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 14th, 2017
"Freedom has a price. I died 7 years ago. Left behind a brother, a wife, a son, but the dead talk if you listen. They're there with you. Reaching out. Trying to tell us something. Because not all deaths are the same. Some are real. Some are a story. Question is: do you believe the story? Was the man who died who you thought he was? The dead talk. If you listen..."
The same can be said for dead series. Fox has been riding a wave of series revivals that have brought shows back from the dead in a limited-run event series format, and it has actually been doing well for the network. 24 was revived a couple of times. These episodes were used to take us from one lead character into another it was hoped could lead the way for a renewed franchise. While the series worked, the full revival did not. Perhaps the best example of Fox's event series is the six-episode return of The X-Files after so many years. It was a bit inconsistent, and six episodes were too few to tell a real good X-Files story arc. The series will return again with a slightly longer run. The most recent event series at Fox was Prison Break. At nine episodes it turned out to be just the right fit to tell another story of the brothers and their cohorts. It's now available on Blu-ray, and it's worth a look, but only if you have watched the first four seasons of the show's regular run. Otherwise things can get a bit confusing, and some of the nice subtle nods won't really pay off for you at all. But if you're a fan, it's worth the space on your video shelf.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on July 13th, 2017
In 2003, a commercial director named Sandy Collora made an 8-minute short film called Batman: Dead End, in which the Caped Crusader does battle with the Joker…along with Alien and Predator! While this sounds like a heavy dose of fanboy wish-granting, the film was Collora’s very serious attempt to show Hollywood big wigs what he could do. The mini-movie turned heads among the Comic Con crowd due to its gritty tone and impressive production values on a shoestring budget. Not surprisingly, this overlong Behind the Mask documentary is at its very best when it chronicles the making of what is widely-regarded as one of the best fan films ever made.
“Every kid in America knows what Batman should be.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on July 12th, 2017
Family is everything to Dominic Toretto. He has said as much in Furious 7, “I don’t have friends, I have family.” Over the course of seven films, we have seen him undertake impossible tasks including driving a car off a plane or through a building in order to rescue or avenge a member of said family. So what would make him make him betray that very family? In The Fate of the Furious, the team will face the biggest challenge they have ever faced when they find themselves working against their very leader. The long-running film franchise continues to up the ante with the action, producing its most action-packed film to date. Every time I think that there is no way the series can top itself, they add a tank or drive off a plane. This time, they got a submarine, y’all.
When we pick up with the team, Dominic and Letty are enjoying their honeymoon in Havana, Cuba. Their bliss is cut short when Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) has to call on Dom and his team to help him recover a stolen WMD. The heist is a success, and the team is on their way back to the rendezvous when Dom throws a curveball, stealing the weapon and disappearing. This betrayal hits everyone hard, especially Letty, who finds it impossible to believe. Adding to the shock is the return of Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) with a junior associate (Scott Eastwood) in tow, or Lil’ Nobody as Roman and Tej like to call him. Nobody informs the team that Dom stole the weapon at the request of Cipher (Charlize Theron) and that the two are working together.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 11th, 2017
From creator Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Blade 2) based off a book he co-wrote, The Strain has been a horror series that has continued to impress as it revs up to begin its fourth season on FX. It’s a show that centers around a vampire outbreak that began at JFK airport when a plane arrived with all its passengers and crew “dead”, and then things quickly spiraled out of hand. If your eyes rolled at the thought of simply another vampire story, let me take a moment to explain. What del Toro and Chuck Hogan created is a very unique take on the vampire lore, having their creature of the night more a victim of a wormlike parasite that creates a mutation in the body, and as we discover in Season Three, in the brain as well. If Season One was the start of the outbreak, Season Three has the human species hanging by a thread, struggling to maintain their place in the world where the scales are precariously ready to tip and plummet in favor of the bloodsuckers.
With the fate of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather’s (Corey Stoll) wife and the disappearance of his son in Season Two, it has left the good doctor in shambles. He’s drinking heavily and popping pills as he waits at home for his son to return home, though he’s haunted by nightmares that his son has now turned. The weapon he had created to kill off the vampires has begun to lose its effect, so he is tasked to create a new weapon, something bigger to finally tip the advantage back into the favor of the humans.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 11th, 2017
The Monty Python comedy group has been a staple of British comedy for decades; personally my favorite film of theirs will always be Life of Brian. For director Terry Jones, it’s been a while since he has stepped behind the camera to helm a picture, and it’s been even longer since he directed the 1983 classic The Meaning of Life. It’s not uncommon for directors to step away for years only to come back and return with some kind of passion project. Add into this mix Simon Pegg, whose comedic timing I would have figured would make him a perfect fit for a Monty Python film / revival; it just seemed that Absolutely Anything had everything in place to be a success. And as a comedic cherry on top, you have Robin Williams doing voice work for the film. This just has the ingredients for comedy gold. So how does a film with this talent get released and no one seems to know about it?
The film starts off with a group of aliens that capture information from a rocket that was launched out into space in the hopes that the items would come into contact with intelligent life. Well, the aliens (voiced by the Monty Python team) can’t seem to decide if they want to destroy the planet or bring us into their elite group, so they decide the way to vet us is by giving one human a limitless power where he can make anything happen so long as he waves his hand and says it out loud. Neil (Pegg) is the one who is randomly picked to receive these powers, and with a wave of a hand, comedy sort of ensues.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on July 11th, 2017
The street racers-turned-international men (and women) of mystery from the Fast and Furious franchise famously live their lives a quarter mile at a time. In a related story, we tend to live our lives here at UpcomingDiscs one movie review at a time, and this week Universal puts the pedal to the metal with The Fate of the Furious in 4K. Elsewhere, Candy Factory explores the world of eSports with Game Changers, while Magnolia Home Entertainment jumps, jives, and wails with swing dancing documentary Alive and Kicking.
Finally, you won’t quite be able to get your stinkin' paws on a disc of War for the Planet of the Apes…but you can absolutely come back to check out our review of the summer blockbuster later this week. And while it's a brand new month, the customary reminder still applies here: 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!
On The Web
Sponsors
