Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 24th, 2017
The WWE is like a dog with a bone, refusing to let this franchise as well as its other one (12 rounds) go. I will give them this: they are maintaining some consistency with Mike “The Miz” Mizanin reprising his role of Jake Carter for the third time for The Marine 5: Battleground. This time around, however, the series won’t just star one WWE superstar, but six. That’s right you read correctly, six WWE superstars have come together for this action film. With the addition of The Mix come Bo Dallas, Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Naomi, and Maryse Ouellet Mizanin. Didn’t recognize any of those names? Don’t worry; me neither, as my days of watching wrestling ended with the end of the attitude era.
This time around, Jake Carter has returned stateside and is now working as an EMT. Working to make a difference, he finds himself drawn into a conflict with a notorious biker gang. After the murder of the president of their club, biker Alonso (Bo Dallas) is tasked to hunt down the shooter and gain revenge for the club. Accompanied by two more murders in the club (Curtis Axel and Naomi), they track the perpetrators to an underground parking garage at an amusement park. At the same time, Jake and his partner are called to the scene to find one man dead and the other critically wounded. With the bikers on the hunt, Jake must make the difficult choice, which turns out not to be a choice at all, of staying or leaving the man to his fate. I’m sure you all know what decision he made. Keeping them all alive will require all his acquired skills, especially when the bikers’ reinforcements arrive, leaving him severely outnumbered.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 22nd, 2017
One of the hardest things to pull off in a movie is the minimalist "ship in a bottle" trick. Television shows do it often to try to save money on their seasons. Most of the time it doesn’t work. There are notable exceptions. The same is true for a movie. You have to limit your running time. You have to quickly set up a small group of characters, and you can't waste any time getting to the point. Ben Wheatley hits all of the right buttons in Free Fire, and he's promising to take you on a hell of a ride without ever changing locations. It looks so simple. You figure anybody can do it...and they can. But few can do it well. The entire action in the 85-minute film could have easily been a throwaway scene in another feature film. A lesser director could have done it in almost no time at all before moving on to set up their next shot. But then you'd have something... well... lesser, wouldn't you?
The plot couldn't be any simpler. It's set in the 1970's. We aren't told this, but the styles kind of give it away. Oh, and the John Denver 8-track tape likely really gives it away. We join a group of criminals at an abandoned warehouse in the dead of the night. Introductions are made, and they proceed to close an arms deal. Things get complicated when it comes out that one of the buyers sexually assaulted the cousin of one of the sellers the night before at a bar while he was high and drunk. He got beaten, and they never expected to see each other again. Now here they are. In the blink of an eye the tense deal breaks down, and the shooting starts. It pretty much turns into the titular free fire when a third group shows up with sniper rifles. Before long everyone is shooting at everyone. It's easy to lose count of who shoots who. The cast is crawling through the debris and trying to either get the money and get out or reach a phone that starts ringing so they can call for reinforcements. But here you fight for every inch, and it's amazing how many times a person can get shot without actually dying. There is some dying; it just takes a lot of bullets.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on April 21st, 2017
The best way to describe this film is epic; they really don’t make films like this anymore, and leave it to Amazon Studios to present us with such an ambitious film. At one time Brad Pitt was set to star in the film, and then the lead role was offered up to Benedict Cumberbatch. Due to his conflicting schedule with Doctor Strange, he too had to drop out. Eventually Charlie Hunnam (Crimson Peak, Sons of Anarchy) was given the role, and to be honest, I don’t think there is another actor who is more suited for the role. Percy Fawcett (Hunnam) was a loyal soldier in the British army who seemed to never get the recognition that he deserved, and frankly this is something I feel Hunnam can relate to. He’s been in some great roles over the years, but somehow he’s a guy who’s been overlooked and hasn’t quite gotten the spotlight that he deserves. Now he is poised to explore the wilds of the South American jungle in the new film from James Gray. Does the famous explorer find his lost city? Climb aboard, and I’ll tell you all about it. I hope you’ve had all your shots and brought some bug repellent.
In 1906 Fawcett made his first journey into the Amazonian jungle with his partner Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson) for a mission that would have them mapping the borders of the country. It’s at a time where there is a dispute over who controls the rubber that is being found in the jungle, and Fawcett has been hired by a neutral party to settle the border lines. To continue their journey through the jungle it requires the men, along with some guides, to journey to the end of a river, a task that is believed to be impossible due to the natives and other natural threats that prowl about in the jungle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2017
I was eight years old when Armstrong first stepped on the moon in July of 1969. Like every kid my age, it filled me with a feeling that I was lucky enough to get in on the ground floor of humanity's grand exploration of space. By the time I was 15, we had landed the first probes on Mars. We were certainly on our way. The sky literally wasn't the limit anymore. But then it all stopped. By the 80's we had shifted our focus to low Earth orbit, and we haven't explored the limits of space with a manned mission in nearly 50 years. Even the Space Shuttle is gone, and we don't even have the capability to send Americans to the space station that we mostly paid for without hitching a ride with the Russians. And if you've been following world events at all, that ride isn't a sure thing anymore. That 8-year-old with the mile-wide grin would never have believed we'd be so earthbound by the time he reached his mid-50's. Along comes National Geographic with the new mini-series Mars. Is it enough to get today's 8-year-old dreaming once again? I don't know. But it provided enough to give the 8-year-old still here a little bit of hope mixed with more than a little what-might-have-been.
Mars is a six-part series that looks to be returning with more episodes in the future. The focus and drama of the first three episodes is found in the first manned mission to the Red Planet set in 2033. The crew of the Daedalus faces fierce challenges in order to establish a foothold on Mars. Each episode has several components that make it somewhat unique in its storytelling. While we witness the close calls and successes of the crew, we also learn more about the characters and the mission from flashbacks and pre-flight interviews that remind me a little of those "confessional" segments you find on the "reality" television shows. Here we also see the politics of the international crew and the agency that heads the mission. There are also documentary segments found throughout each episode. These bring us back to 2016 and cover the attempts by SpaceX to develop the technology to eventually make the 2033 drama a reality. There are interviews with scientists who talk about the real challenges in that kind of mission and how we are working to resolve them. Of course, many of these pieces deal with issues that the fictional crew encounters. It's very much a standard documentary style during these segments.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 20th, 2017
“As it turns out, there’s a virtually unprecedented tie in the Electoral College.”
If you thought the latest U.S. presidential election cycle was a soul-crushing and unpredictable mess, you should take a peek at what's happening on Veep. (At least we got a definitive real-life result...eventually.) The show's outstanding fifth season begins with President Selina Meyer — who assumed the office after her predecessor resigned — locked in a frustrating Electoral College tie as she seeks to become the first woman to be *elected* to the highest office in the land. President Meyer sums up her predicament in a manner befitting HBO's caustic, constantly-cussing comedy: “didn't those Founding F---ers ever hear of an odd number?!”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 20th, 2017
When it comes to writer/ director M. Night Shyamalan, it’s hard to find a more polarizing director between film critics and film geeks. I was a fan up until he did The Village. It’s not as though I “hated” the film; I just was getting sick of the gimmick plot twists that seemed to go hand in hand with his work. As he continued to release films, I just would shrug at the trailers, and my enthusiasm for his films quickly declined. For me Unbreakable has grown to be my favorite work of his, which is funny to me because the first time I saw it I had a hard time deciding how I felt about the film. It was a comic/ superhero film that showed us perhaps what it would be like in the real world if some regular Joe realized he was perhaps meant for something greater. It’s been 16 years, but Shyamalan has finally released a film in my opinion that can stand toe to toe with Unbreakable, and it’s with his new film Split.
Split is a return to form. Gone are the big budgets and special effects. What Shyamalan delivers is what got us to appreciate him in the first place: great real-world characters caught up in an extreme circumstance. Kevin (James McAvoy) is not your average guy, at first glance he may seem normal, but trapped inside are 22 other personalities who have their own agendas and are wanting to take control of his mind and body. Why he isn’t locked away in some padded cell is a question that is never answered to my satisfaction in the film, but if he were locked away, there wouldn’t be much of a film, so I suppose I’ll have to let this slide. For Kevin and his numerous personalities there is something frightening about to occur: the rise of a new personality, one which has been deeply suppressed and is possibly the most dangerous of them all.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on April 18th, 2017
Hello, my name is John and I am your regular Tuesday Round Up host. But back in my college days, I temporarily adopted an alter ego called “Bruce” when I was heavy into ballroom and swing dancing. (I wish I were kidding.) My two separate personas were absolutely peanuts compared to the 20-something distinct personalities that battle for supremacy inside the mind of Kevin, the main character in Split. M. Night Shyamalan's latest psychological thriller was the director's biggest hit in years...and today it arrives on Blu-ray. Be sure to keep an eye on the site for our take. Elsewhere, Candy Factory brings about the end of the world with Apocalypse Child. We'll also have some Reel World reviews as a pair of new movies hit theaters: things are sure to heat up with the arrival of Free Fire, and we'll venture to the ends of the Earth (and the ends of the alphabet) to find The Lost City of Z.
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: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2017
Ben Franklin once said that there are two things that no one should see made. He was talking about sausage and laws. In the 18th century most people had little exposure to the workings of their government. Campaigns were waged on the road in public squares, and seldom by the person running for office. Party nominations were held in halls attended only by the party faithful. It was here in the span of a few days that a nomination would be haggled out of the delegates who attended. Since the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, the selection of nominees was handed to the registered voters, usually of the party in a series of primary elections that begin in January of each election year. The campaigning has become intense and now often begins nearly a year before that first nomination struggle. It gets earlier with each cycle. We may not get to see how our laws are made, but now we get a long look at how our presidents are selected, and I thing ol’ Dr. Franklin would have been shocked to bear witness to the 2016 primary season. And just in case you missed the weekly debates, attacks, flubs, scandals, and riots, Showtime put together a weekly recap of the events over a 26-week period. They called it The Circus, and it isn't hard to see why.
The show featured two veteran political reporters who work for Bloomberg. John Heilmemann wrote for The New Yorker and Wired over the years. His bias obviously showed toward the Democratic side. He often refers to Trump as running a racist campaign. He often works with Mark Halperin, who calls the Trump election at the show's end the single most catastrophic event in American history since 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. So you won't get any balanced coverage from these two guys. Unfortunately, for them the show doesn't get much of a chance to include the Clinton campaign, because it was the most restrictive to press during the cycle. So the Democratic side is mostly represented by Bernie Sanders, who offered a lot of access to the show. The third member of the show's touring troupe is political analyst Mark McKinnon, who has worked on many Republican campaigns including George W. Bush. It's kind of ironic that he's the one tapped as the analyst and offers less of the bias reporting.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on April 16th, 2017
From all of us here at the Upcomingdiscs Family, I would like to wish you a very Happy Easter.
May your gatherings be blessed. Enjoy some family, sun, and when it gets later, gather around the home theater for a nice family film or two.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on April 14th, 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 task 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.
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