Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by Gino Sassani on January 24th, 2017
Howdy, Partners. Johnny's a bit out to sea at the moment. Actually, he's taking a cruise with Katie on that long-overdue honeymoon. I sure hope Tom Hanks isn't driving the boat. Guess you'll find out next week. For now, you're stuck with me for this week's release/review round-up.
Lionsgate is down for David Bowie's cult classic The Man Who Fell To Earth in a collector's edition Blu-ray. Baby will fill us in on A Dog's Purpose in this week's theatrical releases. National Geographic and Fox will scare up Sea Monsters on DVD. Maybe I should have passed that one on to John. It's a slow week but there's tons of stuff on the horizon.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on January 24th, 2017
If asked about my favorite genre of film, romantic comedies would not be close to the top of the list. However, I have seen enough rom-coms that I wouldn’t mind watching a second time. The Babymooners would be a film that I’d give a second watch, simply because of its charming energy. Most of this charm can be attributed to Shaina Feinberg and Chris Manley, who co-wrote and directed the film. Through explicitly stating in the synopsis that the film is “clearly influenced by old Woody Allen films,” the filmmaking duo alert audiences to exactly what they should be expecting, and they are not far off. So if you are a fan of Woody Allen, rejoice, as that is not an empty promise.
Part documentary, part sketch comedy, part smart storytelling, The Babymooners is a story about a middle-aged artistic woman named Shaina, who is concerned about losing her creativity with the coming child. Set up as a video letter to her unborn son, she recounts the events that led to the conception, as well as details the complexities within the relationship between her and her partner. These events are largely told in vignettes, that are prefaced by either Shaina talking to her computer, or a talking-heads-style interview with Shaina’s parents recounting their experience with her.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2017
"I know what you're thinking: How the heck does a 52-year old milkshake machine salesman build a fast food empire with over 1600
restaurants and an annual income over $700 million? One word:" The Founder.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on January 23rd, 2017
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: single gals looking for love — among other things — in the big city. On television, the trope dates back to the days of Laverne & Shirley and continues with more contemporary entries like Sex and the City and Girls. It’s an effective, timeless story hook that has gotten a funny, druggy, tremendously weird spin thanks to the queens kweens of Comedy Central’s Broad City.
The stars of the show here are Abbi and Ilana (co-creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer), a pair of uncommonly attached besties living and playing in NYC. (Except for Ep. 6/“Philadelphia”, which finds the pair visiting Abbi’s suburban childhood home in Wayne, Pennsylvania.) Season 3 kicks off with a bit of literal toilet humor, as we get an amusing split-screen montage of Abbi and Ilana in their respective bathrooms.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on January 20th, 2017
I’ll say this for Vin Diesel, he always returns to a franchise. It doesn’t matter how long has passed between his introduction and his exit; you can always count on him returning and stepping back into a role regardless of how many years it’s been, like nothing has ever changed. Doesn’t matter what it is; Fast and Furious, Riddick, and now XXX: the Return of Xander Cage. For those not familiar with the franchise (though I’m sure there few people who don’t already know about the original), XXX was an action film that was released in 2002 featuring Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiast who is recruited by the NSA to foil a terrorist plot, which he accomplishes with such flair that an idea is born: create a program for a group of rebels who can get close to the criminals that the government can only dream of. Thus a franchise was born. Sadly, Diesel’s involvement appeared to end with the killing off of his character in the 2005 sequel (thus making way for Ice Cube’s involvement with the franchise). However, Xander Cage has apparently returned from the grave. Now going into this film there was only one burning question plaguing me: how did Cage survive his own assassination attempt?
Though I don’t feel like my question was completely answered, I will say that that stopped mattering so much once Diesel appeared on the screen. Following the attempt on his life, Xander Cage has assumed a nomadic life, moving from place to place in order to avoid being found. Although I wouldn’t necessarily say he is keeping a low profile; I mean, he’s still Xander Cage. He has to chase the rush. He is eventually found by Marke (Toni Collette), a high-ranking government official in need of his services after a group of operatives (Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Tony Jaa, and Michael Bisping) who, like him, live life on the edge, steal a cutting-edge technology capable of turning satellites into warheads. Tasked with retrieving the technology, Xander realizes he can’t accomplish this alone and refuses help from the suits, with the exception of his new technical support liaison, Becky (Nina Dobrev), Xander recruits some young blood (Ruby Rose, Kris Wu, Rory McCann) to help him with his mission. Before long, Xander finds himself embroiled in a situation that he doesn’t fully understand but is likely to lead him down a rabbit hole that he is gonna have to use every trick in his arsenal in order to survive, and he’s loving every second of it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 19th, 2017
“My husband used to tell me I have an overactive imagination…”
The idea at the core of The Girl on the Train is equal parts provocative and relatable: a lonely commuter observes an attractive couple from a distance and imagines what their seemingly perfect lives must be like. Anyone who’s ever done any people-watching will recognize the appeal of inventing a backstory for a stranger, and the story is a healthy reminder that things are never quite what they seem from the outside. But despite a powerhouse lead performance, this Train is ultimately derailed by an unsatisfying mystery and a lack of flair that causes this potentially juicy story to lose steam as it chugs along.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 17th, 2017
The premise here was always dirt simple. They've taken the buddy cop idea and found a way to work in the forensics science fad and deliver a procedural with a few twists. The show is based on a series of mystery novels by Tess Gerritsen, who introduced us to Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles in 2001. Tess makes a cameo appearance in this, the show's final season. The season is shorter than the usual 18 shows. There are 13, and in all of them you can feel the weight of the characters and their situations counting down until the final episode of the series. You'll be able to see where that's going pretty much from the beginning. After seven years, you can look forward to a tearful goodbye as the show exits on its own terms.
Angie Harmon plays Detective Rizzoli. She's wanted to be a cop all of her life and is living the dream, working with a special unit out of Boston PD. Her best friend in life happens to be Dr. Maura Isles, who is the Chief Medical Examiner for the unit and is played by Sasha Alexander. These are the kind of friends who finish each other's sentences and share a lot of history together. That's not to say they are at all alike.
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on January 17th, 2017
All aboard! We’re only a hair more than two weeks into 2017, but there’s already plenty of exciting stuff going on around these parts. (For example, check out our review of one of the top-of-the-line Ultra HD Blu-ray players on the market.) Fortunately, there’s still more than enough time for you get on this UpcomingDiscs train. Speaking of which, Universal hops aboard The Girl on the Train in 4K and plays a deadly game with Death Race 2050. Fox puts its faith in The Story of God: Season 1, while Magnolia Home Entertainment counts down to Zero Days. Candy Factory delivers The Babymooners, while Warner Bros. bids farewell to Rizzoli & Isles: The Final Season. Meanwhile, Paramount returns with Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in 4K and boldly goes to Star Trek: Enterprise — The Complete Series.
But wait…there’s more! We’ve got a couple of theatrical releases we’ll be reviewing for the weekend. So be sure to check back and see if we’re lovin’ The Founder, and how we rate XXX: The Return of Xander Cage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2017
The young Ultra High Definition Blu-ray market has pretty much been a limited competition between a couple of players. Upcomingdiscs obtained an early version of the Samsung player in order to get UHD 4K reviews to our readers. The player allowed me to do that but had so many limitations that those reviews certainly suffered. The most obvious was an inability to provide codec bitrates. All of that changes now that Oppo has entered the UHD market. Oppo is no stranger to 4K. Previous models that we've reviewed here already provided rather sweet 4K upconvert options to early adopters of 4K televisions. We received our unit during the holidays, and I have been putting it through some serious paces. Needless to say this will be our go-to unit going forward. However long you think the UHD market has been out there, it truly begins with the release of the Oppo UDP-203.
Again, you get the most impressive packaging in the business. That may not seem so important to some, but I like the comfort of knowing that there was little chance my unit was damaged during the shipping process. Instead of cheap styrofoam, the unit is protected by pressure-formed solid foam. Forget that silly tissue plastic that usually covers a unit in the box. This baby comes nestled inside a canvas bag. Of course, it’s also a great advertising idea. You’ll have the handy bag to tote stuff around later. Your unit isn't going to be scratched in transport, that's for certain. The accessories come in a solid hard shell box. Inside you get: a remote + batteries and a solid HDMI cable. What does this really tell me? It tells me the company just doesn't cut corners.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2017
“It’s been a long time getting from there to here.”
35 years, to be exact. Enterprise is the fourth spinoff from the original 1960’s hopeful series. The Earth is finally ready to send its first starship to explore the vast galaxy. This first starship Enterprise is smaller than the ships we’ve become used to. There are no shields or photon torpedoes. The transporter has only been cleared for inanimate objects. Not that this stands in the way of its occasional “emergency” use. The ship is very much like the cramped spaces of today's submarines. It adds an even greater sense of reality to the show. The crew is composed of Captain Jonathan Archer (Bakula), First Officer and Vulcan High Command liaison, T’Pol (Blalock), Chief Engineer Charles (Trip) Tucker (Trinneer), Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed (Keating), Denobulan Dr. Phlox (Billingsley), Pilot Travis Mayweather (Montgomery) and Linguist/Communications Officer Hoshi Sato (Park).
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