Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2016
Konstantinos Koutsolitas is a visual effects supervisor for American films like Guardians of the Galaxy and 300: The Rise of an Empire. You might have guessed by his name that he is Greek, so it is natural that his first directing effort would be Greek. The Winter is about a struggling writer who tries to hide his failures that he left behind in London from his noisy and intrusive family. Dimitri Gounaras (Vangelis Mourikis) moves back to the deserted ancestral home of his father, which has been abandoned for some time. There is madness in the house, or perhaps just in members of his family, and there are ghosts lurking, real or imagined.
The film meanders back and forth from a slacker comedy to a dreary existential nightmare. It references H.P. Lovecraft and The Shining most directly. It plays out with tenuous reality evolving into out-and-out animated dream images. The imagery is sometimes raw and sometimes playful. There are lots of making-of documentaries included which show how much care was given to the imagery.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on May 26th, 2016
Our friends at Shout Factory have given us the power to make one Upcomingdiscs reader happy. We have a copy of Power Rangers: Wild Force The Complete Series on DVD to give away. You'll get all 40 episodes in this nice collection. The only hope for the world is The Power Rangers. It's time to bring the hope home.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 25th, 2016
Time travel films have been around for years, and with each film there are viewers who just enjoy it at face value and others who watch it to poke holes in the film’s theories. I have to admit I fall somewhere in between. With a film like Back to the Future, I don’t look at it as anything more than silly fun, but then a film like 12 Monkeys comes along, and I just go bananas over its theory and execution. So when a title like Synchronicity came along, I went into it with an open mind. I know you don’t need a giant budget to pull off a time travel film; what matters first and foremost is the story and the characters that lead the narrative tale for us.
It’s inescapable to not see the influence Blade Runner has on this film; everything from the set design to the lighting simply screams at us to see the influences. Some may even pick up a familiar Dark City vibe. Setting these visual tones was for me what worked best for this film, because it at least made it visually fun to look at and to wonder if this story could be happening in the sync with the other two films; after all, the film does bring up the idea of numerous parallel universes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 25th, 2016
Robert De Niro and Zac Efron have a combined seven Academy Award nominations and a pair of Oscar wins to their names. So it was only a matter of time until these titans of cinema joined forces on the big screen. All joking aside, none of us were expecting Dirty Grandpa to pump up De Niro’s Oscar tally. What *is* a bit surprising — other than how truly bad this charmless, dimwitted, mean-spirited “comedy” turned out to be — is that Efron kind of outclasses his legendary counterpart.
DeNiro stars as Dick (tee-hee) Kelly, who recently lost his wife of 40 years. After attending his grandmother’s funeral, strait-laced Jason Kelly (Efron) agrees to drive his grandpa from Georgia to Boca Raton, Florida at the older man’s request. Dick and Jason used to be thick as thieves, according to the poorly Photoshopped pictures in the opening credits. The pair drifted apart after Jason abandoned his passion for photography to go to work as a corporate lawyer for his dad/Dick’s son (Dermot Mulroney, getting absolutely nothing to do). The road trip is supposed to be one last opportunity for Jason and his grandpa to bond before Jason marries his uptight, controlling fiancée Meredith (Julianne Hough, admirably leaning into her character's awfulness).
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by J C on May 24th, 2016
I don’t know what we did, but it must have been serious. We UpcomingDiscers are generally a law-abiding bunch, so I’m a little surprised that we’ve apparently landed in such hot water. How else to explain this week’s arrival of the Major Crimes division at our door? Naturally, I’m yanking your chain…none of us here would hurt a fly. The good news is Warner Bros. was still nice enough to send us Major Crimes: Season 4, and we’ll have a review of TNT’s hit cop drama soon. Disney makes a daring rescue with The Finest Hours, while Sony hikes the Appalachian Mountains for Outsiders: Season 1. Finally, have we got a scoop for you…Lou Grant: Season 1 arrives courtesy of Shout! Factory.
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 Jeremy Butler on May 23rd, 2016
In my experience there are three types of comedians: 1.) Ones that are good at standup but bad at a series 2.) Those that are good in a series but not so great at stand up. 3.) Those who can do both. Want to guess which one Jim Gaffigan is? The standup comedian, known for his clean brand of comedy, gets his own series loosely based on his life. He’s a bit of a slob, he’s occasionally lazy, and he is without a doubt addicted to junk food. Rounding out the season are a group of instantly recognizable stars like Chris Rock, Steve Buscemi, Hannibal Burress, and Macaulay Culkin…or is he Macaulay Culkin? (Inside joke, you’ll get it once you watch).
Gaffigan plays a fictional version of himself, a popular standup comedian living in New York with his wife, Jeannie (Ashley Williams, How I Met Your Mother), and their five — that’s right, five — kids in a two-bedroom apartment. I’ll give you a moment to wrap your head around those cramped quarters of theirs. While balancing his career and parental responsibilities, the family searches for a larger place with the help of Jeannie’s gay best friend/former boyfriend Daniel (Michael Ian Black, Wet Hot American Summer) who is in real estate and hates Jim. Along for the ride is Jim’s immature, opinionated, insensitive best friend and fellow comedian Dave Marks (Adam Goldberg, NYC 22). This season deals with Jim’s perception in public with regards to his religion and his role with his kids, as well as vasectomies, and his obsession with junk food. There is even an It’s a Wonderful Life-themed episode.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on May 21st, 2016
Writer/director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3) has a way of writing flawed characters who manage to leave more lasting impressions than the films they populate. But where he shines is when he can thrust these flawed individuals into the confines of a detective story. Most people grew their fondness for Black and his quick-wit dialogue when he first penned Lethal Weapon, but for me it goes back to The Monster Squad and The Last Boy Scout, where I found myself becoming a fan even in my early years of film watching. So is the fanboy in me excited to see what Black brings to the table this time around? You betcha!
In a summer popcorn season filled with comic book movies, sequels, and other films targeting the teenage demographic, it’s nice to have an action film that harkens back to the good old days (the '80s and early '90s) for a fun action/comedy romp that has a foul-mouthed edge.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2016
"Some of the best love stories start with a murder."
Deadpool may be one the most singular and unique characters in the history of comic book lore. His character has a very rabid fan base among the elite of Marvel comic nerddom, and they have been watching very carefully to see that he has been treated properly by the Hollywood people. He hasn’t been in the past, but more about that later. He may not be the biggest name in the Marvel universe, but he might be the most extreme. Just in case you live in a cave or under a rock, the Marvel universe is inexorably taking over the actual universe with films like The Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hulk, Wolverine, Daredevil, and on and on. To get back to what happened to Deadpool in the past, we go to the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This also gets into the 20th Century Fox vs. Disney battle over the rights of Marvel characters (which is actually only a small part of the picture, since Columbia owned Spider-Man for a long time, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole). Lots of hard-core comic book fans were incensed at how far 20th Century Fox was straying from the origins and substance of the source material with the X-Men movies, but especially in the case of Deadpool, who is sacred to many. I shouldn’t say sacred, but what can you do, since the character of Wade Wilson (A.K.A. Deadpool) is very profane and NSFW.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 19th, 2016
After Robert Eggers received best director out of Sundance, The Witch became a film that went on my radar. Following the release of the trailer to the film I was hooked; its startling yet beautiful imagery was enough to get my attention. As buzz built around the film as it continued to awe audiences in various festivals, my anticipation for this film was getting out of control. Could a film really be this great? Is it possible to make a film that still shocks and terrifies audiences? By the time I found myself getting to this screening, The Witch now was a film that unfairly had something to prove to me, I poked the bear and dared this film to blow me away. As the lights dimmed and the film played out, I came away with more than I asked for.
The film transports us to New England in the 1630’s. What is important to keep in mind is the time period. This is a time when scientific reason had no place and the settlers of the time were ruled by their faith. The land that surrounded the villages was mostly untouched, and in the darkness, evil was believed to lurk. Robert Eggers beautifully captures the time period here, everything from the sets, the costumes, to even the Old English dialect used by the characters is authentic and helps immerse us into this time. One of my few nitpicks with the film is that the language is so authentic I had trouble with some of the dialog, as did others around me. Perhaps subtitles could have been used, but I’m afraid it would have taken me out of this world created for us.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 19th, 2016
There seems to be so much information and films about Helter Skelter and the atrocities Charles Manson and his followers committed. Though the notorious Sharon Tate murder took place decades ago, it continues to be a crime that fascinates people to this day. As interest in the story continues to thrive in the media, whether it be in books or various films, it seems it’s getting harder to find a fresh spin on the story, or at least one that will garner more attention. Manson’s Lost Girls is a new extension to the story about the events that led up to the fateful night that would forever leave its mark on America pop culture, but does it bring anything new to the table? Well, it doesn’t present a new perspective on the crime spree, but sadly its execution is a well-polished mess that simply doesn’t add up.
Manson’s Lost Girls starts off strong by introducing us to Linda (Mackenzie Mauzy) who is on the run, attempting to escape Manson and his followers; unfortunately in the process she has to leave her daughter behind. Yeah, from the get-go we see that Linda is a pretty awful mother considering she seems to have no problem leaving her kid behind with a group of drug addicts and killers, all so she can save her own hide. As a way to grip the audience, this works on getting us into the story, problem is from the start we know Linda is a terrible parent and simply makes it difficult for us to have any sympathy towards her.
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