Cellfactor: Psychokinetic Wars (Xbox Live Arcade)
Posted in Game Reviews by Michael Durr on June 13th, 2009
The original Cellfactor was actually a technical demo published back in 2006 by Immersion Games. It was made for the Ageia Physx series of cards which later became a part of NVidia. This demo showed off things we in the first person shooter community took for granted, barrels and boxes. Barrels and boxes have long been staples in games for doing absolutely nothing but existing (occasionally a barrel might explode but that’s it). Thru this demo, your character could use his psychic powers to throw the items and watch as they interact with the environment.
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Defiance (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
“1941: Germany occupies Belorussia. SS death squads and local police round up Jews. Within weeks 50,000 are murdered. 1,000,000 more await deportation and death.”
Tuvia (Craig) and Zus (Schreiber) Bielski are brothers hiding in the forest surrounding after the abovementioned invasion. They are Russian Jews, which means concentration camps or immediate execution if they are caught. They are foraging and surviving on their intimate knowledge of these surroundings they have known since they were children.
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Indecent Proposal (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
Back in the 1960’s the Beatles were telling, preaching, “Can’t Buy Me Love”. Of course this wasn’t a novel concept even then, and Lennon and McCartney certainly didn’t invent the phrase. In 1993 Indecent Proposal came along to question the age old expression. The film sparked one of those cultural philosophical debates that Hollywood loves to start. It meant that people would be talking about the film, and talk about it they did.
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Raising the Bar: The Complete First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
Steven Bochco has amassed quite a nice little television empire over the years. He’s one of the most award winning producers in television history. He cut his teeth on Columbo and has never looked back. You know his work, or at least you’ve heard of it: Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue are the most famous of these works. Bochco wrote the book on the ensemble police and legal drama.
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Army Wives: The Complete Season 2
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
What if you took the Desperate Housewives and placed them on an Army base? If that thought has been keeping you awake at night, sleep tight, gentle reader. You can find out simply by picking up a copy of Army Wives on DVD. I’m not exaggerating about this at all. Army Wives has the very same soap opera plotting and tone as the ABC hit does. You gotta really be into that sort of thing if you have any hope at all of keeping up with the antics of these four friends, or of having any desire to.
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on June 10th, 2009
More Project Natal, EA Fight Night MMA Year Rotation & Should Apple iPhone Games be Rated? – Welcome to the column that would be interested in a hands-only controlled game if they knew where their hands had been known as Dare to Play the Game.
A funny thing happened to me with NHL 2k9 this week, I didn’t play it. Yes, it involved World of Warcraft and yes I am ashamed.
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Win A “THE CODE” T-Shirt: Extra Large, Extra Cool!
Posted in Contests by Gino Sassani on June 9th, 2009
First Look Studios has graciously given us a couple of Xtra Large T-Shirts for The Code to give away.
To enter to win just follow these two steps…
- Fill out your name and email address in the comment form below – your email address will remain private and visible only to us.
- Do not post your address as an actual comment! Instead- just tell us why you would like to win this release.
Contest is now closed. The winners are: Nikki, and Kathy Pease. Congratulations!
And don’t miss our upcoming review of The Code on Blu-ray. Both discs street June 23rd so head over to Amazon and pre-order yours today!
Contest: Win A Copy Of First Look Studio’s The Code on DVD
Posted in Contests by Gino Sassani on June 9th, 2009
First Look Studios has graciously given us three copies of The Code on DVD to give away.
To enter to win a copy of this Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas thriller, just follow these two steps…
- Fill out your name and email address in the comment form below – your email address will remain private and visible only to us.
- Do not post your address as an actual comment! Instead- just tell us why you would like to win this release.
The Contest is now closed. Winners are: Stacey Dempsey, Cherie Michalec, and Daniel M. Congratulations!
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Killshot
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 9th, 2009
“You’ve gotta know what you’re doing when you go in. You gotta have it figured out. Those are the rules. How you get in. How you get out. How many shots you’re gonna need. Make sure you know where everybody is. Make sure nobody sees you. Don’t hang around. Don’t get interested. Then you don’t make mistakes.”
How many times have we seen some criminal looking to do that one last job that can get them out of the business forever?
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Direct Contact (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 9th, 2009
Mike Riggins (Lundgren) has been languishing away in a Russian prison for many years. So he doesn’t have anything to lose when he’s approached by the CIA to help them save a young woman who has been kidnapped. The government needs Riggins’ special set of skills, namely the ability to cause a lot of carnage in a short amount of time. If he rescues the girl, he gets 20 grand and sprung from prison. Of course, everything is not what it seems to be, and the government really just wants Riggins dead.
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Perry Mason: Season 4, Vol. 1
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 8th, 2009
At this rate it’s going to be quite some time before you complete your collection. I’m not even sure that DVD will still be a viable format before the end of the series on DVD. It’s another half season, and the episodes continue to fly at us at a snail’s pace. But, slow and steady wins the race, and as long as the quality episodes continue to deliver that classic Mason charm and style, I guess folks like us will continue to come back for more.
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Cannon: Season Two, Vol. 1
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 8th, 2009
William Conrad was no stranger to audiences when Cannon joined the Quinn Martin stable of television dramas. In fact, most folks knew his voice before they got to know his trademark girth. Conrad was the original Matt Dillon when Gunsmoke was a radio drama. When the drama entered the visual medium of television, even Conrad admitted later that the audience, who thought of him as tall and handsome, would have been disappointed. His voice lent authority to any role he played, and on radio his size was never an issue.
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Serveuses demandées
Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 8th, 2009
The main plot of the film is that of a young woman from Brazil named Priscilla, whose student Visa expires and is lead into working as an exotic dancer. The title of the film comes from the ad posted by the pimps and promoters of exotic dancers “Waitresses Wanted.” The film is bookended by the profiles of all the dancers featured in the film, all of whom are from a different nation, all beautiful, and all arrived in Canada with different careers in mind than to get involved with Columbian pimps or Russian mob lords.
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Exclusive Interview With Chris Lemmon!
Posted in Podcasts, Random Fun by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2009
I had the chance to chat with Chris Lemmon on the phone today.
While Chris has done a little acting over the years we all knew his Dad, Jack Lemmon.
Sony is about to release a new collection of Jack Lemmon’s films and so Chris agreed to chat a little bit about that and more.
Bang it here to listen to the Chris Lemmon interview
The Ramen Girl
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2009
Recipe for Ramen Girl (serves 4)
Take one American girl, preferably in her early 20’s, and place her in Japan.
Add a touch of one self centered American male, also in his early 20’s, but sprinkle lightly, (After all, this is merely a subtle flavor that really doesn’t need to be all that well developed.)
Do not mix. (These ingredients will not mix. That’s the point)
Slowly stir in a cranky old Japanese ramen chef to taste.
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In Tranzit
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2009
In Tranzit is one of these odd films that you can never quite get a handle on. Even now I’m not exactly sure what kind of a film it was intended to be. While it takes place at the end of World War II and involves some Nazi officers in a Russian POW camp, I’m not sure that the film has all that much to do with the war, or POW camps for that matter. The film remains a kind of abstract art form with a rather loosely told story.
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Forever Strong
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 5th, 2009
Forever Strong is a classic example of sports melodrama. The only wrinkle to this film is the sport. The sport in question, is not typical at all (i.e. Football, Basketball or Hockey) it is Rugby. The film revolves around a rambunctious youth, Rick Penning (Sean Faris) who runs into trouble with the law and is shipped out to a juvenile detention centre. He is introduced to Marcus (Sean Astin) who is an administrator and acts as Rick’s sponsor. After the initial introduction, Marcus uncovers Rick’s passion for Rugby and encourages him to play for his old team. Rick decides to play and the emotional journey begins from there.
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Babine
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 4th, 2009
In a village where there is a great deal of time (there are months whose days are numbered in the 40s), the local witch gives birth to the title character. Twenty years later, Babine is the Village Idiot. Though he is a thoroughly gentle soul, he also becomes the scapegoat for every ill, real or imagined, that befalls the villagers. Fortunately, he has some champions, including Toussaint Brodeur (played by director Luc Picard), the local fly-raiser. But then the church burns down, and terrible trouble looms for Babine in the person of the new, fanatical village priest.
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Man Hunt
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2009
It seems that every studio with a Nazi war film is scrambling to get it released about now. The Tom Cruise film Valkyrie has caused about as much Nazi fever as I’ve seen in recent years. Unfortunately, that means we’re going to see a lot of films that wouldn’t otherwise see the light of day, most for good reason. Fortunately, it also means that some truly classic titles that got hidden away for decades because there is a perceived lack of interest suddenly surface like a German U-Boat about to pounce on an unsuspecting battleship. Man Hunt is absolutely one of the latter.
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Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2009
For most of us, we thought it was a crime when Eddie Murphy hijacked the Dr. Dolittle brand back in 1998. He turned a classic into yet another assembly line crude humor product. The original material was carelessly sacrificed for the sake of another Eddie Murphy romp. Well, it was harmless enough, I suppose. But then the sequel and direct to video follow ups began. Eddie was out, and so were the fart jokes and other bodily function staples. Now after a couple of direct to video attempts we get Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, and suddenly we actually miss Eddie Murphy.
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Eden Log (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2009
“So he Lord God banished him from the Garden Of Eden to serve the ground from which he had been taken.”
I love playing video games. I have since I was in my early 20’s and the first home console systems were being launched. Today I play platform games on my PS3. One of the unfortunate trends to come to modern video games is the ability to provide longer and more elaborate cut scenes.
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Muscle Madness
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 3rd, 2009
Sword and Sandal films have been around since the early 1900’s and under the broad definition, Ben Hur was the first way back in 1907. However, under the more accepted narrow definition, this referred to Italian films that were based on loose plots around Greek mythology with giant muscle men and low budgets. The popular Sword and Sandal era was a period of roughly 10 years from 1957-1964 and started with the world-wide release of Hercules in 1957.. It kinda died out once the spaghetti westerns came around (giving Italian directors something else to do). Muscle Madness provides us with five films representative of the era including the likes of Steve Reeves, Alan Steel and Mark Forest. Let the cheesefest begin!
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on June 3rd, 2009
Halo 3 ODST, Project Natal & Facebook on Xbox Live? – Welcome to the column that would have gone to E3 if the show organizers didn’t do background checks for booth girl stalking known as Dare to Play the Game.
Many video game columnists are currently at E3 getting all giddy over the latest announcements and acting important like somebody is supposed to be impressed with their credentials by being at this event.
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Yonkers Joe
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2009
Robert Calestino hasn’t had a lot of experience as either a writer or director, and it shows in Yonkers Joe. When he’s writing about the things he obviously knows and understands, the film is quite good and extremely engaging. Unfortunately, Calestino felt compelled to bring some heart into his picture in the person of Joe, Jr. While he thinks he’s adding a necessary emotional element to the story, he’s really delivering a distraction that makes the film somewhat less than it ought to be.
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Falling Down (Deluxe Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2009
William “D-Fens” Foster (Douglas) is caught in a typical L.A. traffic jam. The annoyances about him are beginning to mount up: a buzzing insect, tremendous heat, a child screaming. All of these things are becoming a perfect storm that is about to ignite a powder keg that’s been gathering here for some time. He abandons his car in the middle of the street and begins an apparently aimless walk across L.A. He first encounters a Korean convience store clerk, who he critizes for his accent and exorbitant prices.
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