Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 16th, 2016
The Martian, which is about an astronaut stranded on Mars, is one of the biggest hit movies of the summer. By the end of the movie, the entire world is united in their hope that the astronaut will be saved. The Martian is not a true story. The 33 is. It is the true story of 33 miners trapped underground for 69 days in a Chilean gold mine in 2010. The world really does come together in their hopes and prayers for the trapped miners. Even though it is a true story, it also functions as a good old-fashioned disaster flick in the tradition of The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno. It also showcases Latino actors primarily, but some other big-name actors round out the cast as well. The two biggest are probably Academy Award-winning French actress, Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) and Irish actor Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects). Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jacob Vargas, Bob Gunton, and Oscar Nunez are just a few of the familiar faces known for playing Latin characters (Latino, Hispanic, and Latin are all technically politically correct according to various sources) who anchor this movie. One of the most familiar faces is Cote de Pablo, who was born in Chile but is best known for playing Israeli Mossad officer Ziva Davis in the monumentally successful TV show, NCIS. Kate del Castillo is a hugely popular Mexican actress who also had success in the United States on the Showtime series, Weeds. I could go on, but the point is that this is a product meant to appeal heavily to the Latin American population while still having a broad worldwide recognition factor. It succeeds mostly, but it has a greater responsibility than that. It also has to honor the story of the 33 men who were trapped in that mine.
The film includes footage from Anderson Cooper, Brian Williams, and other international journalists who covered the worldwide, potentially tragic event. It also has the active participation of Don Francisco, the host of Sabado Gigante, which just ended a 53-year run on the air. Don Francisco is a television personality in 185 countries (but is actually Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld, the son of Jewish German immigrants who escaped to Chile fleeing the Nazi occupation). Clearly this is a film with international appeal. It is a well-known story the world over when we all held our breath wondering whether the miners would be saved. In case you don’t remember how the story concluded, I won’t spoil it for you here. The film definitely milks the suspense at every opportunity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2016
In 2013 husband-and-wife production duo Mark Burnett and Roma Downey teamed up to bring The Bible to the History Channel. The 10 episode series gave as a whirlwind tour of the milestones from the Bible and brought about some critical acclaim along with solid ratings. It aired during Easter/Passover season. It was certainly an ambitious project and left the team feeling they could do more with the project. They managed to strike a deal this time with NBC to air a sequel of sorts to the mini-series. Enter AD The Bible, which takes an opposite approach to the first show. Instead of cramming thousands of years into just 10 episodes AD spreads out quite a bit, offering us 12 episodes on just the first years after the death and resurrection of Christ. We're basically talking the book Acts of the Apostles. It's the story of the birth of Christianity and the early work done by the followers of Jesus. If you felt rushed the first time, this is the series you've been waiting for.
There were a few obstacles to overcome to bring the series to television. Diogo Morgado was not available to reprise the role of Jesus this time around. This led to a rather radical decision that appears to have paid off. Juan Pablo Di Pace takes over the role admirably. If they were going to replace Christ himself, why not start with a fresh cast all around? That means that every part that was also shown in the first series has been recast. This includes the role of the Virgin Mary, who was originally played by series producer Roma Downy. Credit the filmmaker for understanding that making an exception for herself might have sent the wrong message. It also was the kind of distraction a series like this really doesn't need.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2016
“They called us Pilgrims, but today we are thieves. We trust in God’s design. Our faith helps us to cross an ocean. Faith and a contract with strangers, The Merchant Adventure Company, without whose support we could not afford the journey…. 102 passangers arrived in the New World, guided by the Lord. But there were some things God neglected to mention.”
Everyone knows the good ship Mayflower. We all know who the pilgrims were. Every November school children all over America reenact the first Thanksgiving in pageants more myth than history. We can hardly expect anything more from a Hollywood production on the events surrounding those events. If you’re not looking for an historical lesson, this will be an interesting and somewhat entertaining take on the material.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2016
"He's back. The Sarge is back."
But not for long. Phil Silvers was aptly named. If anyone in show business had a silver tongue, it was Phil. He started, like most comedians of the era, in Burlesque and Vaudeville. There he honed the natural talent that would make him one of the first true television stars in the industry. With The Phil Silvers Show he introduced us to the character of Sergeant Bilko. From 1955 to 1959 Silvers and his Bilko character would take the television landscape by storm. In 1956 the show became the very first series in television history to win three Emmy Awards in a single year. That year the wins came in the Best Comedy Series, Best Actor (Silvers) and Best Director. The last honor went to the show's creator, Nat Hiken.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2016
"Baby, if you've ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me, I'm living on the air in Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, WKRP. "
It almost sounds like a take on Harry Chapin's WOLD, and in many ways it is. The song was hot for a while on radio stations. It seems that DJ's couldn't resist songs about DJ's. Who saw that coming? Of course, the song is the opening theme to WKRP In Cincinnati. The show is back on DVD thanks to the folks at Shout Factory. If that's not big news, this absolutely is: it's back with most of the original music intact including the opening and closing themes. For fans of the show, it's the news we've been waiting for for decades now.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on February 15th, 2016
Our good friends at Mill Creek have sent over a few goodies for our readers here at Upcomingdiscs. They've managed to stitch together a sweet prize with Frankenstein: The Mini Series on Blu-ray. This little television version of the Mary Shelly classic stars William Hurt, Donald Sutherland and Luke Goss and is sure to chill you for the upcoming Spring.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 15th, 2016
“It's like five minutes before every launch, everyone goes to a bar, gets drunk, and tells me what they really think of me.”
During the final act of Steve Jobs — which is less of a biopic and more of a three-act performance piece inspired by the visionary Apple co-founder — the movie winks at its own gimmicky premise. The cheeky reference to the film's rigid, laser-focused structure is appropriate given that Jobs obsessively measured the design his own products down to the millimeter. The result is a movie that wonderfully mirrors its protagonist: Steve Jobs is enthralling, endlessly imaginative, and kind of exhausting.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 15th, 2016
“No war was ever like this.”
McHale’s Navy actually started life as a dramatic episode of Alcoa Premiere, hosted by Fred Astaire. It was April of 1962 when Ernest Borgnine would introduce the audience to his most famous television role. The network loved the character but not the show’s format. By October of the same year the television series would debut not as a serious drama but a half-hour comedy. Who knows how a dramatic series would have performed? The comedy became a classic. People couldn’t get enough of the stuff, and two movie versions were produced during the show’s four-season run. These films have been collected here on a single DVD release.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 15th, 2016
When it comes to horror films about relationships, we’ve all gotten used to the same old story where a jilted ex-lover isn’t ready to let things go and violence and mayhem ensues. What is actually refreshing about Sociopathia is that we get a love story mixed with some graphic horror while seeing the story unfold through the eyes of a mentally unhinged young woman. While Sociopathia may not be in the same league as Fatal Attraction, it is still a film worth watching for those who are fans of trashy, exploitive horror films. And with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, this maybe the feel-good flick you single folks may be looking for to validate your single life.
Mara (Tammy Jean) is a single lesbian who is struggling in the dating world while also juggling her career as a film effects artist. It’s very early on that we see Mara isn’t right in the head after we see her kill her lover and then go on to treat her in a very doll-like fashion, all while continuing to converse with the corpse as though she were still alive. While this is effective in showing us how unstable Mara is, this turns out to be a case of too much too soon. Once we’ve seen how far off the deep end she is, there really isn’t anywhere else for this character to go.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2016
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.
Let’s discuss Ryan Reynolds for a moment. Reynolds has been a Deadpool fanboy for years and is specifically mentioned in the comics in a description of Wade Wilson as a cross between Reynolds and a Shar Pei. It should be noted the main characteristics of the Deadpool comics is that it has strong content in both sex and violence that is relentlessly full of silly fun and that Wilson is fully aware that he is in a comic book and talks to the reader in a self-aware manner. So Reynolds played Wilson in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, and Fox did not show proper concern for the concerns of the core fans, and hysteria ruled. Reynolds then took it upon himself to try to get a proper Deadpool movie made (again, I shouldn’t say proper). I think this time they got it right (and when I say right, I mean wrong in all the best possible ways).
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