Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 31st, 2016
"Stealing from the Pope is suicide."
We're not talking about that pope. We're talking about Robert DeNiro in his latest direct-to-video feature film Heist. It's true that DeNiro hasn't exactly been picky lately with his parts. He commands a big paycheck, often for just showing up on the credits. It's common among actors particularly those like DeNiro who have made quite a name for themselves and find themselves in the back nine of their career. You have to at least give him a little more credit than most. He's the kind of actor who always puts in the effort for a project no matter how big or small the film or part happens to be. You could say that gangster parts like Pope come naturally, and he doesn't really have to act. If you believe that, you've just glossed over the actor's best talent. He always makes it look easy. More than giving his best, DeNiro is an actor that appears to bring the best out of everyone else, as well. Most of the cast and crew refer to him as Mr. DeNiro in the bonus material here. That's the kind of respect he's earned from his peers. If he wants to have a little fun on a direct-to-video film from time to time while padding the bank account, I say what's the harm. Keep doing them and I'll keep assigning Robert DeNiro movies to myself every time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 30th, 2016
Shout Factory is churning out the 1980's horror films to provide us with a steady diet of schlock-o-rama. Through their Scream Factory series we've been getting many double-header collections along with the occasional horror film that stands alone, if not standing out. The films are the kind of thing you gather a bunch of friends together and have yourself a marathon of films that make you laugh as much as make you scream. The latest in this series is the 1987 Zombie High. Of course, the film doesn't have a single zombie, at least not in the classic Romero style, and it appears to take place at a college instead of a high school. But let's not let plot points get in the way of a good title. In fact, Zombie High is remembered more for how it was made than for the final product.
The filmmakers literally invaded the campus of USC in L.A. In what many describe as a pretty cool con, they were able to convince the school's staff and students that a major film was being shot there, and the crew was given a ton of cooperation from the school. USC has the oldest film school in the nation, and you might understand why everyone would be eager to help out a big film that wanted to use its locations and resources. Those resources included everything from camera equipment to providing the labor both behind and in front of the camera. The movie was made for very little money, because so much of the cost was picked up by USC in their attempt to "cooperate". Zombie High just might be the only completely stolen film to be released to any kind of a wide audience.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2016
There have been nine Jesse Stone movies starring Tom Selleck. They come from a series of books written by Robert B. Parker. Parker is also famous for the Spencer For Hire series, which was a television show starring Robert Urich from 1985 to 1988. Parker also created a popular Sunny Randall series that was originally meant as a vehicle for Helen Hunt. Many modern writers such as Harlan Coben, Robert Crais and Dennis Lehane credit Parker for revitalizing and reinventing the detective genre. It has been a tried and true genre for over a hundred years. It is a beloved formula. The Hallmark Channel has been behind this series of movies with Selleck, who has had a career resurgence with the CBS series Blue Bloods. He is well remembered for the Magnum P.I. show that ran from 1980 to 1988. Just to bring you up to date on the Jesse Stone movies which started airing in 2005, here are some of the titles in case you want to get the whole collection. The movies are all in chronological order: Stone Cold, Night Passage, Death In Paradise, Sea Change, Thin Ice, No Remorse, Innocents Lost, Benefit Of The Doubt, and Lost In Paradise. Another one is on the way in 2016. Selleck has become increasingly involved with the writing of the movies as well. Recurring characters from previous movies that show up in Jesse Stone: Lost In Paradise are Thelma Gleffey (Gloria Reuben), Gino Fish (William Sadler), Dr. Dix (William Sadler), Officer Luther “Suitcase” Simpson (Kohl Sudduth), Sister Mary John (Kerri Smith), and Lt. Sydney Greenstreet (Leslie Hope). (By the way, anyone who has seen The Maltese Falcon will get a chuckle out of the name Sidney Greenstreet.) The last time a Jesse Stone movie was broadcast on CBS was back in 2013 with Benefit of The Doubt and garnered over 13 million viewers. That was back in the good old days but was shifted over to Hallmark because it attracted too many older viewers. I can see why, because Jesse Stone is an unapologetic dinosaur who carries a flip phone and doesn’t respond to texts even if it’s an emergency.
Stone is based out of a town called Paradise, Massachusetts but heads down to Boston to pick up some cold cases from Lt. Greenstreet, because he needs to keep busy. Stone is doing his best to keep off the booze and has nothing but work to keep his mind off things. He also winds up helping a teenage truant girl whose mother is also an alcoholic. The main case this time is trying to find the murder of a prostitute. Stone visits Richard Steele (Luke Perry), who is in prison for the murder of three prostitutes. Steele believes prostitutes are a poison in society and has proudly confessed to the three murders. He specifically says he did not murder this new woman despite a similar M.O. (Modus Operandi). Strangely, this new murder is the wife of a wealthy man.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on January 28th, 2016
My first exposure to Bo Derek was Michael Anderson’s horror film Orca. While she may have had a minor part in the film, she had a rather unique beauty about her that was hard to ignore. After Orca, she dropped off my radar for the better part of five years, until her familiar face came to me in Shout Factory’s Bolero/Ghosts Can’t Do It combo pack. Once again I was graced with her unique beauty, but with a new understanding of her acting career: mainly how it was influenced by her relationship with her late husband John Derek. The two films in this Blu-ray set are towards the end of the pair’s collaborative projects, but I believe it is an accurate portrayal of their contribution (or lack thereof) to cinema as a whole.
For those who don’t know, the Dereks’ relationship was not something you would call conventional. She was seventeen and in high school, and he was married and in his forties. In order to maintain their relationship legally, John divorced his wife and eloped with his young lover to Germany, where they remained for three years before returning to the States to marry. While this fact might be quite disturbing to some, it is necessary to mention, because the Dereks produced their first collaborative film project while abroad for those three years. The independent production, Fantasies, was shot in Greece in 1973, with unknown Greek actors and actresses and Bo Derek (then unknown) as the lead. The film was not released until 1981 due to the controversy surrounding the film: a seventeen-year-old girl exploring her sexual fantasies involving an older man, complete with nudity. Following Fantasies, John Derek wrote and directed three more films exploiting Bo’s beauty before ending his career as a director: Tarzan, The Ape Man, Bolero, and Ghosts Can’t Do It.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 27th, 2016
“Being a woman's hard work.”
Femininity — the quality and essence of being a woman — is at the forefront of The New Girlfriend, a gender-bending and genre-bending offering from French director Francois Ozon. The film is a curious mix of farce, rom-com hijinks, frank sexuality, and serious drama about loss. The formula isn't always cohesive, but it makes for an intriguing twist on the old “boy meets girl” story.
Posted in: Contests, Tuesday Round Up by J C on January 26th, 2016
After a *very* welcome vacation last week, I’m off the cruise ship and happy to be back at the UpcomingDiscs ranch. (Although I kinda miss the part where I got to eat all the time and someone else made my bed.) Speaking of returns, Jack’s Back thanks to Shout! Factory, which also takes the good and takes the bad with The Facts of Life: Season 8. Cohen Media Group moves on with The New Girlfriend, Warner Bros. takes Forever: The Complete Series, and Sony finds Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise. Finally, Anchor Bay decodes Da Vinci’s Demons: Season 3.
This Round Up post is also your last chance to win our January giveaway. Once a month we’re going to give away a surprise DVD title from our archives to a lucky winner who comments in our weekly Round-Up posts. All you have to do is comment in a Round-Up post — like this one! — and tell us which of the featured titles you’re most curious to read about. (Quick reminder: You're not telling us which title you'd like to win; your free DVD will be a surprise.)
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2016
"The way of life depicted in this program dates back 300 years. Hunting, especially alligator hunting, lies at its core. Some images may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised."
And they're not kidding. Gator hunting is a bloody business, and this show gets you right up close and in the action. The hunters set hooks with bait, and once a gator is hooked they must reel it in and shoot it in a very small vulnerable spot in the back of the head. Let me warn you that animals were indeed harmed in the making of this film, and you're going to witness that harm. If you're an animal activist, I suggest turning to the Disney Channel for this particular hour. The rest of you will get a front-row seat to a truly thrilling non-stop alligator hunt.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 24th, 2016
Ever since Twilight and The Hunger Games have taken off to become successful young-adult franchises, it would seem studios have scooped up just about every young-adult property in hopes of catching this magic (or money) in a bottle. While these cash-cow franchises continue to pop up, it sadly seems these dystopian titles lack the quality of their predecessors and bring nothing new to the screen either. When it comes to The 5th Wave, we are given a little hope that perhaps this time, now that the villains are aliens, that we may get something new; unfortunately, this is a wave that smacks its audience in the face with more of the same old story we’ve been tired of for some time.
We open with Cassie Sullivan (Chloe Grace Moretz) on the run through the woods with a rifle in hand. While scavenging a gas station for supplies, she stumbles upon a wounded man. The two engage in a standoff as she struggles to decide if the man she is facing down is really a man or perhaps the enemy. Let’s just say she squeezes the trigger, and we flashback to how the world got so messed up in the first place. For me I see the cold open for this film, and I expect that perhaps this is going to be a film that delves into what makes us human, or characters conflicted by killing monsters hiding in the shape of humans. Well, we sort of get that, but the troubling thing is that the film plays out more from the perspective of a sociopath rather than a complex individual holding onto her humanity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 24th, 2016
I Believe In Unicorns is a small independent movie that few people will see. It’s the kind of film experience people don’t see much of because the culture is saturated with pre-packaged product. That’s probably a bad thing. The film is by writer/director Leah Meyerhoff, and one of the stars is her mother, Toni. Leah doesn’t have much of a resume aside from a number of shorts, one of which is included on the DVD. Twitch is an early inspiration for the feature film. In both versions, Toni plays a wheelchair-bound woman cared for by her teenage daughter. This is clearly a very personal project for Leah and Toni, who is afflicted with MS. The disease has become a very big part of both of their lives. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an increasingly debilitating autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system. In both cases the teenage daughter shows stress and depression from the extraordinary responsibility placed on her.
I Believe in Unicorns is a fairly subdued and depressing story. The style is drowsy, dreamy, and downbeat, and drifts in and out of various states of indeterminate reality. Nothing spectacular, but at times it seems that we are stuck in a teenage girl’s brain. Throughout the film a very low-tech Claymation unicorn is a demonstration of a very sad fantasy world. There is actually lots of stop-motion animation throughout. Almost everything in the movie is in service to setting a continuing mood of uncertainty and confusion. Most of the story, what there is of it, is just following Davina (Natalia Dyer) as she runs off with a boy, Sterling (Peter Vack). The time is indeterminate, but some time before cell phones, and when Polaroid cameras were commonly in use. Sterling is kind of a punk with long flowing hair. The two of them just float through a kind of childish dream of romance. They drift on the road, having fun doing anything for their immediate pleasure. Everything about them seems unformed, which seems appropriate for teenage lovers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2016
I have to admit that I'm not much of a Keanu Reeves fan. However, I'm a huge fan of Keanu Reeves movies. Let's face it, Keanu can be quite wooden with as much screen presence as a test pattern. OK, I'm showing my age with that line. But one thing he knows how to do well is pick great films to star in. From The Matrix and the recent very hit John Wick to the underrated The Devil's Advocate, Reeves can sure pick 'em. The worse case scenario here would be Keanu in an uninteresting movie. Well...Knock Knock. Who's there? An uninteresting Keanu Reeves film.
Knock Knock finds Reeves playing Evan Weber. He's an architect with a pretty much idyllic life. His wife is a renowned artist, and he has two great kids. But Evan is feeling a bit neglected on Father's Day. His wife has just gotten a shipment of catalogues from her recent exhibit, and she's not exactly paying him a lot of attention right now. To make things worse, wife and kids are off to spend Father's Day weekend at the beach, while Evan has to remain home to finish a project.
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