Choke
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2009
“Sex addicts. These people are the reason that emergency rooms have special tools to remove the champagne bottle, the fluorescent bulb, and the hamster. For the freaks in here, sex is a compulsion like gambling, drugs, or shoplifting…”
That describes Victor Mancini (Rockwell), the focus of the rather absurd little black comedy based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk and adapted for the screen by Clark Gregg, who also directs and acts in the movie.
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Blindness
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2009
There is an old saying that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Don’t tell that to Julianne Moore’s character. In this quasi science fiction morality tale, her character learns that it’s not what you can’t see that will hurt you, rather what you can see. This is a very dark film that takes an incredibly cynical look at humanity. She’s the only seeing person in an isolated group of mysteriously blind people. The film is obviously told from her perspective, as anyone else’s would be impossible to present, at least on film.
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My Name Is Bruce (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2009
“A movie filled with so much terrible horribleness, you’ll crap someone else’s pants”
Bruce Campbell has carved out himself quite a little niche in the acting game. No one would consider him a superstar, and the films he’s most notable for are the kind of cult favorite films that critics tend to hate, all except this particular critic. What’s kind of funny about the whole thing is that Campbell has appeared in some seriously successful films, including all three Spider-Man movies. His parts in these affairs might have been small, but Sam Raimi fans know that it wouldn’t be a Raimi film if it didn’t have Bruce Campbell somewhere.
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The Paul Newman Collection
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2009
Paul Newman was born in 1925 near Cleveland, Ohio. He was an attendee of the world famous New York Actor’s Studio drama school in 1947. His first movie is included here, The Silver Chalice. The effort actually embarrassed him, and he took out an ad apologizing for the performance. It was looking like this young actor was going to disappear into obscurity in short order. Fortunately for moviegoers everywhere he decided to stick it out. He would deliver in the 1960’s and 1970’s some of the best movies ever made.
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Escape to Chimp Eden: Season 1
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2009
Escape To Chimp Eden tastes a lot like Orangutan Island. Both shows deal with the rescue of captive abused primates. In both shows the animals are taken to a rehabilitation center where the goal is to teach the animals basic survival skills. The hope is that they might one day return to the wild and be able to survive and socialize with other wild primates. That’s about as far as the similarities go, however. In Orangutan Island, the show is very much about the apes themselves and their growing skills. In Chimp Eden, however, the spotlight is almost always on the incredibly melodramatic Eugene Cussons. This guy could give William Shatner lessons in overacting.
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Miracle at St Anna (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2009
“Safety is the greatest risk of all, but safety leaves no room for miracles, and miracles are the only sure thing in life.”
Spike Lee finds a noble cause in the experiences of the Buffalo Soldiers, fighting in Italy during World War II. There’s no question that history hasn’t always dealt fairly with the contributions the black soldiers have made on the battlefields that have, at times, defined our nation.
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S.I.S. (Special Investigation Section)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 23rd, 2009
There are many shows out there that never make it past the original pilot episode. Most of them fail because there isn’t anything original about the plot or perhaps the cast chosen isn’t strong enough to bring out a good character. Heck, it could even be as trivial as the locale chosen to whether or not the network executives give it a nod. So the question remains, what exactly happens to these pilots that either fail or haven’t been picked up yet for next season? They get released on dvd. A little publicity never hurts.
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Body of Lies
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 21st, 2009
Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies is a reliable piece of filmmaking exemplary of the great director’s ability to make a tensely watch-able film, even if said film isn’t his best work. Such is the case with this Leonardo DiCaprio-Russell Crowe-led action-thriller that focuses on the post-Iraqi invasion conflict. DiCaprio’s Roger Ferris is left with those little pieces of death that have proven so much more dangerous after the old regime was toppled by U.S. forces, and he seems fine with it.
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If Jason Were a Sniper, Would That Be Cheating?
Posted in Brain Blasters by David Annandale on February 21st, 2009
The European horror revival continues apace. Today’s entry in the please-don’t-remake-it category is the 2007 Spanish entry King of the Hill, directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego. It’s another case of a simple premise worked out rigorously, and with great skill. Leonardo Sbaraglia plays Quim, a man on his way though the Spanish countryside. Stopping at a filling station, he has a quickie encounter with shoplifter Bea (María Valverde) in the washroom, after which he discovers that she has lifted his wallet. Catching sight of her vehicle heading up a mountain road, he takes the detour in pursuit. Then, once he is well off the beaten track, nicely far away from civilization as he knows it, he sees a glint on a mountain peak, and then a bullet hits his car.
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Natalie Wood Collection
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2009
Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenk. Her parents were born in Russia. Obviosly a name change was in order for her to pursue an acting career, particularly when said career was in the era of The Red Scare and Hollywood was blacklisting some of its most talented products for even a hint of Comunism. That career was to start when Natalie was just 4 years old. But it wasn’t until 1947’s Christmas Classic, Miracle On 34th Street that she won over the hearts of a nation as Susan Walker. She was married to television and film star Robert Wagner, not once but twice.
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Tales from the Darkside: The First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2009
“Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real but not so brightly lit, a darkside.”
I have been waiting a long time for this release. Tales From The Darkside. Not since the likes of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits has there been a really good sci-fi/horror anthology until 1984’s Tales. Not to say that each episode was a winner. In fact, most were pretty weak and relatively lame, but when this show was good, it was very good.
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Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Mystery of the Easter Chipmunk
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2009
There’s another Holiday on the horizon, and I’ll bet you know what that means. It means that we’ll be in for more Chipmunk adventure tied to the season. For the last year or so Paramount has been hard at work filling your Chipmunks addiction with these holiday themed releases. Easter will be no different as we get The Mystery Of The Easter Chipmunk. It’s no Great Pumpkin, but you can be sure to sink those buck teeth into more revved up Chipmunk mischief and trouble.
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Fat Head
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2009
In 2004 Morgan Spurlock released the controversial documentary Super Size Me. In the film he goes on a 30 day fast food only diet. His purpose was to alert the public of the danger to health the fast food industry has become. The film was more about the obesity problem in America and less about the evil McDonald’s Empire, but he makes several points which one might interpret as being pro-fast food regulation.
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Soul Men
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 19th, 2009
“You’ve got Samuel L. Jackson. You’ve got Bernie Mac. Just turn on the camera and I guarantee you got something you can keep.”
During an August weekend in the past summer of 2008 the entertainment world lost two of it’s brightest stars in just two days. On August 9th comedian extraordinaire Bernie Mac died from complications of pneumonia. The Mac-Man, as his friends liked to call him, was little more than 50 years old. Just a few hours after Bernie Mac passed, on August 10th legendary soul man Isaac Hayes also died. Hayes was 10 days shy of his 66th birthday.
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Friday the 13th the Series: The Second Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 19th, 2009
It all starts with antique dealer Uncle Lewis. He made a deal with the devil to help His Evilness to distribute cursed and evil objects through his store. Objects included Jack The Ripper’s scalpel. Finally Satan comes to collect Uncle Lewis and his tattered soul, leaving his niece Micki (Robey) to clean up the mess. She and cousin Ryan (Le May) have the unenviable task of tracking down these items and sealing them safely away so they can do no more harm.
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I Love The 80’s: Coming to America
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 19th, 2009
Remember when Eddie Murphy was funny? You know, before the fat suites and fart jokes. I guess many of you hadn’t even been born yet. Ronald Reagan was still president of these United States. CD’s were the latest thing. VHS was just catching on. The Rams were still in L.A., and it was the Cardinals that were playing in St. Louis. No one had ever heard about DVD, MP3, or Wi-fi. It was 1988 and Eddie Murphy was staring in Coming To America.
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I Love The 80’s: Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 19th, 2009
Leslie Nielsen was once a serious actor. He starred in one of the most important science fiction films ever made, Forbidden Planet. He was a staple on the 1950’s television dramas. His unique features and voice made him a busy character actor all the way until the 1980’s. That’s when the cornball kings Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker cast him as the “don’t call me Shirley” Dr. Rumack in Airplane. From that moment on Nielsen went from being a serious actor to becoming the face of an entire comedy genre of corny films.
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I Love The 80’s: Still Smokin’
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 19th, 2009
The series might be called “I Love The 80’s” and the film Still Smokin’ was indeed released in 1983, but when I think of Cheech & Chong I am brought back to the 1970’s. It was then that the pair had their first success with an iconic brand of “stoner” comedy. Their LP’s sold millions across the country. You didn’t have to be a stoner to appreciate the jokes. I was about as straight as they come, but I really loved listening to Cheech & Chong. The material was about more than just getting high. It was timely, at least it was then. It mirrored the culture that we could see from our own windows and like all inspired comedy, it was relevant.
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Sabrina the Teenage Witch – The Fifth Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 19th, 2009
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is a character that actually originated in 1962. She debuted in Archie Comics for the publication Archie’s Mad House issue #22. She was intended to be one of those one-shot characters, but the audience liked her so much that she found a home in Archie Comics for a while, even getting her own book starting in 1971. In 1996, a television show was launched. It would last seven seasons and one-hundred and sixty three episodes. This was a great run for a show that was only created to bring a little bit of magic into everybody’s lives.
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Depth Charge
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2009
Made-for-TV crapper Depth Charge, a new action film starring Jason Gedrick and that B-movie slut brother of Julia Eric Roberts, hits DVD with a bare bones release you will welcome, if by chance, you happen to work for Upcoming Discs and want to get your next bad movie project over with as quickly as possible.
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on February 18th, 2009
Gamestop Shafting Employees, Guild Wars delay & the Final Roster for Legends of Wrestlemania – Welcome to the column that is the Santino Marella of the gaming community known as Dare to Play the Game.
My first full week back with my Xbox 360 has been an exercise in finishing up some old games. I now have every achievement in Fable II Pub Games with the exception of the locksmith achievement which is gained by unlocking all games.
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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa/Penguins 2 Disc
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 18th, 2009
Everything you loved from the first film is back again. Dreamworks took the high road and brought all of the voice cast back. That means the wonderful chemistry these characters developed in the first film gets to continue. We don’t have to waste time setting up new bonds. We can get right to the adventure. Dreamworks also retained pretty much the entire animation team and added even more talent. The quality of this animation actually improves upon that of the original. Water, in particular, is startling on this film. It is as photo real as I’ve seen it in any animation feature to date.
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Friday the 13th, Part 3 3-D
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 18th, 2009
It didn’t take the Friday The 13th film series long to reach down into the gimmick bag. The sad thing is that the franchise didn’t really need a gimmick. Steve Miner returned to the director’s chair, and he delivered an important, if not great entry into the franchise’s history. Jason would, for the first time, don the hockey mask that would make his image the iconic horror visage it remains today. This was also an important film because a young makeup artist from this staff would break out to become one of the best in the business. Stan Winston was an uncredited artist on this film.
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Friday the 13th, Part 2
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 18th, 2009
“You may only see it once but that will be enough”
That was the marketing slogan for the first Friday The 13th film in 1980. Apparently they couldn’t have been more wrong, because most of us have seen the film countless times, and no, it was never enough. The franchise would thrive with over 10 sequels or affiliated films, taking us right up to the present remake/reboot of that very first outing at Camp Crystal Lake. No, my friends, once was never going to be enough.
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Daniel’s Daughter
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 17th, 2009
Daniel’s Daughter comes to DVD with star Laura Leighton back in the spotlight. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty dim spotlight. Fans of Melrose Place may be happy to see her, but that happiness will be short-lived when they also realize what a flat-lined EKG her film turns out to be.
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