Posted in: Contests, Tuesday Round Up by J C on December 1st, 2015
The calendar says it’s December, but it sure doesn’t feel that way down here at the UpcomingDiscs ranch. While we patiently wait for it to get cold enough to get the fireplace going — or at least make us reach for a light jacket — we’ve got another week’s worth of hot releases to review. Lionsgate gives us Amy, which examines the (tragically short) life of singer Amy Winehouse and is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. But that’s not all: Lionsgate also doubles down with Mississippi Grind, adheres to a Zero Tolerance policy, keeps watch with The Guardsman, settles down with Some Kind of Beautiful, and washes away Cooties. Meanwhile, Image Entertainment goes Where Children Play, and Cinedigm enlists War Pigs.
And since we had to find *some* way to get in the Christmas spirit around here...congratulations to November's Tuesday Round Up contest winner Sherry McKay, who won Jingle Bell Rocks on DVD.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on December 1st, 2015
I absolutely love it when I go into a film blind, save for my expectations after looking at the cover, and leave with a surprisingly pleasant experience. A Christmas Horror Story provided me with that exact experience. The cover depicts Krampus, the evil Christmas beast of German folklore, battling Santa in a snowy, mountainous area. This particular battle does not surface until the final moments of the film: instead, we are treated to three separate horror tales that are connected by the various characters that occupy them. Each one of the tales does a good job of maintaining the Christmas theme in creative ways.
Each tale takes place in the city known as Bailey Downs, with the exception of one tale taking place at the North Pole. First, there is a ghost story featuring a murder that took place at a school the year prior on Christmas Eve. Three teenagers decide to break into the school and film a documentary about it. They are able to break into the school with a set of stolen keys, provided by a friend who is forced to visit family rather than participate in the documentary. This family trip is interrupted by a visit from Krampus. The next tale involves the recovering police officer who worked the original Christmas Eve murder case: Still on leave, he is spending time with his son, who gets lost in the woods and is replaced with a changeling. Finally, carnage ensues at the North Pole, where Santa must battle his own elves who have been stricken with an odd form of vampirism.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on December 1st, 2015
Swim Little Fish Swim is, above all else, a very charming film. In fact, it may have been a little too charming for me. I appreciate character-driven dramas, but it is the drama in the film that keeps me engaged throughout. Swim Little Fish Swim introduces some really interesting conflicts into the story, and each conflict has a good variance of high and low stakes. However, the conflicts are either never quite resolved or resolved in a rather unsatisfying way. I did really enjoy the film, but it left me wanting more.
Co-directed and written by Ruben Amar and Lola Bessis (who also plays the starring role), the film explores the lives of artists Leeward (Dustin Guy Defa) and Lilas (Bessis) as their paths cross in New York’s Chinatown. Leeward is a starving artist who refuses to sell out to a commercial in order to support his wife Mary (Brooke Bloom) and his daughter Maggie/Rainbow (Olivia Durling Costello). Meanwhile, Mary works tirelessly as a nurse in order to make up for Leeward’s irresponsible tendencies. To complicate matters, Leeward is introduced to a French artist Lilas, who needs a place to stay until she is able to apply for her Visa. Lilas’s artistic spirit invigorates Leeward into making poor familial decisions in an effort to pursue his dream as an artist.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2015
It's time to tally up the body count for our 31 Nights Of Terror contests. Thanks to all who entered. If you didn't win this time, keep trying. Thanks also to the studios that made it all happen.
Don't forget we'll be serving up our 12 Days Of Christmas Giveaways in December. That's 12 straight days of contests.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 30th, 2015
“Why are people trying to stab you?”
People in action movies aren't usually inclined to stop and ask that question out loud. In American Ultra, a small army of CIA operatives repeatedly try to stab, shoot, gas, and blow up an underachieving slacker and his girlfriend. Seems like a lot of trouble for a panic attack-prone convenience store clerk who sketches a goofy graphic novel about an adventurous ape on his downtime. American Ultra is funny, violent, and tonally-jarring at times. However, it's also a fun subversion of the action genre and (more specifically) “supersoldier” movies.
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. Lionsgate has given us a lot of content this year. They also gave us the best film I've seen all year. That would be Mr. Holmes. From television to theatrical releases to direct to video. Lionsgate has something for you to put under the tree this year.
It's hard to imagine that one could drop nearly all of the detective's iconic features and be at all successful. I mean, really. Can you have a Holmes story without the word “elementary”? Thus bringing up yet another modern version of the man. What about the pipe and deerstalker cap? What if our dear Watson were reduced to a mere 2-3 minutes of film time without ever hearing his voice or seeing his face? What is it that really makes the man who he is to generations of fans? Ah, it's his mind, you might say. What if we even took that away...to a certain extent. Would you...could you still have a Sherlock Holmes story? Add Ian McKellen to the mix and a brilliant screenplay based on the novel A Slight Trick Of The Mind, both written by Mitch Cullin, and the answer is a resounding yes. Yes, you can. Yes, they did.
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 29th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. This time we turn our attention to CBS. You already know about Star Trek releases, but you say you have some drama fans on your shopping list. They don’t want aliens or spaceships. They want stories and criminals getting caught. We’ve got you covered with the best from CBS.
CBS has finally decided to release the number-one-rated show in the world on high-definition Blu-ray. It's a milestone event for the network and for fans of the show, and it only took 12 years to get it done. To be fair, Blu-ray hasn't quite been around for 12 years, but many networks have gotten us caught up with popular shows in high definition by this time. It's remarkable that it did take this long to get a season of NCIS on Blu-ray. Let's hope the numbers warrant that future seasons be given the same treatment and that we'll then be able to get the previous 11. It's an experiment CBS has tried with both CSI and NCIS: LA. Unfortunately, numbers must not have supported that move. But if ever a series deserved to live a long life in high definition, this is the one.
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 28th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. HBO is the spotlight today. A couple of television's best shows had full-season releases in 2015. Of course, we're talking about The Wire and Boardwalk Empire. There were also a few more gems hidden in the year. HBO has stood for premium television for a long time. Before you start shopping for that home video fan, you really need to see what HBO has to offer on Blu-ray.
"Some things stay the same. I mean the gamer is the game."
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 27th, 2015
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. When it comes to getting the current shows out in high definition, no one does it better than Warner Brothers. I am impressed each year with the number of shows they release on Blu-ray every year. Readers to this site know what I'm talking about. If you have TV fans on your list who also are fans of sci-fi and horror, these are the best sets to get this holiday season. Below you'll find some excerpts from our reviews. I've put it all in one place to make your shopping experience easier. I know how little time you've got with a lot of shopping to do. Don't forget to use one of our links if you get them from Amazon. It'll help keep us going another year.
"I don't know where you came from. I don't know your name. But I have seen you do the impossible to protect the city I love. So for those of us who believe in you and what you're doing, I just wanna say thank you."
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 26th, 2015
The last time we checked in on Rocky Balboa was 2006. It was a bittersweet coda to a franchise that provided 30 years and six films of the life and times of Rocky Balboa. Some were truly great films. I'd count the first and last as in that category. Some were near misses like the third and fourth films, while the fifth was pretty much a total disaster. In those years and films we watched Rocky go from a hungry Philadelphia wannabe boxer to the champion several times over. Like the franchise, the character had his own highs and lows. There's no question that the Rocky franchise has gone the distance. And while it might have been a split-decision, the Rocky films still stand as the champion of the film genre. It's no surprise that Hollywood would want to pump a little more cash out of this reliable franchise. With Sylvester Stallone not exactly in his peak shape, we enter the often disastrous territory of the roboot/reimagine/remake. Just like an athlete who doesn't know when it's time to hang it up, Hollywood is known for propping up a franchise long after its staying power has faded. In both cases somebody is going to get hurt. But don't call Rocky down for the count just yet. Writer/director Ryan Coogler just might have found a way to breathe new life into the old franchise. Rocky just might have been saved by the bell with the arrival of Creed. All of a sudden it's a whole new fight game.
Adonis Johnson (Jordan) has grown up a troubled youth. His mother is dead, and he doesn't even know who his father is. He ends up in and out of juvenile detention centers until he's rescued by a woman with a story of her own. Her name is Mary Anne Creed (Rashad), and she was married to the late fighter Apollo Creed. The fighter had an affair years ago with Adonis's mother, and now Mary wants to take the boy in and raise him as her own. Adonis finds himself with a new identity that explains a lot about why he is the way he is. It also explains why he'll eventually give up a high-paying career to fight. Up to now he's been completely self-taught and ripping up the Mexican underground fight circuits. Now he wants to go legit and understands that requires the training he never had. There's only one man who can give him that. He makes the exodus from L.A. to Philadelphia where he approaches his father's best friend and fiercest rival...Rocky Balboa (Stallone).
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