Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2015
Our pals over at Cinedigm want to take a huge bite out of your movie experience. Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your Blu-ray player... it's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No. We've got the exclusive Sharktacular Edition. It's on high definition Blu-ray and we're sending one out to one lucky Upcomingdiscs fan. John's going to give you all of the twists and turns in his review. You've got to have this one.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2015
"Death by 100 cuts."
You should know the setup by now. Here's a quick rundown: it's 97 years ago, and nuclear holocaust has made life on Earth unlivable... at least that's what most people believed. Fortunately for humanity, several countries had space stations in orbit. These various stations eventually came together to pool resources hoping for a better chance at survival. The ragtag collection eventually became the ARC. Now, nearly a century later they have created a civilization ruled by the dire necessity of their situation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 15th, 2015
It wasn’t until I settled in to watch Spike TV’s three-part/six-hour miniseries based on the (relatively short) life of King Tut that I realized we hadn’t really seen his story depicted on screen before. I mean, it’s probably a bad sign that the most famous on-screen portrayal of the ancient Egyptian monarch comes courtesy of…Steve Martin. Given the liberties this miniseries takes with casting and storytelling, I reckon some historians would’ve preferred Martin as the famous pharaoh here. However, I still found this to be a suitably entertaining and attractive (if somewhat overstuffed) melodrama.
"No one fears you. You are the boy king who lives behind other men."
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2015
Our good friends over at Warner Brothers want you to know that The Leftovers Season 1 is out on Blu-ray. They're so excited about it that they're giving away a free set on Blu-ray to a lucky Upcomingdiscs winner.
To win a copy, just follow these simple instructions.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 14th, 2015
by Dustin P. Anderson
We follow Melissa, a child neglected by her parents, who argue and are consumed by their careers. Melissa meets a crab and adopts this creature as her pet, feeding it food from her father’s science experiment. Melissa loses her parents in a tragic explosion and is taken in by her uncle. Twenty years after the explosion she has become a “public menace”, shooting anyone who comes close to her property, where she keeps the now-giant crab. The crab goes unnoticed until her eggs start hatching and terrorizing people in the woods. When people start killing her babies, she goes on a rampage and starts terrorizing everyone who was unlucky enough to touch her children. Can Melissa keep her friend from destroying the town?
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2015
4GOT10 is out this week from Cinedigm. The film channels the spirit of Sergio Leone as the modern Spaghetti Western lives. The film also stars some pretty impressive action stars like Danny Trejo and Dolph Lundgren. Throw in Vivica Fox and Michael Pare and you have a pretty solid low budget ride. The film also stars Johnny Messner in the lead role of Brian. Brian wakes up with a van filled with drugs and money. The feds are on his trail along with a drug lord and a dirty cop. He's surrounded by dead bodies. The problem? He can't remember who he is or how he got here. And that's just the beginning. How do you play that part? That's exactly what I asked Johnny when I had the chance to talk with him. We talked about a few other things along the way. Bang it here to listen in on my chat with Johnny Messner
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on October 14th, 2015
“We'll get hit again...and it's going to be a bigger monster.”
The character who utters these words in San Andreas is referring to an impending earthquake that could literally rip California apart. But he could just as easily be talking about the summer movie season, when audiences who have just been rocked by a catastrophic quake have to deal with something called “Indominus Rex” a mere two weeks later. San Andreas almost certainly won't end up as the biggest bully on the Hollywood block, but it's a big, dumb, fun disaster flick the whole family can enjoy.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on October 14th, 2015
I was very excited to see The Target come through Upcomingdiscs headquarters. I am an avid consumer of New Korean Cinema, and The Target actually shares a producer with Oldboy (2003), my favorite film of all time. However, as soon as the credits roll, you learn that the film is inspired by Point Blank (Á bout portant), a French film made in 2010. So, I am immediately torn between my love of New Korean Cinema and my disdain for remakes. I must say, The Target was a rather pleasant surprise. Tae-joon is a young doctor who begins treating an accused murder suspect, Yeo-hoon, after he is chased from the crime scene by two thugs. An unknown assailant kidnaps Tae-joon’s pregnant wife and gives him the instruction to release Yeo-hoon before he falls into the custody of the police. Soon thereafter, Yeo-hoon escapes and Tae-joon realizes the police are not as helpful as they seem.
One thing that is important to note is that the film’s screenplay is penned by Cheol-Hong Jeon, whose oeuvre includes impressive titles such as Crying Fist and Kundo: Age of the Rampant. That being said, I am thrilled that Jeon did not copy Point Blank’s original screenplay. While I did enjoy the original French feature, I am very impressed with the complexity of Jeon’s adaptation. There are a few key similarities involving character occupations and general story arch, but ultimately, the story is a refreshing new thriller.
Posted in: Contests, Tuesday Round Up by J C on October 13th, 2015
Ready to get Rocked? Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson headlines this week’s Tuesday Round Up, and he’s here to shake things up with Warner Bros.’ earthquake disaster hit San Andreas. Warner also hangs out at The Gallows, counts to The 100: Season 2, and develops quite The Following: Season 3. Shout! Factory answers our prayers with The Saint: Seasons 1&2, and Magnolia grieves The Little Death. Finally, we say farewell to Mad Men: The Final Season — Part 2 with a Coke and a smile.
Don't forget to tell us which of this week's Round Up offerings caught your eye? Once a month we’re going to give away a free DVD title 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 these titles you’re most excited to watch or read about. The winners and their prizes will be announced the first week of every month right here in our Tuesday Round-Up post. You can’t win if you don’t comment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 13th, 2015
The Gallows starts off with a camcorder video shot of a high school play from 1993 in which a horrible accident occurs. It is immediately followed by video footage from 2013 that is labeled police evidence. That tips us off, if we didn't know, that this is found-footage material. The found footage genre has grown substantially since the phenomenally success of The Blair Witch Project in 1999. One of the reasons that The Blair Witch Project was so successful is that the concept was fresh at the time. It isn't any longer. It also made the actors genuinely confused and terrified during the process of filming. I don't think actors fall for that any more, but they often pretend they're terrified. Maybe they should pretend to act in the first place. The stars of The Gallows are all unknowns with the possible exception of Cassidy Gifford as Cassidy Spilker. If you used to watch Live with Regis and Kathie Lee before it became Live with Kelly and Michael, you would occasionally see the daughter of Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford show up on the set with her brother, Cody (or maybe you caught her on the fourth hour of The Today Show where Kathie Lee holds court lately). She is actually one of the best things in The Gallows and might have some potential in the future. I'm not saying she's great, but with a little work in a better movie, Cassidy might have something. The rest of the cast aren't terrible, but they're not experienced enough to be very good. That could be said of the writer directors, Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing. In the extras they seem very excited about coming up with a new kind of horror villain, the Hangman. I wish it was that simple to create a memorable character. They may be right that hanging hasn't been used often in horror films, but if they had plans to do something memorable they failed.
The movie is not long, but it is monotonous. It starts out with an obnoxious, homophobic jock making his buddy's life miserable because he's doing a play and hanging out with theater geeks. Eventually the obnoxious jerk convinces his so-called friend that he's a lousy actor and he needs to sneak in to the theater that night to destroy the set. Supposedly this will get him out of being in the play. The obnoxious jerk (Ryan Shoos as Ryan Shoos), the friend (Reese Mishler as Reese Houser), the jerk's girlfriend (Cassidy Gifford as Cassidy Spilker), and the star of the show (Pfeifer Brown as Pfeifer Ross) all get trapped in the school, and terrible things start happening. Basically the whole movie takes place in the dark school filmed by cell phones and one garbage camera. Half of the movie is basically screaming and really dark and chaotic footage. There are a couple of twists in the plot that are given brief attention before going back to the incoherent footage.
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