The Time Has Come To Tell The Tale. Properly, This Time.
Posted in Brain Blasters by David Annandale on April 25th, 2008
Two weeks ago, I proposed that, if remakes were inevitable, the subjects of said remakes might as well be worthy of that treatment. In other words, if the original is mediocre or worse to start with, no harm done. And maybe we’ll finally wind up with a good film. Granted, experience hasn’t given us much cause for optimism in this department, but hope springs eternal, even in the face of terrible odds, otherwise the human race would have committed collective suicide long ago.
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Perry Mason (50th Anniversary Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 25th, 2008
If you’re a fan of Perry Mason you need to approach this 50th Anniversary collection with mixed feelings. With no new announcements of future season or half season releases, this set does have the look of finality to it. The last set was the second half of season 2 released November of 2007. With this commorative release you get 12 episodes spread out from the remaining seasons starting with the third. While
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Cheers – The Complete Ninth Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 25th, 2008
Cheers was that kind of place that songs have been written about. Billy Joel’s Piano Man describes such a place where the patrons are, for the most part, regulars and pretty much family. In the days before huge screen televisions and satellite networks, Cheers would likely have been considered a sports bar. In those days the sports was more the talk of the place and not merely gathering to watch 127 games at a time. The bar’s owner was Sam Malone (Danson). Sam was a washed up baseball player for the local Boston Red Sox.
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Laverne & Shirley – The Fourth Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 25th, 2008
I was just a kid when Laverne and Shirley became a successful spinoff from Happy Days in the 1970’s, and while I remember that it was on often in our home I could not have recited any episodes from memory. Like most of my generation, I remembered the enigmatic opening rhyme from the show’s opening segment, and like most kids then I couldn’t pronounce it and still can’t; don’t even ask me to spell it here.
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Cloverfield
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2008
Does ultra realism make for a better movie? There have certainly been examples of startling realistic moments in cinema that have been quite effective, but mostly because they create an experience for us that actually reaches us in a way that we’ll never be able to forget. The storming of
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Married with Children: The Complete Eighth Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 23rd, 2008
Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage, this I tell your brother; you can’t have without the other… Chances are if you know this song by heart, you have watched a lot of episodes of Married with Children (or you adore Frank Sinatra ). The Bundys are back for their eighth season of marital hijinx. Once it was just a random trivia question about one of the shows that was first on the little known Fox tv channel (Tracey Ullman and Garry Shandling are two others by the way). Later, it went on to be one of the network’s greatest early hits and out lasted almost everything except the Simpsons. So would another twenty six episodes of crass sarcasm and dysfunctionality dilute the product or just keep the laughs coming?
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 23rd, 2008
Modding in trouble, Game Making on the Cheap & Who exactly is buying Wii Games? – Welcome to the column that will not purchase a Wii game until they make a sequel to River City Ransom known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 37&20. I find it easy to update that particular number than sit here and tell you how I did in World of Warcraft. After getting the Priest to 20, I find myself focusing primarily on the Rogue for the duration of the week. I feel the push to 40 and I’m trying desperately to get Undercity Rep despite the fact I’m a Troll.
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Matlock – The First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2008
Imagine Sheriff Andy Taylor older and now an attorney, and you pretty much have the set up for Matlock. Forget for a second that both characters were played by Andy Griffith. That’s not all they have in common. Matlock is every bit the “southern gentleman” that
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Wings – The Sixth Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2008
Wings was one of those unusual sitcoms that depended more on the characters than the situations they were in. While the setting was a small
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A Treasure Trove of Expressionism
Posted in Brain Blasters by David Annandale on April 18th, 2008
Kino has long been the go-to company for first-rate DVD editions of classic films, with a special emphasis on the silent era. Recently, they have released a box set that is something of a wet dream for fans of vintage, hard-to-find cinema: the German Expressionism Collection.
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Fatal Contact
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 18th, 2008
As we know by now, Dragon Dynasty is the Criterion of Kung Fu movies. They take any Kung Fu movie, clean up the audio and video where needed and provide a slew of extras for us to enjoy. From featurettes to commentaries with expert Bey Logan, it always provided the Hong Kong kung fu fans with a presentation second to none. However, as with Criterion classics, the movie isn’t always second to none.
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Feel the Noise
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 18th, 2008
Dance movies can be interesting especially when it involves hot sweaty bodies and bodacious moves along a club floor. Did I just say bodacious? “Pauly Shore is on line one, please pick up the white courtesy phone”. I’ll ignore that for now. Dirty Dancing or Footloose are great examples. Some should be drag into the street and shot. I knew that Feel the Noise looked bad the minute I looked at the cover. What was that clue on the cover you might ask? Produced by Jennifer Lopez would be a very good start.
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 16th, 2008
Does Free Play Mmo’s Work?, The Crue on Rockband, and Developing Gaming Skills? – Welcome to the column that developed many childhood skills like reading, riting, and rithemthic but not until they were fifteen known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 36 & 19. That’s all I should have to post at this point. You know how I roll. My main, the Troll Rogue spent most of the week in Thousand Needles, mining until his little blue hands turned purple (or would that be black, I’m not sure).
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Conspiracy
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 15th, 2008
I couldn’t find her name anywhere on the credits, but I simply cannot believe that Rosie O’Donnell didn’t have anything at all to do with the film Conspiracy. The film is a thinly veiled pot shot at the current administration, or at least Dick Cheney. Gary Cole plays a guy named
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The Sister of Ursula
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 15th, 2008
Still grieving over their father’s death, two sisters – the outgoing Dagmar (Stefania D’Amario) and the neurotic, antisocial Ursula (Barbara Magnolfi) – check into an out-of-season hotel. They are almost immediately immersed in a tangled web of relationships and betrayals involving the hotel manager, his estranged wife, a lounge singer and a drug-addicted patron. At the same time, a series of gruesome sex slayings gets underway.
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Awake
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2008
Anesthetic Awareness is a phenomenon where a surgical patient is completely aware and able to feel pain while under anesthesia. It occurs in about 5 out of every 1000 patients, with about half of those 5 aware enough to feel excruciating pain. Apparently the condition is not readily noticeable by the surgical team and is only discovered through recounts of the experience after the procedure. Patients are often able to tell doctors details of conversations they had while the patient was supposed to be completely out of it.
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There Must Always Be A Guardian Over the Gate of Remakes
Posted in Brain Blasters by David Annandale on April 11th, 2008
And so the remakes continue apace. While we shudder at the prospect of butchered returns to Suspiria and the like, this weekend we can head on over to Prom Night and pretend it’s 1980, particularly since, by all reports, a not-very-good movie has been redone as an awful one. But it didn’t have to be this way, which is what motivates today’s musings. Let’s say I’m in a if-you-can’t-beat-‘em-join-‘em frame of mind. If the remakes are going to happen, the subjects of the remakes might as well deserve it. Prom Night is a case in point: it’s not like they were messing with a classic here. The Amityville Horror is another example. The original, though dear to my heart, is, if I’m being brutally honest, not exactly what one could call “good.” And yet the remake was even worse.
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Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (Color Special Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 11th, 2008
If you are a regular reader here, you know how much I love Ray Harryhausen. Over the years I’ve had the chance to spend many casual hours with him and his wife. They are both extraordinary people, and I’m always amazed at how modest Ray always acts. After over a half century, he still acts surprised that so many people continue to be affected by his work. I was lucky enough to have been invited by Ray personally when he finally received his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
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The Insatiable
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 10th, 2008
Sean Patrick Flanery is Harry Balbo, an introverted nobody at a nothing job where he constantly mocked by the unfunny office clown. One night, on his way home from the convenience store, he sees a female vampire rip off a homeless man’s head. No one believes him, and his feelings move from frustration to terror when, a couple of nights later, he sees her at work again, and she scratches his face, marking him. He turns to crippled vampire investigator Michael Biehn for help, and eventually captures the vampire. Unable to bring himself to kill her, he is torn between sacrificing himself or others to her bloodlust.
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 9th, 2008
Finish GTA IV in 25 hours, Give Uwe Boll a million, and Unreal on 360? – Welcome to the column that realizes a number is just a number unless those numbers are 4 8 15 16 23 and 42 known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. More and more levels we go, where it stops? Nobod…err probably in the 50’s to low 60’s. The dwarf priest has moved up to 18 with some nifty gear while the troll rogue in World of Warcraft has hit level 35. My dwarf priest played through dead mines and received a very nice blue staff in the process. Tailoring and Enchanting are also maxed out until I hit level 20.
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There Will Be Blood (Special Collector’s Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 9th, 2008
He might not have been “shootin’ at some food” but for Daniel Plainville it’s all about that “bubblin’ crude. Oil that is. Black Gold.
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Another Gothic Resurrection
Posted in Brain Blasters by David Annandale on April 5th, 2008
Severed hand films. Gotta love ’em. Not because they’re necessarily good, as such. The ones that have been (the various versions of The Hands of Orlac, or The Beast with Five Fingers) have been, ultimately, psychological thrillers. There have been honest-to-god crawling hands, of course, in wonders such as Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn, but Bruce Campbell’s misbehaving limb was a supporting character, rather than the central menace. But I return to my initial statement. Even if the film isn’t that good (or good at all), you have to love it for the crawling hand.
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I Am Legend (Special Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2008
Will Smith finds himself in a bit of a career quandary if you ask me. Sure, one of the good sides to being as as he is is that he’s quite the popular guy that nobody wants to see get killed. But the popularity has seemed to stymie him a little bit. When he does dramatic work, it’s clear that the push is for him to win an Oscar, like in Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness. So when people look past that intent, even when he might want to do dramatic work, he’s forced to take on slightly darker roles in action films, which I guess serves as his happy medium of branching out while still pleasing the people. I Am Legend is another one of those examples, very similar to another Smith sci-fi film named I, Robot.
No Country For Old Men
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2008
So what did we all learn with the Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest opus, an adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country For Old Men? Well, suffice to say, along with the creative resurgence of the brothers, we get a film that’s part modern-day Western, part action, part comedy and even perhaps part-horror, but in the adoration and adulation, to want to pin the film down as something is to forget that above all else, the film is a tale about changing times, told by someone who’s seen better days and is nostalgic for them. It’s that story that seems to be ignored to a certain degree by people, which oddly enough is ironic considering the title of the film.
Love Lies Bleeding
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2008
In 1973 Elton John had his best selling album to that time in the double release
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