Larry King Live – The Greatest Interviews
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 14th, 2007
Written by Evan Braun
I am something of a news junky. For lack of anything better to do, I’ll routinely flip my television over to CNN for countless hours of 24/7 up-to-the-minute coverage. Of all the talk shows on the airwaves today, there is no match for the great Larry King. Oprah only wishes she were this good. The ladies on The View should bow down to Mr. King, who is so good at what he does that even his most famous guests seem to open up to him in ways they would normally know better than to do in front of a camera. Whether you’re looking for something light and funny, the hardest news story, or the insights into the most intriguing public figures in the world today, this DVD set is your one-stop shop.
Read More
Silver Spoons – The Complete First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 14th, 2007
Written by Evan Braun
If I had to find one single word to completely encapsulate this show, and particularly its first season, it would be: Cute. No, wait … scratch that. Make it: Nauseauting.
Silver Spoons came a little before my time, which possibly explains why I have no real affection for it. Certainly I’m guilty of having fallen for a few nauseatingly cute shows of my own (say, Full House, to name but one). If I was 5-10 years older, I could have fallen for this, too.
Read More
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 14th, 2007
Written by Evan Braun
I am both the perfect person to be reviewing Babylon 5 and exactly the wrong person. Being an irrationally devoted fan of the series, it’s difficult for me to be objective about it. And it is therefore with this unique perspective that I sat down to watch this newest B5 release.
I expected to absolutely enjoy it. In my mind, if it was really great, than it was good … and if it was really mediocre, it would still be good on account of the fact that it had been so long since the last B5 movie. As it turns out, it was impossible for me to be as universally pleased as I’d anticipated.
Read More
After the Wedding
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 13th, 2007
Mads Mikkelsen, whom we last saw taking a rope to James Bond’s family jewels, is here up to a far more praiseworthy activity: helping run a school for orphans in an impoverished region of India. The school is struggling to survive, and when a Danish businessman expresses an interest in providing stable funding, but only if Mikkelsen comes to Denmark for a meeting, the latter is reluctantly persuaded to leave India for the encounter. At said meeting, the tycoon (Rolf Lassgard) casually (it seems) invites Mikkelsen to his daughter’s wedding. Mikkelsen accepts, and at that wedding receives quite a shock. Lassgard, it turns out, has a very personal secret agenda at work.
Read More
Highly Defined – The World of High Definition
Posted in Highly Defined by Archive Authors on August 13th, 2007
So in between the anticipation for Madden 08 and convalescing at home with a big arse fever, there’s not a lot for me to go over in this installment. Really. I’m waiting for my Pioneer Elite to come in in a couple of weeks, but the only other thing to talk about is more disc announcements. Knocked Up is going to come out on HD DVD on 9/25 from Universal (and Evan Almighty comes out two weeks later) while Ratatouille comes to Blu-ray on 11/6. Disc releases this week are fairly blah, as Blu-ray serves up Doctor Strange, The Lookout, Vacancy and Wild Hogs, while HD-DVD buyers get their choices of Dragon’s Lair, Erin Brockovich, Meet the Fockers, Mercury Rising and What Dreams May Come.
That’s it for me this week, and as always high definers, keep the brightness low and the resolution high!
Darkman Trilogy
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 12th, 2007
There are often stories about burn patients who lose part of their face or leave their other body parts horribly disfigured. It is sad and unfortunate. But what if you had horrible chemical and fire burns and had to take refuge in warehouses and underground? You had the strength of ten men, but could create a mask that you could use to duplicate your enemies or be the man you used to be? However, that face only lasted 99 minutes. This is the story of Darkman. A trilogy of movies that developed a cult following for its subject matter and campy presentation. Part action, part sci-fi, part thriller. But a great time as long as you left your brain at the door.
Read More
Erin Brockovich (HD DVD)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 12th, 2007
Erin Brockovich tells a story based on a true series of event. Erin (Julie Roberts in her Oscar winning role) has a tough life. She’s a single mother of three kids, her two ex-husbands left her not supporting her or her children, she can’t seem to find any work due to her lack of education, and she has $16 in her bank account. Life seems to be continuing on a downward spiral for Erin. Things start looking up when she is practically handed a job by her defense lawyer Ed Marsy (Albert Finney). It’s here that Erin stumbles upon a case involving PG&E, a $28 billion company that had been disposing a chemical into the local water supply of a nearby town called Hinkley, California.
Brain Blasters — Towards A Theory of the Badfilm
Posted in Brain Blasters, Regular Columns by David Annandale on August 10th, 2007
All right, some musings on basics now. I have spilled a fair bit of verbiage over the course of this column about films that are so bad they’re good. But there are questions going unanswered, and, dare I say it, unasked: how exactly does this come to pass. How does a bad movie achieve a certain form of perverse greatness? Why do we enjoy watching these things? I could go on.
Read More
Wild Hogs
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 9th, 2007
Wild Hogs is a pretty simple film for the most part. You have four guys who, for their own reasons, are finding their daily lives have gotten away from them. Their mid-life crises lead them to venture together on a cross country motorbike journey filled with enough peril to make them forget their ordinary lives and live the adventure of their dreams. The film has the standard sight gags that pretty much carry the first half of the film. Macy’s character has a rather amusing computer glitch in a Wi-Fi cafe. A lot of these jokes, often dealing with a gay cop who thinks the four are a pretty hot and tempting, get carried too far and get stale rather quickly. I could certainly do without the naked butt shots myself.
Read More
Wild Tigers I Have Known
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2007
Logan (Malcolm Stumpf) is a lonely 13-year-old whose experience of junior high, already hellish, is made exponentially worse by his emerging homosexual identity. Smitten with Rodeo, an older rebel who is one of the only other students to spend time with him, Logan adopts the female identity of “Leah†which he uses to seduce Rodeo over the phone, hoping to make his daydream a reality. Meanwhile, he identifies strongly with the mountain lions that have begun straying onto the campus and being shot.
Read More
Taxi Driver
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2007
There must be very few people out there who haven’t seen Taxi Driver or at the very least muttered the words, “you talking to me?†Regardless, this thirty year old film is easily a classic, and still on the top of many critics lists. It marked the blooming of an epic and ongoing relationship between Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese, the spawn of Jodie Foster’s career and arguably Harvey Keitel’s as well. At any rate Taxi Driver managed to receive four Academy award nominations as well as gaining a huge cult following. I don’t think it’s a surprise that I’ve already seen and love this movie, but how does the newly released DVD pan out?
Read More
IMAX: Blue Planet (HD DVD)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2007
Sometime after 1990 when Blue Planet was released, I remember really wanting to see it. Unfortunately I was young and with time my interest in the worlds around our own dwindled. Recently with the advancements in technology my interest in space has sparked up again, making for just the right time for Blue Planet to land in my hands. After nearly 20 years I’ll be able to set my eyes on this for the first time, and in hi-definition. Then of course there’s the additional documentary The Dream Is Alive of which I’ve never previously heard of. The footage on this one is over 20 years old, so my expectations aren’t extremely high.
Read More
Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions, Regular Columns by Michael Durr on August 8th, 2007
Crash for Cancer, 360 Internals examined & Quake: DS Time- Welcome to the column that is often alarming like that heart attack you received when you caught your parents in the act known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Life is strange. But in the same breath, it is awesome. I am happy to report that “the girl” said yes to the baseball game on friday, and I will be going to see the Astros and Brewers with her. I am a fan of neither team (I’m a Phillies fan actually) but I could care less about baseball for once, I am going for the ummm..atmosphere. The atmosphere is about 5’4 with blond hair and blue eyes. That’s all that needs to be said. Today this article is brought to you by Jackyl (the band I’m listening to currently) and I just wonder where the heck is my copy of Chainsaw Hero? Whew I need help. That poor, poor girl. Speaking of girls who suffer from the Kedrix touch, we move right into:
Read More
The Tick Vs. Season Two
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2007
Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes these days, so it doesn’t really surprise me to find out that one is a big blue tick. I don’t think The Tick has any special Lyme Disease Ray, and I have yet to see him bite anyone, but he sure has a knack for stopping the bad guys. This Ben Edlund creation is one of those American Dream success stories. The independent comic was created to promote a local comic book store in Boston. Edlund, only 17 years old at the time, tapped into a wonderful spoof of the comic superhero molds. He populated his book with very colorful characters easily recognizable as the original ones he was spoofing. Within 10 years The Tick would become a children’s cartoon staple. There is an appealing degree of wit and intelligence in this cartoon that honestly looks kind of stupid on the surface.
Read More
Spyglass Board Games (Xbox Live Arcade)
Posted in Game Reviews by Michael Durr on August 7th, 2007
Simplicity takes time. That’s the only logical explanation as to why a chess game has not appeared on XBOX Live Arcade until the team @ Freeverse & Strange Flavour decided to release some popular board games for us to enjoy. The give us Checkers, Mancala, Reversi as well as Chess for a very tidy 400 Microsoft Points ($5). While the release is far from perfect, it is one of those cases where we take what we can get.
Read More
Highly Defined – The World of High Definition
Posted in Highly Defined, Regular Columns by Archive Authors on August 6th, 2007
This is one of those weeks where I don’t have a catchphrase. Except in talking about it, this is probably the catchphrase in particular.
Well what’s new in the world this week? Well, to answer it with a shred of obviousness, Spider Man 3 is coming out on Blu-ray on 10/30, right next to the other two films as part of a trilogy set. No word on if the first two films will port over extras, but the third film includes making of featurettes, bloopers, commentaries and the usual bells and whistles. Sony is also trying to slam dunk things in the fourth quarter, as the first and second Hostel films will come out on Blu-ray one week before also, with Lion’s Gate releasing King of New York. That same day, HBO will release the final part of The Sopranos series on both platforms. HD DVD supporters will see Inside Man, Seed of Chucky and the Carlito’s Way films on 10/23 as well.
Read More
Hard Boiled
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 6th, 2007
In the United States, we tend to take for granted; influences. In the case of movies, we take certain film styles for granted. We just figure that they always existed. Doesn’t really matter where they came from, we just know we like that style of movie; over and over and over again. Enter Hard Boiled, a 1992 film directed by John Woo. This featured Chow Yun-Fat as Tequila, a hard nosed cop who is on a quest to derail an arms smuggling ring that has both cops and innocent civilians dead in its wake.
Read More
Dynamite Warrior
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2007
Dan Chupong plays a young warrior, armed with rockets and martial arts skills, who roams the Thai countryside in the 19th Century, searching for the man who killed his parents. His only clues are that he trades in buffalo and is a unique tattoo on his chest. He finds the man he believes is his target, but this trader, who possesses magical powers, is also in the sights of an evil local aristocrat who is trying to get rid of the local buffalo population in order to drive up sales for his tractor franchise. Said ne’er-do-well sets up our hero to do his dirty work.
Read More
Being John Malkovich (HD DVD)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 4th, 2007
(Non-format specific portions of this review are culled from my review of said film, so enjoy or read elsewhere.)
In watching Being John Malkovich again recently, for the first time in awhile, the thing I was struck by is how unique it is (duh!). It doesn’t try too hard at being different, to the point that it’s going to suck, everything is matter of fact, and it’s hilarious. Its characters are flawed, but we feel for some of them a great deal. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s dramatic, it works on many levels.
The Muppet Show – Season Two
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2007
What do the following huge stars all have in common: Elton John, George Burns, Peter Sellers, Don Knotts, Bob Hope, John Cleese, Madeline Kahn, and Milton Berle? They all were guests on the second season of Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show. I can’t believe how many of the episodes I remember watching occurred in the show’s sophomore season. It would be pretty hard to argue that the series became the in place for A list entertainers to have a little fun. Like a neighborhood clubhouse, the top stars would come to the show and allow themselves to be often upstaged by Henson’s cute little creatures.
Read More
Spiderman 3: Blu-ray and DVD – October 30th! Prices & Specs here
Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 3rd, 2007
Here’s yet another huge release on Blu-Ray and DVD: Spiderman 3! No cover art yet – waiting to get a membership at the Sony PR firm’s media website. But! Lots of other details in the meantime. There’s a stack of versions coming:
- DVD single-disc release – $39.90
- DVD two-disc Special Edition release – $47.95
- PSP – $39.90
- DVD three-pack release which will include Spider-Manâ„¢ and Spider-Manâ„¢ 2 – $55.96
- Blu-ray Spider-Manâ„¢ High Definition Trilogy, a three-pack release of all three films – $117.95 (yeeaarrghhh)
- Blu-ray stand-alone two-disc release – $62.95
Paraphrased from the press release: more than six hours of all-new bonus materials, including…
Read More
The Monster Squad (Two-Disc 20th Anniversary Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 3rd, 2007
One hundred years after Abraham Van Helsing and allies fail to annihilate Dracula, the vampire arrives in a small American town looking for an amulet that, if destroyed at the prescribed moment, will usher in a reign of darkness. Recruited to aid in this project are versions of the Wolfman, the Frankenstein Monster, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Opposing Dracula is the titular Monster Squad, a group of monster-crazy boys and one very little (and very adorable) sister, who befriends the Monster.
Read More
Buena Vista Offers Two new TV on DVD Releases Tuesday 8/7
Posted in News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2007
You will want to check out these two new Buena Vista TV on DVD releases coming on Tuesday: 8 Simple Rules Season One, and Home Improvement Season Seven.
Check out these samples, including clips from the blooper reels found exclusively on these DVD’s.
And don’t forget our own exclusive reviews:
Home Improvement – The Complete Seventh Season
8 Simple Rules – The Complete First Season
Brain Blasters – Multiple-Stage Nostalgia Analyzed
Posted in Brain Blasters, Regular Columns by David Annandale on August 3rd, 2007
Part and parcel of loving cult movies is a profound sense of nostalgia. This melancholy ache for the past is not necessarily limited to periods one has actually lived through. The shape of the nostalgia also takes on different forms, and can often wind up feeding on itself. This is a phenomenon that the bargain-basement DVD can help perpetuate. Allow me to attempt to explain myself a little more clearly.
Read More
Webb Alert: Morgan Webb’s gaming vlog
Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 3rd, 2007
Kedrix, author of our often alarming Dare to Play the Game series is going to like this one – Morgan Webb’s new daily gaming video blog.
Not that it isn’t without some controversy already, though.