Mirrormask
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2006
Neil Gaiman’s Mirrormask is just the sort of mixed bag I expected. While parts are mesmerizing and the performance of Stephanie Leonidas is a joy in itself, the plot fails to make room for credibility when it’s desperately needed. The holes left behind from this weak story cause the film to masquerade as art while carefully avoiding admission to what it really is – a product of sloppy writing. Gaiman is a talented scribe, but with Mirrormask, he’s dangerously close to believing his own hype. Judging fro…
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Where the Truth Lies
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 3rd, 2006
Synopsis
In the late fifties, Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and Vince Collins (Colin Firth) are a top-rated comedy duo, hosts of a polio telethon. At the height of their career, everything comes crashing down when the body of a young woman is discovered in the bathtub of their hotel suite. They have cast-iron alibis, but the team is dissolved. Fifteen years later, up-and-coming journalist Karen O’Connor (Alison Lohman) lands a sweetheart deal to write a book about Vince, and he is being paid a million d…
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Next Step, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 2nd, 2006
Originally released in 1997, The Next Step is one of those coming of age dance films that became so popular in the late 90’s. Usually, that alone would be enough to put me off the film, but as I am a reviewer, I was forced to dig deeper. Unfortunately for me, there really isn’t anywhere deeper to go. The genre pretty much dictates the plot.
For those who dare to actually be concerned with said plot, I really can’t say it any better than it is already stated on the back of the box. Specifically, this …
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Pulse
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 1st, 2006
Synopsis
Plenty of Japanese horror films have storylines that vary from the oblique to the opaque. Pulse is no exception, so forgive me if this synopsis is a bit confusing (or confused). An internet website offers visitors the chance to see actual ghosts. Viewing the footage seems to make one vulnerable to an actual visitation, and when someone encounters a ghost, that person withdraws from others, shunning all society, and becomes consumed by loneliness to the point of suicide or something ev…
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Echoes of Innocence
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 1st, 2006
Echoes of Innocence calls itself an ultimate tale of good vs.evil. Don’t expect Exorcist level of evil quality in this one. Don’t even expect the good fight. Sarah (Simmonds) has a Joan Of Ark complex of sorts. She’s having religious visions, apparently inspired by the disappearance of a boy she once promised to save herself for. He publicly proclaims her commitment to virginity and frequently fasts to the point of near collapse. This is the film’s “good”. The evil is represented in the character of Alec (Vodvarka).
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UpcomingDiscs Redesign
Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 1st, 2006
Just so you all know – UPCD is undergoing a big redesign right now. In addition to a new aesthetic treatment, there will be a tonne of great new features added and functionality improvements – long needed things like spam filters on comments, for instance. Also, DVD Battle will return to review pages, along with renewed and reinvigorated hardware and game reviews sections.
So, stay tuned! And if you have any comments or suggestions, please email me at rod@upcomingdiscs.com….
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House on Telegraph Hill
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 28th, 2006
Synopsis
Valentina Cortesa plays a survivor of the Belsen concentration camp. She has lost everything in the war. Her best friend in the camp is a woman whose infant child is being looked after in the USA, and when this woman dies shortly before liberation, Cortesa decides to adopt her identity, since no one alive would remember what she looks like. Once in the States, she meets and falls in love with Richard Basehart, the guardian of her “son.” Moving into their home in San Francisco, she sense host…
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Fallen Angel
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 28th, 2006
Synopsis
Dana Andrews was never an actor who radiated warmth, and here he is perfectly cast as a hardboiled con artist on the lookout for number one. He arrives in a small town and falls hard for sultry waitress Linda Darnell. She is holding out for marriage, but marriage with financial stability, which Andrew can’t offer. So he sets about seducing Alice Faye with the idea of fleecing her of her fortune.
Director Otto Preminger’s follow-up to Laura had Andrews doing fine work again, …
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Wildfire – Season One
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2006
Wildfire has all the subtlety and charm of an ABC After School Special. Truth be told, the pilot episode reminded me a lot of Showgirls, but instead of becoming a pole dancer, this girl is becoming a horse trainer. The basic elements are still the same, though. A girl with a rough past gets an entry-level position at her dream job, and must work her way up the ranks. Only this show is on ABC Family. Gone is all the glitz and flash that tried to cover up the horrid plot of Showgirls. Withou…
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2006
Utter the simple phrase of Harry Potter to any age, and it is nearly guaranteed that they will know what you are speaking about. Since becoming a worldwide phenomenon in 1999, the Harry Potter series have been turned into everything from video games to bathing products. Most notably, the series have been turned into a set of excellent films that are successful, for the most part, in recreating the major elements presented in the novels by author J.K.Rowling.
With this being the fourth film in the series of …
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May 23 – Blu-Ray Launch Date Announced for Titles and Hardware
Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2006
Well, eat my hat – looks like Blu-ray has an official launch date for hardware and titles – May 23, as reported by Engadget. Here’s the official release from Sony, which in addition to the date, drops the list of release titles:
The first Blu-ray Disc titles from SPHE and MGM Home Enterta…
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Blu-Ray Stumbles, HD-DVD Making Up Lost Ground
Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on February 27th, 2006
CNET has a good round up article on the recent issues with Blu-ray DVD technology, and the business fallout that’s resulted. After starting hot, Blu-ray has been beset by delays; its now reached the point where the PS3 is rumoured to be delayed as a result, and CNET is actively comparing Blu-ray to Beta. Good luck, Sony!
Blu-Ray Redux: Sony and NEC Joint Venture
Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on February 27th, 2006
Here’s a quick one from Engadget: Sony and NEC have and optical drive joint venture underway, slated to get rolling this spring. The key finding here is that Sony has a 5% edge in the JV, implying that it will be to manufacture BR drives exclusively – which takes a major hardware manufacturer out of the running for HD-DVD production.
Ring Around the Rosie
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 26th, 2006
If there is one genre that can get away with releasing films direct-to-DVD, it is horror. By nature, most of the best horror films are low budget affairs anyway. Classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th, as well as more modern affairs such as The Blair Witch Project, are perfect models of the power of a smart, low-budget horror film.
Of course, for every Cabin Fever, there are fifteen versions of The Brotherhood III – Young Demons out there, just waiting to suck. Ring …
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Saw II
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Donnie Wahlberg plays a cop whose past, to say the least, is checkered. He is drawn into a very personal confrontation with Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) when the killer kidnaps his son. Jigsaw wants Wahlberg to sit and listen to him if he wants his son to live. The boy, meanwhile, is trapped in a house where the air is slowly filling with a toxic nerve agent, and surrounded by a group of people who, desperate as they are to escape and to find antidotes to the poison, also, did they but know it, have …
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Unbreakable
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2006
Synopsis
I think that by revisiting Unbreakable, and looking at it outside of M. Night Shyamalan’s other films (The Sixth Sense and Signs), there’s actually a pretty good movie going on there. I mean, a movie that grossed $95 million domestically can’t be considered a failure, right? It did, however, do amazing overall numbers, the international totals brought the film up to a near $250 million gross. However, I guess when you put them up against Signs ($227 million domestic, $40…
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13 Going on 30 (Fun and Flirty Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Quite frankly, I didn’t remember much about 13 Going on 30 when I first saw it (yes, I’m copping to watching it), but in revisiting it for the purposes of the review, I found that it was a cute film whose story is quite clearly lifted from the ‘80s Tom Hanks film Big (right down to the scene where the main character rides in a limo), but the performances by the cast is actually quite commendable.
Jenna Fink is growing up in the mid ‘80s and is disenchanted with her teenage l…
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Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2006
Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom delves into what is, without doubt, the single bloodiest day in American history. In 12 hours, we lost about 24,000 people – nearly eight times the carnage of 9/11. As historical events go, The Battle of Antietam is one of the most vivid reminders we have of the realities and the horror of war. It was also one of the first battles in the history of the world whose carnage was put on display for all to see through actual photographs. After Antietam was in the boo…
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Betty Grable in Pin Up Girl
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2006
Betty Grable is best known for keeping the many, many GI’s thinking about their home country during World War II. She was mostly known for being a Pin-Up Girl during this time, and is also the star of the 1944 film Pin Up Girl. The film is part of Fox Home Entertainment’s Marquee Musicals and is pretty entertaining if you enjoy musicals or enjoy Betty Grable.
Betty Grable in Pin Up Girl is a pretty odd film overall, probably because of the four different writers the film had. The basic plot is…
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Blood and Wine
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2006
This is not one of Jack Nicoholson’s better known roles, but it deserves more attention than it has gotten. Nicholson can always be counted on to deliver a strong performance. It is that skill that turns an average idea into something much more.
Alex Gates (Nicholson) is not a nice man. And let’s face it. Nicholson excels at complicated characters, often with few redeeming qualities. Gates appears to have everything he could want. He’s an apparently successful wine merchant. He has a wife and stepson…
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Richard Pryor 4 Movie Collection
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2006
The death of a celebrity usually brings sadness to many of their fans. However, whenever a celebrity does die, you can definitely expect a best of or some type of collection to find its‘ way to your video store shelves as soon as possible. After Richard Pryor died in December, Universal decided to wait one short month before releasing this four disc movie collection which features four of Pryor’s films that he either starred in or had something to do with. While the film’s contained her are not the best work of Pryor…
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Repo Man
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2006
Get ready, all you pre-teen Emilio Estevez fans, for this new special edition of Repo Man from Focus Features. I had no idea this film had such a following, and after viewing, I can’t seem to make sense of it. Not always sure of its genre, Repo Man is a film oddity that mixes drama, comedy, and goofball science-fiction with a meandering plot and questionable performances to get one of the strangest and most forgettable B-movies this side of Bride of the Monster. I was joking about a pre-teen Este…
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Last Holiday
Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2006
Paramount Home Entertainment will release the Queen Latifah & LL Cool J comedy Last Holiday on May 2nd. This disc will be in an anamorphic widescreen transfer, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras shouls be posted soon.
Boy in Blue, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2006
The film’s prologue informs us that the sport of sculling captured the nation’s attention long before baseball or football came along. We’re told that this activity created a national obsession with much the same pitfalls of modern sports. Somehow I can’t imagine, in this age of sports bars and ESPN, that rowing would demand the attention this boast assumes. I don’t remember my grandfather or great grandfather for that matter reminiscing about some great rowing move he witnessed with his dad as a child. The film al…
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Last American Hero, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2006
The 1970’s was the decade of the muscle car. Films like Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run raced into theatres, riding on the thrills of speed. If you were a young man, then you were right there ridin’ shotgun. Kicking butt and takin’ names. The Last American Hero makes the unfortunate attempt to combine this “need for speed” with a typical “against all odds” story. The result is a dead end street.
Junior Jackson (Bridges) is the son of a bootlegger with a real talent for running roadblocks. Wh…
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