Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2013
"You're capable of more than you know."
Walt Disney was always fascinated with the world of Oz. After his Snow White experiment proved that fantasy films were economically possible, he was planning to journey to Oz next. Unfortunately, he was a victim of his own success. It was the very box office magic that Snow White brought in that inspired MGM to purchase the rights to The Wizard Of Oz and create their iconic film. Because of that turn of events, the rights were not available for Walt and his magic studio.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2013
"Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead."
And there are a lot of secrets to be found on the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars. It seems that Alison (Pieterse) was murdered in the small Pennsylvania town of Rosewood. She was the "queen bee" of a small clique of girls. She was fond of manipulating those around her, and it seems her head games have finally caught up with her. That leaves her four close friends behind to get on with their lives. That's going to be hard now. Allison's body has finally been discovered, the missing-person investigation is now a homicide investigation, and the four little busy bees are at the heart of the storm. Then there's the anonymous "A" who has begun to send them messages that indicates she/he knows many of their most closely guarded secrets. "A" torments them with her/his intimate knowledge not only of the past but what the girls are up to even now. It's obvious that "A" is close and keeping tabs on the girls. Alison may be dead, but it's "A" who is manipulating them now.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 11th, 2013
When it comes to martial artists out of Thailand, the big go-to name people seem to know is Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak). But Thailand has another martial arts star, and after finishing This Girl is Badass I’m convinced Jeeja Yanin is going to be the bigger star. Most may recognize Jeeja from the 2008 film Chocolate; after the last thirty minutes of that film I was ready to see her in more action. Though she’s had other titles released since Chocolate, This Girl is Badass gets to be the follow-up film since her 2008 release.
Now, I don’t know how many of you remember the bike messenger flick Premium Rush, but the plot for that runs very closely to the plot for This Girl is Badass. Jeeja plays a bike messenger, Jukkalan, who also delivers packages for two rivaling crime bosses to make some extra cash. Once she gets found out, she gets caught in the middle of this smuggling war. What I wasn’t ready for was for this to be a comedy that reminded me of the old Zucker brothers and Mel Brooks’s films (only not nearly as good). The crime bosses are good and hard to take seriously, one being an obese man with a very effeminate voice, the other an older man with a foot fetish.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 10th, 2013
I don’t like remakes for probably the same reasons you don’t like them — they’re lazy and creatively bankrupt — but I’m also not completely against the idea of revisiting an older film. When the older film isn’t a beloved classic that shouldn’t be touched or when a story can be more effectively presented using technology that simply didn’t exist when the original movie was made, remakes aren’t such a bad idea. By those standards, 1984’s The Philadelphia Experiment is actually an excellent choice to receive the remake treatment. And that’s why I’m so disappointed to see it go so wrong.
Both incarnations of The Philadelphia Experiment get their names from a hush-hush World War II military experiment — also known as “Project Rainbow” — carried out by the U.S. Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in 1943 that is almost definitely a hoax. (Unless it’s not.) The experiment involved using a cloaking device to render the Navy destroyer USS Eldridge invisible. In the 1984 film starring Michael Paré and Nancy Allen, two WWII-era sailors were transported 40 years into the future through a vortex created by the ship’s generator.
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on June 9th, 2013
20th Century Fox wants you to spend Father's Day with Dad watching a movie or two. If you're looking to bring your experience with Pop into high definition, they have just the titles for you. These classics have been re-mastered and offered in high definition just in time for Father's Day on June 16th.
The Verdict (1982)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 9th, 2013
For 8 long seasons Rawhide followed the adventures of a cattle drive. Season 6 was separated into two releases. Here we shall look at what Part Two has to offer. Feel free to browse previous releases covered by Gino on this same site: https://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=rawhide
Clint Eastwood got his first major role playing foreman Rowdy Yates for the entire run of this series. By the sixth season, Eastwood seems to be a far more comfortable and confident actor than what we saw in earlier seasons. A real white hat, Yates is often the voice of reason when his Trail boss (played by Eric Fleming) has his doubts. Although sometimes he needs a boost as well, and that comes in the form of support from their ever-lovin' cook Wishbone (played by Paul Brineger).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 9th, 2013
For 8 long seasons Rawhide followed the adventures of a cattle drive. Season 6 was separated into two releases. Here we shall look at what Part One has to offer. Feel free to browse previous releases covered by Gino on this same site: https://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=rawhide
Clint Eastwood got his first major role playing foreman Rowdy Yates for the entire run of this series. By the sixth season, Eastwood seems to be a far more comfortable and confident actor than what we saw in earlier seasons. A real white hat, Yates is often the voice of reason when his Trail boss (played by Eric Fleming) has his doubts. Although sometimes he needs a boost as well, and that comes in the form of support from their ever-lovin' cook Wishbone (played by Paul Brineger).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 7th, 2013
For nine seasons and several TV-movies afterwards, Raymond Burr was Los Angeles based defense attorney Perry Mason. This character's verbal gymnasitcs and uncanny hounding for evidence makes his famous winning streaks seem not just plausible but rather entertaining to behold. His adventures have been well-reviewed by myself and my reviewing compadre Gino on this very site (https://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=perry+mason).
The formula (for lack of a better term) of each episode maintains in this first half of the final season. The primary suspect is profiled, caught and examined in the first half of each story. When things do to trial, the true guilty party is found out, often on the witness stand, as Perry’s uncanny winning streak gets the best of those who try to hide the truth from him. Said winning streak might spoil one’s enjoyment of the show since the outcomes can be predicted during the opening titles screen, but the crimes (most often murders) are elaborate enough to maintain interest for the most part. At the same time, I feel it should be noted that the pacing of the show can often be slow. Think of it being a closer relation to Matlock than the sexier modern Legal dramas like The Practice. Not to say that it is better to have attorneys with chiseled jaws or short skirts versus methodical investigation and character development, but you had better prepare yourself for a lot of men in suits standing in one spot speaking their thoughts aloud.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 7th, 2013
"What is reality?"
Television has been around for about 75 years now. In that time we've seen just about every kind of show you might like. Fads and trends come and go along with stars and characters. Crime dramas have been among the most popular throughout those 75 years, and there have been so many "cop/detective" shows that we've also seen just about every kind of crime and investigation possible. With few exceptions there isn't much that can surprise us in the cop procedural drama.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 7th, 2013
With most of my teen years spent during the 90’s it’s no surprise that still many of the bands I grew up with manage to remain on my playlist. Garbage is a band of the 90’s you couldn’t help but take notice of because though the airwaves were saturated with alternative music, Garbage was doing it with a female vocalist. Shirley Manson wasn’t just a pretty face; she had the vocals and stage presence that was hard to resist at the time. “I’m only happy when it rains” as well as “Stupid Girl” have been tracks that any time I catch them on the radio I can’t help but crank the radio a little louder and get a little nostalgic to the way things were in my teens.
Though Manson and the band managed to reach the status of performing the opening theme song for the Bond film The World is Not Enough, the band seemed to gracefully step out of the spotlight. With the chance to check out this Blu-ray I was more than happy to take this and indulge myself a bit. Now that I’ve had the chance to see it, well, my only regret is that I didn’t have the chance to see them in their prime.
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