Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 13th, 2013
For a significant part of the last century, the Western was the dominant form of entertainment, ruling the Hollywood roost on both the big and small screen. Some of moviedom’s most iconic sounds — galloping horses, trusty six shooters, Ennio Morricone’s best work, “In this world, there’s two kinds of people: those with loaded guns and those who dig” — have come from the genre. And it all started In Old Arizona.
The 1929 Fox film was one of the most groundbreaking and innovative motion pictures of its time. In Old Arizona was the first major Western to use the new sound technology, as well as the first “talkie” to be filmed outside the confines of a cozy studio lot. (Filming took place in Utah, California, but, ironically, not Arizona.) Star Warner Baxter won an Oscar for his portrayal of the charismatic Cisco Kid, a performance that served as an early prototype for the singing cowboy on film.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on June 12th, 2013
You can't make this stuff up. OK, maybe you can. When Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen decided to embark on their directorial debut, they must have spent many hours huddled together to come up with the perfect concept. When they finally reached that perfect pitch they threw it in the trash can and decided to have fun instead. The whole idea is based on a short film by Jason Stone called Jay And Seth vs. The Apocalypse. With a title like that, you probably already know more than you need to know to figure out this movie.
It starts when Jay Baruchel comes to L.A. to visit his buddy Seth Rogen. Seth has been trying to help his old friend fit in with his new Hollywood friends. Jay doesn't really like the Hollywood guys and resists any chance to hang out with them. Of course, Seth also has a week of weed and video games planned, which is more Jay's speed. Seth does get Jay to agree to come with him to James Franco's housewarming party. That goes pretty much the way Jay expected. He gets some "fake" nice talk from the assembled celebs and is basically abandoned by Seth. The night's going pretty much according to plan...well...except for the nasty Apocalypse that just happens to strike while Jay's making a store run. The Earth is opening up and fire is raining down on the world. Some folks are being beamed up in bright blue shafts of light. So he heads back to Franco's where no one believes him. But if you can't bring this collection of funny guys to the Apocalypse, the Apocalypse comes to the funny guys. A huge hole opens up on the lawn and most of the party guests get sucked into the ground.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 12th, 2013
Hansel and Gretel, everyone has heard of this fairy tale, right? The Brothers Grimm tale about a brother and sister lost in the woods who come across a house made of candy. They go inside and are soon captured by a witch who goes about stuffing them with candy to fatten them up to be slaughtered. Somehow the cunning pair manages to escape their shackles, and while the witch is distracted with the oven, they push her into the oven and destroy her. We have all heard the tale, but what happened afterwards? Did they go back home, or did they live out their days in the witch’s house? Clearly I’m not the only one to wonder what happen to this pair of siblings, and now thanks to Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, and the folks at the Paramount and MGM, we have our answer.
Fast forward many years later (as the film doesn’t give a specific number of years that have gone by), Hansel and Gretel have grown up to become famous and equally dangerous witch hunters. When the town of Augsburg is plagued by witches who have been abducting the town’s children; the incompetent Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare, Prison Break) and a mob of townspeople are in the process of condemning a local woman to be burned at the stake without any evidence of guilt. The mayor in an attempt to calm the panic of the townspeople has brought in Hansel (Jeremy Renner, The Avengers) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, Prince of Persia).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 12th, 2013
“In the old days, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to.”
Sounds simple enough, so what’s keeping everyone from doing the news well? Well, other than a country that feels more politically polarized than ever and a population that mostly seems interested in cherry picking the “facts” they’d rather hear, I can’t think of a single thing. In fact, HBO’s The Newsroom pointedly compares the idea of putting on a quality news broadcast that educates the electorate and earns great ratings to Don Quixote embarking on one of his foolish quests.
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).
On The Web
Sponsors
