“Why save a few when we can save them all?”

An excellent question; have you ever noticed that in disaster films as soon as an apocalyptic event is discovered, plans go into motion to protect the elite such as the president, his cabinet, and a few select others while the rest of the world is left out in the cold to be lambs to the slaughter? Well, in Earth’s Final Hours, the lambs fight back, working to save the many rather than just the few.

David McCallum has been a vital part of two outstanding television shows in his illustrious career. The Scottish-born actor played the Russian/British secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The series capitalized on the whole James Bond fad that was sweeping television both in England and in the United States in the 1960's. The series lasted five years and over 100 episodes. In recent years McCallum has added a 10-year run as pathologist Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on the number one scripted show on television: the original NCIS. In between he's appeared on countless other shows both in England and the States. He appeared in a landmark Outer Limits episode and as a guest on countless films and shows over his 60 year acting career. He even found time to star in less successful shows. One of these was The Invisible Man.

The series was short-lived. It didn't even last a season. It lasted only 13 episodes, but the show still has many fans with fond memories of the series. McCallum played scientist Dr. Daniel Westin. He and his wife Dr. Kate Westin (Fee) worked for the government-sponsored Klae Corporation. He decided to use himself as a guinea pig for an experiment in invisibility. It worked with only one slight problem: there was no way to return him to normal. So, he had a Derma-plex mask and gloves painted over his skin to create a removable surface when he wanted to become invisible. Of course, the clothes would provide the rest. Klae agreed to fund his research for a cure provided that he and his wife performed "favors" from time to time. These involved missions where his special talent proved useful. They worked under the direction of Walter Carlson (Stevens). They were a bit naive about the spy business, and that inexperience often found them in life-threatening situations which Dan would narrowly escape with his invisibility.

Our friends over at MPI want to help kick-off baseball season with a look at that ever-elusive pitch: The Knuckleball. Ricki Stern & Annie Sundberg give you an "inside baseball" look at the infamous pitch. It's called Knuckleball! and we have three copies for our Upcomingdisc readers.

To win just follow these instructions.

“I’ve always advocated, and I still will advocate until the day I close my eyes and die, that there should be a national holiday honoring Jackie Roosevelt Robinson, so then all people will know who this man is.”

That statement by fellow Brooklyn Dodger Don Newcombe illustrates just how important Jackie Robinson was, not just to baseball, but to professional sports as a whole and the civil rights movement. When Robinson strode onto Ebbets Field in 1947, he shattered a color barrier that had been in place since professional baseball began.

For better or worse — okay, it’s worse — it’s now impossible to hear the words “Jersey” and “Shore” without thinking of a certain group of knuckleheads on MTV. Down the Shore is a dreary, observant drama set in the region and starring James Gandolfini. If anyone is ever going to restore the area’s good(?) name, you figure the Sopranos star is a better bet than most, having previously dominated the Garden State from a pop culture standpoint by starring in the landmark television drama.

Funnily enough, Down the Shore actually opens in a sunny playground in Paris. The first scene is a meet-cute between French merry-go-round operator Jacques (Edoardo Costa) and American tourist Susan (Maria Dizzia). Fast forward three months later with Jacques traveling to the Jersey Shore to inform Susan’s brother Bailey (Gandolfini) that his younger sister is dead. On top of that happy news, Jacques and Susan had actually gotten married, and Susan left Jacques half of the house where Bailey currently lives. Bailey — who works as an amusement park operator on the Shore (apparently, Susan was drawn to certain types of men) — is understandably not happy about any of this, while Jacques is merely trying to carry out his late wife’s wishes and is willing to pull his weight at the park.

“Welcome to Jurassic Park.”

With those words begin an adventure that started with the legacy of Willis O’Brien’s  The Lost World. You see, dinosaur films are nothing new; they have held our child-like fascination since the industry was born. Jurassic Park was, however, something very new when it thundered into our cineplexes and forever in our imaginations 20 years ago. The marriage of brand new CGI technology with Stan Winston’s superbly detailed animatronics models transports you back 65 million years in time. CGI technology has improved since then and has become somewhat commonplace, but there is nothing common about Jurassic Park.

Remakes, reboots, and sequels: these are the trends in Hollywood that seem to make fan boys groan.  Some films should be left in the past, and some franchises simply need to come to an end.  But every so often a film comes along that dares to show us something new, and the end result manages to capture some of the magic that got us to love the original film to begin with.  The new Evil Dead filmmakers managed to succeed in doing just that and deliver a film that has me excited about what is next for the Book of the Dead and all those unfortunate enough to flip through its pages.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Evil Dead franchise, this entry into the series will likely be a gore-soaked experience you won’t soon forget.  And for the hardcore fans of the series, there are plenty of winks and nods to the previous entries to keep you grinning as well as some new twists to the mythology that you’ll either find groovy or you’ll simply sink into your seat and groan.  But one thing is for certain, fans will miss their beloved Ash and his “boom stick” this go around.

Many small unheralded horror films are produced, and they easily slip through the cracks. The Frankenstein Theory is one. It has an interesting premise, though. In 2012, Professor Jonathan Venkenheim takes a film crew to the Arctic to document the attempt to prove that Mary Shelly's Frankenstein was a true story based on his great, great, great grandfather's letters. Venkenheim is a highly educated, nervous, and nerdy academic who is obsessed with this possibility. The documentary crew and Venkenheim's own girlfriend think his obsession is driving him a little mad, but they want the job, and Venkenheim will not be deterred. The engine that drives the professor’s obsession is the belief that his family name should be credited with the greatest scientific discovery of all time.

The film crew seems a little immature and unprofessional and adds an air of silliness to the initial attempts to get footage as they go on a journey through Canada. The professor's nervous intensity is also somewhat comedic. A welcome gravitas comes from the stern guide who will guide them through the north country. After a while the guide seems more and more like Quint from Jaws. In this case Jaws might be the Frankenstein monster. Most of the cast is relatively unimpressive except for the guide, played by Timothy V. Murphy, who has a very recognizable face from film, TV, and commercials.

This is a review that I’ve been dreading.  It’s been a while since a movie has gotten me so worked up over its thoughtless execution that I struggle to find something redeeming out of it.  For those unfamiliar with non-linear storytelling, a simple definition would be a story told out of order, for instance Memento or Pulp Fiction.  Those two examples are of films that execute non-linear storytelling and use the structural device as a means to further their story.  As for the filmmakers involved with The Devil’s in the Details, they took a decent story and then tore it up into shreds, tossed it in the air, and pieced it together however they saw fit.

I feel sympathy for the performers here; even though what the actors had to work with was flimsy at best, they still deliver.  Ray Liotta plays Dr. Bruce Michaels, a former Navy Seal who now is a shrink to soldiers coming home from the war.  The performance is subtle and a far cry from the intensity he brought to Narc or his most notable role of Henry Hill in Goodfellas.  For those who are fans of Liotta, at least his performance is worth watching here.

It is truly amazing the career that Tom Green has had when you really sit back and think about it. Tom has made a career as an oddball whose antics would either make you laugh hysterically or raise a brow with suspicion of his mental state. His personality has taken him to many heights, from a Canadian Public Access show to MTV, MTV to the silver screen, but it wasn’t until he got in front of the camera and documented his battle with testicular cancer that many people would stand up and take notice of Hollywood’s strangest man. Speaking of stand-up, it appears that after tackling television, film, and rapping (seriously!), Tom is turning towards stand-up for his first comedy special Tom Green Live.

Before this DVD found its way to me, it had been years since I heard the name Tom Green. To this day I can’t think of him without imagining some of his crazy antics, like the scene from Road Trip where he put a live mouse in his mouth, or practically any scene from Freddie Got Fingered (a film that to this day remains the most surreal experience I ever had watching a movie). However, as I watched him enter from the crowd and take the stage, I immediately felt a change. If this had been years ago, perhaps around the time of Freddie Got Fingered, I would have been entertained, but sadly I’ve matured since then, and it appears so has Tom.