Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on December 13th, 2012
"My dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. Well, I can honestly say I've told you the truth, but I may not have told you all of it..."
It's hard to believe that it's been a decade since Peter Jackson last brought us to the fantastic lands of Middle Earth. It was one of Hollywood's most ambitious projects ever. Jackson took on the perilous journey of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's famous Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Perilous because of the beloved place the works hold in the hearts of those who have read them over the years. There is such a wonderfully detailed world delivered by Tolkien that we already had very vivid ideas of these places and characters.
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on December 13th, 2012
"Space... The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
Nearly 20 years after the original Star Trek left the network airwaves, Gene Roddenberry set out to discover if he could catch lightning in a bottle once again. Some say he did an even better job with Star Trek: The Next Generation. There are times I tend to agree. Great shows get better with time. The Next Generation was a great show. As you watch the episodes of the first seasons you begin to realize just how much better the series had become by the time the 7th season had ended.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 13th, 2012
Who doesn’t get a little creeped out any time they see an old van cruising slowly through their neighborhood? Now, I’m not talking about the soccer mom mini-van you see plenty of, but I’m talking about those vans from the 80s and beyond that seemed to be the vehicle of choice in films where kidnapping is involved. Creep Van takes the idea of the sleazy van and uses it to its fullest, transforming this white metal beast into the ultimate death trap on wheels. Unfortunately the van and the gore are pretty much all the film has going for it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 13th, 2012
At the turn of the millennium, we seemed to collectively decide that we wanted our heroes to be dark and gritty. The X-Men traded in their yellow spandex for black leather in their first big-screen adventure. Batman went from exchanging quips and painful puns with Mr. Freeze to brooding magnificently for director Christopher Nolan. And Hollywood almost completely stopped making candy-colored spectacles like Dick Tracy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 13th, 2012
A small mining community in Western Australia get visited by a vagabond dog. This Red Dog (named after the fact that the red dust of that desert region stained his fur that colour) has a deeply significant effect on every worker's life yet not one of them can truly claim to own him until an American bus driver begins working there. Red Dog was a big fan of hitchhiking across the country and seems to be attracted to riding great distances on a bus with his new best (human) friend.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 11th, 2012
I’ll say this about a program that has remained consistent in quality for twenty seasons…it makes for challenging reviews. Talking about each season of Gunsmoke is difficult in that you either write briefly to try to avoid redundancies, but might seem too hasty, or you have to labour over each episode, in which case, you’re only going to have hardcore fans paying attention. Since this website has touched on previous seasons: ( https://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=gunsmoke ) I shall opt for the former option, and hope y’all out there catch that I’m not being hasty…but respect a show that warrants no fresh complaints after 7 years a-runnin’ thus far.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 11th, 2012
Even if you managed to catch the little-seen Budz House when it was released on DVD earlier this year, chances are you weren’t exactly begging for more. (At least not if you’re one of my esteemed colleagues.) The cast of the wannabe cult stoner comedy featured a handful of comedians, some of whom have reunited for this hybrid talk show/stand-up special. Although too many of the jokes rely on tired clichés, these live performers seemed infinitely more comfortable in their natural habitat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 11th, 2012
"When you said you wanted an ocean view, you didn't think you'd get the whole ocean, did you?"
When Finding Nemo was released in May of 2003 there were a ton of skeptics. It was certainly a divergence from the tried and true Pixar formula, and even the people involved with the project were concerned that it would become Pixar's first flop. They needn't have worried. The film was far from a flop. It took in over $70 million in just its first weekend. The final total would be just shy of a billion dollars. The animated feature took the Oscar for best animated feature that year.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 11th, 2012
The longest running show in prime time doesn’t feature cops, doctors, or lawyers. It’s hard to believe that The Simpsons have existed as long as the Fox network. While the series didn’t really begin until Fox’s second year, the characters were part of The Tracey Ullman Show, which did start the first year of Fox. Who could have guessed that an animated short from an otherwise horrible and doomed variety show would explode into such a phenomenon? The Simpsons have not only dominated the pop culture; they have placed everything else into context with their show.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 11th, 2012
"Meet the Robertsons clan. They turned duck calls into a multi-million dollar empire. But running a family business is tough when the family just wants to run wild."
I have to admit when I got handed this to review my expectations were not just low, but part of me just wasn’t looking forward to this. I’m just not a fan of reality television with the exception of every ghost hunting show out there. I have no shame in admitting I want to believe. So a show about good ol’ boys that are millionaires for making duck calls, it simply sounded painful.
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