Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on March 5th, 2012
Our good buddies over at HBO have decided to rock your world with a chance to win The Game Of Thrones: The Complete First Season on high definition Blu-ray. This HBO series has gained great critical acclaim and a rare 5 rating from us here at Upcomingdiscs. The second season is on the way and what better chance to get caught up? You can add this brilliant prize to your collection.
To win this collection just follow these instructions.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on March 5th, 2012
Isn't it odd how movies with similar story lines tend to get released around the same time? For example, no one has gotten the urge to release another major motion picture with a volcano as its main antagonist since the Dante's Peak/Volcano Battle of 1997. (Though that might have more to do with the fact that, my slight soft spot for Dante's Peak notwithstanding, both those movies are terrible.) We've been treated to the Great Deep Impact/Armageddon Debate, dueling Truman Capote biopics and the upcoming Snow White Smackdown of 2012. In that same spirit, I'd like to unofficially — and belatedly — declare 2011 as the Year of Has Anyone Seen My Keys?
I'm assuming you've, at least, heard of Best Picture nominees Hugo — where the young protagonist needs a heart-shaped key to finish a project he and his late father started — and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which pulls somewhat of a reverse-Hugo by giving its young protagonist a key, courtesy of his own late father, but no lock. I'm also assuming, unless you have kids, you probably haven't heard of Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 4th, 2012
Most people that regularly read my work can probably see my love for the Transformers. We are not talking about the movies either (the first one was decent, the rest were abominations), but instead it is the cartoons that I enjoy so much. Generation One, Beast Wars, Cybertron all hold a special place in my heart. So, when my webmaster mentioned he had season one of Transformers Prime on Blu-ray for me, I think I literally jumped through the ceiling in anticipation. Let us take a look.
Before we begin, I must make mention that this Limited Edition Set includes a full length graphic novel (in digest size) that acts as a prequel to the show. It centers around two main Autobot characters, Arcee and Cliffjumper who start out on the planet of Cybertron but find their way to a strange planet thanks to Spacebridge technology. The main antagonist is Starscream and the story is actually really good. Recommended reading before one even throws in the first disc.
Posted in: The Reel World by M. W. Phillips on March 2nd, 2012
“This party is gonna change everything for us.”
Somewhere a chimp hugs his VHS copy of 1987’s Project X and cries in outrage that this wasn’t a remake ala Rise of the Planet of the Apes (this movie’s age demographic won’t even get that reference). Even feral monkeys would be outraged by the wild behavior exhibited in 2012’s Project X, and that is kind of the point. Brought to us by Producer Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and shot as found footage by first time director Nima Nourizadeh, Project X celebrates excess and debauchery in a fashion that would bring a smile to Caligula’s lips… and it does all with underage kids!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2012
"Even today there are organizations that have America as their prime target. They would destroy the safety and happiness of every individual and thrust us into a condition of lawlessness and immorality that passes the imagination."
The phrase could very easily describe the world we face today. The above quote could very well have come from a post-9/11 narration, but it didn't. It was spoken nearly a century ago by the long-time director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2012
Dr. Seuss and his cast of strange and wonderful characters have been around since before I was born. The first book I ever read by myself was Green Eggs And Ham, and I can remember the experience quite vividly still. Each Christmas I run the 1960's Boris Karloff version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It's been a tradition at the Sassani household for decades. It started with television broadcast that led to videotaped copy which found its way to a laserdisc, followed by a DVD and now a beautiful Blu-ray from the folks at Warner. If these things don't qualify me as a bonafide fan of the good Doctor, I'm not sure what else will.
Mankind has lost touch with the Earth's environment and now lives in sterile cities where there is no longer any nature at all. Few can even remember what a tree looked like. The natural resources were completely consumed to make products so that now trees are inflatable fixtures in the neighborhood. In order to impress a girl who has fantasies about real trees, Ted (Efron) leaves the safety of the city to track down the Once-ler (Helms) who is rumored to know what happened to the trees. The Once-ler tells a cautionary tale of how he was responsible for the extinction of the trees in spite of the warnings of their protector, the Lorax (DeVito).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2012
"Your mission, should you decide to accept it..."
Those words have certainly been a part of the American pop culture for almost 50 years. It all started with the Desilu television series that hit the airwaves in 1966. That first year is probably unfamiliar to most of us. It was in black & white and starred Steven Hill as the leader of the Impossible Mission Force. A year later the show jumped to color and Peter Graves took over the team as the indomitable Jim Phelps. The show lasted a good seven seasons. The Impossible Mission Force was a black-ops team that worked under the "secretary" who would disavow their mission should any of the team be caught or killed. The show had a pretty good run before ending in 1973. Gone, but never forgotten.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 2nd, 2012
"As a boy, I came to understand that two things marked my family: distinctive names and extreme stubbornness."
In fact, it was Thurgood Marshall's "extreme stubbornness" in the face of racial inequality that led to his name becoming synonymous with the civil rights movement and to his 1967 appointment as the United States Supreme Court's first African-American justice. Marshall's remarkable life story is told in Thurgood, a sensational one-man show starring Laurence Fishburne that previously aired on HBO and was filmed before a live audience at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 2nd, 2012
With the release of the book written by Jack Ketchum (author of Offspring) to coincide with the theatrical release of the film, Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee bring us a horror story not quite like anything we’ve seen for a while. The Woman is a continuation of the film/novel Offspring that followed a tribe of cannibals struggling to survive. The Woman is not a story about cannibal, but instead a story about a family being ripped apart by the many secrets they try at all costs to keep hidden.
Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) is a small-town lawyer who embraces the role of the alpha male. He runs his household with an iron fist alongside his timid wife Belle (Angela Bettis) and their three children. Chris is an avid hunter, and it is on one of his hunts that he discovers a feral woman. His discovery does more than excite him as he quickly has his family clear out the cellar for a surprise he plans to share with his family. Following another trip to the woods Chris captures the woman and secures her ‘safely’ down in the cellar. It’s down in the cellar where Chris decides that it is his duty to help rehabilitate this woman.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on February 29th, 2012
I am back! For now. Here to review Insight. Dun dun dun! A psychological thriller type that my husband thought I would like to take a look at. And then he bat his eyes and asked me to review it. Since I am a sucker for him and his gorgeous eyes, I agreed. Was this movie worth the look? Let's take a look, shall we?
So, we start the movie with an ambulance bringing in a stab victim. It is your typical scene of someone being wheeled in on a stretcher, down a hospital corridor. We learn that the stab victims name is Allison Parks (Angeline-Rose Troy) and she has been stabbed over a dozen times. They get to the operating room and start the usual medical jargon and run around the room acting like they are doing something important. They begin to fire up the heart zappers (Yes, I know there is a technical, fancy schmancy, medical name for them, but I like heart zappers, it sounds more festive) but before they can get them to full charge, the victim opens her eyes wide and looks at the nurse by her side. She tells her “He loved me”, the nurse grabs her, and ZAP! Nurse falls to the floor (You need to know that its not a good idea to grab someone who is about to be jolted with electricity, it does pass through one person to another).
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