Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2010
The mere mention of Hammer Studios brings to mind bloody terror to the legions of monster fans who grew up on a steady drive-in staple diet of the studio's iconic monster movies. The studio picked up where Universal left off in the 1950's and delivered a new run of the classic monsters we had been introduced to in black and white. Hammer brought these creatures to life in living ... or is that living dead … color. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf, and The Mummy were all resurrected for a new cycle of films from the British studio. The place earned its often-used nickname of The House Of Horror.
But Hammer wasn't always known as a horror factory. The company actually began in the 1930's, creating decidedly British versions of film noir. In the 1950's and 60's when the horror phase began, Hammer was also putting out other fare for a hungry public. These films often embraced some chilling elements but didn't rely on monsters for many of the scares. The films were often even crime dramas or supernatural in nature. These films often were the training grounds for some of their staple talent over the years. In this collection Sony has compiled some of these early evolving films from the House Of Horror.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 6th, 2010
"It's New Year's Eve on the Poseidon. Partying voyagers toast the future. The future comes in a rush; a 150 foot rogue wave flips the cruise ship over. And a struggle to survive begins."
Poseidon doesn’t waste any time getting to the action, so I won’t waste any time with an introduction to this review. Yes, it’s a remake of the 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure. Yes, it is chock full of convenient cardboard characters (a former Navy man, a fireman, a nurse, etc…). But we don’t watch movies like Poseidon for character exposition, do we?
![Poseidon [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/poseidon-blu-ray-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 4th, 2010
We're into the serious world of high concept now, people. Remember all those struggles D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein went through to establish cinema as a legitimate art form? Well, this here flick sure makes all those struggles worthwhile. Big Red – midget, former mascot, porn star – dies, and leaves his millions to be fought over by midget-hating son and gold-digging wife. The terms of the battle: each must coach one of the titular teams through a series of ridiculous contests and pranks.
What we have, then, is a mixture of story with would-be outrageous stunts, some real, some staged. In other words, not unlike the work of Sacha Baron Cohen. That is, if you removed every semblance of wit, intelligence and satirical bite from his work, and tossed in Ron Jeremy and Gary Coleman. The film is sophomoric and puerile, which is exactly what it wants to be, but it also works far too hard to get reach those goals. Depressing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 4th, 2010
Tell Them Anything You Want displays the nuances of a genius. Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs chronicle the successes and troubles of a pillar in children’s literature. Maurice Sendak became massively famous with the success of his book Where the Wild Things Are. In his career he has written over 100 children’s books and his work has been widely accepted as “brilliant, enchanting and masterful”. The film is full of intimacy; Jonze and Bangs display their obvious affection and interest in Maurice Sendak with this portrait.
The troublesome part of this documentary is Sendak’s unhealthy obsession with death. The film spends a considerable amount of time on the subject with it finally culminating with Jonze stopping the interview to give Maurice a break from the questions. Sendak elaborates on a problem with a permanent dissatisfaction with his career and how it sours his personal life. All of this comes from his personal difficulty with the enormity of the success of Wild Things. It is refreshing to see a portrait of an artist that is uncompromising with how the person is represented. All of Sendak’s work is cherished and yet there is an un-quenchable thirst that exists within him. Jonze and Bangs examine this dissatisfaction in an entirely diplomatic fashion by chronicling his personality as well as his work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 4th, 2010
Infinity Entertainment's latest themed grouping of public domain movies deserves some props for originality: eight features that were up for Best Picture during the first decade of the Oscars. Not a single one actually won the prize, but as we all know, that doesn't mean they weren't worthy of doing so.
In chronological order, then, here are the nominees:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 2nd, 2010
The Prisoner was a television show that ran in the UK from September of 1967 to February of 1968. It starred Patrick McGoohan as the Prisoner who was trying to understand what the Village was and how to escape from it. Enter 2009; we have a remake and this time we have Jim Caviezel in the familiar role. However, this time things go just a little bit differently.
Michael (played by Jim Caviezel) just resigned from the corporation Summakor. However, the events that follow are unclear until he awakes in a desert surrounded by nothing but sand. He struggles to get to his feet and walks for a bit until he sees an old man (played by John Whiteley) running. The man is being pursued by armed guards who shoot at him until it appears he is gunned down.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2010
We have 10 copies of I'm No Dummy on DVD to give away.
To enter to win a copy of this Hilarious and insightful romp, just follow these two steps...
Contest is now closed. The Winners are James Coyne, Kat Emerick, Bridget Combs, Ron Miller, Marc, Joseph Perozzi, Don, Clifford C Gardener, Tim Love, and Mark, Congratulation to all of our winners.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2010
Our great friends over at First Look Studios has graciously given us 3 copies of Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans on DVD to give away.
To enter to win a copy of this Nicolas Cage/Eva Mendes Thriller, just follow these two steps...
Contest is now closed. The Winners are Melissa Becker, Tonya, and Tricia Andrews, Congratulation to all of our winners.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2010
"Boggis, and Bunce and Bean. One fat, one short, and one lean. These horrible crooks, so different in looks, were none the less equally mean."
Roald Dahl was one of the more eccentric writers to come upon the scene. While he often wrote for children, his work is most decidedly dark and often quite sinister. He's most known for such tales as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. His work has not been adapted to film as often as you might suspect given his popularity. The most famous was certainly Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, which was far brighter and more cheerful than the original work. It took Tim Burton and his trademark brand of darkness to create the story Dahl intended in a more recent film which used the correct title of the work. This is not the first stop motion film to be adapted from his stories. Quite a few years ago we were given James And The Giant Peach, which enjoyed little box office acclaim. Wes Anderson is obviously a Dahl fan and immersed himself in the author's world as he prepared his screenplay for Fantastic Mr. Fox. The effort shows in the way Anderson captures Dahl’s pointed wit and social sarcasm. I think that if you're looking for something Dahl himself might have created, this is your movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2010
"The story of a man in a mountain climbing accident who cut his own friends off the rope to save himself. Convicted of second degree manslaughter, that's compelling stuff."
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