Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2009
“In a time before many can remember, our planet faced its greatest challenge. A warlord named Piccolo came from beyond the stars, bringing darkness and chaos to our once peaceful world. Aided by his disciple Oozaru, the evil pair brought the human race to the brink of annihilation. Cities and countries crumbled beneath them. Countless lives were lost, but finally a group of brave warriors created the Ma Fu Ba, a powerful enchantment that imprisoned Piccolo deep with in the Earth. With his master captured, Oozaru disappeared and balance was slowly restored to our world. And so it has remained for thousands of years…until now.”
Let me begin by stating that I have not had more than a passing exposure to the hugely popular Dragonball anime works.
![Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dragonball-evolution-blu-ray-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2009
Daisato (director/co-writer Hitosi Matumoto) is having his daily life filmed by a TV crew. This life is pretty depressing. He doesn't make much money, his wife has left him, and his neighbours hate him. His job isn't exactly low-stress, either: he is Big Man Japan, a hereditary job that involves defending Japan against monster attacks. So whenever he gets the call, he has to run to the nearest power plant, get himself zapped until he grows into a 50-foot giant, and do battle with various bizarre creatures (one looks like a plucked chicken with a huge eyeball/penis appendage). But though he does his best, his ratings are down, his show is broadcast in the dead hours of the morning, his agent appears to be taking advantage of him, and there's a new monster in town that mops the floor with him on their first encounter.
Posted in: Random Fun by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2009
On July 28th, I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in a conference call with Monk's Tony Shalhoub. Below is the transcript of that interview. I'll be posting the audio portion of my question shortly:
Final Transcript
Monk – Tony Shalhoub Q&A Session
July 28, 2009/11:00 a.m. EDT
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 6th, 2009
This is a 6-part series presented by the Discovery Channel, documenting the different devices created so that America could reach the moon by a deadline that then US president Kennedy had promised the nation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 6th, 2009
The story originally seems to set itself up to be that of redemption for a young man who is fresh out of jail. While this story is around, there seems to be parallel stories that arise as subplot but soon race alongside the original tale like proverbial track horses (and horses also just so happen to be the nexus for said plots). Just as one seems to buck into the lead, another comes along to grab the focus.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2009
“Nobody has everything they want. It’s a survival pattern. You get what you want, you want something else, something more extreme, something more specific, something perfect….”
A Joss Whedon universe is always a strange and fantastical place to visit. It doesn’t matter if it’s populated by vampires and demons or space cowboys. If Whedon’s name appears anywhere on the credits, you know you’re going to be in for one hell of a ride. It’s been a little while since Whedon’s been back in the saddle. His most recent series, Firefly, was fraught with problems with the network. It was very badly handled, and the show died an undeserved swift death after just a few episodes.
![Dollhouse: Season One [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dollhouse-season-one-blu-ray-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 5th, 2009
This American Life, broadcast on the Showtime network, is a half-hour show based on, or more accurately, spun off from, the award-winning Chicago Public Radio show of the same name. Each episode is loosely based on a theme, which is then explored through stories about real people. The content and style varies from week to week, with stories ranging from light-hearted to incredibly sad.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2009
I, of all people, should know that one person's cultural detritus is another's fond nostalgia, and what better example of that can there be than this release. A strange mix of athletic contest, pro-wrestling posturing and silly gimmick game show, this series (which has recently been reborn) pitted hard-bodied contestants against the even-more-hard-bodied (at least in appearance) Gladiators of the title. Some contests involve knocking each off a beam, or dodging tennis balls fired from a gun while trying to get in a shot of one's own. Or then there's swinging in on a rope in the attempt to knock the Gladiator off a pedestal. It's all pretty silly, made even more so by the straight-faced colour commentary. If the intent was to satirize sports broadcast generally, then this is quite brilliantly funny, at least at first, but the joke can't sustain itself over multiple seasons.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 5th, 2009
This week we get a little more mayhem from those great people at Smithsonian Networks: Pandas Gone Wild. Witness the spectacle of Pandas flashing tourists for just a few shoots of bamboo. Okay, that isn’t what this is about. It’s much more tranquil and peaceful than that and takes place in the mountains of China in a secluded sanctuary. The next forty five minutes will produce a lot of oooo and even more awwww moments than I can write about in the next several paragraphs.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2009
Foreseeing his own assassination, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), America's first openly gay elected politician, records his memoirs. The film flashes back to follow his narration, tracking his transformation from don't-make-waves semi-closeted New Yorker to activist San Franciscan. In his new home, he decides to run for City Supervisor, and after numerous failed attempts, which take a toll on his personal relationships, he finally wins. The battles are only just beginning, however, as he must now wage war against the intolerant laws being pushed by California Governor Briggs and anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant. Meanwhile, a prickly professional relationship with fellow Supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin) is sowing the seeds of tragedy.
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