Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2008
First of all, if you expect to find an actual cyborg soldier in this film, you will be looking for a long time. The title character played by UFC fighter Rich Franklin is actually a human who has been genetically engineered with amphibian DNA. There are some nanobites working inside the guy, but you won’t be finding a Borg clone in this low budget affair. Unfortunately, you won’t find much in the acting department either. Many of the show’s supporting cast are actors who are usually stunt performers and not often charged with doing the hard stuff… like delivering lines.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 13th, 2008
Standup comedians live interesting lives. The typical stand-up comic performs for fifteen to thirty minutes, two or three times a week. For many their sole purpose in life is to make people laugh. Many often suffer from depression when their acts bomb or they go through dry spells where they can’t get gigs or write new material. However, the best ones make their own breaks and find their way into their audience’s heart. Sometimes that can be accomplished through a MC. This MC or master of ceremonies can often take a grand event such as a tour that lasts 30 days & 30 nights and turn four men into superstars.
Vince Vaughn had a great idea. He would take four comics and tour thirty cities in thirty days from the Music Box Theater in Hollywood to the heartland of the United States. The four comedians would each be allowed their set. Among the four comics chosen was Ahmed Ahmed, a Middle Eastern comic who often uses his heritage to draw material for this act. He acted as the cornerstone for the other three comics.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 13th, 2008
The day that Bruce Lee left us was truly a tragedy. The Game of Death was Lee’s pet project, the one where he could truly show off his skills for the world to see. He never finished it. Even though there was ninety minutes of footage, it was never completely restored to make a complete film. Instead, a mere eleven minutes and seven seconds was used in a 1978 movie called Game of Death. The plot was revised and every camera & stand-in trick was used in the book to finish the movie. The rest of the footage was either lost or found its way into the documentary, Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey. One has to often wonder what the casting process behind casting a body double & stand-ins were like for somebody as unique as Bruce Lee. One also has to wonder how easy it would be to make fun of it.
On July 20th, 1973, Bruce Lee died suddenly at the age 32, leaving behind 12 minutes of footage intended for his dream project THE GAME OF DEATH. Director Ronney Kurtainbaum (played by Jake Sandvig) and casting director Eloise Gazdag (played by Meredith Scott Lynn) are on a mission to find the next Bruce Lee for the project or at least a reasonable facsimile. There are some strong candidates as well as many questionable ones for the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 12th, 2008
One doesn’t usually admit they love puppets. There are many vehicles for this love all over the entertainment world. On one hand, you have those who perform standup with puppets like Jeff Dunham. Then you have those crazy puppets who live down in Fraggle Rock. But one can not forget the fairly recent invention of one Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. A dog, sporting a cigar who likes to insult & poop on things. The idea of Triumph did not come from the Conan O’Brien show so much but instead came from the mind of Robert Smigel. Comedy Central’s TV Funhouse was that show that gave the real inspiration or birth to the character. At least I know now who to drag into the street and shoot.
In the year 2000, a show premiered on Comedy Central called TV Funhouse. The show was created by Robert Smigel & Dino Stamatopoulos with Doug Dale as the host. Doug played host to the viewers at home with the atmosphere of Pee Wee’s Playhouse complete with an assortment of puppets. These puppets ranged from dogs & roosters to turtles & cats (and more). Every week had a theme from Western Day to Safari Day where Doug would try to present the show in that format until the animals turned into something far worse. The show lasted only eight episodes. Low ratings and disturbing content led to a pre-emptive exit.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on October 12th, 2008
The other day, I was watching Pathology, a release from Fox that is terminally mediocre, but is surprisingly gory for what is, minor-to-nil theatrical release aside, essentially a mainstream release. I won’t rehash its silly, empty-headed plot here, other to suggest that you look to spend your entertainment dollar elsewhere. What interests me about the film is that gore. As our characters about their titular activities, corpses are opened up and messed around with in a manner that, not too long ago, would have been unthinkable outside the realm of the more extreme exploitation flicks. For quite a while, since the horror film was revived at the end of the 90s, much of the chatter about violence in the films conveniently forgot just how graphic the situation was in the 70s and 80s, but over the last few years, the gap has been bridged. But that’s not what I want to talk about here. It isn’t the quantity of gore or its explicit nature that I’m ruminating about. Rather, is it still possible to distinguish the genuine, wholesome sleaze from its production-line counterpart emerging from the major studios.
In this light, a double bill of Pathology and Joe D’Amato’s Beyond the Darkness might be instructive, in that both films feature much gutting of corpses, including that of the protagonist’s beloved. They are both silly, dumb films with despicable heroes. And yet, there is still, I would argue, a wide gulf between the two films. Idiotic and incoherent as it is, D’Amato’s film still covers one with an oily film. You definitely need a shower after watching this. Post Pathology, all you’ll need is a sympathetic ear in which to pour your complaints.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 9th, 2008
To start with I give Spielberg credit for going against the wishes of Lucas to film this thing in digital. Not only did he attempt to reproduce the same film stock look, but he edited the film, not on a computer, but an old movieola. The attempt to make this look like the other films is obvious and appreciated. Some of the sets are simply incredible. The Akator set is massive and dressed with all kinds of detail. It conjures up images of many of Indy’s tomb-raiding past. Again you have to credit Spielberg for wanting his actors in a real place as often as he did. John Williams returns with the traditional Indy fanfare and even some good rousing new music to add to the collection. The vehicle chases remind us of some of the best moments in Raiders. Still, there is a bit too much greenscreen and CG usage here. It is so obvious that many of these locations are studio in front of a greenscreen. I know they tried, but that only made these moments stand out all the more. There are also moments that look like they were trying too hard to be clever. The snake “rope” is absolutely ridiculous. As an Indy fan, you are prepared to suspend your belief, but I feel this movie pushes those limits. There are too often science fiction elements here that, I believe, don’t belong in an Indy film either. But it was good to see the old man in action. I have to admit that in the first scene he really looked old, but I swear he got younger as the film moved along. By the time the real adventure begins, the years have all shed themselves away and Harrison Ford is indeed Indiana Jones again. The film doesn’t stand up to Raiders or the Last Crusade, but is much better than
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 9th, 2008
Do you believe that a numbers wizard can predict the most random of human actions with mathematical equations so accurately as to know where and when such a person will be? If so, then I suggest you put down that letter you are writing to Santa, finish eating that egg a bunny left for you, go to your pillow and pull together all of the loot you got from the tooth fairy, and plunk it down on season three of Numb3rs. No, that’s not a typo, apparently they believe that letters aren’t good enough to stand on their own, so they inserted a 3 where the e should be. Aren’t they so clever? Not. In the fairy tale world of Numb3rs, all you need is an almost obsessive knowledge of math and the crooks don’t stand a chance. It’s almost unfair, isn’t it? Those poor criminals go about their carefully plotted crimes, unaware that everything they do is controlled by math. They live their lives oblivious to the fact they are at the mercy of a diabolical equation which forces their every move. In fact, I suspect some clever attorney somewhere is already preparing the “math made me do it” defense at this very moment. Soon our justice system will be forced to account for this undeniable force on our very destinies. I would go on but I can’t… must… fight… numbers…
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 8th, 2008
Retired NFL’ers want their cuts, Rockband 2 Glitches , and World of Warcraft Patches - Welcome to the column that the first step was not admitting they have a problem but deciding the problem never existed at all known as Dare to Play the Game.
Ha, well the Ike debris still exists. It’s like a fungus actually. At some point, I expect it to sprout wings and engulf my house. Somehow, I don’t think FEMA or my insurance covers such things or the deductible might be too high. It has moved (by me, not spontaneously) to the front where I was going to try and load it into my Corolla. This didn’t work as planned and is now in a neat pile waiting for next weekend. Hopefully, I’ll be able to corral a couple of friends with larger vehicles or better knowledge of what to do with it. I would like to tell what I would like to do with it, but there are children listening. I wish I could burn the pile, but I am not sure anybody wants to entrust me with setting fire to something.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2008
Jim Phelps (
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2008
I can remember when Beauty And The Beast first arrived on television. It was fall of 1987. I watched a couple episodes of this rather odd drama. Instantly I was drawn to the show’s world but was almost as quickly pushed away by the material. If I can be forgiven for saying so, I always considered this a “chick” show. That’s not intended as an insult at all. The truth is there likely isn’t nearly enough programming out there that is targeted for the female audience. This was without a doubt a series that was very much aimed at the young women viewers. They were rewarded with two very solid leads in Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. The show provided some very interesting sets and locations, most notably the underground world where Vincent and Father lived. The production values were high for the time. The makeup work on Perlman was incredible and full of detail that the actor used expertly. His ability to convey emotions was the key to one of television’s best performances. I also thought that the writing was clever and original. Still, I’m a guy, and the overt romantic arc to the story was too much of a turnoff, and I stopped watching. Now having the chance to see the show again in a complete season release I find my opinion hasn’t changed very much. I might appreciate what it was trying to do more now, but the fact remains that this is a romance story first and a crime drama second.
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