Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 14th, 2008
Gunsmoke is the longest running scripted live action television show in history. The series ran from 1955 to 1975. At first it was a half hour black and white show that evolved into a color hour by 1967. It actually started before the days of television, premiering on radio in 1952. Then it was William Conrad as the tough as nails Marshall Matt Dillon. When television came into its own, Gunsmoke made the jump to the bright living room box and made history. Westerns would ride across our small square screens for the next 3 decades, making it the most successful genre of that time, and it was Gunsmoke that started it all. The television version of Gunsmoke was originally conceived as a vehicle for John Wayne, who opted to remain in movies. Yet, it was Wayne himself who suggested James Arness, and it turned out to be a career for the once “carrot” monster from The Thing. Gunsmoke started before all of the big westerns and was around when most of them had departed.
Posted in: Expired Contests by Archive Authors on January 14th, 2008
After a short delay over the holidays, we are back to conclude the last three days of our 12 Days Of Contests promotion. Today, for our Day 10 Edition, we explore our planet with two copies of the 5-disc BBC Planet Earth series. Yes... that equals 10 discs of Planet Earth being given away!
So - enter away below by commenting! We have extended the draw dates for all 12 of our "12 Days of Contests" contests to Tuesday, February 5th... so check back at that time so see who won!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 14th, 2008
Two of my favorite comedies are Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and the first Mortal Kombat(well perhaps it wasn't meant to be a comedy). Films that have slapstick humor with a good sporting event of where the underdog wins in the end over their lavishly dressed opponents. Balls of Fury was to take that one step further by going into the dangerous underworld of Ping Pong and parody old kungfu tournament stories in the process. With an array of famous character actors including Christopher Walken; how could one not enjoy the game the Chinese call "Peing Poong"?
Randy Daytona (played by Dan Fogler) used to be a famous ping pong player. He lost in 1988 Olympics after losing his composure to Karl Wolfschtagg (played by Thomas Lennon ) and got a nasty bump on the head in the process. Nearly twenty years pass when Daytona, now a Reno side show act is recruited by Agent Ernie Rodriquez (played by George Lopez) to compete in arch-criminal Feng's (played by Christopher Walken)ping pong tournament. However, it's invitation only. So in order to get recognized, he is taught by Master Wong (played by James Hong ) and his niece Maggie (played by Maggie Q).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 14th, 2008
Political humor has been around since the dawn of time. Just go look at History of the World Part One. Of course, these days, comedians aren't getting fed to the lions. In fact, on some occasions they are even invited to the White House. Bill Maher has been doing leftist political comedy for quite some time. I had not watched him on standup in nearly 20 years (One Night Stands) prior to receiving this dvd but I have enjoyed his show Politically Incorrect fairly recently. I honestly hoped that it wouldn't be all political humor but we shall soon see.
This stand up special was filmed on July 21st, 2007 at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, Massachusetts. "The Decider" as a title is a play on one of the nicknames that George Bush has accumulated over the years. Bill Maher starts a strong set of material. His topics range from the Iraq War to sexuality to the current presidential race to double standards to his favorite subject of choice: our current president George Bush. Maher has the crowd firmly behind him as he delivers a near full hour of side splitting comedy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 12th, 2008
The trailer trash Myers family (inexplicably living in a pretty big house) is a powder keg waiting to go off, what with the rampaging abuse and a young Michael (the admittedly creepy Daeg Faerch) butchering small animals and looking like he’s mad as hell and soon not going to take it anymore. Snap he does, going on a killing spree, before he is captured and locked up for years, while eccetric shrink Dr. Loomis (a shameless Malcolm McDowell) making a career out of trying to learn what makes him tick. Growing to Godzilla proportions, Michael makes his escape, and proceeds to pick up his spree where he left off in his home town of Haddonfield.
I trashed this fiasco in a Brain Blasters column back in September, and the unrated version of the film does nothing to change my opinion. Zombie misses the fact that restraint of the original film was a large part of its success, stupidly gives Michael a backstory and thus nixes his fearsome aspect as supernatural boogeyman, distractingly fills small roles with Look Who It Is cameos (Udo Kier, Richard Lynch, Brad Dourif), and, after expanding the original movie’s single shot prologue to an entire act, compresses the actual rampage to the point that there is no time for character development, and so we care not a whit for the victims. An idiotic, crashing bore.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 12th, 2008
When Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out in 1977, a young Steven Spielberg was coming off of the unexpectedly phenomenal success of Jaws. This was the director's chance to solidify his career as a well-respected filmmaker, and build a lifelong career. While most directors would have either gone the route of making Jaws II or picking up a no-brainer script from a proven scriptwriter, Spielberg wagered his success on the odd tale of a possibly mentally deranged individual's belief in extra-terrestrial life. What he came away with was a film that won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, was nominated for four Golden Globes (including Best Picture and Best Director), and has become synonymous with the legacy of the famed director.
Normally I would take this opportunity to go over the basic plot of the film, but this is a classic. Most film buffs are already well versed in the plot of this film, and those who are not should be ashamed of themselves. The real story here is not the fact that this film has been released yet again. The story is the manner in which it has been released. In addition to Spielberg's original version of the film, he also re-cut the film into a Special Edition in 1980. In 1998, the film was re-cut yet again, in a version that the Director considers to be his definitive cut. All three versions are included on this three-disc set, so there is plenty here to warrant a purchase for any Close Encounters fan. All versions have been completely remastered, and the set is packaged in a box that reminds one of the excellent packaging of The Soprano's sets.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on January 11th, 2008
Some films have the sort of subject matter that just screams “cult in the making.” Sometimes, the attempt at cult status is so blatant that the sense of the film trying too hard is off-putting. On other occasions, said status is a by-product of a filmmaker simply having assured fun with torqued material. Bubba Ho-Tep is one such example. A brand new one is Black Sheep.
The tale is basically one of family tragedy. Years ago, a young boy is traumatized when his nasty older brother torments him with the corpse of his murdered pet sheep, and moments later they find out that their shepherd father has plunged to his death from a cliff. In the present day, the now sheep-phobic young man (Nathan Meister) returns to the family farm, hoping to confront and dismiss his fears. Unfortunately, his still nasty older brother’s genetic projects get out of hand and result in a horde of murderous sheep. To make matters worse, being bitten by one of these critters leads to a very hilarious form of lycanthropy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 11th, 2008
My wife and I have gotten into a small discussion about October Road. A fellow writer has mentioned that this show is the natural progression of shows like Gilmore Girls, where you've got young twenty and thirty somethings living in an idyllic setting, somewhere in the Northeast, as they take in the residents of the town they used to spurn. I think my wife likes it in that vein. Me? Not so much.
October Road was helped along to TV by Gary Fleder, director of films like Kiss the Girls, but also has done quite a bit of television directing. The show's main focus is Nick (Bryan Greenberg, The Perfect Score), who left Knights Ridge, Massachusetts when he graduated college and went to New York and became a successful writer after his book about his hometown was published. He's faced a couple problems since then, first off is that he's blocked and unable to write a follow-up, and secondly, the first book seemed to burn a lot of bridges and goodwill between him and the town, so it seems he can't go home again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 11th, 2008
Arthur Kennedy and wife Teresa Wright are an older childless couple who discover a young man (Tom Happer) living in the crawlspace of their basement. Though they are initially alarmed, he seems harmless, and they take him under their wing. What seems to be a nice, if bizarre, solution for everyone becomes tense when Happer, tormented by locals, shows a potential for great violence.
This release from Wild Eye in their TV Movie Terror Collection is a much stronger entry than The Devil’s Daughter. Rather than highlight the limitations of television when it comes to horror, the film plays to the medium’s strengths. The tone is low-key and character-driven, and off-kilter in just the right sort of way to generate a nice current of unease. Happer is a disturbing figure, but he’s also sympathetic, much in the same vein as the Frankenstein monster.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 9th, 2008
Back in the summer of '89, a popular action flick was calling my name from the shelves of the local video rental store. It was Young Guns, and I'd heard it was wild, gun-toting ride from start to finish. Problem was, I was eight years old and there was no way my folks were going let me see such a violent movie, for fear two hours with Billy the Kid would make me a career criminal.
Boy, have times changed. Granted, Young Guns wasn't the baddest film on the block 18 years ago, but it was reflective of the then-current action standards. In 2007, we've got stuff like Shoot 'Em Up, a film so over-the-top violent that the tables have turned — I wouldn't let my parents anywhere near it, for fear they'd have simultaneous, massive myocardial infarctions.
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