Happy Easter, with eggs, and bunnies, and Jesus, and all that.

OK, so your friendly neighborhood format neutral buyer decided to pick up a title he already had on HD-DVD just to do some comparisons, but also to cover my bases in the event that one format suddenly tanks. So when I got Superman Returns, aside from not having a lossless track, the picture seems a little bit on the blandish side. In the interest of full disclosure, I haven’t seen the HD version in awhile, but seriously, I hope that there...

In many ways, slasher films are like porno movies. Chief among them is that many times you just want to skip to the good parts. There may be a plot, but it’s so poorly constructed, the dialog is downright embarrassing and the direction leaves a lot to be desired. But the one thing they get right is all that matters. After all, there’s only one reasons we watch.

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film is a documentary which does just this. It features some of the most gruesome and fam...

Synopsis

Carlos Santana has been a veritable part-owner in the Montreux Jazz Festival, with a half dozen or so appearances under his belt in over three decades of performing. Some have been solo appearances, but others have been fruitful collaborations with various blues and jazz performers, some singers. In 1988, Santana and friend Wayne Shorter performed at the show as part of a brief tour.

Synopsis

As a kid, I read Garfield on a daily basis. I collected the little books they would put out every so often (still have most of them). The cartoon show, Garfield & Friends; I always found funny & I even went to the first movie though I found it a little puzzling (like why would you animate Garfield but have a real live Odie, doesn't make much sense). In my head, I had even teased the idea of owning the Volume sets of Garfield & Friends. So when this title came across my desk, I wa...

On June 4, 1968, U.S. presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, and later died in hospital. Bobby is the story of that day, and the people who were there.

It’s not so important that I summarize the characters and their stories for you. What you should know is that Bobby is one of those films that cuts between many plot lines that seem unrelated until the end, when an event brings them all together. In this case, we’re talking about 22 people at the...

Opening

When I got my XBOX 360 in late November, the only game I was regularly playing on my Playstation 2 was Guitar Hero II. It was still captivating, it held my interest because it was an amazing game. Needless to say when they announced that it would be coming to the 360, I was both excited and a bit perplexed as what to do. I mean it is the same game right? It has updated graphics and sound, and exclusive songs. But it's going to require me to buy another guitar. It has achiev...

Dances With Wolves has always been a bit of a conundrum for me. The story is simply a beautiful one. The cinematography is often nothing short of breathtaking. What causes my trouble is when we get down to its star. Kevin Costner is horrible in this film. I’m not a Costner hater. Untouchables and JFK are two of his best films, and in each he delivered exactly what was required. I’m beginning to think, however, that the G-Man persona is all he is capable of delivering with any consistency. What exactly is my problem...

When last we saw our courageous Atlantis crew, they were in dire straights indeed. The series had just completed its first season, and not without at times relying on the mother series, SG-1, for help along the way. Would the show now find its own legs in its critical sophomore year? Would the Sci-Fi Channel continue to support it or take out its legs unrepentantly as they had done with Farscape not many years ago? Oh, and then there was that pesky Wraith problem we were left with in the season 1 ending cliffhanger...

Rockford, James Rockford. OK. So that doesn’t sound as suave as you know who. Still, for me growing up, there was perhaps no one cooler. We all wanted to be Rockford. Created by Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins, the same team that brought us Maverick, Rockford really was just a modern day Bret Maverick. I’m not sure if that was the intent or if James Garner simply slid into the persona as easily as a plaid jacket. Whatever the plan, The Rockford Files is truly classic television at its best.

James Rockford lived in a trailer on the beach.

So Grindhouse is upon us, and fans of exploitation cinema everywhere are no doubt bathing in the warm glow of nostalgia for bygone sleaze and spooky cinemas many of us were too young to enter, but that nevertheless were surrounded by an aura of forbidden fascination. Here in Winnipeg, I remember, in my formative years as a film fan, being simultaneously frightened and attracted by the ad campaigns for movies playing at the likes of the Downtown and the Eve. The era has passed, of course, never to return, but t...