Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 20th, 2006
Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.
For such a low budget film, Pitch Black made a pretty big impact on DVD. Its success eventually lead to a sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick. The superb DTS track also leads to a solid demo quality disc that may not be in the realm of the Star Wars and King Kongs of the world, but is still a worthy addition to your demo disc collection.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 19th, 2006
Phantasy,a Monster release and Wrestling with something huge, Welcome to the carafe of luke warm coffee known as Dare to Play the Game.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 19th, 2006
Louis L’Amour has been synonymous with the modern Western novel for decades. His stylized depictions of the Old West are always populated with colorful characters. Foremost of these characters would have to be The Sackett Brothers. Two of L’Amour’s Sackett adventures contributed to this 1979 mini-series. “The Daybreakers” and “Sackett” combine to form this 3 hour presentation.
Fresh off the enormous success of such Western shows as Bonanza and Gunsmoke, his mini-series has all the earmarks of that traditional television western. But by 1979 the genre had pretty much run out of steam. The Sacketts feels a lot like a wonderful swan song to a bygone era both in American history and entertainment. A pre-Magnum Tom Selleck leads this dynamic cast as Orin Sackett. Sam Elliott and Jeff Osterhage play the remaining two brothers. Elliott’s portrayal is particularly inspired. Add to the mix Western veterans Glenn Ford and Ben Johnson and you have a mighty fine cast. Louis L’Amour introduces the piece.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 18th, 2006
New from Sony Home Entertainment comes the complete series of Jim Henson's The Storyteller starring Mr. Elephant Man himself, John Hurt, and a slew of eye-popping creations from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The series focuses on classic folk tales, fables, and legends, including "Fearnot," "The Heartless Giant," "The Three Ravens," and six other wonderful family-friendly tales on one disc. Also provided as part of the set is an additional disc entitled Greek Myths, which provides even more Henson-esque entertainment with the following four tales: "Daedalus and Icarus," "Orpheus and Eurydice," "Perseus and the Gorgon," and "Theseus and the Minotaur." There are thirteen episodes in all. Henson's typical production efficiency is present in each episode. His craftsmen always make the most of their miniscule budgets, and their work offers a refreshing break from these days of CGI-heavy effects.
What's so great about this series is its willingness to incorporate a myriad of cultural folk tales, many of which may be foreign to first-time viewers. Taking its selection from Greece, Russia, and Germany, the series never reached its full potential on account of the short run. However, it manages to educate and entertain children of all ages, and endures as a fine piece of family programming despite its brevity. Hurt is fabulous as usual, really sinking his teeth into the narrator role and telling each tale with an enthusiastic punch in his voice. Brian Henson also does a fine job voicing The Storyteller's cynically fearful dog. While effects may have advanced much since 1988, Creature Shop create a lovable character in the talking mutt, which is sure to enthrall younger viewers. Thankfully, these two characters are able to relate to that crowd without talking down to them. One last thing: watch for a minion of fine actors in early roles, including Gabrielle Anwar, Miranda Richardson, Joely Richardson, Alison Doody, and Jonathan Pryce.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 17th, 2006
Well, let’s skip the pleasantries (besides, I’ve got a whole big introduction lined up and can save for a week anyway) and let’s get down to business.
The last couple of weeks have seen a decided uptick in HD and Blu-Ray news and notes, perhaps most significant among them is that Warner Brothers has decided to release some of the same already available HD-DVD titles on Blu-Ray, so come August 1, there will be a lot of people frantically getting their screenshot comparisons up and ready to go. Of course, tho...e titles are Rumor Has It, Training Day and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (and the Blu exclusive Good Night and Good Luck), but Warner media advertising appears to also note that 16 Blocks, The Perfect Storm and Million Dollar Baby may be on the way as well.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 16th, 2006
I really enjoy stand-up DVDs, but they're pretty formulaic. The show starts, there is usually a short un-funny skit, and then the stand-up portion starts. The comic does his show, the credits roll, and that's it.
This is really something unique and innovative, however. This film is something of a musical comedy, skit, music video stand-up film. It's a lot to squeeze into a 72-minute film, but is is done surprisingly well. The transitions work out well, and it really shakes up the standard notions of what a co...edy DVD should be.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 16th, 2006
Valley of the Dolls is a musical that way way ahead of its time. Based on the novel by Jacqueline Susann, the film tells the story of three aspiring actresses and their attempts at becoming stars. Sure, this is an age old tale, but it had not been told as bluntly an honestly until now. The film starts Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate as the actresses in question. Audiences must have been shocked upon going to the theater, as they were much more used to rags to riches musicals such as A Star is Bo...n instead of the brutally honest vision that Dolls presented.
The actresses in this film are mean-spirited, nasty, drug-addicted women who will stop at nothing to get where they want to be, and they don't care what they have to do or who they have to step on to get there. As horrible as these women are, this Hollywood musical strips away all the glitz and glamor to bring the true story of what it takes to make it in show business. It is a groundbreaking film that was nominated for an Academy Award for its wonderful musical numbers. Both the beauty and the ugliness of the business are shown here, and the film completely took me by surprise.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on July 15th, 2006
Let us consider the term “erotic horror.” This sub-genre doesn’t have a very strong tradition in North America, despite the best efforts of Seduction Cinema and Misty Mondae. I exempt the films of David Cronenberg from this consideration, as they are hardly designed with titillation in mind – they are much colder, analytical works, and the label once applied to them – “venereal horror” – is still more appropriate. No, there just hasn’t been that much on this side of the pond, relatively speaking. Perhaps in its stead... there has been the phenomenon of the “erotic thriller.” And with very few exceptions, the less said about that category of late-night cable-fodder, the better.
Overseas, the story is considerably different. Europe and Asia have been simultaneously targeting fear and desire for decades. Readers looking for a good survey of the European scene owe it to themselves to track down Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs’ Immoral Tales: European Sex and Horror Movies 1956-1984. There’s an enormous wealth of titles to choose from for a case study (and I don’t preclude returning to this topic), but the one I’d like to consider today is Vampyres, a 1974 effort produced in England, with an English cast, but directed by Spaniard José Larraz.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2006
The thing that makes the death of Bruce Lee an even larger tragedy is that he virtually set back the kung-fu/karate genre from gaining mainstream recognition by a couple of decades. Set back may not even be the proper word for it, as he would have become a larger than life action star whose dreams were bigger than most anyone had anticipated.
In the case of Enter the Dragon, the film was designed to be Lee's crossover attempt into American films, and it's one worthy of his abilities. Bruce (or in this case, Lee) lives at a temple and is invited to a private island for a martial arts tournament where a man named Han (Kien Shih, Once Upon a Time in China) runs the tournament and possibly some illegal operations. His henchman is Oharra (Chuck Norris protégé Robert Wall, Game of Death), who might have been responsible for the death of his sister. Some of the more colorful characters in the tournament are Roper (John Saxon, From Dusk Till Dawn) and Williams (Jim Kelly, Black Belt Jones), friends from America that are also looking to gain the top prize. Lee isn't there to win the tournament, but to try to expose Han's dealings.
![Enter the Dragon [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/enter-the-dragon-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2006
Frank (Peter Mullan, Braveheart) has been designing and building ships in a British shipyard for 36 years. Suddenly and very cruelly, Frank is let go without any pension or prospects, and is left wondering what to do. An attempt at job searching finds him virtually at the feet of his sister-in-law, so he is basically left to walk around this nameless London suburb stunned and unsure of what to do with himself. His friends Eddie (Sean McGinley, Gangs of New York), Norman (Ron Cook, Quills) and Danny Boyd (yes, that's Pippin from the Lord of the Rings films, a.k.a. Billy Boyd) all try to help him out however they can. Frank's wife Joan (Brenda Blethyn, Secrets & Lies) is unsure about how Frank is holding up, so she decides to try out for a bus driver's license. Frank's son Rob (Jamies Sives, Mean Machine) is a stay at home Dad, but feels Frank has been resentful of that in some large way because Rob's brother (and Frank's son) died in a tragic drowning accident almost 30 years ago.
Written by first-time screenwriter Alex Rose and directed by Gaby Dellal (Football), the focus of On a Clear Day is undoubtedly Frank, the stoic patriarch who suddenly finds joy in life again with swimming. He notices a boy in the pool who is barely able to swim one length of the pool while Frank can do armloads. At the end of each length the boy rejoices. He perhaps finds these qualities in his lost son, but he is so introverted that he hardly indicates this. And it's that that becomes the inspiration for Frank's quest, which is to swim the English Channel.
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