OK, so after a brief disruption of service, there’s a new blog author in town for the Highly Defined column, and he’s me. To just do a quick intro on the author of the column: this is me!

No wait, that probably won’t suffice. But to assuage those videophiles in the house, here are a few things about the gear I watch this stuff on. I’ve got a Toshiba HD-A1 (I had the XA1 for a couple of weeks, then I came to my senses and realized that this was WAY too much money to spend on a DVD player, hence the ex...

Synopsis

In 1985, Steven Spielberg backed this TV anthology series. It took its name from the very first SF magazine (which was briefly revived to coincide with the TV show), but have very little in common with that mag. It was almost purely fantasy-oriented, and its real model was the likes of The Twilight Zone (which itself was revived for TV the same year). Spielberg himself directed the pilot, and plenty of other big names singed on as well. So Harvey Keitel stars in an episode directed by...

Synopsis

Will Rogers was once the biggest star in Hollywood. Think of any other big name from the late 20's and early 30's, and he outpaced them all. Today, he is little more than a name, and there are plenty of film guides out there that don’t even list his films. Quite the sobering lesson on the evanescent nature of fame. The films in this collection were all made in 1935, the last year of Rogers’ life, before he was killed in a plane crash. These comedies have definitely dated, but Rogers’ charm i...

Keanu Reeves really really wants to break out of his pigeonholed role as the charismatic good guy in an action film, but sometimes he just can't help himself, and takes the easy paycheck (Chain Reaction may be a good indication of that). But in the action roles he's noted for, both as Neo in The Matrix trilogy and as John Constantine in Constantine, he's got the "protagonist with an internal conflict" down pat, that's for sure.

Sybil is one of those movies that has turned into something of a running joke. It certainly didn't start out that way, though. Probably no other made-for-TV movie is as famous as this one, based on a true story about a woman that had an astonishing 13 distinctly different personalities. Looking back on the film now, there are some definite cheesy moments. However, the vast majority of the film is really quite compelling, especially when the viewer reminds themselves that this is a true story.

Sa...

The women on this show are easily the most selfish, self-centered, hateful, wretched wenches that I have ever seen. The fact that they would voluntarily put themselves on this show proves it. Who would ever watch this show (whose sole purpose is to show how horrible a person can be) and think to themselves, “I would really like to be on that show. I want the whole world to see me acting that way.”

Even so, here they are. The second season (!) of this show features eight episodes and eight brides-to-be at thei...

On Jerry Seinfeld's first comedy CD after his run on Seinfeld ended, he does a joke where he talks about why he hasn't done a movie yet. He talks about what a huge commitment it is to do a movie, and how he fears that when it is all over, he will be on the screen looking out at the audience saying, “this sucks, doesn't it? I didn't know. I really meant well.”

This movie is that punchline. Catching Ray Romano after his show's run and Kevin James just before the end of his sitcom, the two pair up as a co...

In our last thrilling episode, I talked about Vampyres as being one of the pinnacles of European erotic horror. I felt that I couldn’t very leave the topic without saying a few words about the man whose lengthy career has largely been built around this form: Jesús (Jess) Franco. Cult movie connoisseurs will already be very familiar with him, and should feel free to stop reading now. For the rest of you, consider this a brief, guarded, introduction.

The word “prolific” hardly begins to describe Franco...

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.

Unfortunately, Pi...

Phantasy,a Monster release and Wrestling with something huge, Welcome to the carafe of luke warm coffee known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I'm the beetle with the skeetle, YO! I kinda feel like I'm one California roll short of a sushi plate. This would assume of course I tried sushi and if I ever had the notion to discover asian food outside of chicken or crab ragoon. Well, what are you waiting for, lets check out relea...