I like the fact that Nick Jr. (and releasing company Anchor Bay) have been on point with the timeliness of the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! releases. There are a number of childrens’ shows that do not receive a DVD release, or get a release years after the show has originally aired. By capturing each collection of episodes soon after they are originally shown, sales will be stronger and more significant interest…
Trinity Goodheart is a touching story that is able to bridge the gap between realism and fantasy perfectly. The titular character is on a mission from God; when given a locket that eir mom originally owned, Trinity understands what ey must do. The sheer forces that stack up against this 12 year old are substantial, but it is through eir faith that the title comes to a resolution. The…
Warner Brothers has went alol out in their 70th anniversary boxed set release of Casablanca. The film is provided to viewers in stunning Blu-Ray, which benefits considerably from a remastering of the film that restores it to the quality in which viewers in 1942 originally watched. This is just the beginning; the company has provided so many different bells and whistles to this set that viewers will literally take…
This is one of the most fascinating documentaries about The Beatles that I have ever seen. We kicked the film on at NeuFutur Headquarters, and had everyone stick around for the two-plus hour feature. There are so many stories and anecdotes provided by members of The Beatles’ Apple Records, and these stories do much to paint a different picture of the Fab Four than I previously held. The narration…
The story of Snow White is ingrained into the collective memory; I believe that it would be hard to find anyone that has not seen the Disney feature, for example. The Asylum knows this, and has picked up this re-imagining of the Snow White story. Grimm’s Snow White is a popcorn type of flick, with vibrant scenery, over the top action, and CGI that has to be seen to be…
Just like Spongebob Squarepants, the original premise for Regular Show would have had a home on an Adult Swim or Comedy Central. However, the show was picked up by Cartoon Network; the jokes had to be tamed down, but there is definitely a sense that the show can still speak to the 18-34 set. The Slack Pack combines an array of random episodes from the first and second seasons (12…
George Clooney is one of Hollywood’s best actors, and I believe it is more for smaller films like The Descendants than the blockbusters that ey is usually associated. Alexander Payne (Sideways) helms this title, which is based off of a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Matt King (Clooney) has to get eir life together after eir wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) falls into a coma. Where Elizabeth was the force to…
Melancholia is a film that straddles the line between fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller. The film looks at the relationship between two sisters as calamity looks to envelop the Earth. Melancholia builds off of the overall filming style and ambiance originally presented viewers during Antichrist. Whether the two will be able to stop this tragedy while fixing the problems that has split them is the crucial point of this Lars von…
It’s easy to compare Myth of the American Sleep Over, the debut film by David Robert Mitchell, to Rickard Linklater’s classic take on high school Dazed and Confused. It’s easy, yes, but also pretty damn accurate. Myth of the American Sleep Over focuses on a group of teens in the Detroit suburbs clinging to the last few days of summer, searching for romance. Comprised of unknown actors, and set in…
Few shows are able to make it to the five season mark without losing a substantial amount of steam. The New Adventures of Old Christine was able to keep the same frenetic energy that was a hallmark of the show’s earlier seasons, while still presenting enough twists and turns to keep viewers tuned in. The Warner Archive’s version of these 21 episodes are at least as crisp in terms of…
Pathfinder Pictures is 0one of our favorite movie companies. They provide easy access to a number of Oscar-worthy films that would not normally see a United States release. By continually coming world cinema for gems, they have been able to create a tremendous release schedule. 2005’s Big Time is a perfect example of this commitment to excellence. Pathfinder’s print of this film is fantastic, suffering neither from any limitations of…
There are three movies that are contained in Triad Trilogy – 2005’s Election and Triad Underworld and 2006’s Triad Election. For fans of mobster movies, this is a no-brainer. The title can currently be purchased at online retailers for $15, which corresponds to $5 a title. The video and audio quality of each of these films does not suffer as a result. The storylines of these films are clear; while…
Out of all phobias, I believe that the one concerning spiders is simultaneously the most popular and the most justified. I believe that the fear of spiders was first boosted by the release of 1990’s Arachnophobia, and will be further bolstered with the release of Camel Spiders. Roger Corman is the producer here, and a quick viewing shows that the film draws a great deal of inspiration from Corman’s library…
The fantastical world that is created in Jeremy Fink and The Meaning of Life is akin to that presented in the Percy Jackson or the Harry Potter series. On the eve of eir 13th birthday, Jeremy Fink comes into the possession of a box inscribed with “The Meaning of Life”. Jeremy and eir buddy Lizzy attempt to find out what the box could mean, and their journey tests the limits…
AMC has had a number of strong shows in the last few years. So many, in fact, that the network can seriously be said to have a leg up on many of the broadcast networks. Fox has captured the thirteen episodes of The Killing’s first season in glorious Blu-Ray and DVD, and has peppered a great many special features into this release. This release then is perfect for anyone that…
There is something hilarious about a guy who gets paid to take the stage in front of hundreds night after night and sing “Fuck Authority” at the top of his lungs, reprimand his pre-teen daughter for using a naughty word at home. The Other F Word is the brilliant documentary by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins based partly on ex-Pennywise front man Jim Lindberg’s 2008 memoir Punk Rock Dad. The film features…
The first season of Superjail may just be the best that Adult Swim has ever played. The trippy visuals, utterly bizarre stories, and insanely catchy theme music unite to create an experience that is unforgettable. After a few years, the second season of Superjail finally aired. I believe that the themes and overall feeling generated by this first season is ratcheted up further with the second. The time dilation that…
The overall presence of Christian films is the praise of Jesus or the teaching of specific morals. I believe that WWJD II fulfills both of these goals. However, this film does what most Christian cinema is unable to do – it entertains as it inspires. This is due to the smart direction of Terry Ingram just as much as it is the stars that grace this film. John Ratzenberger (Ernest…
Who would have imagined that a drama set in a medieval fantasy world would have any appeal beyond the Lord of the Rings obsessive’s and those guys playing Magic in the back of the comic book store. Based on a series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, the series, quite possible the best thing to come out of HBO in over a decade (and yes, I know about The…
There are a number of different animation traditions to be had I the world, and I believe that those living in the United States have largely been limited to a select few of these (domestic animation and Japanese anime, for example). New Yorker Films has picked a number of the strongest representations of these different animation styles, and has placed them in an easy to view format. While there…