Remember how cool it was when the writers behind True Blood trotted out the shape shifters in season two to compete with the vampires for our attention? With season three they’ve jacked the bar up pretty high by bringing out a whole parade of supernatural creatures. The series picks up with Sookie (Anna Paquin) turning to a werewolf named Alcide (Joe Manganiello) to help her rescue her vampire beau Bill…
Kids in the Hall fans must be in heaven with this massive release. On 20 DVDs, they have managed to cram in all five seasons of this highly influential Canadian sketch comedy series (that’s nearly 800 sketches).The show has been off the air for more than 15 years, but the skits hold up remarkably well (the same can’t be said for most of the recent SNL sketches that don’t even…
Let’s get this out of the way up front: if goofy, often absurdist humor is not your thing, stay far away from Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! In fact, it’s probably best you stop reading this review and just move on to more productive things. Ok, now that those born without a sense of humor have moved on, can you believe these guys have found a channel brave…
Coming across as a modern day version of That’s Incredible! or Ripley’s Believe It or Not, at least once in every episode of Stan Lee’s Superhumans there’s an “is that real?” moment. Co-hosted by Stan Lee – creator of comic heroes like The Hulk, X-Men and Spiderman – the show centers on real people with real, if odd, physical abilities, like being able to withstand extreme heat or conduct electricity…
Dolemite is a blaxploitation film from 1975 starring Cleveland, Ohio born actor Rudy Ray Moore. Dolemite is crime fighting, butt kicking, all around pimp. In the beginning of the movie you see our hero being released from incarceration. He was set up by his greatest competitor Willie Greene played by D’Urville Martin.
Blow Out is a 1981 film that stars John Travolta as an unwitting witness to an assassination; set in Philadelphia, this film is full of intrigue and will have listeners on the edges of their seats throughout. The use of color and darkness in Blow Out is perhaps the strongest side of the title, and is something that simply looks fantastic in this Criterion release. This is because the company…
In this time of rapidly-increasing gas prices, it is important to view a film like Gashole and see exactly why they are what they are. This is not a documentary that merely focuses on the present, but looks into the history of the United States and its fascination with oil and gasoline. To properly flesh out this story, the creators of Gashole place this question in the larger context of…
Funimation has done a tremendous amount of working trying to get all of the One Piece episodes captured onto DVD in the last few years. This April, 2011 release sees episodes 196-205 captured, with the “marathon play” option perhaps being the most interesting inclusion of them all. This “marathon play” feature allows viewers that may have a few hours to watch the show the ability to cut straight to the…
I find that there are two distinct types of fans of Fox’s Glee. There is a decided side of the fans that like the show for the narrative quality it contains, and there are those people that are much larger fans of the musical numbers that the cast does. Glee: Encore is a DVD (and Blu-Ray) release that captures just these musical numbers, excising any of the plot or other…
There is little information present online about the HD Cinema Classics label. In fact, after giving Dementia 13 a spin, the only thing that I know about the company is that they are looking to become a major force in giving forgotten-about films the light of day. Dementia 13 is one of the examples of this; Francis Ford Coppola’s first film is cleaned up and given its proper chance to…
The Way Back is a film that covers ground that has been trod fairly often; World War II. Furthermore, this is a title that focuses on the escape of prisoners from a Soviet prison camp. Saying that, what Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, Legend of the Guardians), Colin Ferrell, and Ed Harris do in The Way Back is create a realistic and extremely fun title.
This is the definitive collection for anyone that is into the storyline or special experience that TRON brings them. Where many releases only require a single Blu-Ray (possibly 2 if there are a number of additional features), Disney has ensured that they provide viewers with a tremendous amount of information. This 5 disc Blu-Ray set has the best special feature ever – a remastered version of the original 1982 TRON.…
Few films that are created for the 3D market really seem to shine in regards to storyline. However, The Asylum Session does not require parlor tricks or other googahs to keep viewers interested. This hour-long title surrounds the actions taken by a number of homeless youths that take residence in a stadium. Creating community and a sense of family amongst the members of The Asylum, plans to tear down the…
This is the last version of Fiddler on the Roof that you need to buy. This is because Fox has provided every single thing fans of this 1971 film adaptation of the Broadway musical could want. First off, the transfer from the original source over to the Blu-Ray format has been done masterfully, blending a slightly dark print with a stunningly sharp (for the age) focus. The audio is the…
Viewers have to understand that Sharktopus is not a movie that takes itself seriously. When viewers do that, they can begin to know what makes it such a fun flick. This new Roger Corman-produced film begins with a shark / octopus hybrid breaking free from the Navy and beginning to wreak havoc on a surfer’s haven in Mexico. In the desire to restore order, a number of Navy troops are…
The absolutely beautiful transfer of The Mikado is well worth the purchase price of the movie, even without the number of additional features that Criterion has bundled alongside it. The Mikado is the 1939 D’Oyly Carte Opera version of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, which linked together masterful performers like John Reed, Phillip Potter, Valerie Masterson, and Christene Palmer. Schertzinger’s direction of The Mikado links together softly-spoken (or sung) musical…
Ya Entertainment does a tremendous service to anyone that fancies themselves a fan of Korean television. What previously was only available in shady food stops and in pixilated versions on online video services like Dailymotion and Youtube has been placed on DVD sets with value prices. For example, the 8-DVD collection of Prosecutor Princess can be purchased online foor well under $75, and provides viewers with 15 hours of drama.
Wagnaria’s titular location is a Hokkaido restaurant, and its different quirks and nuances are explored fully in the show’s 13 episode run. While humerous at a number of points, Wagnaria!!’s intricate storylines are what will keep viewers coming back for more. Why exactly does Inami punch all the males that come around the restaurant? What desires does Sota have towards Inami, and what about the checkered past of Yachiyo, the…
While You Can (Not) Advance is a middle film in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, the story is pretty well contained here. While it would be much easier for viewers just to catch up with the previous film, You Can (Not) Advance fills in fans and gets things started all within the first ten minutes of the film. Mari Illustrious Makinami, the new Evangelion pilot, immediately dispatches the Third Angel…
Though technically not a documentary, No One Knows About Persian Cats might as well be. Using a cast of real Iranian underground musicians and filmed on the sly across the country, the director and actors clearly draw from their own experiences on how to get fake permits and passports to tour out of the country and how to hold shows/parties and rehearsals without getting arrested. The film, which won the…