This 1986 movie, based off of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s (The Secret Garden) work, shows that made for television productions can have the same endearing property as modern, high-budget masterpieces. While the cast of actors may not be well known to the current film-watching public, the quality of Maureen Lipman or Miriam Margolyes is head and shoulders above the average performance rendered by a good half of Hollywood at this present…
Sure, the artistic style of Gigantor may be dated, but this 1964 production is integral for the fledging anime movement that would ultimately take over all creative venues in Japan, as well as influencing generations of animations all over the world. For individuals that want to be amazed by nearly 11 hours of Gigantor, topped with a number of awesome extras, E1’s “Gigantor: The Collection†is something that is a…
Coming off like a British version of Sex and The City, without the obsessive comments about shoes, Pulling does a far better job of appealing to members of both sexes. The first season of the show, originally aired in the UK in 2006, is finally making it to the U.S. via DVD. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
While I was about a decade out from being born when Rhoda hit the airwaves, I still was fairly cognizant of the show through the reruns that were present on TV Land and the like. I was actually surprised when I received this DVD set, as I did not believe that a show like Rhoda was scorned for so long in regards to having a DVD set released. For those…
El Chicano has been on the music scene for nearly 40 years: 1970 marked the first time that the band came together and created their own special type of Latino R&B meets funk. “In The Eye of the Storm†is a documentary that shows the evolution of the band from their earliest days to the present, while the second disc captures their magic in a May 2008 show at The…
The Ascent of Money is one of the few DVDs that one can actually watch that provides a fair and balanced perspective into what is currently happening regarding the economy. Where there are a number of different talking heads weighing in on the issue, only Niall Ferguson seems to have a solid head on eir shoulders. The Ascent of Money, adapted from one of Ferguson’s lectures on the circuit, is…
Very few directors of opera, I believe, take the plunge in directing a feature film, and even smaller of a number tackle a project with Meryl Streep. That is what Chen Shi-Zheng did with “Dark Matterâ€, and eir aptitude and skill behind the camera is enough to even take someone like Streep’s style to the next level. The film itself deals with the linkages between Streep’s character (Joanna), a rich…
The Showdown is a Western, showcasing the trials and tribulations of US Marshal Luke Canfield, played here by Bob Handegan, a powerful newcomer to film. Specifically, Luke is pitted against a gang, a group of ruffians that would like no more than to murder the love of eir life, Dixie (Ann Hagemann) and son. Whether Luke folds under the pressure and allows the gang to run roughshod over eir territory…
These three classic films are released on Blu-Ray for the first time, and each brings something slightly different to the table. Despite the difference in release year (1977, 1978, and 1986), each of the films are brought to the current period in terms of video and audio quality. Each of the releases will provide purchasers with a tremendous amount of added features, as they represent at the base level the…
Enchanted April was originally a book written by Elizabeth von Arnim, and the book itself was brought to the silver screen on the seventieth anniversary of the release. The film centers around two women that wish to be free of the monotony of their daily lives. Packing up and taking a trip away from these lives, their husbands, and damp, murky England, they set out to the Italian Riviera. Adding…
To be honest, this is the first GLBT-related horror film that I have seen. The one thing that I can first notice is that while the stars are up and coming Judith O’Dea (Night of the Living Dead) and Brinke Stevens (The Slumber Party Massacre), the skill that they put forth on the screen is equivalent to that of even seasoned actors. The film itself surrounds a cast that were…
Who would honestly think that a film about a cemetery would be interesting in the slightest? Heddy Honigmann, whom individuals may know from O Amor Natural, knew that eir talent was at a level that ey could make a bunch of stones on a grassy field interesting. There are a few bonus features, with traditional materials like the original trailer along with a bio/filmography of Heddy Honigmann for individuals to…
Into the Blue 2 deals with a couple of scubaers; Dani (played here by Laura Vandervoort) and Sebeastion (Chris Carmack) and their adventures around the scenic locale of Hawaii. Where fun is fun, things take a decidedly more serious turn after they are offered a large sum of money by some shady characters. After things take a turn for the worse, it really is a testament to the skills of…
Obviously, Biggiemania struck pretty big after this film first hit movie theatres. I have little doubt in my mind that a similar level of euphoria and remembrance will hit the streets and neighborhoods of the United States when copies of the Blu-Ray of Notorious break big. Beyond having the cut of the film that was originally played at movie theatres, there is a 6-minute longer “Director’s Cut†that gives viewers…
Where Disturbia was a solid film and The Ring really allowed horror to take that next step forward, The Uninvited is one of those films that is able to learn from the successes and failures from previous efforts by the producers, as well as from the entirety of the genre. The haunting aura of The Uninvited comes forth quite well on Blu-Ray, meaning that the atmospheric noise and sounds present…
Sin City is a stellar film. It only makes sense that Dimension / Buena Vista would give it the treatment that it deserves, resulting in a Blu-Ray release that will have viewers in awe from start to finish. The picture itself is sharp as all get out, tying together crisp and clear audio with a video that seems to even improve on the original theatrical print. The feature presentation on…
The transfer over the Blu-Ray does provide purchasers with a significantly sharper picture and audio quality over the standard DVD release. What was originally just seen as a revamp of Heathers works on its own 5 years after the original version was released. The TrueHD version of the audio makes for a lush soundscape of voices, ambient noise, and music, at a level that would please even those individuals that…
Strange Wilderness was released last year, and Paramount has taken the plunge and has tapped it as another title to be transferred to Blu-Ray. The film itself was reviewed here at https://neufutur.com/?p=3402 , and provides a better description of the plot than will be discussed here. Essentially, Strange Wilderness focuses around a nature show that is looking to bump their ratings after a steady decline by capturing Bigfoot. The Blu-Ray…
It is nice to see that a number of the Peanuts specials are making it to a remastered format on DVD, rather than having to be traded around different collectors until the video quality permanently degrades. Warner Brothers has done a bang-up job here coming forth with a clear and crisp rendition of this Peanuts special, while going and ensuring that there are more than enough in the way of…
If you’ve yet to hear about the British sitcom The IT Crowd, just wait about a year. It’s only a matter of time before one of the networks here snatches up the rights to this series and tries to repurpose it for American audiences, only to cancel it after two episodes (NBC had originally planned to run it last year, but the show has yet to air). John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com