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Reviews

The Last Song

My wife doesn’t mind Miley Cyrus. I can take or leave her, preferring the Hannah Montana songs to the angsty serious stuff that the “real” person offers up. As an actress she is competent enough for the roles she is in. The Last Song seems to be designed to bring the star into a new light. Ronnie (Cyrus) is seventeen. As the film opens she is being dropped off, along with her younger brother, by mom ...

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

And so Shakespeare is translated yet again with one of his most iconic works – Hamlet. This 1996 film takes the full text of the play for the first (and so far only) time and turns it into a film that runs 4 hours. If you’re not up for it, Kenneth Branagh’s version of Hamlet can seem daunting. Then again, not doing any sort of research before watching a film based on any of William ...

Max Headroom

My introduction to Max Headroom (the character) wasn’t the ABC network series presented in this collection, but the cable series that saw him interview celebrities and offer up some music videos (though he kept interrupting them). It wasn’t too much longer after this, however, that the success of the character was such that he (virtually) stepped from a the confines of his own small show into a music video and commercials. About this time a ...

Star Crash

Star Crash is one of those science fiction films that were created in the wake of Star Wars – and it is very obvious that it would not have been made had Lucas’ film been so successful. There are even certain elements in the script that are somewhat derivative. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially since Lucas ripped himself off (a second Death Star?) and Star Wars has proven to be highly influential throughout ...

My Name Is Khan

There are two flaws with My Name Is Khan that will prevent it from becoming accepted by most viewing audiences. Some may think the unfamiliarity with the lead cast would be an issue, but that isn’t the case. There is a marked chemistry between the two leads Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. They are major stars in India, one of the all-time classic duos who have been paired together several times before. Instead, what brings the film ...

Roger Corman Double Feature – DeathSport & Battle Truck

A Roger Corman double feature is not only something to celebrate for those that know their B-movie history, but some might think this is the only way to see these types of films. Now we get Death Sport and Battle Truck together on one DVD, and while they may seem thematically appropriate, they are only tangentially connected, but like many of the best Roger Corman productions, that doesn’t make them less enjoyable. Let’s start with Death ...

Warner Brothers Elvis Blu-ray Collection

Elvis Presley on film – well, that’s enough to get most fans talking for hours on end. There are both good and bad points in “The King” having a film career, and some of them don’t have anything to do with the quality of the script. While typically I go into the ins and outs of Elvis’ career, Warner Brothers has collected what is arguably 3 of his best films and brought them to Blu-ray. ...

Kalifornia

Kalifornia comes to Blu-ray in a combination package with the DVD packed in. This sounds like a good idea, but it isn’t. On the Blu-ray disc, we get the unrated version of the film. On DVD we get the theatrical version AND the unrated version. Wow, the DVD is even a port of the old DVD, where one side is the widescreen and the other side is full screen – yeah, we get a “flipper” ...

Singularity

I don’t think I was paying much attention, but somehow Singularity was a bit “under the radar” for me, so when it arrived for review, I expected to put it in my console, test it out for a couple of hours, then send it on to somebody else to get the actual review done. I was sucked in by the storyline, so I finished the game, though it took me longer than it should have ...

Super Friends Season One Volume Two

It’s been a few months since the first half of the first season of “Super Friends” arrived on DVD, and now we get Volume 2. Here we get another 8 full hour (at the time of broadcast) episodes that tackled such themes as environmentalism, honesty, and in general promoted good values. This wasn’t a series meant to convey the complexities of the world of being a person imbued with special abilities, but instead provide some ...

Mahjongg Artifacts

Several months ago I had the opportunity to review Mahjongg Artifacts 2 for the PSP. That game was (still is, really) a sequel to Mahjongg Artifacts, which was recently released for the PlayStation Portable and PS3 as a “mini” title through PlayStation Network. I find it odd the sequel became available on the platform first, though was still interested in checking out what was on offer here. Interestingly, there are some gameplay variances between this game ...

Escape From New York

Seriously? You have to be kidding me. Come on MGM/FOX, this can’t be the Blu-ray debut of Escape From New York. I mean, sure, the Blu-ray version looks and sounds great, but where are the special features?  Where did the two audio commentary tracks go? Where is the documentary featurette? The image gallery? The deleted scene? One of the very definitions of B-movie cool, and you’re including a bare-bones DVD as a bonus feature? You’re slapping ...

Orlando

I saw Orlando when it was first released in theaters back in 1992. I had forgotten how much Tilda Swinton breaks the 4th wall, well, at least her character does. What I remember, apart from the obvious story points was how funny I found the film not to be, despite critics (at the time) decrying the film to be hilarious and a sendup or commentary on a number of social themes. Well, yes, the story is ...

James and the Giant Peach

After the success of Nightmare Before Christmas, producer Tim Burton, director Henry Selick and Disney continued their partnership with James and the Giant Peach. Originally released in 1996, it didn’t fare as well as expected, and Selick has moved on to other orojects with other studios. Disney, however, continues to rerelease its films on DVD (and now Blu-ray) though this film hasn’t had nearly as many editions as others (yes, I’m looking at you Jack ...

Bull Durham (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Bull Durham is a great baseball film, as well as being simply highly enjoyable film that happens to have the sport as a backdrop. Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Costner, Robert Wuhl, and a solid background cast bring this tale to life with believable (and apparently inspired by) real characters. I had almost forgotten how much fun this film was to watch. It’s too bad, however, that this Blu-ray/DVD combo release is so poorly done. We ...

Kalifornia

Kalifornia comes to Blu-ray in a combination package with the DVD packed in. This sounds like a good idea, but it isn’t. On the Blu-ray disc, we get the unrated version of the film. On DVD we get the theatrical version AND the unrated version. Wow, the DVD is even a port of the old DVD, where one side is the widescreen and the other side is full screen – yeah, we get a “flipper” ...

Stargate Universe Season 1.5

The concept of Stargate Universe struck me as odd and compelling. Much in the same way that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was a departure for that franchise, it seems as if this new series would be the same. Many of the comparisons would be valid – with two factions that share an uneasy alliance, stuck in a location that needs a lot of work, and surrounded by a lot of unknown. Sure, there’s some ...

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Creating a film franchise based on a literary franchise can be tricky business. Looking to replicate the success of Harry Potter, Disney started with the Narnia books, but gave up after two entries (the third is finally coming out under a different studio, with no promise at all for a fourth). The Golden Compass was the first in a trilogy, the books hailed as comparing to Tolkien’s work, but the film flopped hard and the ...

Mystery of the Crystal Portal

The Mystery Of The Crystal Portal is a “hidden picture” style of puzzle game, newly released as a “mini” title, playable on the PS3 or PSP.  Players are given a static image, and tasked with finding specific objects, often unlocking a new section of the screen, only to be tasked with trying to pick out even more hard to find items on the screen. When there’s a lot of stuff cluttering the screen, the challenge ...

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This might have been better as a mini-series, but Diary of a Wimpy Kid does work. Based on the book (which in turn became a series and is now a burgeoning franchise) this film tells the tale of Greg (Zachary Gordon) as he prepares for, and embarks upon, his first year of Middle School. While this could be fodder enough for any film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid tosses in a couple of twists that ...

Repo Men

Much in the same way that car repossessions work, in the future when medical procedures are contracted out with artificial organs, if the payments are not kept up, the organ is repossessed. This is the basic premise for Repo Men, starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker and Liev Schreiber. This set up sounds good, but the script fails to deliver, taking what feels like a long time to establish the setting and basic conflict between Remy ...

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Blu-ray

This Blu-ray is essentially a port of the previously available DVD season set. Interestingly, and annoyingly, the supplemental material is presented in standard definition. That should, however, not detract fans from upgrading. The clarity is better than when broadcast or on DVD. The audio is clear and subtleties present that may have been overlooked. Exclusive to Blu-ray are a couple of trivia tracks, which fans may enjoy, but I tired of them quickly. The games ...

TCM Collection: Errol Flynn Adventures

The name Errol Flynn is synonymous with early Hollywood swashbuckling adventures, but most modern viewers are unfamiliar with the bulk of the actor's work. The star appeared in a wide range of films, and some of the lesser remembered films have been gathered in TCM Collection: Errol Flynn Adventures. This isn't the first collection of the star's work (and I suspect not the last) and it may not be the best place to begin exploring ...

Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure

Dora's Big Birthday Adventure has been eagerly anticipated in my house. Nickelodeon (and Nick Jr.) have been advertising this event for weeks, and initially I had the broadcast date marked on my calendar to ensure that I recorded it for my kids to watch. The DVD, however, was released beforehand, so one morning I sat down with my kids to watch Dora's Big Birthday Adventure before it was broadcast – a fact that was not ...

The Breakfast Club 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

Universal simply took the previous DVD release of The Breakfast Club and ported it to Blu-ray. I will do essentially the same with my review. I love John Hughes films. I can rattle off his “important” 80’s teen comedy output by heart (6 titles, by the way – go ahead and see if you can name them, it’s a party game like remembering the names of all Seven Dwarves). Of all the films in this particular sub-genre, ...

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