Archive Page 429
January 3rd, 2014 by Gregg Senko
What an interesting year we had as it presented us with plenty of ammo at both ends of the quality spectrum. We had the horridness known as Machete Kills, as well as the brilliance of films such as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek sequel. It was also another year of super heroes. Some arrived from the pages of Marvel hoping to smash evil, while others came with a glove and a jersey hoping to smash barriers. Before we hit the rest of the list though, it is important to note there are a few significant films that escaped my grasp in 2013. For starters, I was not able to see The Wolf of Wall Street, Fruitvale Station, Anchorman 2 or Her. I’m sure Wolf would make a strong case for being on my list, so that one was a bummer not to catch in time. Her, while it doesn’t look like my cup of tea, does have Joaquin Phoenix who is pretty incredible in front of the camera. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a week. So without further ado and endless jibber jabber, I present to you my top 10 favorite films of 2013.
Continue reading ‘Gregg’s Top 10 Films of 2013′
January 3rd, 2014 by Sean Ferguson
From Earth, the Sun cannot be looked at with human eyes. Narrated by Al Roker, 3D Sun gives audiences a chance to see the Sun up close in startling 3D. Stand above the arctic circle and witness the most brilliant auroras on Earth; take a ride on a solar blast from Sun’s surface to Earth’s Magnetosphere, and come to a deeper understanding of what this vast sea of fire means to life here on Earth. In October 2006, NASA launched twin spacecraft from a single rocket in Florida — a spacecraft that would, for the first time in the history of space exploration, capture space-born, high-definition 3D images of the Sun. In 3D Sun, the leading NASA scientists from the mission unveil these images and take us behind the scenes to tell the story of the Sun and why it is of crucial importance to all of us. Mars 3D takes viewers behind the scenes of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission revealing daily dramas, mind-boggling physics and compelling science behind the $820 million dollar NASA project. Behold this celebration of space exploration and the human stories behind the mission, how engineers plunged the depths of gravity and physics to ensure a successful launch an landing and how two 380 pound rovers will bring scientists closer than ever before to solving the mysteries of Mars. Continue reading ‘Galactic Adventures Double Feature: 3D Sun / Mars 3D (Blu-ray Review)’
January 2nd, 2014 by Sean Ferguson
Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World continues the big screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos… but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all. Continue reading ‘Thor: The Dark World Arrives on Blu-ray this February!’
January 2nd, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Anchor Bay sure is hyping this one up. I’m surprised they’re not giving it a full Blu-ray treatment. It seems sort of strange. Today, they’ve released the trailer for the film so we can sort of get the tone for the film and its definitely an exploitative horror-comedy. It looks like it could be some trashy fun, but will it all work? Also below, I’ve got a new promo image from the film and the final box art for the cover of the DVD. This is a Valentine’s Day week. Once again, this thing stars Why So Blu? head honcho Brian E. White’s favorite actor Kevin Sorbo as well as Leslie Easterbrook and Ron Jeremy. There’s a pre-order for it finally up and I have provided the link for it below. Click, order and we’ll watch together. So click the “More” link and let’s get to it! Continue reading ‘SORORITY PARTY MASSACRE Unbuttons A Trailer!’
January 2nd, 2014 by Brandon Peters
In time for its 30th anniversary, Warner Bros is releasing one-time Best Picture hopeful The Killing Fields. The film did win 3 Academy Awards that year, all of them in what are considered “major” categories (Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography). It did win big with the British Academy Awards including Best Film and 7 other categories which seems like it cleaned house. When it comes to the Best Picture nominees every year, I always wonder how revered and well remembered many of them will be years down the road. Even for the winners. I think it’s a tough enough challenge to recall the nominees from before your time and when you were a child. And these are supposed to be the BEST movies that represent a given year. With The Killing Fields, I had never seen it, and only the title came of any familiarity to me. It never came up as required viewing or studying for me in film classes or in my own personal adventure in learning. But, I always welcome the opportunity to go back and learn more. So here we are. Continue reading ‘The Killing Fields (Blu-ray Review)’
December 31st, 2013 by Gerard Iribe
In the late 1800’s, a beautiful former prostitute (January Jones) is trying to build an honest life with her husband in the rugged plains of New Mexico. When she catches the eye of a sadistic and powerful religious leader (Jason Isaacs), her life is violently turned upside down. She embarks on a bloody course of vengeance with the assistance of a renegade sheriff (Ed Harris) who has violent tendencies of his own. Continue reading ‘Sweetwater (Blu-ray Review)’
December 31st, 2013 by Aaron Neuwirth
It was a big year, but somehow I managed to put together a list of my favorite films of 2013. I have to say that this was once again not the easiest list to put together. Theatrically, I have seen 150+ films this year, so there were a lot of films to consider and figure out how to reference in terms of their placement on this list. Some of these films certainly got a bigger response out of me than others, but at the same time, some stuck with me throughout the year and wound up turning into films I enjoyed even more than after my initial viewing. As a result, the only course of action was to do my best to give praise to not just the films in my top ten, but the other films of this year that I really enjoyed, by being sure to have honorable and special mentions for all the films that were in contention or worth mentioning. Still, I am very satisfied by this final list that I have put together, mainly because it is my list and it contains films that I really enjoyed the most this year, for various reasons. So here we go (by the way, lots of Easter Eggs hidden in the pictures).
Continue reading ‘Aaron’s Top 10 Films of 2013 And Other Odds & Ends’
December 31st, 2013 by Aaron Neuwirth
I think the most exciting part of this press release is the fact that I now finally have a reason to push Detective Dee and The Mystery of the Phantom Flame to the top of my Netflix queue. Regardless, this film just looks like a lot of fun. It is a large scale martial arts/fantasy epic, with a lot of neat looking visuals. I do not know a whole lot else about these films, aside from the descriptions I have read and the trailers I have watched, but I can only hope it is as fun as it looks. On February 11th, everyone will be able to find out what is going on with Detective Dee, as Young Detective Dee will be available on Blu-ray everywhere. Read on to learn a bit more about this upcoming release.
Continue reading ‘YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE on Blu-ray & DVD February 11th’
December 30th, 2013 by Jami Ferguson
Revered filmmaker Martin Scorsese directs the story of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). From the American dream to corporate greed, Belfort goes from penny stocks and righteousness to IPOs and a life of corruption in the late 80s. Excess, success, and affluence in his early twenties as founder of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont warranted Belfort the title – “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Continue reading ‘The Wolf of Wall Street (Movie Review)’
December 30th, 2013 by Gerard Iribe
Fight everyone and trust no one: it’s the code of survival practiced by martial arts master Casey Bowman (Scott Adkins) after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. With the help of his friend Nakabara (Kane Kosugi), the fearless American retrains his responses and elevates his battle skills to seek justice for his wife’s murder. In the ultimate confrontation, Casey must reflect on his teachings to become an invisible warrior worthy of the title Ninja.
Continue reading ‘Ninja II: Shadow of A Tear (Blu-ray Review)’
December 30th, 2013 by Gerard Iribe
When a series of eerie murders erupt across Hong Kong, two trouble making cops are assigned to the case. Young maverick WANG (Zhang Wen) is a reckless risk-taker, and grizzled vet HUANG (Jet Li) is fed up with cleaning up his rookie’s messes. After discovering all the victims were former boyfriends of aspiring starlet LIU, the detectives (one now posing as her lover) are caught in a deadly game to lure the killer out. Continue reading ‘Badges of Fury (Blu-ray Review)’
December 30th, 2013 by Brandon Peters
It started off kind of weak and had a slightly mediocre summer (for mainstream movies), but overall 2013 was a really great year for movies. I say that because this Top 10 list was an incredibly difficult task to put together. One of the most challenging things every year is we are so hyped up and “in the now” with the December Oscar hopefuls rush that I think we forget or discount films from the first ¾ of the year that are just as worthy, we just haven’t had them in discussion for so long or watched them in almost a year that we tend to forget them when it comes to the end of the year list. We seem to go off the buzz we just got. In culminating my personal list I sat and focused real hard on trying to not let that aspect of end of the year list making consume me. I factored in what films I’d watched the most times this year, what films I thought were truly just well done, what I had actual “fun” with, what ones grabbed me an never let me go. I wanted my list to reflect all of those things and not just sit and pick the expected prestigious films that make every critic’s list look the same and have no personal flavor to it. Now, yes, my list will contain a few of those, because those films are just that good. Continue reading ‘Brandon’s Rendition Of The Top 10 Films Of 2013′
December 30th, 2013 by Brandon Peters
I have never seen the original Cat People film from which this is based. But from what I gather, this is a case in which a remake is a novel concept because the original film wasn’t very good in the first place. Universal was trying to jump on the coattails off the success of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake and putting a lot of remakes of older properties into production (sound familiar?). Cat People was one such project as well as John Carpenter’s The Thing. Writer Paul Schrader stepped in to make his 4th feature film and decided to spin this old tale into one of a more erotic horror film. The film was a mild success back in 1982, but has since become a bit of a cult item, even if Paul Schrader doesn’t think it qualifies as one. Continue reading ‘Cat People – Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray Review)’
December 29th, 2013 by Gerard Iribe
Taiwanese pop sensation Jay Chou is Wax, a cocky drifter who lives a happy but oppressed life among the rooftops of Galilee. But a chance meeting with his dream girl, Starling (Li Xinai), takes him on a thrilling journey to change his fate. Chou’s second feature film, THE ROOFTOP is a story of friendship, romance, rivalry and destiny, filled with song and dance numbers that will delight audiences for years to come. Continue reading ‘The Rooftop (Blu-ray Review)’
December 29th, 2013 by Gerard Iribe
Northeast China, early Northern Song dynasty, AD 986. The Khitan army takes its revenge for a past massacre, abducting General Yang Ye (Adam Cheng) and leaving his wife and seven sons to rescue him – and fall into their deadly trap. Led by the first son (Ekin Cheng), the seven – two of whom have never seen combat – set out with a small band of fighters to face an army of thousands, brave the treacherous Wolf Mountain, face the nemesis of their shared history, and find the way back alive – all to bring their father home. Continue reading ‘Saving General Yang (Blu-ray Review)’
December 29th, 2013 by Kori Kemerer
So another year has come and gone way too quickly, bringing with it a long list of great movies as well as some I wish I could get the hours of my life back. So with this being said, if you are anything like me, then you have a hard time choosing which movie to commit hours of your life to. Well I know your time is precious, so being the nice person that I am, I want to help your decision making go a bit smoother. I have compiled my list of Top 10 movies that I was lucky enough to see during this wonderful year of 2013. I want to give you some of my rules for this list though. They really are quite simple. I chose from the movies released theatrically in 2013 that I saw. This does not include any older movies that I may have finally caught up on and watched this year, and obviously, nothing that I did not have the chance to see. Continue reading ‘Kori’s Top 10 MUST-SEE Films of 2013′
December 28th, 2013 by Brandon Peters
There are a lot of people involved in creating and performing a song. A band or a singer will get a hefty praise for a hit. A producer can become legendary for making many of them. Even guest musicians will find fame on some songs. But, a back up singer? They seem to find no glory, fame or historical relevance when looking back at big songs. 20 Feet From Stardom finally gives them the spotlight. It’s a riveting look at the challenges and the struggles to make it as a back up singer from the roots of gospel and R&B to transitioning into the rock and roll scene. There’s many successes, failures, funny anecdotes and hard times that come with the territory and its all gone over here in great and colorful detail. Continue reading ’20 Feet From Stardom (Blu-ray Review)’
December 28th, 2013 by Brandon Peters
Luc Besson made some of my favorite films of the 1990s; La Femme Nikita, The Professional and The Fifth Element. For much of the previous decade he’s either been missing or taken on many smaller or more localized (for him) projects. I was actually intrigued by him having a new American film coming out this year, especially with players like Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro and Tommy Lee Jones attached. The movie pretty much came and went with merely a whimper. So, when it came time for Blu-ray I was eager to give this one a shot and see if maybe it had a weak release date, wasn’t appreciated upon release or was as lackluster as the reviews for it seemed to have suggested. Continue reading ‘The Family (Blu-ray Review)’
