Highly Recommended

Background: There has long been a large following for fictional accounts of Vampires, Warlocks, and other supernatural beings. The reasons vary more than I care to explore here but the bottom line is that such works run a wide gamut of quality, regardless of how they are presented. Earlier this year, I came across one of the best examples of the genre in anime (it even placed highly on the Best of Anime 2006 list); the futuristic tale of Trinity Blood 3: Collector's Edition, a show where humanity survives thanks in large part to the efforts of the Catholic Church with a struggle between the organization and a large group of vampires that seek to subjugate the survivors of a past war. As stated in Read the entire review

Recommended

The Movie:

When filmgoers complain that they don't make 'em like they used to, such grousing surely doesn't apply to the inspirational sports flick. If there's a genre that seems as cryogenically frozen in time as Walt Disney's head, it's the one about the spunky underdog athlete -- which might help explain why the good folks of Disney are particularly adept at such movies, exemplified in recent years by Remember the Titans, The Rookie, Miracle and Glory Road.

Add Invincible to that roster. While as formulaic and predictable as every other film of its ilk, it also scores points for (as a zillion sports movies have put it) having plenty of heart. Based on the life of Vince Papale, a blue-collar stiff who catapulted from tending bar to NFL heroics, this is a story tailor-made for the big screen. That it takes place in the Philadelphia of 1976 -- the same year that...Read the entire review

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Background: I liked comic books growing up and even today will find some unique projects worth checking out, the most recent being the creative Broken Saints; a project on the internet that gained a lot of buzz from movers and shakers. My roots in liking comics in general go back to when Marvel and DC slugged it out on the newsstands for supremacy; Marvel being known as much for how many advertisements they carried in each comic as the characters fans grew to love. In the spirit of some of the editorials in Marvel's comics from my youth, I start today's review with an homage to Stan Lee. Okay, here's a trivia question with a "no prize" award for getting it right: What Stan Lee project involves a superhero becoming super fast and fighting supervillains: Superman, Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

Background: Sometimes you find a show that you really like after hearing all the unreliable buzz by a select horde of slavering fanboys online and wonder why you never listened in the first place. The answer, of course, is that there are numbers of people devoted to all sorts of anime so if you are to believe everything you read online, you'd quickly come to the conclusion that all anime is great (which is simply untrue). Thankfully, I finally got in a copy of Bleach V1: The Substitute and found that it lived up to much of the hype, albeit too late to push for it to make it into the recent Best of Anime 2006 article ahead of some of the other titles making the list. Like the leads from Moonphase, the show focuses on a couple of unlikely heroes with unique abil...Read the entire review

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Even the worst movies have something to like about them.Background: There exists in society a market for just about every type of movie you can imagine, from the silly kiddy fare offered by Disney to the hardest of hardcore offered up by the jaded veterans of Chatsworth, California. Since we all have different levels of expectation and tastes for what we find appealing, your mileage may vary when reading a review because of this. That makes any review suspect since no one can speak to all folks and taking the middle ground all but guarantees the kind of mediocrity you'd expect from one who sits on the fence about everything. Well, today's review of the upcoming release of The Covenant won't be one of those reviews so stick with me for a moment while I explain w...Read the entire review

Recommended

The Film:

A massive 260 min. saga following the history of two rivaling families, the Solomins and the Ustyuzhanins, Andrei Konchalovsky's (Maria's Lovers) nostalgic Сибириада a.k.a Siberiade (1979) arrives on DVD in the United States after being released earlier this year by Russian distrib Ruscico.

Siberiade covers more than six decades of Russian history beginning in the early 1900s all the way to the late 60s. Each decade is reserved for one of the numerous main protagonists in this story (the feud between the Solomins and the Ustyuzhanins is inherited by their sons and daughters) as they indirectly symbolize the evolution of the Soviet state. From the victory elation in the post war years, to the modernization of the Far East, a...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

With 2006's end coming soon, it's natural to take stock of the previous year's events, and try to put them into some kind of perspective. Being in that contemplative frame of mind, I had a terrific time watching MPI's four disc set, The Sensational 70's, a ten-part Canadian documentary produced in 1979 by Philip S. Hobel, that looks at the highlights and curious sidelights of that famed decade. I grew up during the 1970s, so many of the people and the events were familiar to me, but you don't have to have lived through the 1970s to enjoy The Sensational 70's. Culled entirely from archival footage, The Sensational 70's largely employs grainy, washed-out 16mm news footage to give the viewer a kaleidoscopic view of each year (I love the disco music intro that sounds like the tracks they played at the drive-in, for the concession stand promos). Produced in 1979 as a summation of...Read the entire review

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The Movie:

Low budget films truly are the backbone of the movie industry. Each year indie features are released that are greeted with one degree of success or another. 2005's Searching for Bobby D is an example of one that connects with moderate success in what it attempts to do but for all intense and purposes falls short in the end.

The movie features a plot about an aspiring filmmaker getting his name out there and attempting to put together his opus. It's supposed to be a comedy that showcases the plight of a struggling script writer with the backdrop of a mob-like atmosphere. It's fun, sometimes witty, and entertains in spurts but ultimately the script feels shallow and the acting, even more so.

Johnny Argano (William DeMeo) spends his days and nights dreaming about starring in a film with Robert DeNiro. He wrote a script but hasn't been able to make any conn...Read the entire review

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The Movie:

Brian De Palma is proof that being a great moviemaker doesn't necessarily entail being a great storyteller. Ever since his ascent in the Seventies as a kind of Hitchcock Lite, De Palma consistently does his best work when he isn't expected to make too much sense. But give the guy a big, juicy story to tell, and he winds up charred in a bonfire of his own bravado. The Black Dahlia, adapted from James Ellroy's acclaimed crime novel and involving perhaps the most infamous unsolved murder in California history, ought to thrill and amaze.

Sadly, it mainly just disappoints.

Set in post-World War II Los Angeles, the saga follows straight-arrow police officer Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), an ex-prizefighter who is paired up with another boxer-turned-cop, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart). The two become friends after an exhibition match to benefit the polic...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The Product:
It happens so rarely that, when it actually does, it is definitely worth noting. Critics rarely change their mind at least not a mere four months after their initial contact with an entertainment. No, it usually takes decades of differing opinions and considered scholarship before a hated movie becomes acceptable, or visa versa. But in this case, there is something about The Descent that rubbed this reviewer the wrong way back in August. Maybe it was the loud and obnoxious teens in the audience who were too busy text messaging each other to pay attention to the film. Perhaps it was the lousy projection levels, which rendering most of the movie's cave scenes dark and indistinguishable. It could have been the unbearable hype, a machine that made the film out to be the second coming of horror. Whatever the circumstance, he came out unimpressed and angry at those who would p...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The movie

World Cycling Productions' 2006Spring Classics series of professional bicycle racing kicks off withthe two-race set of Ghent-Wevelgem and Het Volk. These early-seasonraces are interesting not just for their own sake, but also as aglimpse of what the field looks like after the winter season oftrades, training, and team reorganization. The 2006 edition of theseraces turns out to be quite interesting, with some surprises in storefor riders and viewers alike.

While Ghent-Wevelgem gets topbilling in the set, it makes more sense to watch the Het Volk discfirst, as Het Volk is the earliest of the races on the calendar. This"semi-classic" race gets started in the chilly Belgianweather on February 25, with all the riders eyeing each other to seewho looks strongest. It's not the first race of the year, but it'sthe first big ...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The Mini-Series

The 2004 Seoul Broadcasting System television series Stained Glass is a love story about three individuals who were connected on an emotional level at a very young age. Over the course of eighteen hour long episodes, their story is told. It has dramatic, romantic, and somber elements. It is a true K-drama and delivers an engaging story that is slow at times but nonetheless hard to put down. The characters are all likeable and their melodramatic situation will have you on the edge of your sit wanting more.

Stained Glass's main plotline deals with three individuals and the sordid love triangle that ensues as two best friends pine over the same girl, who also feels conflicted about her relationship with each of them. Han Dong-Joo (Lee Dong-G...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The Movie:
Funny Factory with Huey, Dewey & Louie Vol. 4 features some classic Disney cartoons starring Donald Duck's trio of troublemaking nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie who make all sorts of mischief for the cantankerous Donald. In all, there are eight cartoons on this disc, clocking in at just under an hour.

Some highlights include:

Donald's Nephews: Donald receives a postcard from his sister, Dumbella, informing him that his "angel" nephews are coming for a visit. They systematically proceed to turn Donald's house upside down, playing croquet in the living room on their tricycles, tossing a baseball and breaking things, until Donald tries out some advice from a childcare book, which only ups the level of hysteria.

Soup's On: Song of the South fans will enjoy the fact that this episode opens with Donald singing "Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah." Don...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

A healthy dose of conquest with a strong dash of brutality is the recipe that lay within the blood of the 16th century Indian Mughals. This History Channel presentation of the Warrior Empire: The Mughals truly illustrates the bloodthirsty nature these individuals had to expand their reach. The result is a story that involves young princes that learn of domination from a young age, technological wonders that would further escalate their capabilities, and the extraordinary spoils of war that lay within these conquered locales. Plus, the overall weight and influence this "moving city" obtains would affect the world, specifically the full quarter of population the Mughals acquired.


The Documentary:

From the start of the empire in the power of Babur to the decline starting in the 1780s, these people fought tooth and nail for their land. And they did so with some amazin...Read the entire review

Recommended

The Movie:
Funny Factory with Goofy Vol. 3 features some classic Disney cartoons from as early as 1937, including seven shorts with many favorite Disney characters, but obviously the main focus is on Goofy, who more than lives up to his name.

Some highlights include:

Clock Cleaners: Goofy, Donald, and Mickey frantically try to clean a large clock, with hilarious mishaps that ensue, similar to any time the three of them try to work together.

Man's Best Friend: A tongue-in-cheek examination of the trials and tribulations caused by dog ownership, featuring Goofy as a dog owner, which is curious given that most Disney fans have concluded that he is one himself!

Father's Weekend: Poor Goofy. As a husband and father, he can't get any rest on a lazy Sunday. His child pushes him out of the bed, then wakes up and practices his trumpet, his wif...Read the entire review

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The Game:
This is a pretty unique idea for families looking for ways to entertain themselves on a rainy afternoon when everyone is climbing the walls a DVD board game where everything needed is on-screen. The spinner, which determines how many places each person moves, is even on-screen and that, along with question selection, is easily activated by the DVD player's remote control.

So, here is the good stuff first, garnered from a few rounds of play with my six-year-old son. This game can be played by up to 4 members of the family, or with only one player, which is great for families with only 1 child. The game centers around four cute pups from past Disney flicks like The Fox and the Hound, 101 Dalmatians, and Lady and the Tramp. Mickey's dog, Pluto, joins the fun as well. The navigability of the game is super-easy, and there are two levels of play, an easier on...Read the entire review

Recommended

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

When Elvis entered the Army and left the airwaves to novelty songs, other Rock 'n' Roll holdovers and young Italian men from Philadelphia, a gap opened up in pop music. Before this vacuum could be filled with the surfin' sound and the English invasion, America had a resurgence of folk music. Old folk-tradition hands such as the Weavers were joined by new voices Joan Baez and eventually Bob Dylan. Dozens of collegiate duos, trios, foursomes and entire families burst forward for recognition. The college circuit became a hot ticket for traveling singers. Not all offered renditions of Michael, Row the Boat Ashore .... only most of them.

Many of the new singing groups were young clean-cut types that sported clean short haircuts and ties, an image our parents would try to impose on us teens in the later longhair '60s. By and large, the folk mu...Read the entire review

Recommended

It's not often that I'm given a chance to see a whistling documentary, but Pucker Up: The Fine Art of Whistling (2005) is as catchy and entertaining as the subject it pays tribute to. Directed by the team of Kate Davis and David Heilbroner (who also helmed a segment of 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America), Pucker Up is a relatively straightforward but charming tale that revolves around the annual International Whistling Competition in Louisburg, NC. Our story introduces us to several colorful competitors from all walks of life, including an investment banker, a turkey hauler and a Dutch social worker. All share a passion for whistling, employing a number of unique styles to share their music with all w...Read the entire review

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The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is a Korean import and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

While Korean director Kim Ki-duk isn't all that popular in his native land, he's quickly becoming quite renowned abroad for his dark dramas and twisted human interest stories. His latest film, Time, finds him returning once again to the bleak, misanthropic world view that has been so integral to many of his better known pictures, but this time he takes a much quieter approach to the subject matter. The results are, sadly, rather middle of the road.

Pretty Seh-hee (Seong Hyeon-...Read the entire review

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THE MOVIE:

The final image of Moscow Elegy ( l gie de Moscou), Alexander Sokurov's 1987 tribute to Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, is of a tree that Tarkovsky planted. It's a fitting way for this documentary to close, as the movie itself is the cinematic equivalent of that tree, the product of a seed one artist had sown, the fruit it produced being the inspiration of another.

Tarkovsky is famous for such films as Andrei Rublev, Solaris, and Stalker, though Moscow Elegy largely concerns itself with his later work, after he left Russia to film in Europe, drawing most heavily from Nostalghia and The Sacrifice. Sokurov is best known in the U.S. as the director of Russian Ark. The influence of his subjec...Read the entire review

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The Movie:
In a few of my reviews I've made mention of the direct to video titles that were prevalent in the eighties and early nineties. Some of them turned out ok, JR Bookwalter's The Dead Next Door and Carlton Albright's Luther the Geek come to mind. Most of them turned out to be horrible, the only redeeming quality being the video box art. One such example of this is The Ripper, a straight to video title that I remember seeing first in a drug store remember when you could rent titles at drugstores? They had the frames holding the flattened cases inside so you could flip through and see what you wanted? Anyone? Wow I'm old. So to move on, I first saw this title there and later on found it at a K-Mart for five bucks. I was elated; the cover was fairly cool, the back showed stills of gorily graphic kills, and it "starred" Tom Savini!!! I need see no more and I parted ...Read the entire review

Recommended

The Show:

Reinventing a classic is risky business. It is one thing to create a sequel series or even a spin-off but it's something entirely different to go back to an anime and retell the story from the ground up. In the case of the moody vampire classic Hellsing the original series has been cast aside in favor of the much better regarded and finely tuned manga storyline.

If you are not familiar with the printed form of Hellsing then you should just be aware that it is arguably better in every way. Not that the anime was bad by any stretch of the imagination. On the contrary it has been one of my favorite shows since it first came out. It's just that the manga felt better somehow or maybe a little more fluid. Whatever the case, fans have longed for the experience that Hellsing Ultimate delivers; a faithful interpretation of the manga.

At its core the ...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The Film:

Brazil, 1910...

Deep into the heart of an uncharted desert region Aurea (Fernanda Torres), her mother (Fernanda Montenegro), and her husband Vasco (Ruy Guerra) will attempt to start a new life. Hundreds of miles away from civilization the trio settles near a picturesque lagoon with plenty of water. There, with the assistance of a group of workers, Vasco begins to build the house of his dreams. Unfortunately the unstable construction collapses and Vasco dies. Aurea and her mother are left alone amidst the unfriendly sands of the desert.

Inspired by the popular novel Woman of the Dunes and a newspaper article with a tiny photo of a house buried into the sands Brazilian director Andrucha Waddington's latest film Casa de Areia a.k.a The House of Sand (2005) arrives on DVD as the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Award at this year's S...Read the entire review

Recommended

The Product:
Art, like that famous Supreme Court statement on pornography, is in the eye of the beholder. Some people see a few squiggly lines of an uneven canvas and call it a masterpiece. Others view the glorified doodling and wonder what all the aesthetic hubbub is about. It's all a matter of perspective. People get out of art what they put into it, be that understanding, appreciation or confusion. At the same time, no two individuals see things the same way. One man looks at the Mona Lisa and finds her hideous. Another weeps at the wonderful work of Leonardo Da Vinci. So when one approaches a subject as potentially explosive as American political problems from the last 100 years, the way in which it is explored is very important. A documentary can be definitive, if sometimes twisted toward a particular agenda. A fictional film gets lambasted for taking liberties. But what if one decided t...Read the entire review

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Cry foul if you'd like, but I've never been much of an audio or videophile. Sure, I appreciate a digitally scrubbed transfer and an immersive soundscape as much as the next DVD addict, but I've never been as nitpicky as most reviewers on this site or elsewhere ("not that there's anything wrong with that", for you Seinfeld fans). I can tell if a disc's color palette looks a bit on the warm side, the framing is incorrect or the rear channels are too overpowering, but I usually won't flip out over a bit of edge enhancement or slightly thin dialogue.

As such, I've never been overly inclined to rent or buy a calibration disc for my modest home theater setup, much less shell out the money to have it professionally tweaked. I've got a fairly good eye for composition and color despite my less-than-perfe...Read the entire review