It used to be you could keep up with the latest home video releases. During the VHS era, new titles were released either as “rental” (titles were sold to rental stores only for an exuberantly high $80+ a cassette!) or “sell-through” (wherein the public could buy the title in stores for under $30 a pop). The only alternative to purchasing costly analog video cassettes was the whole LaserDisc movement of the time.
Archive for March, 2010
Catching Up at the Video Store: Docs, Shocks, & Friends Of Spock’s
Posted: 30 March, 2010 in Movies/TVTags: According To Greta, Action, documentary, Drama, Ghost Machine, Horror, InAlienable, Science Fiction, teen, Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait Of Maurice Sendak, The September Issue, XIII: The Conspiracy
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*PlayStation 3 Review* Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Posted: 24 March, 2010 in GameTags: Battlefield: Bad Company 2, combat, EA Games, playstation 3, PS3, shooter, video game
It’s time to don your favorite pair of camouflage fatigues and lock the doors. No, we’re not doing a kinky photo shoot for the troops; we’re talking about tuning out the rest of the world and playing EA Games’ Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Once again, the four hapless schmucks from Battlefield: Bad Company are back in action (as to what became of their seemingly serendipitous and luxurious outcome from the original is anyone’s guess — or did I miss that exposition?. This time they are being thrust into one geographical hell after another in search of a long-lost secret weapon that was believed to have been destroyed in World War II. But who really gives a shit about the plot here? I certainly don’t — but that may be partially due to the fact that there isn’t much of one. It is a video game after all. The objective is to shoot people, blow things up, and — if you’re really lucky — develop carpal tunnel syndrome in the process.
*DVD Review* Alice In Wonderland (BBC TV) (1966)
Posted: 16 March, 2010 in TVTags: Alice In Wonderland, BBC, drugs, Peter Cook, Peter Sellers, TV
I am neither a teacher or a literary expert, but I sometimes wonder if any of the truly “classic” stories out there that are still read on a regular basis in today’s educational system. I’m pretty sure that there are still a few teachers out there will occasionally plague classrooms with some god-awful thing by Mark Twain, while other academic sadists prefer the sleep-inducing work of Ernest Hemingway to torture their students. If only they would break open Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, and say, “Hey, see if you can guess what kind of drugs you think Lewis Carroll might have been using here” (even if he didn’t), they might manage to keep the kids’ interests.
*Blu-ray Review* Clash Of The Titans (1981)
Posted: 16 March, 2010 in Movies/TVTags: adventure, bad, Clash Of The Titans, fantasy, Greek Mythology, Ray Harryhausen
Back in the early ‘80s, my older brother and I frequently enjoyed watching a selection of would-be classics over and over on HBO. Between Strange Brew and Enzo G. Castellari’s Hercules, we were privy to all of the wonders of the cinematic world — but no one film thrilled us as much as Ray Harryhausen’s swansong as a visual effects artist, Clash Of The Titans. It was a movie that took us into the realm of Greek mythology, and introduced us to such stop-motion critters as Medusa, that Kraken-thingy, and more. As a child, it was a film that couldn’t be beat.
As an adult, however, Clash Of The Titans isn’t as cool.
R.I.P. Charles B. Pierce, Boggy Creek director
Posted: 10 March, 2010 in EventTags: bigfoot, Charles B Pierce, Death
DOVER, Tenn. (AP) — Charles B. Pierce, an independent filmmaker whose inexpensively made documentary-style 1972 horror movie “The Legend of Boggy Creek” influenced the hit film “The Blair Witch Project” decades later, died on Friday at a nursing home here. He was 71.
His death was confirmed by Wayne Anglin of Anglin Funeral Home. No cause was specified.
Mr. Pierce grew up in Hampton, Ark., and as an adult lived in nearby Texarkana, where he was running an advertising agency when he made the movie that became a hit at drive-in theaters and gained him fame.
*DVD Review* Skin In The 70s
Posted: 9 March, 2010 in Movies/TVTags: Comedy, George Takei, nudity, sex, Skin In The 70s, softcore
Once the Sexual Revolution sprouted its unshaven wings and started to fly around the Western World in the ‘60s, sex in motion pictures took an entirely new direction. It began with actual onscreen nudity in mainstream Hollywood films. By the time the 1970s rolled around, low-budget hardcore pornographic films were readily available for any of-age individual to enjoy in specialty stores — and, more specific to the point at hand, in adult theaters from one end of 42nd Street to the other. Here we are, several decades later, with amateur porn from all over the world being easily accessible for any under-age student via the Internet. Yes, the times have certainly changed…but the now-retro world of cinematic sex has not been forgotten entirely.
*DVD Review* Midsomer Murders: Set 14
Posted: 8 March, 2010 in TVTags: Acorn Media, British, Midsomer Murders: Set 14, mystery, Red Dwarf, series, television
To the uninitiated, Midsomer Murders is a popular British television program that, as of 2010, is in its 13th Series. Based on the works of Caroline Graham, the show follows the cases of Tom Barnaby (John Nettles), Detective Chief Inspector of Midsomer County. As the title may lead you to guess, this isn’t your average rural county. The quaint little villages and towns are lovely — as is the scenery — but there do seem to be an awful lot of murders around here. In fact, after thirteen years on the air, one of the popular running jokes for frequent Midsomer Murders is “How is it there are still people living there?”
*Blu-ray Review* Ninja
Posted: 8 March, 2010 in Movies/TVTags: Action, B-Movie, bad, bondage, cheesy, martial arts, Mika Hijii, Ninja, Scott Adkins
Some of you may remember a particular action movie subgenre from the ‘80s: the ninja movie craze. The B-Movie producing team of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus brought us many an unbelievably silly film, wherein the story’s protagonist (usually portrayed by a white guy so American audiences would watch it) would wind up going toe to toe with the deadly antagonist (usually Japanese) in the film’s finale. Sure, many people have tried since the ‘80s to forget having ever taken part in the craze, but none can ever forget the immortal words of actor Shô Kosugi in Revenge Of The Ninja: “Only a ninja can stop a ninja!”
*PS3 Review* Star Ocean: The Last Hope – International
Posted: 4 March, 2010 in GameTags: PS3, RPG, Square Enix, Star Ocean: The Last Hope - International, video game
Having grown up in the era of the Atari 5200, ColecoVision, and Nintendo 8-bit systems, the only RPG that ever crossed my path was the original Zelda game. Since then, there have been many games that have caused boys and men alike to sit in front of their television sets for weeks on end and challenge every aspect of their personal and business lives. Sweethearts get ignored, caffeinated beverages and junk foods are consumed en masse, and nerd points are accumulated as one video game geek after another calls in sick to their workplace in order to beat the game.
