DVD Review: Alien Trespass
Well, you can't go home again. Director R.W. Goodwin (The X-Files, appropriately) and a partner were sitting around waxing nostalgic one day many years ago about the great cheesy sci-fi/horror flicks of their youth, and decided to make a new picture in their mold showing what made the originals so great. Note: a new picture, not a modern one. The point was not to comment on the tropes of the era from a 21st century perspective, but to recreate them. Unfortunately they forgot that A) what was exciting to a ten-year-old in the age of Sputnik might not resonate with modern audiences viewing them without a lens of nostalgia, and B) it takes exceptional craft to make a movie about bad movies without making one yourself.
Blu-ray Review: Morning Light
Morning Light is a documentary about a team of young sailors competing in the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race wherein dozens of boats arranged in divisions according to size compete to see who can make the crossing from Los Angeles to Hawaii fastest. This is a haul of over 2200 miles in a straight line, which course, we are told, cannot even be taken because of a permanent high pressure region in the middle of the Pacific that would bring boats dependent entirely on the wind to a halt. Even in customized ultra-light sailing ships with expert crews, a winning time is usually around ten days. And if somebody gets hurt or sick, or a sail or winch tears or breaks, you better have the equipment and know-how to take care of it yourself, literally a thousand miles from anywhere.
DVD Review: Pokemon All Stars 2
“We’re blasting off again” with the the next set of Pokemon All-Stars. Like the first set, ten more fan favorite Pokemon where chosen and then the three greatest episodes about each Pokemon where picked. The first Pokemon All-Stars was only the beginning, and now Pokemon All-Stars 2 is here to shock the world again.
Highlights
Blu-ray Review: Stargate Atlantis- Fan’s Choice
Good news for Stargate Atlantis Fans: MGM has just released Stargate Atlantis- Fans' Choice on Blu-ray! This single disc release contains the pilot episode, "Rising" Parts 1 and 2, and an extended version of the series finale, "Enemy at the Gate". These three episodes are presented in glorious high definition and have never looked better!
Blu-Ray Review: Race to Witch Mountain
Dwayne Johnson (Doom, The Rundown) stars in Race to Witch Mountain, a "re-imagining" of 1975's Escape to Witch Mountain, Disney's first adaptation of the 1968 novel by Alexander Key, who made a career out of paranormal YA stories a generation before it was hip. Although details of characterization and plot may change with each transition, some points are invariant throughout, most notably alliteratively-named siblings with psychic powers, at least one reliable adult to help the twins against a much better connected heavy who represents the dark side of humanity, and of course the eponymous mountain itself.
DVD Review: The Color of Magic
The Color of Magic is an adaptation of the first two books of author Terry Pratchett's (Good Omens, with Neil Gaiman) enormously popular Discworld series. Launched in 1983 with The Colour of Magic, the series is light comic fantasy where everything from over-familiar fantasy conventions to modern day political events to the grim specter of Death Itself are sent up using droll wordplay and Pratchett's trademark dry wit. Every release has been an immediate hit with readers, and now with 36 volumes (and counting) the books comprise one of the most popular fantasy series of all time.
DVD Review: Welcome to the N.H.K. – The Complete Series
"Let's face it, you and I aren't meant to have a dramatic death."
Blu-ray Review: Dollhouse
"I know you've heard colorful rumors about what an Active is… An Active is the truest soul among us."
DVD Review: Bleach Volume 19 The Bount
Ichigo and the gang are back. The battle with the Bounts continues. We are now in the middle of the 4th season and the Bounts have begun to break with the age old covenant made with the Quincy. They agreed to not devour the souls of live humans and now the decide they need a change of pace, with a hidden agenda behind it. This caught the attention of the Soul Society along with Ichigo and the others. At this point Uyrū has been captured by the Bounts and Ichigo and the others have gone to get him back.
Highlights
Blu-ray Review: 12 Monkeys
From the space between the past and the future, buried somewhere flush against both madness and sanity, comes the time traveling story about potentially crazy people. We all want the future to be perfect. Flying cars, moving platforms, and robot servants will make life good. In the past the idealized future job has been to simply sit around all day and maybe push a button or two. Anyone who has worked in an office or cubicle can tell you that can be boring and tedious work, and definitely not the job of the future. Didn’t you get the memo? As much as I dreamed of a future with an Astro of my own, there are those who had a decidedly different outtake on what the future would look like.