Blu-ray Review: Boondock Saints
“For Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.” -McManus prayer
I didn’t first see Boondock Saints until 2005, due in no small part to its extremely constrained US theatrical realease when it first premiered in 1999. It seems that some people were hypersensitive about public gunplay after Columbine, which was a shame, as this was a truly exciting film that later became a cult classic on video and DVD. Now that Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is in post-production, devine provenance has delivered the original cult classic in the format it was always been fortold in the scriptures: 1080p High Definition graphics and lossless Dolby Digital 5.1 True-HD sound.
DVD Review: The Silver Chalice
The late, great Paul Newman thought that the performance he gave in his first feature film was so bad that he purchased ads in a trade paper apologizing to those who went to see it. That movie was The Silver Chalice, an epic historical drama set in the first century AD about early Christians who hire a young Greek silver worker to make a silver chalice to conceal the holy grail, and now you too can experience the film as a part of the Paul Newman Film Series.
DVD Review: Rachel, Rachel
While his acting debut in The Silver Chalice wasn’t particularly well received, Paul Newman’s first motion picture as a director, Rachel, Rachel, went so far as to be nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (From the novel A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence), and Best Actress.
DVD and Blu-ray Review: Wonder Woman
When someone mentions DC Comics there are three heroes that immediately come to mind: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. While Batman and Superman have had many TV animated appearances Wonder Woman has never gone solo, appearing only in Justice League and JLU. But now, DC Comics proudly presents its newest Direct to DVD/ Blu-ray release of Wonder Woman! This is the 4th release under the DC Universe Direct to DVD series and is produced by Bruce Timm, best known for his work on the Batman, Superman and Justice League Animated Series.
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Blu-ray Review: Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ, the extremely controversial film from Director Mel Gibson, is now available on Blu-ray.
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Blu-ray Review: Donnie Darko
“Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?”
“Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?”
Cult classic film Donnie Darko has just made its way on to Blu-ray!
For those of you who have never heard of this movie, it really is quite amazing. I was introduced to Donnie Darko during a midnight screening of the film in Santa Cruz, CA in 2003. My dormmates said they were going to see this film and summarized the story as being about “evil rabbits and time travel”. I of course went along (because really, who could refuse a story like that?).
DVD Reviews: Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2 and 3
With The Spectacular Spider-Man returning to the airwaves on March 23rd, Sony and Marvel are releasing the next TWO Volumes of the hit animated series on DVD on March 17th!
Continuing the story of young Peter Parker’s early career as our web-slinging hero, Volumes Two and Three introduce some major villains into Peter’s world and will change his life forever!
DVD Review: The Secret Policeman’s Balls
Lets pretend you’re an international organization who‘s interested in human rights. Let’s pretend you’re responsible for the release of hundreds of prisoners in foreign countries and arrange for better conditions for thousands more since 1961. And let’s pretend that in 1976 you’re nearly broke. What to do, what to do? Well, if you‘re Amnesty International you put together an annual concert series, with the help of Monty Python member John Cleese, and eventually call them The Secret Policeman’s Balls.
Blu-ray Review: Futurama Into the Wild Green Yonder
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, the 4th (and possibly final?) Futurama Direct to DVD release will be available on Feb 24th on DVD and Blu-ray!
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Like all of the Futurama movies, the structure of the film is a bit sporadic at times. There are three major plot-lines that happen during the film (please understand that the following review contains spoilers but also might seem a little confusing…but it is the chain of events in the film…so I will do the best I can).
Blu-ray Review: Futurama Into the Wild Green Yonder
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, the 4th (and possibly final?) Futurama Direct to DVD release will be available on Feb 24th on DVD and Blu-ray!
Story
Like all of the Futurama movies, the structure of the film is a bit sporadic at times. There are three major plot-lines that happen during the film (please understand that the following review contains spoilers but also might seem a little confusing…but it is the chain of events in the film…so I will do the best I can).
DVD Review: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is the story of a small time British gossip monger who crashes the right party and inadvertently finds himself in the big time, working for one of the hottest celebrity tracking magazines in New York City. Unfortunately, he’s kind of a horrible jerk. Hilarity ensues.
DVD Review: Dorothy Mills
Remember when watching a foreign film meant sub-titles, out-of-synch dubbing, and plots that make little to no sense at all? The artsy films out of Europe seem to be fewer and further between, because I‘ve seen some really good films in the last few months and the quirky Dorothy Mills is no different.
Blu-ray Reviews: The French Connection I & II
The 1971 Academy Award winning film The French Connection pulled in not only Best Picture, but four other Oscars for that year, including Best Director, Actor, Editing, and Writing in its category. The French Connection also won three Golden Globes and a host of other awards.
In 1975, it’s underlauded sequel The French Connection II premiered. Now you can own them looking, according not only to ComicsOnline, but also to Director William Friedkin who said so of the first movie, the best that anyone’s ever seen them on their new Blu-ray format.
One important thing to note is that these were made in 1971 and 1975, meaning cultural sensitivity had not yet been invented. Our heroes use racial epithets in a harsh and hurtful way because they can. The violence may not be as graphic by today’s standards, but there is plenty of reason to take the R Rating seriously.
DVD Review: The Gene Generation
The Gene Generation is the story of jaded assassin who gets pulled into trouble with a variety of bad people by her brother’s gambling problem. When he steals a dangerous tool used for genetic manipulation, she must destroy the object before it falls into the wrong hands. This all takes place in the seething underbelly of a city doomed to lose its remaining atmosphere and filled with dangerous “DNA Hackers,” murderers who steal and alter their victim’s DNA in order to get a ticket out of the city.
Movie Review: Watchmen (Spoiler-free)
Who watches the Watchmen? 300 lucky people at WonderCon 2009, that’s who! ComicsOnline was there to bask in the glorious film at the Metrion Theater in downtown San Francisco.
Now there are several questions that everyone wants to know. Without spoiling, we’ll answer at least two:
1. Does it live up to expectations? Yes.
2. Did Warner Brothers do it justice? Oh most certainly yes.
This is the most faithful adaptation of any book and or graphic novel to screen that I have ever seen. Yes there are some minor changes. We’ve all heard how they changed the ending a bit and how they removed the Black Freighter and Under the Hood interludes…but honesty, the film didn’t suffer as a result. Even with the slightly changed ending, the point of the story definitely gets across.