Directed by Steve Shill
Produced by Jay Benson
Written by James DeMonaco and Todd Harthan
Starring John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Tobin Bell, Frank Grillo, Michael Hogan, Steve Cirbus, Christine Evangelista
Lionsgate
Available March 4, 2008
It was supposed to be a lightning quick and perfect bank robbery, as five military veterans lead by the codenamed Mr. Wolf (John Leguizamo) assault a Pittsburgh bank, steal the millions of dollars that have just been delivered, and head off into the sunset in the waiting getaway car. But when variables beyond their control foil their plot, they are forced to hole up inside the bank with the terrified hostages. As S.W.A.T. take their positions and await further instructions, so do the curious crowd and media reports take theirs. Amidst this confusion is Horst Cali (Donnie Wahlberg), a top-ranked negotiator who has never lost a hostage...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
DVD Review: 'The Kill Point'
Monday, March 3, 2008
DVD Review: Caillou's Family Favorites
Animated
PBS/Paramount Home Video
Available February 26, 2008
Sometimes you don’t need a lot of flashy graphics or madcap zany mayhem to reach pre-schoolers and toddlers.
Sometimes, you just need simple stories and simple animation.
Caillou falls into the latter category. Caillou is a cartoon series based on the series of books by Christine L'Heureux and illustrator Hélène Desputeaux. In the series, Caillou is a 4-year-old who is learning while growing up, and getting into a little mischief but always learning his lesson in the end.
His family includes his mother Doris, father Boris, sister Rosie, and his Grandma and Grandpa. They help teach him about life and learning from his actions. The slogan of the show is “Growing Up Is The Greatest Adventure Of All” and anyone with small children knows that’s the truth!...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
DVD Review: 'Comic Relief: The Greatest...And The Latest'
Two-Disc Set
Starring Lewis Black, John Candy, George Carlin, and Jim Carrey
Shout! Factory
Available Feb. 5, 2008
Laughing At Tragedy --- 20 years of Comic Relief
There is very old cliche: "Laughter Is The Best Medicine."
Laughter as a cure for social ills was the mission of Comic Relief, a charity originally established in America in 1986 to help the homeless. For several years, comedians Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal hosted a live benefit performance, featuring some of the greatest comedians of several generations. Their efforts raised millions to help the needy...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Monday, February 25, 2008
DVD Review: Becoming Jane
Directed by Julian Jarrold
Starring Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Available Feb. 12, 2008
Jane Austen's classic novels have been exhaustedly adapted for film for years, so Becoming Jane is a refreshing change, as it finally gives us a look behind the real-life events that inspired the author's 19th-century beloved classics like Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
DVD Review: Jakers! Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm
Voice cast: Mel Brooks, Charles Adler, Pamela Adlon, Melissa Disney, Maile Flanagan, Nika Futterman, Peadar Lamb, Tara Strong, Russi Taylor
Paramount Home Video
Available Feb. 19, 2008
Jakers! Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm collects four of the Emmy Award-winning episodes of the Jakers! cartoon from PBS Kids. Featuring beautiful CGI animation, imaginative stories, and memorable characters, the show is clever entertainment of the highest quality for kids and adults alike...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
DVD Review: Kurt Cobain - About A Son
Documentary, 135 minutes
Directed by AJ Schnack
Shout! Factory/Sidetrack Films
Available Feb. 19, 2008
“Kurt Cobain was a person just like everybody else, he cried, and laughed, loved his child, loved his wife, and was frustrated, and happy, and crabby, and jovial, and all those things. I think a lot of that has been taken away from him in the intervening years since his death. He’s just become an icon, an enigma, dehumanized.” -- Michael Azerrad, author Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana
Kurt Cobain is very well known but not completely understood. His life and career can be categorized as brief, poignant, and tragic. Told entirely in his own voice taken from over 25 hours of previously unheard interviews given to Michael Azerrad for his book Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, the autobiographical film Kurt Cobain - About A Son details the life and influences of Kurt Cobain, frontman of the 1990s chart-topping grunge band Nirvana. His story is woven into a commentary by AJ Schnack about the presence and absence of such a great artist...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Monday, February 18, 2008
DVD Review: 'Walker, Texas Ranger' S4
The Fourth Season
Starring Chuck Norris, Clarence Gilyard, Jr., Sheree J. Wilson, C.D. Parker
Paramount Home Video
Available Feb. 19, 2008
I’m sure that some out there might disagree, but I find it difficult to not like Chuck Norris. Or maybe I mean Cordell Walker. At any rate, certainly Chuck Norris as Cordell Walker...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
DVD Review: Margot at the Wedding
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black
Paramount Home Video
Available Feb. 19, 2008
When I was younger a friend of mine had his birthday party over a weekend at his parents’ house. A bunch of us spent the night watching movies, playing video games, and eating pizza -- standard fare for the time and not unlike any other time we had done the same thing. But this one particular time we were all hanging out watching a movie and his parents got into some kind of argument in the next room. We all tried to ignore it by turning up the TV but no one was even paying attention to that anymore. My friend was understandably embarrassed which, in turn made us all a little uneasy, but through the whole event, no one ever really stopped listening to see what was going on. Watching Margot at the Wedding gave me that same feeling of uneasiness...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
DVD Review: American Gangster
2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Armand Assante, John Ortiz, John Hawkes, RZA
Rated R
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Available Feb. 19, 2008
“More important than any one man’s life is order.” -- Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante)
Maintaining law and order has been important from the beginning of time. However, when breaking the law and disrupting order becomes suitable and degrees of acceptability erupt, a truly tragic figure blossoms -- Frank Lucas. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is a paradox. He is sensitive yet violent, he has ethics but is immoral, and completely composed yet explosively volatile. It is Frank Lucas’s oppositional code of life which led him to control the heroin drug kingdom from the late 1960s to early 1970s. With his new, almost 100% pure product and his structured drug council, Frank Lucas took the illicitness and covertness of drug trafficking to a new level...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
DVD Review: The Jewish Americans
The Jewish Americans
Documentary
Director David Grubin
Narrated by Liev Schreiber
PBS Home Video
Available Feb. 5, 2008
PBS has always shown thought-provoking documentaries. It used to be that the network was the only place to learn about history in depth and detail, but now, of course, there are several networks on cable dedicated to that programming. But that has not daunted PBS at all -- in fact, they’ve pressed ahead like nothing has changed and continued to produce excellent long-form documentaries...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Friday, February 15, 2008
DVD Review: The Royal Tramp Collection
The Royal Tramp & The Royal Tramp 2
1992
Directed & Written by Wong Jing
Adapted from the novel by Louis Cha
Starring Stephen Chow, Cheung Man, Ng Man-Tat, Nat Chan, Sandra Ng, Chingmy Yau, Brigitte Lin, Elvis Tsui
Dragon Dynasty
Available February 12, 2008
Political strife is dividing the current reign of China during the Ching Dynasty, as the Emperor believes that one of his top advisors Obai is planning to kill him, and the Society Of Heaven And Earth is plotting to overthrown the government and return power to the Ming Dynasty. Enter Wei Siu Bo (Stephen Chow), a charismatic and manic con man with no allegiance save to himself who has no martial art skills but has a mastery over wordplay. By fate and perchance, Bo is swept up by Heaven And Earth to infiltrate the palace and steal a book that contains the secrets which will allow the anti-government society to defeat the Emperor. Instead, Bo becomes friends with the Emperor and his sister. As secret attacks and double crosses plague the palace, Bo is able to take advantage of one situation after another to gain the confidence of the Emperor and uses his wit and dumb luck to maneuver out of one deadly situation after another. But he is unaware that there is yet another plot underway to take over rule of China, and that the saga of the Royal Tramp could be over just as quickly as it started!...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
DVD Review: Gone Baby Gone
Written and Directed by Ben Affleck
Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Available Feb. 12, 2008
Let’s be honest, when you hear the phrase “Written and Directed by Ben Affleck,” your expectations are going to be a little low. Which is kind of unfair, considering the man does have an Academy Award for writing, but his past is his past and we’re all aware of some of the bad choices he’s made in his career. Well, give old Benny a clean slate, because he completely redeems himself with this movie...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
DVD Review: 'Get Smart' The Complete Collection
The Complete Collection
5-Volume, 25-disc DVD Set
Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry
Starring Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Edward Platt
HBO Video/Time Life
On sale Nov. 2007
This massive 5-volume collection, available now from Time Life, includes all 138 original episodes of the 1960s TV sitcom created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, plus over nine hours of rare footage and bonus features, all in this 25-DVD box set. I've been spending the better part of the last few weeks plowing through each episode of the show (... and loving it), which starred Don Adams as secret agent Maxwell Smart (aka Agent 86) and Barbara Feldon as his beautiful, capable partner Agent 99...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
DVD Review: 'Girlfriends' S3
The Third Season
4-Disc Compilation
CBS Paramount
8 Hours, 43 Minutes
Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White, Jill Marie Jones, Reggie Hayes
Available Feb. 12, 2008
Season Three of Girlfriends is a compilation of 25 episodes which take you through the lives of four beautiful and smart African-American women as they navigate the maze of break-ups and make-ups, weddings and illnesses, and friendships and enemies. Set in California, and executively produced by Kelsey Grammar (Frasier, Cheers), Girlfriends delves into today’s hot subjects with honest and fresh writing coupled with risqué banter...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
DVD Reviews: Superman: Doomsday
DC Universe Animated Original Movie
Starring (voices): Adam Baldwin, Anne Heche, James Marsters
Warner Home Video
Release date: Sept. 18, 2007
The Death of Superman is still, to this day, one of the most memorable moments in comic book history. The event not only sent shockwaves through the entire DC Universe, but attracted even casual fans to begin purchasing comics in huge numbers...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
DVD Review: Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav: Uncensored!
Extended and Uncensored
Paramount Home Video
73 minutes
Available February 12, 2008
Roastmaster Katt Williams (First Sunday, The Perfect Holiday) opens the roast of Flavor Flav with a look back at the life of this entertainer. Beginning his days with Public Enemy as the first credited hype-man, Flavor Flav’s career was one rooted in soci-political commentaries against racism and class stratification. As Public Enemy’s popularity grew, so did the antics of Flavor Flav and his petulance for clocks, now in all shapes and sizes, and his run-ins with the law. So it becomes only natural in American TV culture that a once-subversive hard-core rapper/hype-man reengineers himself into a reality TV star. Thus is America, thus is the life of Flavor Flav...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
DVD Review: 'The Odd Couple' S3
Season 3
Starring Jack Klugman, Tony Randall
Paramount Home Video
Available Jan. 22, 2008
Oscar! Oscar! Oscar!
Next to “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!” no name resonated more among TV viewers of the 1970s than Tony Randall’s Felix Unger complaining about Jack Klugman’s slob Oscar Madison.
In fact, one can’t see Randall or Klugman in anything else without thinking of Felix and Oscar. Each time I watch Quincy, I wonder if there are any half-eaten sandwiches or cigar butts in the morgue...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
DVD Review: 'Emergency!' S4
Season Four
Starring Randolph Mantooth, Kevin Tighe, Robert Fuller, Julie London
Paramount Home Video
Available: Jan. 29, 2008
In the early 1970s, if you wanted to get a glimpse of what paramedics do in the course of a typical day, your options were kind of limited. Basically, you could either: (1) become a paramedic; or (2) wait for a car accident to occur on your block. Obviously, both of these involved an investment of time somewhat disproportionate to the goal at hand...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
DVD Review: 'The Rockford Files' S5
Season Five
Starring James Garner
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Available Jan. 15, 2008
To me, a television show like The Rockford Files functions as a form of kryptonite in relation to contemporary network programming. In short, even a single minute of the quality, imaginativeness, humor, and soul of this series brings the crap inhabiting today’s TV airwaves to its collective knees and renders it useless...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
Monday, January 28, 2008
DVD Review: Pioneers of Television
Documentary
PBS/Paramount Home Video
Available Jan. 29, 2008
It’s hard to believe that network television has been broadcasting for over 60 years, but it’s true.
Some of us remember when the majority of TV sets were black-and-white, when you had four or five channels max to choose from, and when you were the family member designated to get up and change the channel and mess with the antenna...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!
