Lincoln
4-Disc Blu-ray l 2-Disc Blu-ray l DVD
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITER: Tony Kushner
STARRING: Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Bruce McGill, Peter McRobbie, Lee Pace, David Costabile, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, Jared Harris, Jackie Earle Haley
DreamWorks
RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2013

“A compass I learnt when I was surveying, it’ll… it’ll point you true north from where your standing, but it’s got no advice about the swamps, deserts and chasms that you’ll encounter along the way. If in pursuit of your destination, you plunge ahead heedless of obstacles, and achieve nothing more than to sink in a swamp, what’s the use of knowing true north?”

We’re all familiar with Abraham Lincoln. We know he freed the slaves. We know his distinctive look. He’s even on our money. But how much do we really know? I for one can admit that I did not know much more than the basics, about the same as the average person would know (I fell asleep in history class a lot, what can I say), but as I’ve gotten older my interest in history has grown exponentially, and lessons via documentary or biopic and so on can be just as appealing as the latest popcorn flick.

With movies, however, we’re always wondering in the back of our brain just how historically accurate the story we’re being told really is. And this will happen no less while viewing Lincoln, the latest film from director Steven Spielberg which tells the story of our 16th president and his fight to pass the 13th Amendment, the amendment that aimed to put an end to slavery. [...]

Marvel Knights: Inhumans
DVD
Directed by Marvel
Shout! Factory
Rated: Not rated
Release Date: April 23, 2013

In Attilan, no one can, or should, hear Black Bolt scream.

The Marvel Knights: Inhumans movie has been released. It is an adaptation of the 12 issue Marvel Knights comic written by Paul Jenkins with art by Jae Lee. Come ponder with me the reasoning of the king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, as he navigates the politics of humans and near gods.

This Shout! Factory release is a motion comic. I can’t say that I was entirely pleased by that prospect. A lot of motion comics take away from the internal experience of reading comics. And the limited motion does no favors to the animation genre. For a long time, the motion comic did nothing for me. Then the Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D., Iron Man: Extremis, and the Astonishing X-Men: Gifted series were released and changed my opinion of this new medium to a more positive outlook. That is when I figured out subtlety is the key to a good motion comic execution.

How does the Inhumans movie measure up in this bold new genre? Have a look below the jump to find out. [...]

Iron Man: Rise Of The Technovore
Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Hiroshi Hamazaki
Starring Norman Reedus, Matthew Mercer, Eric Bauza
Marvel Entertainment/Sony Pictures/Madhouse Studios
Release Date: April 16, 2013

Suffice to say that I am an Iron Man fan. Got the iconic character tattooed to my back years ago (along with a couple dozen others) and I buy almost as much Shellhead merchandise as I do Caped Crusader stuff. So yeah, I asked to review Iron Man: Rise Of The Technovore as soon as it was offered up. I did, after all, pretty much like the Marvel Anime: Iron Man- The Complete Series that I reviewed here a while back. So I naturally thought it would be a fun watch. And it’s totally like I jinx myself every time I think like that, because “fun” didn’t even get near this mess.

To be honest, Iron Man: ROTT was well animated, there was nothing with which I could find a complaint (other than words not syncing with lip movements). And it wasn’t the voice actors that made me unhappy as they were okay for the most part, though the trademark Tony Stark glibness wasn’t really to be found here. No, I’m going to just have to say it was because the main story made almost no sense. Honestly, it was ridiculous at the very least and the iconic characters were not represented well at all. [...]

Zombie Flesh Eaters
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, Richard Johnson
Arrow Films
Release Date: December 3, 2012

Trailers from Hell! Volume Two
DVD
Starring Joe Dante, John Landis, Guillermo Del Toro, and Roger Corman
Shout! Factory
Release Date: July 5, 2011

I love DVD collections of old movie trailers. Since 2005, Synapse Films has been releasing volumes of classic grindhouse and drive-in exploitation trailers on DVD under the 42nd Street Forever and early this year unleashed their first Blu-ray edition in the series. One of those discs can provide an entire evening’s entertainment for the true connoisseur of cinema. Independent home video distributors understand the slim but still lucrative market value of a movie trailer collection. If you ask a bunch of people what their favorite part of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez B-movie double feature homage Grindhouse was, chances are most of them will say they loved the spoof trailers directed by Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, and Rodriguez. Movie geek meccas like the Alamo Drafthouse and the New Beverly Cinema often program vintage trailers to go along with that night’s film selection. People still make their old trailer compilations for fun. Roth even talked about making a feature film in the form of a reel of trailers.

Trailers from Hell is a highly-addictive website where film directors, writers, and producers provide introductions and commentaries for the trailers to some of their favorite films. From beloved classics to obscure cult flicks, from Oscar-winning epics to kinetic blasts of pure psychotronic insanity, there is no vintage preview that the TFH crew will not unearth and gab about to the delight of movie geeks everywhere. They’ve even started releasing DVD collections of the finest trailers and commentaries on their site that they could secure the rights to through the amazing Shout! Factory, a true friend to film fans with expansive DVD and Blu-ray libraries (and this is the part where yours truly sheepishly raises his hand). So with that in mind I bring you Trailers from Hell! Volume Two [...]

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Volume XXIV
DVD
Directed by Kevin Murphy
Starring Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and Kevin Murphy
Shout! Factory
Release Date: July 31, 2012

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is one of the greatest television shows in history. It’s easily in my top five favorite shows of all time. When I’m having a lousy day and I want to feel better about myself few things cheer me up as watching Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, and their sardonic robot companions Tom Servo (voiced and performed by Kevin Murphy) and Crow T. Robot (Trace Beaulieu) on the Satellite of Love rip apart the horrible Z-grade genre flicks they’re subjected to on a weekly basis by the cruel Dr. Clayton Forrester (Beaulieu) and his hapless assistant TV’s Frank (Frank Conniff) with magnificent aplomb. Shout! Factory took over the DVD distribution of the show from Rhino back in 2008 and ever since have been releasing several box sets of the show’s finest episodes every year with fresh supplements.

This time around the company has gifted us with a very special edition of MST3K: none of the movies submitted for the disapproval of the crew of the S.O.L. in this set originated in the United States. We get two movies from Japan, one from Finland by way of the former Soviet Union, and the set closes out with a oily gem from South of the border, down Mexico way. I suppose you could call this the first MST3K foreign film collection if you want to give it more class than it really deserves – which is none at all – so with that mind let’s get into Mystery Science Theater 3000 XXIV. [...]

Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season
Blu-ray | DVD
CREATORS: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, George R. R. Martin (author)
STARRING: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Richard Madden, Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Stephen Dillane, Conleth Hill, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams, Iain Glen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Jack Gleeson, Sophie Turner, Alfie Allen, Liam Cunningham, James Cosmo, Rory McCann, Gethin Anthony, Gwendoline Christie, Carice van Houten, Joe Dempsie, Charles Dance, Donald Sumpter, Kristian Nairn, John Bradley, Sibel Kekilli, Natalia Tena, Finn Jones, Oona Chaplin, Natalie Dormer, Nonso Anozie, Rose Leslie
HBO
RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2013

I’ve developed something of a young tradition, one that I hope to continue for the next handful of years or so…if the old gods and the new see fit. As someone who was introduced to George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” universe by HBO’s adaptation of the books (I read, but not nearly as much as others), Game of Thrones, I, like many others—much to the chagrin of readers who had been singing its praises for years—instantly found myself obsessed with this incredibly detailed world, its unique and complex characters, and a long, rich history that could force many aspiring writers to retire their quills for the rest of their days. [...]

America: The Story Of Us: Millennium
DVD | Instant Video
Narrated by Liev Schreiber
History Channel
Release Date: July 5, 2011

America: The Story Of Us: Millennium is the last of this series that explores how The United States came to be the the wonderful country that we see today. Exploring the past and reviving it in a new form for current generations to enjoy, The History Channel has breathed new life into some of the greatest achievements in human history. This final disc is broken into two episodes that bring this wonderful journey to an end…so to speak.

In the first section, “Superpower,” the viewer gets to see how much America changed in the years right after World War II. We begin with the Interstate Highway System that created safer roads by which industries could transport their goods to the rural parts of the country. This, in turn, causes a housing boom in what is to become suburban America. Which leads to the coming of the Baby Boomers. And using the community of Levittown, New York as an example of how these areas popped up after the war to accommodate the returning soldiers, this episode explains how these manufactured communities created entirely new cities and towns and even helped populate some of the more remote regions of the country. This was a time of many changes, which leads us directly to the next installment in the series. [...]

America: The Story Of Us: Rebels
DVD | Instant Video
Narrated by Liev Schreiber
History Channel
Release Date: August 16, 2011

This is the first time I have been asked to review something from a channel that I watch more than any other. I loved this mini-series when it came out but watching it without commercials is far superior to my original viewing. I was very excited to have this opportunity to spend an evening watching and writing about America: The Story Of Us: Rebels.

History Channel does an excellent job of bringing the story to life and allowing the viewer to immerse themselves in it on every available level. I love the way the storyboards in this initial episode are set to show the settlements being built and the population increasing and expanding throughout the new world. We see how the cultivation of tobacco positively impacted the settlers and allowed them to thrive in the harsh new land. Showing how the native tribes helped these early settlers grow food and hunt in order to survive, the first part of this episode really concentrates on how these hardy folk adapted to their new country. [...]

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Volume XXII
DVD
Directed by Jim Mallon
Starring Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy
Shout! Factory
Release Date: December 6, 2011

In the not-too-distant future, next Sunday A.D., there was a show called Mystery Science Theater 3000, that looks like it was made for me. Sure you can’t put those words to music as well as lyrics written by talented songwriters, but that doesn’t make them any less true. Yes my friends, MST3K just may be one of the funniest shows in the history of American television.

I have reviewed some of the amazing box sets released by Shout! Factory in the past, so I will spare you my passionate sermon on the greatness that people such as Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Jim Mallon, J. Elvis Weinstein, Mary Jo Pehl, and Kevin Murphy, to name but a few, helped to give us outcasts and social shut-ins something to look forward every week during the dark decade that was the 1990s. [...]

Marvel Anime: Blade
DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara
Written by Warren Ellis
Starring Harold Perrineau, Kim Mai Guest, JB Blanc, Troy Baker
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release Date: July 31, 2012

Marvel Anime: Blade is the last of the first wave of Marvel DVD releases of anime versions of their characters produced by Japanese animation company Madhouse. These anime series aired in Japan originally, were dubbed in English, aired on G4, and were then collected on DVD and Blu-ray.

Blade is Eric Brooks, a half-human, half-vampire hybrid known as “The Daywalker” because sunlight does not affect him. While Blade’s mom was pregnant with him, she was attacked by the vampire Deacon Frost, resulting in Blade’s unique nature. Blade struggled to control his bloodlust until he met Noah Van Helsing, an old vampire slayer. He taught Blade to control his urges and Blade began training and traveling the world, vowing revenge on Deacon Frost and seeking the destruction of the vampire race. [...]

Magical Mystery Tour
Blu-ray
Directed by The Beatles
Written by The Beatles
Starring: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Victor Spinetti, Jessie Robins, Mal Evans
Apple Corps
Not Rated | 52 Minutes
Release Date: October 9th

Magical Mystery Tour, the colorfully wild mess of a film by The Beatles, has been released on Blu-ray and it’s one of the few times in the bands illustrious and innovative career that the term “mixed bag” can be applied when summing up one of their projects.

But suffice to say, Magical Mystery Tour, while an absolutely charming and irresistible piece of delectable eye candy to gaze upon, and even more so now with the spit and polish of the Blu-ray remastering, still ultimately remains nothing more than a curio of The Moptops at their psychedelic peaks, still in the cosmic high of their Sgt. Pepper period, the idyllic peace, love carefree metaphoric lounging on eiderdowns in their native England. [...]

Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection
Blu-ray
Directed By: Tod Browning, James Whale, Karl Freund, George Waggner, Arthur Lubin, Jack Arnold
Written By: Garrett Fort, Francis Edward Faragoh, William Hurlbut, R. C. Sherriff, Curt Siodmak, John L. Balderston
Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Claude Rains, Lon Chaney, Jr., Julia Adams, Ricou Browning
Universal Studios
Rated: Not Rated | 608 Minutes
Release Date: October 2nd, 2012

In celebration of Universal’s 100th anniversary, eight iconic movie monsters are resurrected and digitally restored (for the first time ever) on Blu-ray.

Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection is the definitive box set for film buffs and horror aficionados. Restored from high resolution film elements in perfect high-definition picture and perfect high-definition sound, Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection includes eight films: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. [...]

Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Collector’s Edition: DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, and Dan O’Herlihy
Shout! Factory
Release Date: September 18, 2012

Eight more days ’til Halloween,
Halloween, Halloween.
Eight more days ’til Halloween,
Silver Shamrock.

One night in an unnamed Northern California town a rather frightened individual named Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry) is being chased by a group of mysterious men in business suits. After eluding them in an auto junkyard, Harry passes out in a gas station. An attendant brings him to the local hospital where Harry mutters, “They’re coming to kill us all.” Looking over their newest patient is Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins, my real father – hey a guy can dream, can’t he?), the hospital’s resident boozing swinging dick. While handsome Doctor Dan is distracted one of those fine business suit-wearing psychopaths slips in and crushes Harry’s skull with his bare hands! Then he gets into his car and sets himself on fire, much to the shock of everyone watching, including the puzzled Doctor Dan.

The next day Harry’s daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin) arrives from Los Angeles to identify his body. The death of her father inspires Ellie to do some investigating and her research leads her to Silver Shamrock, a company that specializes in making Halloween masks that have become the year’s big seller. Apparently her father ran a toy store that did business with Silver Shamrock and he was gripping one of their masks the night he was brought into the hospital. Ellie decides to travel to Silver Shamrock’s headquarters in the sleepy town of Santa Mira and get some answers, but she needs the help of our hero Doctor Dan. He reluctantly agrees to take her there and once they have arrived our intrepid duo find Santa Mira to be a little strange and uncomfortable. For one thing, the entire town is under surveillance. The town’s citizens, all of whom either love the Silver Shamrock company or live in fear of it, are very suspicious of the new arrivals. In addition to Doctor Dan and Ellie, other visitors to Santa Mira include another toy store owner with a beef against the company and a toy salesman and his family who have been invited to the factory for a meeting with Silver Shamrock’s elusive owner Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy). It’s not long before Doctor Dan and Ellie discover that Cochran has devised a insidious plot to kill every child in the country with the Silver Shamrock masks. Can our heroes stop his evil plans in time? Are they too late? [...]

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Series One
DVD | Instant Video
Starring David Cross, Will Arnett, Sharon Horgan, Blake Harrison
MPI Home Video
Release Date: December 27, 2011

Todd Margaret (David Cross) is not a smart man, and his desire to succeed and impress those around him constantly gets the better of him. A compulsive liar who is completely unable to admit his mistakes, he ends up way over his head when a sudden job promotion lands in his lap by accident.

When his new, extremely aggressive boss Brett (Will Arnett) promotes the incompetent Margaret to head of UK sales for a North Korean energy drink called Thunder Muscle. The problem, well, the first problem, is Margaret knows nothing about sales or the United Kingdom, but that doesn’t stop him from taking the job and heading across the pond. [...]