Run & Jump DVD Review

     Actors: Will Forte, Maxine Peake

Director: Steph Green

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: May 27, 2014

Run Time: 106 minutes

 

 

        Not all of Run & Jump works; there are moments which feels somewhat directionless, making for a slightly uneven film. The inconsistencies of the storytelling are easily forgivable, however, because the acting in each of the roles is steadfast. Filmmaker Steph Green clearly has a gift in bringing the best out of her performers, from leads down to the bit roles, though this only makes the deficiency in other directorial duties more apparent. When all is said and done, however, this is an impressive debut feature for the filmmaker.

 

Death Spa Blu-ray Review

     Director: Michael Fischa

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: May 27, 2014

Run Time: 87 minutes

 

       

        Never heard of Death Spa before? That could be because it was also released under the name Witch Blade, or it could just be the fact that slasher gorefests like this 1987 lost camp classic were too common in the 80s to know them all. This only allows new fans to discover the grindhouse greatness of Death Spa for the first time, along with fans who will appreciate the unrated cut on the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Rarely do the drawn posters from 80s horror provide a film that lives up to the first-impression expectations brought on by the art; everything you see on the cover for Death Spa is exactly what you get, for better or worse. 

 

Endless Love Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Gabrilla Wilde, Alex Pettyfer, Bruce Greenwood

Director: Shana Feste

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Ultraviolet, Color, Widescreen

Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD High Res Audio), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: French, Spanish

Dubbed: Spanish, French, English

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Universal Studios

Release Date: May 27, 2014

Digital Copy Expiration Date: May 2, 2016

Run Time: 210 minutes

       

        With very little resemblance to either the book by Scott Spencer or the oddly disturbed 1981 Franco Zeffirelli version, Shana Feste’s Endless Love is terrible and contrived in its own unique ways. Then again, even using the word “unique” to describe the awfulness of this film is an unearned and inaccurate sentiment. Every moment of Endless Love which comes even close to working is merely the shadow of a copy of an imitation of many much better films. This is a film that will only work for ignorant audience members unfamiliar with love or even its representation on film. In other words, this is a movie made for fourteen-year-old girls, destined to give them false impressions about what real love actually looks like. News flash for Feste; love does not resemble a 105-minute commercial. Next time try giving us some semblance of character development and realistic conflicts rather than contrived scenarios involving vapid models standing in as actors.

 

Gambit Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Colin Firth, Tom Courtenay, Alan Rickman

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, AC-3, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: May 27, 2014

Run Time: 89 minutes

 

        I would be curious to know what director Michael Hoffman is responsible for in the creation of Gambit, because it is nearly impossible to believe that changes weren’t made to the screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen. The end result has little appearance of anything that is likely to come from this respected pair of filmmakers, with the exception of an extremely poorly executed attempt at a Raising Arizona-style comedy in the absurd. The only hint of reasoning behind the Coen brothers’ involvement in this project is their known affinity for darker British comedies of yesteryear, but even The Ladykillers comes off looking like a masterpiece compared to Gambit. 

 

Bushido Man Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Mitsuki Koga, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Director: Takanori Tsujimoto

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: Japanese

Subtitles: English

Dubbed: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Shout! Factory

Release Date: June 10, 2014

Run Time: 88 minutes

       

        While there is something to be said for the restraint in filmmaking shown in a majority of Bushido Man, I fear that this will merely leave many audience members feeling assaulted by the final sequence. It combines two distinctly different styles together, which is an interesting approach for a film about a man adapting numerous martial artist techniques into one, but the end result is a disjointed film blending classic martial arts with the gruesomely masochistic cartoon action seen most often in a Sushi Typhoon release. This film could have been made two different ways, and either would have been better than attempting both.

 

Falling Skies: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood, Drew Roy, Connor Jessup, Maxim Knight

Producers: Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Remi Aubuchon, Greg Beeman

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated:  Not Rated

Studio: Turner Home Ent

Release Date: June 3, 2014

Digital Copy Expiration Date: June 3, 2016

Run Time: 440 minutes

 

If you like “The Walking Dead” but want more sci-fi and less horror, “Falling Skies” may be the show for you. If you repeatedly watch “Battlestar Galactica” but don’t find the melodrama cheesy, “Falling Skies” may be a perfect fit. For all of the rest, this show may have too much melodrama and sci-fi geekiness to overcome. It may sound as though I’m being harsh on the show, but it is on-par with TNT programming, and it is better than some of the other alien projects Steven Spielberg has attached himself to in the past decade.

 

Dracula Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Jack Palance

Director: Dan Curtis

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Color, NTSC

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: May 27, 2014

Run Time: 98 minutes

 

       

        Dan Curtis is well-known in the world of vampire entertainment, having served as writer/producer/director for the popular 1960s cult series, “Dark Shadows,” as well as the 1991 revival. Less remembered is his television adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which aired in 1974. There have been many adaptations of this exact same story, and it all comes down to preference in performances and differences in style. Dan Curtis’ version may not be the most modern, classic, terrifying or graphic of the many Dracula adaptations, but it does feature a fantastic performance from Jack Palance in the key title role. 

 

Independence Daysaster DVD Review

     Actors: Ryan Merriman, Andrea Brooks, Emily Holmes, Tom Everett Scott, Keenan Tracey

Director: W.D. Hogan

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen

Subtitles: Spanish, English

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

DVD Release Date: May 27, 2014

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        I think the title alone pretty much sums up this film perfectly. There can be no real aspirations for creative originality when the title immediately lets you know that the film is simply another mockbuster release from the Syfy Channel. There is little to praise about these films, but the dedicated viewers and fans of them seem to enjoy them for their filmmaking failures rather than despite them.