The Dragon Ball franchise has been on the market for quite some time, though in reality FUNimation has merely milked Z to death. GT has been squeezed to some extent, but the original remained largely untouched until last year when they began releasing seasoned boxed sets. These chunks of Dragon Ball have been quite the treat for fans. I mean, FUNimation went back and digital restored the picture quality and has been packing thirty or so episodes on five discs for each set. To say fans have had something to cheer about would be an understatement.

If you haven't checked them out yet then you should know that FUNimation left the original aspect ratio intact. That means if you hooted and hollered about the widescreen treatment of Z, then you really have nothing to complain about. What's here has been treated quite well and lovingly r...Read the entire review

The Movie
Do you have any Advil? I still have a hangover from Prom Night. So for all intents and purposes, I should hate the 2009 version of The Stepfather, the remake of the small 1987 chiller that fizzled in theaters but become a word-of-mouth hit on home video. This modern take seems to represent all that is awful about recent horror retreads, and it's directed by Nelson McCormick--the same man responsible for that tween horror travesty from 2008. Is he at it again with this neutered PG-13 version of a genre hit catered to teenagers? (OMG! It's that guy from Gossip Girl!)

The new Stepfather features hot young talent in bathing suits listening to the hottest tunes of the day-...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM

The following was originally written during "Black Dynamite's" limited theatrical release.

"Black Dynamite" first came on my radar as an extended, uncensored preview around a year ago. My interest was highly piqued at the sight of what looked to be a well-crafted parody of blaxploitation films. Fast-forward to now and I had nearly forgotten all about this movie until saw the ad for it at the local grindhouse theater. With two viewings of "Black Dynamite" in all his funky glory under my belt in less than a week, I'm declaring the film without hesitation, one of the best films of 2009 and an outright funny comedy which has plenty of laughs in store for viewers that it kept hidden from the trailers.

Our title hero is played by Michae...Read the entire review

Live Animals:
Suffering (or benefiting) from the usual wintertime madness at our house, I find myself alone with the TV as the wife goes to bed at 9pm. See, she's got a cold, which I think gives us an unbroken three months of illness in the house, as bugs whip back and forth between her and our daughter, occasionally hitting me as well. Which has meant plenty of nights with everyone but me in bed - for what? To watch crummy movies, that's what! Looking like it might fit into that crummy mold is Live Animals, a movie that in some ways typifies low-budget horror filmmaking in the aughts.

What this movie doesn't typify is the mean-spirited crappiness of many of these films. If slashers ruled the '80s, torture porn was the horror hero of the aughts, ushered in by Saw and Read the entire review

When it first landed on my doorstep I must admit I didn't really think much of Tears to Tiara. Like so many other anime titles this one originated as a PC ero-game and featured a rather rudimentary fantasy theme. At first the show at first felt a tad on the dry, unoriginal side, but it slowly got better as the episodes went on. Ultimately the first half proved to be a success and I actually left the thirteenth episode looking forward to the next collection. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. After all this was a very unassuming show at the outset. But what about it stood out in a way that defied expectations?

Well, for starters the series relies heavily on the mysterious history of the world and some of its characters. In Tears to Tiara the world has gone through different ages where elves, dragons, and dwarves have all ris...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Morgan Freeman spent his youngest years in the small town of Charleston, Mississippi; now he lives there, when he's not working. The population of the town is a mere 2100, and Charleston High School sports an attendance of 415 students--70% black, 30% white. The school didn't integrate until 1970, but the school's parents refused the have an integrated school prom, so every year thereafter, there was a separate prom for black students and for white students--on through the 1970s, through the 80s, and through the 90s. In 1997, Freeman offered to pay for the school's prom out of his own pocket--if the school board would allow both groups to comingle at the event. They turned him down.

In 2008 the actor made the offer again, and this time the school and the students took him up on it. Paul Saltzman's documentary Prom Night in Mississippi is the story of what happened...Read the entire review

Twilight for boys. There's the pitch. There could be no other explanation, despite the relative merits of Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series of novels. The logic is transparent. You can picture it: a Universal executive got his hands on the rights to these books, which had strong international sales and a committed cult following, and positioned the film adaptation as a competitor to that other, explosive teen vampire franchise. The studio even went so far as to hire Paul Weitz as director - the brother of Chris Weitz, director of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. However, despite the obvious "cash grab" mentality behind the production, The Vampire's Assistant creates a credible world populated with engaging lead characters. Plot holes gape, and t...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Takita Yojiro's Depatures is the kind of film that is thoroughly pleased with itself. What is ostensibly the story of an angsty young man finding his way in life plays second cello to a jumbled collection of cheap laughs and cheap tears. In the end, it's hard to shake the impression that, with a little effort, the film could have accomplished something much more profound.

The film, which won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2009, explores the world of encoffinment, a ceremonial process of cleaning and dressing bodies before putting them in coffins. Apparently it is not very well known in Japan--but I didn't realize that while watching the film. Everyone seems to know what it is and have a strongly held opinion about it.

Daigo drops his dream of playing cello professionally when his orchestra goes bust. He responds to a job advertisement to work in "departures," which he ...Read the entire review

THE FILM

It all started with a little girl. When five-year-old Lola Rock asked her father, Chris, why she didn't have "good hair," it sent a powerful message to the comedian. Curious about the business of black hair, Rock and a camera crew traveled around the globe to discover why so many African-American women endure a daily battle with their head, tolerating chemicals and weaves to perfect a look that goes against nature's stubborn intention.

"Good Hair" is Rock's first documentary, and while extraordinarily informative, it's more of a comedy piece than something newsworthy. Looking to peek behind the curtain of the billion-dollar black hair industry, Rock is curious to find out why so many women suffer financial hardship and outright pain to alter their appearance, starting his journey in a place "where all major black decisions are made, Atlanta."

Crashing the m...Read the entire review

The Movie
What a great trip down memory lane. I remember how much I loved this sequel the first time, especially because of the cool killer: A lonely psycho who wandered the woods and lived off the land, finding refuge in a sparse shack where he has visions of his dead mother--who asked him to seek revenge on those who wronged them. Yep, Friday the 13th Part 2 sure was a fun ride. What's that? Oh, this is Halloween II? My bad...but I loved that, too. Remember that great sequel set in the spooky hospital,...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Game tie-in brings too much talking, not enough story

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Animation
Likes: Video games, Dante's Inferno (the game), Anime
Dislikes: Ponderous dialogue
Hates:

The Movie
From the moment art from EA's video-game "adaptation" of Dante Alighieri's epic poem was released, interest (and controversy) has been growing in the title, which marries religion, mythology and a classic tale of lost love and redemption with the high-octane action of a God of War-style brawler. And as with another popular EA game (Dead Space) there's an animated companion film to check out. Though the game has yet to be released, it's clear that this not the exact same story, as the demo of the...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Kids don't always have the best role models these days and it takes a certain show to really win over their hearts as well as entertain them. Parents are looking for children shows that don't corrupt their children's minds but mold them to get them ready for the world they are going to be growing up in. Parents want their kids to have a good time but it is also essential that they learn something at the exact same time. While I may not have children of my own just yet; I'll admit that you have my full agreement when you say that kid shows need to be fun and also educational. We can't expect them all from the start to be "Little Einsteins" can we?

June, Quincy, Leo, and Anna are the four children that are looking to always enjoy their time each day but learn something along the way. Adventures for the kids range as far as their imaginations can possibly take them and it...Read the entire review

"Allons-y!"

The five "Doctor Who" specials broadcast intermittently between Christmas 2008 and New Year's 2010 had the uneniable task of following the series' enormously successful fourth season finale, which wrapped up the series' revival so wonderfully. The finale was appropriately titled "Journey's End," and it brought back all of the major players from David Tennant's years in the title role. The episode offered a grand farewell for every character and presented fans with an appropriate sense of closure.

There was just one problem: neither Tennant, producer/head writer Russell T. Davies, nor producer Julie Gardner were quite finished with the franchise. The plan was for season five - featuring Tennant's replacement, a newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor, to be played by...Read the entire review

While the usual marriage of elements always make for a great film, in action filmdom you can get a passing grade so long as you deliver one crucial element. Logic can be thrown out the window. Settings don't have to be stellar. Characters can be cardboard and the accompanying acting stiff. Plots can be threadbare. You just need that one hinge: action delivered at a decent, thrilling, and coherent clip.

For instance, in the 2009 Thai film Fireball, it doesn't matter that our lead hero Tai takes the place of his twin brother Tan (Preeti Barameeanant) and no one is the wiser, despite logic that assumes the twins would have undergone extensive tattooing in order to have the exact same tattoos. That doesn't matter, so long as he kicks some ass.

One shouldn't care that the sport of Fireball itself, a five on five underground basketball game where the winner is the team to score the first goal or ...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Looking back at the 2009 World Champions' season

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: The Yankees
Likes: Sports highlights
Dislikes: Baseball's glacial pace, The Mets
Hates: The Red Sox, John Sterling's home-run calls

The Show
It's hard to get romantic when talking about a team as corporate as the Yankees, with a payroll larger than many countries, but its hard to deny that the season the Yankees experienced in 2009 was as close to "magical" as it gets. Sure, a lot of it is thanks to the amount of money spent on players, but when you add in the achievements of some of the lesser-known guys and home-grown superstars, the need to dig deep and gut out wins and a supreme sense of timing, and you have the...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

It's kind of crazy to think that King Vidor was already a movie industry veteran when he made Wild Oranges in 1924, but he already had thirty directorial credits to his name and had been at it for more than ten years. Godard once famously declared that Nicholas Ray was cinema, and if that's the case, is it possible King Vidor was cinema's grandpappy?

It's a facetious remark, but there might be something to it. Both Ray and Vidor had an attraction to amped-up melodrama and they weren't afraid to let their cameras get carried away by the emotion. They also both liked strange characters that lost the lines between personal integrity, eccentricity, and full-on madness. Vidor's most famous silent films, including The Big Parade and The Crowd...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Mickey Mouse and his pals have been loved by all of us for decades now and just because they are more technologically advanced doesn't mean any of that has to change. As a child, I watched the hand-drawn cartoons that started out with a screen-sized face of whichever character was the main focus in the following story. From that moment on there would be adventure, comedy, shenanigans, drama, romance, and even some action from the Disney pals. Things would get even more interesting when different characters would crossover and show up together in cartoons. Nothing said fun and exciting like Donald Duck showing up with Goofy and Mickey, but those days of the crossover are gone.

Don't think that there aren't crossovers anymore, but there really isn't any need for them. It's rather to hard to ever watch a single episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse without seeing at le...Read the entire review

THE SERIES:

HBO seems like an appropriate place for the animated comedy series The Life and Times of Tim, since it seems most closely influenced not by the rapid-fire absurdism of The Simpsons, nor the scattershot pop-culture shitshow that is Family Guy (sorry, not a fan), but by its network cousin Curb Your Enthusiasm. Like Larry David, our hero Tim is not a perfect protagonist--indeed, he is frequently rude, insensitive, or unfeeling. But he is also often a victim of circumstance, a guy who finds himself in the wrong place and the wrong time and reacts candidly and honest...Read the entire review

Note: I usually try and write spoiler-free reviews, but I have a hard time believing anyone who isn't a hardcore fan of Cabin Fever will bother reading this write-up, and an equally hard time believing that those who want to see Cabin Fever 2 (an even rarer breed) will be too upset at this point if I spoil bits of both movies.

Cabin Fever, as readers of my Blu-Ray review will know, is my favorite horror movie of the decade. If you missed it, well, the short version is that it's so much more bizarre, hilarious, and insane than most of the movies I see, and I ate up every wonderfully gory second of it. In 2006, the first news of a sequel came trickling down, and I immediately got excited. Sure, history has taught us that the vast majority of s...Read the entire review

The Taglines:

The Movie:

For a couple years now, RHI Entertainment and Genius Entertainment have been releasing creature features that aired on the SyFy Channel (usually during their Saturday offerings of cheap science fiction and horror movies) on home video under the banner Maneater Series. The Maneater Series has become rather reliable in offering diverting, if completely forgettable, cheap creature films. There must be some kind o...Read the entire review

In the 1950s even the top film companies were compelled to slash their payrolls and cut corners on production costs. At Universal and Columbia, expensive projects were far outnumbered by cheap program pictures acquired from independent producers or churned out in-house on short schedules. The previously distinctive and artful thrillers later branded film noir began to become less distinguishable from other assembly line product. Artfully crafted mood photography was the first aspect to be toned down, along with the fashionable trend in location photography, as fewer film units were sent out of town. Nobody worked all night to get that that pre-dawn "magic hour" look favored by directors like Jules Dassin. Stock shots were mixed with process photography, even on pictures set entirely on the streets of New York.

Sony's 2-disc set Bad...Read the entire review

Sony's 2-disc DVD set Bad Girls of Film Noir Volume 2 picks up where Volume 1 left off, searching Columbia's program pictures for femme fatales, conniving beauties and other misunderstood females. Volume 2 begins with a notable noir from early in the cycle and then transports us to the much-different atmosphere of the middle fifties, when movies about women and crime were considered sordid exploitation fare. The featured actresses include accomplished stars adjusting to leaner work opportunities, to one of the decade's unheralded blonde bombshells, Cleo Moore.

Made at the height of the noir craze, 1946's Night Editor is formatted to be the first of a series of "Night Editor" movies, all consisting of stories told over a card table by the...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

As far as escaped convict movies go, 1953's Split Second starts out with a fairly novel concept. Bad, bad killer Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally) and his two cronies, one of whom has a bullet in his belly, pick up multiple hostages and choose an abandoned town to hole up in until they can make a rendezvous in the morning. The only hitch in this plan is that the town is at the center of an atomic testing ground in Nevada, and when dawn breaks, the U.S. Army is going to set off a bomb. If Hurley and the boys aren't out of there in time, they'll be obliterated. Likewise, if the hostages manage to keep from getting shot, they'll be left for dead at ground zero.

Split Second is the directorial debut of actor Dick Powell, who was so good as Philip M...Read the entire review

One of the best and most unique television dramas of the 1980s, Special Bulletin (1983) is an extremely tense drama about anti-nuke radicals threatening to explode a nuclear device in a major American city, its story told through simulated network news bulletins. Directed by Edward Zwick (Glory) and co-written and produced by Marshall Herskovitz (Dangerous Beauty), the experimental and groundbreaking mockumentary is much superior to the better-known but more conventional The Day After, a bigger-budgeted production that got a heck of lot more press coverage when it debuted later that same year.

Though television news graphics and technologies have evolved enormously in the nearly 30 years since its premiere, in other ways Special Bulletin hasn't dated at all, and the program remains an unnerving viewing experience.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=41451 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:49:07 PST Recommended

The Show:

VIZ has finally started releasing the boxed sets of Naruto Shippuden (yay!), but in the meantime their individual volumes are still ahead of the boxes as far as episodes are concerned. The problem here is fans may have already started collecting the individual discs before the collection was announced. There's a reason this practice was more or less abandoned by the anime industry, but these feelings aside yet another four-episode DVD has landed on my doorstep.

In case you're unfamiliar with Naruto then do yourself a favor and use the "search reviews" function at the top of this page. I won't bother reciting the history of the show or go into lengthy dialogue regarding what it's about. If you're coming to this review for the fifth installment of Naruto Shippuden then I'm going out on a limb and assume you know what's going on in the series. Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42102 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:49:07 PST Recommended

The Christians is an outstanding 13-part documentary series whose DVD incarnation is hampered only by a lackluster transfer. Originally broadcast on Great Britain's ITV in 1977, The Christians takes the documentary form quite seriously. It does not try to create or focus on contrived historical drama. Instead, it utilizes cinematic techniques to present information enriched with deep context as only the best documentaries do. Instead of getting a "story," we see the vast reach of history brought to life in all its unpredictable ups and downs - these variable waves of progress and regress are a big part of what makes the broader topic of history so compelling in the first place.

Each 50-minute episode is dedicated to a topic concerned with the development of Christianity as a human institution - a force that has shaped cultures, societies, and people. As series wr...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42101 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:50:17 PST Recommended

The Movie:

Warner Archives have dug into their vaults and released afun, enjoyable film about the pilots in the US Navy, TheFlying Fleet (1929). Staring the always attractive Ramon Novarro and the equallyravishingAnita Page, this George Hill directed film is a light but entertainingflickwith some great flying scenes. The aerialscenes alone make this a must-buy for early aviation fans.

Six buddies who have made it through the Naval Academytogether make a vow to all become pilots and fly for the Navy. It doesn't quite work out that way, with oneafter another...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=40755 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:42:38 PST Recommended

The Movie:
It's only while watching a Dardenne brothers film that it becomes clear how few filmmakers--even the really good ones--fully realize their characters and story. The heroine of Lorna's Silence continually surprises us with her emotions and decisions, and yet the motivations for her reactions are always clear. Likewise, the scenes used to outline the plot's progression aren't the obvious ones we've come to expect, but precisely because events unfold in unexpected ways, they have more emotional kick.

Since transitioning from documentaries to raw, naturalistic dramas in 1996, writer/directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have created a legacy of deeply human stories about mostly lower-class characters in industrial Belgium, trying to survive, live life and redeem themselves. Their latest film features the steadiest of their free-moving handheld photography, but maintains the...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42088 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:52:26 PST Recommended

The Show:

My wife and I are ticket holders for two local sports teams in the area. Typically before the game we'll have a pre-game meal, either at a restaurant or tailgating in the summer months with some dedicated fans. It's at those events where I've slowly created a palate for beers from independent brewers, as my tastes had previously been towards the big distributors like Budweiser, Miller and Coors. And while the independent (or craft) brews are a little more complex and better tasting, the fact they're independent should be reason enough to cheer, shouldn't it?

Perhaps that's the inspiration for Beer Wars, the documentary written, directed and starring Anat Baron. Baron certainly knows what the larger beer producers are capable of doing from a business point of view; she was the General Manager of the Mike's Hard Lemonade beverage brand for several years before leaving ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42081 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:04:19 PST Recommended

There's nothing quite as depressing as a good TV memory proven wrong, is there? You see, I remembered NBC's 1975 telemovie, The Deadly Tower, starring Kurt Russell as infamous University of Texas sniper Charles Whitman, as one of the best made-for-TV movies of the 1970s. Well.... Warner Bros. Archive Collection - fast-becoming one of my favorite releasing arms because of their attention to neglected genres like the made-for-TV movie - has released The Deadly Tower, directed by Jerry Jameson and co-starring Richard Yniguez, Ned Beatty, Clifton James, and John Forsythe, through their direct-buy, mail-order service, and for fans of this cult telemovie, it's nice to have it on disc in an acceptable transfer. But there are problems with this telemovie, ones I admit to not picking up on as a ten-year old in p.j.s when it first aired. When it sticks to action and suspense...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=40190 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:04:19 PST Recommended

The Movie:

When I reviewed Season Eleven of Top Gear, I alluded to the fact that the summer run felt rushed an almost a bit of an afterthought to a rapidly popular series and that perhaps the bigger and better material was being saved for a larger order of episodes for Season Twelve. Goodness knows that with the show returned to broadcast at the end of 2008, they certainly brought it.

For those unfamiliar with the show, presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May review a variety of sports and luxury cars for their driving abilities. They also take the time to cover more affordable products for those of us not on champagne budgets. But rather than do an ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=41118 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:04:19 PST Recommended

The Movie:
If you like your documentaries with massive helpings of down home Americana, Jump: A Frogumentary is the film for you. Justin Bookey's documentary about the longstanding frog jumping competition in Angel's Camp, California, located in Calaveras County, highlights a number of the endearing, quirky characters involved and provides a light but interesting experience.

The frog jumping competition has been going on since 1928, and was inspired by the Mark Twain short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". As a rule, each frog gets three jumps, and the longest distance wins. The current record, of more than 21 feet, is held by Lee Giudici, whose frog Rosie the Ribeter made the leap. Giudici is interviewed numerous times for Jump, along with a number of other "frog jockeys" and members of various teams that compete year after year in the annual compe...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=40866 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:33:30 PST Recommended

THE SHOW:

The Omnibus TV show ran from 1952 through 1961, earning a reputation as television's premiere arts program. The magazine-style show, hosted by Alistair Cooke, cobbled together 90 minutes of programming each week, covering various topics and showcasing quality performances from across the entertainment field.

In 1953, the show staged an ambitious production of King Lear. It was directed by Peter Brook, perhaps the most esteemed Shakespearian director of his time, and movie legend Orson Welles was signed on to play Lear. Little seen since, this new DVD gives us an impressively restored transfer of the Kinetoscope recording of the live broadcast. Filling the full Omnibus running time, it's a trimmed down staging of one of Shakesepe...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=41599 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:15:04 PST Recommended

The Movie:

Not surprisingly, in this latest straight to video Segal epic, the man plays a former special forces operative. His name is Shane Daniels and at the beginning of the movie we see how he was sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit. You see, some thugs were hassling his wife and he was going to mess them up but good but he didn't - someone else did. We never learn who but it doesn't matter, Shane goes to jail for six years. He's cleared when some DNA evidence is admitted and the man lets him free, but in the interim, the foxy wife who gave him lap dances and let him play with her perky boobs leaves him to move on with her life.

Understandably upset about the loss of the B-cups, Shane takes to wandering around Seattle. He stops in at a liquor store and some toughs try to rob him. He warns them to back off by uttering the classic line:

"I used to, you know, study real ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=40509 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:15:04 PST Recommended

The Show:

Frequently with the anime industry we see shows based on games, whether they be console or PC titles. Unfortunately being a fan in America means chances are very good that we've never heard of, or seen, these original games. That doesn't make the shows any less enjoyable, but it does leave one feeling as though they've missed something. FUNimation's latest release, Sands of Destruction, is indeed a show based on a video game, however, this one was actually released in the States.

Just last month SEGA brought Sands of Destruction for the Nintendo DS to our shores. The game is a role-playing title and while I haven't played it, a quick bit of research shows that the game received moderately positive reviews. How does the anime stack up in comparison?

Sands of Destruction takes place in a fantasy world where the landscape is essentially nothing...Read the entire review

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