Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3 Blu-ray Review
The third season of “Clone Wars” is filled with intrigue and excitement. Continue reading
Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace Blu-ray Review
“Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace” is a delightful special that will appeal to “Star Wars” fans of all ages. Continue reading
Bones Season 6 Blu-ray and DVD Reviews
“Bones” is running out of ideas in its sixth season. Continue reading
The House by the Cemetery – Special Edition
Let’s face it…unless your last name is Bava or Argento, as an Italian horror director, you suck.
Yeah, I know a lot of people throw Lucio Fulci’s name in there with the greats. But really, aside from some classic gore scenes in his best-known films (probably “Zombie” and “The Beyond”) can anyone really argue with a straight face that he possessed any distinctive talent as a director? No, Fulci is a cult-legend because of his audacity, not his ability. He simply had the balls not to turn the camera away during scenes of eyeball-puncturing, organ vomiting or skull drilling.
As a storyteller, he sucked. His only true gift was creating unusual and grisly ways for people to die. That’s not always a bad thing, but once you run out of those ideas, you still have to tell a story. Which is why “The House by the Cemetery” is a depressing and colossal bore. Coherent narrative was never Fulci’s strong point (what he has, in the past, euphemistically described as surrealism), and despite some savage scenes of carnage in this film, not only are they nothing the seasoned horror fan hasn’t seen before, they are few and far between. Fulci inserts a few half-assed gore set-pieces into a flimsy ghost story with irritating characters we don’t give a damn about (the most obnoxious being a child character whose voice is laughably dubbed by an obviously-adult voice actor).
Still, a lot of horror fans love the guy (though they should probably direct that love more towards Fulci’s special effects teams). This disc is probably one completists will want in their collection, since it includes a lot of extras the original Anchor Bay DVD did not). But even fans are likely to admit “The House by the Cemetery” does not rank among Fulci’s most audacious efforts. If you really want the definitive Fulci film, pick up “Zombie” or try to find the Grindhouse release of “The Beyond.”
Zombie – 2 Disc Ultimate Edition
“Zombie” is Lucio Fulci’s best film. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great one, or even a good one. But it is his most polished and coherent horror effort, and the one most beloved by hard-core horror fans (and there’s a lot them).
I may be crucified for saying this, but it really is a crappy film. The acting is terrible, the dialogue is laughable, the dubbing is atrocious and the music score sounds like it was composed on a cheap Casio keyboard (and don’t get me started on the piss-poor editing job). Go ahead, you zombie cultists…tell me in all honesty that I’m wrong about any of those points I just made.
Arguably the main reason “Zombie” continues to enjoy its status as a cult classic lies in its gore effects, which, while not always convincing (sorry, the classic eyeball-skewering scene really does look pretty phony, especially since the victim never blinks), are still pretty fun to watch.
More importantly, despite its numerous flaws, at least “Zombie” never commits the sin of being boring. As bad as it is, it still manages to entertain (sometimes by virtue of its awfulness).
Since anyone reading this is likely already a fan, and who probably already owns the 25th Anniversary Edition released in 2004, is there a real reason to fork-out for a second 2-disc “ultimate edition”? I guess it depends on your level of zombie geekness. Shriek Show’s 2004 release sported a pretty damned good transfer, and to be honest, I didn’t notice the overall image quality of this one being so much better that it’d be worth buying again.
That leaves the extras, most of which are all new, and are the best part of this set, especially the featurettes on the second disc. I especially enjoyed the cast interviews, since some of them, like Ian McCullough, were quite candid when discussing their experiences and opinions of Lulci himself (not everybody had a lot of love for the man). The interviews with producers, writers and the composer tended to be a bit self-congratulatory, but the segment featuring the make-up artists were admittedly fascinating. Also of interest is a short feature in which filmmaker Guillermo del Toro talks about why he loves the film so much. Rounding out the extras are the usual trailers, stills and radio spots. If acquiring every little tidbit of trivia about “Zombie” is your thing, then you’ll be in hog heaven.
For the casual fan, however, “Zombie” ranks far down the list of truly great films about the undead, and can be credited (or blamed) for the surge of depressing and god-awful gore flicks which oozed out of Italy in its wake (many of which were made by Lulci as well), and make “Zombie” look like “The Exorcist” in comparison.
Captain America: The First Avenger Blu-ray Review
“Captain America: The First Avenger” is a crowd pleasing superhero film. Continue reading
Robot Chicken Season Five Blu-Ray Review
If you love the show, you’ll love this.
I hate admitting this at my age, but “Robot Chicken” is often pretty damn funny. It isn’t always consistent, and some of the sketches do not know when to stop. But overall, this is some of the sharpest satire on television, like an R-rated MAD Magazine.
And make no mistake, this uncensored fifth season of the show is absolutely loaded with scenes and language originally bleeped or blacked-out during the original broadcasts. And sometimes I think it tends to detract from the overall effectiveness of some sketches (where the bleeps actually made them funnier). I’ve personally got nothing against language, sex or violence, but the least successful “Robot Chicken” sketches have always been the ones where the writers and animators went to extremes to show how shocking they could be. The best ones are those which skewer all sorts of media or pop culture, no matter how obscure, and there’s a lot of that here. I’d be willing to wager that MOST viewers would never get the 20-second sketch poking fun at the film, “Overboard.” RC has always been a show BY pop-culture geeks FOR pop-culture geeks.
There’s nothing in season five that reaches the comical heights of RC’s “Star Wars” parodies (still the funniest things Seth Green has ever been associated with), but it’s at least as good as any other season.
Though a single disc, it is loaded with deleted scenes, featurettes and commentary for all 20 episodes. And I gotta admit, these little clay puppets look pretty awesome in HD.
Chuck Season 4 Blu-ray Review
“Chuck” season 4 has a plethora of great guest stars, but little else. Continue reading
The Anaheim Angels 2002 World Series: Collector’s Edition DVD Review
If you can’t get enough baseball amidst the 2011 World Series, you might want to relive the 2002 World Series with this DVD set. Continue reading
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