Blackfish (Blu-ray)
On February 24, 2010, one of SeaWorld’s most experienced trainers, forty-year old Dawn Brancheau, was pulled under water by the park’s largest Orca (most commonly referred to as killer whales),12,000 pound Tilikum and killed. A devastating event, the incident made headlines around the world, and SeaWorld was later fined $75,000 for various safety violations. In […]
Blu-ray Review: Undefeated
Located in Memphis, the Manassas High School football team had become the punch line to cruel jokes after years of losing seasons. In 110 years, Manassas football hadn’t appeared in a single playoff game. When Bill Courtney, a volunteer coach from suburban Memphis, took over the program, things were so bad, and his team so […]
DVD Review: Three Stars
Out of all the restaurants reviewed in the internationally-renowned Michelin Guide (with posts haughtily maintained in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, since those are all the cities the United States has), 72 chefs have been awarded three stars, the highest rating possible. Six are women. The testers who determine the ratings […]
DVD Review: Genetic Chile
The title alone, Genetic Chile, sounds unnatural. What happened to the seeds as they naturally appear? Weren’t they good enough for crops and harvesting and selling the final product on the markets? Europe agrees, saying that if any food has been genetically modified in any way, no matter if no foreign DNA was used, then […]
DVD Review: Foreign Parts
Growing up in South Florida, there was the mountainous garbage dump across from the Festival Flea Market in Pompano, and a corridor of car dealerships on both sides of another road, including repair shops, tire places, and other rundown businesses. But never did I see such a vast area like Willets Point in Queens, New […]
DVD Review: Garbo – The Spy
You may never have heard of a spy from World War II codenamed Garbo, but the free world owes him a debt of gratitude. Though he was rebuffed by the Allies as a double agent at first, this Spanish national had a hatred of Fascism that led him to sign on as a spy for […]
DVD Review: The Brothers Warner
Warner Bros. | 2008 | 94 Mins. | Unrated These days with the major motion picture studios parts of much bigger business conglomerates, it’s easy to forget that it was individual men who initially built the film business into what it is today. Filmmaker Cass Warner Sperling is the granddaughter of Harry Warner, one of […]
DVD Review: Wild Pacific
BBC | 2009 | 353 mins | Not rated A while back, I had the pleasure of watching the colossal Planet Earth: The Complete Collection. Its sets like those that make the life of a DVD reviewer sometimes feel like a special little place in the world. Planet Earth remains one of the most beautiful […]
Blu-ray Review: Morning Light
Disney / Buena Vista | 2008 | 98 mins Executive produced by Walt’s nephew Roy Disney, Morning Light chronicles a real-life crew training and competing in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race aboard a TP52 class yacht, Morning Light. I didn’t know this but Disney is a multiple winner and big player in the Transpacific Yacht […]