4K UHD Review: Demolition Man (Collector’s Edition)
The early 1990’s weren’t particularly kind to Sylvester Stallone. Rocky V (1990) received lukewarm reviews and underperformed at the box office. Sly then starred in a couple of poorly received comedies—Oscar (1991) and Stop or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)—before returning to the action genre with Cliffhanger, (1993), finally, a relative box office success. A […]
4K UHD Review: Expend4bles
With its fourth entry, The Expendables franchise introduces a new generation of stars to the fray, as action legends Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture are joined for the first time by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, and Andy Garcia. Armed with virtually every weapon possible and […]
Expendables 3 (4K Blu-ray)
After months of discussion, March marked the arrival of the newest format for home theater aficionados, 4K UHD Blu-rays. The roll out has been a bit slow, with just a handful of titles available as of this writing, but for home theater enthusiasts, the arrival of a new format is always an exciting event. I’m […]
The Expendables 3 (Blu-ray)
Light on plot, and heavy on testosterone, Sylvester Stallone returned to action genre relevancy with The Expendables series. With each film. Stallone assembles an all-star cast of action heroes for two hours of high octane mayhem. There’s not really much more to them, but the franchise has attracted enough business to warrant a third film, […]
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (Blu-ray)
Though it’s likely that few people in Middle America recognize the name Shep Gordon, in Hollywood, few people have more friends than him. A longtime talent manager, he has handled some of the biggest names in show business, everyone from Alice Cooper to Teddy Pendergrass, produced such films as Choose Me and The Whales of […]
Grudge Match (Blu-ray)
Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone starred in two of the greatest boxing films in movie history: Raging Bull and Rocky. Grudge Match, directed by Peter Segal and credited to three screenwriters, may have intended to recapture the magic of the earlier films, but it’s terrible. I dare say it’s painful to see icons like […]
Rocky: Heavyweight Collection (Blu-ray)
MGM’s recently released Rocky Heavyweight Collection contains all six films in the Rocky franchise, similarly to 2009’s Undisputed Collection. The main reason fans may want to invest in the latest release is a new transfer of the original—and by far, the best—entry in the series, and a few new extras. Other than that, everything else […]
Blu-ray Review: Bullet to the Head
Coming off the two successful Expendables films, action legend Sylvester Stallone teamed with producer Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon, Die Hard) and director Walter Hill (48 Hours, The Warriors) for Bullet to the Head, a film that opens with a CGI bullet fired directly at viewers as it blasts through the studio logos on its way […]
Blu-ray review: The Expendables 2
Whether or not you’ll enjoy The Expendables 2 is a very easy question to answer. If you’re an action junkie, Sylvester Stallone and the rest of his buddies have provided the perfect medicine. For the rest of you, have aspirin at the ready. If you’re expecting any real narrative, forget about it. The action starts […]
Blu-ray Review: Death Race 2000
Shout Factory | 1975 | 78 mins. | Rated R Sometimes nicknamed “King of the B-movies” for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects it), director and film producer Roger Corman has gained both critical and commercial success with a series of low budget films, in a career that has spanned more than half […]