Starring: AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz
Director: Ti West
Distributed by: Magnolia Pictures
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 100 minutes

Film: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Honestly, I am really starting to get a fed up with horror films that are found footage. I was watching this film and watching the clock and just waiting for something to happen. I waited 45 minutes and still nothing scary or even remotely disturbing occurred yet. In fact, I found myself rather bored. I understand it is cheaper for these indie directors to make a film via the found footage route but I think that this style has really getting very old.

The film follows a fashion photographer who gets a message from his sister, who was traveling out of the country in order to quit her drug habit, to meet her at a place called Eden Parish. Accompanying him on the trip are his his friends who work for magazine Vice, who comes to get the story. But when they get there and start meeting and interviewing the people whom live there, they find that this may not be the peaceful community and safe haven that it is said to be.

The rest why I wanted to see “The Sacrament” is because it was directed by Ti West, who was responsible for some pretty cool horror flicks like “The House of the Devil” and “The Innkeepers”. I liked his style but I feel that this film was a real step backwards for him. When you see what he did with a film like “House of the Devil”, setting up that creepy vibe and then delivering a killer payoff, this film is just such a let down. This film is not like that at all.

I can honestly appreciate a slow burn horror film but this was not that at all. Absolutely nothing happens for the first 80 minutes and they try and throw in some shock value but nothing too shocking and definitely not scary. I still have hope for Ti West because I know he is a talented young director and we will see him do much better things in the future…but this is definitely not one of them. I recommend you go watch “The House of the Devil” and skip this for sure.

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Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 2 hours 11 mins
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

What do you get when you put eight Academy Award nominated actors in a film that takes place primarily in the 1970s. If you said “American Hustle,” you’d be wrong (only five nominees in that one). The correct answer is easily the best film in the “X-men” series so far, “X-men: Days of Future Past.”

Our story begins sometime in the future. The world, as we know it, is no more. Mechanical soldiers known as Sentinels have taken to destroying most of mankind – both mutants and humans. A small band of mutants is doing their best to survive when they come upon an idea. Knowing what spawned the Sentinel Program, they devise to send someone back in time, to 1973, to stop the event that has brought them to this bleak future. It is decided that, because of his genetic makeup, Logan (Jackman) should make the trip. Though the time travel trip will be dangerous, Logan’s mission once he gets there makes the trip look like smooth sailing.

A well written and brilliant mash up of “X-Men” characters, both past and future, “X-men: Days of Future Past” is a smartly crafted, brilliantly acted comic book related masterpiece! When Logan completes his time travel journey, his task is an unenviable one: he needs to reunite Professor Charles Xavier (McAvoy) with his one-time friend Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender). The hard part of the mission will be convincing the duo that Logan has been sent back to contact them…by them! Along the way Logan will meet younger versions of his fellow X-men, among them Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and the girl known as Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). Not only are these mutants younger, they have not all developed the way they will in the future. The same goes for Logan, who discovers that his adimantium claws have yet to be made. When he springs into action he’s back to just plain old bone. But he still knows how to use them!

Perfectly accompanying the story is an incredible display of special effects that will boggle your mind (especially in 3D). One such scene features an attempted prison break slowed down to milliseconds courtesy of Quicksilver (Evan Peters). The third highlight of the film are the performances. Once again, Jackman leads the way, giving Logan the same emotional depth he showed in last year’s stand-alone Wolverine film. McAvoy and Fassbender continue the great work they showed in “X-men: First Class.” Great work also by their futuristic counterparts, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. And new to the story, as the main catalyst of the Sentinel program, is the outstanding Peter Dinklage.

Director Singer, sadly making headlines for some alleged off-screen antics, keeps the action in the forefront while not sacrificing the story. Put everything together and you’ve got one of the best films of the summer.

Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Running time: 131 minutes

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” is the seventh film in the “X-Men” film series. It is billed as partially a sequel to “X-Men: The Last Stand” and also a sequel to  “X-Men: First Class”. If you are not familiar with the series, “The Last Stand” was the final X-Men before they did two spin-offs with Wolverine and made “First Class”, which was a prequel story. So if you not caught up to date with this series, things could get a little confusing with this one. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” also brings back director Bryan Singer, who directed 2000’s “X-Men” and 2003’s “X2”. “X2” is probably still the best film in the franchise but it is great to see Singer back behind the directors chair. You can tell that they were really trying to give this film a lot but for me it feel a little flat in terms of being epic.

What “X-Men: Days of Future Past” does has is one hell of an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Now as cool as that sounds, I really wasn’t blown away. I enjoyed the film but I felt that it was very slow moving throughout certain parts. I also felt like the parts set in the future weren’t really fleshed out and it felt like a way for them just to throw in the past roles for Stewart and McKellen to get a better drawn. In fact, these guys did fairly little at all in this film. Jennifer Lawrence was exceptional as usual. James McAvoy also did a fantastic job. Halle Berry was next to useless in the film as well as Anna Paquin, who was like billed fifth yet had about five seconds of screen time and no lines. I dig what they were going for but it feels just a bit too ambitious and the pay off is too obvious.

The film picks up in the dystopian future of 2023 with all life forms practically extinct at the hands of the robots known as Sentinels. We meet up with the few remaining mutants  including Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine, Storm, Iceman, Shadowcat, Colossus and even a few new characters (to the series) including Warparth, Sunpot and Blink (all of whom, I would have loved to see fleshed out much more).  They are all teaming up in order to survive and try to find a way to eliminate the creation of the Sentinels. With the help of Shadowcat, they send Wolverine back to 1973 to stop Raven aka Mystique from killing the scientist that created the Sentinels, which was the event that lead to their current impending doom. Wolverine has to race against time to try and convince a much younger Professor X and Magneto to work together in order to try and save the world.

My biggest problem with this film is that it relies heavily on the events of “X-Men: First Class”, which is not my favorite entry in the franchise at all. There were parts that I really loved here like the addition of Quicksilver (Evan Peters) but the character was there and gone again before you finished blinking. Our audience in the theaters was literally screaming out loud with laughter and cheer during his scene and I was so hoping that there would be more…but that was not the case. I do not know why they went heavy on focus with Wolverine (again!). I mean hasn’t he had enough films focused around his character already, I want a few face for these films…aka more Jennifer Lawrence perhaps. There is quite the future already planned out for this series with “X-Men: Apocalypse” already scheduled for a May 27, 2016 release date.

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” film was actually shot in 3D, which I thought that it was very impressive. I have heard mixed feelings on it already but I actually really enjoyed it. The scenes set in the future were very well done and the ending climax was quick impressive as well. Since this film was set split from the future and 1973, there is two different look to the film itself. I really liked how the 70’s scenes have a completely different almost washed out look to them. I also enjoyed the Super 8 footage used in certain scenes. If you have read any other reviews, I have seen this film being called “the best superhero films to date”, I personally didn’t think that was the cast at all. It is definitely a step up from “X-Men: First Class” but there were certain parts that dragged for me. I also felt like the story set in the future ended up really being more of a filler and didn’t really get a chance to really kick ass. Worth checking out if you love “X-Men” just keep expectation on the lower side.

Actors: John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Stefanie Powers, Patrick Wayne, Yvonne De Carlo
Directors: Andrew V. McLaglen
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Release Date: May 20, 2014
Run Time: 127 minutes

Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars

Since “McLintock!” was available on public domain for a while, it’s past with home video release has been a little rocky. The film was loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” and is still quite funny today. Olive Films actually released this film on Blu-ray last year with a very solid release but it had zero special features…unlike this release. The film starred John Wayne alongside Maureen O’Hara, Yvonne De Carlo, and Wayne’s son Patrick Wayne. Who doesn’t recall the famous “spanking” scene with Patrick Wayne going to town on Stephanie Powers over his knees. If you love this film, it is worth the upgrade from the Olive release and if you don’t own it’s a no brainer.

Official Premise: John Wayne stars as George Washington McLintock, a proud, defiant cattle baron whose daughter is due home from college. But G.W.’s happy reunion is tempered by the arrival of his headstrong wife (O’Hara), who recently left him. Verbal fireworks explode, slapstick pratfalls bloom…and the Wayne-O’Hara “reconciliation” culminates with the notorious “spanking” scene and the biggest mudhole brawl this side of the Mississippi in this wild, raucous and hilarious Western comedy!

This release is being billed as the Authentic Collector’s Edition taken original film elements. The 1080p transfer is absolutely stunning for this 50+ year old film. This was scanned in 4K for the first time and looks even better than the Olive Films transfer, which was pretty damn impressive. Paramount has been really giving a lot of love really to Wayne’s films after their release of “Hondo” as well. It also features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1, which is decent but I don’t think it over powers Olive’s DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track, which is slightly more sharp. But still there is much more to this release than just a few special features to make it worth the purchase for sure.

Speaking of the special features, they start off with an introduction by Leonard Maltin. There is also a jam packed audio commentaries with Leonard Maltin, Frank Thompson, Maureen O’Hara, Stefanie Powers, Michael Pate, Michael Wayne and Andrew McLaglen. There is a lot going on here but there is some great insight into the production and it’s legacy. There is a behind-the-scenes look in to the film with “The Making of McLintock!”. “The Corset: Don’t Leave Home Without One!” is an extras for the ladies on the film’s costumes. There is a quick but cool “2-Minute Fight School”. Lastly there is a Photo Gallery and Theatrical Trailer included.

Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore and Bella Thorne
Directed By: Frank Coraci
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 117 minutes
Warner Bros.

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

I remember talking with Media Mikes co-founder, Michael Smith, at the beginning of the summer about the chemistry between Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and how the duo have probably put out the better of the Adam Sandler comedies; “50 First Dates” and “The Wedding Singer”. While he saw the potential for Barrymore and Sandler to perfect their trio of romantic comedies with “Blended”, I simply saw “Adam Sandler and Friends Go to Africa and Make Fart Noises with Their Mouths”. I’m here to say that Michael Smith was right.

“The Wedding Singer” is by far one of the diamonds in the rough in the Adam Sandler collection while “50 First Dates” was made watchable by the magic of the two. This time around, they do it again. “Blended” is the story of two single parents, Jim (Sandler) and Lauren (Barrymore). Jim has three daughters while Lauren has two sons (they’re just one child short of a Brady Bunch reunion) and while they’re both suitable as stressed out single parents, they’re both lacking a set of skills to deal with their children of the opposite sex.

A blind date brings these two together and it goes nothing short of an ocean liner hitting an iceberg. First off, the date is at Hooters, then they can barely make eye-contact, and they’re both plotting an early exit and I haven’t even gotten to Jim knowing each waitress on a quick first name basis. It’s obvious these two are going to cross paths again (and they do a couple of times), but the story needs to really cement a ludicrous predicament for them to be stuck somewhere. How about a trip to Africa? A trip to Africa it is. Although I find it odd the movie never tells us the country…or city that the trip takes place…as if the intelligence of our characters only goes as far as believing the entire continent of Africa is just one big country.

It’s quite fascinating that if you were to cut out the gross out humor, like rhinoceroses banging, this is a very good comedy. There’s a lot of surprising laughs, provided by the children, and when Jim and Lauren take jabs at each other. Now that Sandler has aged and isn’t violently screaming for laughs, he is quite charming as a humble father of three who adds a level of sorrow because he’s afraid to move on past his first wife who’s dead. He’s shockingly believable as an apprehensive man who’s still in love his wife who has passed on.

My list of groans and cheers are about at equal length. While the running time definitely stretched this well beyond its means, I’m glad the movie took the time to slowly create the bond between Jim and Lauren. When the movie isn’t forcing a product placement in front of us, there’s actually a thoughtful reason why Jim loves going to Hooters (maybe the first in history). I know I’m beating a dead horse, but Sandler and Barrymore were the reason I inched to the positive side. I’ve never seen Barrymore this funny or Sandler this heartwarming. You almost forget both are happily married with their own children in real life when on-screen sparks fly between them. I guess Sandler just needed a break from his usual drab, but I’m sure he has some more head-shakingly bad movies in the works. Until then, enjoy “Blended”.

She was little Jamie Lloyd in “Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers”; the angst-ridden Annie Bracket in Rob Zombie’s “Halloween”; and the blood-covered, butt-kicking Marybeth Dunston in “Hatchet II”. For over twenty-five years Danielle Harris has been a key figure – and fan favorite – of the horror genre. I recently talked with her about the newly released “Camp Dread” and the future of horror films.

B.C. Allen: How did you become a part of “Camp Dread”?
Danielle Harris: I’m very close friends with Felissa (Rose). Felissa called and said she is doing this movie and Eric Roberts was attached, and that my scenes would be with him, and then I was like “Oh my, god! Okay, great.”

BCA: So you and Felissa knew each other already, presumably from horror conventions?
DH: Yeah, there’s not a lot of like, you know, chicks, I would say – believe it or not – at these conventions that I would go to the bar and hang out and have a glass of wine with. We both have younger husbands in common, so we’ve definitely chatted about that. She’s a bit of a cougar like myself. She was all encouraging when I met my husband; so yeah, we’ve become good friends over the years. The industry, the genre, the community itself is so small that there’s a lot of B.S. that goes around about people pretending to make movies or wanting to make movies, and you don’t really know what’s real and what’s not real. And because of the tight-knit community, when your friend calls you and says “We’re doing this movie”, then you know that it’s the real deal. It’s always good to get one of those calls.

BCA: How was it working with Eric Roberts?
DH: You know, I didn’t get to work with him too much. As you saw, I only had a couple of scenes in the movie. But I have been a fan of his work for a long time. It was awesome.

BCA: In 2012 you directed your first feature-length film, “Among Friends.” Is directing and producing something you would prefer to do instead of acting? Or would you want to do all three at the same time?
DH: I don’t love producing – I just like having control over the final cut of the movie, essentially. You lose a little bit of power when you’re not a producer. But I would not put myself in a lead role in a movie that I directed; maybe a supporting role. That seems like a lot of hats, when you’re already wearing like fifty hats as a director. I do really enjoy directing. It’s nice to be able to hold onto a project for more than a couple of weeks.

BCA: You’re sort of a key figure in three film franchises: the original “Halloween” series, the Rob Zombie versions of “Halloween”, and the “Hatchet” series. Do you feel a sense of brand loyalty? For instance, if you were offered a role in a “Friday the 13th” reboot, or another “Nightmare on Elm Street” film would you do it? Or would you turn it down so you don’t upset your fans?
DH: It’s difficult, because it always depends on the director. If Joe Dante was doing “Gremlins” again and suddenly they wanted me to play the lead, I would do it in a heartbeat. It just depends on what it is. It gets tricky, you know, to do a reboot of “Nightmare”; I think people would get tired of seeing me in that stuff. It’s kind of good to come in on the second one like I did with “Hatchet” and like I did with “See No Evil 2”.

BCA: Has “See No Evil 2” finished production?
DH: Yea, we’re done. And we’re looking at an October release.

BCA: The majority of your fans were born in the eighties. Many more were born in the nineties. And most of them view you as the one-and-only “Scream Queen.” Would you agree with that perception?
DH: I think it’s actually the older fans that think of me like that, because you guys kind of grew up with me. There are so many actresses that are doing these movies, so I think that I may be their scream queen. They like to watch me kick ass; which is great. It works for me. I think I’ve been accessible and I think that’s been a really big part of it. I’ve been really active in the community, been really personable with the fans, and done a lot of conventions, and gotten to know people on different levels. I think that’s what made them like me more. Not to say that what I do on film is better than anybody else. I just maybe connected with them on a different level.

BCA: Can you think of any actress coming up now, who may be the next “Scream Queen”?
DH: There are very few actresses who do a lot of movies in the genre. Very few, like me, who do a lot of the same kinds of movies. With “See No Evil 2”, Katie Isabelle, I think is wonderful. She was amazing in “American Mary”. She is someone that I enjoyed getting a chance to work with. Because it was cool to watch her do her thing. Usually in these movies I am the only girl most of the time. When I am going through all the stuff I am going through, there are not a lot of girls around. It’s just usually me and some big monster. It was cool to watch her prepare for shooting in the same way that I do; making yourself hyperventilate, and running around in circles, forcing yourself to gag and be hysteric and screaming in the corner. All those things that I know I do, that I’ve never seen anyone else do before. And I got the chance to see her do it, which is kind of cool.

BCA: We see a lot of young actress do a film in this genre, early on, just to get work, but as you said very few stay within it? Why do you think that is?
DH: If you find your niche you want to stay with it. But I think a lot of representation wants to get you out of it. Once you are in it, you have to like it. If fans like you, you aren’t going anywhere.

BCA: Speaking of fans, there are several different social network accounts that are Danielle Harris related. For example there’s an Instagram account called @DanielleHarris_ScreamQueen, which is always posting pictures of you and promoting your films. What do you think of their efforts?
DH: I am amazed. The stuff that they put together is fantastic. I had to turn the alerts off on my phone because I was getting annoyed with seeing myself so much. It was all day long. Even I don’t love myself this much! It’s unbelievable that people take the time to do this stuff. I am flattered and I am fascinated by it at the same time. Logan, who works for me now, I met Logan because he started DanielleHarris.org, and he came to me at a convention a couple of years ago and said “My name is Logan, I put together this fan site for you.” I told him that I loved it… I had actually been on there a couple of times and told him he did a really good job. He asked if he could come out to L.A. to interview me and I said sure. He came to L.A. and he kept helping me do things when I did “Among Friends” and I would go to him and say “Hey, promote this.” or “Hey, I’ll give you first dibs on these pictures that nobody else has.” We sort of developed a relationship because of the effort I saw he put into caring about me and my career. I loved that. And now he is literally in my house every single day at nine o’clock in the morning. He works with my husband every day. I even asked him “Did you ever imagine after meeting me at wherever we met, Monstermania or – I don’t even know where the heck we were – that five years later you would literally be seeing me come upstairs in my pajamas and having coffee with me while I’m complaining about something?” And he said, “No, I didn’t.”

BCA: What is coming up for you in the future?
DH: I just optioned a script recently and I brought in a producing partner, and I’ve been producing this next one I’m doing, and assembling the team myself, which is a benefit of being the producer. And directing it as well.

BCA: Have you ever thought about writing or creating your own horror franchise?
DH: Not really franchise stuff, but I definitely have a bunch of ideas. I’m not looking to create the next killer. I think every new filmmaker wants to have the next Freddy, or the next Michael, or the next Jason and I think that that can get a bit old. I think it’s about trying to find ways to keep hip within the genre, because we don’t want to see the same stuff. I think I found that with the movie that I optioned, I didn’t write it, I just optioned it from a writer. We’re just in the middle of going through a little bit of changes and hopefully I’ll be up and running by fall.

“Camp Dread” is available on DVD now.

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Actors: Jack Palance
Directors: Dan Curtis
Rated: Unrated
Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Run Time: 98 minutes

Film: 3 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2 out of 5 stars

The 70’s was a great time for horror films. The role of Dracula though in my mind, at least, belonged to Christopher Lee though. Got to give it to Jack Palance for a decent job but I couldn’t really get fully on board. Of course Bela Lugosi is the best, but Palance isn’t even in the same category. The film is still worth checking out due to sci-fi/horror master Richard Matheson (“I Am Legend”) writing and the involvement of the legendary Dan Curtis (“Dark Shadows”).

Official Premise: Academy Award winner Jack Palance stars in this terrifying adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire legend written for the screen by sci-fi/horror master Richard Matheson and produced by the legendary Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows). Palance is Count Dracula, whose centuries-old existence is threatened after he attacks the lovely Lucy Westenra (Fiona Lewis) and her fiancé (Simon Ward, The Tudors) calls in famed vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing (Nigel Davenport) to investigate.

The real draw for this release is definitely the restoration job that underwent here. The film has been transferred and restored in 2K High Definition from the original 35mm camera negative for its Blu-Ray debut. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 also works quite well with creating the mood and atmosphere. The special features though aren’t that spectacular. There are some cast/crew interviews, a trailer and also an alternate ending included.

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Actors: Christian Slater, Vinnie Jones, Emily Tennant, Jake Croker
Directors: Kevin Carraway
Rated: Unrated
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
DVD Release Date: May 20, 2014
Run Time: 92 minutes

Film: 1 out of 5 stars
Extras: N/A

I know, I know…I need to stop being lured into watching sure to be terrible films based on the box art and list of the cast. Supernatural horror is always a big draw for me and when you put that together with the likes of Christian Slater (“True Romance”) and Vinnie Jones (“X-Men: The Last Stand”), I have a hard time saying no…even though I am sure to regret it. The film itself starts off at a snails pace and never gets it’s feet off the ground. I literally went to turn this film off after about 20 minutes and probably did mentally after that time, thanks God for gaming on my phone to pass the time. Avoid this like the plague.

Official Premise: After a series of inexplicable murders sweeps a small, isolated community, Father Henry (Slater) goes to a local police detective (Jones) with a theory on why the murders are occurring. The two learn that a troubled teen with a dark past has recently moved to town and has set his sights on the cop’s beautiful, young daughter. Father Henry, who turns out to have secrets of his own, finds himself pitted against a demonic force more diabolically evil and twisted than any of them could have imagined.

Christian Slater and Vinnie Jones are not the real stars in the “Way of the Wicked”. They are just poster boys for the film to draw you in. Jones plays the father of one of the kids in the film and Slater plays a priest that pops up in the opening scene and then disappears for a while and then comes around later in the film. The Blu-ray picture and audio are standard, nothing special. There are no special features included on this film at all. This comes absolutely bare bones, just like the film itself.

Dan Fogler is a man of many trade. The guy is an actor, director, artist and even won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”. He has been in films like “Balls of Fury”, “Faboys” and also voiced the character Zeng in “Kung Fu Panda”. Dan’s latest film is quite personal to him and helped him achieve a personal journey. It is called “Don Peyote” and he not only starred in it but also wrote, produced and directed it. If you get the name it is definitely quite the trip but really gives Dan a chance to show off his very impressive acting chops. Media Mikes had a chance to chat about the film and the long road to hitting theaters on May 16th.

Mike Gencarelli: What the hell were you on when you came up with this crazy film, “Don Peyote”?
Dan Fogler: I am saying there is probably a strong foundation of THC in there. Then you have to add in on other aspects of hallucinogens along the way in a very Alice in Wonderland-esque fashion [laughs]. I have heard from some people that while watching the movie they get a buzz off it since it is such a trip. The film is sort of like my homage to “The Wizard of Oz”, where it goes black and white to color. Our character goes from a everyday Joe to a complete nut case and he sees this lush and colorful world.

MG: Tell us about the road to getting this film released on VOD now and in theaters on May 16th
DF: I started this film back in 2011 and I just wanted to make a movie about the energy that I was feeling at the time. A lot of people were going through it wondering what would happen at the end of 2012 with the Mayan Calendar. I was also about to get married and was stressing out a little about what the future would bring. So I wanted to document that and I decided to create this character Warren Allman, who was essentially like the “every man”. In the film he finds his purpose, which is to find what is coming at the end of 2012. He goes to the several steps of fearing it, then trying to prepare for it and just embracing it. I have always been fascinated about the guy standing on the side of the street with “The end is near” sign. How the hell did he get like that? [laughs]. Did it just appear like that? Or just drop out of a space ship? [laughs]. So Warren goes under this entire transformation throughout the film.

MG: Tell us about all the hats you wore for this film including directing, writing, producing and acting?
DF: Yeah, well a lot of it came out of necessity. I wanted to together a nice juicy role that I could get into it. A lot of it was just something that I was going through that I really wanted to document. I wanted to go through a journey and answer some questions about myself and I did that through this movie.

MG: How did you end up co-directing with Michael Canzoniero?
DF: I love him. He is a buddy of mine. The movie was just made with friends and with asking a lot of favors. We didn’t have a lot of money. When I made my first movie “Hysterical Psycho”, I thought that it was like going to camp. It was such a great experience of casting my friends and working with them. So I just did the same thing but on a slightly larger scale with “Don Peyote”.

MG: This role is quite dramatic as well as funny, tell us about ow you approached that aspect?
DF: I wanted to show off other sides of my acting. That was probably the catalyst for starting this film. I have also always been interest in that prophet journey and what would it be like to be a modern prophet. Plus at time, the energy globally was so phonetic. It seemed like the dial was turned up and I wanted to capture that in the movie. You have stuff like Occupy Wall Street happening and there were riots happening everywhere. It felt like people were just waiting for something to happen. I feel that post-2012, we are starting to get more of a positive vibe coming in here and that really was the message of the movie. Everything comes in waves. Things can be rough and hard but then around the corner you find happiness.

Starring: Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi and Alan Arkin
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Rated: PG
Running time: 2 hours 4 mins
Walt Disney Pictures

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

In 2008, sports agent J.B. Bernstein, struggling to keep his firm afloat, devised an idea that, he proposed, would bring “a billion, with a ‘B’” fans to the game of baseball. Inspired by watching a few games of cricket, Bernstein (Hamm) proposes a competition known as “Million Dollar Arm.” To those who participate, the two that can throw a baseball the fastest wins a chance to come to America and be signed by major league scouts. Of course, things aren’t as easy as they sound.

Based on a true story, “Million Dollar Arm” is an uplifting and inspirational tale that invites the audience to put themselves in the culture of another person. When Rinku (Suraj Sharma, the young man from “Life of Pi) and Dinesh (Madhur Mittal from “Slum Dog Millionaire”) impress J.B. enough to warrant a trip to the states, the two must adapt to an entirely new way of life.

First all, it’s so nice to see Jon Hamm on the big screen. I’ve enjoyed his work for a couple of years and he’s never disappointed. Here he reveals the smooth talking J.B. to be much more than the slick hustler others think him to be. The two young actors who portray the “winners” are equally good. Lake Bell has a nice turn as J.B.’s rental tenant. But the prize here goes to Indian actor Pitobash. As the boy’s interpreter and all around baseball guru, he gives a portrayal the glows with enthusiasm. As the boys learn the game, fueled by Power Bars and pizza, their culture is almost lost. The Indian actors are well cast and the audience is made to feel what they feel. Only a short period where the film becomes “Jerry McGuire” slows the story down. That and the fact that the boys always seem to be throwing from the “stretch.” If they went into the windup they’d add a few MPH to their velocity. Just saying.

Starring: Lou Richards, Arthur Burghardt, Frank Welker, Bernard Erhard, Bob Holt, Marilyn Lightstone, Sparky Marcus, Leslie Speights, Morgan Paull, Phil Hartman, B.J. Ward, Brock Peters, Peter Cullen
Number of discs: 3
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Archive
Run Time: 660 minutes

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Being a young boy in the 80’s, I used to be glued to watching cartoons all day and night. Thankfully, Hanna-Barbera helped me grow up with there endless supply of cartoons. “Challenge of the Gobots” was based on the Gobots toy-line released from Tonka. Warner Archive has been behind this series for a while now as they released the “Challenge of The Gobots: The Original Miniseries” back in 2011. This volume one collection includes the first 30 episodes in this 65 episodes series. Hopefully we will not have to wait as long for volume two. Getting a chance to revisit this show has been such a treat and reminded me how much I love giant transforming robot cartoons. I just do. Love them as a kid and nothing has changed now 30 years later. A must have for any 80’s cartoon fan!

Official Premise: They’re mighty robots and mighty vehicles are back at last! Cy-Kill! Leader-1! Cop-Tur! Turbo! Crasher! Scooter! The noble Guardian GoBots and the nefarious Renegade GoBots continue the war begun in The Battle for GoBotron (see Challenge of the GoBots: The Original Mini-Series) across time and space in their epic 60 episode series that comes to you factory fresh and newly remastered – from the original film elements! With Earth as their chosen staging ground, the Renegades deploy Earth’s worst such as the deranged Dr. Braxis (voiced by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Rene Auberjonois) in their quest to conquer Earth and GoBotron, so it’s a good thing the Guardians have Matt, Nick and AJ of UNECOM on their side! This 30-Episode, Three-Disc set collects the first half of the series and finds the amazing, metamorphosing cyborgs taking their fight to Ancient Rome, lost Atlantis and back to GoBotron in a series of adventures that will leave you shouting for “MOAR”!

The first 30 episodes included are: Battle for GoBotron; Target Earth; Conquest of Earth; Earth Bound; The Final Conflict; It’s the Thought That Counts; Renegade Alliance; Time Wars; Terror in Atlantis; Trident’s Triple Threat; Lost on GoBotron; Cy-Kill’s Shrinking Ray; The Quest for Roguestar; Ultra Zod;
Sentinel; Cy-Kill’s Cataclysmic Trap; Speed is of the Essence; Genius and Son; Dawn World; Pacific Overtures; Forced Alliance; Invasion from the 21st Level Pt. 1 & 2; Doppelganger; Scooter Enhanced; Tarnished Image; Cold Spell; Crime Wave; Auto-madic and Renegade Rampage Pt. 1. They are presented with their aspect ratio of 1.37:1. They look good but haven’t been restored. I am personally happy to have them available on DVD for the first time ever in one collection. Bring on volume two!

Starring: Sean Schemmel, Stephanie Nadolny, Christopher Sabat, Daisuke Gōri, Mayumi Tanaka, Kenji Utsumi
Director: Daisuke Nishio, Mike McFarland
Number of discs: 4
Rated: Unrated
Studio: Funimation
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Run Time: 755 minutes

Season: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Blu-ray: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars

FUNimation Entertainment is power housing through this series starting with the first at the beginning of the year and averaging about a season a month. Season Five is already set for release on June 24th as well. “Dragon Ball Z: Season Four” was personally never my all-time favorite. It follows the Garlic Jr., Trunks and Androids Sagas. This uncut collection features episodes 108-139 of the classic anime series, which are presented in remastered high definition for the first time ever.  These episodes have never looked better. If you are a fan of “Dragon Ball Z”, this is yet another impressive release! Keep them coming Funimation!

Official Synopsis: Having returned victorious from their battle with Frieza, the Z-fighters can at last breathe a collective sigh of relief. But they won’t have long to rest. A new host of villains has appeared, ready to wreak havoc on the Earth – and Goku, the Z-Fighters’ greatest hero, is still missing!

These episodes have undergone a frame-by-frame restoration to remove any blemishes, tape marks and foreign bodies from the film. Funimation has been consistently delivering for the fans on this series and this season is no different. There are three audio tracks included, the Japanese audio and two English tracks: the U.S. English-language broadcast dub and a mix with English dialogue and Japanese music. These have also been re-mastered in the interest of noise reduction and superior sound quality. This series has also received a precise shot-by-shot reframing to create “a modern HD widescreen presentation.” So quality is the key word here for sure.

Like the seasons two and three, Funimation has stepped up from the first season and delivered some decent special features with this season. There is a two part interview series with “Inside Dragon Ball Z” featuring chats with Matthew O’Hara and Daniel Mancilla. There is also a feeaturette called “From the Vault” with a look into Goku vs. Vegeta and “The World of Dragon Ball Z”. Lastly there is also Textless opening and closing songs and trailers included.  I am holding that that we will be getting some commentary tracks on this series before we get to season 9, fingers crossed!

Actors: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Lenn Kudrjawizki
Directors: Kenneth Branagh
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Run Time: 105 minutes

Film: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars

The character of Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy’s novels has been played by many very talented actors over the last roughly 25 years from Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. They have all done great with the character…yes even Affleck. Chris Pine, who just revived life into the character of Captain Kirk in the reboot of the “Star Trek” franchise, is hoping to do the same with this character but fails due to an extremely bland and unoriginal story. The film is so generic that you know where every scene it going with little to no surprise around each corner. I guess we will have to wait until they decide to reboot this series yet again or finally put it to sleep.

Official Premise: The thrills are non-stop as CIA recruit Jack Ryan (Chris Pine, “Star Trek” series) is caught in a dangerous web of intrigue and espionage spun between a shadowy government agent (Kevin Costner, “Field of Dreams”), his unsuspecting fiancee (Keira Knightly, “Pirates of the Caribbean” series) and a fearless Russian power broker (Kenneth Branagh, “Thor”). Jack must quickly evolve from soldier to analyst to full-fledged operative to stop a devastating terrorist plot against the United States.

Despite, the painfulness of the film itself, Paramount delivers an phenomonal release. “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” comes as a combo pack with a Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet digital copy. It boasts an outstanding 1080p transfer. The film just looks stunning and very details. The real winner though for this release is easily the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track. It works perfect building the film’s tension and shakes the walls in the action scenes. The score is also highlighted so well and sounds absolutely amazing. Overall, this was very effective and quite unexpected from this film, so I give major kudos.

The special features are quite decent as well. There is a solid and quite engaging audio commentary track from director Kenneth Branagh and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “Jack Ryan: The Smartest Guy in the Room” is an all-around behind-the-scenes look into the film. “Sir Kenneth Branagh: The Tsar of Shadow Recruit” focuses on the director/actor role in the film. “Jack Ryan: A Thinking Man of Action”
looks into several key action sequences. “Old Enemies Return” is a look into the film’s villains in depth. Lastly, there are a five deleted & extended scenes, as well an alternate ending all with optional commentary by Director Kenneth Branagh and Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

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Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Running time: 123 minutes

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

In October 2010, I was pushing a very small film called “Monsters”. It was directed by first-time director Gareth Edwards, click here is our interview with him. I had a feeling after watching this film that this guy was going to be HUGE! I just knew it. Well, “Monsters” did quite well worldwide at the box office and even spawned a sequel “Monsters: Dark Continent”, due out later this year. Most importantly what it did though was bring this director into the spotlight. Only a few months later, in January 2011, word was released that Gareth will be rebooting the “Godzilla” franchise. So I couldn’t be happier for this guy and in case you are wonderful, he knocked it out of the park with “Godzilla”. I usually hate going into a film with high expectations but it was impossible for me not to with “Godzilla”. It was easily my most anticipated film of the year, no question. There were moments in the film where I completely forgot to breathe and had my eyes tearing since I was neglecting to blink due to fear of missing anything. Gareth Edwards finally gets “Godzilla” right! A must see this summer!

One thing I loved about this movie was that you could tell that Edwards is truly a fan of the “Godzilla”  franchise. You can just tell that he wanted to make sure to get everything right for the fans. Personally, I have been actively avoiding spoilers and images from the film before seeing it in order to be completely surprised. Let me tell you that Godzilla looks absolutely amazing…and also extremely terrifying. He left me with chills for quite a while after his first body shot. Even though Edwards didn’t do the visual effects like he did on “Monsters”, I can tell that he still has his mark on it here because it really leads you on and then when you just expect it, it does a full reveal and leaves you screaming in your chair. The first time that we get a full view of Godzilla, I think half the theater was clapping and the other half was speechless while shitting their pants (I was the latter). I love the design the character, it is so sharp and captures the essence of the character well. Sure, it isn’t a man in a rubber suit, we all know how classic that look is but this is the NEW Godzilla and he has never looked better. Everything was done absolutely perfect down from his roar to his trademark atomic breath. Yes, the atomic breath…holy cow, I literally almost got up and cheered in my seat.

The story starts off in 1999 in the Philippines, where two scientists (Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins) find an uncovered tomb containing a fossil of a very large creature with two preserved pods…though one was broken opened and whatever was there was now missing. We then head to Japan where we meet Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), a nuclear physicist/engineer and his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche), a nuclear regulations consultant at the Janjira nuclear plant. As they are investigating an emergency at the plant, whatever was awoken from its sleep in the Philippines made its way to their plant to feed off the nuclear energy leading to the destruction of the plant. Though no proof was every gathered of the creature, the city was quickly evacuated and we flash forward 15 years to the present where Joe is still on the hunt for answers and calls to his son for help, Ford Brody, who is fresh out of the military. He also happens to be a explosive ordnance disposal technician (as you can imagine that becomes important later). As we find that the MUTO creature is looking for its spouse to reproduce, enter Godzilla who (like always never explained why) comes in to save us against these giant monsters. An all out battle is waged that spans from Japan to Hawaii to Las Vegas and California.

The film is nicely paced and runs just over two hours. In fact, Godzilla doesn’t make a full appearance until around the one hour mark but from that point on it is shear madness and shit gets very real. I would have liked to seen more of him, of course, but I feel that it was well calculated and like “Jaws”, it is what you don’t see that is more exciting. Godzilla’s nemesis’ in the film, aka MUTOs, which is short for “Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism” are pretty damn bad-ass and look just as stunning as Godzilla does. Speaking of stunning the film doesn’t just look outstanding it also sounds amazing and is lead so well by Alexandre Desplat’s score. If you see this film, I cannot recommend any higher to see it in IMAX 3D. I literally had my entire body shaking from the intense bass that dished out in the theater. The 3D effects are not overly noticeable, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t amazing. They are just well planned and add some amazing depth, especially to the battle scenes. Whether you are a hardcore Godzilla fan or have never seen a single film, this film can be enjoyed by anyone as it is a great blend of action/disaster/kaiju  film. After the very small budgeted “Monsters”, I am sure we were all concerned if director Gareth Edwards could handle such a large blockbuster but he really blew me away with this film. I urge you do not miss this film in theaters! It is quite the experience.

Starring: Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen, Richard Sammel, Eriq Ebouaney
Director: McG
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: May 20, 2014
Run Time: 117 / 122 minutes

Film: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2 out of 5 stars

Kevin Costner has been on a hot streak recently with “Hatfields & McCoys” and “Man of Steel” but “3 Days to Kill” cools down his streak quite a bit. The film is produced by Luc Besson but seems to follow the spy-thriller format and doesn’t really deliver anything new. I wouldn’t say this is unwatchable since if you REALLY like Costner you can probably find something that you like about this. I just had trouble making it fully through it. There was a lot of yelling at the screen and eye-rolling happening here. When it comes down to it good action, decent acting, bad story.

Official Premise: Kevin Costner is a dangerous international spy who is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he’s previously kept at arm’s length to keep out of danger. But first, he must complete one last mission- even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world’s most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.

20th Century Fox has delivered this film as a Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy. There is a bonus extended cut included as a Blu-ray exclusive, which runs five minutes longer than the theatrical cut. Nothing ground breaking included in the new cut but still worth checking out over the theatrical. The 1080p transfer presented with an 2.37:1 aspect ratio looks very sharp and worked well with the gorgeous setting of Paris. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is also quite impressive especially with the big action sequences.

In terms of special features, there is not a ton of extras included here. “The Making of 3 Days to Kill” is just under 10 minutes long and is the basic behind-the-scenes look into the production. “McG’s Method” is a short profile on the director. “Covert Operation” is a cool feature featuring a real life former CIA agent talking about his work. Lastly there are some theatrical and extended trailers included.