The Kings of Summer [Blu-ray]

Biaggio character alone worth the rental
Moises Arias' character alone makes this movie worthwhile. One of the funniest characters and performances I've seen in a while.

An Entertaining Coming -of-Age Comedy
THE KINGS OF SUMMER is an entertaining coming-of-age movie, reminiscent of STAND BY ME, but with a lighter touch.

Joe (Nick Robinson), Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and Biaggio (Moises Arias) are a trio of Mid-West teens who have decided to flee their parents. Joe's dad (Nick Offerman) is a wisecracking, insensitive "s.o.b.". Patrick's folks (Megan Mullally, Marc Evan Jackson) are on the "creepy" side, and, except for one brief scene, we don't really meet Biaggio's parents, but he's a bit "weird," so that should tell us something.

The truth is that, from a teenager's standpoint, all parents are insensitive, creepy and/or weird.

In an ultimate act of independence, the three boys decide to spend their summer building a ramshackle house in the woods and living off the land. The house goes up amazingly fast, and while the parents and the police (led by Mary Lynn Rajskub) search for them, the teens have a great time. The adventure, however, turns south when...

One of A Kind!
Hilarious, heartwarming and original! I have not seen a movie this good in years. It was humorous, not saccharine and lovely and warm. An absolute must see for adults or older teens.

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Pacific Rim (Two-Disc Special Edition DVD + UltraViolet)

A fantastic adventure with Del Toro's great polish throughout
Pacific Rim got hammered pretty hard by a lot of confused critics who apparently only know Guillermo del Toro from his more artistic magical realism work and somehow missed Hellboy, Mimic, and Blade 2. Pacific Rim belongs solidly to the latter camp, but it's a labor of love and is missing none of the flair that makes del Toro films so special. At its core it is essentially a Western Super Sentai film; heroes suit up in giant robots to battle monsters that are invading our dimension... And that's it. You can foist all sorts of allegory onto this movie if you want, and you can plumb it for deeper meaning- it's rich enough- but at the end of the day it's a thrilling adventure about friendship, big robots, and monster punching. Wet blankets need not apply.

Short summary: a portal to an alien world opens under the ocean and giant monsters come out. The governments of the world team up to battle them, eventually doing so with Jaegers, huge robots piloted by two psychically linked...

Non-spoiler - Big Robots vs. Big Monsters = BIG FUN!
If you ever watched a Godzilla movie, or any other giant monster movie, and wanted to see what it might look like with today's special effects, grab your popcorn and check out Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim."

In the near future, Earth faces invasion from giant monsters (Kaiju), who emerge from the ocean and wreak havoc on coastal cities. The humans create giant robot Jaegers to fight them. For a while this works, but the monsters grow stronger and once again overwhelm the humans. Pacific Rim follows a former robot jockey who is called back to duty as the human defenses dwindle.....

I've looked forward to this movie for a long time, as I loved the giant monster movies of my youth. This didn't disappoint. Interesting and intimidating Kaiju, unique and powerful Jaegers, well choreographed fight scenes, and awesome special effects combine to make this a fantastic summer movie. There were several scenes which had the audience cheering and applauding...

What Bayformers could have been
I'll say up front, though it bears little resemblance to the monster sized dump that is Michael Bay's "Transformers" trilogy-Pacific Rim is the type of movie Bayformers should have been. What I mean by that-is that unlike those hell spawned abominations-Pacific Rim delivers giant robots that awe and inspire instead of ones that pee on people and dangle metallic testicles. Also unlike Bayformers you will not be forced to witness any dog humping or have to groan through lame "jokes" about red mugs in yellow rooms. (No 45 minute long who-gives-a-crap job interview scenes in here either)

Thankfully-Pacific Rim does not take an uber-cool property and twist it, turn it and crush it beyond recognition into some overly long, lame one-note joke of a film. Instead, it's completely earnest and non cynical in its delivery. I've been a fan of Guillermo Del Toro since Pan's Labyrinth (a BRILLIANT adult fairy tale) and have gone back and watched his other films to discover what a...

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Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here

Engaging insight into Floyd's career-best album
If you're a Pink Floyd fan you might think you already know all there is to know about `Wish You Were Here'. However, you may be surprised and delighted by this truly superb documentary insight into the origin, creation and final editing of what many (including the surviving band members themselves) feel to be Floyd's most enduring album. The interviews with Gilmour, Waters and Mason are bang up-to-date, archive footage of the late Rick Wright talking about the project is also included as are vignettes from Roy Harper, sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson and stunt man Ronnie Rondell who was set on fire for the album artwork (nb this is before the days of sophisticated CGI and if you needed a convincing image of someone on fire you had to do it for real).

The spectre at the feast is the late Syd Barrett, who passed away in July 2006 just a couple of years before Rick Wright succumbed to cancer and also left us. The original inspiration for Floyd and the early band leader, most...

The definitive documentary on Pink Floyd's masterpiece
Pink Floyd's The Story of Wish You Were Here DVD and Blu-Ray are a must own for all Pink Floyd fans.
Using the template from the famed British (and also VH1 Classic) TV series called Classic Albums has been around for many years, the company that produces that show (Eagle Rock) unleashed in March of 2012 its documentary on Pink Floyd's 1975 classic Wish You Were Here.
Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here album had a well deserved celebration in 2011/12. First came the Discovery reissue. Then the Experience 2-CD set and Immersion (2-CD/2-DVD/Blu Ray) box set, the long awaited Hybrid SACD issue remixed by James Guthrie and and was re-released on 180 Gram Audiophile vinyl which sounded superb. Then finally, came this DVD documentary which looks at how the album was made.
The three surviving band members being co-founder/singer/bass player/songwriter/lyricist Roger Waters, singer/guitarist/songwriter David Gilmour, co-founder/drummer Nick Mason are featured in new and exclusive...

You don't have to wish you were there with this doc...
Essentially borrowing the format of the "Classic Albums" series, Eagle Vision and Kayos Productions has just released the excellent Pink Floyd - The Story of WIsh You Were Here on DVD.

Packed with new interviews of the three surviving Floyds (and some old ones with the departed keyboardist Richard Wright) this outstanding documentary sheds light on the quartets follow up to Dark Side of the Moon.

Dark Side of the Moon is arguably one of the finest classic rock albums ever. Moon was on the Billboard chart for a record 741 consecutive weeks. A true concept album that matches brilliant lyrics with memorable melodies. Packaged with iconic cover-art imagery and innovative recording studio trickery - Moon is a true watershed in rock and roll.

The story of that album is brilliantly captured in one of Classic Albums finest installments (for Dark Side of the Moon). Not only did Moon propel the Floyd from astral-jam band cult-status into mainstream super-stardom...

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