Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning on Blu-Ray! (Comments of the Week)

Written by Vince Mancini / 01.27.13

YAHTZEE!

Ha, I bet you guys thought I’d forgotten about Comments of the Week. NOPE! I was just waiting for you to turn your backs so I could sneak up and break them over your head like a Southern Comfort bottle. KEE-YI! This week, I’ve got a copy of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, to give away on Blu-Ray. This is a film not only directed by a guy who agreed to come on the Frotcast, but received high praise from our very own DVD guinea pig, Morton Salt, who called it “pretty damned good,” saying:

Speaking of which, there really was no need to see any of the previous films.  I don’t regret seeing them (except for 1999’s Universal Soldier: The Return), but I do wish that I hadn’t skipped my daughter’s birthday party just so I’d have the full context when all those topless chicks got their tits shot off or when that guy punched apart a bowling ball.

Bummer, those tits really tied the room together.

We’ll get to the winner in a sec, but first, here at FilmDrunk, we like to celebrate newcomers. So here it is, a brief round up of all the people who dropped by old posts to leave hate mail. Welcome to the party, guys!

From A 2011 post about the new Left Behind movie
jesusservant: Okay so i am cool with some humor especially the saying grace before eating you but guys seriously its gonna happen and only a fool says jesus dosent exist b/c historians agree he did the challenge is to believe and for most historians the bible is considered historically credible so the prophecy isnt that hard to accept eventually especially many of these thing have come to pass (reformation of israel) i am in high school and by no means close minded i have studied many religions

DO NOT GIVE IN TO TEMPTATION OR TO PUNCTUATION. So spake the Jesus.

Read the rest of this entry »

39 Comments TAGS: , ,

Your Mid-Week Guide To DVD And Streaming: For A Good Time, Call The Paperboy

Written by Morton Salt / 01.22.13

Guess which one’s an Oscar winner

With lots of new films hitting DVD today, there’s something for every discerning fan of cinema.  Besides The Paperboy (pictured above) we’ve got new films with Jake Gyllenhaal, Patton Oswalt, Danny Trejo, and Olivia Thirlby.  There’s films about universal soldiers, imposters, fat kids, phone-sex workers, and samurais.  There’s warriors of witchcraft and witch’s brew, and even one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films.

The DVDs:
End Of Watch
The Paperboy
Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning
Nature Calls
Death Race 3: Inferno
Searching For Sugar Man
For A Good Time, Call…
Nobody Walks
The Imposter
Officer Down
Tai Chi Zero
Fat Kid Rules The World
Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai
Hansel & Gretel: Warriors Of Witchcraft
Night Of The Templar
Derby Dogs
Hold Your Breath
Dead Sushi
Witch’s Brew
Zombie Ed

Streaming: Check out your choices here.

Can’t remember which one of these films is an Oscar-nominee?  Continue reading to find out.  Want to know why nobody walks?  Maybe it’s because fat kids rule the world, but you should continue reading just to be sure.  If you don’t really care and just want something to stream on Netflix, click the link above, but you’ll be missing out on a movie that gets the Dove Seal of Approval, despite featuring attempted vehicular manslaughter and scenes of people being covered in human excrement.  The choice is yours. Read the rest of this entry »

26 Comments TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Weekend Movie Guide: Remember The Fugees?

Written by Ashley Burns / 11.30.12

Who knew they’d eventually write Brad Pitt movies?

In Theaters Everywhere: Killing Them Softly, The Collection

In Theaters Somewhere: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning

FilmDrunk Suggests: Vince absolutely HATED Killing Them Softly, which I think looks great. Wait, hold on. Vince liked it. A lot. Holy sh*t, you guys, we agree on something aside from Magic Mike for once. Mark your calendars.

Also, I’m trying to make the upcoming Worst Movies of 2012 feature a little more interactive this time around, so I want to hear from the Drunkards about the movies that they hated the most this year. Consider it the Drunkards’ Choice Award. Leave your most loathed films of 2012 in the comments.

Read the rest of this entry »

66 Comments TAGS: , , ,

Frotcast 124: Smashing Machine/Universal Soldier director John Hyams

Written by Vince Mancini / 10.31.12

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Listen on the player above, or download this week’s episode as an mp3 here (right-click, “save as.”)

Holy crap, a real filmmaker on the Frotcast! In which we talk about movies and everything! This week, we talk to John Hyams, director of the new Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, which is actually getting pretty good reviews and is currently available on VOD (it hits theaters next month). Of course, John also directed The Smashing Machine, an MMA documentary about Mark Kerr shot back in the heyday of Pride (you can also find that online), which was basically an open invitation for me to dork out super hard and ask all about Bas Rutten, Renzo Gracie, steroids, the Yakuza, and the days of legal headbutts. But he’s also got some good stories about shooting movies in Bulgaria, stories about Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, etc. In addition to John, we talk a little about Cloud Atlas and Flight (reviews to come shortly) and about Brendan’s trip to Kauai, where he saw where they filmed Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, got evacuated for a tsunami, and took the zipline tour which was the basis for the South Park episode. Show me those shakas, brah.

THE LIVE FROTCAST AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (SPONSORED BY TALL TALE PRODUCTIONS) IS THIS WEEKEND! SATURDAY AND SUNDAY! IT REASON TO SHOUT! PREPARE YOUR ANUSES!

HEY! Like the show? Nominate us for the Stitcher Awards. That would be hella swell. Subscribe on iTunes (PLEASE RATE THE PODCAST!). Email us at frotcast@gmail.com. Voicemail us at 415.275.0030. Follow me on Twitter. Follow Ben on Twitter. Follow Bret on Twitter. Download the Stitcher App and stream the Frotcast to your iPhone or Android device. Fan us on Facebook.

Read the rest of this entry »

6 Comments TAGS: , , , ,

New Universal Soldier has Van Damme, Lundgren, Facepaint, and Face punching

Written by Vince Mancini / 10.24.12

Do it, Jean-Claude! Do the splits and blunt his sword with your flexible groins!

If you think Johnny Depp is the only famous actor getting into the face-paint game, think again, hotshot. Karate-kicking daddies Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren are both greased up like Kiss rejects for Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, whose red-band trailer just hit the web (cut by the director, John Hyams, who also did the landmark MMA doc The Smashing Machine). It also stars Van Damme’s son, Kris, Roy Jones Jr. and Andrei Arlovski, making it sort of a less-old Expendables. You might rightly expect whatever number Universal Soldier this is to be a direct-to-DVD sh*tpile, but this one has, surprisingly been picking up largely positive reviews. Indiewire went so far as to say it’s better than Skyfall. Hey, if a Dredd movie can be good I’ll believe anything. So far, Jen Yamato’s is the only mildly negative one on RottenTomatoes, but that’s why I always put up the “NO GIRLS ALLOWED” sign on our couch cushion fort before we watch Dolph Lundgren movies. GIRLS! YUCK!

Maybe girls would like these movies more if they just gave them less bellicose titles – like Universal Soldier: Tickle Fight, or Assassins 3: Shabby Chic. Just an idea. You can keep that one.

Read the rest of this entry »

21 Comments TAGS: , , , , , ,

Sign Up

Follow Us