Peanuts: EMMY Honored Collection (DVD)

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

While the rest of America is celebrating the resurgence of the Peanuts with “The Peanuts Movie,” those that want an education in to the appeal of the series can pick up Warner’s latest release. While the holiday series from the Peanuts are typically timeless and quite iconic, the Peanuts has also earned themselves plenty of Emmy nominations and a few wins with some non-holiday themed Charlie Brown specials that are also quite good in their own right. Warner releases over four hours of Charlie Brown specials on a two DVD set that is so worth the pick up. Especially if you’re a hardcore Peanuts fans like yours truly.

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Mike Tyson Mysteries: Season One Uncensored (DVD)

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

“Mike Tyson Mysteries” isn’t just a fun self aware satire of Mike Tyson, who seems to have a good time poking fun at himself, but is also a really clever poke at Hanna Barbera. Everything from a talking animal sidekick (incidentally a talking pigeon), a snooty ghost, geeky teen detective, and absurd mysteries make “Mike Tyson Mysteries” a hilarious series. Even the notion of basing a series around a random celebrity is typical seventies Hanna Barbera. Even the DVD for the first season is sorted out like one of the Hanna Barbera Archive releases for one of their many obscure series. That much attention to detail just has to be appreciated.

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Ash vs. Evil Dead, Season 1, Episode 1: El Jefe

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Here were are many years later, and Ash is finally finding a life for himself that he’s happy with. Granted he lives in a trailer, picks up sleazy women at bars, and works at a store where he’s despised by his boss Mr. Roper, but it’s a life he’s comfortable with at least. After hiding out for many years from the deadites, they’ve finally found him and are hell bent on destroying him and the world. And it all happened because of Ash and a pot fueled bender with a gorgeous woman one night that caused him to irresponsibly read from the Necronomicon in an effort to impress her. All roads begin to converge as Ash begins getting horrifying signs from Deadites, causing him to pick up and move his trailer once again.

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Rankin/Bass Festival Of Family Classics: Jack O Lantern (1972)

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I grew up watching Rankin Bass cartoons. I loved them, and watched mostly around the holidays. So every single Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent with the folks at Rankin Bass. Someone somewhere would air one of their numerous specials every year, so I love this company. “Jack O Lantern” though is very new to me, and one I was never really familiar with. Which is shocking considering “Jack O Lantern” is really quite a good adventure tale that I would have loved as a child.

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Gary Larson’s Tales from the Far Side (1994)

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Enjoying “Tales from the Far Side” is based on whether or not you enjoy Gary Larsen’s original comic strip. I’d go so far as to say that the original comic strip was never this dark or surreal. I definitely wouldn’t call the animated special from Gary Larson funny, but it definitely succeeds in irony and some very morbid animated pieces. Rather than a fluid narrative, “Tales from the Far Side” shifts from scenario to scenario, all of which are interconnected by some circumstance.

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The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1979)

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I fondly remember renting “Meet Rockula and Frankenstone” quite often from our local videos store when I was a kid, and thankfully the movie genuinely holds up. Like all great comedy series, the Flintstones have had their share of crossovers, and this time they have the misfortune of meeting Dracula and Frankenstone. Or their stone age counterparts, as it were. While it’s not raucously funny as when Abbot and Costello met them, it’s a darn good short movie with the Flintstones doing what they do best.

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The Simpsons: Halloween of Horror

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

“Look I don’t want to be rude, but you sad losers should go suck somewhere else.”

Like every other hardcore Simpsons fan, I was a bit surprised that the series decided to not go with “Treehouse of Horror” this year. But FOX publicists assured fans that the following week would bring a new “Treehouse of Horror.” Even the characters address it in the first few minutes, as Homer has to appease Flanders, who asks why Halloween isn’t being celebrated in a treehouse this year. Thankfully “Halloween of Horror” is an experiment, and a damn good one. In all of the twenty seven seasons of “The Simpsons,” there were Christmas and Thanksgiving episodes, but Halloween was a special event with standalone non-canon horror stories meant to pay tribute to everything from Stephen King to Edgar Allen Poe. This year, the series treats us to two Halloween based episodes! Thankfully, “Halloween of Horror” is quite great and reminded me of a time where “The Simpsons were hilarious.

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