Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 1st, 2026
Well, this film features a pretty stacked cast of talents with the likes of Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Mayam Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, and Indya Moore coming together in this triptych divided into chapters set in New Jersey, Dublin, and Paris. Not only is it a stacked cast, but it’s also a lot of repeat business, as this film marked the second collaboration between actress Cate Blanchett and director Jim Jarmusch after Coffee and Cigarettes, the third collaboration between actor Adam Driver and Jarmusch after Paterson and The Dead Don't Die, and the sixth collaboration between actor Tom Waits and Jarmusch after Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth (Waits composed it), Coffee and Cigarettes, and The Dead Don't Die. So obviously, Jarmusch has fostered some great relationships with impeccable group of actors and vice versa; the actors have found a creative storyteller with whom they wish to continue collaborations. This triptych is a example that creative storytelling, as the three chapters, or better known as movements, are narratively independent but thematically interconnected.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 1st, 2026
"Do you want to know if I'm innocent? The last time I was innocent was 15 years ago in court. Innocence doesn't exist in prison. It doesn't matter. Nobody cares. If you care, stay away from me. Don't ask me out to dinner. I get confused."
In January of 1992 at the Sundance Movie Festival the world was discovering a new filmmaker who brought his first effort, Reservoir Dogs, to the festival where it was highly celebrated and acclaimed. The world knew Quentin Tarantino. But that wasn't really his first film credit. Three months earlier at another film festival in Vancouver, Jan Eliasberg's Past Midnight with Rutger Hauer and Natasha Richardson was having its own place on the screen. So what's the connection? Screenwriter Frank Norwood was struggling with the film's script, and an unknown writer was brought in to give it some life. He was so unknown that he didn't even rate a writing credit, but the buzz is he wrote most of what appeared on the screen. Instead he gets a throwaway associate producer credit, and that might have been the end of a short career. Of course, it wasn't, and there are obvious Tarantino staples in the film, which might make a great drinking game if you're up for spotting them all.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2026
"Solitude can be a little dangerous. So can being a Dutton. Violence has a way of finding the Duttons."
Hit television shows have a way of finding Taylor Sheridan, and Yellowstone became one of the biggest in recent years. He has an ability to attract major talent, and getting Kevin Costner for Yellowstone was a huge get and cemented Sheridan's hold on the modern drama by adding a little bit of the old frontier. Of course, his relationship with Costner soured over Costner's attempt to create the ultimate western epic four-part film series. He threw Sheridan under the bus to do it, and the result was a half season of Yellowstone that was rushed and built around the fallout and ultimately unfulfilling to the audience. But one relationship that hasn't soured is Sheridan's relationship with Paramount. He was ready to walk away until he set his sights on a huge ranch that was going to cost him $300 million. That love affair means that he's in for the long haul with Paramount, and we can continue to expect these shows for some time to come.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on August 24th, 2026
When you consider how many Texas Chainsaw Massacre films there are and how many of them are just not good, can you really get mad when a knockoff comes along that’s kind of fun? No, Dolly isn’t about a family of cannibals, but the character of Dolly is mostly Leatherface in a dress, replacing a skin mask for a doll mask and instead of a chainsaw, Dolly’s weapon of choice is a shovel. The film is also a nice departure from the typical psycho killer hillbillies running around the woods. No victims are being forced to squeal like a pig but instead are coddled like a baby, still creepy but just not as traumatizing. This is a film that certainly knows where it’s inspiration came from, and the result is a film that is ripe for watching late at night, and even better if you have a camping trip or hike planned in the near future. Does this mean the film's any good? Well, grab onto your nearest and dearest dolly or plushy, and I’ll tell you all about it.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2026
"Yeah, I'm old. So I know a thing or two about a thing or two."
Jack Reacher is a character found in a collection of novels by Lee Child, who is really British writer Jim Grant. We were introduced to Jack Reacher in the novel The Killing Floor. It would also provide the material for the first season of this Amazon streaming series. As the popularity of the books grew, it didn't take long for the character to reach the box office, and while he didn't resemble the literature character in any physical way, it was Tom Cruise who first brought him to life on the big screen. There have now been two feature films and 30 books released to carry on the exploits of Jack Reacher. Amazon and Paramount Studios have brought him to the smaller screen, and this time I think they did the character far better justice. The response has been quite positive, and now you can judge for yourself with release of Reacher: Season Three on Blu-ray. I had the opportunity to check out the Blu-ray, and it was a pretty good time, to be sure. Here's what I found out.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on August 22nd, 2026
You know exactly what you are getting when you go to watch a Jason Statham movie. There is a playbook that is followed with just enough deviation to make the film slightly different from its predecessors. They usually have a one-word title (Mutiny makes 17 one-word title movies that he’s made), and Statham is portraying some kind of stoic or loner, usually with some kind of military, law enforcement, or possibly assassin background. And finally, typically due to circumstances beyond his control, he is forced to break his isolation, usually to help the innocent and bring down a governmental or criminal conspiracy. Like I said, you know what you are getting when you go to see a Jason Statham movie, and in many respects, Mutiny follows that playbook to a tee. The thing is one thing I can honestly say has never happened while I watched a Jason Statham movie: I’ve never been bored. And Mutiny is no different. Because no matter what the plot is, Statham is going to deliver an action-packed experience that doesn’t rely on a lot of unrealistic sequences. Practically everything that he does, every way that he dispatches someone, is grounded in reality, and I have zero trouble believing that he could kill someone that way if he really wanted to.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on August 22nd, 2026
The title is an obvious nod to the popular tabletop game, and while Hungry doesn't reinvent the wheel, it is a mid-tier thriller. The narrative centers around a diverse group of holidaymakers who book a routine alligator-watching flatboat tour through the Louisiana bayou. There were some familiar faces amongst the cast, such as Madison Davenport, who I haven’t seen since the television version of From Dusk Till Dawn, as well as Joaquim de Almeida, who serves as the primary human catalyst for the film's deadly events. Following watching the film, I did find myself having to research the overall likelihood of an African hippopotamus in the Louisiana bayou. Not so much because I consider the idea a legitimate threat, but more so because I wanted to identify just how out-of-left-field the premise of the film was overall. Based on my research, I was correct to surmise that the idea was out of left field, but not quite as much as I thought it was. Because on the one had there are no wild hippos in the bayous of Louisiana or anywhere else in the United States, but the idea of hippos in the bayou does comes from a real historical proposal.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 20th, 2026
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is August Christopher. I was named for St. Augustan, who coined my favorite phrase, 'Give me chastity and give me constancy, but do not give it yet.'"
See if you can follow me here. The Saint started as a serious of novels by Leslie Charteris in 1926. He was a debonair "spy" who dressed with sophistication and really liked the ladies. He liked the finer things in life, and that often included a nice new weapon or gadget from time to time. I think you're with me so far. He reminds you of Ian Fleming's James Bond. And it's true that Fleming based his super spy on two people. One of them was himself. Yes, Ian Fleming worked on Her Majesty's Secret Service. He was inspired by The Saint, Simon Templar, for many of his personality attributes. The character drifted for decades. There were several Hollywood versions from the 1930's to the 1950's. Like Bond, he was played by several actors, including the immortal Vincent Price. But it wasn't until 1961 that James Bond took his first steps on the path of becoming the most successful movie franchise in the history of the industry. Sean Connery brought the larger-than-life spy to life on the silver screen, and it caused an avalanche of movies, books, and particularly television shows
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 19th, 2026
"One thing I remember about me pap was that he always used to throw me up in the air. Yeah, heh heh ... but he'd never be there when I come down, you know. Heh heh heh. Boy, he had a sensek'a humor, didn't he? Yeah, that was me pap. I remember the time he gave me a electric eel as a toy. Hah, yeah, that was fun. Or, or he'd rock me cradle real, real, real hard and I'd lose me formula. And then he'd say "One day, you'll be a sailor." Heh that's ... that's what I yam today, yeah. Hm. Yeah. Sometimes he'd bounce me on his knee. Heh, most o' the time he'd miss, though, 'cos he couldn't see too well with one eye ... heh, oh, me pap, yeah ..."
It all started with, of all people, Dustin Hoffman. He had a desire to make something that was very kid-friendly.. His original idea was maybe a clown version of Dracula or Frankenstein, and he took the idea to producer Robert Evans. Evans thought the horror comedies were a terrible idea, but in the conversation it came up that the theme from Popeye cartoons was still pulling in over $75,000 in royalties after decades since the last cartoons were made. So the idea of a musical based on Popeye was born. He went to King Features Syndication, who hold the Popeye rights, and bought the film rights.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 18th, 2026
The “death whistle” is something I’ve seen gain some popularity with several of the paranormal YouTubers latching on to this artifact for content. The death whistle is basically an Aztec artifact that resembles a skull, and when you blow into it there’s a creepy screaming noise that comes out of it. Because it’s an artifact from so long ago, archaeologists basically have to guess about what it was used for. For the film they take some liberties and say it was used to conjure “death”, and basically death will track you down and kill you sooner than you were supposed to die. So is Whistle worth checking out, or is it a film that had me begging to blow into a death whistle because the film couldn’t end fast enough? The film has a fun opening sequence where we see a high school basketball player being stalked by death after scoring the winning basket for his team. This sequence follows many familiar tropes, setting up the rules of the film and showing us that death just can’t be reasoned with. We even see him destroy the whistle, but that does nothing, because he still ends up a victim.









