Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2017
I was eight years old when Armstrong first stepped on the moon in July of 1969. Like every kid my age, it filled me with a feeling that I was lucky enough to get in on the ground floor of humanity's grand exploration of space. By the time I was 15, we had landed the first probes on Mars. We were certainly on our way. The sky literally wasn't the limit anymore. But then it all stopped. By the 80's we had shifted our focus to low Earth orbit, and we haven't explored the limits of space with a manned mission in nearly 50 years. Even the Space Shuttle is gone, and we don't even have the capability to send Americans to the space station that we mostly paid for without hitching a ride with the Russians. And if you've been following world events at all, that ride isn't a sure thing anymore. That 8-year-old with the mile-wide grin would never have believed we'd be so earthbound by the time he reached his mid-50's.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2017
Ben Franklin once said that there are two things that no one should see made. He was talking about sausage and laws. In the 18th century most people had little exposure to the workings of their government. Campaigns were waged on the road in public squares, and seldom by the person running for office. Party nominations were held in halls attended only by the party faithful. It was here in the span of a few days that a nomination would be haggled out of the delegates who attended. Since the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, the selection of nominees was handed to the registered voters, usually of the party in a series of primary elections that begin in January of each election year. The campaigning has become intense and now often begins nearly a year before that first nomination struggle.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on April 16th, 2017
From all of us here at the Upcomingdiscs Family, I would like to wish you a very Happy Easter.
May your gatherings be blessed. Enjoy some family, sun, and when it gets later, gather around the home theater for a nice family film or two.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2017
Let me tell you a few things about movie reviewers. We're the kind of people who love watching movies. We spend entirely too much time doing so, and we can find some entertainment even in a bad film. We're the kind of folks who don't ask what's playing when asked if we want to go to the movies. The answer is always yes. When someone applies to write for Upcomingdiscs, one of the first things I tell them is that they have to watch a movie all the way through...no matter how bad it might be. I've always been the kind of person who could do that. I've watched some stinkers in my day, and I never once left a film until the ending. Sure, there have been a couple of times I was tempted. I've had a few painful experiences. No film has ever put me to the test as much as Why Him? Halfway through the movie I was asking Why me?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2017
"You have to start somewhere."
I could sense a great disturbance in the Force. I could not quite put my finger on the reason, but there appeared to be much to worry about with the debut of the first ever Star Wars film that was not one of the driving episodes in the epic story of the Skywalker family and friends. There was worry that Disney might have been pushing their luck with these sidetrack stories. The Force Awakens was very good, but should the Mouse House really be tempting fate with such "filler" material? Then there were the disturbing reports that the film required so many rewrites that as much as $5 million had been spent on the services of Tony Gilroy to provide those touch-ups.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2017
20th Century Fox asks the question Why Him? And we have the answer. Thanks to our cool buddies at Fox we've got a copy of Why Him? on Blu-ray to give away to a lucky Upcomingdiscs follower. Bryan Cranston and James Franco battle wits in this confrontation between Dad and the Rich Boyfriend. We're giving away the laughs. All you have to do is enter.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2017
"What have you been up to in your little zoo?"
It appears that we have been due for one of those untold stories amid the many tales of courage and bravery both fact and fiction, real and imagined, that have been told of the World War II era. There have been plenty of the battlefield hero films that include last year's exceptional Hacksaw Ridge from Mel Gibson. Then there are the quiet and unlikely heroes. These are people who did incredible things that were often unknown during the war and often even after it was all over. Schindler's List has become the gold standard for these kinds of emotional war movies. The Zookeeper's Wife is set in the mold of that kind of a film, telling essentially that very kind of tale.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 1st, 2017
"In space no one can hear you scream"
Yes, Life is very much a knockoff on the basic premise of 1979's Alien. That's not so much of a problem for me. It's become increasingly true that there are few truly original ideas remaining, at least in Hollywood. And while it's trendy to complain that this is the unique state of affairs of our time, that isn't really true either. Alien itself was pretty much a knockoff of the 1958 classic It The Terror From Beyond Space, where a vicious life-form is a stowaway on a ship sent to rescue the lone survivor of a Martian expedition. In all three films we are treated to a claustrophobic rendition of Agatha Christi's Ten Little Indians as an alien creature picks off the confined astronauts one at a time.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2017
How long has it been since you’ve spent some time with Mama? It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 25 years. Our good friends at Time Life have decided that it’s just been too dang long. Of course, we’re talking about the television classic Mama’s Family staring Vicki Lawrence. We’re teaming up to give you a good deal of time to spend with Mama. It’s called Mama’s Favorites and it’s a collection of 6 DVD's. There's one from each season featuring Vicki Lawrence’s hand-picked favorite episodes. You get 37 episodes in all. Guest stars include Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman and Alex Trebek.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2017
Star Trek Voyager was the third spinoff from the original Star Trek, following the superior Next Generation and the inferior Deep Space Nine. While the idea was quite an original premise, the cast never seemed to gel. The obvious attempt at political correctness gives us the most diverse cast yet on Star Trek, including the first female captain. Kate Mulgrew is the weakest captain to date on Star Trek. (I know I’ll catch heat for this.) The reason is not her gender, but such a lack of strength. She never walks, but seems to glide across the bridge when she moves. The strongest characters come in Tom Paris, the Federation inmate, and Torres, the half-Klingon, half-human hybrid. There is real passion in those characters that keeps the cast interesting enough. The combination of Federation and Maquis (a rebel Federation group) members was a great setup that too quickly gets tossed aside in later years. There’s plenty of Star Trek eye candy and a whole new quadrant of aliens to meet here. It had been quite some time for me since I had seen Voyager.
