Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2025
"One … two … Freddy’s coming for you, three … four … better lock the door, five … six … grab your crucifix ..."
Freddy might have been born in the mind of Wes Craven, but he grew and developed in the knife-wielding hands of Robert Englund. Granted, not all of these films are equal in quality, but the first was everything you could ask for in a horror/slasher film of the era. Freddy himself is by far the most colorful and animated of the slashers. His burned face, fedora, striped sweater, and knife-blade glove were all integral parts of the wise-cracking maniac. Now Warner Brothers has released the original seven films on UHD Blu-ray in Ultra High Definition. It's a dream come true ... well ... at least a nightmare come true.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2025
"It wasn't a dream; at least that's what I believe. The thing is I felt hurt and plenty sad, and there were times when I thought I couldn't go on. But I know I'm not the only one suffering. I want to protect everyone's future. I need to keep pushing forward. I feel that more every day."
Ultraman is a huge part of Japanese culture and pretty much has been since the original live-action show in 1966. Perhaps Godzilla started the ball rolling, but Ultraman brought us these monsters on a regular basis. In Japan, Ultraman is like our Superman. He’s an iconic hero and a huge part of the pop culture. Since the 60’s he has appeared in many forms, most of them animated. But it is this 1966 series that made a ton of us kids fall in love with him and an entire genre. Yes, there were many from the era: Space Giants featured a giant fighting robot who fought monsters and sometimes converted into a spaceship (yes, before transformers were ever thought of)
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2025
"I'm not a bad guy. I just made bad choices. I have a plan."
Derek Cianfrance doesn't have a lot of movies in the director's chair, but his 2012 The Place Beyond The Pines was a pretty solid film. Since then he's been pretty quiet, and he's finally surfaced once again with the rather off-kilter "based on a true story" crime comic drama Roofman. he's brought Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, and Peter Dinklage along for the ride. It's been something of a sleeper, coming with little advanced buzz and flying under the radar. There's not a lot of competition out there right now, so there's a small sweet spot here where the movie can make an impact, and it's worth a look while you wait for your favorite horror film to haunt your Halloween movie-going.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2025
"There are no industry secrets. We can always meet our life partner out in the wild or swiping on apps, but the happy ending to a first date is not the second date. It's changing each other's diapers and burying each other. You're looking for a nursing home partner and a grave buddy. Who our partner is, it determines our whole life and how we live not for one, two, ten years, but forever."
Celine Song delivers her second feature film from the director's chair. She returns to basically the same themes of a woman trying to decide her romantic destiny between two men, but this isn't the same film as Past Lives. Materialists is a much more serious film, while still playing in the same gene pool as the rom-com. I don't think you'll find yourself laughing in this one, and it's a rather clever way of presenting those same themes and ideas. In Materialists, we're introduced to romance being distilled down to a mathematical equation
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2025
It was only a matter of time before we would see those who found success on platforms like TikTok and YouTube try to make the transition to the big screen. Sam and Colby found moderate success with their fans, but really, to the rest of the world it was barely noticed. Now later this month we’ll get the highly anticipated Shelby Oaks from Chris Stuckmann, who got his start with movie reviews and creating content on his YouTube channel. But now we have House on Eden, a small-budget found-footage film from content creators Kris The Girl and Celina Spooky Boo. I’ll admit I’ve actually been following their content for a few years, and I was a little optimistic about what these two would come up with, but I have to admit this was disappointing and frankly just lazy. To be blunt, it is an insult to those out there who are grinding to create the best film they can on a shoestring budget. The film follows a trio of content creators (they are basically playing exaggerated versions of themselves, not even bothering to change their names) led by Kris Collins.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 1st, 2025
“Since 1970 a rogue group known as UFO Sweden has been investigating unexplained phenomena. This story is inspired by that determination to answer humanity’s ultimate question: Are we alone?”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2025
In 1887, readers of the popular periodical Beeton's Christmas Annual were to receive quite a special treat. There wasn't much fanfare or hype to the event. Inside the pages of the magazine was a story called A Study In Scarlet. It was a detective story, perhaps like many published before, except for the detective himself, a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Together with his faithful companion and chronicler Dr. Watson, Holmes would win the hearts of those holiday readers. It might have been an ordinary day, but the world was about to change. Sherlock Holmes would become the most famous detective in the world. His stories would remain in print nearly 130 years later. Over 100 films would be made featuring the character. There would be television shows and cartoon spoofs. No other character has appeared in more productions.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2025
You likely know Scarlett Johansson best as Natasha Romanoff aka The Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic universe (MCU). But Romanoff has been killed off with a heroic death, and even with all of this multiverse stuff going on in the MCU, she has made it pretty clear that she doesn't see the character returning. Her resume has taken a bit of a turn, and it looks like she's out there trying to reinvent herself a bit. Her most recent role was on the latest Jurassic World film, and I would argue her character wasn't very far from the one she's left behind, but it's a start, I assume. Where the actress has really reinvented herself is as a first-time director with Eleanor the Great. She's starting small. No huge budgets and mega-CGI stuff going on here. She's keeping it simple and as far away from the image as possible. But that might be your surface reaction.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2025
"That is where you've always been wrong about me, Lex. I am as human as anyone. I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning, and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices that I can. I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that's my greatest strength. And someday, I hope, for the sake of the world, you understand that it's yours too."
I'm much more of a Marvel guy than a DC guy, but there are great characters and stories in both cinematic universes. DC pretty much invented the entire idea of a superhero when two young guys in New York came up with a new idea back in the 1930's. When Superman was first introduced to us, it was in Action Comics #1 back in 1938 from the writer Jerry Siegel and the artist Joe Shuster.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2025
"Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. It's about five o'clock in the morning. That's the Homicide Squad - complete with detectives and newspapermen. A murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the ten thousand block. You'll read about it in the late editions, I'm sure. You'll get it over your radio and see it on television, because an old-time star is involved - one of the biggest. But before you hear it all distorted and blown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe you'd like to hear the facts, the whole truth. If so, you've come to the right party. You see, the body of a young man was found floating in the pool of her mansion - with two shots in his back and one in his stomach. Nobody important, really. Just a movie writer with a couple of 'B' pictures to his credit. The poor dope! He always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool - only the price turned out to be a little high. Let's go back about six months and find the day when it all started."
The term "classic" is misused these days. I know many fellow critics who fall in love with too many films and rate them high with the idea they are going to be "classics".
