Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 12th, 2016
“’Have gun, will travel’ reads the card of a man. A knight without armor in a savage land…”
Those words ended every episode of Have Gun Will Travel, sung by Johnny Western in a time that such words could be sung without irony. Outside of Richard Boone’s black-clad, craggy, Rhett-Butler-gone-to-seed gunfighter, that song was all I could really recall about this venerable Western from television’s golden age. Would it, like so many revisited shows from my youth, ultimately disappoint? Or would it hold up fifty years after it was originally broadcast, viewed as it would be by the far more jaded, cynical man I’ve grown into?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 11th, 2016
I was entirely too young to remember even the syndicated run that my mother was watching in the late 1960’s. Under more normal circumstances that would not matter as I could introduce myself to this world with the DVD release. That was before 1987 and the release of Brian De Palma’s classic film. Honestly, I simply can’t watch these episodes without thinking of that movie. For an entire generation that film has defined these characters and that time. It’s unfortunate, really, because this 1960 series had a lot going for it, particularly when you look at what else was on television at that time. Never before had such brutal violence in such a starkly real world graced the black and white sets of America.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2016
Shout Factory digs into the archives for this one. It was back in 1988 that French director Jean-Jacques Annaud went into the wilds to bring us The Bear. Of course he's best known for his take on primitive humans in the more successful Quest for Fire. Like that film, The Bear uses almost no dialog. While it appears to be a nature story akin to Disney's recent Bears, these animals are trained and following a carefully-crafted script based on a novel written by fellow Frenchman Gerard Brach. There is also a small use of stop-action bears that were created by Jim Henson out of his Creature Shop.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2016
"Suit Up!"
When I was a kid we had something called a toy box. Do kids even have such things anymore? Inside we were supposed to keep our toys when we weren't playing with them. Inside mine there were dinosaurs, cars with track, army men, spaceships ... and yes, superheroes. To open the toy box meant to prepare yourself for imagination and fun. Sure, the box got crowded after a while, but I was always filled with some kind of anticipation when I looked inside. Today going to see a Marvel movie is very much like lifting the lid on a toy box.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2016
"I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is back on the scene!"
Rudy Ray Moore can't act to save his eternal soul. In fact, everything about Dolemite makes an Ed Wood film look like a Cecil DeMille epic masterpiece. So what is it about this cheap blaxsploitation film that gives it legs over 40 years after it was first released? If I could truly answer that, I would have the answer to Life, The Universe And Everything. What I can tell you is that when I found out that Dolemite was coming here to be reviewed, I couldn't hide that big wide grin on my face for hours.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 30th, 2016
"Let's go find you a fish."
I've been told enough times that it is often not a good idea to meet your heroes. It's too often impossible for anyone to live up to expectations, particularly when they are already up on a pedestal in our minds. All humans have their flaws, and Ernest Hemingway was no exception. I never met him. He killed himself around the time I was busy being born. I often joked to my writing professors that he feared my arrival. The truth is that he had so many demons. It isn't a secret today, and it wasn't then, at least not for anyone familiar with his work.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2016
"You must be kidding."
It is the most requested photograph from the White House archives. I'm talking about a photograph of Richard Nixon with The King. This particular King's kingdom wasn't a nation or political group. Of course, I'm talking about Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. The meeting occurred in the days before Nixon installed his infamous recording equipment and long before that fateful break-in at Watergate. So no one really knows what was said in the meeting. Now director Liza Johnson attempts to take us behind the closed doors of the Oval Office on that fateful day in December of 1970 when the leader of the free world met with the leader of a generation
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 22nd, 2016
Dr. Temperance Brennan, or Bones, (Deschanel) is the world's leading bone specialist. She works in Washington, D.C. for the famous Jeffersonian (I assume it's intended to be the Smithsonian). Her talents have proven themselves very helpful in solving crimes where skeletal remains are all that there is to go on from the victim. Her FBI agent/liaison is Seeley Booth (Boreanaz). Together they have an uneasy relationship that grows into a kind of friendship and eventually a marriage with a young daughter. The problem is that Bones doesn't have a ton of social skills. She relies on Booth to guide their social interactions. More on that later. The lab is run by Dr. Camille Saroyan (Taylor), who has become a bit of a guiding mother to the team.
Posted in: Site News by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2016
Paul's been with us for a while. Regular readers are familiar with his work because he's just reached his 200th review. He's absolutely the most off-the-wall writer here, but we love him because he makes the rest of us look sane. Hopefully, he'll be driving us crazy for another 200.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 20th, 2016
"Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead."
When it comes to Pretty Little Liars, it seems making the fans crazy is what they do best. The fifth season of the show is out on DVD, and this is no place for beginners. If you don't know who Aria, Spencer, Emily, Hannah, and Alison are, it's time for you to head back to the beginning and catch up. You can find our reviews from those seasons here. For the rest of you, let's talk Pretty Little Liars, shall we?
