Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 20th, 2025
"Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball, From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all, But I ain't seen nothin' like him, In any amusement hall, That deaf, dumb and blind kid, Sure plays a mean pinball."
I was first introduced to The Who through the original Tommy album. It was one of my mother's favorites when I was young, and she had actually written out by hand her interpretation of the story the rock opera appeared to tell. I can't remember those scribblings, and I'm not even sure if they're still tucked away in that Decca album I have around here somewhere. But the music always stayed with me. Now, I didn't ever become a huge fan of the band. I always liked them and collected a couple of their albums over the years. I did play a lot of pinball, however. I fell more in with the likes of Elton John. So you can imagine how excited I was in the summer of 1975 when my favorite musician was cast to play the Pinball Wizard in a movie from the music that had been stuck in my head for years. And while the soundtrack version has been the version I've often found stuck in my head, the original album was never far away either. Apparently that's also the case with Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey. They would reunite and perform the rock opera live celebrating the release's 50th anniversary. Now the film is also celebrating 50 years. I sure feel old. But watching Tommy again sure brought a childhood of memories flooding back in. Shout Factory delivered.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 17th, 2025
"Nothing resolves conflict like a good smack in the chops."
Sylvester Stallone plays mob guy Dwight "The General" Manfredi. It's his first television role, and he couldn't have chosen better than to appear in a Taylor Sheridan show on Paramount+. Sheridan pretty much owns the streaming service, all of it except maybe the Star Trek shows. He knows how to create characters and to then put the right actor in that role. I've seen it happen a thousand times now, from Yellowstone to Mayor of Kingstown and a couple of Yellowstone spin-offs. The part appears made just for Sly, and he makes it worth everything he has, all the while making it look effortless. That's Sheridan's magic, of course. Create and cast well, and no one has to really work at all. Yeah, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but it sure looks that way, doesn't it? Dwight finally got out of prison last season. He'd been loyal to the mob, and now he's looking to see that loyalty rewarded. He's in for a bit of a surprise. The old boss was sick and now gone thanks to his son Chickie, played by The Wire veteran Domenick Lomardozzi. Dwight and Chickie were kind of close, and Chickie referred to Dwight as Uncle Dwight. But now he's a bit envious of the fact that his dad considered Dwight more of a son, and the planned exile to Tulsa kind of backfired on him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 4th, 2025
"We work 364 days a year because on that one day we deliver presents to several billion individual domiciles across 37 time zones without ever being detected by a single human being. We prep, we rehearse every moment, every stop down to the last chimney. So yeah, it's a lot of work."
At first glance, it would appear that the crew for Red One is made up of folks who have had long associations with Dwayne Johnson, from Director Jack Kasdan, who also directed two of the Jumanji films, to writer Chris Morgan, who wrote many of The Fast And Furious films including the Johnson-led spinoff Hobbs And Shaw. He also wrote the last Shazam film, which led to Johnson's spinoff black hole Black Adam. It's a working environment friendly to the actor. But the rumors from this set are loaded with tales of Johnson blowing off work and/or showing up late and unprepared. It's honestly not his usual vibe, and consider his divorce from Fast And The Furious's Vin Diesel revolved around Johnson throwing the same kind of shade on that actor's behavior. I was curious if the on-set issues and also word of a ballooning budget would show up on the finished product. I'm happy to report there doesn't appear to be any disrupted chemistry on the film, and it became easy to dismiss all of that with just a few minutes on the Red One ride. Every year a film or two vies for that potential future classic position that I don't honestly think has been achieved since the 1980's and A Christmas Story. I'd say the next most recent might be the Dickens romp The Man Who Invented Christmas. In any case, I won't be adjusting my traditional holiday viewing to accommodate Red One. That doesn't mean there isn't some fun to be had.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 19th, 2025
"I have seen things in this world that would make Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother's womb! We are not so enlightened as we are blinded by the gaseous light of science. I have wrestled with the Devil as Jacob wrestled the Angel in Penuel, and I tell you that if we are to tame darkness, we must first face that it exists!"
In 1922 during the final decade of the Silent Era director F.W. Murnau conspired with screenwriter Henrik Galeen to do a film based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The problem was that the work was copyrighted and a protected work. They decided to change the name of the vampire to Count Orlok and do the film anyway as Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror. The case ended up in court when the Stoker estate sued the filmmakers for copyright infringement. The court agreed and ordered all copies of the film to be destroyed. Of course, everyone complied, and no one ever saw or heard about the film today. Yeah, well ... not exactly. Eventually copies of the film turned up, and film historians managed to piece the film back together. The only issue was that various translations of the original title cards were missing. An East German collector finally discovered the copy most of us have seen today. From a picture ordered destroyed, it has become one of the most important horror films in the history of the industry. By strange coincidence, the actor who played the wonderfully designed vampire creature was named Max Schreck. He wasn't terribly known, and that last name translates to terror. All kinds of myths and urban myths have floated around since then, some claiming Murnau found an actual vampire to play the role. Shadow Of The Vampire was released in 2000 with none other than Willem Defoe as the actor/vampire. It treated the myth as if it were true. It's a wonderful film, and there have been literally hundreds of films remade from Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror since then. There was even a Nosferatu remake made as recently as 2023, with Doug Jones playing Count Orlok. Dracula has long since entered public domain, and anyone is free to interpret the material today. So it's kind of nice that filmmakers are still doing the Nosferatu version of a film that isn't supposed to exist at all. Isn't life strange?
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on February 14th, 2025
"We share the same world, don't we? This world you would die to save. It's coming. I've seen it in the probability. Seen it plain as day. All you heroes protecting this world. Do you think you're the only ones? Do you think this the only world? We'll see what happens when you have to protect this place from the others."
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is truly at a crossroads. Since the last Avengers film the studio has released one disappointing film after another. The big tentpole stars and characters have been lost along the way, and that star power has seriously damaged the franchise since that time. Certainly there have been some bright spots. Spider-Man No Way Home was the lone exceptional outing, and the recent Deadpool & Wolverine film was just plain fun. With Robert Downy, Jr.'s Iron Man. Gone. Chris Evans Captain America. Gone. Scarlet Johanson's Black Widow. Gone. The films just haven't been quite so epic. There hasn't been the heroic heart. And the box office numbers have been reflecting the decay. There are big plans in motion and Captain America: Brave New World is Marvel's attempt to get back on track. We have The Fantastic Four: First Steps coming this summer and another pair of Avengers films to top off this latest stage. The stakes couldn't be higher, and this film really has to perform. Marvel has pushed all of their chips to the center of the table, and these next couple of films will be all or nothing. With James Gunn rebooting the DC universe, will Marvel be forced to hand over box office domination? This film is the best Marvel film in recent years, but it's still a bit of a shaky start.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on December 31st, 2024
"What F&#k is a shark doing on a plane?"
You remember Samuel Jackson back a few years was fighting off Snakes On A Plane, yeah? Well, now we've got sharks on a plane. So how in the heck did they do that? Well, it requires going back to the 1970's when Irwin Allen was the master of the disaster film, and he had a legion of followers. Writer Andy Mason and Director Claudio Fah found themselves a TARDIS and took their behinds to those golden days of movie mayhem. If you are willing to totally throw logic out the window and just hang with these guys for about 90 minutes, you'll have a bit of fun, and likely you'll forget it by the next day. I happened to catch the film yesterday, and ... let me see ... Someone was doing something, and there were sharks on an aircraft of some kind. Let me go and watch it again. Hold on ...
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on December 29th, 2024
" Well, you can forget what you've learned at training college. Because at the end of the day, there's just one thing that matters in this job - a copper's gut."
Wallace and Gromit is the brainchild of animator Nick Park. The British filmmaker tried for years to bring his clay creations alive, but on his own finished a mere 10 minutes in a little over 2 years. When he met up with Aardman Animations, he was teamed up with the creative talents he needed to make his dream come alive, and come alive these two characters did indeed. They’ve become an overnight sensation in the UK and now all over the world. I was introduced to the characters with the full length feature Wallace And Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit. I have to admit that I was completely won over by the magic of this creation. It’s so simple looking that it almost appears to be child’s play. The truth could not be further from the perception. Stop motion animation goes back to the beginning of the cinema itself. Pioneered by the genius Willis O’Brian and perfected by Ray Harryhausen, it is one of the most painstakingly tedious tasks in the film industry today. It has been all but abandoned except for a select few who still follow in the footsteps of greatness. Give Nick Park credit for keeping the art alive and making it look effortless.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on December 28th, 2024
"The staff of wisdom given to me by Master Oogway himself. It is said that whoever possesses this staff has the power to travel between the realms. The power to unlock the door to the spirit realm. And now the power to open the all new Dragon Warrior Noodles and Tofu, where the broth has kick and the bean curd's a knock-out."
It's hard to maintain the attention of the 21st-century child. Animated movies have to combine enough elements of charm and action to keep their attention for a little under two hours. If you want to keep a franchise going, you have to rip out your sequels on reasonably tight schedules. It was over four years between Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3, and we waited nearly that long between the first and second entry. That's a long time in a culture where we move from fad to fad almost by the hour. But if the films are good enough and leave enough of an impact, you might be able to bridge those years successfully. In three to four years you're almost targeting a new generation of your target audience. This time we didn't wait four years. This time it was eight before we finally got to see Jack Black's Kung Fu Panda 4. Did they make us wait too long? Was the connection still there? If you look at the box office numbers, each film has declined except for this one. But adjusted for inflation, it comes in last in the franchise. You can't put eight years into a franchise gap, particularly one intended for children. They outgrew you, my friend, and you have to work four times as hard to bring them back.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on December 26th, 2024
"Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith. Let us pray that God will grant us a Pope who doubts. And let him grant us a Pope who sins and asks for forgiveness and who carries on."
As awards season has come around this year, I found myself watching several films involving the Catholic Church, from Russell Crowe's The Exorcism to Sydney Sweeney's Immaculate, and finally Cabrini. And now Conclave. I was surprised to find that all four films were relatively respectful, even as they might be pointing out the flaws of the ancient church. All four films were replete with wonderful performances that carried the emotional beats of the stories. At the top of my list from those films is Cabrini, with Conclave coming in a close second. Both received attention in my end-of-year voting opportunities. I've already told you about The Exorcism and Cabrini. Brent Lorenson gave us his view of Immaculate, and now I'll finish off the Holy Four with my take on Conclave.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on December 25th, 2024
"Between 1889 and 1910, over two million Italians immigrated to the United States. They were desperately poor, often illiterate, and almost never spoke English. Many Americans considered these Italians to be of inferior intelligence, fit only for menial labor and a threat to the very fabric of America."
I have to admit to a particular bias here. I am Italian. My grandparents immigrated here in the early 19th century. I am also Catholic, as most of these Italian immigrants were. In addition, I feel a bit of a connection to Mother Cabrini. The first school I attended back in first grade was that attached to my Italian Catholic parish, and it was called the Cabrini Academy. So there is a certain bias toward the subject here, but I might point out it also leads to very high expectations that these subjects are treated correctly. I still very much demanded a compelling story and an inspirational lead. In director Alejandro Monteverde's Cabrini, I was fortunate enough to find both. I know there are folks with prejudices against Italians, Catholics, or both. I suggest you give this a try. It just might change the way you look at these issues.
