Posts by Gino Sassani

"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."

It sure does seem like it was a long time ago since Star Wars was actually very good. It doesn't matter if you thought Empire or Jedi was the last good film; few people that I've encountered mentioned the more recent trilogy in the same sacred breath as those original films. Star Wars gave us swashbuckler adventure in the spirit of the early serials. Then it was about a mythical epic story that swept a generation into its colorful universe. What George Lucas created in the late 1970's will never die. But before long it became more about the creator and less about engaging the fans. The attitude turned into  "this is my franchise and I'll do whatever the heck I want to do with it." First he changed elements of the first films, most notably the "who shot first" controversy over Hans Solo and Greedo. It was as if Lucas was truly feeling like God now. Lucas giveth and Lucas taketh away. The prequel trilogy was all about getting theaters to change to digital and presenting films that shouted wildly, "Look at me". Many scenes were so crowded with visuals that it wasn't even possible to take it all in. The technology began to overshadow the story. And it was always made worse that Lucas didn't seem to care at all what we thought. Star Wars no longer belonged to us.

I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. A&E/History have sent some cool sets that we'll also be giving away during our 12 Days Of Christmas Giveaways.

Well...here it all is. Every episode of the first eight years including the Deck The Halls Christmas Special. You get 18 DVD's in all so this is a big present for the Duck Dynasty fan who wants to keep all of his ducks in a row. That means hours of Phil, Si, Willie and Jase. That also means hours of terrific guest stars and crazy antics. You can give someone the business...the family business... the Robertson family business, that is.

I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. Maybe someone on your shopping list loves movies and loves books. The best place I can offer you here is the folks at Barron's Educational. I've seen two books from them this shopping season that you really want to check out. The first we've already talked about. The second is for that Dr. Whovian on your Christmas list.


The first thing you need to know is that the book isn't laying the claim that these are the very best films ever made. It merely includes movies that for some reason or another demand to be experienced at least once in your life. Many are included because of the influence they have had on those that came after. And while these films might seem primitive by modern standards, we wouldn't have the modern standards without them. Others are included because of some groundbreaking milestone the film measures in the industry. Many are included because of how much they have invaded our pop culture. The movies span all genres, all nations, and all subjects. Each capsule gives us a short description of the film and a brief presentation of the reasons for its inclusion here. The capsules range from very short paragraphs to two-page spreads. There are 75 contributors, so the writing styles vary considerably. The book includes hundreds of wonderful stills from these films and is one of the more informative books I've encountered in the last decade.

I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. Now we turn our attention to the folks at The Film Detective. You won't need Columbo to work this one out.

"I will talk to you of Art, for there is nothing else to talk about, for there is nothing else... Life is an obscure hobo bumming a ride on the omnibus of Art. Burn gas, buggies, and whip your sour cream of circumstance and hope, and go ahead and sleep your bloody heads off. Creation is, all else is not."

It's time to tally up the body count for our 31 Nights Of Terror contests. Thanks to all who entered. If you didn't win this time, keep trying. Thanks also to the studios that made it all happen.

Don't forget we'll be serving up our 12 Days Of Christmas Giveaways in December. That's 12 straight days of contests.

I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. Lionsgate has given us a lot of content this year. They also gave us the best film I've seen all year. That would be Mr. Holmes. From television to theatrical releases to direct to video. Lionsgate has something for you to put under the tree this year.

It's hard to imagine that one could drop nearly all of the detective's iconic features and be at all successful. I mean, really. Can you have a Holmes story without the word “elementary”? Thus bringing up yet another modern version of the man. What about the pipe and deerstalker cap? What if our dear Watson were reduced to a mere 2-3 minutes of film time without ever hearing his voice or seeing his face? What is it that really makes the man who he is to generations of fans? Ah, it's his mind, you might say. What if we even took that away...to a certain extent. Would you...could you still have a Sherlock Holmes story? Add Ian McKellen to the mix and a brilliant screenplay based on the novel A Slight Trick Of The Mind, both written by Mitch Cullin, and the answer is a resounding yes. Yes, you can. Yes, they did.

I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. This time we turn our attention to CBS. You already know about Star Trek releases, but you say you have some drama fans on your shopping list. They don’t want aliens or spaceships. They want stories and criminals getting caught. We’ve got you covered with the best from CBS.

CBS has finally decided to release the number-one-rated show in the world on high-definition Blu-ray. It's a milestone event for the network and for fans of the show, and it only took 12 years to get it done. To be fair, Blu-ray hasn't quite been around for 12 years, but many networks have gotten us caught up with popular shows in high definition by this time. It's remarkable that it did take this long to get a season of NCIS on Blu-ray. Let's hope the numbers warrant that future seasons be given the same treatment and that we'll then be able to get the previous 11. It's an experiment CBS has tried with both CSI and NCIS: LA. Unfortunately, numbers must not have supported that move. But if ever a series deserved to live a long life in high definition, this is the one.

I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. HBO is the spotlight today. A couple of television's best shows had full-season releases in 2015. Of course, we're talking about The Wire and Boardwalk Empire. There were also a few more gems hidden in the year. HBO has stood for premium television for a long time. Before you start shopping for that home video fan, you really need to see what HBO has to offer on Blu-ray.

"Some things stay the same. I mean the gamer is the game."

I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. When it comes to getting the current shows out in high definition, no one does it better than Warner Brothers. I am impressed each year with the number of shows they release on Blu-ray every year. Readers to this site know what I'm talking about. If you have TV fans on your list who also are fans of sci-fi and horror, these are the best sets to get this holiday season. Below you'll find some excerpts from our reviews. I've put it all in one place to make your shopping experience easier. I know how little time you've got with a lot of shopping to do. Don't forget to use one of our links if you get them from Amazon. It'll help keep us going another year.

"I don't know where you came from. I don't know your name. But I have seen you do the impossible to protect the city I love. So for those of us who believe in you and what you're doing, I just wanna say thank you." 

The last time we checked in on Rocky Balboa was 2006. It was a bittersweet coda to a franchise that provided 30 years and six films of the life and times of Rocky Balboa. Some were truly great films. I'd count the first and last as in that category. Some were near misses like the third and fourth films, while the fifth was pretty much a total disaster. In those years and films we watched Rocky go from a hungry Philadelphia wannabe boxer to the champion several times over. Like the franchise, the character had his own highs and lows. There's no question that the Rocky franchise has gone the distance. And while it might have been a split-decision, the Rocky films still stand as the champion of the film genre. It's no surprise that Hollywood would want to pump a little more cash out of this reliable franchise. With Sylvester Stallone not exactly in his peak shape, we enter the often disastrous territory of the roboot/reimagine/remake. Just like an athlete who doesn't know when it's time to hang it up, Hollywood is known for propping up a franchise long after its staying power has faded. In both cases somebody is going to get hurt. But don't call Rocky down for the count just yet. Writer/director Ryan Coogler just might have found a way to breathe new life into the old franchise. Rocky just might have been saved by the bell with the arrival of Creed. All of a sudden it's a whole new fight game.

Adonis Johnson (Jordan) has grown up a troubled youth. His mother is dead, and he doesn't even know who his father is. He ends up in and out of juvenile detention centers until he's rescued by a woman with a story of her own. Her name is Mary Anne Creed (Rashad), and she was married to the late fighter Apollo Creed. The fighter had an affair years ago with Adonis's mother, and now Mary wants to take the boy in and raise him as her own. Adonis finds himself with a new identity that explains a lot about why he is the way he is. It also explains why he'll eventually give up a high-paying career to fight. Up to now he's been completely self-taught and ripping up the Mexican underground fight circuits. Now he wants to go legit and understands that requires the training he never had. There's only one man who can give him that. He makes the exodus from L.A. to Philadelphia where he approaches his father's best friend and fiercest rival...Rocky Balboa (Stallone).