Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 7th, 2024
"Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It has been 40 years since my last confession. I had a drinking problem, and that became a drug problem, and I ruined my life ... There's this thing that has come up. It's a job, and it's coming to me off the back of someone else's tragedy. But maybe work will be good for me, you know? Give me a sense of purpose. Make me stronger. Maybe make my daughter proud of me."
It's the confession of a desperate man, and that's the center of The Exorcism. This year there's a new Gladiator film out, but Russell Crowe isn't going to be fighting again in the arenas of ancient Rome any time soon. Instead he has been spending some time lately doing battle with Satan himself and some of his minions. The Exorcism was actually his first tour of duty in the genre. That film actually wrapped in 2019 but took nearly five years to make it to the box office, were it came and went with little more than a whimper. Later Crowe also starred in The Pope's Exorcist, where he played the top exorcism man in the Vatican. The crazy thing is that film came first, so to most people it looked like The Exorcism was just a cheap redo. That doesn't mean, of course, that this isn't a kind of redo. It is, and no one is really hiding the fact. You'll understand in a minute.
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on November 28th, 2024
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. For Black Friday we turn our attention to Warner Brothers, who are giving us some nice choices on UHD Blu-ray just in time for the holidays.
First up we have two classic films and a second season of House Of The Dragon that are coming UHD for the first time.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 27th, 2024
"Don't hate the player. Hate the game."
When it comes to The Killer's Game, there's a lot to hate and just not enough to love. I happen to like Dave Bautista. He has the physical skills to play incredibly intimidating roles, and he actually has a good bit of comedic timing. The Guardians Of The Galaxy films gave him the perfect place to put all of that on display. He's an entertaining part of an ensemble cast, and he more than pulls his weight in a crowd. He's been showing up in some very important films of late, but up until this point none of these roles required him to step out of the comfortable settings where he can pretty much be him and it works on multiple levels. So we already had a pretty good idea where Dave Bautista's strengths were to be found. It had to happen sooner or later. It's obvious the wrestler-turned-actor has been having a good time in this actor's game, and it was only a matter of time before he might want to see just how far his chops could take him. Could he take on the weight of being a leading man? He chose a pretty safe film, anchored in those things we already knew he could do, with an expanded role that put him at the top of the call sheet for the first time in his career. The evidence has been presented, and the defense has rested its case. The jury is going to be the audience of The Killer's Game, and I think it's safe to say the verdict is in. You might call it a hung jury, but that was because some of decided to take the easy way out and end the misery there. I stuck with it. No suicidal thoughts going through this juror. But I find the defendant Dave Bautista guilty on all counts. Taking on a leading man role is absolutely criminal, and if you have the patience to read on, I'm going to give you my reasons. Just understand this guilt is beyond and reasonable ... forget that. This verdict is beyond a shadow of a doubt. Dave Bautista has been found condemned to going back to making the kinds of films he is good at. Call it community service.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2024
"What we do in life echoes in eternity."
What Ridley Scott does often echoes quite nicely at the box office. In 2000 Ridley Scott released Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe as the Roman Legion turned gladiator that ended in a fight to return Rome to the Senate and its citizens. Maximus fought gallantly and fell just short of his goal. But the story that the film wove was truly a masterpiece and stands as one of my top 10 films of all time, up there with Unforgiven and the first two Godfather films. I've often said in these pages that expectations kill, and I was well prepared for that to be the result when I sat down to the press screening for Gladiator II. Scott himself calls this the best film he's ever made. That's a big boast coming from the guy who brought us Alien, Blade Runner, and, of course, the original Gladiator. I disagree. While I found Gladiator II to be an impressive film from every perspective, it didn't quite make me feel the way I did when I left the theater for the first time after seeing Gladiator. But take heart. It's a damn good movie, and it's a can't-miss for any true film fans out there in the arena. The question is pretty simple. Are we not entertained? The answer is, "oh yeah".
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2024
"Not everybody can become United States Marines. We want the best and we settled for nothing but the best, because there is nothing prouder, nothing finer, nothing standing as straight as a United States Marine. Now they got the Air Force, they got the Navy, they got the Army, they got the Coast Guard - and if you want to join them, go ahead. They got plenty of room. But if you want a challenge, if you want to try something difficult, try to achieve the impossible - try 13 weeks of hell at Parris Island, South Carolina, and find out if you got what it takes, find out if you really are a man, then the Marines might be what you are looking for. Tarawa ... Iwo Jima ... Belleau Wood ... the frozen Chosin Reservoir. First to fight, we have never lost a war. We have always come when our country has called."
Born On The Fourth Of July has been both a controversial film as well as one of Tom Cruise's first breakout roles. Over time the film has become appreciated more as feelings on the Vietnam War have pretty much come full circle in the American political mind. Now it can be viewed for the remarkable performance Tom Cruise delivers and the rather stark reality check Ron Kovic's autobiography provided in 1976 to a nation that might not have been ready to hear it. Times have changed, and I think they're well reflected in Oliver Stone's film Born On The Fourth Of July, which Shout Factory has now made available in 4K for the first time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2024
"You know the Butcher? That freakin' nutjob that goes around just chopping people up? Well, the feds or whatever heard that he's gonna be here today, so they set up a trap for him. This whole concert? It's a trap. They're watching all the exits, checking everyone that leaves. There's no way to get out of here. It's kinda dope, right?"
The idea is actually based on a true story, with a lot of differences. In 1985 the FBI managed to round up over 100 high-profile criminals with a ruse that involved tickets to an NFL game. There have been plenty of other scams where promises of prizes have attracted otherwise cautious wanted people. I was at a promo for some home improvement club store, and while there, a couple of folks were nervous that it was a sting because they had outstanding warrants. It wasn't, but these things can and do indeed happen. The way it's done here leaves one to stretch credibility a bit more than I'm usually willing to go.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2024
"The machines rose from the ashes of a nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind had raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here in our present ... tonight."
The idea for The Terminator came to James Cameron in a feverish dream as he was struggling and about to get fired from Piranha II: The Spawning. He was overworked and stressed and ended up in bed. He immediately wrote a treatment with then-wife Gale Ann Hurd, and they approached Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly to make sure they retained control over the property. Eventually he lost it anyway, and that's why so many franchise films that were out of his control.
Posted in: Site News by Gino Sassani on November 19th, 2024
My name is Andrew and as a child at age 5, I suffered severe burns across most of my body which has left me with various lifelong disabilities. I have little running experience beyond some running up to 10k in University almost 15 years ago.
I plan to run the 34-mile Ultra Bach across the Swansea/Gower coastline this October - having never run a marathon or other longer race before. Major surgery in February 2024 has left me back at square one in my fitness.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 15th, 2024
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 spin-off Hobbs And Shaw. He also wrote the last Shazam film, which led to Johnson's spin-off 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 when you 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. It's nearing Christmas, and 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.
We first meet Jack, played by Captain America himself, Chris Evans, as a guy who is definitely ending up on the "naughty" list. This is the kind of lowlife who takes candy from babies ... literally. There's nothing but coal slated for this guy's stocking. He's a good tracker and bounty hunter, and part of what makes him so good is that he doesn't care what he has to do to bring in his guy. On the other side of the equation we have J.K. Simmons, playing a typical mall Santa. It's Simmons' second time playing jolly St. Nick. He voiced him in the 2019 animated feature Klaus. This mall Santa ain't no typical Santa, it turns out. He's got a huge bodyguard team that looks and acts like the Secret Service (just not when they're guarding Donald Trump). It's a well-oiled machine, and at its head is Callum Drift, played by Johnson. Turns out this is the real St. Nick, codenamed Red One, and he happens to enjoy getting out there with the real people during the holiday season. This is going to be Callum's last Christmas in charge. He has just lost that Christmas spirit, and the dickens of the thing is he's just not having fun anymore. He sees that "naughty" list grow and has kind of lost faith in humanity himself. Nick tries to talk him out of it, but that show has closed. It's a normal everyday Christmas prep back at the North Pole until someone breaches the security dome that protects and hides the magical land that brings Christmas to the hopeful boys and girls every year. They grabbed Nick, and now he's got to be found before Christmas rounds begin. And this doesn't do a lot to strengthen Callum's faith in humanity a lot, either. Neither will his future partner.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2024
"My, what big teeth you have."
Werewolf stories go back to Little Red Riding Hood, and likely even farther than that. Lon Chaney, Jr.'s performance as Larry Talbot, the haunted soul who bears the burden of The Wolfman, is the version that still remains the standard. Before that Werewolf Of London in 1935 started Universal's dip into the Lycanthrope waters, and there have been a few classic retellings of the plights of these men plagued by the sight of the full moon. John Landis was the first to use modern technology to give us a most horrifying transformation in his iconic An American Werewolf In London back in 1981. The Underworld films have been my most recent favorites, and the Universal film is about to hit the box office with a remake of The Wolfman from the team that brought us the clever reimagining of The Invisible Man. Warren Zevon sang about them, and soon you'll be able to ride a Wolfman roller-coaster at Universal's new Orlando theme park, Epic Universe, with an entire universe land dedicated to the classic monsters. In the meantime, Mark Polonia has decided to mash-up the werewolf legends with the recent outbreak of "junkie" creatures. It's not just the Wall Street wolves and the elite soccer moms getting high on cocaine anymore. Forget your trendy addict rock stars. Lately everything from bears to sharks have been tooting the white powder, and the results have been ... well ... more amusing than horrifying. Now we have a Cocaine Werewolf, and it's all downhill from there. Downhill, yes, but somewhat amusing all the same.
