Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 15th, 2014
"This is the story of a man who won by choosing love over fame, fortune and countless adventures..."
Danny McBride managed in inhabit the role of Kenny Powers to such an extent I do appear to have trouble keeping them separate. Now the countless adventures continue for McBride who is going to have to get us all to see him in a new light as he leaves troubled Powers behind and moves on to other things. For fans it's a bittersweet goodbye to Eastbound & Down. The final episodes have aired and now they are available on this 2-disc Blu-ray swansong.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 14th, 2014
"I was cast into being in the winter of 1795 a living corpse with a soul, stitched, jolted, bludgeoned back to life by a madman. Horrified by his creation, he tried to destroy me..."
We all know the story told by the young teen wife of a poet: Mary Shelley. Told to entertain guests on a stormy night, it has become the stuff of legend. Brought to life by Colin Clive's mad scientist in the shape of Boris Karloff in the Universal Golden Age of horror, the monster has had a face. Since that time studios from Hammer to Paramount have left their own marks and scars on the creature that often mistakenly bears the name of his mythic creator. The name of Frankenstein.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 13th, 2014
It's hard to review a series starting from the fourth season, which is exactly what I had to do when Rookie Blue arrived for review recently. In the early days of television, it wouldn't have been a problem. Most shows, cop shows in particular, had a full story with each episode and a continuity that didn't require you to see any episodes in any particular order. This was a must if a show were to find an afterlife in syndication where show orders were largely disregarded. Starting a show in year four merely required understanding the set up, getting to know the quirks of the characters and watching it all play out. Since Hill Street Blues changed the landscape of the cop drama, we've learned to follow story threads over multiple episodes and even seasons. Since then that concept has been jacked up to the nth degree, and there are shows you wouldn't even think about joining in the fourth season. Fortunately, Rookie Blue isn't quite there.
Even the most complex of shows often provide what are called "buy-in" points. These usually occur at the beginning of episodes or mid-season breaks. They allow new viewers a convenient place to join with minimal confusion. Shows must grow or die. Somehow even the most mythology-based shows have to grow their audience. With Rookie Blue, there are only 13 episodes per season, so there isn't a lot of time to provide that entrance ramp. If you already know the show, you've already seen these episodes and likely have decided if you're going to pick them up. The rest of you might be curious. What you want to know is can you "buy-in" at season four, at least enough to keep from feeling left out. The answer is yes and no.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on May 13th, 2014
Our very good buddies over at Star Vista and Time Life Entertainment have a real classic treat for one lucky winner here at Upcomingdiscs. You're invited to spend 17 wonderful evenings with Dean and his pals as they roast some of the biggest names of the 70's and 80's. The Dean Martin Collector's Edition features uncut roasts of the likes of Redd Foxx, Betty White, George Burns, Ronald Reagan, Bette Davis and even George Washington. It's a timeless treasure, to be sure.
To win just follow these instructions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 11th, 2014
If anything, the third part of the Godfather series of films is symbolic of when too many sequels are greenlighted, and consequently, the film is doomed to fail. More often than not, the reason why these films crash and burn is because of major studios acting like Adelphia executives and wanting more money, and in using the previous films’ successes as leverage, they lose sight of things like quality. It’s happened to other trilogies. And if you put together previous films with the reputation that the first two Godfather films have, the only question left to answer is whether or not the third film would be a minor or major letdown. Most of the essential players returned, with the exception of Robert Duvall. (Duvall said Francis Ford Coppola never really negotiated with him, while Coppola says that Duvall asked for more money, so who knows?) Mario Puzo helped out with another part of the story, so why did this film not live up to the hype?
Well, this is by no means a slap to Coppola and Puzo, but the story was too nostalgic. A good portion of the film was told with clips from the other movies. While understandable, it didn’t address some of the performances from the cast. Pacino’s performance was pretty good and more subtle than I first remembered, and Andy Garcia’s role as Vincent (Sonny’s bastard child) still stands up after these years too. But Talia Shire as Connie clearly is the evil mastermind behind a lot of the Corleones’ present activities in an underappreciated performance. And in considering the evolution of her character from Part 1 to Part 3, her transformation was a little more gradual, but on par with Michael’s. Shire definitely deserves more praise than she got in this series. On to the bigger question: did Sofia Coppola as Michael’s daughter Mary REALLY stink up the joint in this film? Well, I think that she’s gotten some unfair slams through the years, considering she had little experience on a movie set aside from watching her Dad direct. I mean, imagine how good you would be when you’re sharing scenes with Al Pacino. Exactly! For her to be a scapegoat as to why Part III wasn’t a good film is a little unfair.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 7th, 2014
"In our findings on Gamera, we've ascertained that: Firstly, it is attracted to and consumes fire. Secondly, it also seems to possess an internal power plant, of sorts. This emits a signal frequency that can jam radio communications. In order to store up energy reserves, Gamera consumes inorganic resources. Not only does it consume petroleum as well as other mineral and fossil fuels, but Gamera may also seek out atomic bombs."
Ask anyone about Japanese monster movies and Gamera usually won't be the first name that comes into their minds. Godzilla would likely dominate the conversation, and for most of the last 60 years the folks at Toho have been synonymous with large monsters. But they didn't exactly hold a monopoly on the big beasts. Kadokawa Pictures had their own little monster franchise going on. It all started in 1954 with Gamera: The Giant Monster. From 1965 through the 1970's the studio would produce eight Gamera films in all. Now Mill Creek has gathered all eight films into two four-movie Blu-ray collections.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2014
"Let's Be Careful Out There!"
It started as a mid-season replacement on NBC and ended up anchoring NBC's famous Thursday night lineup for seven years. In that time Hill Street Blues racked up enough awards to fill a lot of trophy cases. The face of television would be changed forever. There was nothing like it before, and there hasn't been anything like it since. It was a breeding ground for brilliant television show-runners like Scott Brazil (The Shield), David S. Milch (Deadwood), Walon Green (ER), Dick Wolf (Law & Order), Ken Olin (Alias) and David Black (CSI:Miami). In football they talk about coaching trees which include successful coaches who came under the tutelage of certain iconic men. In television you won't find a larger coaching tree than Steven Bochco and Hill Street Blues. You can add the likes of David E. Kelley (Boston Legal) and Rick Wallace (The Closer).
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on May 5th, 2014
Karl Mueller is a new director on the horror scene. His Mr. Jones is out today from Anchor Bay. It's a sort of hybrid "found footage" and nightmare thriller. The film features Jon Foster (Accidentally On Purpose) and Sarah Jones (Vegas). I had the opportunity to chat with Karl about his unique film. Bang it here to hear what he had to say about the elusive Mr. Jones: Karl Meuller Interview
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2014
"There are dark days ahead."
When Marc Webb took over the reigns of Spider-Man over at Sony, I had very mixed feelings. I was a pretty big fan of the comic as a kid, and the Raimi films were a pretty exciting time for me. OK, maybe not the third one. Webb came along and he put a fresh spin on the web-spinner by returning much of the story to its roots. I liked his first film, although it hasn't aged as well for me as the Raimi films did. But you can't get much better than Spider-Man, and I watched with diminishing anticipation as word leaked out bit by bit what Webb and Sony had in store for Peter Parker beyond The Amazing Spider-Man.
Posted in: Random Fun, Release Announcements by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2014
"This is class here, and you don't ever want to spit on class."
All this week we've been talking about Hill Street Blues. Why? Because Shout Factory has finally given fans what we've literally waited decades to have. The entire seven seasons of Hill Street Blues are finally available in one fine collection. I've been hard at work on the review, but we're talking 144 episodes, and I'm eating them as fast as I can. We hoped to have the review up today, but there is still a little more to watch. In the meantime we have another character profile to keep you going until next week.
