Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2013
"You call this plain clothes?"
Few shows in television history have the kind of storied history that you'll find with Cagney & Lacey. The show's own story would make for compelling television drama in its own right. It didn't end with simply trying to get on the air. The trials continued through three cancellations and an unprecedented recasting of a lead...twice. It's no small miracle that the show made it at all, let alone lasting for six years and a total of over 130 episodes and television movies.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 27th, 2013
"Poor John Doe, what a way to go."
You might be asking yourself the obvious question here. I know that I was. Who is Arthur Newman? Arthur Newman is Colin Firth. The busy actor has been the king of the hit-or-miss movie. He's scored some wonderful roles in films like The King's Speech. But much of his career has been as a chameleon actor in niche independent festival films. Arthur Newman certainly fits in that later category. In fact, the film has been making its way through the European circuit for the better part of the past year.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 26th, 2013
"Somebody somewhere knows something. And somebody's going to talk."
At the age of 76 many might consider The Company You Keep as a kind of swansong for Hollywood's original pretty boy, Robert Redford. It has all of the earmarks of a grand finale. Redford plays the star role and directs the film as well. It plays out like a message film with the grace of not overplaying its hand. And so, while the film brings up the activists morality of Vietnam-era America, it never becomes preachy or too obvious. In almost every sense of the word this is about as picture-perfect a goodbye as Redford might have asked for.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 24th, 2013
"This series presents information based, in part, in theory and conjecture. The producers’ purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine."
Everybody loves a mystery. I'm not talking about a murder mystery found in a book or movie. I'm talking about the mysteries of life. We're surrounded by them. Do aliens exist? Have they visited us now or in our ancient past? Can plants communicate? Are some sharks immortal?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 24th, 2013
As The Virginian entered its seventh year there were very few changes. Of course, this would be the final year, that could be said. The only new cast member was David Hartman who played David Sutton, a drifter who comes to the notice of The Virginian and hires on at Shiloh. He doesn't appear in many episodes and is almost completely gone in the last handful of stories, returning only for the final episode of the year. Unfortunately, there was one cast member taking his leave. Clu Gulager would no longer be on the show as Deputy Ryker. Many of the rest of the cast would also leave at the end of the next season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2013
The computer-animated feature film has reached the point where you don't have to be one of the big boys to play. While Pixar and to a lesser extent Dreamworks have dominated this feature form pretty much since its inception, there have already been a handful of independent films that have managed to leave their mark on the landscape. Now the foreign market is getting into the act as well. A Monster In Paris, or Un Monstre a' Paris, is the result of that evolution.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2013
"If you ride like lightning you're gonna crash like thunder".
The best film that you may not get an opportunity to see this year is The Place Beyond The Pines. The film has already scored great buzz at a few film festivals and is about to see a very limited theatrical release. It's one of those films that absolutely deserves better, but somehow as you watch it you realize that this limited environment is a perfect match for the movie.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2013
“You give me a uniform, you give me a number on my back — and I’ll give you the guts.”
More than any sport, baseball is all about numbers. Unfortunately, some of those numbers — like 73 (home runs in a single season) and 500 (career homers) — mean a little less in light of the steroid era. Others, like 56 (Joe DiMaggio’s legendary hitting streak), seem destined to live on forever. The most significant number on that shortlist might be 42, worn by Jackie Robinson when he broke Major League Baseball’s color line on April 15, 1947. 42 — the film, not the number — is significant for a somewhat surprising reason.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 11th, 2013
"Lucky Bastard was a pornographic website that invited fans to have sex with porn stars. The following footage is believed to be the last video shot for the site."
You know exactly what that kind of an intro means. You should. The found footage genre has been around even long before it was turned into a modern trend by The Blair Witch Project. Since that time the genre has appeared in both large and small budget films. The shaky footage usually covers a variety of sins by the filmmakers. Rarely does the genre have anything clever or new to dispense. That's not exactly true with Lucky Bastards.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 10th, 2013
David McCallum has been a vital part of two outstanding television shows in his illustrious career. The Scottish-born actor played the Russian/British secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The series capitalized on the whole James Bond fad that was sweeping television both in England and in the United States in the 1960's. The series lasted five years and over 100 episodes. In recent years McCallum has added a 10-year run as pathologist Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on the number one scripted show on television: the original NCIS. In between he's appeared on countless other shows both in England and the States.
