Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2012
Our friends over at Lifetime want to help kick-off your Thanksgiving Day by giving us all something to be thankful for. While you sit down to that great feast don't forget to thank Mom. Here's another great way to thank Mom. Lifetime is giving us a copy of their Moms To The Rescue Collection. That's four movies in one set. You get Honeymoon Mom the story of a young woman left at the alter. Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story and Mom, Dad And Her the coming of age story for one troubled teen. Plus Mom At 16 where a young mom seeks to start fresh in a new town.
To win just follow these instructions.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2012
"For them this is just some place. For us it's our home… it's up to us to fight for it."
For decades it was the doomsday scenario. Cold War Americans lived in almost constant fear that the Soviets might drop a nuke on us and begin Armageddon. It was unthinkable that a conventional invasion could reach our shores instead. Red Dawn stirred its own mushroom cloud of controversy when it reached theaters in August of 1984.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2012
"Pause...take a breath."
At first you might expect A Late Quartet to be about the music. There is certainly plenty of it to go around. The film even manages to convince us that Christopher Walken is a renowned cello player even though we all know what he can do with a pocket watch. Yeah, you caught yourself smiling there, even if you'd like to believe you're above such things. It demonstrates the real strength of the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 20th, 2012
Just in time for the holidays A&E puts together three of their history documentaries and send them out to you in 3D. I'm talking about the History In 3D collection, of course. This is a 3-disc set with an episode on each disc. They come in a nice box with a holograph cover to get you in the 3D mood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 20th, 2012
“In the beginning there was darkness. And then bang, giving birth to an endless expanding existence of time, space, and matter. Every day new discoveries are unlocking the mysterious, the mind-blowing, the deadly secrets of a place we call The Universe.”
The History series has lasted for six seasons to date. The show uses modern space photography, computer-generated images, and demonstrations along with respected scientists to explore the various aspects of our universe.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on November 16th, 2012
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this..."
These were strong words, and the man who spoke them was certainly a dominant figure in American history.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 16th, 2012
"So no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D O A. It's like you're always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week ,your month or even your year. But I'll be there for you..."
And for ten years and 236 episodes, they were there for you. It was part of NBC's famous Must See TV Thursday Night. The show has been a perennial Top 10 placeholder in the Nielsen ratings.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 16th, 2012
"This is your wake-up call."
History is replete with disasters. Some are natural or acts of God. We see them almost every year. It might be a hurricane in the Gulf or an earthquake in South America. Lives are often lost, and damages toll into the millions. We can't completely predict them. All we can do is try to be prepared when the next one strikes.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 15th, 2012
"Early to rise, early to bed. And in and between I cooked and cleaned and went out of my head."
There was a new girl in town for the 1976 television season. Well, she wasn't exactly new. The whole thing started out as a feature film called Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore starring Ellen Burstyn as the title character Alice Hyatt. The film was one of the first feature films directed by Martin Scorsese. Burstyn won the Oscar for her performance as Alice, and the film achieved a ton of critical acclaim and two years later a sit-com on CBS that lasted nine seasons.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 14th, 2012
"The ancients spoke of it. It is the heart of this fierce land. It is carried in the wind. Born of our legends, and when we are put to the test, it is the one thing that we must always be."
Readers of this site already know that I have a particular fondness for most of the films that have come from Pixar. The studio pretty much invented the computer-animated feature film, and they've been setting the bar higher with each new release. I've always thought it was rather fitting that the studio ended up as part of Disney. After all, it was the Mouse House that invented the animated feature to begin with
