Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2012
"Blacks are mentally inferior, by nature subservient, and cowards in the face of danger. They are therefore unfit for combat." - U.S. Army War College Study 1925
Obviously, there's another story to be told here. George Lucas says that he's been wanting to tell this story for over 20 years. It's a story that has often been told in both film and documentary form. In none of those cases has the movie been made into the kind of spectacle film that we find in Red Tails.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 1st, 2012
For most of the last decade or more CBS has dominated the primetime drama market on network television. One of the reasons, of course, has been the prevalence of top-flight crime dramas like the NCIS and CSI franchises. From 2003 until 2009 the Thursday line-up on the eye network included the blockbuster pairing of the original CSI and Without A Trace. Both were products of filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer's television stable. While CSI focused on the science behind a criminal investigation, Without A Trace took the more traditional route of the human element to the FBI's Missing Persons Unit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 31st, 2012
At first glance it would be very easy to say that Beyond doesn't really offer us anything terribly new in the crime drama genre. For the most part I would tend to agree with that criticism. I would counter with the argument that a very good film doesn't need to be very original to be good. Sometimes the value in a movie lies in the fact that it does what it does do extremely well. That's how I would describe the sleeper direct-to-video release Beyond.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on May 28th, 2012
Let A&E Take You Out To The Ball Game. Our wonderful friends at A&E and History have given us a copy of Houston Astros 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition on DVD to give away. This 5 disc collection follows the highlights of the Astros through the essential games and Astros Memories. You get 4 complete games including both television and radio play-by-play options.
To win this DVD collection just follow these instructions.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2012
"I promise you the secrets of the universe, nothing more..."
It's been an astonishing 15 years since Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones first teamed up as Agents J and K respectively for the intergalactic police force Men In Black. The film was like a breath of fresh air. It combined top flight science fiction fantasy with whimsical humor. It was a hit at the box office, and like most wonderfully original hits it was quickly followed by a sequel that had almost none of the cleverness and freshness of the original film.
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2012
I had the honor to speak to the great Joe Dante. A graduate of the Roger Corman movie machine, Dante has established his place in film history with such films as The Howling, Gremlins 1 & 2, Matinee and the original Piranha. Find out why he's one of the best. Bang it here to listen to my chat with Joe Dante
You should also take the time to visit him at Trailers From Hell
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2012
"It's funny how you wake up each day and never really know if it will be one that will change your life forever. But that's what this day was. The day I left the city to spend a week in the house where my mother grew up. A day I'll never forget."
The Secret World Of Arrietty comes from the collected works of English writer Mary Norton. The first book, The Borrowers, introduced us to the Clock family. They were a race of tiny humans known as Borrowers. They lived beneath the floorboards of normal-sized humans and lived off the things they could "borrow" from the human family.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 22nd, 2012
“LAPD Lt. Carter Shaw and his special undercover task force understand that to collar criminals, one must first get on their level. They also know that going undercover may require cutting ties with those who mean the most. Adrift, isolated, and frequently faced with situations that strain the line between right or wrong, these officers know that all that matters is loyalty to each other and to the task at hand: bringing down the bad guys.”
That pretty much sums up the best part of what makes Dark Blue such a compelling series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 21st, 2012
At first glance Haywire appears a bit out of character for the likes of director Steven Soderbergh. It's not that he hasn't delivered action films in the past. It's that he's never quite tied himself to such a tried and sometimes true formula before. When you first look at the press for Haywire you're going to pretty much dismiss it as a standard action-hero film that follows in the mold of a Steven Seagal/Chuck Norris mold with a touch of Bourne Identity thrown in to meet the more recent trends.
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on May 21st, 2012
On Friday I had a chance to chat with Tom Caltabiano. If you're a fan of the hit series Everybody Loves Raymond or the stand-up of the show's star Ray Romano, you should already know who Tom is. He's been Ray's buddy, touring partner, show writer and opening act since 1991. His intimate documentary of one of those tours is the subject of the new recently released 95 Miles To Go on DVD. Tom talks about the release and his time with Ray on the road.
Bang it here to listen to my chat with Tom C. Podcast
![Trailers From Hell! Vol. 2 [Featuring Little Shop of Horrors Full Feature (Widescreen)] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/trailers-from-hell-vol-2-featuri-large.jpg)
