Posts by Gino Sassani

Every year when the Academy Awards have been given out, I look over the winners in each category, and more often than not I scratch my head at the ultimate winners. I find myself wondering if they saw the same movie I saw. I start to ponder if there might be an alternate-universe version of these movies that somehow find themselves in the hands of the Academy jury. Sure, once in a while they get it right.

"In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I am He. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, was made nothing that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of man. And the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not. The greatest story ever told..."

Every spring around the time of Easter you could count on several annual films to make their way to televisions across the country for special family presentations.

I've long held the belief that the folks at Pixar are really just children who have refused to grow up. That doesn't mean that they don't have to deal with the realities that adulthood thrust upon each of us. I'm sure they have families and are responsible citizens and parents. They consistently make movies, that while there is certainly appeal for children, are obviously intended for adults, adults like them, who have decided to never grow up. If you ever required proof of that concept, The Incredibles should prove the point quite nicely.

"So far every person I've met in this strange place suffers from the most florid delusions, chasing green mists and looking for lost lords. I can only assume that this is the result of poor diet, or they're all just barking mad."

C.S. Lewis created an incredibly imaginative world when he wrote his Chronicles Of Narnia. The stories were an escape, of sorts, from a war-torn Europe. They integrated elements of Christianity in an effort to provide a semblance of hope in the form of a children’s fairy tale.

"I guess every town has their own boogeyman stories... There's always a moral, mainly don't pick on the nerdy kids, don't have pre-marital sex, don't do drugs."

In the case of Blood Oath the local stories involve a family called the Krupps. Apparently they had trouble having a baby, so they sought supernatural help. A witch instructed them to place a drop of each of their blood in a vial and bury it at the base of an ancient tree. Suddenly the Krupps are pregnant with twin girls. Of course, every deal with evil requires a sacrifice, and when the Krupps refuse to give one of their two children, evil takes its own course.

"A trip down memory lane and right into harm's way."

From the first frame to the final credit sequence, you will at once feel like you're watching some lost 1980's slasher film that was somehow misplaced among the entire generation of low-budget formula horror films. The music sounds almost like a direct rip-off of John Carpenter's Halloween theme, and that's not intended as an insult. The cheap synth track was the soundtrack for an entire generation of late-night-date movie-goers from the mid 1970's until the 80's ended.

One of Upcomingdiscs readers, Andrea Mandarino was one of the winners of the contest.

Upcomingdiscs would like to congratulate her on her winning design.

Andrea's design can be seen here: Scarface Design

SCARFACE arrives on Blu-ray on September 6, 2011. Click continue for the full list of winners.

Our very good friends over at Fox Home Entertainment are at it again. They have given us a 2 copies of the award winning hit Bollywood film 3 Idiots on DVD to give away. In the tradition of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, this film is refreshing comedy about a rebellious prankster with a crafty mind and a heart of gold.  To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.

Contest is now closed Winners are Robert Wise & Lori Smyth

When the WB merged with the UPN to form the hybrid CW, a lot of good things happened. The new network stepped away from the twenty-something shows that began to all look the same after a while. The network began to take on cutting edge genre shows like Supernatural and Smallville. But deep down inside there was still that family drama mentality that drove at least one of the parent networks. Life Unexpected is, unfortunately, a totally expected result of that dark place.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello began their career completely by accident. Bud Abbott had tried his hand at doing the straight-man bit with limited success. One night in 1931 he was working as a cashier for a vaudeville company when Lou Costello's partner came down with an illness. The performer needed a stand-in, and Bud Abbott filled in for the night. It was a temporary gig, to be sure. A temporary gig that happened to last 25 years.