Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 17th, 2009
Perhaps best known and beloved for his portrayal of Felix Unger in the original Odd Couple film, Jack Lemmon has a long list of credits to his name. He’s appeared in 100 films and many stage and television productions as well. It was also a little known fact that he was an extremely accomplished musician and wrote music for a couple of his films. He was one of those actors who simply loved his job. He was known for uttering the phrase “It’s magic time” before a take on the set of almost all of his films. While primarily known for his comedy, Lemmon was actually not a bad dramatic performer and believed there was no reason the two couldn’t be combined. His role in The China Syndrome was far from a comedic one and showcased his ability to do drama.
Jack Lemmon might not be the most dramatic or even the most acclaimed actor out there. But there was something about him that defined him as an icon all the same. He was a very typically American actor. He brought to life characters that were instantly identifiable, but yet oddly eccentric enough to keep our interest. He always came off as genuine and was literally loved by the plethora of actors who always considered it an honor to work with him. He developed lifelong friendships with many of his co-stars, most notably Walter Matthau. The relationship you saw on the screen was what you got off the screen. Jack’s son Chris referred to him as Uncle Walter and claimed that if Matthau played golf, Jack would have married him. But this was just the kind of guy he was. In a day of angst-filled superstars who make more press outside of their roles, Lemmon is still a breath of fresh air. You might miss the man, but Sony and Chris Lemmon have gotten together to make sure you don’t miss some of the greater films.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 17th, 2009
I’m not sure that this one benefits tremendously from the high definition treatment of a Blu-ray release. It’s certainly a good looking film, and the level of detail is welcome, but I don’t imagine that’s what fans of this kind of film really care about. It’s an early role for LeBeouf, and I still don’t get what the fuss is all about. Still, he works well for this kind of part. He might have been best to stay in this lane. He appears to be a favorite action/genre actor, but this is his true calling.
When I saw that title on the case my immediate thought was: “How did Disney find out about my 1981 Marathon game of RISK where I took out Mark “Trip Sixes” Shreader in 9 hours of battle? Of course, I soon decided they meant professional sports. This film would be about the Minnesota Viking playoff whoopin’ of the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Turns out that wasn’t it. Point of fact, not one game of the 1980 World Series victory of the Phillies made the cut. Suddenly it hit me. Disney does ice hockey films. They must have made one about the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Game Seven beat down on some Canadian boys to win the Stanley Cup. Wrong! Apparently long before my boy Abner picked up a bat or Dr. Nesmith was shooting soccer balls into his trashcan, some funny looking fellas in Scotland had come up with their own game. Golf. Don’t get me started. Still ESPN says it’s a sport, so who am I to argue?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 17th, 2009
“Don’t forget that at the end of the day, it’s just a snake, a big messed up snake”.
Boy, if one word of dialog ever summed up a film before, this one does a pretty good job of it. Carnivorous is a low budget answer to the Anaconda series. Throw in the plot from Pumpkinhead and you pretty much have the entire film down, without ever having to have seen it. I wasn’t so lucky.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
“One night stands can be murder.”
That’s the tagline for 1987’s Fatal Attraction. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that both Fatal Attraction and the later Indecent Proposal were both directed by Adrian Lyne. Both were quite controversial upon their release. Both dealt in a kind of “what if” scenario that got people talking around their water coolers and watering hole gatherings. While the latter was pretty much a morality or ethics drama, the former was a gut wrenching morality tale with a Grimm’s Fairy Tale twist. Even if you’ve never seen the film you’ve at least heard of the “Bunny Boiler”, a term that’s entered the pop culture lexicon describing a woman who is likely to go psycho on you. The film was almost never made.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name: Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame . ‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she with silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The inscription above can be found inside the pedestal of The Statue Of Liberty, and while it’s not actually printed where most depictions appear to suggest, it has become somewhat of a motto for this country. I certainly have a warm spot in my own heart for this welcoming attitude to immigrants from around the world. I am a product of Italian grandparents who made the journey here in the 1930’s for a better life. But that ideal has been somewhat abused as of late. Those brave ancestors that many of us can be thankful for our American life did so at great personal sacrifice. Without ever giving up their individual cultures, beliefs, and lifestyles, they did manage to blend into the American landscape and took pride in both heritages. They did not demand that America coddle them. They never imposed their language on the already present society. They practiced their beliefs and traditions without requiring others to accommodate them. They worked hard so that their descendents might not have to labor so much. In so many ways they became models not only for their descendants, but for what good citizenship means. They cherished this new country.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
“William Banks has saved 257 people from addiction to drugs, sex, and gambling. He’s not a cop. He’s not a superhero. He’s just a man with a calling. This is his story.”
What he is, is Benjamin Bratt, returning from the thespian dead as William Banks, better known to the show’s fans as The Cleaner. Bratt hasn’t been seen much since he left the gig at Law & Order. I almost didn’t recognize him here. But, he’s returned in style. The Cleaner has all the characteristics of a police procedural series with a lot more excitement. His methods are often harsh. He’s your worst nightmare of an intervention. When Banks is called in, you haven’t hit rock bottom. Rock bottom has just hit you. The character is a recovering addict himself and does this as a kind of making amends. Of course he doesn’t work alone. He’s assembled a kind of Impossible Mission Force style team that helps with each case. Together they form a private company that a family member can call when they tire of a friend or family member’s addiction. The series was based on the real life story of Warren Boyd, who also acts as one of the show’s producers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
We’ve seen many instances of American television shows that have been inspired by or directly copied from British shows. This has been particularly true of comedy series and is not a new phenomenon. All In The Family and Sanford And Son from the 1970’s are great examples of American sit-coms based on British hits, Till Death Do Us Part and Steptoe And Son respectfully. Recently The Office has been a successful British import. In the inspired by category you have to include Mistresses. There’s no question that the show comes from a combination of Desperate Housewives and Sex In The City. Like those shows, this series tells the story of friends who have somewhat risqué love lives. The episodes delve into their quests for sexual excitement. It’s very much a chick thing. Unfortunately, we don’t have any members of the fairer sex here at Upcomingdiscs, so I ended up with the short straw. I got to see Mistresses.
The problem with this series is that it’s not even terribly exciting from the bedroom point of view. The plot is so slow and plodding that the girls talk a lot more than they do. If there’s one thing I learned as a writing minor in college it’s the old axiom: “Show us. Don’t tell us.” This series never took that writing class, and so I’m afraid we hear a lot more than we ever see. None of the girls are that particularly interesting. The show takes on the pace of a daily soap opera with far less installments. The whole thing is a big tease.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
“The power of the Sun drives the seasons, transforming our planet. Vast movements of ocean and air currents bring dramatic changes, create some of the greatest wildlife spectacles on Earth.”
The Planet Earth series from the BBC brought with it critical acclaim and 11 hours of some of the most spectacular video footage from around the globe that we’ve seen on television. It was a particular treat to anyone who was fortunate enough to catch it on an HD broadcast. Not content with that work, the same team assembled once again to create this follow-up series, Nature’s Most Amazing Events. At first I was a bit skeptical and more than a little worried when I read that the series was going to focus on the effects of global climactic phenomena. I immediately expected another propaganda piece on global warming. If that’s what you fear/hope for out of this series, it’s going to surprise you. Instead the BBC crew takes the Planet Earth cameras to some of the most extreme climactic places on Earth. The piece examines not so much the climate, but the animals that thrive under these intense conditions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
“1941: Germany occupies Belorussia. SS death squads and local police round up Jews. Within weeks 50,000 are murdered. 1,000,000 more await deportation and death.”
Tuvia (Craig) and Zus (Schreiber) Bielski are brothers hiding in the forest surrounding after the abovementioned invasion. They are Russian Jews, which means concentration camps or immediate execution if they are caught. They are foraging and surviving on their intimate knowledge of these surroundings they have known since they were children. Before long other Jewish refugees make their way to the Bielski camp. Unable to turn away the suffering hordes, they welcome each arrival, stretching their already limited resources to the limit. The camp eventually becomes a force of freedom fighters. They are looked down upon by the Red Army because Jews weren’t expected to fight. For several seasons the growing number of refugees makes a stand for survival and even answers a call to arms in an ultimate act of defiance. The brothers split. Zus joins the organized army while Tuvia remains to lead the camp.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
Back in the 1960’s the Beatles were telling, preaching, “Can’t Buy Me Love”. Of course this wasn’t a novel concept even then, and Lennon and McCartney certainly didn’t invent the phrase. In 1993 Indecent Proposal came along to question the age old expression. The film sparked one of those cultural philosophical debates that Hollywood loves to start. It meant that people would be talking about the film, and talk about it they did. Television and radio talk shows would spend a great deal of time talking about the morality or ethical questions involved. Experts in morality and psychology would earn a living talking about the subject. It caused quite a stir, but in the end Indecent Proposal was a one trick pony. After the debate got old, the film aged quickly. Watching it again now, it seems almost impossible that it’s really only 16 years old. It seems like decades ago that like a frightening tsunami, it made its splash and disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived.
David (Harrelson) and Diane (Moore) are a young couple very much in love. It’s the kind of ultra-sweet relationship that could send you into insulin shock if you had to watch too much of it. Thankfully the plan here is to put a serious kink into the relationship. David is budding architect, while Diane is a successful real estate broker. Both run into hard times when recession hits and they lose their jobs. Their dreams appear on the brink of disaster. Down to their final cents, David takes a loan of $5000 from his father. As he admits in the film’s narration, it wasn’t nearly enough. They needed 10 times that to get back on their feet. So what do they do? These supposedly educated smart people decide to take the 5 grand to Vegas and turn it into the 50 grand they need. (Why didn’t I think of that?) Bad luck at the tables isn’t the most dangerous thing the couple faces. They meet John Gage (Redford), international billionaire and playboy. Sort of a Bill Gates, if Bill Gates looked like… well… Robert Redford instead of Alfred E. Neuman. Gage notices Diane and is quite taken with her. He befriends the couple to get close to her. After a part one night in his suite, Gage and David are shooting some pool. The conversation turns to wealth and what it can or cannot buy. Diane makes the statement that money can’t buy people or love. Gage proposes to test the concept. He offers the couple one million dollars for one night with Diane. They immediately refuse, but their situation eats at them and they eventually agree. What it does to their lives is predictable and inevitable.
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