Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2009
The French Connection had one of the best film endings a show of this kind could ask for. There was absolutely no need for a sequel. Obviously the success of the first film laid the groundwork for another adventure. In reality the case was rather left open, so there was certainly room to follow up the action. The problem is that none of the elements from the first film remain in the second beyond Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Popeye Doyle and the return of Fernando Rey as the villain Charnier. Friedkin would not return to direct, and even though he was replaced by an even greater director in John Frankenheimer, not much of the original crew remained.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
This is actually a very charming situation comedy that harkens back to the days of The Cosby Show, but is actually far more honest and less about one liners. While everybody loves the Cos, the show got cluttered and rarely dealt with real life issues in any serious way. In My Wife And Kids, I get the sense of a real family here. The cast makes it work, but credit the writers for coming up with a comedy that did not rely on one liners. Don’t get me wrong, the jokes are there, and they sometimes fly fast and furious, but one always feels there’s more to any given scene or situation. The show is completely family friendly. I’m a little sorry that I stumbled on it after it was already gone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
Season two marks the actual first complete season of Nash Bridges. It’s time for the show to deliver on the high octane, high attitude it was to be famous for. This was also the year that both of the main actors reunited with their former partners. Tommy Chong and Philip Michael Thomas both guested on the episode Wild Card. The show paid homage to both of the former partners. Chong plays a pot dealer, and Thomas plays a hotshot gambler friend of Nash's who likes to dress up like the Vice characters did . It was a pretty sweet episode on top of everything else.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
While nowhere does anyone actually say it, Caroline In The City is obviously inspired by/ripped off from the popular newspaper comic strip Cathy. Each episode, for a time anyway, would begin with an animated scene from one of the “Caroline” strips. The topic mostly deals with the pitfalls of being a single New York City girl. From these roots there was an often awkward attempt to create a warm and fuzzy romantic comedy that never seemed to find its own focus, let alone footing. It didn’t help matters that the title character was played by Lea Thompson, best known for her role as Michael J. Fox’s mom in the Back To The Future films.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
Family Ties is likely remembered most as the series that launched the career of Michael J. Fox. There’s no question that he owes a great debt to Alex Keaton. It’s almost a bit awkward now to watch him as this young, extremely conservative teenager after Fox has spent so much of his life as a liberal poster boy in the last couple of elections. Politics aside, it’s hard not to credit his performances in Family Ties and the Back to the Future films for launching him into a well deserved lucrative career.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
I get worried when I see box art make claims like they have on the recent release of Dorothy Mills. It claims that this film is a contemporary take on The Exorcist. The problem is that we don’t really need a contemporary take on that classic film. It’s a bit pretentious and arrogant to think that this low budget affair can come close to reproducing what that film did back in the 1970’s. Why can’t the folks who make these kinds of films allow the film to stand on its own and aspire to something unique and exciting for its own merits?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
“Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed. Poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed. Then one day he was shootin’ at some food and up from the ground comes a bubblin’ crude. Oil that is… Black Gold…Texas Tea…”
Who doesn’t remember the Clampetts, those lovable Beverly Hillbillies? The show has been revived in a film, rap songs, and a Weird Al parody of Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
I used to think that any movie that Robert De Niro attached his name to had to be good. And that used to be true. I was willing to take a chance on low budget or blockbuster films, knowing that De Niro wouldn’t lead me wrong. Then along came Stardust, and honestly, the man hasn’t been in a good film in some years now. Still, my loyalty remains, and What Just Happened looked to be interesting enough that my buddy, Bobby D couldn’t disappoint me again. So, what did just happen? He let me down.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
“We need to go back to a time where it all started. When God was getting busy with the creation of the universe, where there was only cosmic goo, God’s play-doh, if you will. While God was messing with this play-doh, creating all living things, he put death into a ceramic jar for safe keeping, until he could figure out what to do with it. One day God gave the jar to a frog and a toad to guard it from harm, while he went off to create something more fantastic. Why he gave it to a frog and a toad I’ll never know, but one thing led to another and the jar shattered, letting death out; and ever since, everything has to die. So, there you have it, the mystery of death finally revealed.”
What a fitting way to open up an unexpected new chapter in the story of Dead Like Me, the direct to video film that attempts to resurrect from it’s own death the cult favorite Showtime original series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2009
In 1913 Marie Belloc Lowendes wrote the novel that this film was based upon. She claimed to have once met a woman at a dinner party who claimed to have had Jack The Ripper as a lodger at her boarding house. Lowendes never tried to verify the claim, or learned anything else about the incident, but it did cause her to do some research on the infamous killer. The result combined with that simple encounter’s claim became a best selling novel. It would be adapted to film not once but several times, including a film by Alfred Hitchcock.
![French Connection 2 [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/french-connection-2-blu-ray-large.jpg)
