Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2022
When I was a young boy I loved playing with my toys. We had some cool toys back then. Major Matt Mason, plastic dinosaurs, Hot Wheels, and Creepy Crawlers Thingmaker sets. Yeah, in those days a toy could cause third-degree burns and no one really worried about getting sued. Kind of takes the fun out of being a kid today. You know who else, I bet, loved to play with his toys? Michael Bay. I bet he had the coolest toys in his neighborhood. He probably wasn't the best guy to be friends with, however. He didn't invite the kids over to play with his toys. He likely charged you a nickel to watch him play with them. It's many decades later, and Michael still has the coolest toys on the block. Only now you have to cough up twenty bucks if you want to watch him playing with them. I'll bet he wasn't the best guy to lend your toys too, either. He probably loved breaking stuff. There were likely plenty of toy casualties in the Bay home in those days. So you didn't want him playing with your toys. Michael is still breaking a lot of toys. For a while he used giant robots to do his dirty work. Now he kinda feels like he's played that game enough. Now he's back to breaking cars ... lots of cars. Ambulance is Bay's latest adrenaline fix, and the damage is considerable. But is it worth the 20 bucks this time around?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Will Sharp. He's a desperate man. He's returned from a tour of duty serving his country, and his wife needs surgery that is considered experimental so not covered by insurance. He needs a couple hundred grand or he's going to lose his wife. He tells her he's going on a job interview, but he's really going to see his brother Danny, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Their father was a renowned criminal who wouldn't hesitate to kill while robbing banks. Danny ropes his brother into a robbery that will pull in many millions for each member of the crew. Of course, things go sideways, and the next thing you know a cop's been shot, and the two brothers hijack the ambulance taking him to the hospital along with a young EMT named Cam Thompson, played by Eiza Gonzalez. It might sound thin, but that's pretty much the plot behind Michael Bay's Ambulance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2022
"Hello, Dexter Morgan."
It's been almost 10 years since everyone's favorite serial killer disappeared into a hurricane and left the airwaves with a somewhat unsatisfying series finale. It wasn't quite as bad as David Chase's ill-conceived hard cut that ended The Sopranos, but unlike David Chase, Team Dexter gets a second chance to get the ending right. With the death of actor James Gandolfini, Chase won't ever get the opportunity to give Tony Soprano a better exit. But Dexter gets the sendoff he should have had back in 2013 with the limited revival series Dexter: New Blood. The 10-episode run returns Michael C. Hall to the role of Dexter Morgan. You don't want to break into these episodes without taking time to watch the original series. That's going to set you back about 96 hours, but the investment is necessary if you're going to truly appreciate this return. You can check out our reviews of those previous seasons by banging it right here: Dexter Reviews. I'll wait....
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2022
"Where there's life ... there's hope. Bob Hope, that is."
Few American entertainers have had a career to match that of Bob Hope. He lived 100 years and spent over 80 of those years in the entertainment industry. He appeared in over 70 films, wrote various books, and has over 300 appearance credits to his name on television and radio. He cut out a niche for himself during World War II that carried him through the Korean War and the war in Vietnam. He conducted literally hundreds of appearances for GI's out in the field, performing sometimes for audiences at the front. He brought a ton of his celebrity friends and was Mr. USO for decades. An honest look at his career is impossible here. Thanks to the folks over at Kino, we have the opportunity to explore a couple of his films from the 1940's. You can pick up each of them on Blu-ray now, and we'll give you an idea of what you're going to get for your money.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 24th, 2022
"You look terrible. I want you to eat, I want you to rest well. And a month from now this Hollywood big shot's gonna give you what you want."
The Hollywood big shot has just given me what I want. Paramount releases The Godfather Trilogy on UHD Blu-ray in wonderful 4K. It's an offer none of us can refuse. The Godfather films changed storytelling forever. Films before that time, mobster or otherwise, had some very simple but unshakable rules. There was always a fairly clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys. The good guys always win in the end, and the bad guys always succumb to justice before the final credits. For perhaps the very first time, we were given characters that we knew in our souls were evil men. They killed. They broke laws. They manipulated everyone around them through fear and terrorism to bend to their wills. Somehow, now they are the film’s core heroes, if you will. When Vito is shot, we cheer for Michael, who discards his contempt for his family’s criminal image and comes to his father’s aid. Suddenly this wasn’t just about a gang of mobsters. This was a story about a family. Most of us can’t relate to the mafia ins and outs, but we all have fathers, and even when we dislike what our fathers represent, we will more often than not come to their aid if they’re being threatened. This unique morality paved the way for an entire genre of such characters today. There just couldn’t have been a Tony Soprano or Vic Mackey without The Godfather. While there were certainly protests from aspects of the Italian-American community decrying the violent way our ethnicity was portrayed, most of us from that community saw more than violence and Mafioso. If you’re from an Italian family, you simply can’t help recognizing aspects of your own family in the Corleones. I could see my own grandfather in Vito, sans the mob boss occupation. Many of us took away the strict codes of honor and respect that drive Italian-Americans to this day in very normal lives. We’re a very passionate people, even if most of us are not part of an organized criminal element.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2022
"It's called life."
Kevin Costner plays John Dutton. The name itself recalls those years as a kid watching the myriad western shows that crossed our television screens throughout the 50's and 60's. He's the owner of Yellowstone Ranch, which takes up hundreds of square miles and borders on the national park of the same name, which we never do get to see. What we do see are the other borders of the Yellowstone. It borders a large and mostly impoverished Native American reservation. All of this takes place in the open ranges of Montana, where the Yellowstone Ranch looks very much like the fabled Shiloh of The Virginian. There's the big mansion where Dutton and some of his family live and the bunkhouse where the cowboys who work the cattle sleep, play cards, eat, and fight. Looking over the scenery, one can almost imagine you were back in the days of the untamed frontier. John Dutton might have some old-fashioned ideas of how to make a living, but he's a rich man who uses modern technology when it serves him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 9th, 2022
"My name is Kara Zor-El. When I was younger, my home planet was dying. Saving it was hopeless. My father sent me to Earth to take care of my baby cousin who went before me, and I thought we were the only two survivors, and that everyone else from our planet was dead, including my father. I can't lose him again."
They say all good things must come to an end, and for the fans of CW's Supergirl, that end has finally arrived. Arrow started it all so many years ago and has been off the air a couple of years even though the CW DC universe has been coined The Arrowverse. The Flash will remain as the likely flagship for the joined universe with Legends Of Tomorrow, Superman and Lois, and unfortunately Batwoman keeping the last embers alive. I suspect that it will all close shop within the next two years. It's been a good run with some exceptional superhero television and some memorable characters, but we're in the home stretch, to be sure. But you can't just step in after a decade of Arrowverse unseen. If you have not seen the show before, you must at least go back and check out the previous five seasons. It'll be worth the time. You can also take a look at all of our reviews of Supergirl here: Supergirl Reviews.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2022
"They think I'm hiding in the shadows, but I am the shadows."
You have certain expectations when you go to a superhero/comic book movie. Sure, it changes a little depending on the character that you're going to see. But there are certain things that all of these films tend to have in common. There's an expectation of frantic action and some mind-bending special f/x. You're looking for colorful villains who tend to act over-the-top and always provide that gentle wink back at the audience. When these expectations aren't met, audiences tend to be disappointed, and big budget films can end up costing the studios huge in the end. Even as we appear to be reaching the last days of the limited pandemic crowds, that risk gets multiplied. It also doesn't help if audiences are still riding the high off the first big global billion-dollar film in almost three years. That's the kind of headwinds The Batman is facing when audiences line up to see the return of one of the oldest and most famous heroes in comic history. What if I were to tell you that you won't get a lot of any of those things, but you're going to love it anyway? That's exactly what I am telling you about Warner Brothers' newest Batman film, simply titled The Batman.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2022
Remakes are nothing new. They've been around for as long as there have been films. Today we appear to be dominated by the remake, but they've been around forever. There are many reasons to do a remake. Often, like the case of Peter Jackson's King Kong and the recent Kong/Godzilla movies, it's because technology has taken us to a place where we can do things on the screen that the original filmmakers couldn't have dreamed of. Other times it's merely a classic story that stands the test of time, and every once in a while someone wants to attach themselves to that history. Yet other times there's more that can be added to the story, or there is a fresh perspective to what came before. While many of these types lead to sequels and reboots, they still lead to the remake. Then there are those remakes that are almost a shot-for-shot imitation of the original with no apparent reason to exist other than to capitalize on the name. I really don't want to put the 1997 made-for-television remake of 12 Angry Men in that category. We're talking about a respected director who has directed a classic of his own and a very powerful cast of actors. But when you strip away that star power, you're left with pretty much an exact duplicate with only surface changes. 12 Angry Men (1997) is a pretty good film; don't get me wrong. But the original was a great film, and this version adds nothing to the story or the experience.
The story is pretty much the same, and that's mainly due to the fact that the screenplay was written by Reginald Rose based on the screenplay he wrote in 1957 for the original film. It's an iconic story by now. We witness the end of a murder trial where the jurors are given their final instructions and led into the room where they will deliberate. After taking an initial count, we quickly discover that 11 of the jurors believe the defendant is guilty, and there is one lone holdout for not guilty. Tensions boil over as many thought they'd be in and out. Eventually the lone juror turns the rest around, and the verdict is not guilty. In the 1957 film Henry Fonda plays Juror # 8, the original lone holdout. This version gives us Jack Lemmon in a performance that netted him a Golden Globes nomination. The two films have so much in common, and the biggest element is that both sport incredible casts. Juror # 1 Courtney B. Vance (1997) / Martin Balsam (1957), Juror # 2 Ossie Davis (1997) / John Fiedler (1957), Juror # 3 George C. Scott (1997) / Lee J. Cobb (1957), Juror # 4 Armin Mueller-Sahl (1997) / E.G. Marshall (1957), Juror # 5 Dorian Harewood (1997) / Jack Klugman (1957, Juror # 6 James Gandolfini (1997) / Edward Binns (1957), Juror # 7 Tony Danza (1997) / Jack Warden, Juror # 9 Hune Cronyn (1997) / Joseph Sweeney (1957), Juror #10 Mylelti Williamson (1997) / Ed Begley (1957), Juror # 11 Edward James Olmos (1997) / George Voskovec (1957) / Juror # 12 William Petersen (1997) / Robert Weber (1957). As you can see, these are both great casts. Both sport great performances, but the question remains, why?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 1st, 2022
On May 5th 1980 film producer Euan Lloyd was on-hand for 17 minutes while the Iranian Embassy in London was raided by Britain's elite Special Air Service (SAS) to free hostages taken by a terrorist cell. He immediately ran back to his house and called his agent to register several film titles, including Who Dares Wins, which was the original shooting title and British release title of what in America came to be The Final Option. It's important to understand that it was never his intent to do a film about the exact event but use that inspiration to do a film that often mirrors that of the actual raid. Instead of using the actual terrorists and their motives, he felt it was important to make the story not about the bad guys so much as it would be a celebration of the bravery and actions of the SAS. He invited the actual SAS to participate. They declined but eventually offered him some under-the-table assistance when they saw what it was he was trying to do. Those motives have created a bit of a controversy over the film throughout the years, and Lloyd has been accused of making a right-wing propaganda film, which if you actually see the film, you'll quickly realize it is not. Now you have a chance thanks to KL Studio Classics and the Kino release of The Final Option.
The 1980 setting remains. This time the terrorists are domestic and have infiltrated a peace movement that has grown because of a new treaty Britain signs to allow American nukes on the islands. They use the framework of the legitimate movement to recruit and create the civil disorder they need to do something huge. That chance comes when they learn that several American Senate members and US cabinet members will be attending a dinner in their honor hosted by the Iranian embassy. But British Intelligence knows they are there, and they know something is up, so they start to prepare for the worst.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2022
"They usually call death row the Last Mile, but we called ours the Green Mile, because the floor was the color of faded limes. We had the electric chair then. Old Sparky, we called it. I've lived a lot of years, Ellie, but 1935 takes the prize. That was the year I had the worst urinary infection of my life. That was also the year of John Coffey and the two dead girls."
For me that place would be the movies. From the time I was a little kid, movies have always had an incredible fascination with me, and it's where some of my fondest memories come from. It's what has led me here, writing about the things I see, and it's never lost its charm even when it became a job. Films like The Green Mile are a huge reason why that is so.
