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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2022
"And I thought we were pals."
Bert I. Gordon and I shared a friend. He was one of Forry Ackerman's favorite people, and when I would see Forry, he never failed to mention Gordon. Bert I. Gordon was once the king of schlock. He was as much a marketing genius as he was a filmmaker. Like William Castle, he knew how to find something zany and odd which was just different enough to bring in the audiences. I saw most of his films of the 60's and 70's at drive-ins where most of his films were shown in those days along with many of the Hammer and AIP Poe films from Roger Corman. If you look at the B films in the science-fiction/horror genres from that time, you will find them dominated by Gordon, Corman, and Castle. Gordon often used stories in public domain so that he didn't have to pay a writer and he would adapt them with some clever "hip" idea and out would come a cheapie, but something that was always a hoot to watch. Previously you could only see Village Of The Giants in the television set where it was lampooned by those guys at Mystery Science Theater 3000, and I have that version. Now thanks to the folks over at Kino, there's a respectable version out on Blu-ray, and every schlock or Bert I. Gordon fan needs to pick this one up.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 11th, 2022
"This wasn't a game of cops and robbers. We were playing for keeps. It boiled down to a duel between me and an unknown fellow waiting up in the rocks or struggling on ahead of me. I never had the slightest doubt that he was there and that I would find him. But I didn't like it. It was all wrong somehow."
John Sturges has directed some of the biggest classics of his era. He became known as a huge action director and knew how to put to together large and powerful ensemble casts. Among his classic films you'd find The Magnificent Seven (1960) with Yule Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach, and Robert Vaughn. There's Ice Station Zebra (1968) with Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, and Patrick McGoohan. You've likely seen The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen once again on his famous German motorcycle. The film also stars James Garner, Charles Bronson once again, and Jurassic Park's Sir Richard Attenborough. What many fans don't know is that he was also an expert in the 1950's film noir films, and one of the greatest, if lesser known than his action films, is The Capture. The film has almost been lost to time, but thanks to a pretty solid restoration and release by The Film Detective, you know have a chance to see the more artistic and intimate side of John Sturges.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 8th, 2022
"There's a new superhero in town."
The original Starman was created by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley back in 1941. Since that time there have been quite a few DC characters who have taken on the mantle of Starman. When DC executive and veteran comics writer/creator was asked to do a series on one of Starman's sidekicks, Pat Dugan and his eventual comic Stars And S.T.R.I.P.E., he was given a directive that he could not use the iconic S.T.R.I.P.E. armor, and that just would have made the series so much weaker. Instead he counter-pitched an idea from the same era of the comics. He pitched the idea of a new Stargirl who would be somewhat based and named after his daughter Courtney, who was tragically killed in a plane crash when she was just 18 years old. He wanted to do something to represent the spirit of his daughter, and the pitch also allowed for the Pat Dugan character to appear without the famous armor. The idea was accepted, and the latest member of the DC television Arrowverse was born. Enter Courtney Whitmore, played by Brec Bassinger, in Stargirl. Warner Brothers delivers that second season in a new Blu-ray release of Stargirl: The Complete Second Season.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on February 7th, 2022
In the 1970's Irwin Allen went from doing campy television science fiction shows like Lost In Space, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, and Lost In Space to becoming the king of the disaster movie. From The Poseidon Adventure to The Towering Inferno, Allen brought us to the brink of disaster time and time again. While others have followed in his footsteps, no one has taken that genre to heart as much as Roland Emmerich. Films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow filled our screens with technology that Irwin Allen could only dream about. But Emmerich worked best when he was partnered with Dean Devlin. Since that collaboration ended it appears that Emmerich has been in a kind of a rut. That wouldn't be so bad, because he knows how to put a big budget film together and give us a lot of bang for our buck with milestone f/x and mind-blowing set pieces. But it appears that a lot of that luster has been eclipsed by his latest sci-fi/disaster entry, Moonfall.
Moonfall begins familiarly enough for Emmerich fans with a rather eccentric "professor" who appears to have made a breakthrough discovery. He has learned that the moon's orbit is shrinking and bringing it closer and closer to Earth until eventually it will rain fire and brimstone down on our hapless planet. Of course, no one will believe him, and NASA has stopped taking his calls. Most of the problem is that he has for years been associated with a theory that the moon is actually an ancient alien construct and not a natural celestial body at all. It's the part played on Independence Day by Jeff Goldblum and on Stargate by James Spader. Here he's KC Houseman, played by John Bradley. He eventually gets the attention of washed-up astronaut Brian Harper, played by Patrick Wilson, who experienced something a few years ago on a shuttle mission that no one believes happened. At the heart of both of their problems is a black wave of material that is somehow sentient and a part of this moon structure left over by the little gray guys millions of years ago. Of course, by the time anyone listens to either of them, the real scientists have already discovered the shrinking orbit and have sent a mission to investigate. That goes badly, and eventually it's up to Houseman, Harper, and Harper's once-astronaut partner Jo Fowler, played by Halle Berry, to save the day.
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on February 1st, 2022
Superhost is out on Blu-ray and DVD today from Shudder. A pair of vacation home bloggers find themselves facing sinking numbers, but that's going to be the least of their troubles when they pick the wrong house to review. Osric Chau and Sara Canning star in the new horror film, and I had a chance to talk with Osric about his experiences on the film. Osric Chau also played the lovable Kevin on Supernatural, and now he's appearing here at Upcomingdiscs. Bang it here to listen in on my chat with Osric Chau.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 21st, 2022
Every era has their Hollywood good guys and their Hollywood bad guys. Back in the early days, we had Nazis to pit against our heroes. When they didn't quite fit the bill, we had the Japanese. For much of the Cold War, we had great Russian villains to test the mettle of our heroes. Terrorists fit the bill a lot today, but perhaps the only group hated by large segments of American audiences more are the 1%ers. Anyone who makes an obscene amount of money must have cheated to get there. It doesn't hurt that financial power companies have been immersed in the last couple of economic disasters. Michael Douglas taught us that greed is good, and while every single one of us wants to be at the top, it's not quite the politically correct thing to express ... at least out loud. Billions gives us the kind of power broker who is just too much fun to hate. It's the classic struggle of good guys versus bad guys. Of white hats versus black hats. But nothing is that simple in Billions, and if you haven't yet spent some time with the likes of Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis as Chuck Rhoades and Bobby "Axe" Axelrod, you're missing one of the more compelling dramas on television right now. Get yourself caught up and join us for Billions: The Complete Fifth Season out now on DVD from CBS Home Entertainment.
Meet Chuck Rhoades, played brilliantly by Paul Giamatti. When we first met Chuck, he was the US Attorney for the southern district of New York State. In that position he loved to take down the arrogant, rich power brokers who scoffed at the laws and made their fortunes any way they could. His white whale has been Bobby Axelrod, played by Damien Lewis. He runs one of the most powerful firms in the world and makes deals of hundreds of millions of dollars like he was ordering a Whopper from Burger King. For the first three years of the series we watched this cat-and-mouse game unfold. The obsession of these two men toward hurting each other drove the drama. Stuck in the middle of all of this contempt has been Chuck's wife, Wendy, played by Sons Of Anarchy veteran Maggie Siff. She's a therapist who complicates the whole thing, because she works for Axelrod as his sales team inspirational coach and his own father confessor. She's known Axelrod longer than her husband, and she's being forced into the middle of this brewing confrontation. I have to say, I never liked Siff in Sons Of Anarchy. I always thought she was a weak character. This time I found she provides a crucial voice here that allows the show to move so effortlessly between these two worlds. This is the kind of role I wish I had seen in Sons. It's been rather delightful watching these two powerhouses fight until it nearly destroyed them both. But now things are different.
Posted in: Holiday Gift Guides by Gino Sassani on December 24th, 2021
I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. With conditions as they are, shopping won't be easy this season. The nice thing about discs is that they're so easy to get from places like Amazon that you can give a great gift and stay perfectly safe while you do it. Paramount Presents:
by Ellen Sassani
