Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 16th, 2004
What Science Fiction fan has not read Ray Bradbury’s groundbreaking book, The Martian Chronicles. The book is not really a novel, but a series of shorter works that follows the settlement of Mars. Even though the Martian canals of medieval times were already disproved by the 1940’s when Bradbury began the project, he insisted on conforming his Martian landscape to such fancy. The series of works translate well to the mini-series format; however, the necessary f/x to pull it off just weren’t available in a 1980 TV bud...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 16th, 2004
Season 4 of Voyager is most notable for the addition of Jeri Ryan’s Seven Of Nine character. The stories grew a bit more complex. The season appears to have regarded style above substance in year 4. There is a modest attempt to develop a mother/daughter kind of relationship between Seven Of Nine and Janeway. The problem is that, like the potential for conflict inherent with the addition of the Maquis members of the crew, this conflict is all to often resolved in a Brady Bunch “What have you learned from this, Seven ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 8th, 2004
How else am I to begin the review for the most anticipated films ever to be released on the DVD medium?
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
Who among you doesn’t notice your pulse quickening and your breathing become more slightly more rapid when you see those infamous words appear on the screen? Anyone who has seen my basement will attest that my pulse and respiration don’t just quicken but enter into full anticipation mode (needless to say that a large percentage of my earnin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2004
There were a lot of changes to Lost In Space in Season 2. The most significant was the decision to begin filming in color. There’s no question the show just looks so much better in color. The second drastic change was the overall mood of the show. Season 1 was much more serious and atmospheric. By the time the second year rolled around it became obvious that the trio of Smith, Will, and the Robot was what was drawing in the viewers. From that point onward most of the stories would revolve around that relationship. Th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2004
With the success of Star Trek as both a television and film franchise, it made perfect sense to eventually pass the baton from the Kirk era to the Next Generation. Generations had promise, but could and should have been a far better film. The f/x were for the most part inferior to previous Trek films. The destruction of the Enterprise D is the notable exception. Perhaps it was unwise to attempt to blend the established film environment with the too recently completed television series.
The film might have ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2004
The Whole Nine Yards was a pretty funny film. It wasn’t outstanding. It wasn’t classic cinema. It certainly didn’t cry out for a sequel. The Whole Ten Yards goes one yard too far. Most of the original cast is back, but the film has no life. Even the laughs are forced. By now the novelty of the characters has long since worn thin. Bruce Willis seems to be acting for acting’s sake. The mood swings and unnecessary facial exaggerations seem to provide Willis with some distraction from how empty the rest of the film is. I...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 28th, 2004
ALF stands for Alien Life Form, but anyone who has seen this hit 1980’s comedy knows ALF stands for “Laughing your ass off funny”. OK, so the letters are out of order, but you know I’m right. It’s no surprise our favorite Melmac dude has made the DVD scene. The real shocker is that it took so long. Who remembers comedy from the 1980’s? There just wasn’t an awful lot to laugh at. ALF was the “muppet-like” creation of Paul Fusco, who also provides the wise-cracking voice of ALF. ALF’s making a comeback these days with ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 28th, 2004
V: The Series was a great idea that couldn’t seem to hit its stride. It was plagued by budget restrictions and astronomical expectations. The result was the inevitable failure of the show. It just wasn’t possible to reproduce the f/x and epic tales of the two mini-series events with about a fifth of the budget. Judged on its own, the series wasn’t all that bad. A solid cast anchored by Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Robert Englund picked up the slack left by the poor budget. The absence of Kenneth Johnson was also keen...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 31st, 2004
Comic book characters have provided a large slate of movie productions in recent years. This really isn’t anything new; both Superman and Batman have each fueled successful film franchises (It should be noted that both are soon to return). Spider-Man’s record take opened a new floodgate. Some have been quite disappointing (The Hulk and The Punisher) while a few (X-Men and Spider-Man) have provided outstanding products. Hellboy fits somewhere in the middle. The character is somewhat lesser known and considerably more ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2004
The Second Season of Starsky and Hutch is often considered its best by long time fans of the show. Even Paul Michael Glaser expressed his feelings that the show peaked in the second year. By now the characters were well honed and the stories less 70’s cliché and tighter. The show often used the 2 parter now to tell more elaborate tales. The bad guys were meaner. The guys spend time undercover a bit this year, which added a tremendous amount of variety to what was really a formula show in the first year. That all impo...
