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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 23rd, 2021
"80 billion light years of hive knowledge across universes would explode your tiny little brain."
Sony released two films from their corner of the Marvel universe in 2021. On October 1st we got Venom: Let There Be Carnage. October was a good spot for the film that taps into the horror film vein as much as it does the comic book superhero world. The first film did pretty well, and Sony really wants to expand their little corner of Marvel. The film did quite well in this post-COVID reality and pulled in $500 million in 11 weeks. That was impressive, to be sure. Spider-Man No Way Home was the other Sony/Marvel film. It had the unfortunate timing of releasing just as the Omicron variant of the virus hit, and as some states are going back to various restrictions there was some question if audiences would venture out into the cinemas in enough numbers to give the film any kind of return at all. After all, we've seen big-budget films fall to the wayside enough to understand this is risky business. That question has been answered
