Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2020
There comes a time in any project where one must decide exactly what their mission is. In entertainment, that’s usually a pretty easy question to answer. Of course your goal is to entertain as many people as possible so that it can be profitable and enduring. For many years there have been filmmakers and television series show runners who have let that goal get out of hand, mostly in the political arena. I don’t have any issue when a show’s editorial policy happens to come down on one side or the other. It doesn’t even matter if it’s my side or not. But two things I don’t want in my entertainment. I don’t want to be hit over the head every five minutes. Trust me to get your point. The second is that there must still be entertainment value that compels me to care about a show and its characters and their stories. Madam Secretary fails in both of these tests. The West Wing was just as political, but there was a demanding quality to everything from the performances to the stories and production value. As a government teacher, I was impressed at how many of those little-known facts about our system they got right. I used moments of the show as teaching moments. This last season of Madam Secretary would be a disaster in any classroom.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 15th, 2020
To the point, Criminal Minds is very compelling television. Ever since The Silence of the Lambs and perhaps long before, we have been fascinated by serial killers and the profilers who try to get inside their heads. To see evidence of the continuing trend, one needs only look toward the success of shows like Dexter. Of course, serial killers are not the only prey this FBI team pursues, but they are certainly the marquee item on the agenda. To be sure, there are equally disturbing subjects such as arsonists, bombers, kidnappers, and rapists to give the show a touch of variety, but let’s face it, it’s the killers that keep us tuned so attentively to Criminal Minds. But now after 15 seasons the series has come to an end, and we realize it wasn’t just the murderers we’ve been tuning in to see. The characters have become like a little family, and their stories were just as compelling over the years. Now Criminal Minds finishes with a brief 10-episode final run, and it’s out on DVD from CBS Home Entertainment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2020
"The First Order wins by making us think we're alone. We are not alone. Good people will fight if we lead them. Leia never gave up, and neither will we. We're gonna show them we're not afraid. What our mothers and fathers fought for, we will not let die. Not today. Today we make our last stand for the galaxy. For Leia. For everyone we lost. They've taken enough of us. Now we take the war to them."
It was 1978 when it all began. That's when George Lucas and a fairly unknown band of filmmakers and actors introduced us to that galaxy far, far away. We met characters like Han Solo and Princess Leia. We fell in love with droids named R2D2 and C3PO. We booed and hissed at the classic villainy of Darth Vader. And the hero of it all was a young farmer boy who pined for adventure on a backwater planet where nothing exciting ever happened. That's where we met Luke Skywalker, and for three films ending in 1983, we were treated to an epic adventure. This unknown band would become cultural icons, but it was all over after five years of space swashbuckling and good old good versus evil. At some point Lucas made it known that the first Star Wars film was actually the fourth film in a trilogy of trilogies. Star Wars would gain the tag A New Hope, followed by The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. Of course, while Lucas teased there was a prequel trilogy and a sequel trilogy, we were told not to get our hopes too high. But in the 1990's Lucas felt ambitious, and he delivered on that prequel trilogy with underwhelming result. Surely the rest of the story would remain untold.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2020
"Nothing wrong with a good diversion."
As I write this review for the latest entry in the DC Animated Universe, the nation is going through a tough time. When terms like social distancing are becoming the norm, it's nice to know that there's stuff out there to help keep us from going stir crazy as we become more and more restricted to our homes. Box office films have been delayed, and some of the current films are being brought out sooner on home entertainment platforms to try to ease the isolation a little. While never slated for a theatrical release, one of the better titles to come out during this time is Warner Brothers' Superman: Red Son. It's a story that was told about 10 years ago in an animated film, but this one takes advantage of new technology and a multi-film story that has driven the last few years of animated feature releases. This isn't merely a retread, but something far closer to the original comics story and provides a rather thoughtful as well as entertaining diversion just when we might need it the most.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 19th, 2020
"There's a bomb in Centennial Park. You have thirty minutes."
Clint Eastwood is about to hit 90, and there are no signs that it's slowing him down. Last year he even returned to the front of the camera for The Mule. Now he's back as just the director, and it appears that Eastwood has found two of his favorite subjects in one film. He's always been attracted to the isolated man. If you look back at the men he himself has portrayed over the years, they were misunderstood loners. In recent years he has taken a bit of a shine to telling true stories that usually deal with unlikely heroes who are thrust into a dangerous situation and must act. Heroes like Chris Kyle in American Sniper, airline captain Chesley Sullenberger, the WWII heroes who raised the iconic flag at Iwo Jima in Flags Of Our Fathers, and the brave ordinary tourist who stopped a terrorist attack on a passenger train in The 15:17 To Paris. These heroes always pay a price for their actions, and often they are even persecuted for what they've done, as in the case of Sully. Eastwood has combined that true story and unlikely hero for his latest work, Richard Jewell. It's a cautionary tale that is worth watching, particularly in an age where we are constantly told that if we see something, we must say something. After watching Richard Jewell, you might just experience a potentially catastrophic hesitation. And who could blame you?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2020
"Who are we if we can't protect them? We have to protect them."
As I write this there's a truly "Zombie Apocalypse" attitude going on around the world. With the launch of A Quiet Place II delayed because of health panic this might just be the time to "quarantine" yourself in your home theatre and watch the film again on UHD Blu-ray in 4K. There's nothing different about this release except for the steelbook format and different cover art. The discs provided are exactly the same discs you already have if you own the previous 4K release. It makes a nice collector's item as you wait for the eventual follow-up, which I hope will be very soon. You might call me jaded, but I am pretty disappointed by the state of horror movies. It's not just the last few years. The truth is I haven't seen 10 really good horror movies in over a decade. Now that I've had a chance to see A Quiet Place, that number isn't going up. A Quiet Place is not a really good horror movie. It ends up making a lot of the same mistakes that filmmakers think define a horror film in the modern age. It relies too heavily on jump scares and characters who do some of the most idiotic things, thus placing them in a somewhat self-created dangerous situation. But I will make the argument that A Quiet Place is still a pretty good horror film because of a rather clever and unique concept and a filming process that allows us care for these characters more than the usual horror film red-shirt fodder that too often leaves me rooting for the monster in a Darwin-like weed-out-the-gene-pool kind of way.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2020
"That's the bravest damn thing I think I've ever seen."
Director Roland Emmerich is no stranger to big-screen battles. The difference is that up until this year those battles have been against aliens, huge climactic changes, or giant lizards named Godzilla. There's no question that he understands how to shoot epic confrontation. The question I had going in to Midway was, can he deliver a battle that wasn't fiction? After nearly tow and a half hours, the answer came back somewhat mixed. This isn't the first time that the Battle of Midway has been brought to the big screen. In the 1970's Charlton Heston gave us a film that was more renowned for the trendy Sensurround gimmick than it was for the drama that unfolded on the screen. Sensurround was a fancy name for huge subs that would shake the theater, and if you were lucky enough to be seeing the film at a theater with enough money to go all the way, you might have found yourself in a seat that was wired to shake, rattle, and roll. Today the chains call that Dolby. This Midway didn't lend itself to some William Castle hustle. It's all up on the screen. The film bears no relation to that earlier effort except for the legendary battle in the Pacific that turned the tide of the Pacific theater of World War II toward the Allies. The film actually shares more in common with the classic Tora Tora Tora in that we spend a good deal of screen time with the Japanese players in the battle. Not at all like the earlier gimmick film, this movie is intended to place you squarely in the middle of the action. If that's what you came to see, you are certainly in for an immersive experience, only without the hot-wired seat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2020
I remember over my years watching History's Duck Dynasty that the lead characters had very characteristic beards. One of the multi-season collections even came with a beard you could put on or display. A lot of folks thought it was a clever element that set these "good ol' boys" apart from the other eccentric characters the network parades in their "reality" shows, but if you're a fan of American music, you would know those beards anywhere. They originally belonged to ZZ Top iconic guitarist Billy Gibbons and equally iconic bass player Dusty Hill, who along with the ironically beardless drummer Frank Beard form the trio ZZ Top. After 50 years they remain the longest running rock band in history to still feature the complete original lineup. Of course, that's not quite as hard to do with only three members, but it's a milestone that even few marriages celebrate, and that's only two people. Like them, love them, or not, ZZ Top have become one of the most quintessential American bands in history. It's easily recognized with just a few opening chords, and it's about time someone sat down with these boys to find out what makes them tick and just how three poor cowboys from Texas changed the American music scene forever.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2020
"Over the next two days you little critters will get to experience some of the things that the mighty German army goes through every day, and even though it would appear our country's on the back foot and there really isn't much hope in us winning this war, apparently we're doing just fine."
The book Caging Skies was written in 2000 by Christine Leunens. The book became more the inspiration for the film JoJo Rabbit rather than the source material, as they are very different animals indeed. The book is a rather sober look at the indoctrination of a young generation of boys and girls in Hitler's infamous Hitler's Youth organization. It was pretty much like the Boy Scouts of America, except, you know, for young Nazis. When director Taika Waititi got his hands on the material, it became somewhat a dark or black comedy with entire concepts added to the storytelling that were not a part of the original novel. Waititi is pretty much known as a comic director who has managed to intertwine his particular sense of comedy with other genre films with relative success. A prime example, of course, is his foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Thor: Ragnarok, which became one of the oddest entry in that film franchise. Expect more when we get to see his work again with that old God of Thunder when the next Thor installment Thor: Love And Thunder is released soon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 29th, 2020
It's been six years since Frozen became somewhat of a surprise hit out of Walt Disney Studios in 2013. No one was surprised it made a good haul at the box office, but I suspect that even the masterminds at Disney never saw this billion-dollar baby when it was first being born. It's become the biggest original hit out of Disney since the original Lion King set animated feature records in the 90's. I'll give the studio credit. They didn't rush out and try to cash in on the momentum as quickly as other studios would have. They took their time and assembled the same team of directors and songwriters and allowed the process to follow a six-year process with the intent of doing it right rather than doing it fast. For the most part I think that strategy paid off, and while this film will never be the classic the original has become, it will fit rather snugly into the franchise and will delight children, while possibly cursing the adults who are fated to watch the film over and over again. This is absolutely one of those kinds of movies.
