Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 20th, 2019
by John Delia Jr.
The life of a dog can be very short, but the dog’s purpose can last you a lifetime. A Dog’s Journey is a wonderful sequel and extends the story even further, grabbing your heart making it spill over with emotions. This story picks up shortly after where the first one left off. Bailey (voice Josh Gad) is a little older, and Hannah’s (Marg Helgenberger) son died, leaving his wife Gloria (Betty Gilpin) and a toddler Clarity June (Emma Volk) behind. Trying to help Gloria with the baby, Hannah and Ethan (Dennis Quaid) are doing their best to provide for them both. Being so young, Gloria seems to be preoccupied by trying to find a life for herself that tends to allow little CJ to wonder off. Sometimes it can be a little dangerous on a farm for a toddler. Bailey being the loving and protective dog that he is does his best to help keep CJ from harm. But after an incident, Ethan and Hannah offer to take care of CJ so Gloria can take a job far from home.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 16th, 2019
Three-time widower Ben Cartwright (Greene) runs his famous Ponderosa Ranch with the aid of his three grown sons from three different mothers. There’s Little Joe (Landon), Adam (Roberts) and Hoss (Blocker). Set some time in the mid 1800’s, this long-running series followed the family’s many exploits. In the late 1950’s, westerns accounted for six of the top ten programs on TV. Only Gunsmoke had a longer run than Bonanza. From 1959 to 1973, Ben Cartwright and his boys rode across the small screen. Years later in syndication the series re-emerged as Ponderosa, and a handful of TV movies continued the tale into the 90’s.We never have grown tired of the genre that gave us such heroes as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
Unlike many of the 1960's Western television shows, Bonanza was all about the characters. You rarely saw a gunfight. There was often a bit of fisticuffs, but usually it ended with a lesson that violence never pays. The show prided itself on using the Western genre to deliver a family kind of show, and it's no surprise that series star Michael Landon would use many of the same kinds of stories and lessons on his own Little House On The Prairie. The Cartwrights are always helping widows, the wrongly accused, and the local Indian population. That help often lands them in hot water.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 12th, 2019
"Tell me a story..."
One of the first people in my life to tell me a story was J.R.R. Tolkien. I was given a colorfully illustrated copy of The Hobbit that I still have to this very day. Sure, it was abridged and was mostly filled with pictures, but I was likely five years old when I got the book. The fact that I've kept it this long should tell you something about the kind of story Tolkien told me. Since that time I've read the Fellowship Of The Ring trilogy at least three times. I've written music inspired by those stories. And then there are the six massive films from Peter Jackson. In all these years I've never quite shaken the words of a man I never did have the opportunity to meet... that is, until now. Watching the biographic drama Tolkien leaves me with a sense of connection that I always wished I might obtain to the man himself. It's still rather early in the film season, and while this might not quite be the season for such things just yet, I must say I've at least seen the best film of 2019 to date.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 11th, 2019
"A clean girl is always attentive and dutiful. A clean girl embraces obedience. A clean girl is always humble and patient. A clean girl embodies sweetness. A clean girl is always temperate. A clean girl is honest and forthcoming. A clean girl gives the school loyalty."
... and is thrifty, healthy, and wise. Watching the beginning of Level 16 reminded me a little bit of that Boy Scout Oath we used to stand and deliver in the gymnasium of Saint Margaret's when I was a young teenager. There are also several aspects of the film that reminded me a little of the disciplined regiment at Saint Margaret's Elementary School. But there's something more sinister afoot at Vestelis Orphanage than a few sadistic nuns packing yardsticks or a scout leader who smelled of stogies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2019
If it wasn't clear enough before, I think the Avengers: Endgame box office mauling put the final point on the situation between Marvel and DC. When it comes to Cinematic Universes, DC has had an impossible task of keeping up. Avengers took in more on the first weekend than Aquaman did its entire run. The box office round goes to Marvel, and it appears DC has started to come to grips with that fact and has started to transform their own films away from the team-up/combined universe and is going back to basics. Where DC has built a rather strong shared universe for their characters is in the animated feature department. In the last handful of years DC has released some very strong animated films, and that's where there appears to be a place where they not only compete with Marvel but leave them in the dust. The latest proof of that idea comes with the Warner Brothers release of Justice League vs. The Fatal Five out on UHD Blu-ray in 4K. It's a solid film with plenty of cheerful action and adventure that always got bogged down in the films with the notable exception of Wonder Woman.
The film begins a thousand years in the future and the League of Superheroes. Their HQ is invaded by three members of their chief nemesis, the Fatal Five. In an attempt to stop them from stealing their time machine the heroes attempt to trap them inside a frozen time bubble, but can't set the trap in time. The three bad guys: Mano (Rodriquez), The Persuader (King) and Thorack (Jessup) manage to steal the time machine and return to our present day with Starboy (Gabel) silently on their trail.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2019
“In space no one can hear you scream.”
That was the slogan that drew a conglomerate of horror and science fiction fans to theatres in 1979. Was it horror or sci-fi? Alien turned out to be a rare cross-genre film that managed to satisfy both audiences. Ridley Scott started out by bringing the “space ship” film away from the glamorous bright future and depicted a world startlingly very much like our own. In Scott’s gritty future, companies are quasi-government agencies, and these astronauts are not explorers out for glory and heroism. They are strictly blue-collar workers trying to make a buck. It’s hard to imagine that most of the cast, including Sigourney Weaver, were relative unknowns at the time. Weaver would create a new model for female leads that would later pave the way for actors like Linda Hamilton.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 26th, 2019
"It's going to be a tearjerker."
It all started with Iron Man in 2008. Marvel Studios put together the most ambitious film saga in the history of the medium. 22 films that served as introduction to comic book heroes and the various story threads that would ultimately bind them together into one epic tale. All along the way it was important that each film stand on its own legs and provide enough story and action to satisfy the film audiences at each signpost along the way. 22 films over 11 years, and it all finally comes to its inevitable conclusion in The Avengers: Endgame. From this film forward, it's going to be a very different landscape for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. New heroes are on the way, and some will either no longer be there or will take on an entirely different form and persona. I'm not about to tell you where these changes come down. That would ultimately ruin this 3-hour ride you are about to embark upon. But when it ends, you will completely understand that it was all leading to this point, and it will be a sad but satisfying conclusion. But before we talk about endings, let's enjoy that final ride into the end.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 19th, 2019
I don't scare. As a lucid dreamer, I am incapable of having nightmares. That might be one of the reasons I have always been attracted to horror, both in film and television. In my entire life I've only been frightened by one film, and that was the final segment of Trilogy Of Terror. There was something about that manic little doll that actually scared me. Of course, I was 10 when I saw it, and hiding behind a chair in our living room because I was supposed to be in bed. For whatever reason, that vivid memory remains. Around the same time I saw the first Night Stalker films, and I wanted to a writer just like Carl Kolchak, and yet another vivid memory remains. Yet a third memory was having our sitter pick me up from school. Often she'd volunteer to buy us ice cream or candy on the way home. I always declined. What would make a little kid refuse free sweets? It was a half-hour soap opera, of all things. Of course, I'm talking about Dark Shadows, and the thing that Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker and Trilogy Of Terror all have in common beyond the vivid memories is that they each came from Dan Curtis. For this once pre-teen kid, Dan Curtis pulled a hat-trick in the late 60's and early 70's, and I'll never forget it.
Of course, not everyone lived at the time Dan Curtis was making his mark. It's hard to believe that this master of Dark Shadows and other things that went bump in the night started his television career producing a golfing program for CBS Sports for 10 years. There are quite a few things I didn't know about my personal boogey man. I'll bet the same is true for all but the most devoted fans. MPI fills in a ton of blanks with Master Of Dark Shadows on DVD and Blu-ray.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 16th, 2019
The Donovan family has been a prominent part of the Showtime lineup for six years now. What started as a series about a fixer didn't quite remain that way for long. The stories very quickly focused on this rather dysfunctional family, and we appear to love our dysfunctional families in movies and television. Most are awkwardly dysfunctional without a lot of heart, and Ray Donovan was certainly heading in that direction before the fifth season took us on one of the best emotional rollercoaster rides in the business. For me that season and the death of the family matriarch changed the stakes and the center for each of the characters. Abby was the thing that held this family together no matter how twisted things got. So we ended up with what I consider the best season of the show to date. So where did we go from there, you might ask. You don't have to. Showtime has released the complete 6th season of Ray Donovan on DVD, and now you can find out for yourself. Here's my take.
When a family loses its center, things tend to unravel a bit. That's not quite how it works with this family. They've been unraveling since the first episode, and let's be perfectly honest here, a long time before we first met them. It's more than that. Ray is at rock bottom over Abby's death and finds himself in New York, where coincidentally other members of the family have migrated from L. A. He's saved by a down-on-his-luck cop, played by The Wire's own Herc, Domenick Lombardozzi. He ends up bringing Ray home, and the two share each other's misery for a while. But what Ray is truly avoiding more than his own grief is working for the powerful woman Samantha Winslow, played just as powerfully by Susan Sarandon. She's really the female version of Ray in many ways. She uses people, and she's very used to getting her way. What she wants is Ray's help to assist her in obtaining a private prison and its lucrative property. The first stage of that plan brings Ray into the world of politics, where he works to fix the New York City mayoral campaign for newcomer Anita Novak, played by Lola Glaudini. But Ray can't help shooting himself in the foot and ends up on a cycle of changing sides to the point everyone hates him, and it costs him and those close to him dearly.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2019
It's an inescapable fact of life that some things get lost in translation. Italian poetry loses its imagery. War And Peace is apparently much more compelling in Tolstoy's original Russian. And I've been told that Abbott & Costello is painful when told secondhand. You can add to that axiom that Stephen King really doesn't translate very well on the silver screen. The notable exceptions are films based on non-horror works like The Shawshank Redemption and the barely horror-related Stand By Me. Both are wonderful films that manage to capture King's knack for the absurd in every day life. While some consider Kubrick's The Shining a classic, you'll find just as many King fans who hated it, "Here's Johnny" and all of that. I've read most of Stephen King's books and a couple of them multiple times. Pet Sematary is one of my favorites, and I've read it at least three times. When the 1989 film was released, I was eager to see it. That was a mistake, but an even bigger mistake was made by all involved in what was essentially a mess. I blame Denise Crosby, but then again I blame Denise Crosby for hurricanes and urban blight. I don't blame Fred Gwynne. He was the only part of that film that reminded me even remotely of the printed word. Now writers Matt Greenberg & Jeff Buhler join directors Kevin Lolsch & Dennis Widmyer in a remake that while not the disaster of the 1989 film still fails to capture the imaginative prose of the novel. I think it's a translation thing.
The story is essentially the same. The Creed family moves to rural Maine from the hectic big-city life. It's a wonderful a scenic home... well... except for that small rural road where oil tankers go flying by like bats out of hell. It all starts when little kitty Church is the first to meet a tanker head on. Spoiler alert! Church loses that one. Friendly Neighborhood Jud, this time played by John Lithgow, offers some homely advice. You see, there's this ancient Pet Sematary (yeah, the kids spelled it wrong) where the town's kids have been burying their Fidos for generations that just so happens to be part of the new Creed family estate. But just beyond said resting place is an extra special place where buried things come back. Jud just can't stand to see the Creed kids crying over poor old Church, so he lets slip to Dad Louis (Clarke) about the section with the extra secret sauce. Church comes back from the dead, but he ain't quite right. He smells funny. His fur is matted. Oh, and there's the psycho-killer new 'tude. OK as far as it goes. But you know the rest of the story. One of the young Creed rug rats has one of those tanker meetings, and Louis decides it's a good idea to try the same thing on said deceased child. It all goes downhill from there.
