Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 31st, 2019
The fabled story of the Nutcracker has many experiences, from plays, to musicals, to theater, and to operas; it has entertained us all for a century. What if these stories are real, and these Christmas toys really do have a world of their own? That would be a tale we all would love to hear. Enter Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. After the death of their mother, Clara (Mackenzie Foy), Fritz (Tom Sweet), Louise (Ellie Bamber), and their father, Mr. Stahbaum (Matthew Macfadyen), must endure the Christmas holidays without her. Struggling to move on with the events of the season, Mr. Stahbaum pushes them all to attend the annual event at Drosselmeyer’s house.
Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman) is a wealthy inventor of toys and many useful things. He loves all children and teaches them how to use their potential in whatever they are inspired to be.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Gino Sassani on January 25th, 2019
On Dec 1st, 2008 after eight years working at Upcomingdiscs as a writer, I became the owner. It's been 10 years, and in that time I've found a few ways to make my mark upon the site. In that time I was able to gather a wonderful local Tampa staff that has allowed the site to grow while freeing me to discover new ways to serve our faithful followers. We added an October Halloween celebration called 31 Nights Of Terror. We started to bring you interviews with the folks that work to make the films and television shows you guys love so much. We've tried to keep up with tributes to lost industry giants and provide you with a weekly roundup of what you can expect each week here at the ranch. We expanded our contests and giveaways by working hard to maintain good relationships with the studios that provide all of our review and contest material. Of course, those relationships never got in the way of honest reporting with every review we write. We were the first home entertainment site to bring you a UHD 4K review. I was invited to join the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA). I managed to score a player before the guys at Best Buy had even seen one before. Every year I would ask you what we could do better. What changes you would like to see here at Upcomingdiscs. I have read each and every one of your answers. Most of you have been happy with our appearance, but it's gotten a little old, and you deserve better. So I welcome you to the new look for Upcomingdiscs. I hope you'll take a look around and let us know what you think.
We didn't make it more complicated. I always hated when a favored web site changed for the worse. Why do some folks think new and improved means harder to navigate? I hope you find this new site as easy to use as the old one was. So what has changed?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2019
"That's one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind."
July 20th, 1969. If you were alive and even somewhat old enough to be aware of your surroundings, you likely still remember that date. There are many such dates in history; unfortunately so many of them revolve around tragic events like 9-ll or the attack on Pearl Harbor. But on that night I was eight years old, and I know exactly where I was. I was watching Walter Cronkite on television as he brought us the first landing on the surface of the moon. Today that's a bittersweet memory. For an 8-year-old boy it was a promise that has remained unfulfilled. If you had told that 8-year-old who just saw humans walking on the moon that 50 years later we would have gone no further, he would have been dumbfounded. If you told him that not only would we go no further but that we would stop going to the moon in just a few short years, he would have been devastated. I can only imagine what that first man on the moon thought about it all so many years later. The truth is that Neil Armstrong never traded on his celebrity. He kept mostly to himself for the rest of his life, and perhaps the only tragedy larger than our abandonment of the pursuit he risked his life for is that we know so little about the man whose name lives with the likes of Columbus. He's almost a forgotten hero. That's why First Man is such an important film that almost lives up to that legacy.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2019
In the 1970's Pat Morita was pretty much a staple of the American television landscape. It's fair to say he often got work in a less politically correct era as a token Asian on situation comedies. He landed iconic recurring roles as Arnold, who owned the burger hangout in Happy Days, and Ah Chew, the target of Redd Foxx's bigoted antics on Sanford And Son. His is a long career in the annals of 70's television. While he did appear in a few feature films, none of these appearances had the lasting fame or adoration that he experienced as Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid franchise. The role would define him for the remainder of his days. When Karate Kid appeared in 1984, it delivered a modest return at the box office but found some enduring returns in the young home video market. It was enough to score a sequel in 1986 that would become the best moneymaker of the franchise's original collection of four films. It pulled in enough scratch to warrant a third film, and that's pretty much where it all went downhill faster than a speeding bullet which might have mercifully ended the movies on a high note.
Mill Creek released the first two films on Blu-ray some time ago, and it was pretty much expected that they would complete the set with the release of The Karate Kid Part III & The Next Karate Kid. Of course, they haven't been given any kind of re-master or additional features. Both films reside on a single disc and got the attention to detail they both deserved...not much. So this is a cheap opportunity to have the collection for the purposes of a complete collection. And so a modest price gives you bragging rights. Perhaps the disc should come with one of those amusement park staples, a tee shirt that brags: "I survived The Karate Kid Part III and The Next Karate Kid".
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 17th, 2019
"Our Milky Way Galaxy is just one among billions of galaxies in the universe. In every way an ordinary galaxy. It's 100,000 light years across. There are hundreds of billions of stars here. Lost inside this huge swarm is one average-sized star. As stars go, it's quite unremarkable. Nevertheless, it's the most special place in all the cosmos. Orbiting this star is the only place we know in all the universe to harbor life."
Of course, that place is Earth, and while we can't say for certain, it is truly unlikely to be the only place in this vast universe or even this galaxy to contain life. We might one day have to rethink exactly what that term means one day. But for now, Earth is the only place we know that supports life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 17th, 2019
"I always knew he'd come back. In this town, Michael Myers is a myth. He's the Boogeyman. A ghost story to scare kids. But this Boogeyman is real. An evil like his never stops; it just grows older. Darker. More determined. Forty years ago, he came to my home to kill. He killed my friends, and now he's back to finish what he started, with me. The one person who's ready to stop him."
I was 17 years old when John Carpenter released The Shape, aka Michael Myers, on the world in 1978. It was a milestone film. Of course we didn't know we were watching something that would become so culturally huge. We were the target audience. Teens who were looking for some extra thrill in our films. These so-called slasher films became great escapes of fantasy to bring a date along. For a late-teen, there's no better way to spend an evening with a date than a film that might have her jump right into your lap. Great times. But the reason Halloween stands out from the crowded genre is because John Carpenter knew something about anticipation. He knew how to build towards a scare. And he understood how to use music, shadow, and pacing to truly immerse his audience into a film. I didn't watch Halloween in 1978. I experienced Halloween in 1978.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 10th, 2019
"The list is an absolute good. The list is life."
It had been nearly 20 years since I had seen Schindler's List. I believe this was only the second time I've watched it since seeing it in the theaters back in 1993. It's one of those films that doesn't lend itself to repeated viewings. It clocks in at over three hours, and the material is emotionally draining. That doesn't mean the film shouldn't be on everyone's shelf. It should. It should, because it tells a brutal story that civilization must never forget. It's clear that while the event remains in our collective memories, the reality of the Holocaust has been lost on too many people. Watch this film, and you will be completely amazed that anyone could throw words like Hitler or Nazi to describe anything that could be happening in American politics today. I'm convinced that the people who use those descriptions need to sit down for three hours and watch Schindler's List, maybe for the first time. It belittles this horrific moment in history to throw it about as a political hit or hate speech. There is nothing in our current American landscape that comes close to the reality of what happened to the Jews in World War II. Saying that there is shows amazing ignorance, an ignorance that this film goes a long way in dispelling.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on January 5th, 2019
Miami Vice: Season One on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment. It's been a heck of a holiday run here at Upcomingdiscs. We're not finished yet. Look for a couple of new contests within a few weeks. We've also got some things up our sleeves here. It's going to be a big year here, and we hope you all stick around to see what's coming.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on January 4th, 2019
Quantum Leap: The Complete Series on DVD. Before he was Captain Archer on Enterprise and before he was Pride on NCIS, Scott Bakula was Sam on Quantum Leap. He played a scientist who jumped through the past into the bodies of others where he was expected to right some wrong before he could "leap" to another and hopefully home. You get 18 discs containing the entire classic series in one package. It's all thanks to those wonderful elves over at Mill Creek Entertainment.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
Posted in: Contests, Expired Contests by Gino Sassani on January 3rd, 2019
Starsky & Hutch: The Complete Series. Once more we dip into the bag sent by the elves at Mill Creek Entertainment. One of the most iconic shows of the 1970's has to be Starsky & Hutch. David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser pretty much invented the buddy cop genre that led to films like Lethal Weapon and 48 Hours. Now you can find it all in one place, and that can be on your film shelf if you're the lucky winner.
To win a copy of this prize, follow these instructions.
