Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2018
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not really out to get you. That old axiom has never been more true than for David Vincent in the Martin Quinn series The Invaders. Quinn was best known for his police procedural shows like The FBI. At the time of the The Invaders, Quinn was coming going into the final season of one of his most popular shows, The Fugitive. While most people over the years has compared The Invaders to that Quinn production, they were really not as similar as all of that. In The Fugitive the hero, Richard Kimball played by David Janssen had a very specific mission. He was wrongly convicted of killing his wife and was on the trail of the real killer, whom he had witnessed.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2018
My very first impression was that this show was very ambitious from the gate. Perhaps the show’s fatal flaw is that it attempts to tackle far too many serious issues, complete with complex undertones, with the largest ensemble cast I’ve seen yet. Add this to the fact that the world is still a little sensitive to terrorist attacks, and you have a recipe for keeping your audience relatively small. None of these things are bad elements in and among themselves, and I’m certainly not suggesting that these issues need to be abandoned. I’ve been a high school teacher, and one thing any of us can tell you is that there’s only so much a person can absorb in a given amount of time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2018
“Welcome to Jurassic Park.”
With those words begin an adventure that started with the legacy of Willis O’Brien’s The Lost World. You see, dinosaur films are nothing new; they have held our childlike fascination since the industry was born. Jurassic Park was, however, something very new when it thundered into our cineplexes and forever into our imaginations 20 years ago. The marriage of brand new CGI technology with Stan Winston’s superbly detailed animatronics models transports you back 65 million years in time.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2018
"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."
Yes, those lines open this Star Wars story, because the filmmakers want to be sure you know what you're watching. This is Star Wars. Just in case there was anyone at all in the audience who had no idea they just bought a ticket to Star Wars. If he were dead, George Lucas would be rolling over in his grave. Instead, maybe he's just having some restless nights with little sleep. It is Star Wars. And that means there will be a droid as a main character, space battles, and some good old fashioned one-reel-serial-days adventure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 23rd, 2018
"Just another American who saw too many movies as a child? Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he's John Wayne? Rambo? Marshall Dillon?"
So the great debate rages on. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie or just a movie that happens to be set at Christmastime? Recently Stephen Amell from Arrow told a press group that his favorite Christmas movie was indeed Die Hard. He's not alone there. I've had the debate a few times myself. Unfortunately, I come down on the side that Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. Here's my criteria.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 22nd, 2018
"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
After nearly 20 years, it's hard not to already consider Ridley Scott's Gladiator a classic. But not in the same way we think of Blade Runner, which has become more of a cult classic, or Alien, which has all the trappings of a genre film, blending horror and science fiction into a nice little package
Posted in: Tuesday Round Up by Gino Sassani on May 22nd, 2018
Howdy partners. Gino here again. Johnny’s out on the high seas running from the likes of Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Flint. If he makes it back, I’m sure he’ll be filling you in on titles again real soon. If not, we’ll be sure to send out a search party real soon.
Here's what we'll be covering this week down on the ranch.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 22nd, 2018
The Matrix (1999) was a landmark film in the Sci-Fi genre. While its box office intake was dwarfed by Episode 1, it was The Matrix that had people talking. Andy and Larry Wachowski’s story of a post-apocalyptic world where humans serve as biological generators of energy for the machines that rule the planet challenged people’s perceptions of what reality was. Computer hacker extraordinaire Neo (Reeves) has this gut feeling that life isn’t all that it seems to be. Turns out he’s right in a big way. A group of revolutionaries led by the thought-to-be-mythical Morpheus (Fishburne) open his eyes to the Matrix.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 20th, 2018
"Welcome to game night".
Everybody loves playing games. OK, most people like playing games. Friends have been getting together for game nights since there have been games. From the couples’ bridge days of the 1950's to poker night with the guys, most of us have gotten together to play some kind of a game with friends. The thing about games is that they're frivolous. Playing games with some buddies is a good excuse to kill a few hours, maybe have a few drinks. You're not solving the world's problems, and it's usually just a simple night of entertainment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 20th, 2018
Clint Eastwood has been at the top of the game both as an actor and a director, often both at the same time. There's no question that he still has the skills. Unfortunately, 15:17 To Paris isn't a great example of his direction skills. Don't get me wrong. There is a nice intense film in here, but it only lasts for about 10 minutes and hungrily screams out for more of the same. Eastwood's problem is much the same that he had in Sully. He doesn't really have enough material for a truly great feature film, so he is forced to fill the screen time with something he hopes will entertain us long enough to stay with him for the good stuff. But as Clint said once as Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations."
