Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 17th, 2025
"I like it when people underestimate me. It gives me an edge."
Much like the current thinking about our universe, it all started with The Big Bang Theory. The breakout character there was Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons. For 279 episodes, television fans just couldn't get enough. That was until Parsons asked for a huge boatload of cash and the show ended. The character was not finished. A spin-off called Young Sheldon debuted with Ian Armitage starring as a very young Sheldon, as the name implies. It's pretty much an origin story. Parsons returned, but only to provide the show's narration in a The Wonder Years kind of presentation. But it would add another 140 episodes to the story. In Young Sheldon we also were introduced to his family growing up. One of those family members was his older brother Georgie, played by Montana Jordan. He was very much the polar opposite of Sheldon. He wasn't very bright, but had a bit more of what you might call street smarts, and his character's charm would win over the show's audience. So now the Sheldon story continues, without Sheldon, in the first season of Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, now out on DVD from Warner Brothers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 16th, 2025
"Good evening, Ethan. This is your president. Since you won't reply to anyone else, I thought I'd reach out directly. First, I want to thank you for a lifetime of devoted and unrelenting service; were it not for the tireless dedication of you and your team, the Earth would be a very different place. It might not even be here at all. Every risk you've taken, every comrade you've lost in the field, every personal sacrifice you made, has brought this world another sunrise. It's been 35 years since circumstances brought you to us and you were given the choice -- since the IMF saved you from a life in prison. And though you never followed orders, you never let us down. You were always the best of men in the worst of times. I need you to be that man now."
I imagine this is how it happened. It's January of 2019, and Tom Cruise has just popped into the bathroom to shave. He opens up that can of Barbasol just to make sure there isn't any dinosaur DNA left in the can, but as he takes off the cap, an authoritative voice begins to speak: “Good morning, Mr. Cruise. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to make a two-part film of the Mission Impossible franchise. It won't be easy. That's why only the IMF team can be counted on to complete this task. There are agents out to stop you before you even get started. In China there is a virus code-name COVID, and this virus will spread to pandemic levels just as you're starting to get your production crew together. Elements within our own government will take measures to shut you down. Delays will cost an extra $100 million and necessitate crucial cast changes. They'll be serious injuries, and your release date will be July of 2021 ... I mean November of 2021 ... Would you believe May of 2022? ... Let's shoot for July 14, 2023. You will have to deal with nefarious crew members who will attempt to sabotage the project by standing closer than two meters apart. You may use over-the-top rants to attempt to intimidate these factions into compliance. Beware that said rants don't end up released by the press to the world. Somehow through all of these challenges you must create a pair of Mission Impossible films that will be bigger and better than anything that came before. And remember, Tom, if your film fails to bring in a billion or more, the studio will disavow your team, and your movie will go straight to streaming ... or worse, get shelved as a tax write-off. Good luck, Tom. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.” There's a swoosh of fog, and Tom Cruise is sitting in his bathroom with no shaving cream to complete his original task. I figure that's how it must have gone. And that was just for the first movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2025
"One … two … Freddy’s coming for you, three … four … better lock the door, five … six … grab your crucifix ..."
Freddy might have been born in the mind of Wes Craven, but he grew and developed in the knife-wielding hands of Robert Englund. Granted, not all of these films are equal in quality, but the first was everything you could ask for in a horror/slasher film of the era. Freddy himself is by far the most colorful and animated of the slashers. His burned face, fedora, striped sweater, and knife-blade glove were all integral parts of the wise-cracking maniac. Now Warner Brothers has released the original seven films on UHD Blu-ray in Ultra High Definition. It's a dream come true ... well ... at least a nightmare come true.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2025
"It wasn't a dream; at least that's what I believe. The thing is I felt hurt and plenty sad, and there were times when I thought I couldn't go on. But I know I'm not the only one suffering. I want to protect everyone's future. I need to keep pushing forward. I feel that more every day."
Ultraman is a huge part of Japanese culture and pretty much has been since the original live-action show in 1966. Perhaps Godzilla started the ball rolling, but Ultraman brought us these monsters on a regular basis. In Japan, Ultraman is like our Superman. He’s an iconic hero and a huge part of the pop culture. Since the 60’s he has appeared in many forms, most of them animated. But it is this 1966 series that made a ton of us kids fall in love with him and an entire genre. Yes, there were many from the era: Space Giants featured a giant fighting robot who fought monsters and sometimes converted into a spaceship (yes, before transformers were ever thought of); Johnny Socko had his giant robot; and the list goes on. But it was Ultraman who started it. Eiji Tsuburaya, who created the original Godzilla, formed a new company outside of Toho Pictures. Ultraman was pretty much the first thing out of the new shop.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2025
"I'm not a bad guy. I just made bad choices. I have a plan."
Derek Cianfrance doesn't have a lot of movies in the director's chair, but his 2012 The Place Beyond The Pines was a pretty solid film. Since then he's been pretty quiet, and he's finally surfaced once again with the rather off-kilter "based on a true story" crime comic drama Roofman. he's brought Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, and Peter Dinklage along for the ride. It's been something of a sleeper, coming with little advanced buzz and flying under the radar. There's not a lot of competition out there right now, so there's a small sweet spot here where the movie can make an impact, and it's worth a look while you wait for your favorite horror film to haunt your Halloween movie-going.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2025
"There are no industry secrets. We can always meet our life partner out in the wild or swiping on apps, but the happy ending to a first date is not the second date. It's changing each other's diapers and burying each other. You're looking for a nursing home partner and a grave buddy. Who our partner is, it determines our whole life and how we live not for one, two, ten years, but forever."
Celine Song delivers her second feature film from the director's chair. She returns to basically the same themes of a woman trying to decide her romantic destiny between two men, but this isn't the same film as Past Lives. Materialists is a much more serious film, while still playing in the same gene pool as the rom-com. I don't think you'll find yourself laughing in this one, and it's a rather clever way of presenting those same themes and ideas. In Materialists, we're introduced to romance being distilled down to a mathematical equation. I expect that's not very clever, as computerized dating has been around since the 70's, but Song attempts to put more of a human element into those equations. It's AI without the AI. Marvel fans will appreciate that the three leads here are Chris Evans (Captain America), Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic) and Dakota Johnson (Madam Web). It wasn't likely intentional, but if it was, it wasn't a terrible idea."One day, for no reason in particular, you two will start to hate each other. You'll resent each other, you'll take each other for granted. You'll stop having sex, somehow manage to make a couple of kids. And then you'll get sick of each other, and one of you will cheat on the other. And then you'll fight. At first, not in front of the kids, but then in front of the kids. And then you resent the kids for seeing you fight. And then you file for divorce, and you fight about who owns what and who gets the kids when until it's all over."
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2025
It was only a matter of time before we would see those who found success on platforms like TikTok and YouTube try to make the transition to the big screen. Sam and Colby found moderate success with their fans, but really, to the rest of the world it was barely noticed. Now later this month we’ll get the highly anticipated Shelby Oaks from Chris Stuckmann, who got his start with movie reviews and creating content on his YouTube channel. But now we have House on Eden, a small-budget found-footage film from content creators Kris The Girl and Celina Spooky Boo. I’ll admit I’ve actually been following their content for a few years, and I was a little optimistic about what these two would come up with, but I have to admit this was disappointing and frankly just lazy. To be blunt, it is an insult to those out there who are grinding to create the best film they can on a shoestring budget. The film follows a trio of content creators (they are basically playing exaggerated versions of themselves, not even bothering to change their names) led by Kris Collins.
The group likes to film and investigate potential haunted locations, and Kris has found a location that no one has filmed at before, and she convinces her friends to go to the spot and investigate it. Of course things go wrong once they arrive at the location, and to be honest, I’m surprised I made it that far.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 1st, 2025
“Since 1970 a rogue group known as UFO Sweden has been investigating unexplained phenomena. This story is inspired by that determination to answer humanity’s ultimate question: Are we alone?”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2025
In 1887, readers of the popular periodical Beeton's Christmas Annual were to receive quite a special treat. There wasn't much fanfare or hype to the event. Inside the pages of the magazine was a story called A Study In Scarlet. It was a detective story, perhaps like many published before, except for the detective himself, a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Together with his faithful companion and chronicler Dr. Watson, Holmes would win the hearts of those holiday readers. It might have been an ordinary day, but the world was about to change. Sherlock Holmes would become the most famous detective in the world. His stories would remain in print nearly 130 years later. Over 100 films would be made featuring the character. There would be television shows and cartoon spoofs. No other character has appeared in more productions. When his creator dared to kill the beloved detective in order to move on to newer stories, his very life was threatened. It would seem that Doyle was on the verge of becoming a victim much like those in his stories. There was only one man who could save him from such a grim fate, and he did just that. It was Sherlock Holmes himself, but if Doyle had actually been harmed over the ordeal, he wouldn't turn to his iconic detective; he would need the services of Dr. Watson.
Holmes has been depicted in many ways on television, but we haven't seen a show that focused on his faithful companion and chronicler Dr. John Watson. So now we have a television medical show that channels the spirit of the great detective in medical mysteries. They say it hasn't been done before, but I must have just imagined the seven seasons of House I watched recently. The name might be Watson, but the idea is familiar.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2025
You likely know Scarlett Johansson best as Natasha Romanoff aka The Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic universe (MCU). But Romanoff has been killed off with a heroic death, and even with all of this multiverse stuff going on in the MCU, she has made it pretty clear that she doesn't see the character returning. Her resume has taken a bit of a turn, and it looks like she's out there trying to reinvent herself a bit. Her most recent role was on the latest Jurassic World film, and I would argue her character wasn't very far from the one she's left behind, but it's a start, I assume. Where the actress has really reinvented herself is as a first-time director with Eleanor the Great. She's starting small. No huge budgets and mega-CGI stuff going on here. She's keeping it simple and as far away from the image as possible. But that might be your surface reaction. The truth is that Eleanor the Great is far from a simple turn for a new director. The film leans heavily on characterization and narrative here. In many ways it's a much harder task than doing a mindless action or f/x film. There's not much of a safety net here, and the film has the potential of exposing those rookie mistakes. It was actually a pretty bold choice, and it ends up working out quite well.
Enter the titular Eleanor Morganstein, played by June Squibb. She's a 90+ year old woman living with her old friend Bessie (Zohar). They have a routine, and it's been pretty much a cookie-cutter life for the two elder women. With a relationship like this, it's inevitable that one of them was going to disappear from the routine, and it's Bessie, who was a Holocaust survivor, who ends up passing away. Eleanor is now lost at sea. Her daughter Lisa (Hecht) and her family decide to take her in until they can figure out something more permanent, and that means moving her to the big city of New York. They encourage her to take advantage of the wide culture and make some friends. She's reluctant, but ends up at a local community college where her daughter signed her up for a class. She accidentally walks in on a group in some kind of a session. They are Holocaust survivors, and this is their support group. They assume that's why she's there, and they welcome her with such energy that she's kind of liking the support. But Eleanor is not a Holocaust survivor, and when she's called upon to share her experience with the group, she channels her friend Bessie and the many horrific stories she's heard for 12 years and begins to tell them as her own.
