Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 15th, 2009
"For years, we've been putting a secret into the heart of every member of the Saberling Family. Be it the cryogenic refrigerator or the microwave heated coffee maker. A Secret which is at the core of any successful family: Communication."
When director Hoyt Yeatman's son Hoyt, Junior, got a pet guinea pig, he began to put soldier-like gear on the unfortunate animal and imagine stories that the rodent was part of a secret spy ring. He would imagine all kinds of missions for the little guy. Thus was born the idea for G Force. Yeatman took the idea to Jerry Bruckheimer, who in turn shopped the idea to Disney. Before you know it, Bruckheimer had put his extensive resources into making the next cute talking animal film for the Mouse House.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 8th, 2009
"When the lights go off the battle is on."
Sequels are a dangerous business. They've gotten the best of some of the biggest heroes. Just ask Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, or Neo. Expectations are always going to be high. You've already shown us what you can do. We assume you did your best on the original film, now go and do better. Often filmmakers interpret this mandate to just make it bigger. More explosions and hard hitting action and special effects. They tend to remember everything but the story. I'm happy to say that Night At The Museum refused to fall into that trap. The film is certainly bigger. There are far more characters. The f/x have absolutely gone up a notch. But everything that made you love the first film is back ... and more.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 3rd, 2009
Just in time for the holidays, the Buddies are back for more cute puppy action. All of the retriever Buddies are back for this one. You are introduced to the “Buddies” right at the start, so it doesn’t really matter if you saw any of their other films. There’s Bud-Ha (Cate), a wise meditational pup. Next up is Mud-Bud (Panitz), an always dirty pup with a fondness for rolling in the dirt. The female Buddy is Rose-Bud (Mumy), who is the girly part of the team all decked out in a bow. Bud-Derball (Flitter) is the normal one of the bunch, followed by the rappin’ pup, B-Dawg (Gisondo).
The North Pole is having a crisis. It’s getting close to Christmas and Santa’s workshop is having a shortage of magic power. Deep in a cave at the North Pole hangs the Christmas Icicle. It is the source of all Christmas magic that allows Santa and his gang to do their thing. It is powered by people having the Christmas Spirit. Lately, not enough people are believing in Christmas, so the icicle is shrinking. Finally, global warming that really is caused by humans. Another problem in the North Pole deals with Puppy Paws (Gordon) son of Santa’s right hand, eh … dog Santa Paws (Bosley). Puppy Paws wants to be like a normal dog and doesn’t want the responsibility that Christmas means to his family. He finds Bud-Derball in Santa’s naughty files and decides that’s the kind of pup he wants to hang with. So he stows away on one of Santa’s express trucks and heads to Washington to meet the Buddies. At first they find Puppy Paws to be a bit of a pain to hang with. But when Puppy Paws is captured by the mean old dogcatcher Stan Cruge (Lloyd) the Buddies go into action to save him. What they didn’t know was that Christmas depends on them freeing Puppy Paws. There’s a side story that has Stan Cruge turning from a mean old Scrooge character to finding his own Christmas Spirit, and helping to bring back the Christmas Icicle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2009
I went to my player, the one that’s on top. I turned on the TV I bought at the shop. Then I opened my Blu-ray, took it right from its case, and then there on the tray I put it in place. I pushed one or two buttons to bring it up fast. Soon an FBI warning, then my feature at last. I sat the whole time crouched alone in my chair, watching fanciful images that came to me there. I was certain at once that I’d seen this before, but something was different; it was brighter, I’m sure. The Grinch was the same, he hadn’t changed, not a bit. But the image was clearer now, I had to admit. So, I puzzled and puzzled alone in my seat. Why these colors much finer for such a repeat? Then at last I was certain, yes it had to be so. This must be high definition, what a wonderful show. I know when it ended I felt somewhat sad, but these discs last forever, and so I was glad. So, if you’re a fan of the Grinch and his kin, you must hurry now quickly and watch it again. I promise it will be like nothing you’ve known. It’s for kids of all ages, both little and grown.
Boris Karloff was famous for monsters and ghouls, who’d have thought he’d be perfect for books read in schools? He tells quite a story, a marvelous voice. To play the Grinch and reader he was the most perfect choice. The songs are all there, you know them by heart. Nothing is missing, not one little part. Everyone’s back, Cindy Lou Who and Max. But the Grinch is the star. The facts are the facts. You can sing along joyfully. You know every word. You know every scene even before it occurred. Chuck Jones was the talent behind all the art, as he carefully directed each wonderful part. It was made in 1966. It’s been shown every year, from Tampa to London, Paris, Rome, and Tangier. Kids laugh and they snicker. Some kids even wince; for 44 years now we’ve been watching The Grinch.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2009
I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have, in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing.
This is one of the most endearing and enduring of the franchise. It’s loaded with memories too many to mention them all here. Charlie Brown tries to direct the school nativity play. He finds it hard to get the gang’s cooperation. In his own despair he discovers the true meaning of Christmas. Some of those memorable moments that I will never forget include: The scrawny little tree that Charlie Brown picks out, held up by Linus’s blanket. Snoopy wins first prize in a house light decoration competition. Of course the best of the best comes in the end when Linus recites the story of the birth of Christ. Today most people would be shocked to see a public school putting on a nativity play. Watching this one is a sad reminder of how much these basic principles have been swept away by intolerance and misrepresentation of “Jefferson’s Wall”, that First Amendment separation of church and state. This short, more than the others, is truly a product of its time. It depicts an America that no longer exists.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 11th, 2009
“The future is bright at Monsters Incorporated. We power your car. We warm your home. We light your city. Carefuly matching every child to their ideal monster to produce superior scream. Refined into clean, dependable energy. Every time you turn something on, Monsters Incorporated is there. We know the challenge. The window of innocence is shrinking. Human kids are harder to scare. Of course, Monsters Incorporated is prepared for the future. With the top scarers, the best refineries, and research into new energy technologies. We’re working for a better tomorrow, today. We’re Monster’s Incorporated. We scare because we care.”
When you do this job you get asked the same question a lot.You get it from friends, family and people who just met you. They all ask the same thing. “What is your favorite movie of all time?” That’s a hard question, and it’s one that changes from time to time. But if you’re talking animated films, my answer’s been the same for several years now. It’s Monsters, Inc. You hear me gush about Pixar films all of the time here, but with all of their advances on technology, this is still the best film they’ve put out. And that’s saying something.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 6th, 2009
This new version of The Taking Of Pelham 123 falls under the category of unnecessary remakes, reimaginings, reboots, or retellings. That’s not to say that it’s a bad movie. In fact, it’s a pretty good movie. I guess my big problem is that this latest trend to redo so many things that have come before suggests a lack of originality in today’s artists. I don’t believe there is a lack of creativity in this generation. I do, however, think there is a laziness that pervades almost every aspect of our society, and this endless chain of copies is a symptom of that disease. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not one of these critics who believes that films and television shows can’t or should not occasionally be redone. There’s a lot to be said for reintroducing current generations to the ideas of the past in new and exciting ways. I just think it shouldn’t be the most common form of expression in Hollywood, but lately it is just that. Lecture over.
The story first appeared as a novel by John Godey. It was made into a film many of us consider a classic in 1974. The leads in that effort were the unlikely pair of Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. In this film they are replaced by Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Both are exceptional actors and deserve credit for delivering solid performances here. In both films the overall plot was the same.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 4th, 2009
It sure seems like Pixar has a lock on the computer animated film industry these days. Their films appear to always hit just the right amount of adult and children content to win with both audiences. We may not all be laughing at the same jokes, but we do laugh. When we’re not laughing, we appear to be captivated by endearing characters that immediately feel like we’ve known them our whole lives. We are instantly concerned about the things that happen to them. All of this happens without a single live entertainer on the screen to guide us into these emotions. That’s because Pixar also happens to be the most state of the art studio out there churning out these kinds of films. The technological prowess is amazing. Perhaps the best compliment one can pay to a Pixar film is that all of these things, and much more, are true … and we never really notice it at all. We buy into whatever world they are offering without question and never realizing that we’ve done it. That’s not just good filmmaking. That’s magic. There’s a lot of heart in these zeros and ones.
Of course, magic is business as usual at Walt Disney Studios. Magic was Uncle Walt’s stock and trade, and so isn’t it just natural that Pixar would eventually find their home as part of the Disney family? For a while it seemed the two were about to part ways. At that time Disney was merely the animation studio’s distribution partner. A rift had developed when Disney was about to assert their contractual rights to make sequels from the Pixar properties they distributed, most particularly at the time, Toy Story. So, Pixar announced they were looking for a new partner in protest. A few deals were talked about, but in the end it could have been written as a Pixar film before it was over. Finding family is a common theme in the Pixar films. Eventually Disney and Pixar found each other again, this time cementing the deal when the Mouse House bought the animation pioneers. And all the while the continuing stream of classics hasn’t missed a beat. Okay. Let’s just forget about that Rat film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2009
I’ve often spent a lot of time talking about how Pixar has dominated the computer animation, at least as far as full length features go. With few exceptions there isn’t anything out there that even comes close. Most films rely on toilet humor and crude innuendo to get a few laughs. A lot of the kids and adults might suck that stuff up, but they can’t hold a candle to Pixar. There are, as I’ve mentioned, some quite notable exceptions. The Fox Blue Sky Studios has had enormous success with their Ice Age films. And when you take a look at the third and latest entry in that franchise, you’ll understand why.
Ice Age came out in 2002 and took the box office like a blizzard piling up a drift of cash that amounted to almost $180 million before it was over. Not bad for a $50 million dollar film. Add in another $200 million in foreign receipts, and a sequel was an absolute forgone conclusion. The film introduced us to some memorable characters. Manny (Romano) was a lovable Woolly Mammoth. Diego (Leary) was a kind and wise saber-toothed tiger. Sid (Leguizamo) was their tagalong friend with not much going on in the noggin. A side story involved a prehistoric squirrel named Scrat who loved his acorns. He had a Wiley Coyote/Roadrunner relationship with acorns and took a lot of punishment to get one. Together they tried to return a lost human infant to his tribe. Four years later the characters were back. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown brought a change in their environment and love in the air for Manny. He meets Ellie (Latifah). Together they must find colder climes as their ice is melting fast. They find their Winter Wonderland, and Blue Sky Studios found another hit. This time the film brought in a crazy $200 million here and another $450 foreign. Before home video the film was close to $700 million in box office. Can you say number 3? Add some dinosaurs to the cast and another $250 million for a total take of nearly $900 million on the third film. If you’re doing the math that’s over $2 billion on 3 films. I think we’re going to see these guys again. Count on it, literally.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2009
“I’m the best there is at what I do and what I do isn’t very nice.”
So what do you do after three successful, if not critically acclaimed, X-Men feature films that brought in over a billion dollars total when you factor in domestic and foreign box office and home video sales? It was getting a bit expensive to bring back such a large and growing in popularity cast. Even if you wanted to spend the money for such an ensemble, it gets awfully difficult to write effectively for so many characters at once. Someone’s going to get the dark end of the spotlight. Hurt feelings aside, you can’t continue to please such a wide diverse group of fans. Bryan Singer did such a great job in the balancing act for the first two that it looked like maybe this could go on forever. But Brett Ratner, who is used to working with teams of two, put a fork in the franchise for many, and it seemed we’d seen the last of our favorite mutants. Honestly, I didn’t think the third film was all that bad, but that’s just me. I was never looking for anything more than an amusement park ride for my theater ticket, and that’s exactly what I got all three times. But these issues remain, as does the question, where do you go from there?
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