Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 4th, 2026
“Stop filming me!”
Interestingly enough, this 2025 remake/adaptation is a more faithful reproduction of its source material than the 1987 version. The 1987 adaptation, while popular, took liberties when it came to the main character’s backstory and motivations, such as him being a wrongfully accused and convicted policeman who gets his shot at freedom by participating in a TV game show where convicts called Runners must battle killers for their freedom. In the 2025 remake, Ben Richards, now played by Glen Powell, is a blacklisted blue-collar worker living in dystopian anarchistic police state with his wife and infant Cathy. Unable to afford medicine for Cathy's influenza, Ben attends tryouts for the network's game shows, where his anger, misanthropy, and physical fitness see him selected for "The Running Man", their most popular and dangerous show. That backstory is much more in line with the 1982 Stephen King novel. Rounding out the cast are Josh Brolin, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, and Colman Domingo. Arnold Schwarzenegger even makes a surprise appearance. It’s quick, though. Blink and you could miss it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 26th, 2026
"In the year of our lord, Judea - for nearly a century - had lain under the mastery of Rome. In the seventh year of the reign of Augustus Caesar, an imperial decree ordered every Judean each to return to his place of birth to be counted and taxed. The converging ways of many of them led to the gates of their capital city, Jerusalem, the troubled heart of their land. The old city was dominated by the fortress of Antonia, the seat of Roman power, and by the great golden temple, the outward sign of an inward and imperishable faith. Even while they obeyed the will of Caesar, the people clung proudly to their ancient heritage, always remembering the promise of their prophets that one day there would be born among them a redeemer to bring them salvation and perfect freedom."
In the war going on between Paramount and Netflix over the purchase of Warner Brothers, I must admit I am on Paramount's side totally. If Netflix wins, you can kiss goodbye seeing films on physical media, and Warner's iconic cinematic past will just be eye candy for those 3-inch screens. If you needed any proof, you merely have to look at their current actions. Netflix stood in the way of del Toro's Frankenstein, and we as critics never saw it at a screening. It took Criterion to finally give it a release. On Paramount's side, look what they have done with many of their classic films. I've reviewed so many here. And if you want to see Warner classics like this one to continue, you need look no farther than this brand new UHD Blu-ray release of the classic film Ben-Hur. This is going to be one of the most impressive discs in your collection. What do you think you would have gotten if Netflix was pulling the strings? Yeah, that's what I thought, as well. Here's a list of the classic Warner films you can expect in the future if Netflix takes over Warner: Yep, that's all of them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2026
“On TV it looks so real.”
When I first walked out from the theater after watching Nightcrawler, the thing that stuck with me the most is how great Jake Gyllenhaal was in this film. This isn’t the first performance he’s caught my attention in; he’s an actor who pretty much any time I see him in a film, he’s one of the most memorable aspects of the film. Whether it’s his moody performance in Donnie Darko, his offbeat portrayal as a cop in Prisoners, or even him taking a risk as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, every role he does something more with the character where we can believe he is this person we see on the screen. Nightcrawler is no exception, and in this role Gyllenhaal is simply terrifying as Lou Bloom.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 18th, 2025
"Sometimes I feel the past is a more comfortable place than the future."
I think for anything to have a grand finale, it has to have been grand to begin with. And I don't think one could argue that Downton Abbey hasn't been grand, at least at some points in its life. Downton Abbey spent six years on television and has amassed 52 episodes. In that relatively short run, the series has also managed to collect over 200 award nominations and several Golden Globes along with other prestigious awards. Let's not forget a rather loyal fan-base that has watched each episode with anticipation of the next sharp barb or character revelation and will insist on franchise authenticity. In one of its years it was the number-one binged series in the world. That's a lot of power, and it's little wonder that all of these ingredients were expected to create a little box office gold. But film franchises from television shows rarely go on to such golden heights. There are some notable exceptions, to be sure. But even here, expectations and changing caretakers often lead to both high points and flops. The Star Trek franchise is a perfect example of those kinds of ups and downs. Mission Impossible is an example of shows that have to be completely retooled to hit the high numbers. Now that the expected last film has been released, where will Downton Abbey fit in this equation? The fans have been vocal and strong enough that a new film franchise had been anticipated to fill the void left by the series almost at once, and those fans weren't disappointed. But how will they feel now that it has all come to an end?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 15th, 2025
“Now we’re playing some football.”
Let’s just start with the high marks: Marlon does his thing, which I fully expected that he would. Right when you think that we have already seen the best that he has to offer, he finds a new gear, and let it be known that he will not be typecast as just a comedian or as a writer or as producer. He is, in fact, him. Pun intended. Tyriq Withers shows some promise as a leading man, and like his character is clearly hungry to make a name for himself, with this project being his second box office horror appearance this year (the other being I Know What You Did Last Summer). Also, you can see Jordan’s Peele’s influence on the film, as there are a handful of similarities to his previous projects. However, Him, while entertaining, does not achieve the same impact as those aforementioned projects. There was plenty of intrigue, but the train somewhat comes off the track, particularly in regard to the film’s conclusion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2025
"It's rare, but sometimes, there's this moment in the car where everything goes quiet, my heartbeat slows, it's peaceful, and I can see everything, and no one, no one can touch me. And I am chasing that moment every time I get in the car. I don't know when I'll find it again, but, man, I want to. I want to. 'Cause in that moment, I'm flying."
The first think I noticed when the writer/director John Kosinski-led F1 arrived here in UHD Blu-ray from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment was that they had changed the film's name. when it was available for screenings, it was simply called F1. I guess someone in marketing thought the name was somewhat confusing so they decided to add "The Movie" to the title. I guess this was in case any of you out there got confused and was not aware you were watching a movie instead of an actual race somewhere. I'll never claim to understand exactly what studio marketing people really do for a living that doesn't involve a set of darts and a target with various "ideas" spread out in the landing area. This is strictly a rumor that I heard, but apparently we were just a centimeter away from the film being called F1: That Thing You Watch On Your Phone. Of course, I have always suspected that the studio powers that be might have my picture up on that dart board. But don't worry; there's little chance one of these things will be named after me. Whatever it happens to be called this week, F1 or F1: The Movie is out right now, and this gives you a chance to bring Formula One racing right into your home theater experience. How does that car commercial go? Zoom Zoom.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 21st, 2025
"This is a true story. It happened right here in my home town two years ago. A lot of people die in a lot of weird ways in this story. But you're not going to find it in the news or anywhere like that, because the police and the top people in this town were, like so embarrassed that they weren't able to solve it that they covered everything up. But if you come here and ask anyone, they'll tell you the same thing I'm gonna tell you now. It started in my school ... At 2:17 in the morning, every kid woke up, got out of bed, walked downstairs, and into the dark ... and they never came back."
Some people may think I’m crazy, but as a lifelong horror fan, I feel right now we are in the Golden Age of horror cinema. When you look at the box office this year and last, horror has simply been a dominant force, and I’m loving it. What’s even better is that it is new material that is raking in the money rather than seeing tired retreads of IPs that have been exhausted over and over again. Sinners, though it wasn’t my cup of tea, dominated the box office, and even though I’m not the film’s biggest fan, I still like seeing horror rake in the money. I’m loving that we’re getting all kinds of horror lately, where an indie slasher like Terrifier is going to be featured at Halloween Horror Nights, and we’re getting all sorts of experimental horror. For instance, later this year we’ll get Goodboy, a paranormal story told through the perspective of a dog. (Sure, it sounds silly, but I’m all for it.) This brings me to Barbarian. For me this has been my favorite horror film in the past five years, and that’s saying a lot, because there has been A LOT of good horror lately. From the moment I heard about Zach Cregger’s next film, Weapons, it immediately shot to the top of my list of most anticipated films. Now that the film has finally come out, is it worth the wait and the hype that surrounds it?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 17th, 2025
You often hear it said that Tom Cruise is the hardest working actor in Hollywood. I don't want to take anything away from Cruise, but I'd like to nominate Bob Odenkirk for the title. Yes, that Bob Odenkirk from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fame. He's been wanting to do an action film through most of his career, and it would appear to have been a rather farfetched idea at best. But he buddied up to the guys at 87North and 87Eleven Productions. Those are the stunt folks who brought us films like the John Wick series. They didn't laugh at the idea. So Odenkirk trained for four years starting in 2017 to build up his body and learn to do all of those action stunts. The reward came in 2021 with the release of Nobody. It was an action/comedy that gave us the kind of stuff you might expect from a John Wick group. The film didn't make money because it was released while most folks were staying away from places like the local movie theater because of the COVID pandemic. Later the film caught fire on streaming and home video release, and so a sequel was a no-brainer. Except that Bob Odenkirk, while filming the final season of Better Call Saul, suffered a major heart attack that stalled that production and would appear to negate any chance of the actor going through that much physical punishment ... except it didn't. The actor went full speed ahead, and the result is Nobody 2, now out on UHD Blu-ray in 4K from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, and you should check both films out if you're new to this franchise.
In the first film we're introduced to Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell. He's stuck in a dreary cookie-cutter daily existence. He works for his father-in-law as an accountant, and his family pretty much ignores him. To make it worse, he is embarrassed when his house is invaded one night and his son is tougher than he is. Now the world looks at him as if he were a wimp. But that's exactly what he wants the world to think ... or does he? In the military he was an auditor, hence the current bookkeeping job. But when he goes to face the crooks who terrorized his family he ends up walking into a busload of Russian mobsters terrorizing a city bus. We soon discover that he has mad fighting skills and that auditor job in the military didn't have anything to do with bookkeeping or numbers. He was an assassin for the government and now they've forced him to show his hand. He ended up burning the mob's $30 million stash and that ends up being another problem.
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.
