Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2022
"I've been acting like this because I can't take these shutdowns anymore and I'm scared what it's doing to me. I'm looking for who to blame, saying I'm trying to help people to make myself feel better, because the truth is I just want to have fun again. I wanted to see that I could go out into the world and do the things I used to do... I want my life back. I just want my life back."
This has been a tough year for everyone. Productions all around the world have been uprooted because of the pandemic. I guess I thought there might have been one place on this planet that was safe. OK, I made that last part up. We always knew that South Park was going to have a field day with COVID. Let's be honest; the amount of material for the irreverent show is simply off the scales. There's nothing like a global catastrophe to bring out the sharp wit of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The pandemic meant we saw the long-running animated series limited just like everyone else. So instead of a 10-episode run, the 24th season of South Park is made up of two double-length "Pandemic Specials", but just for whats and giggles, let's call it South Park The Complete 24th Season and get a look at it in Blu-ray.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2022
"Let me speak to you directly and from the heart."
My first exposure to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance wasn't the film at all. It was the song (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was a 1962 hit song by Gene Pitney and was written to be included in the film. I wouldn't really be taken with the song until James Taylor would cover it and have his own hit with the song in 1985 with his album That's Why I'm Here. By then I'd seen the film but only on late-night television broadcasts which offered bad transfers and plenty of commercials that caused the film to be chopped by over 26 minutes. The funny thing about the song is that while it was written to be included in the film, it actually never appears. Director John Ford thought it sounded too modern and suggested it would only weaken the film and insisted it not be used. It's almost unfortunate that at the time the song actually received more commercial success than the film did. Now you have a much better opportunity to check out this often overlooked classic, because Paramount has remastered the film and released on UHD Blu-ray and in glorious 4K.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2022
"Hello, Dexter Morgan."
It's been almost 10 years since everyone's favorite serial killer disappeared into a hurricane and left the airwaves with a somewhat unsatisfying series finale. It wasn't quite as bad as David Chase's ill-conceived hard cut that ended The Sopranos, but unlike David Chase, Team Dexter gets a second chance to get the ending right. With the death of actor James Gandolfini, Chase won't ever get the opportunity to give Tony Soprano a better exit. But Dexter gets the sendoff he should have had back in 2013 with the limited revival series Dexter: New Blood. The 10-episode run returns Michael C. Hall to the role of Dexter Morgan. You don't want to break into these episodes without taking time to watch the original series. That's going to set you back about 96 hours, but the investment is necessary if you're going to truly appreciate this return. You can check out our reviews of those previous seasons by banging it right here: Dexter Reviews. I'll wait....
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 24th, 2022
"You look terrible. I want you to eat, I want you to rest well. And a month from now this Hollywood big shot's gonna give you what you want."
The Hollywood big shot has just given me what I want. Paramount releases The Godfather Trilogy on UHD Blu-ray in wonderful 4K. It's an offer none of us can refuse. The Godfather films changed storytelling forever. Films before that time, mobster or otherwise, had some very simple but unshakable rules. There was always a fairly clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys. The good guys always win in the end, and the bad guys always succumb to justice before the final credits. For perhaps the very first time, we were given characters that we knew in our souls were evil men. They killed. They broke laws. They manipulated everyone around them through fear and terrorism to bend to their wills. Somehow, now they are the film’s core heroes, if you will. When Vito is shot, we cheer for Michael, who discards his contempt for his family’s criminal image and comes to his father’s aid. Suddenly this wasn’t just about a gang of mobsters. This was a story about a family. Most of us can’t relate to the mafia ins and outs, but we all have fathers, and even when we dislike what our fathers represent, we will more often than not come to their aid if they’re being threatened. This unique morality paved the way for an entire genre of such characters today. There just couldn’t have been a Tony Soprano or Vic Mackey without The Godfather. While there were certainly protests from aspects of the Italian-American community decrying the violent way our ethnicity was portrayed, most of us from that community saw more than violence and Mafioso. If you’re from an Italian family, you simply can’t help recognizing aspects of your own family in the Corleones. I could see my own grandfather in Vito, sans the mob boss occupation. Many of us took away the strict codes of honor and respect that drive Italian-Americans to this day in very normal lives. We’re a very passionate people, even if most of us are not part of an organized criminal element.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2022
"It's called life."
Kevin Costner plays John Dutton. The name itself recalls those years as a kid watching the myriad western shows that crossed our television screens throughout the 50's and 60's. He's the owner of Yellowstone Ranch, which takes up hundreds of square miles and borders on the national park of the same name, which we never do get to see. What we do see are the other borders of the Yellowstone. It borders a large and mostly impoverished Native American reservation. All of this takes place in the open ranges of Montana, where the Yellowstone Ranch looks very much like the fabled Shiloh of The Virginian. There's the big mansion where Dutton and some of his family live and the bunkhouse where the cowboys who work the cattle sleep, play cards, eat, and fight. Looking over the scenery, one can almost imagine you were back in the days of the untamed frontier. John Dutton might have some old-fashioned ideas of how to make a living, but he's a rich man who uses modern technology when it serves him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2021
"I must admit I didn't think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him; looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. That was my first impression of the man."
Our first, middle, and last impression of writer Stephen King has always been one thing. He's considered the King of the Modern Horror Novel. Pretty much everything he has ever written has found its way to the small or large screen and often with various versions over the years. The problem is that King is such a visceral writer, and his novels tend to be so long that it's very difficult and damn near impossible to translate a good King story for television or the box office. No matter how hard some of the best filmmakers have tried, an alarming number of King's written masterpieces have fallen flat at the box office. There have, of course been notable exceptions. The recent two-film version of It is one of the finest of those attempts. But for nearly three decades it turned out that the most successful film adaptations of King's written work weren't horror stories at all. They were also based on shorter works instead of those multi-thousand-page novels. Stand By Me, based on the novella The Body, is one of the most endearing and enduring, and while a title like The Body certainly carries the King ominous connotations, it's actually a quite unscary coming-of-age story. The Green Mile took us to death row, not for a story about a demented killer about to seek revenge as a reanimated executed criminal, but a whimsical fantasy about a death row guard with a rather amazing pet mouse and accompanying story. But perhaps the greatest of this trilogy of King non-horror dramas is likely The Shawshank Redemption, based on the novella Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption. It remains the favorite film of my wife, and while it's not even in my top ten, it is certainly my favorite King adaptation and a wonderful film in its own right. It's about time this wonderfully atmospheric film got a 4K treatment and a release on UHD Blu-ray.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 20th, 2021
Bigger doesn’t always mean better. Eight years following the success of the first 48 Hrs film and the rise of Eddie Murphy’s stardom, Murphy came to the studio proposing to do a sequel, and they happily obliged him, allowing him to also produce it under his budding production company. Walter Hill had gone on to direct some successful films, but nothing like the box office success of 48 Hrs. Brewster’s Millions, Streets of Fire, and Red Heat are just of few of the films that stood out during this time for Hill, but the potential of another big moneymaker that could give him the clout to go on and direct more of the films that he wanted was the draw he needed. It was a paycheck movie that could have had potential, but with a rumored 30 minutes cut from the film just before its release on top of the 20-plus minutes cut down from the first cut followed by a rushed script to get the film into production, well, it’s no surprise that the film falls short of the first film.
This time around Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) is after this elusive criminal he’s dubbed “The Iceman”. He’s working on a theory that has this elusive criminal connected into some high-stakes drug deals. Unfortunately he has no proof this guy even exists. Just when he thinks he’s close, one of his cases points him into the direction of his old buddy Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy), who is recently a free man. Reggie happens to have a target on his back with Ganz’s brother, Cherry (Andrew Divoff), who is out for revenge and also Reggie’s money. Cates is also feeling the heat from an Internal Affairs officer played by the recognizable Kevin Tighe. The setup for the film isn’t bad; honestly, the film had some good potential, but everything just falls apart.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 20th, 2021
In 1982 when production was getting started on 48 Hrs, Walter Hill had plenty pf success with The Warriors, The Long Riders, and Southern Comfort, and many would think he was taking a bit of a risk by casting Eddie Murphy as the second lead of his film. Sure, Murphy would go on to be a giant success, but at the time of this film all he had was being a cast member of SNL. The gamble would of course be a success for not just Walter Hill and the film, but 48 Hrs would be the film that lit the fuse to a successful career that would launch Eddie Murphy into superstardom. The movie is a classic for more than just making a career for Eddie Murphy; it’s also the movie that remolded what the “buddy action” film can be by having the leads at one another’s throats while the bullets and fists fly. While this isn’t my favorite Walter Hill film (that number one slot will always be The Warriors), 48 Hrs. is a staple film of his career that I feel is required viewing for those who love 80s action films, or simply good films, period.
The film opens up with a fun “jail break”, Ganz (James Remar) is working a chain gang when his partner Billy Bear (Sonny Landham) comes to break him free. The big plan is for the two to make it to San Francisco, where they want to collect money that’s owed from a deal that went wrong, and then they will live happily on the lam.While these two may not be the smartest of criminals, they definitely rank pretty high when it comes to being vicious and lacking a moral compass when it comes to who they put a bullet into. It’s the trail of bodies that gets Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) onto the case, especially when cops end up dead and Ganz nearly kills Cates with his own pistol.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 9th, 2021
“Bueller … Bueller …”
When it comes to the 80’s teen comedies, I think we can all agree John Hughes is the king, and I feel just about every kid who grew up during that time has a strong opinion on what the “BEST” John Hughes movie is. The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles are pretty much all classics that he wrote and directed, but that doesn’t count the numerous others that he just wrote. When I heard John Hughes died, it was a sad day, even though he hadn’t directed a film since 1991’s Curly Sue. I think we all were kind of holding out hope he’d be able to step back behind the camera one more time. As for my favorite film from Hughes, it’s without a doubt Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This was a film for which I had a VHS copy I had that watched just about every time I was home sick from school or faking sick (this seemed to happen more often). The film is basically the cinematic equivalent to mac-n-cheese comfort food for me. I know I’m not in the minority when it comes to being able to quote this film at random, and perhaps I can possibly blame it for wanting to jump onto a parade float and serenade the masses with some classic tune. But the film does, oddly enough, hit me a little deeper than all that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 17th, 2020
"Chances are if you are watching Season 3 you like it."
Kevin Costner plays John Dutton. The name itself recalls those years as a kid watching the myriad western shows that crossed our television screens throughout the 50's and 60's. He's the owner of Yellowstone Ranch, which takes up hundreds of square miles and borders on the national park of the same name, which we never do get to see. What we do see are the other borders of the Yellowstone. It borders a large and mostly impoverished Native American reservation. The ranch has apparently existed with an uneasy peace with the residents of the reservation. But there is a new chief in town. He's Thomas Rainwater, played by Gil Birmingham. Rainwater has some kind of a grudge that we never got to completely understand in the first season. He's a political beast who has turned Dutton and his ranch into a common enemy to fuel his own popularity and ambition.
