Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 1st, 2026
"Now look, the DA's office just put out a press release saying that boosting from department stores and high-end fashion outlets will be receiving more aggressive attention from their office."
This almost sounds like a soundbite from an evening news broadcast. There has been a national debate about how the law should treat these kinds of thefts. Some cities have taken the approach that they aren't really going to prosecute these kinds of crimes, and that's led to retail outlets fleeing places like that. But that's not really what Boots Riley's latest film is about. It's somewhat based on a song from the writer/director's rock band, but I'm not familiar with the track. The problem is that's about all I really know about the film ... even after I've finished watching it, and that's a problem for me. Some of you will approach this more like an art film, and others will pretend to understand it because they think it makes them look stupid if they don't. And that's exactly what Boots Riley is hoping will happen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 17th, 2026
"I'm Bane. I could kill you, but death would only end your agony and silence your shame. Instead, I will simply break you."
If there is one arena that I would give DC Comics supremacy over Marvel, it would be with their animated movies. I don’t know why, but when it comes to their cinematic endeavors, DC has not yet broken the mold in the way Marvel has. However, when it comes to their animated endeavors, particularly when it comes to the Batman franchise, DC can’t be touched. And Batman Knightfall Part 1 is no different. As this franchise takes one of the most popular storylines of the series, it perfectly sets the stage for the next installment. However, disappointingly, we won’t get that until late this year, and I predict we will then be craving the final installment, which won’t be expected until 2027. The important thing about the Knightfall storyline is that it introduces two significant characters, Bane (the man who broke the bat) and Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. This marks the first appearance of Jean-Paul Valley in the DC animated movies. Anson Mount returned to voice Batman for the second time, along with returning Jack Griffo (Tim Drake) and David Dastmalchian (who previously voiced Calendar Man and now voiced the Riddler) and also joined by first-timers Michael Mando (Bane) and Pablo Schreiber (Jean-Paul Valley).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 12th, 2026
"Fado. Fado. Long, long ago, deep in the woods there was a small stone hut. And inside the stone hut there lived an old Cailleach, a witch. Preying upon the lost, the evil old crone would first put the doomed travelers under her spell, leaving them as dazzled and vulnerable as lamplit game. The witch would shackle her stunned prey before taking them on a tour of the underworld. And sometimes a hand or a claw would reach out from the dark and tear a piece from these at the end of her chain. Pluck out an eye. Peel off an ear. And sometimes they took something from a little boy that was more valuable to him than his eyes or his ears. Any guesses which part of you that might be?"
That's just the perfect start for the latest folk horror story from the writer/director of Oddity and the lesser Caveat. Of course, I'm talking about young writer/director Damien McCarthy. He seems to have a thing for one-word titles, because his latest scare comes in the form of Hokum out on UHD Blu-ray and 4K from Neon and Alliance Entertainment. It's a refreshing effort that delivers a nice story complete with the kind of atmosphere that pulls you into the dark tale. He doesn't fall to the temptation of the cheating jump scare, and the result is well-worth the pick-up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 30th, 2026
"Why are you talking? Do you ever think about what you're gonna say or why you're speaking? Or do you just open your mouth and just blah blah blah blah blah? In about thirty seconds I'll be gone. We don't need to speak."
Die My Love is the latest film by director Lynne Ramsay whose best film is still We Need To Talk About Kevin. I say still is because Die My Love doesn't live up to the reputation. Ramsay was never quite a linear storyteller and this film is no exception. She loves to dabble in the subtle madness of a situation and here she does much more than dabble and while there are certainly attempts to be nuanced the film rages as out of control as her main character played by Jennifer Lawrence who takes a huge swing and a big chance here. It was the right idea but maybe not quite the right vehicle. Lawrence has been trying to distance herself from the Hunger Games franchise not because that wasn't good work
Posted in: Hardware Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 15th, 2026
"Imagine, a world without, murder. 6 years ago, the homicidal rates had reached epidemic proportions. It seemed that only a miracle could stop the bloodshed, but instead of 1 miracle, we were given 3, the precognitive. Within 3 months of the precrime program, the homicidal rates in the District of Columbia had reduced 90 percent. 6 Years in the precrime program, and there hasn't been a single murder. Now, the system can work for you. We want to make sure that this great system is what will keep us safe will also keep us free. On April 24, vote yes on the national Precrime initiative."
From the mind of Philip K. Dick there was a rush of box office gold that lasted several years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 15th, 2026
"Imagine a world without murder. Six years ago, the homicidal rates had reached epidemic proportions. It seemed that only a miracle could stop the bloodshed, but instead of one miracle, we were given three, the precognitive. Within three months of the precrime program, the homicidal rates in the District of Columbia had reduced 90 percent. Six years in the precrime program, and there hasn't been a single murder. Now, the system can work for you. We want to make sure that this great system that will keep us safe will also keep us free. On April 24, vote yes on the national precrime initiative."
From the mind of Philip K. Dick, there was a rush of box office gold that lasted several years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 7th, 2026
"Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse.”
Frank, Jr. is that second mouse ... and then some. Before his 19th birthday, Frank Abagnale Jr. posed as a pilot, doctor, lawyer, and secret service agent in an uncanny crime spree that saw him forging millions of dollars worth of fraudulent checks. This film chronicles the fantastic yet true adventure with large doses of fun injected into the two-and-a-half-hour-long chase."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2025
"Some called Bregna the perfect society. Some call it the height of human civilization. But others know better. The Goodchilds built Bregna to ensure us a future. They built the Relico, a memorial to remind us of what we've survived. They built walls to protect us. They tell us that outside, nature has retaken the world. But the real problems lie within. We are haunted by sorrows we cannot name. People disappear, and our government denies these crimes. The Goodchild regime provides for us, as long as we stay quiet. So we trade freedom for a gilded cage. But there are rebels who refuse to make that trade, who fight to overthrow a government that silences us, who fight in the name of the disappeared. They call themselves the Monicans. I am one of them."
It all started as the brainchild of Peter Chung. It was an adult anime series that aired on MTV from 1991 to 1995. The series looked at a dystopian future where all kinds of "beings" existed, mostly from the practice of too much cloning, which eventually led to mutants and other strange creatures. In this dark future, humanity has fallen to basically two city-states .
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 20th, 2025
"Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball, From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all, But I ain't seen nothin' like him, In any amusement hall, That deaf, dumb and blind kid, Sure plays a mean pinball."
I was first introduced to The Who through the original Tommy album. It was one of my mother's favorites when I was young, and she had actually written out by hand her interpretation of the story the rock opera appeared to tell. I can't remember those scribblings, and I'm not even sure if they're still tucked away in that Decca album I have around here somewhere. But the music always stayed with me. Now, I didn't ever become a huge fan of the band. I always liked them and collected a couple of their albums over the years. I did play a lot of pinball, however. I fell more in with the likes of Elton John. So you can imagine how excited I was in the summer of 1975
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 11th, 2024
"Nuns, guns and gasoline."
Mike Mendez released his first film in 1997. Killers was also just released on Blu-ray from Synapse films. The better of this Synapse double release is The Convent. For me this was the peak of Mendez's low-budget horror films. Synapse must agree with that assessment, because they decided to give The Convent a UHD Blu-ray release in 4K, and that ended up being somewhat of a trick-or-treat combination, with The Convent absolutely being the treat here. Made in 2000, the film took a long time to make it to anyone's screens. There was a distribution deal in place, and it fell through at the last minute. It's the kind of luck Mendez has dealt with his entire career. His friend and co-writer on Killers lost his house when it was mortgaged to pay for that ' creation. He debuted the film at Sundance, and he had hoped for a wider release, at least on home video, but it took 2 years to finally happen.
