Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2010
"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Come inside. Come inside."
The rock gods must have been smiling when Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer journeyed from their perspective corners of the music world and combined to form the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, or merely ELP to the fans.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 19th, 2010
In an attempt to win over more of the male viewers into their audiences, filmmakers of the romantic comedy genre have tried many tactics. To date, very few of them have worked to any great extent. The problem appears to be getting the mixture just right. Too much of the guy stuff and you'll turn away your core "chick" audience. Too little and you're really not reeling in too many guys. Of course, we go anyway to please the ladies in our lives.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2010
The name says it all. With just those four words, you can pretty much figure out everything you need to know about Hot Tub Time Machine. This is very much a party film in the tradition of the Saturday Night Live alumni movies of the 70's and 80's. With the release of this movie, you no longer need to travel back in time to 1986 to watch a film that relies almost entirely on sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll for most of its situational comedy. The rest gets filled in with your standard toilet humor. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, or who exactly I should blame
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2010
Lionsgate has as good a collection of catalog titles as any studio out there. Many of these films have not yet been given the high definition Blu-ray treatment for one reason or another. So I'm sitting here trying to figure out how a trivial film like Ladybugs jumped the line and finds itself in a barebones release on Blu-ray this month. I'm sure that the movie has its fans. Of course, I've never met any of them, but I gotta believe that they're out there ... somewhere.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 13th, 2010
I get the impression that things didn't quite work out for Joe Pesci the way he might have originally intended. There's a heart of a serious actor buried somewhere deep under the makeup of a clown. Who can forget the dead-eyed killer Tommy from Goodfellas? Most of us have that restaurant scene engraved in our heads where Tommy asked the immortal question "Do I amuse you?" Well ... Joe, actually, you do. And putting aside his initial role of Joey in Raging Bull and the aforementioned Tommy with its carbon-copied Casino character, Pesci has made the most noise by amusing us.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 13th, 2010
When I was a kid in the 80’s, Predator was one of those films that you weren’t supposed to watch, but everybody did anyway. Over-the-top action, invincible heroes, cheesy one-liners and big, big explosions made this a film that was a favorite of pre-pubescent boys everywhere. Going into this disc, I found myself wondering if the film would stand up to the harsh tests of time and maturity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 29th, 2010
"The Earth has immense power, and yet that's rarely mentioned in our history books. I'm here to change all that."
The BBC has a reputation of putting out some very high quality documentaries, particularly recently in the high-definition age. Planet Earth became an award winning series lauded all over the globe for its stunning photography and epic tales. Most recently I watched and reviewed their Life series. Once again the series was dominated by startling images, many never before captured on film, all in wonderful high definition. Now I have a chance to visit yet another recent BBC project:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 28th, 2010
Most people associate the book, War and Peace in the same respects as they do torture. A one thousand, two hundred and twenty five page book that is regarded as one of the most brilliant pieces of historical fiction is a nightmare to most advanced high school and college kids. However, perhaps more fascinating than any single piece of work by Leo Tolstoy is the life in which he lead. Last Station attempts to give us the last few years of the Count’s life in film form.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 23rd, 2010
Whenever there is a disaster, there are always the inevitable questions that follow. Where did it all begin? Could it have been avoided? What can we learn from this? No, I'm not talking about the oil leak in the Gulf. Hollywood is no exception. You have your disaster movies like Earthquake, and you have your movies that are disasters like Waterworld. Of course there are even disaster movies that are also disasters like the recent 2012. Some disasters you never see coming. But, many such events could have been predicted and possibly avoided if only the right folks had been paying attention. This is the story of one such event: Showgirls.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2010
"Three years of filming. Seven continents. 70 camera crews. 3,000 shooting days. 200 different species. Groundbreaking technology. It all adds up to the most ambitious natural history series ever created."
The BBC has been at the forefront of natural history documentaries since the 1950's. Each decade the teams from the British unit have traversed the globe with what has always been, for the time, the latest in technology. The images that have been captured have entertained and educated the world for more than half a century. In today's high- definition world, the BBC has not failed to impress