Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2010
"Look at yourselves. Unplug from your chairs, get up and look in a mirror. What you see is how God made you. We're not meant to experience the world through a machine."
Since the time we were kids, we were warned that you can't tell a book by its cover. That has never been more true in our modern world of the internet. We play in chat rooms where almost no one is who they pretend to be. We lie about our age, looks, and even our gender, and rationalize it as harmless escapism or merely exaggeration. Everyone does it, or so we believe, so it's actually expected.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2010
One of the lesser-known, but more visible, provisions of the Obama administration's stimulus bill is the provision that there must be at least one Sandra Bullock movie in the theatres at all times, regardless of quality. So now, as Bullock collects awards for her turn in the enormously profitable The Blind Side, here is the summer's offering making its home video debut. Our heroine this time around is a deeply eccentric crossword creator whose social skills are somewhere south of Pee-Wee Herman's. Her parents set her up on a blind date with TV news cameraman Bradley Cooper. She is immediately smitten. He is immediately terrified. He heads out on the road, working with reporter Thomas Haden Church. Faster than you can say “restraining order,” Bullock takes off after him. Cue the merry cross-country picaresque chase.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 20th, 2010
"Let me know when the Governor gets here."
Well, he's in the house, and I'm going to get a lot of razzing for this review of Last Action Hero. The person who thought I should see a shrink for looking forward to the next Saw film is going to be calling for my outright commitment to an institution dedicated to covering walls with nice padding so we won't hurt ourselves. I know this film is generally considered "bad" by critics and moviegoers alike. It swept the Razzies in 1993 and has since been only the kind of film 10 year olds would really like to see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 20th, 2010
Sylvester Stallone returned to his roots with 1993's Cliffhanger. No, I'm not talking about his iconic Rocky role here. I'm talking about his ancestral roots. The movie was filmed high in the Italian Alps to achieve many of these incredible vistas and the snow capped mountains. Believe it or not, this was June at the location, and several of the crew were stranded for a time because of a sudden and powerful blizzard.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2010
It's about time that The Simpsons has made it to Blu-ray and high definition. There's plenty of room on the couch as we welcome Homer, Bart, Marge, Maggie, and the whole town of Springfield to the brighter, more detailed world of high definition. You might be asking yourself: Why should we spend extra bucks to watch a simple cartoon on Blu-ray? That's a good question. The simple answer is that you just should. The longer answer follows.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2010
"Nature did not intend for you to survive out here. But here you are, and here I am to teach you how not to die..."
Whiteout has taken about as long and hard a road getting made as the characters in the film find themselves on stuck in the Antarctic. It began life as a crude graphic novel written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Steve Lieber. It developed a rather loyal cult following and was conceived as a film at around 2002. At one point it was intended as the launching point for a franchise featuring the federal marshal played by Kate Beckinsale
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2010
"Have you ever felt like you were a little bit different. Like you had something unique to offer to the world, if only you could just get people to see it? Then you know exactly how it felt to be me."
The title is taken from a very short children's book written by Judi and Ron Barrett. I say the title and not the story because this movie takes only the most basic concept from the book to create the movie. Most of the characters are brand new creations, and the plot of the entire film deals with events not covered in the book.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2010
"... It is a dark time for the rebellion. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the Galaxy. But, you know this story..."
Know this story, you do. It's the opening of the second, or actually the 5th in sequence, but it is the second one made, unless you count... Never mind. This is the prologue to The Empire Strikes Back, more commonly referred to the 2 hour trailer for Return Of The Jedi. Not so long ago in this Galaxy, Family Guy took a shot across the bow of those Imperial Cruisers with its extremely funny and on the spot spoof of the first Star Wars film
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 11th, 2010
"Every day I get letters. I think I get more letters than Santa Claus, Zac Efron, and Dr. Phil combined. I'm kinda the shit. Sometimes the letters are from people who say they are praying for me. They tell me everything will be OK if I just accept Jesus Christ into my heart. I say the words, but nothing ever happens. Nobody comes back. Nobody gets off the cross."
There hasn't been this much hype for a mainstream horror film in quite a long time that I can recollect. Certainly, quite a few have created more buzz after their release and subsequent box office power
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 11th, 2010
If you are looking for some kind of logical sequel to the WWE film The Marine which starred wrestler John Cena, you will be greatly disappointed. The film doesn't even feature the same character. There is absolutely nothing about this film that connects it to the original beyond the name. The WWE doesn't even use one of its bigger names in this film. While I have heard of Ted "The Million Dollar Man" DiBiase, Jr., I was not aware that he had a son who has followed his footsteps into the wrestling arena. I would suspect that Ted DiBiase, Jr. is a name only known to the fans who follow the WWE.