Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 17th, 2009
“People give up their lives for many reasons. For friendship. For love. For an ideal. And people kill for the same reasons. Before China was one great country, it was divided into 7 warring states. In the Kingdom of Qin was a ruthless ruler. He had a vision to unite the land, to put and end once and for all to war. It was an idea soaked in the blood of his enemies.”
I have to say that Hero has to be one of the most beautifully shot films I might have ever seen. This is the first time I’ve watched a martial arts film and embraced it as a total high definition experience. The film contains many incredible fighting scenes that are brilliantly choreographed and brutal in nature.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2009
“A hero lives but a few seconds. Ma master holds on to his life. It is more important to forgive than to fight.”
But they don’t know Jackie Chan. When Popeye gets into a jam, he rolls out a can of spinach and down the hatch it goes. Next thing you know that old sailor pipsqueak is kicking butt and taking names. When Jackie’s Wong Fei-hung gets into a jam, he looks for a bottle of sake or maybe a 5th of Jack Daniels. When Jackie drinks, his enemies get the hangover.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2009
Claire (Judd) and Tom (Caviezel) appear to have it made. Claire is a successful attorney and Tom is ex-Army. They are happy and very much in love, trying to have their first child. Suddenly while out on the town an FBI SWAT team surrounds them on the street at Union Square. Tom is taken into custody. Claire soon discovers that Tom wasn’t the man she thought he was. In fact, his name isn’t even Tom. He is Sergeant Ron Chapman, and he’s been a fugitive for 12 years, wanted by the Army for murder. Now the military court is seeking the death penalty. He is accused of killing civilians in a raid gone wrong.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2009
“Attention: Tonight’s movie has been M*A*S*H. Follow the zany antics of our combat surgeons as they stitch their way along the front lines operating as bombs and bullets burst around them, snatching laughs and love between amputations and penicillin, as they put our boys back together again.”
M*A*S*H began life as a novel written by an actual Korean War Army surgeon under the pen name Richard Hooker. He based the character of Hawkeye on himself and most of the other characters on actual personnel that were stationed with him at a real M*A*S*H unit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 14th, 2009
My senior year in high school was just the same as my junior year: stranger in a strange land. When looking back at the time that was spent, I spent more time with my nose in books and running from jocks. The reason why the jocks were upset at me more often than not? I was looking at their girls. In an attempt to find myself, I would pretend to be solving a Calculus problem (which eventually explained why I had to retake it in college) and instead fantasize about what it would be like to be with Miss Popular. I would eventually stop caring, the bruises would heal but I often thought what would have happened?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2009
“Ride into this world all alone. God takes your soul. You're on your own.
The crow flies straight, a perfect line on the devil's back until you die.
Gotta look this life in the eye”.
When these guys send a message, they don’t use Western Union. Not only will they blow up your warehouse, but they’ll catch one of your guys and plant a stick of dynamite in his butt cheeks to set off the explosion. That’s the world of the motorcycle club, The Sons Of Anarchy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 11th, 2009
Billy Bob Thornton got himself a well deserved Oscar for the film Sling Blade. If you’ve ever seen the film, or anything else by the man, there’s no surprise that he took home one of the coveted statues. What is a bit surprising is that he took the Oscar home for the screenplay for Sling Blade and not for the masterful performance. Now don’t get me wrong. The screenplay is a brilliant one. He certainly deserved that award, but there hasn’t been a performance as riveting as his portrayal of Karl Childers in a decade or more. It was this performance that made Thornton the household name he became.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 11th, 2009
Why does every Adam Sandler character seem to be Happy Gilmore? I don’t know if there’s an actor out there, comedian or otherwise, who has made so many movies essentially playing the same character. If it seems at times like I really hate Sandler, believe it or not, I don’t. The guy has a charm and natural ability that can, when he works at it, come off as a very entertaining couple of hours at the movies. Unfortunately, he’s not willing to work at it, and so continues to bombard us with new versions of the same character and story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2009
Who doesn’t remember the original Witch Mountain films from Disney back in the 1970’s. They were clever family films. They were camp, to be sure. But, most of us remember them fondly, if not as particularly outstanding films. While Disney’s reimagining of the franchise doesn’t have a great deal in common with those earlier films, you can pretty much describe the reaction as being spot on. Race To Witch Mountain isn’t going to be breaking any box office records, but it is the kind of film you get a pretty warm feeling for, and like its predecessors, you’ll end up remembering it with fondness.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2009
An ancient facility beneath Antarctica becomes the launching platform to the lost city of Atlantis. Atlantis is buried beneath an ocean in another galaxy and can only be reached with an additional symbol on the Stargate. Because of power limitations this trip, at least for the time being, is a one-way adventure. A crew of scientists and military officers from many countries assemble to explore the Pegasus Galaxy from the Atlantis gate. Led by scientist Dr. Weir (Higginson) and Maj. John Sheppard (Flanigan) they take over the Atlantian command center and begin to explore. In their initial investigations they accidentally awaken the area’s top bad guys, The Wraith. These vampire-like beings suck the life-force out of humans.