Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 15th, 2017
"It is, I think, going to be a very harsh and unpleasant kind of business and will, I think, require an extremely harsh and unpleasant kind of man to see to it."
That man, of course, is John Wayne. They called him The Duke, and he was indeed western cinema royalty for six decades. He represented the American ideal of the tough guy who stood up for the weak and didn't shy away from a fight. His characters usually worked hard, and they played just as hard. He had a unique way of turning a phrase and has been one of the most widely impersonated Hollywood voices. By the time the 1970's rolled around, Wayne was coming to the end of a long career. Some of these later roles showed a somewhat softer side to The Duke, and he was rarely doing any of his own stunts. Two of those later films were Rio Lobo and Big Jake. They aren't two of his most prominent roles and haven't had much of a wide release in the days since their release. They would show up on late show broadcasts, and Rio Lobo had yet to reach high definition and Blu-ray release. CBS changes that little oversight with a nice package they call a John Wayne Double Feature. For those of us who remember the days of the double feature, these two films fit the double-bill quite nicely. Here are two of the better John Wayne films that you likely have never seen, at least uncut and in high definition.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on August 14th, 2017
"For centuries man and mage lived side by side in peace until the rise of the mage sorcerer Mordred. Turning his dark ambition against man, he marches on the last remaining stronghold: Camelot."
So it finally happened: I found a Guy Ritchie film that I didn’t enjoy. I wasn’t expecting much from King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, but it is worth noting that I got even less than I expected. I know that sounds cruel, and I will admit that there were a few things that I did enjoy, but the number of things that went wrong versus what went right is not a close margin. Before we get into it fully, let me issue this disclaimer: the sword in the stone, which is known in the film as Excalibur, according to Arthurian legend is not really Excalibur, which is a different sword that Arthur was given to him after he became king.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 10th, 2017
Big Little Lies — HBO’s star-studded and (deservedly) Emmy-nominated limited series — is structured like a typical murder mystery. We know someone has been killed, but we don’t know the perpetrator or even identity of the victim. On top of that, the limited series format promises that we’ll actually have an answer by time these episodes wrap up (**cough** The Killing). But the reason Big Little Lies shines— other than top-notch performances and stellar direction — is because beneath the murder-mystery veneer lies a darkly funny drama about all manner of adult relationships: husband/wife, ex-husband/ex-wife, mother/daughter, mother/fellow-mother, and so on.
“I love my grudges. I tend to them like little pets.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 10th, 2017
When we begin the second season of Blindspot, three months have passed since the first season's explosive finale. We are placed back in the action with the same time having passed on the show. Jane (Alexander) has been kept at a covert CIA black ops location where she is being tortured for information. It is a fortuitous time to rejoin the action, because we arrive just in time to see her engineer a clever escape. Meanwhile Kurt Weller (Stapleton) and his team have been back to more mundane FBI cases, and it's obvious they miss the excitement of working the tattoos. They're about to get their wish, and things are about to get pretty intense as we join the sophomore season of Martin Gero's Blindspot.
When Jane rejoins the team, there are now a lot of trust issues between them. She's upset that they allowed her to be taken and tortured, and the team has learned more about the organization that sent Jane to the FBI. Enter new co-leader of the team, NSA Agent Nas Kamel, played by The Good Wife alum Archie Panjabi. She has named the organization Sandstorm because of the fearful ones she experienced as a child. She had trusted the wrong agent, and it cost lives on her team when he betrayed them. Now it's a little personal, and she's not going to be quick to trust Jane.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on August 10th, 2017
In the early 1870’s the residents of Labette County, Kansas, lived alongside a family of serial killers. Known later as “The Bloody Benders,” their modus operandi was to lure travelers into their grocery store, invite them to stay for dinner, crush their skull with a hammer, and slit their throat to ensure death. Afterward, they would bury the remains somewhere on their property. Just as soon as they had been discovered, they vanished without a trace, making it difficult to ascertain if all the details we know are factual or fictional. However, stories like these are the perfect playground for filmmakers, as they are able to take as many creative liberties as they would like, and in the end, they need only say its “inspired by true events.” That being said, Bender is one of many adaptations of these events, but it looks to be one of the only films that explicitly deals with the actual Bender family and their specific victims.
Dr. William York is the only physician in the town of Independence, Kansas. After a local woman dies in his arms, her children run away from the town. Feeling responsible for their loss, he ventures into the wilderness to bring them back to the safety of independence. Along the way, he finds a peculiar “grocery” store in the middle of nowhere. The doctor enters and enjoys the hospitality provided, never knowing that the children did the same, but never left.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by John Delia on August 9th, 2017
Putting a twist on the original movie Going in Style, director Zach Braff does a good job of reviving the comedy for modern-day audiences. He turns up the laughter with memorable situation comedy and actors who can deliver some of the best one-liners. It’s a lot of fun for a date night or just a chance to get away from the humdrum to laugh a little. Retired and trying to scrape by on his retirement check, Joe Harding (Michael Caine) is about to hit an unexpected brick wall. With his mortgage in jeopardy from lack of timely payments and his granddaughter needing help with tuition, he’s in a very tight spot. His best friends Albert Garner (Alan Arkin) and Willie Davis (Morgan Freeman), who have been living together for the past 25 years to curb expenses, are about to be in the same boat.
The company the three men have worked for has decided to close doors in America and movie their operation to a foreign country. This makes them not responsible for American retirement funds dumping all their former retirees and anyone being fired due to the dissolution and move to overseas operations. Now without their income, the three find themselves open to other measures. Joe comes up with a bright idea to rob the bank where their retirement funds are located. To add icing on the cake, it’s also the place where Joe has been bamboozled into one of those adjustable loans.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 8th, 2017
“Extraordinary people come with singular issues and needs.”
On the surface, being blessed with a genius-level intellect seems like good thing, right? So it's interesting that movies about uncommonly smart people (Good Will Hunting, A Beautiful Mind, and The Imitation Game to name a few) tend to focus on the extreme isolation and inevitable exploitation of these individuals. Gifted is about a potential “one-in-a-billion” math prodigy and her weary, protective uncle, who carries himself like someone who's seen too many movies about exploited geniuses and knows full well that “nobody likes a smart-ass.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2017
"Survival of the fittest. It's the law of the jungle. There's always someone trying to take what's yours. How do I know? It almost happened to me."
Where the heck has Alec Baldwin been lately? I seem to recall he was a pretty hot A-list movie star actor at one time. There was The Hunt For Red October, and then there was... OK, forget the A-list movie star bit. He was really an A-list television star. He killed it in 30 Rock and then of course there was... OK. Re-set. Now I remember. There was that hugely popular radio talk show he had going on for, what was it, five minutes? Hey, at least he's having fun spoofing Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. Easy gig, all he really has to do is pretend to be Alec Baldwin. Just when I honestly had completely forgotten the guy, he shows up as the voice for an obnoxious baby on Boss Baby. Who said typecasting was dead?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2017
"In the future, the line between human and machine is disappearing. Advancements in the technology allow humans to enhance themselves with cybernetic parts. Hanka robotics, funded by the government, is developing a military operative that will blur the line even further. By transplanting a human brain into a fully synthetic body, they will combine the strongest attributes of human and robot."
...and resistance is futile. OK. Wrong franchise. Actually, Ghost In The Shell has been with us for quite some time, and fans have been waiting for a live-action film to embrace. And while there are many fantastic elements to this film, it doesn't pull together well enough to meet the expectations of a rabid fan base.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2017
In times of war it is very easy to think of your enemy as the embodiment of evil. Sometimes it is necessary to do so. However, more often than not, the person on the other side of the line is just like you, a patriot doing their duty for their country, with mild to moderate understanding of the overall big picture. 1944 helps to illuminate this point, as the audience gets to experience the war from both sides of the battle. In this case it was Estonians fighting on both sides, further complicating the morality of the situation. We are thrown into the middle of the war almost instantly, opening up in the trenches with one of the main focal points of the story, Karl. Karl is a haunted young man, traumatized by his family deportation to Siberia. He brings that intensity into the battle until his first face-to-face confrontation with the enemy when he sees that it was his fellow countrymen, young and inexperienced soldiers.
Across enemy lines, Red Army soldier Juri must walk a fine line in regards to his duty to the men he is serving with and his obligation to his commanding officer who expects him to report any anti-communist comment made by his fellow soldiers.
