Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2016
"Space...the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one man gone before!"
Of course, we never did get five years from that original show when it ended after just three years in 1969. The new film series has tried to fix that for us. The latest film picks up the five-year mission just after three years have gone by. It's a double homage to the original show.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 21st, 2016
"The universe, a vast expanse of space and matter. It includes all that we see and all that we know. Since the beginning of time, we have wondered how it all came to be. A gloriously orchestrated plan? A chance series of events? Or something much, much dumber?"
Space really is the final frontier. It's where they send tired franchises to die. They sent Jason and Pinhead to space. They sent the Three Stooges into orbit. Abbott & Costello ended up in space. They even sent Machete into space. It's the filmatic version of jumping the shark. In Ice Age: Collision Course they send lovable Scrat into space.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2016
"Going on down to South Park and meet some friends of mine."
After 20 years or more, they really do feel like friends. I've known Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny longer than most real people in my life. Only the Simpsons have been around longer these days. Over those years South Park has always been a series of stories that rarely connect with each other in any significant way. There have been multi-part episodes, and certain experiences have come back up over the years. Still, we're talking about a universe where killing Kenny had become a running joke and happened pretty much in every episode.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 7th, 2016
"Never underestimate the impact of dramatic entrance!"
It's hard to maintain the attention of the 21st-century child. Animated movies have to combine enough elements of charm and action to keep their attention for a little under two hours. If you want to keep a franchise going, you have to rip out your sequels in reasonably tight schedules. It's been over four years since Kung Fu Panda 2, and we waited nearly that long between the first and second entry. That's a long time in a culture where we move from fad to fad almost by the hour.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on July 7th, 2016
“Oh...you were expecting Prince Charming?”
Shrek really did pick the absolute perfect time to emerge from his swamp. The 2001 computer animated sensation from Dreamworks arrived just as rival studio Disney was winding down its decade-long hot streak of hand-drawn new classics like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. In other words, it was the ideal moment for someone to come along and take shots at cartoon musicals and fairy tales that end with “Happily Ever After.” (Shrek's biggest target, however, was probably the Mouse House itself.) But how does the movie play 15 years later? Fortunately, Fox and Dreamworks have released a new Anniversary Edition to help us figure out the answer.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 4th, 2016
Edgar Allen Poe is on a short list of writers that has long been deceased that just about everyone has heard of. At some point in school we all had are chance to read about the taunting of The Raven or a number of Poe’s other famous works. With Extraordinary Tales we get an animated treat in the form of 5 animated tales written by the master of the macabre. This is more than just a simple animated retelling of the stories as each tale is given its own unique narration and animated style. Is it worth the time to sit back and watch these classic tales or did they belong on the shelf to collect dust? Come along with me and I’ll tell you about my journey if you dare.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 3rd, 2016
“Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”
Years ago a news magazine, I don’t remember which, conducted a survey. They discovered that more adults knew the names of the Seven Dwarfs than could name seven figures in the federal government, including President, Vice-President, Senate, House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. They say our educations begin very young. Well, since 1938 our youths have been entertained by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on January 13th, 2016
Yak: The Giant King is a 2012 animated offering from Thailand. It is based on Ramakien, the country’s version of a famous Hindu epic poem. Neither of those facts is readily apparent in the packaging and presentation of The Giant King, an American adaptation that was recently released on DVD. On the one hand, it helps explain why the dialogue here hardly ever matches the characters’ lip movements. But knowing that this crude, chintzy offering is actually based on something rather substantial makes it even more of a letdown.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 4th, 2016
If you were a child in the 1960's or 1970's, you were around at the golden age of the Christmas television special. We just celebrated the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, and there were a ton of holiday charms that came and went each year. But there were a handful that became classics and found their way to the airwaves every year in December. Of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas became one of these, and it is indeed among the best. It was not the only special to become beloved by generations of viewers. Now Dreamworks has brought together seven of the most memorable of these classics.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 5th, 2015
"Be grateful for your gifts. They are all around you."
This is the gift that has been giving for 20 years. It's a bit hard to believe that it was all the way back in 1996 that we had our first adventure with Pixar's imaginative Toy Story. Since that time we've had two solid theatrical sequels and now a second television/video short. It's a bridge to the fourth theatrical film on its way. But that's still a couple of years down the road, so it's rather nice to be able to spend some time, no matter how brief, with the gang we fell in love with nearly 20 years ago
