Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2016
The setting for Gunsmoke was the by-now-famous Dodge City, circa 1870’s. Phrases like “get out of Dodge” would enter the popular lexicon as a result of this resilient series. Marshall Dillon (Arness) was charged with keeping the peace in Dodge City. The only other character to see the entire 20-year run was kindly Doc Adams (Stone). Star Trek’s own Doc, Leonard McCoy, took many of his traits from Doc Adams. He was the humanitarian of the city, always looking to help someone. Like McCoy, he had a taste for bourbon and a soft heart underneath a rather gruff exterior and was always ready with free advice. Dillon’s love interest throughout most of the series was Miss Kitty Russell (Blake). While there were certainly a few romantic undercurrents, the romance never came to fruition. Miss Kitty was a prostitute on the radio and was likely one here as well, but CBS chose to underplay that aspect of her character as a “saloon girl”. Finally Dillon’s faithful sidekick deputy was Chester (Weaver). Chester often found himself in trouble and was the naïve son figure to Dillon.
Gunsmoke is the longest-running scripted live-action television show in history. The series ran from 1955 to 1975. At first it was a half-hour black-and-white show that evolved into a color hour by 1967. It actually started before the days of television, premiering on radio in 1952. Then it was William Conrad as the tough-as-nails Marshall Matt Dillon. When television came into its own, Gunsmoke made the jump to the bright living room box and made history. Westerns would ride across our small square screens for the next three decades, making it the most successful genre of that time, and it was Gunsmoke that started it all. The television version of Gunsmoke was originally conceived as a vehicle for John Wayne, who opted to remain in movies. Yet it was Wayne himself who suggested James Arness, and it turned out to be a career for the one-time “carrot” monster from The Thing. Gunsmoke started before all of the big westerns and was around when most of them had departed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2016
Victor Garber appears to me a man of extremes, at least in his climate preferences. Of course, the actor was aboard James Cameron's ill-fated Titanic when it struck an iceberg before Leonardo DiCaprio dies because he was too stupid to climb aboard a huge floating door. On television recently, Garber jumps to nuclear fire as one half of the superhero Firestorm in the DC television universe. For this release, actually filmed a few years ago he heads back to the ice, and not just any ice. This time Victor Garber narrates an IMAX documentary called Wonders Of The Arctic. Shout Factory has released the documentary as part of their impressive IMAX titles in 4K on UHD Blu-ray. This one is no less impressive and takes us on a journey to the top of the world, a place we refer to as the Arctic Circle.
The documentary isn't so much about the Arctic as a region but really is the story of the ice itself and how it impacts on both human and animal populations. It does sound the warnings of climate change, but I give it a lot of credit for not attributing such change to anything in particular. Instead the documentary does what all good documentaries should do. Present us with some facts. Show us some interesting stories. Leave us educated, thrilled and entertained. Wonders of the Arctic actually accomplishes all three of these goals.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2016
"The state of this country is the most precarious it has ever been. Not only are there more threats than ever before, but the majority of those threats don't come from known organizations or extremist groups, but our own backyard. A neighbor you grew up next to, a one-night stand you had, perhaps even a family member. You applied here to protect your country from those threats. And while your ideals and your test scores might have gotten you here, they will not be enough to keep you here. The FBI academy is the toughest boot camp, hardest grad school rolled into one. It is not college. It is life and death."
And that's the setting of ABC's new drama Quantico. But not quite so fast. Quantico is the latest series to follow a trend that I honestly find distracting and more than a little annoying. The basic idea of the show appears to be to follow a new group of FBI recruits as they go through six months of training at the FBI training center in Quantico. If that's the kind of show you were expecting, you are in for some surprises. That's half the story. The other half uses the How To Get Away With Murder format. There is another story playing out a few months after their graduation. We get pieces of this story intermingled with the training story. Confused? You ain't heard nothing yet.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2016
For over 15 years the CSI franchise has been a solid stable of programming for the Eye Network. The original show blasted through all initial expectations and lasted for 15 years. CSI: Miami went on for a decade, and CSI: New York for a little over five years. Now the original has bowed out of the game, and after 30 years of seasons, the franchise's future hangs with newcomer CSI: Cyber. All dynasties eventually come to an end. Some pass quietly in the night. Others do so quite horribly. After watching the short 13 episode run of CSI: Cyber, I'm afraid it's the latter path for a once-brilliant franchise. Catch it while you can, if you're interested. While it will be back this fall, I do not anticipate a long life for a show that is CSI in name only. Now is your chance to decide for yourself.
It all starts with Patricia Arquette as Avery Ryan. The character was first introduced in a back-door pilot the previous season on CSI. She is a psychologist who had her files hacked and made public. The resulting cybercrime caused one of her patients to die. So she joined the FBI and somehow became the nation's leading authority on cybercrime and now heads that team for the FBI. Forget that this is a weak character back story. It's too much been there, seen that. Characters who change the course of their lives over a death are cheap shortcuts trying to gain sympathy from the audience. But let's overlook that for now. The fact that she became such a knowledgeable techie in whatever time there was is completely unbelievable. It's hard to believe she was even much of a psychologist. Human empathy is something I find in neither the character nor the actor.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2016
Scuba diving is the closest thing I've ever experienced to being on an alien world. Everything around you looks and feels totally different from what we see on land. Even our relationship to gravity changes. There's nothing like it on this Earth. The ocean is a diverse place and quite resilient. The Last Reef makes this point rather dramatically in the opening minutes of the documentary. It begins with a newsreel that takes us to the nuclear explosion experiments that were conducted off the Bikini Islands in 1946. Yes, that's where the swimsuit got its name. The Islands were making the newsreels because of the tests. Of course, the entire landmass and surrounding sea were saturated with radiation. The Islands reef was destroyed. It was pretty much left to its own devices for over 50 years. And now it is once again a flourishing reef teeming with incredible life.
From the tests the film shifts gears and becomes more of a standard journey into the waters of several reefs around the world. The film begins to make the connection between a reef and a thriving metropolis like New York City. We're treated to time-lapse video of various aspects of New York City, particularly the traffic throughways and outside cafes. Of course, these moments are frantic, particularly in time-lapse form. We're then exposed to the slower, more tranquil versions of some of the same ideas: schools of fish all moving in one direction compared to those highways and feeding stations where rays and sharks can have parasites cleaned from their bodies by waiting fish. The connections are a stretch, yes, but it's a nice effective way to compare and contrast these two distinctly different "cities".
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2016
"This is encouraging."
For the first time in a long while, the Winchester Brothers end and begin a season together. Dean's just had the Sign of Cain removed, and the cost is the approaching darkness. I'm not talking a little storm blowing through. Here in Florida we know all about that kind of darkness. No. This is The Darkness, and it's the big bad for season 11 of Supernatural. You heard that correctly. We're talking 11 years with number 12 arriving any day now. Once again it's "end of days" kind of stakes, and we have another season to save the universe.
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. Those days are gone, and it's been a while since Kenny met his demise, and now South Park has joined the ranks of the continuing story season. I do believe that's one of the signs of the Apocalypse. I'm just sayin'.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 14th, 2016
“Accidental president...that's what they'll say.”
Lyndon Baines Johnson became the 36th President of the United States under the most tumultuous circumstances imaginable. Besides being thrust into office after the shattering assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Johnson had to immediately contend with multiple political crises. Most notably, LBJ faced pressure from several different fronts as he worked to pass what eventually became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. All The Way, buoyed by a funny and ferocious lead performance, offers a thought-provoking and entertaining look at a truly complex figure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 14th, 2016
When a movie that so clearly lifts its inspiration from the films of Roman Polanski and Alfred Hitchcock, I would have expected to simply embrace this film for the nail-biting thriller it is attempting to be. Instead I found myself sitting back wondering why I just couldn’t get into this film. Is it because the storyline seems uninspired? Whatever it is when it comes to The Ones Below, it may hit all the right notes when it comes to what to expect with a thriller, but that’s the problem; it plays everything by the book and doesn’t dare to take unexpected twists.
Kate (Clemence Poesy) and Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore) are a happy couple living alone in an upstairs flat in London with a baby on the way. When they notice that they have new neighbors who have moved into the space below them; it of course comes as a surprise to see that they too are a couple expecting to have their first child. The new neighbors are Theresa (Laura Birn) and her husband Jon (David Morrissey). There is something off about the couple right from the start, and when Kate and Justin invite their new neighbors to dinner, you don’t have to hold your breath too long before things go awry. When an accident occurs that causes Theresa to lose the baby, as a viewer we can already expect things to go bad, since Jon and Theresa seem to blame Kate and Justin for their loss, but what follows just kind of seems silly rather than menacing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 12th, 2016
"My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child, I saw my mother killed by something impossible. My father went to prison for her murder. Then an accident made me the impossible, and I became the Flash. I used my powers to find the man responsible for my mother's death. I thought I would finally get justice for my family, but I failed. It's been six months since the Singularity. I'm on my own now. Decided it's better that way. Keeps the people I care about safe. There's only one thing I can do now. I run…"
The Flash is CSI with a twist. Barry Allen (Gustin) is a police scientist working in the CSI lab of Central City. In fact, he appears to be the only staff of that unit, having pretty much the run of the lab. When he was 11 he witnessed his mother's murder amid red and yellow streaks of lightning. Within the streaks he saw a man dressed in yellow. No one believed what he saw, and his father (Shipp) has been doing time for the murder he did not commit. Young Barry was taken in by their family friend Detective Joe West, played by Law & Order's Jesse L. Martin, and daughter Iris West (Patton). When a particle accelerator at Starr Labs explodes, the dark matter wave that spreads across Central City combines with a lab accident, and Barry is bestowed with incredible speed. Unfortunately, he was not the only one affected. Other people received various other powers and are referred to here as Meta Humans.
