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.
The longest running show in prime time doesn’t feature cops, doctors, or lawyers. It’s hard to believe that The Simpsons have existed as long as the Fox network. While the series didn’t really begin until Fox’s second year, the characters were part of The Tracey Ullman Show, which did start the first year of Fox. Who could have guessed that an animated short from an otherwise horrible and doomed variety show would explode into such a phenomenon? The Simpsons have not only dominated the pop culture; they have placed everything else into context with their show. Like Doonesbury, it could be said that the only thing worse than being made fun of on The Simpsons is not being made fun of on The Simpsons. With that said, you’ll understand my warm feelings and appreciation for this show.
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, or actually the 4th chapter.... Star Wars: A New Hope. It was only a matter of time before Seth Mac Farlane would steer his own ship back into George Lucas's universe once again. With equal parts faithful adaptation and off the wall detours, he's done it again, delivering another very funny tour into the dark side.
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. But this one was supposed to be the real deal. It didn't hurt that the titular body in question would belong to Megan Fox. With the huge dominance of the Transformers films at movie theaters across the globe, Fox has had a lot of ... eh ... exposure over the last couple of years. She's made a ton of those “sexiest” polls, and combined with this somewhat provocative title, I'm sure there were expectations of, at least, reasonably large draw. Unfortunately, it just never happened. The film barely made back its modest $16 million budget.
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. Of course, that does provide for the major draw for these kinds of films, but I would also suspect that the WWE is hoping for more wide appeal by branching out into these films. So far it doesn't seem like the sports organization is having any luck. The Marine 2 will not do anything to further the cause.
The film opens with the obligatory mission sequence. This scene does not really join with the actual film plot except to give us a chance to see Joe (DiBiase) in action. We quickly see how good he is. The scene also adds some pathos to the character when a young boy is caught in the crossfire and killed. Now we have a skilled Marine carrying around a bit of guilt over the dead boy. The mission ended, our hero gets a little R&R time. His plans to spend some quiet quality time with his wife, Robin (Cox) are somewhat sidetracked, because she has a mission of her own to conduct. She's helping a wealthy financier open his latest tropical resort. She's a PR person who will have her hands full with environmentalists and locals who resent the exploitation of their home. But Joe agrees to accompany her for what he expects will be five days of sun and sand. When they arrive at the resort, the 24 hour armed guards are our first clue that Joe's going to have to go "Marine" and do some butt kickin'. And, for a while the film settles into Blue Lagoon territory as Joe and Robin have some romantic time in the surf. They also meet up with the local boat tour guide who is also ex-military. He's a powder monkey, jargon for demolitions expert. You already know that this is no accidental meeting and that ex-Ranger Church (Rooker) is going to play a part in the events to follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 6th, 2010
It would appear that Michael Landon, Jr. is attempting to cash in on his late father's Little House On The Prairie appeal. He is one of the driving forces behind this series of made for television films. He has directed several of them and serves as an executive producer on them all. He has also been involved with some of the writing on the series. They are based on a series of books written by Janette Oke. They follow three generations of women in the days of the Western frontier. When I say that Landon is spending on his father's legacy, you need look no further than the common elements of the films themselves to understand how I come to that conclusion. All of the films feature frontier living and the interactions of these small town peoples in surviving the hardships of the West. There's more than one little house on a prairie to be found in this collection.
The films are more than Western affairs. They are intended to be "Faith" films. In ach case someone's faith in God is put to the test and they must find their way back to grace. The films are often interrupted with spontaneous Bible verses and more than a few sermons on faith. There's plenty to go around when it comes to testing that faith. In just about every film some poor girl loses a husband and must rebound with another. Of course, each of these prospective husbands are encountered with a level of hostility at first. I guess I can understand that part, because my own wife and I had less than positive feelings for each other at first. Now we've been married for over 20 years. She hasn't had to find a new one ... yet. The films all do a good job of throwing other adversity at these women. They are often in a situation where they find little support about them and often encounter hostility towards their dreams and ambitions. As the box art tells us, they must use love and faith to overcome these obstacles.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 11th, 2009
"Veridian Dynamics: every day something we make, makes your life better. Power? We make that. Technology? We make that. Cows? Well, no, we don't make cows. Although we have made a sheep, and medicine, and airplane engines and whatever this is and all sorts of things. Veridian Dynamics: every day we make something that makes your life better ... usually."
Ted Crisp (Harrington) works as the head of research and development for Veridian Dynamics. They're a global technology company with the motto: "Money before people". Inside their labs they make cowless beef, experiment in cryogenics, and turn pumpkins into military grade weaponry. With a "We can do that" attitude, there isn't any idea too small or too large for Veridian Dynamics. Ted's boss and liaison with the company board is Veronica (de Rossi). Veronica is pretty much an ice queen. She wears her hair painfully tight against her head to look authoritative. Ted's a moneymaker for the team, so she somewhat likes him, but she's cold and calculated toward the rest of the staff. That staff includes the bickering lead scientists team of Phil (Slavin) and Lem (Barrett). Both are incredibly bright and come up with amazing new scientific breakthroughs. But they are extremely socially awkward and timid when it comes to standing up to Veronica. Linda (Anders) is the potential love interest for Ted if it weren't for the fact that he used up his one allowed office affair on Veronica. She steals office creamer as a stress relief whenever the company gets one over on her. Needless to say, she has a lot of coffee creamers at home. Ted has a very young daughter he sometimes brings to the office and often bounces moral dilemmas off of. Together the cast is an Office clone, but with much more wit and a certain harder edge to it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 8th, 2009
"When the lights go off the battle is on."
Sequels are a dangerous business. They've gotten the best of some of the biggest heroes. Just ask Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, or Neo. Expectations are always going to be high. You've already shown us what you can do. We assume you did your best on the original film, now go and do better. Often filmmakers interpret this mandate to just make it bigger. More explosions and hard hitting action and special effects. They tend to remember everything but the story. I'm happy to say that Night At The Museum refused to fall into that trap. The film is certainly bigger. There are far more characters. The f/x have absolutely gone up a notch. But everything that made you love the first film is back ... and more.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 8th, 2009
Things are tough all over. It seems that even the television networks aren't immune to the growing trend of cutting back. Fox decided that the answer was Bogota, Colombia. No, they didn't turn to the cocaine market. They all tried that in the 70's and we ended up with Joannie Loves Chachi. This time Bogota is an option for producing new television shows. The idea is that you can take an American cast, with a token Brit in this case, and ship them off to Columbia to do the show on the cheap. The good news is that you can hire crew for six bucks a day. The bad news is that the show ends up looking like it cost about six bucks to shoot. I suspect that the hombre who came up with this wonderful idea for Mental had a better understanding of mental illness than the average bear.
Dr. Jack Gallagher (Vance) has been hired by his ex-lover Nora Skoff (Sciorra) to run the mental health department at Wharton Memorial Hospital, where she is the hospital administrator. Gallagher might be bright, but he has some rather unorthodox methodology. He tends to put himself in the place of the patient. To see what they see. Attempt to feel what they feel. It's the kind of practice that ends up having him introduce himself to his new staff by stripping buck naked when an intake patient is seeing alien reptiles and has stripped down himself to prove he is human. The tactic might have calmed the patient and defused a volatile situation, but it didn't endear himself to his new colleagues.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 19th, 2009
“It’s almost Christmas. Get into the spirit.”
Ever wonder what the kids of South Park might be like if they ever made it to adulthood? While I’ve not seen that many episodes of the FX series It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, that was the first observation that came to mind. These are the South Park kids all grown up. They’re crude, raunchy, mean, and most importantly, they are as politically incorrect as ever. If you need an example, I can offer one right from this episode. The guys have a Christmas tradition that dates back to their childhood of throwing rocks at moving trains. An episode I caught a while back had two of the guys going to an abortion rally because they suspected that pro-choice chicks gotta be easy. Sound like anyone we know? If you love irreverent humor that’s not afraid to cross over the line, this F/X series has everything you’re looking for and without those silly construction paper animation limitations. These are real dudes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 16th, 2009
This is the fifth of seven seasons, so we are well into the series. Its groundbreaking nature (an unmarried, professional woman as a central character) has obviously long since ceased to be a novelty, and the show is, by this point in its existence, what one might call a fixture. This is merely by way of observation, and not a criticism, because the writing remains as strong as ever, and the show has stood up well to the test of time. Not every joke is a winner, of course, and there are plenty of situations whose outcomes are visible a mile off. So name the sitcom for which this isn't true. But it was the characters more than anything else that won audiences over, and the terrific chemistry of eccentricity and camaraderie is very much in evidence here. A good example of that camaraderie is in “The Outsider,” where a consultant is brought in to boost the ratings, and disrupts the easy functioning of the newsroom by imposing all sorts of unpopular changes. The wrap-up, which emphasizes humanity over ratings, is typical of the show's philosophy and spirit.
Though there is nothing wrong, as such, with the picture on display here, let's just say that this isn't a set to haul out in order to show off the capabilities of your big-screen TV. The picture quality is that of the original broadcast, essentially. So there's some flicker, some grain, and the image is a bit soft. The colours are decent, if tending a bit towards an overall tinge of brown.
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