Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 28th, 2018
"How will we be remembered? Will it be for saving the world...Twice? Nope. We're the team who broke time. That's right. History has been torn to shreds, which means it's up to us to put it back together again, piece by piece, finding these so-called anachronisms before we get torn to shreds. So please, don't call us heroes. We're legends."
At the end of the second season the team broke one of the cardinal rules of time travel. You can't revisit a time and place that you already visited. The result is that you break time, and that's exactly what the Legends of Tomorrow have done. The result is that they have been recalled and dismissed from service by the newly-formed Bureau of Time. Now our legends are back in the mundane world, where Sara (Lotz) is working as a clerk at a bed and shower store, having fantasies of killing her boss. Ray Palmer (Routh) went from owning the world's largest tech company to working for a kid at a dating app... eh, make that a holistic social networking program. Professor Stein (Garber) is enjoying his new family with a grandchild on the way. Jackson (Drameh) is just bored to death with a normal life. And Mick (Purcell) is chilling on a beach in Aruba when his chill is interrupted by Caesar (Merrells). That's Julius, and not the salad, hotel, or talking ape. Of course, he's an anachronism who happened to arrive in Aruba for the annual Aruba-con celebration. It looks like the team is going to have to get together, but the powers that be don't quite see it that way. So they steal back the Waverunner, which was retired to a training simulator, and it's off fighting the problem that they created.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 23rd, 2018
"My name is Kara Zor-El. I'm from Krypton. I'm a refugee on this planet. I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin. But my pod got knocked off course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up and become... Superman. I hid who I really was until one day when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world. To most people, I'm a reporter at CatCo Worldwide Media. But in secret, I work with my adoptive sister for the D.E.O. to protect my city from alien life and anyone else that means to cause it harm. I am Supergirl."
So, you're asking yourself, who the heck is Kara Zor-El, and what is this D.E.O.? I get it. You're just not caught up on the CW series Supergirl. It's not such a good idea to start here, however. You can check out our reviews for the first two seasons here. Catch up on the episodes, and then join the rest of us for Supergirl: The Complete Third Season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2018
"It's not just for profit. It's for revenge. It's a twofer."
Hollywood has been making a greater effort these days to add some diversity to their film casts. From minorities to women, this has been a year of unprecedented changes in the makeup of so many films. One of the new trends in this effort is to remake/re-imagine/reboot an already established franchise with a gender-switched cast. The results have been somewhat mixed. The female Ghostbusters film was a complete disappointment. And while it might be easy to blame the female cast, the issues go much deeper than that. Now the Ocean's franchise has decided to play in that territory, with better results. Ocean's 8 delivers the familiar formula of the Steven Soderbergh remake trilogy of the original Rat-Pack film, but with an all-girl heist crew. The film is still a bit of a disappointment in some ways, but it's a much better ride than Ghostbusters by a long mile, and again the flaws have little to do with the cast or the gender-swapped model.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 14th, 2018
"You're in a stolen cop car with a dead hooker in the trunk; you don't have to obey traffic laws."
The Big Bang Theory certainly didn't obey the established laws for television comedy. The series was certainly more cerebral than most, and a lot of jokes went over a lot of heads, I suspect. But it was never about the geek factor or the IQ of the characters. The show was simply about the characters, and that extended family has spent 11 years in our living rooms or home theatres. But like all good things, The Big Bang Theory is about to come to an end. Jim Parsons was never the show's top billing, but there's little doubt that Sheldon became the most engaging character. When Parsons was offered $50 million for two more seasons, he turned the offer down. Instead of trying to do the show without him, the decision was made to bring the long-running comedy to a close. The upcoming 12th year will be its final season. Fans don't have much to be sad about. 10 years appears to be the ceiling for even the best comedy shows to grace our television screens. Monster hits like Seinfeld and Friends didn't break 10 seasons. Classics like M*A*S*H or All In The Family never saw 11 and 9 seasons respectively. 12 years will be a very respectable run. The fans will also get to hang out with Sheldon for the foreseeable future, albeit as a little kid in Young Sheldon. Finally, fans will have these Blu-ray collections to revisit these characters for many years to come. Old shows don't die; they just live on through discs or streaming services.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on September 11th, 2018
“It's hard to believe your pathological inability to make a decision finally paid off.”
Since its debut, Silicon Valley has brilliantly lampooned the tech industry by showing us both the proverbial “guys in a garage” and the self-important, aggressively eccentric billionaires obsessed with staying ahead of the curve. Given the fact that we're now in season 5 — and the Pied Piper gang has improbably managed to stay in business this long — the days inside the boys' fratty “hacker hostel” seem especially far off. But while Silicon Valley still delivers an entertaining mix of brainy and bawdy laughs, the series seems to be running out of ways to show us how these brilliant dorks can continue to fail upwards.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 7th, 2018
“Our group of friends has been playing the same game of tag for 30 years.”
The tag(haha)line on the Blu-ray cover for this film states, “Based on a True Story. We're Not Kidding.” The idea of a life-long game of tag is so ridiculous, the people who made this movie can hardly believe it themselves. But while Tag has some fun presenting a children's game as if it were a big-budget action flick, the film ultimately (and ironically) falters when it veers away from the silly real-life premise and tries to shoehorn dramatic moments to make it feel more like a movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2018
"We've got a whole new game of tiddlywinks."
It's the unlucky 13th season of Supernatural, and it might be the most loaded season ever. We have a basket full of bad guys and gals, and the Winchester Brothers have got their work cut out for them, as if last season wasn't busy enough. The Winchesters found and then lost their Mom. Crowley has finally bit the dust, and he will be greatly missed at least by this fan. Lucifer's son has finally been born, and there are going to be a lot of bad folks wanting to get their hands on that little guy. Of course, he isn't such a little guy any more. He's now the appearance of an older teenager, and he has some mad wicked power. The question is whether Sam and Dean can influence that power for good. Or will he go the way of his Pops and be the poster child for evil? Now if all of this is Greek to you, then you're in the wrong place. You have 12 years of lore to catch up on before you should even consider picking up Supernatural Season 13 from Warner. Check out our long list of reviews here and start binge-watching fast. Once you're caught up continue on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 28th, 2018
"Ain't nobody feeling Team Kid Flash."
When Season 3 ended on The Flash, Barry Allen/The Flash (Gustin) is trapped inside the Speed Force where he sacrificed himself to free his friends. Months later we find Wally West/Kid Flash (Lonsdale) acting as the team's speedster. Iris (Patton) is now in charge of the team, while Caitlin (Panabaker) has left to tend bar, mostly running from her Killer Frost persona. Joe West (Martin) is lending police support where he can, and Cisco (Valdes) has honed his teleportation skills and gets the players where they need to be. But they are barely holding their heads above water, and the stress is finally getting to them. And that was before a robotic Samurai arrives threatening to destroy Central City if the team doesn't bring him The Flash. Of course Cisco comes up with a plan to free Barry, and it's no spoiler here to reveal that he does just that. After all, the show isn't called Kid Flash. It's called The Flash, and Barry is always going to be a key ingredient to that name. If all of this sounds a bit confusing to you, you're starting in the wrong place. Check out our reviews of the previous three years here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 23rd, 2018
"This is not just about Gotham. This is all about Bruce Wayne."
It really is about Gotham. And it's about Jim Gordon. It's also very much about Bruce Wayne. The third season ended with Bruce finally starting to embrace his vigilante role, but it was crude and very much only a shadow of the hero he will become. There's a reason why all of the episodes of this season are subtitled The Dark Knight. Bruce is becoming more and more like Batman. Bruce even confronts his future alter-ego in a vision state. He's being propelled to that future because of Gotham and because he's also being manipulated toward his destiny by none other than Ra's Al Ghul himself, played by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's awkward Doctor Alexander Siddig. He's taking center stage this season, and he knows Wayne's future and sees himself as the guiding force to make sure he gets there.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 15th, 2018
"My name is Oliver Queen. After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal: to save my city. Today I fight that war on two fronts. By day, I lead Star City as its mayor. But by night, I am someone else. I am something else. I am the Green Arrow..."
Who the heck is this Green Arrow of whom you speak? If that's your first question, you need to go back a couple of grades and catch up with the rest of us. The comics are good place to begin, but the television universe is its own place and not tied so tightly to the DC comic book universe. Your best place to go to catch up would be the first five seasons. It'll be worth the effort, and I can get you started with those reviews found here. This review will not contain spoilers from the sixth season but very well must contain some from the previous year. So if you're not caught up, do that first.
