Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 13th, 2018
“I am someone who wakes up in a different body every day.”
Every Day manages to be both clumsily straightforward and frustratingly vague about its fantastical premise. The movie centers on a mysterious traveling spirit known as “A,” which — as you can read above — inhabits a different body every day. Unfortunately, there's little-to-no exploration as to why or how A (conveniently) only inhabits the bodies of camera-friendly teens. The best thing about this premise is that it injects the otherwise tired and homogeneous teen romance genre with a new look. (Actually, it ends up being closer to 15 new looks.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 22nd, 2018
The Matrix (1999) was a landmark film in the Sci-Fi genre. While its box office intake was dwarfed by Episode 1, it was The Matrix that had people talking. Andy and Larry Wachowski’s story of a post-apocalyptic world where humans serve as biological generators of energy for the machines that rule the planet challenged people’s perceptions of what reality was. Computer hacker extraordinaire Neo (Reeves) has this gut feeling that life isn’t all that it seems to be. Turns out he’s right in a big way. A group of revolutionaries led by the thought-to-be-mythical Morpheus (Fishburne) open his eyes to the Matrix.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 20th, 2018
"Welcome to game night".
Everybody loves playing games. OK, most people like playing games. Friends have been getting together for game nights since there have been games. From the couples’ bridge days of the 1950's to poker night with the guys, most of us have gotten together to play some kind of a game with friends. The thing about games is that they're frivolous. Playing games with some buddies is a good excuse to kill a few hours, maybe have a few drinks. You're not solving the world's problems, and it's usually just a simple night of entertainment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 20th, 2018
Clint Eastwood has been at the top of the game both as an actor and a director, often both at the same time. There's no question that he still has the skills. Unfortunately, 15:17 To Paris isn't a great example of his direction skills. Don't get me wrong. There is a nice intense film in here, but it only lasts for about 10 minutes and hungrily screams out for more of the same. Eastwood's problem is much the same that he had in Sully. He doesn't really have enough material for a truly great feature film, so he is forced to fill the screen time with something he hopes will entertain us long enough to stay with him for the good stuff. But as Clint said once as Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2018
When David Ayer's Suicide Squad film was released a couple of years ago, the reviews were certainly mixed. One of the biggest complaints from the diehard fans was that Warner opted for a PG-13 version of the film, which took away much of the edge of the material. One only need look at the success of Deadpool to understand that there is a place for a comic film that pushes envelopes and doesn't shy away from an R rating. It almost appears that the new Warner/DC animated feature film Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay would attempt to make up for that decision. This may very well be an animated "cartoon" film, but it's a hard-edged R-rated experience that doesn't shy away from brutality, blood, and violence.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 10th, 2018
When you are about to sit down for a comedy with Ed Helms and Owen Wilson, you pretty much know what you’re getting yourself into. Sometimes you just want to watch a movie for a few good laughs; then when it’s over, you return to your day-to-day routine. When it comes to Father Figures, the problem is that the film from the get-go is trying to get you to believe that Helms and Wilson could possibly be fraternal twins. Yeah, we’ve seen this before with the film Twins, only this time around we have a film about brothers attempting to overcome their differences as they work together to find their real father.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 21st, 2018
"We have to be ready. You, me, the others... there's an attack coming from far away."
The DC and Marvel rivalry can be quite fierce at times. I never completely understood the polarized fan base, however. Some of us are just fans of the genre and will welcome a good comic book movie from either and preferably both studios. When it comes to a cinematic universe, however, DC has had some real issues with trying to bring together a combined hero world. Most of the films leading up to Justice League have been dark and filled with brooding heroes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 15th, 2018
“We have to be ready. You, me, the others… there’s an attack coming from far away.”
The DC and Marvel rivalry can be quite fierce at times. I never completely understood the polarized fan base, however. Some of us are just fans of the genre and will welcome a good comic book movie from either and preferably both studios. When it comes to a cinematic universe, however DC has had some real issues with trying to bring together a combined hero world. Most of the films leading up to Justice League have been dark and filled with brooding heroes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 14th, 2018
New cartoon series these days are a hard watch for me. Gone are the days of classic shows like X-Men, Batman: The Animated Series and even newer favorites like Regular Show which ended about a year ago. Now we get shows where it seems like it is one cheap joke after another including Teen Titans Go and that show about some kid named Steven. So, I wasn't too thrilled to get the newest incarnation of Ben 10 on my review desk a couple of weeks ago. That's when I decided to employ the talents of my 2 year old son, Keaton and see if he can offer some insight.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 9th, 2018
The notion of having one of comics’ famous costumed detectives face Jack the Ripper is simply one of those ideas I can’t help but smile with geeky joy thinking about. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, takes the caped crusader back to the early turn of the 19th century, a time when Gotham City was in its early days, before skyscrapers flooded its landscape. This unique take does offer up some fun twists on the legend of the character ,but also takes many liberties of historical events that actually took place. This kind of revisionist history can be fun; take Inglorious Basterds for instance, but how much should you really play with actual history and set character mythology? This is definitely a new playground for the creators to play with, so how does the animated film shake out?
