Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 5th, 2009
Ace Ventura’s back, sort of. It’s a new day. A new cast and crew. A new movie. And, unfortunately, a new Ace Ventura. This is Ace Ventura, Jr. Emphasis is on the junior. Without Jim Carrey, this thing was doomed from the start. Still, if you’re going to do it, I would have hoped that at least some kind of an effort would be in order. Alas, it seems that everyone involved knew this one wasn’t going anywhere so they just decided to have a great time and not worry so much what actually made it on to the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 24th, 2009
Paul Newman was born in 1925 near Cleveland, Ohio. He was an attendee of the world famous New York Actor’s Studio drama school in 1947. His first movie is included here, The Silver Chalice. The effort actually embarrassed him, and he took out an ad apologizing for the performance. It was looking like this young actor was going to disappear into obscurity in short order. Fortunately for moviegoers everywhere he decided to stick it out. He would deliver in the 1960’s and 1970’s some of the best movies ever made.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 21st, 2009
Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies is a reliable piece of filmmaking exemplary of the great director’s ability to make a tensely watch-able film, even if said film isn’t his best work. Such is the case with this Leonardo DiCaprio-Russell Crowe-led action-thriller that focuses on the post-Iraqi invasion conflict. DiCaprio’s Roger Ferris is left with those little pieces of death that have proven so much more dangerous after the old regime was toppled by U.S. forces, and he seems fine with it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2009
Night Court appeared on the scene at NBC in 1984 and was to last 8 seasons. If you thought it looked and sounded a lot like Barney Miller, you won’t be surprised to learn that a number of key people, including creator Reinhold Weege, came from that classic cop comedy. Several key elements of Miller can be found in Night Court. The themes are almost identical with both beginning with an easily identifiable bass run. The most important imported element from Miller was the constant parade of the kookiest and craziest criminals this side of the Cuckoo’s Nest.From a hick farmer played by then beginner Brent Spiner to hookers with hearts, Night Court relied heavily on the eccentric character to provide most of its laughs.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2009
“This motion picture is principally based upon the book “Wallace” by Marshall Frady and other historical sources. Certain events, characters, and dialog have, nonetheless, been created or altered for dramatic purposes”.
In other words, this should not be taken as an historical record of the controversial George Wallace. If anything, the film attempts to soften his personality some. One of those created characters is Archie, a trustee attending to the needs of the residents at Alabama’s Governor’s Mansion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2009
“As the end of World War II drew near, Hitler’s Germany was not only waging a war on separate fronts but from within the Third Reich. This story is based on actual events.”
If any of that sounds familiar, it should. It’s the plot and historical source for Tom Cruise’s latest big budget film, Valkyrie. One can’t help but wonder if this 1990 made for television film would ever see the light of a DVD release if not for the hype surrounding the Cruise film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 13th, 2008
July 18th, 2008. The movie: The Dark Knight is unleashed into the world. The budget is large but the profit generated was so much larger. After amassing nearly a billion dollars in revenue, the Dark Knight is considered the most successful film of 2008. Many wished to focus on Heath Ledger’s death as a major source of the generated revenue. However, the film benefited from strong performances from its cast and production crew. This tied into the fact that Heath Ledger put on an Oscar worthy performance and his unfortunate overdose made the movie huge. So, if you are one of the eighty people who have not seen this movie (78 of which are living outside of the United States), please step inside for the 2-disc review of the Dark Knight dvd, a must own for the holiday season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 7th, 2008
Most women would consider Matthew McConaughey a hot guy. Hubba, hubba, the whole nine yards. Typically when he stars in a new motion picture, women flock to see the show for him to walk around for ninety minutes preferably with his shirt taken off and speaking romantic to some leading lady. For those ninety minutes, those women wish that they were in his arms, they were in his touch. But what if Matthew was portraying an out of work treasure hunter, broken down on his luck and owing some guy named Bigg Bunny a whole lot of money? I think this will all depend on whether his shirt is coming off or not.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 29th, 2008
Spinoffs are nothing new in the world of Hollywood. Take a successful film, take some supporting or bit actor from the film and put them in a situation that is like the original but not quite and boom you got a spinoff. However, these movies or series usually take time to develop. On rare occasions, they might be released after a mere six months in some cases. For Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control, it was released a mere 10 days after the parent remake found itself in theaters. Could they capitalize on a market that was eager to go see the remake or would the parent bomb and leave this kinda movie in a bargain bin tucked far far away in the back of a Big Lots?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 1st, 2008
In the business of reviewing films you will definitely have your ups and downs. This week has absolutely been a downer. It seems that I can’t get a break. There are just too many bad movies out there. When I settled down to view Mama’s Boy there was a little hope. Looking at the cast you see some pretty solid names. Two veteran Godfather film actors in Diane Keaton and Eli Wallach make for a pretty good start. Jeff Daniels might not be the best out there, but he certainly has range playing plenty of fair to good comedic roles
