Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 18th, 2020
Every generation has had its Christmas classics, films that have become as much a part of the holiday family traditions as Christmas trees and candy canes. For me it has been the more modern A Christmas Story with ol’ Carl Kolchak himself, Darren McGavin. Kids today have taken more of a shine to even more recent films, but for more than one generation, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. Since 1947 the film became a seasonal fixture in neighborhood movie houses across the fruited plain. In the 1970’s the film temporarily fell into the public domain and was played relentlessly on local television stations as each holiday came and went. Unfortunately, these were usually prints in horrible condition, so that scratches and splice marks became a part of the experience, not to mention ads for department stores touting their early-bird specials. It is with that experience that I, as did most from my generation, become acquainted with Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey. When the home video market began to bloom with VHS in the mid 1980’s, a better print resurfaced, so that the experience improved dramatically, along with the loss of those commercials. Of course, this new resource of home entertainment created a fight for the rights to the film to once again be restored to a single owner. It ended up being the film’s score that would allow the rights to be enforced once again. The crappy television prints disappeared, and by the early 1990’s, efforts to restore the film began.
These restoration efforts invariably turned to the controversial subject of colorization. If anyone remembers Ted Turner’s push to colorize RKO films, including King Kong, you will also remember how bad those films looked. The color was an added texture of hue covering the picture so that the subject’s textures and subtleties were obliterated. It was almost as if some child decided to finger paint all over the negative. There was nothing magical or at all realistic about the process. It’s A Wonderful Life has been colorized no less than three times. In both 1986 and 1989 the film got the colorized treatment, both failures. In 2007, It’s A Wonderful Life had been colorized by a new process developed by Legend Films. This new process allows films to be colorized naturally, retaining all of the detail and texture of the original print. These are the guys who are working with legendary Ray Harryhausen to colorize and restore many of his classics. The new process uses a 16-bit grayscale, which offers over 64,000 shades of just gray. The process, called “Photo-Real”, can reproduce HD quality pictures with stunning, lifelike color. I was a very cynical skeptic of the process and was prepared to rip this color print to shreds in my review. I was blown away by how natural the color looks. You will be hard-pressed to believe this wasn’t an original color print. Not only are the colors realistic, but the print retains the particular color palette of the 1940’s, so that the film still looks like one from the correct era. I know you’ve seen incredibly bad colorization before, and it likely has made you unwilling to even give this one a chance, but you owe it to yourself to check it out. And this is the version you get on the Blu-ray copy of the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 11th, 2020
"And so it began. 30,000 years ago, man discovered his best friend. Dogs were man's best friend and only animal companion for the next 15,000 years. And then cats came into the house, y'all. For the next 15,000 years cats and dogs fought each other, hissing and barking and breaking things along the way. With the emergence of technology, harmless skirmishes grew into diabolical plots as cats and dogs tried to eliminate each other as humans’ companion. Eventually humans grew tired, so dogs and cats had to do something if they wanted to stay the number 1 and number 2 animals in the human household. Cat and dog leaders worked together to stop these plots and formed an organization called The Furry Animals Rivalry Termination... The last decade has been the most peaceful in centuries."
This movie is proof positive that Hollywood refuses to let a franchise die. I wasn’t really fond of the original film in the franchise, and I completely ignored its sequel; however, this standalone sequel managed to be mildly entertaining. Granted, it is extremely over-the-top. To the point that it borders on the ridiculous with some of its antics. Like a parrot driving an ice cream truck. Still, I had to remember that I was not the demographic that the film was designed for. This is where I rely on my trusty daughter to help me give these movies a fair shake. Her exact words were, “Is it over yet?” I think that pretty much sums up how she felt about the film. It’s ironic; the movies that I don’t mind so much are the ones that she really doesn’t vibe with. And the movies that she tends to be intrigued by, for me it’s like my eyes are bleeding. I begin to realize how different my daughter and I are.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 8th, 2020
I always get a little worried when I’m handed a low-budget western. Despite it being one of my favorite genres, I’m just quickly turned off by a film when it visually doesn’t look authentic. I like my westerns dirty and rugged, so when I see characters in costumes that look too clean as though they were just pulled from the rack, it’s a giant pet peeve. What had me intrigued with the film was the involvement of Joe R. Lansdale, who happens to be one of my favorite writers, and he somewhat specializes in the “weird” western genre. Bubba Ho-Tep or The Hap and Leonard series are what most would be familiar with from Lansdale. He may not have the name strength that Stephen King carries, but I’ve come to expect a good time from Lansdale. Granted The Pale Door only has Joe R. Lansdale attached as a producer, though his son was involved at some point with the writing of the script, so is that enough to make this film worth a watch, or is it a disappointment?
Right from the start I just want to say this film gets off to a bad start. I know it’s setting up the relationship between the brothers in the film, but the first 15 or so minutes of this film should have been left on the cutting room floor. In my opinion the film could start right up when the Dalton Gang is robbing the train and the film would have been stronger for it. As for the train robbing sequence, I’m glad the filmmakers openly admit they are “ripping off” the train sequence from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. If you are going to rip off a sequence, it’s better when you steal from the best. If you haven’t seen the film, you at least should watch it for the train sequence alone…but keep watching because it’s simply a beautifully shot and well crafted western. Sure, the film is shot on a budget, but I appreciate the effort put into this sequence, and in the commentary the filmmakers reveal this wasn’t even what had been intended in the script, and for what they manage to get with the final product, well, good for them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 3rd, 2020
"You had me worried at first. A new Starman? That'd be big trouble. A real game changer. Imagine my relief. No Starman. Just a silly little Stargirl."
The original Starman was created by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley back in 1941. Since that time there have been quite a few DC characters that have taken on the mantle of Starman. When DC executive and veteran comics writer/creator was asked to do a series on one of Starman's sidekicks, Pat Dugan and his eventual comic Stars And S.T.R.I.P.E., he was given a directive that he could not use the iconic S.T.R.I.P.E. armor, and that just would have made the series so much weaker. Instead he counter-pitched an idea from the same era of the comics. He pitched the idea of a new Stargirl who would be somewhat based and named after his daughter Courtney, who was tragically killed in a plane crash when she was just 18 years old. He wanted to do something to represent the spirit of his daughter, and the pitch also allowed for the Pat Dugan character to appear without the famous armor. The idea was accepted, and the latest member of the DC television Arrowverse was born. Enter Courtney Whitmore, played by Brec Bassinger in Stargirl. Warner Brothers delivers that first season in a new Blu-ray release of Stargirl: The Complete First Season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 1st, 2020
Hollywood is no stranger to films about citizens being falsely accused in a foreign land for crimes they didn’t commit or having the charges overly exaggerated. Midnight Express is perhaps the best of the bunch, and in the 90’s there was Brokedown Palace and Return to Paradise. I’m somewhat of a fan of these films, but the problem is that they become a bit formulaic, and really, they are already an offshoot of the “wrongly convicted” prison dramas, so it’s no surprise that we really haven’t seen a film like Most Wanted in a while despite it being based on a true story. Thankfully Most Wanted brings a new take to the table as it shows us how far some dirty cops are willing to go in an attempt to get a high-profile bust.
Most Wanted is about Daniel Leger (Antoine Oliver Pilon), a young, struggling heroin addict who is getting by in his day-to-day life by getting high and pulling small crimes to support his habit. I’m not the type to sympathize with an addict, but if Leger has any redeeming qualities, it’s that he doesn’t seem to want to harm anyone and he’s just looking for someone to accept him for who he is. He finds this acceptance in Glen Picker (Jim Gaffigan), a small-time drug dealer who employs Leger to help out on his “fishing boat”. The relationship between Leger and Picker at first seems like it could be a good thing; that is until we discover Picker has motives of his own for taking Leger under his wing. This eventually leads to Picker introducing Leger to a potential big client to help in negotiating a drug deal in Thailand. Just how does this young Canadian guy have massive connections in a foreign land? Well, that’s where a simple misunderstanding steamrolls into something Leger has to figure out under the threat of being killed. What’s worse is that Picker has manipulated Leger to do this deal with undercover cops just so he can go about running his business and his life as he pleases.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2020
"I was skeptical when you pitched the idea of putting the legends on television, but they've helped pacify the masses. Well? Should we get started then? We don't want to keep our worshippers waiting."
Unlike the rest of the Arrowverse, D.C.'s Legends Of Tomorrow did not have their season interrupted by the massive crossover. Because it was a mid-season series, this season of Legends Of Tomorrow actually starts with the final hour of the huge crossover. That means you get thrown immediately into the deep water, and there's no time to learn how to swim now. So if you aren't up on the show or the whole Arrowverse thing, you have some serious catching up to do. You need to get caught up on Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and the newcomer Batwoman, and then four previous years of The Legends Of Tomorrow. I can help you with that. Just bang it here to get a look at our previous reviews: Legends Reviews. Once you're caught up, let's head straight into that crossover finale, shall we?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 24th, 2020
Ever since The Walking Dead first aired. it seems the zombie genre was not only revived but milked for all it was worth, and still studios continued to bleed the genre dry to the point even most diehard horror fans are sick of the sub-genre. I’m a sucker for zombie films, and even I have tired of them, but I’ll always hold out hope for some writer or filmmaker to come along and inject some creativity into the genre. It’s possible; I mean, look how long the vampire stories have been around, or even ghost stories, and yet there still are new takes on the subject matter that get us excited about them again. That’s where Blood Quantum gave me some hope. Zombies on a Native American reservation. I was hopeful for some indigenous lore being injected into this, giving us a fresh perspective…but alas, we get a watered-down, unoriginal, snooze-fest with a little bit of gore to keep viewers somewhat interested.
The film starts off promising enough as we see an old man gutting his freshly caught fish, and then suddenly they all seem to come back to life and flop around him. We are then introduced to the main characters that reside on the Red Crow reservation; there is the Sheriff Traylor (Michael Greeneyes), his son Joseph (Forrest Goodluck) and his ex-wife Joss (Elle-Maija Tailfeathers). To basically inject a little bit of drama, there is also Joseph’s troublemaking best friend Lysol (Kiowa Gordon) and Josephs pregnant girlfriend Charlie (Olivia Scriven). Honestly, without these two characters there wouldn’t be much in the way of character drama, but to be honest, even adding them to the dynamic, this still is a far cry from being a compelling story. The first third of the film honestly works well as a self-contained story as we see the start of the zombie outbreak. It’s on a small and believable scale as we see dogs and eventually humans coming back from the dead, and the chaos of not knowing what is happening on the reservation is compelling enough, especially when we see certain people get bitten. Then the film throws a curve ball and sends us six months later into the outbreak, and those who were bitten and should be goners are somehow still amongst the living. It’s found out that for some reason that the indigenous people are immune to the bites, and this is where the film becomes really problematic for me.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2020
"Look up in the sky..."
He's pretty much the oldest of the comic book superheroes still fighting for truth, justice and the American way. Sure, Superman has changed quite a bit over the years. From the black and white George Reeves television series and the early 1940's cartoons to several film versions over the years, Superman has been an American icon since the 1930's. With the series of DC animated features, we have seen many of the modern incarnations of the Man of Steel. But this time Warner Brothers and DC took a step back from their ambitious ongoing stories to give fans a little bit of nostalgia and a look back to some of the earliest days of Superman. It has quickly become one of my favorite of this series, and I think you're in for a treat. This one is for the fan who is still a kid, if not in body, then in heart. And while the story might be somewhat "old school", you get to take advantage of the best of 21st century technology at the same time as Warner Brothers delivers Superman: Man Of Tomorrow on UHD in 4K.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 11th, 2020
"I'm a consulting detective of some repute. Perhaps you've heard of me? My name is Sherlock Holmes."
In 1887, readers of the popular periodical Beeton’s Christmas Annual were to receive quite a special treat. There wasn’t much fanfare or hype to the event. Inside the pages of the magazine was a story called A Study In Scarlet. It was a detective story, perhaps like many published before, except for the detective himself, a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Together with his faithful companion and chronicler Dr. Watson, Holmes would win the hearts of those holiday readers. It might have been an ordinary day, but the world was about to change. Sherlock Holmes would become the most famous detective in the world. His stories would remain in print nearly 130 years later. Over 100 films would be made featuring the character. There would be television shows and cartoon spoofs. No other character has appeared in more productions. When his creator dared to kill the beloved detective in order to move on to newer stories, his very life was threatened. It would seem that Doyle was on the verge of becoming a victim much like those in his stories. There was only one man who could save him from such a grim fate, and he did just that. It was Sherlock Holmes himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 11th, 2020
“Mr. Holmes, you must widen your gaze. I’m concerned you underestimate the gravity of coming events. You and I are bound on a journey that will twist the very fabric of nature. But beneath your mask of logic, I sense a fragility. That worries me. Steel your mind. Holmes. I need you.
This was quite possibly my favorite scene from the movie, as it perfectly exemplified the journey that the character was about to embark on. This monolog was perfectly delivered by the film’s villain played by Mark Strong and could be seen as the battle cry for Robert Downey Jr.’s Holmes. With an original story from Producer Lionel Wignam, this reimagining of the beloved characters thrust us into the action right away with Holmes hot on the trail of a killer. Hired to find a kidnapped girl, Holmes locates her and prevents her from being sacrificed for a dark arts ritual. Capturing the mastermind, Lord Henry Blackwood (Mark Strong), Holmes forgoes the credit as per usual.
