Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on May 20th, 2025
“Good evening, everybody! My name is Robbie Williams. This is my band, and for the next two hours, YOUR ASS IS MINE!”
I was really intrigued with the film’s concept. After all, every year musical biopics are released, and they can sometimes seem like they are all following the same blueprint, which, needless to say, makes it rather difficult for them to stand out. Better Man bucks that trend by instead of opting for an actor with a passing resemblance to the subject, rather depicting the subject as a chimpanzee, which was inspired by Robbie Williams’ own perception of himself as a "performing monkey". If that doesn’t make this film stand out, I don’t know what will. This also has the added benefit of allowing Williams to voice the character himself, which in my opinion adds a layer of authenticity to this biopic. After all, who better to tell their life story than the person themself?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 30th, 2025
"I'm not feeling motivated to be valuable to anyone but myself."
When Alex Kurtzman took over the television side of Star Trek, he started with Star Trek: Discovery. Michelle Yeoh played one of the better characters on the series. She started as a ship's captain and was soon killed off. But then the ship heads into the Mirror Universe, where Yeoh's character of Philippa Georgiou wasn't a Starfleet officer. She was the emperor of the Terran Empire. She ended up on our side of the looking glass and had some rather interesting stories. It turns out that almost from the beginning Yeoh had some ideas of a spin-off she hoped to do. That series was Section 31, which involved a black-ops agency within the Federation, and she thought our kind of evil emperor might be a perfect fit. Section 31 was first explored on Deep Space Nine during the Dominion Wars and was left alone for decades. Now it's back in the form of a Star Trek feature film instead of the series. Why the drastic change, you may ask? A lot of things happened since the idea was first proposed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2025
"The thing I love about Valentine's Day is the expectation of the unexpected. That something magical could happen, and maybe that special someone will come back into your life and change its course for the better."
Valentine's Day is one of those Hallmark holidays that leave us with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Unless, of course, you happen to be alone, or a member of the Bugs Moran gang in Chicago in 1929. So it really means a lot of things to a lot of people, but I really do question the use of that particular day for the setting for first-time director Jonathan Eusebio's action film Love Hurts. The Valentine's Day angle is pretty weak, and a think gimmick for what is basically a comic martial arts film that gives Vietnamese actor Ke Huy Quan his first starring role. The gimmick pretty much failed, and the film tanked after just a short time at the box office, bringing in a measly $15 million with a budget of over $18 million. Universal decided to give the movie a short turnaround, and it's now making its debut on UHD Blu-ray. If the film is going to pick up some extra cash, this is where it's going to happen, and arguably direct-to-video and streaming is likely where the film belonged all along.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2025
"What my associate is trying say is our new brake pads are really cool. You're not even gonna believe it. Like, let's say you're driving along the road with your family. You're drivin' along, la-de-da, woo. All of a sudden there's a truck tire in the middle of the road. And you hit the brakes. Eeee. Whoa, that was close. Ha-ha. Now let's see what happens when you're driving with the "other guy's" brake pads. You're drivin' along, the kids start shouting from the back seat, "I gotta go to the bathroom, Daddy!" "Not now, damn it!" Truck tire. I can't stop! There's a cliff. Aaahh! And your family's screaming, oh my God, we're burning alive!" "No! I can't feel my legs!" Here comes the meat wagon. And the medic gets out and says, "Oh my God." New guy's around the corner puking his guts out. All because you want to save a couple extra pennies."
There are a ton of parallels between the Chris Farley/David Spade comedy team and that of John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd. Both teams began in the Saturday Night Live arena. It was that physical big/little guy combination that has its roots with Laurel and Hardy, and Abbott and Costello. Both teams were at the height of their careers when a drug overdose would claim the wilder member of the team. Both of the deceased comedians left behind at least one successful brother to carry on the name in show business. Tommy Boy was by far the best of the films this duo made before Farley’s tragic overdose in 1997. It's now the 30th anniversary for the film, and Paramount has released a nice steelbook UHD Blu-ray (4K) version of the film to celebrate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 20th, 2025
"Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball, From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all, But I ain't seen nothin' like him, In any amusement hall, That deaf, dumb and blind kid, Sure plays a mean pinball."
I was first introduced to The Who through the original Tommy album. It was one of my mother's favorites when I was young, and she had actually written out by hand her interpretation of the story the rock opera appeared to tell. I can't remember those scribblings, and I'm not even sure if they're still tucked away in that Decca album I have around here somewhere. But the music always stayed with me. Now, I didn't ever become a huge fan of the band. I always liked them and collected a couple of their albums over the years. I did play a lot of pinball, however. I fell more in with the likes of Elton John. So you can imagine how excited I was in the summer of 1975 when my favorite musician was cast to play the Pinball Wizard in a movie from the music that had been stuck in my head for years. And while the soundtrack version has been the version I've often found stuck in my head, the original album was never far away either. Apparently that's also the case with Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey. They would reunite and perform the rock opera live celebrating the release's 50th anniversary. Now the film is also celebrating 50 years. I sure feel old. But watching Tommy again sure brought a childhood of memories flooding back in. Shout Factory delivered.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 4th, 2025
"We work 364 days a year because on that one day we deliver presents to several billion individual domiciles across 37 time zones without ever being detected by a single human being. We prep, we rehearse every moment, every stop down to the last chimney. So yeah, it's a lot of work."
At first glance, it would appear that the crew for Red One is made up of folks who have had long associations with Dwayne Johnson, from Director Jack Kasdan, who also directed two of the Jumanji films, to writer Chris Morgan, who wrote many of The Fast And Furious films including the Johnson-led spinoff Hobbs And Shaw. He also wrote the last Shazam film, which led to Johnson's spinoff black hole Black Adam. It's a working environment friendly to the actor. But the rumors from this set are loaded with tales of Johnson blowing off work and/or showing up late and unprepared. It's honestly not his usual vibe, and consider his divorce from Fast And The Furious's Vin Diesel revolved around Johnson throwing the same kind of shade on that actor's behavior. I was curious if the on-set issues and also word of a ballooning budget would show up on the finished product. I'm happy to report there doesn't appear to be any disrupted chemistry on the film, and it became easy to dismiss all of that with just a few minutes on the Red One ride. Every year a film or two vies for that potential future classic position that I don't honestly think has been achieved since the 1980's and A Christmas Story. I'd say the next most recent might be the Dickens romp The Man Who Invented Christmas. In any case, I won't be adjusting my traditional holiday viewing to accommodate Red One. That doesn't mean there isn't some fun to be had.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on December 18th, 2024
"So a psychopath walks into a bar and sees this famous clown sitting there all alone. Totally drunk;, it's pathetic. "I can't believe you're here," he says. "What a disappointment. I used to watch you on TV. What can I get you?" And this clown turns and says "Well, if you're buying you can get me anything." "Perfect," the psychopath says. "How about I get you what you f'in deserve?"
Folie a Deux. French for madness of two. From the moment that title was an announced, it was presumed that Harley Quinn would be making an appearance, and I applaud Lady Gaga’s selection as Joaquin Phoenix counterpart. However, I suspect that the reason for her selection was twofold given the decision to make the film a musical. Perhaps not an official musical, but in my humble opinion, I don’t think it could have been any more official. Unfortunately, this was among my issues with the film. It was too long, and there were too many songs. The film felt like it was movie promoting the soundtrack rather than vice versa. I’ve never been one for musicals, and this sequel did not move me off that mark, as the film essentially fell apart towards the end with a bittersweet ending. I think I preferred the ending to the first film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on December 17th, 2024
I saw this film as an opportunity to gauge whether a movie could hold my two-year-old son’s attention. This is something I am particularly interested in, because it would demonstrate that my baby boy is finally ready for a theatrical experience. Unfortunately, he is not quite there yet. He watched for a bit, but then he eventually wandered off. Ironically, I didn’t notice his absence at first, as I was too focused on the movie. Based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, The Wild Robot stars Lupita Nyong’o as Roz, a ROZZUM unit 7134 robot that becomes shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling. Joining Nyong’o is Pedro Pascal in his animated movie debut, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Ving Rhames, and Catherine O’Hara as the wildlife that Roz finds herself surrounded by. With How to Train Your Dragon’s Chris Sanders at the helm, The Wild Robot is a very entertaining tale that somehow, I ended up more interested in than my kids.
“The Wild Robot is a story that is not afraid to pull on your heartstrings.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2024
"Not everybody can become United States Marines. We want the best and we settled for nothing but the best, because there is nothing prouder, nothing finer, nothing standing as straight as a United States Marine. Now they got the Air Force, they got the Navy, they got the Army, they got the Coast Guard - and if you want to join them, go ahead. They got plenty of room. But if you want a challenge, if you want to try something difficult, try to achieve the impossible - try 13 weeks of hell at Parris Island, South Carolina, and find out if you got what it takes, find out if you really are a man, then the Marines might be what you are looking for. Tarawa ... Iwo Jima ... Belleau Wood ... the frozen Chosin Reservoir. First to fight, we have never lost a war. We have always come when our country has called."
Born On The Fourth Of July has been both a controversial film as well as one of Tom Cruise's first breakout roles. Over time the film has become appreciated more as feelings on the Vietnam War have pretty much come full circle in the American political mind. Now it can be viewed for the remarkable performance Tom Cruise delivers and the rather stark reality check Ron Kovic's autobiography provided in 1976 to a nation that might not have been ready to hear it. Times have changed, and I think they're well reflected in Oliver Stone's film Born On The Fourth Of July, which Shout Factory has now made available in 4K for the first time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2024
"The machines rose from the ashes of a nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind had raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here in our present ... tonight."
The idea for The Terminator came to James Cameron in a feverish dream as he was struggling and about to get fired from Piranha II: The Spawning. He was overworked and stressed and ended up in bed. He immediately wrote a treatment with then-wife Gale Ann Hurd, and they approached Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly to make sure they retained control over the property. Eventually he lost it anyway, and that's why so many franchise films that were out of his control.
