Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2026
On and on goes the debate. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? I have always come down on the no side. It appears like such an odd thing, but there have literally been books about the subject, and Bruce Willis himself has gone from no to yes over the years. If that kind of debate is of interest to you, then you should enjoy playing the same game with Cold Steel. It's a bloody action movie that also takes place at that jolly time of the year. Of course, not so jolly for the characters in the film. The original story for Cold Steel was developed and written by Dorothy Ann Puzo. You might not recognize her, but I'm sure you are familiar with the last name. Her father is the celebrated author and screenwriter for The Godfather movies. And if the Godfather movies have taught me anything (I mean, beyond not letting anyone outside the family know what you're thinking), it's that daughters don't necessarily inherit the abilities of the father.The casting of Sofia Coppola by her father in that franchise's third film made that very point. But Dorothy Ann Puzo isn't quite the dramatic drop in talent that Coppola was, and the film certainly has its moments. Coppola also directs, and this is her first and last feature film as either writer or director, so I think we can safely say this film didn't set any box office records, and this is actually the first time I've seen it.
Brad Davis plays Johnny Modine. He's a cop who plays it a little loose with the rules, and we discover that right out of the gate when he's flying in his police cruiser with sirens and lights and even jumping over a moving train. Just what kind of bad guys was he chasing? He wasn't. He was trying to set a record delivering quality booze to the police Christmas Eve party at their favorite watering hole. So we know exactly the kind of cop Johnny happens to be. Jay Acovone plays his suffering partner Cookie. After all of the cheers for his death-defying stunt to deliver the goods, he begs off early to go to his parents' house for a Christmas Eve meal. What he doesn't know yet, but we know, is that his father Sam (Lanteau) was shot and killed at his store by a ruthless killer with an English accent and "charm" who calls himself Mick, played by music's Adam Ant. Mick is part of a gang of bad guys that is led by a guy they call Iceman, played by Jonathan Banks. This wasn't his first shot at an iconic bad guy. He went up against Eddie Murphy three years earlier in Beverly Hills Cop, and that same year he would be a regular on the television series Wiseguy by Stephen J. Cannell, best known for The Rockford Files. When Johnny finds out about his father he goes a little crazy, and so much so that he gets suspended. We've heard that tune enough times before to know that isn't going to stop him from tracking down the gang.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on June 12th, 2026
“If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?”
This movie marks the 30th collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams. Their first was The Sugarland Express, over 50 years prior. This is even more noteworthy, given that when Spielberg initially approached Williams about making the score, Williams first suggested four other composers take the job, since Williams had retired from film scoring. Spielberg insisted Williams score the film himself, and Williams finally agreed. This film also marks a personal achievement for Steven Spielberg, directing at least one sci-fi movie in each decade of his career: Firelight (1964), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002), War of the Worlds (2005) and Ready Player One (2018). With all those accolades, Disclosure Day had a lot to live up to. And while I won’t go as far as to say that the movie fell short of this expectation, I kind of expected more. It was entertaining, and the cast performances, specifically Emily Blunt’s and Colman Domingo's, were top tier, but I still found myself feeling left wanting.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2026
"It's funny how much training I've had in taking a life. Years with the 3rd Calvary, the Regiment, Special Ops. A lifetime of experience. I can tell you to the exact second how long it will take you to bleed out if I make an inch-long incision in your carotid artery. Tactics. Weapons. Munitions. Covert ops. Black ops. Battlefield triage. The logistics of death. I've studied it all in great depth and detail. I've been taught all there is to know about taking a life."
If any of this sounds like something you've heard before, you're not too far off. It calls back to Liam Neeson talking to the guys who are in the process of kidnapping his daughter. He's telling him all about that "specific" set of skills he happens to have to make their brief remaining lives pretty brutal. That's what we get from Milla Jovovich. She's a highly trained killer, and now some bad guys have kidnapped her daughter. She gets there almost in time to stop it, but just not quick enough, and you don't have to read this or any film synopsis. You don't need to read any spoilers to know you're about to go through 90 minutes of this one-woman army trying to save her daughter and leaving a lot of gory destruction in her wake. That's what we get from director Adrian Grunburg's Protector. But haven't we seen all of this before?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 10th, 2026
“Hello, Sidney. Did you miss me? Nice little town you found, you and your pretty daughter. Reminds me of where we grew up.”
Honestly, after the last film, in which the creators broke the tradition that the three O.G. characters (Sidney, Gale, and Dewey) always made it to the final credits, I thought was going to be the end for the franchise after all. Because if there was one thing I knew, which had held true for five films, was that those three were not to be touched. So when the powers that be made the decision to kill off David Arquette’s character (I know I shouldn't be revealing spoilers; however, if you haven’t seen the previous film, you shouldn't be reading a review for its sequel, so sorry not sorry), I was of the opinion that there was nowhere else for the story to go. Let’s revisit the previous killers from the previous films: Sidney’s boyfriend Billy and his sidekick Stu, Billy’s mom teamed up with a movie obsessed psychopath, Sidney’s secret half-brother, and Sidney’s cousin. For the sake of keeping this centered on the Neve Campbell’s contribution to the franchise, we won’t list the killers from the Carpenter-sisters-led films. Long story short, the killers tended to share some connection to Sidney. So where do we go from here? What’s left to do? I would have guessed nowhere. And apparently, I was wrong. However, I’m not too sure I liked where we ended up.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on June 6th, 2026
"We're not rock stars. We're human jukeboxes."
A little bit of quick background. I'm a recording artist with eight albums under my belt, so I likely approached this film a little differently than most folks. I wasn't really all that enthused about seeing the film. You see, I tend to hate when songwriters write songs about writing songs. I think it's pretentious. So what have I done? Written at least a handful of songs about writing songs, so I don't do a lot of practicing what I preach. That's the mindset I had going into the screening. It turned out maybe I do like songs about songwriting and just haven't had the guts to admit it. There aren't any maybes about one thing. I can tell you for certain that Power Ballad turned out to be one of the best films I've seen in the first half of 2026. Who knew? I think that director/writer John Carney knew. It's possible that Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas did. Now I know, and in a minute, so will you.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 29th, 2026
Let's just get this out of the way from the jump. I very much doubt that any film or filmmaker is going to ever come close to giving us the D-Day invasion of France in any better detail or realism than Stephen Spielberg did with Saving Private Ryan. There have already been countless documentaries. There have been enough films on the subject to make just about anyone a "Hollywood" expert on what is likely the greatest military campaign in the history of warfare. The only way you're going to get anyone's attention or leave any kind of mark on the cinematic history of D-Day is to find an angle that no one else has found. Good luck with that... or maybe there is an aspect that hasn't yet been mined. I didn't think so before I saw director Anthony Maras's latest film Pressure. The approach is so simple it's almost crazy that it hasn't been covered before. What is it everyone always complains about but no one ever does anything about? The weather. Perhaps nothing determines the outcome of a battle more. Just ask George Washington or Napoleon Bonaparte or maybe ask Dwight D. Eisenhower. Because when he was asked what the turning point of the D-Day invasion was he answered that we just had better weathermen than the German's did. That's what Pressure is all about.
We are 72 hours from D-Day which currently is scheduled for Monday June 5th, 1944. If that date sounds just a little off to you be patient. Andrew Scott plays Lt. James Stagg. He's a British expert on meteorology. His wife is pregnant with their first child but he has been called away on a very secret meeting with Dwight Eisenhower who is The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. What he's about to discover is that the Allies are just three days from embarking on the greatest expeditionary force in history... The invasion of Nazi-occupied France. Brendan Fraser plays Eisenhower. He has relied on his own meteorologist Irving Krick (Messina) throughout the war. Captain Krick's forecasts have been reliable and have led him to many victories particularly in North Africa. But the British claim Stagg is the best there is and so Eisenhower puts him in charge of the team that have the responsibility of delivering a go/no go forecast for the offensive. The two instantly butt heads when Krick gives a clear skies go forecast while Stagg believes there is a strong front moving through the area that will bring the mother of all storms. As the film advances each of these men are engaged in a conflict that complicates the invasion and causing a bit of hostility within the ranks.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 26th, 2026
“So, you wanna give that thing to a good person so they can save the world. I understand. But in order to save that good person, you’re gonna have to give it to a really bad person. In all my years, I've only ever seen one man come out on top in Vegas. We go to do it like he did. He rigged the game.”
I know what you might be thinking. It was going through my mind as well. It sounds a little bit like "Save the cheerleader. Save the world." Admit it, that's exactly where you were going with this thing. Even at its best ... or worst, Heroes was never as intense or dark as the video game television series adaptation of Fallout on Prime. With all respect to Zachary Quinto and his portrayal of Syler, Syler would be running home cryin' to mama if he ever came across Walton Goggins as The Ghoul in Fallout. Don't believe me? Now's your chance to find out, because Alliance and Prime have teamed up to bring the second season of Fallout to home video. And they aren't messing around here. It's the ultimate television series release, because you can grab it on UHD Blu-ray in the full glory of 4K and Dolby Vision. One caveat before we move on. If you haven't seen or bought the first season yet, you're going to have to run, don't walk, to wherever you get your home theater goodies and pick up Season 1 first. You'll be lost without it. That's the danger I was facing. I fixed that right quick.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 19th, 2026
Lucille Ball was originally a radio personality starring in a popular comedy, My Favorite Husband. It was here that she began to develop the character she would continue to play for decades in television through several shows, all bearing her name in one form or another: I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, and Life With Lucy. See the pattern? Anyone who was a fan of the radio show would instantly recognize the red-haired actress even though they had never actually seen her on the radio. That exaggerated cry was already a staple of her physical comedy, even when she couldn't be seen. She had also toured for many years with her real-life husband Desi Arnaz. When they could not convince a network to film a pilot of a show featuring both of them, they made it on their own dime. CBS was so impressed with the pilot that they reimbursed the couple, and in 1951 I Love Lucy hit the airwaves.
Lucy played the character she had already perfected on radio and on the stage. Desi played her husband, a Cuban bandleader who headlined at the Tropicana. Lucy was always trying to find a way to get into Ricky's act. She had no talent, but that never stopped her, usually embarrassing Ricky along the way. The couple lived in an apartment owned by the Mertzes, Fred (Frawley) and Ethel (Vance). They were not only the Ricardos’ landlords but also their closest friends. Ethel would often find herself talked into one of Lucy's crazy schemes. The show also found comedy fodder in Ricky's thick Cuban accent. Sometimes his mispronunciations caused hilarious misunderstandings. William Frawley as Fred had the job of playing straight man most of the time. It was a thankless job, to be sure, but he was perfect at it. He didn't talk as much as the others, but he had some golden moments over the show's very successful six-year run. It was a shame that Frawley and Vance absolutely hated each other. Both were slated to return to Lucy's second series The Lucy Show, but Vance refused to work with Frawley again, and he was written out of the second show, as Vance and Ball were very close in real life as well. During that time the series never once fell below number three for the entire year in ratings.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 12th, 2026
"Jack Shindo has made it back alive from Mars. but his reappearance will raise more questions than it answers. He has a secret that cannot be shared. He can tell no one that he is Ultraman, a savior from the stars."
Ultraman is a huge part of Japanese culture and pretty much has been since the original live-action show in 1966. Perhaps Godzilla started the ball rolling, but Ultraman brought us these monsters on a regular basis. In Japan, Ultraman is like our Superman. He’s an iconic hero and a huge part of the pop culture. Since the 60’s he has appeared in many forms, most of them animated. But it is this 1966 series that made a ton of us kids fall in love with him and an entire genre. Yes, there were many from the era: Space Giants featured a giant fighting robot who fought monsters and sometimes converted into a spaceship (yes, before transformers were ever thought of); Johnny Socko had his giant robot; and the list goes on. But it was Ultraman who started it. Eiji Tsuburaya, who created the original Godzilla, formed a new company outside of Toho Pictures. Ultraman was pretty much the first thing out of the new shop.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on May 9th, 2026
“I'm warning you. I got a Saturn Award for Best Fight in a Feature Film, so don't mess with me.”
So, it goes without saying the success or failure of this movie rested solely on Karl Urban’s portrayal of Johnny Cage. Johnny Cage is among the most popular characters in the video game franchise. Not to mention, he was my favorite character back in my Sega days. For me, while I still enjoyed the first film, his absence was felt. I was thrilled when I heard that he was going to be featured in the second film. I will admit when I heard that Urban would be playing the role, I was mildly skeptical. While I know Urban to be a fantastic actor and hilarious, the physicality of the role, I initially thought would be too much for him. Luckily, it proved me wrong. It’s been five years since the reboot, and yet for the most part, the sequel feels like no time has passed at all. Especially given that everyone member of the cast from the reboot returned for the sequel, including a few that I wasn’t expecting. This of course includes some new additions as well as a bit of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina reunion.
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