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.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 25th, 2025
"Space... the funniest frontier?"
Star Trek: The Animated Series first aired in September of 1973, four years after the three seasons of what is now referred to Star Trek: The Original Series. It was a straight sequel that continued the five-year mission of the starship Enterprise. All of the original cast lent their voices to the characters they played in the live-action series, with the notable exception of Walter Koenig. Chekov was replaced with an alien that had three arms and legs named Arex, who was voiced by James Doohan, as were many of the other guest characters throughout the two years the series ran.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on March 22nd, 2025
“Magic mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?”
“My queen, your beauty is beyond compare, but there is one -- her beauty grows -- from deep within ... Snow White. She is as pure as snow.”
Controversy up front, and this film has had it share of it, starting with the casting of titular character. The casting of Rachel Zegler, a Latina actress, as Snow White, drew criticism, as the character is described in the original material as having skin "as white as snow". This is actually not that uncommon for a Disney live-action. I would even dare to call it commonplace. And while I don’t agree with it personally and actually like the idea of these stories evolving and that they are “open to all ethnic groups", I’m just saying that I am not surprised at this criticism. We saw the same thing with the live-action Little Mermaid.
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
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 17th, 2025
"Nothing resolves conflict like a good smack in the chops."
Sylvester Stallone plays mob guy Dwight "The General" Manfredi. It's his first television role, and he couldn't have chosen better than to appear in a Taylor Sheridan show on Paramount+. Sheridan pretty much owns the streaming service, all of it except maybe the Star Trek shows. He knows how to create characters and to then put the right actor in that role. I've seen it happen a thousand times now, from Yellowstone to Mayor of Kingstown and a couple of Yellowstone spin-offs. The part appears made just for Sly, and he makes it worth everything he has, all the while making it look effortless. That's Sheridan's magic, of course. Create and cast well, and no one has to really work at all. Yeah, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but it sure looks that way, doesn't it? Dwight finally got out of prison last season.
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.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 19th, 2025
"I have seen things in this world that would make Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother's womb! We are not so enlightened as we are blinded by the gaseous light of science. I have wrestled with the Devil as Jacob wrestled the Angel in Penuel, and I tell you that if we are to tame darkness, we must first face that it exists!"
In 1922 during the final decade of the Silent Era director F.W. Murnau conspired with screenwriter Henrik Galeen to do a film based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The problem was that the work was copyrighted and a protected work. They decided to change the name of the vampire to Count Orlok and do the film anyway as Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror. The case ended up in court when the Stoker estate sued the filmmakers for copyright infringement. The court agreed and ordered all copies of the film to be destroyed.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on February 14th, 2025
"We share the same world, don't we? This world you would die to save. It's coming. I've seen it in the probability. Seen it plain as day. All you heroes protecting this world. Do you think you're the only ones? Do you think this the only world? We'll see what happens when you have to protect this place from the others."
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is truly at a crossroads. Since the last Avengers film the studio has released one disappointing film after another. The big tentpole stars and characters have been lost along the way, and that star power has seriously damaged the franchise since that time. Certainly there have been some bright spots. Spider-Man No Way Home was the lone exceptional outing, and the recent Deadpool & Wolverine film was just plain fun. With Robert Downy, Jr.'s Iron Man. Gone. Chris Evans Captain America. Gone. Scarlet Johanson's Black Widow. Gone.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on February 14th, 2025
I’ve never been much for Will Ferrell. His brand of comedy never really resonated with me. I always just found it too ridiculous and outlandish. I suppose You’re Cordially Invited will be the exception to that rule. While the film does play right into Ferrell’s wheelhouse with the over-the-top antics such as wrestling an alligator, it is actually the dynamic, should I say the rivalry, between Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon that is the highlight of the movie. The film is similar to Bride Wars and the Neighbors, which makes a measure of sense as the director of the latter film is actually the director of this film as well. Further aiding the film’s success is that, like Ferrell and Witherspoon, a majority of the cast all have established comedy backgrounds. Joining Ferrell and Witherspoon was Geraldine Viswanathan (Blockers) as Ferrell daughter and one of the brides-to-be, Meredith Hagner (Vacation Friends) as Witherspoon’s sister and the other bride-to-be, Stony Blyden (Hunter Street) as one of the grooms-to-be, and Jimmy Tatro (Home Economics) as the other groom-to-be.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on December 31st, 2024
"What F&#k is a shark doing on a plane?"
You remember Samuel Jackson back a few years was fighting off Snakes On A Plane, yeah? Well, now we've got sharks on a plane. So how in the heck did they do that? Well, it requires going back to the 1970's when Irwin Allen was the master of the disaster film, and he had a legion of followers. Writer Andy Mason and Director Claudio Fah found themselves a TARDIS and took their behinds to those golden days of movie mayhem. If you are willing to totally throw logic out the window and just hang with these guys for about 90 minutes, you'll have a bit of fun, and likely you'll forget it by the next day. I happened to catch the film yesterday, and ... let me see ... Someone was doing something, and there were sharks on an aircraft of some kind. Let me go and watch it again. Hold on ...
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