Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 4th, 2024
"I, Bass Reeves, do solemnly swear that I will execute all lawful precepts directed to the Marshall of The United States for the Western District of Arkansas without malice or partiality, perform the duties of Deputy Marshall and take only my lawful fees. So help me God."
He was the inspiration for the Lone Ranger. Bass Reeves is one of the biggest icons of the old west and perhaps one of the least remembered. He served for 35 years and managed to bring in over 4000 wanted men for their day in court and likely the noose. It's a huge story, and the filmmakers of Lawmen: Bass Reeves have taken on the enormous task with just 8 episodes of this limited series with no follow-up planned or on the books. Were they able to meet such a challenge? That's going to require some explanation. The series was based on the first two of a series of books written by Sidney Thompson, who serves as a consultant on the series.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 31st, 2024
"Seems like a nice day for a swim."
Walt Disney Studios has struggled of late. It's been a while since they've had much of a hit, and that includes their Marvel and Pixar components. In the years just before the pandemic the studio was outperforming anyone in the industry. One Disney executive once said that actually printing money would be less profitable than the billions the studio was raking in. But something changed around the pandemic, and it had little to do with a virus. The studio started to flex its muscles in the political arena, and those elements started to dominate the on-screen product. It doesn't really matter if one agrees with them or not. I think it's tricky when a part of the entertainment industry starts to get too involved with a particular social ideology. Just ask the Dixie Chicks. The who? That's my point. It's cost the studio a considerable sum and an over 50% plunge in their stock value over three years or so. Why would you alienate half of the prospective audience? Forget politics. It's just not good business. So this was the backdrop in which I attended our screening of Young Woman Of The Sea. If ever there was a film that looked to really pile on, that sure sounded like the title to me. To my surprise, the film appears to avoid all of that and ends up being the best Disney film I've seen in a few years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 29th, 2024
Francis Ford Coppola is one of those directors that you don’t have to love, but you have to at least appreciate his contribution to cinema. Personally my favorite film of his is Apocalypse Now, and then The Godfather II. I know other film geeks out there will argue with what his ‘best” film is, but I think it’s fair to say he’s one of the greatest film directors out there no matter how you may rank his films. When the chance to review One From The Heart came along I jumped at the opportunity, because, well, it’s a film I had never actually seen or even knew that Coppola had done. In watching the bonus features on the disc, I found it amusing that this was supposed to be a simple film for him to do after the insane task of directing Apocalypse Now. This was supposed to be a simple rom-com with a budget of $2 million, but things got out of hand. Coppola bought a studio for his American Zoetrope company and used all the studios stages to build sets for the film, and in the parking lot even had a real jet parked for one of the films sequences. In the end the film’s budget ballooned to over $25 million (that translates to about $88 million in today’s economy), and to make matters worse, the film was a big giant dud at the box office. But is the movie any good? A simple yes or no won’t suffice for this film, but one thing I’m sure of, it is something to marvel at, and you can certainly see where the money went on this production.
As I mentioned, Coppola decided to build all his sets for this film, and that feat alone deserves to be applauded, because he managed to make his version of the Las Vegas strip look like the real thing. He’s created his own dreamlike world and given it a style that is so unique I have to applaud this. The sets on this film are pure Hollywood magic, and they are so good with these practical FX I had to re-remind myself that you cannot believe what you are seeing on TV.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 29th, 2024
It was October 8, 1989 at the USF Sun Dome where I first saw The Beach Boys live with Chicago as their opening act. It was my first concert experience, and in my household The Beach Boys were pretty much royalty. Any time the band was on the radio the volume was cranked up and my mom and I would sing along, causing those in neighboring cars to quickly roll up their windows in an attempt to tune out our terrible voices. My parents collected the albums on vinyl, and later I’d get them on cassette and bop my head listening to the surf tunes fantasizing about the beach or staring out at the pool thinking about bikini-clad girls. The Beach Boys will forever have a nostalgic place in my heart. Even as my taste in music has evolved, I still will listen to their albums time to time. Their feel-good music is perfect for a summer afternoon; they’re timeless, and that’s why I’m not surprised that Disney has put out a new documentary about the band that got its start in the early 60s, and you can still see them touring still (at least with some of the surviving members). I was excited about this documentary, though I’ve learned to be a little cautious; after all, it is sometimes good to not know all the dirty little secrets about the artists and sports figures we idolized in our past. But then I remembered this is Disney, so I doubt we’ll be getting anything too scandalous here, and I was right.
There should be very little surprise that this documentary starts off with how the band first came together. We get the photos from when the members were all younger, and their influences, no surprise that they were fans of surf music legends like Dick Dale and The Ventures. What is a bit of surprise is hearing how little the members of the band actually surfed. They were more about the music and mastering their harmonies, which is what not only launched their careers but has become a part of their legacy. We get interviews with some of the surviving members as well as clips from archived interviews, and this is not just expected but welcomed in this type of documentary.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on May 28th, 2024
My favorite food has always been lasagna. All those special noodles, layers of cheese and ricotta, beef, sausage, sauce, and more cheese into an absolutely perfect dish. Furthermore, if you let the dish sit overnight in the refrigerator, it was somehow even better than the day before. Unfortunately, lack of true gluten-free options for lasagna noodles (Barilla makes one, but they are hard to find) and nobody to really make it for beside myself (my wife and son are lactose intolerant) have created a situation where I haven't had a true lasagna in years. But perhaps with today's film review of Garfield, I can find the inspiration to recreate my favorite dish. Let's take a look at the movie.
For a lot of cat owners, I'm sure their realized horror is their feline learning how to use a cell phone. Apparently Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) has this down pat, as he uses it to order Mamma Leoni's via drone delivery. Meanwhile, Odie (voiced by Gregg Berger) barks for a treat, which he quickly receives. In a few moments, a drone arrives with a pizza for Garfield. Several seconds later, the pizza is eaten as if Garfield was a paper shredder. That should tide him over until breakfast.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on May 24th, 2024
“Ladies and gentlemen! Start your engines.”
Back in 2015 when Mad Max: Fury Road was released, it was a film that I don’t think anyone expected audiences to respond to as they did. It was 30 years since audiences had last been to the Australian Wasteland when they previously saw Max, then played by Mel Gibson, play the title hero in a dystopian trilogy that has a very loyal fan base. Fury Road managed to exceed expectations as it delivered on having over-the-top chases through the desert wasteland, spectacular stunts, a great score, and then there was the character of Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, as a one-armed badass who managed to steal the film from Tom Hardy, who was now starring in the title role of Max. While I do love Fury Road, my major gripe was with the over-simplicity of the film. Basically it is nothing more than one large chase where our heroes spend 2/3 heading in one direction and then in the final portion decide to turn around and continue their chase. I have nothing against a great car chase; after all, I still think Vanishing Point is hands down the ultimate car film with the best chases put to celluloid, but considering George Miller had 30 years to brainstorm ideas and come up with a script, I would have hoped for a better story. Now we have Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, this time only nine years in the making. Expectations are pretty high, and with the summer box office looking pretty bleak, theater chains are in need of a hero, and it looks like Furiosa could fit the bill. Does the film succeed in being everything audiences could hope for and need, or is this just another dumpster-fire cash grab by the studios just churning out a sequel hoping it will stay in theaters longer than a few weeks before hitting VOD?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 23rd, 2024
"A Haunting is a lonely thing. No one else can see what you see. Even the people you love would call you crazy."
We all have our fears, and that's a good thing for the folks in the movie-making business. Fright sells, and we all like to be afraid ... at least a little bit. From rollercoasters to movies, fear is a business, and going by box office receipts and streaming numbers, business has been good. The nice thing about movies that deal with fears is that they make excellent independent film fodder, because it's something everyone relates to, and you can do it on a pretty modest budget. But the writing has to be good, and the performances must be compelling, particularly when you don't have the cash to dazzle them with computer-generated delight. You might not get that box office jackpot, but with streaming and home video, a good movie does indeed have an afterlife. Writers/directors Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton have just that with the Lightyear Entertainment release of their 2015 horror film We Go On. It's a barebones release that just might be worth a spin after all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 18th, 2024
"Consider what you are about to do."
I first read Frank Herbert's initial Dune book back in the mid 1970's. I was introduced to one of the most complicated and extraordinary universes of literature I have still ever encountered. It's a masterpiece followed by several more books over the years that have more completely brought this world to life. The material's cinematic journey has been somewhat less captivating and quite a disappointment. The 1984 David Lynch film was a train wreck and quite possibly one of the greatest film failures in history. Since then a lot has changed. Today computer-generated images have progressed to the point that with enough money and artistic expertise a filmmaker can depict anything the mind can conceive. Images have become photorealistic, and the worlds of Herbert's Dune universe can finally be brought to the silver screen with almost no limitations. But is that enough? In 2021 Denis Villeneuve gave us the first film in an expected trilogy. Would he be able to capture literature lightning in a bottle in the same way Peter Jackson brought to life the Middle Earth worlds of Tolkien? It was a bit of a strange time. The world was hit with a pandemic that brought our lives to a standstill, and people were finally looking to be coaxed back into the multiplexes ... and they came. Dune delivered an exciting new experience, but it wasn't quite up to par in my book. The film was far too involved in exposition. The characters talked a lot more than they did ... anything. So I was a bit unimpressed even in the face of the technological marvel that the film certainly was. Now it's Part Two, and the chances of the trilogy getting a conclusion depends heavily on what happens here. So what does happen here?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 17th, 2024
The story for The Jester got its start through a trio of short films that were put on YouTube. The shorts had found success, and fans were rewarded with a feature length film. Shudder grabbed the streaming rights for the film, and now here we are …When it comes to Shudder, I have no shame in admitting it is my favorite of all the streaming services. Not only does it have a solid selection of horror films, but it also has The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs, and that alone makes it worth the monthly fee. Now, as a horror service, it is no surprise that they buy a bunch of titles to release over the course of the year, and in the past they’ve put out greats like The Innocents, The Sadness, and Deadstream to name a few. But of course they are going to have some misses, and The Jester is one of those confident purchases that I feel ended up a big miss.
To put it in simple terms, The Jester is a bad knockoff of the Terrifier films. Sure, the horror genre is filled with knockoff films, and some are better than the previous film they ripped the plot from, but in the case of Terrifier, I feel that film is sort of like magic in a gore-filled bottle that just came along at the perfect time, and The Jester, despite having its heart in the right place, just doesn’t have what it takes to compete. Now, before I really get started, where The Jester does succeed, it captures the Halloween atmosphere beautifully from the set design to the color palette throughout, so even though it is summer, if you are craving a film that has all the autumn vibes you can ask for, for this alone, The Jester may be worth taking a gander at.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 14th, 2024
"The thing that haunts me are all the guys that I couldn't save."
I have to admit I was a little skeptical that Clint Eastwood followed up his directing stint on Jersey Boys as quickly as he did to shoot American Sniper. The former was far from one of his better efforts, and he looked increasingly out of his element by the time it was said and done. He jumped into his preparation for American Sniper almost immediately, and the results could have been ... underwhelming. Instead Eastwood hit his target with the kind of profound impact I don't think I've seen from him since Unforgiven. Unforgiven won a Best Picture award, and deservedly so. American Sniper was nominated, although Eastwood himself was snubbed in the director category. It didn't win, of course, but this is one that most certainly deserves your attention.
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