Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 17th, 2022
Every era has their Hollywood good guys and their Hollywood bad guys. Back in the early days, we had Nazis to pit against our heroes. When they didn't quite fit the bill, we had the Japanese. For much of the Cold War, we had great Russian villains to test the mettle of our heroes. Terrorists fit the bill a lot today, but perhaps the only group hated by large segments of American audiences more are the 1%ers. Anyone who makes an obscene amount of money must have cheated to get there. It doesn't hurt that financial power companies have been immersed in the last couple of economic disasters. Michael Douglas taught us that greed is good, and while every single one of us wants to be at the top, it's not quite the politically correct thing to express ... at least out loud. Billions gives us the kind of power broker who is just too much fun to hate.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 16th, 2022
“But I like to have sex with dragons.”
Have you ever had the desire to see a midwestern take on ninjas? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you have not, but the if you happen to be that one person out there with an itch for bad cinema, I’m talking the kind of film that makes Troma look like high art cinema, then Ninja Badass may be the movie to quench your need. After 30 minutes of watching this film, I had to stop it and take a break. When Ed Wood set off to make his films, he didn’t intend to make a bad movie; it just happened. He was a filmmaker just trying to do the best he could without any real talent supporting him. Ninja Badass seems to go above and beyond to create one of the worst films in history
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 14th, 2022
"For nearly three thousand years, man has been searching for the lost ark. It's not something to be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets. It's like nothing you've ever gone after before."
Just in time for the wrap of principal photography on the next and final Indiana Jones film, Paramount cashes in on the renewed interest with the long-awaited, at least from this reviewer, release of the first four films in the Indiana Jones franchise on UHD Blu-ray in full ultra-high-definition complete with HDR and Dolby Vision. OK, I lied about the long-awaited four films. Now you can own the first on its own in this special Steelbook release of Raiders Of The Lost Ark on UHD/4K. No, I'm not going to call it Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and yes, Han shot first and those feds in ET were not carrying walkie talkies in those hands. So sue me.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 14th, 2022
“Congratulations, you’ve just been erased.”
In 1996, when Eraser came out, it was pretty much what everyone expected from an Arnold Schwarzenegger film: lots of action and cheesy one-liners. It was far from Arnold’s finest work, but it was fun, and the big guns used in the film were pretty cool, too. Eraser is a film you can look back fondly on if you grew up in the 90s, because it was silly fun and nicely directed by the legendary Chuck Russell, who had a pretty good streak of films going when he did Eraser. Before he’d had success with the breakout Jim Carrey film The Mask, and before that he had the remake of The Blob and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors. I bring this up because the reason Eraser worked when it did was because it had the biggest action star on the planet in its lead role and a talented director working behind the camera, and to top it off a $100 million dollar budget to play with.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2022
"Bigger. Why do they always have to go bigger?"
You don't really need me to answer that one, do you? What started with Jurassic Park in 1993 and even earlier with the blockbuster book by the late, great Michael Crichton has actually been 65 million years in the making. When an idea has been percolating for that long, you have to go bigger, or the audience will go home. Expectations take a bite out of your options, and by a sixth film you really have to come up with a game-stopper, so what do you do? You reinvent the franchise after two sequels failed to capture the magic and awe that was Jurassic Park. You let the idea sit for a decade or so, and then you bring it back with enough of the new and enough of the old to bring folks back into the theaters. And that's just how they did it with the Jurassic World trilogy. The first two films gave us a new cast of characters with the likes of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2022
We mostly deal with movies and television shows here at Upcomingdiscs. As the name implies discs are what we're all about. But once in a while we find something we just have to tell you about. Many times we take a look at books written by or about the film industry folks. It's rare when I came upon a novel that I just have to tell you about. It's Alive is deserving of that rare post. Written by Julian David Stone the novel takes us back to the Hollywood of the 1930's. It's the very first days of the "talkies" when actors first spoke on film. It was the height of the "studio system" where stars were at the beck and call of the studios who paid their salaries. It was also the rise of Carl Laemmle, Jr. or Junior to those who knew him. His father, Carl Sr founded Universal Studios and now it was Junior's turn to shine. It's just days before the production start on Frankenstein and Junior still can't convince his father that these horror films are going to launch Universal into the future. Worse. He still hadn't decided who would play the pivotal role of The Monster. Bela Lugosi was intended for the role following his hit in Dracula but he was playing hard to get. There was this other guy discovered by the film's director, James Whale. He was an unknown small-bit actor by the name of Boris Karloff. We all know how it turned out. Now go deep inside and see how it almost didn't happen. I read the book and I loved it. I also got the chance to spend some of my Memorial Day Monday talking with the book's author. Now you get to eavesdrop on that conversation and let us take you back to 1931. Bang it here to listen to my interview with Julian David Stone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2022
"There are among us a people, gifted with a perfect memory of all their past lives. They call themselves Infinites. Among the Infinites, two groups have vied for power. On one side the Believers, dedicated to using their knowledge for the protection and growth of all humanity. Against them stood the Nihilists, who see this power as a curse. New technologies have given the Nihilists an opportunity to end all life on Earth, and the race is on for its control."
Infinite is an adapted story from D. Eric Maikranz's novel The Reincarnation Papers. On the surface this is one of those great concepts that could support a film franchise, and might have accomplished just that if the film itself hadn't taken the route of spectacle over substance. It doesn't help that this film was hurt by the COVID shutdown of productions and never ended up with the wide release it was originally intended to have.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2022
"Let me speak to you directly and from the heart."
My first exposure to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance wasn't the film at all. It was the song (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was a 1962 hit song by Gene Pitney and was written to be included in the film. I wouldn't really be taken with the song until James Taylor would cover it and have his own hit with the song in 1985 with his album That's Why I'm Here. By then I'd seen the film but only on late-night television broadcasts which offered bad transfers and plenty of commercials that caused the film to be chopped by over 26 minutes. The funny thing about the song is that while it was written to be included in the film, it actually never appears. Director John Ford thought it sounded too modern and suggested it would only weaken the film and insisted it not be used
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 2nd, 2022
When I heard Fox had cancelled Lucifer after Season 3 and Netflix had picked up the show, I have to admit I got excited about the possibilities. I had hoped that the transition from network TV to the streaming service would mean the show could get away with more, because the show wouldn’t be bound to network rating guidelines. As it turns out, the show still has its TV-14 rating, but on the bright side the episodes are longer now, which in my opinion is a good thing. When Netflix picked up the show, they had announced that Season 5 would be the last season of the show. While the show does take some major storyline leaps as ways to wrap things up, thankfully things don’t come to an end just yet, as a Season 6 was produced and is currently airing on the streaming service.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on May 27th, 2022
It has been about 36 years since the release of the first Top Gun. This is one of my earliest memories as a kid, seeing the movie on the big screen with my parents at the old Main Street 6 Cinemas. I was a bit obsessed with this movie growing up. I had a copy of the film that I had recorded off of Showtime, and over the years I’d imagine I’ve seen Top Gun at least 100 times. I was obsessed with the movie and its soundtrack. Kenny Loggins and “Danger Zone” lived rent-free in my head throughout my childhood. I know I’m not alone on this when saying just how much Top Gun is a movie I just love. It’s not perfect, but I just can’t find anything I dislike about it. Even in my forties, I look at this film as comfort food. It doesn’t matter the time or day, if it’s on, I can’t help but sit down and watch it. I’m putting this out there because, yeah, when I heard the talk of them first doing a sequel
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