Author Archive
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2009
The names of the characters are hardly consequential, as they are used to further storylines more than develop character. But Pacino plays a cop who is tracking a group of robbers, among them Val Kilmer (Wonderland) and Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan), a group headed by DeNiro. The group receives offers for work from Jon Voight (Runaway Train), and they rob anything from gold, to coins, to bearer bonds. They are all ex-cons, and know all the ropes. They are a highly professional crew, which you see in the opening moments of the movie, despite the addition of a new man to the crew.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 3rd, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
If you were to take the movie Kill Bill, mix it with the Karate Kid, and then put it into animation form, the end result would be Chop Socky Chooks.
Featuring 13 of the most wackiest adventures and martial arts mayhem that one has ever seen, volume one of Chop Socky Chooks shows three chickens Chick P, KO Joe and Chuckie Chan “battling virtual villains, karaoke crazies, rogue robots, prehistoric predators and even fast-food fiends” all in hopes to save Wasabi World from the powers that be.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
Romance. Drama. Tragedy and more tragedy. These four words sum up the entire storyline of Jada in a nutshell.
Starring Sienna Goines as Jada, Jada is a faith-based story about a woman whose life turns up side down when her husband tragically dies in a car accident, leaving her and their two teenage kids out on the streets with nothing but the clothes on their back and their car that they now have to live out of.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
Imagination is better than knowledge – Albert Einstein
In a film where humans play minor characters, Aussie & Ted’s Great Adventure is about Aussie, a loveable dog, embarking on a journey to return his young owner’s stuffed animal back to her.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2009
Written by Alexis Quinn
If Nip/Tuck were in the dictionary, chances are you’d find the word “controversy” somewhere close by.
With its raunchy, over the top sex scenes and somewhat offensive plot lines securely intact, season 5 is split up into two separate parts which aired about one full year apart. Because of this, instead of selling the season as a complete DVD set, it’s currently only available as part one and part two, leaving you wondering why they didn’t just wait to release the entire season as a whole.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 13th, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
Before there was American Idol, before there was So, You Think You Can Dance and definitely before there was Dancing with the Stars, there was Fame.
Based on the 1980’s movie with the same title, Fame is a comedy/musical series about a group of gifted students and their faculty members, all of whose dream is to sing, dance, act, and play music.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 6th, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
Growing up, I wasn’t really a fan of the cartoon Transformers; I was actually more of a Muppet babies kind of girl, but the minute I hit play on my DVD player I was instantly transported back to a time when nothing else mattered to me except for what was on TV and what time dinner was going to be later that night.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 30th, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
Anyone who has tuned into MTV or VH1 in the last 10 years has probably seen at least one music video that is featured in this collection of videos by Brett Ratner, but they probably couldn’t place a name or face to the man that is behind the camera–that is, until now.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 30th, 2009
Written by Alexis Quinn
Despite the outrageous plotlines and mediocre acting, Ugly Betty is one of those shows you can’t help but watch—it’s so bad it’s almost good. And this season is no different. Even with a primetime budget and well-known cast, the show stays true to its telenovela roots as an adaptation of the Colombian telenovela Betty la fea, mimicking the production value of your everyday soap opera.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 23rd, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
See it with someone you ****
About a “$2,000-an hour Manhattan call girl who offers more than sex to her clients,” The Girlfriend Experience is the mainstream film debut of Adult Film Star Sasha Grey, who before this movie was known only for her other roles. Playing character Chelsea, Grey puts on what Esquire Magazine calls a “Totally Captivating” performance as a hired companion who spends most of her time throughout the movie juggling countless numbers of men and her steady boyfriend, who seems to have no problem at all that his girlfriend is a hired prostitute.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2009
Only two social classes existed in the tiny town of Chekian, China, circa 1858: the peasant citizenry, and those who lived in the Governor’s palace. Lawlessness was the order of the day; the streets of Chekian crawled with scum and villainy of every degree, from pickpockets to kidnappers to roving gangs of thugs and extortionists. The worst of all was none other than Governor Cheng himself, the greedy and corrupt ruler of the town (James Wong). The governor’s latest profitable but nefarious practice: to hoard the town food supply and gouge the poor and starving for every sliver of their meager livings.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2009
He’s one of the most compelling villains of modern fiction. Disturbing, disgusting and absolutely captivating at the same time, Hannibal Lecter can really get inside your head.You may not have read the novels by Thomas Harris, or even seen all of the films, but I’m willing to bet you’re familiar with The Silence of the Lambs. One of the greatest thrillers in film history, the film in which Sir Anthony Hopkins became Dr. Lecter is the cornerstone of this three-movie set.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2009
Written by Adrienne Ambush
Nightmare on Elm Street it is not, but Wallace & Gromit’s: A matter of Loaf and Death is anything but a movie you should let your kids watch without parental supervision.
What starts out rather light-hearted with a baker standing in his kitchen singing a cheerful ditty about baking a cake, suddenly turns darker when an intruder walks up behind him and murders the baker with a rolling pin, throwing the lifeless body into a heap of dough just as the title of the movie pops up on the screen.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 14th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
Some movies are simply made better by enjoying them with a six pack of beer and several of your closest, silliest friends. Unfortunately, when I watched “Come Hell or High Water” I was alone drinking a Coke…so the desired experience was diminished. Yet, to better relay the plot of the film, I shall use the lens of myself after about six shots of “Wild Turkey.” This shall lend itself better to the film’s narrative style.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 6th, 2009
Written by Ken Spivey
“Slumdog Millionaire” grabs you by the lapel and forces you to watch the triumphant resilience of three orphans who thrive amid unbelievable poverty and cruelty which still exists among the lower classes in rapidly industrializing India. “Slumdog Millionaire’s” opening sequences employs both English and Hindustani, with English subtitles. The use of subtitles helps to draw the viewer into his this alien world.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 28th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
What follows is a brief, yet accurate, recounting of the canine endowed cinematic masterpiece, “Marley & Me.” Jennifer and John Grogan (Jennifer Aniston & Owen Wilson) are a newly wedded couple who are enjoying their new life together. John is an up-and-coming journalist whose income allows the Grogans an increasingly comfortable lifestyle. John still hangs out with his old guy pals at the bar and holds on to some of the lighter points of bachelorhood while his married life remains rather carefree. This all changes when his wife’s biological clock starts ticking. Grogan’s best friend suggests that John get his wife a dog.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 12th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
In the film “Dark Reel,” we are treated to an adventure. In the days of Prohibition, a fledgling filmmaker gave a promising ingenue a chance at celluloid immortality. This shot at fame sadly cost the young actress her life. Years later, the curse of this murder would haunt the movie set and crew of the production of the “B” movie, “The Pirate Wench.” Meanwhile, chubby and terminally apathetic Adam Waltz (played by “Terminator 2’s” Edward Fulong) won a walk-on role in the campy pirate film. He quickly develops a passionate relationship with the female lead, Cassie Blue (Tiffany Shepis), much to the chagrin and dismay of the director and rival actors.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 10th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
Based upon Toby Young’s 2001 memoir and pseudo-confessional, “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” is the uproarious tale of journalist Sidney Young’s ascension from a hack to a successful hack. Young tracks the rich and famous, writes scathing stories about them, sleeps with many of them, all while reaping a whirlwind of trouble along the way. His career receives a major coup when he is offered a job at the prestigious “Sharps” magazine. Toting witty comments and salacious attempts to bed every beautiful actress he meets, the story of Sidney Young’s (Simon Pegg) rise to journalist nirvana is a laugh a minute and a sincere delight from inception to completion.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 10th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
“Picturing The Presidents” is a glimpse into the Presidential Portrait Gallery found in the Smithsonian. A painting of each leader of our nation holds many meanings. The various ways of seeing these portraits are determined by the painter, the one being painted, and the ever changing audience viewing the art. The documentary begins by discussing the portrait of Washington and how he defined how a President was to appear: noble, strong, yet not regal. They contrast this with Clinton’s portrait, which shows the less formal man with rumpled jacket and a tired, earthy stare.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 27th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
Filmmaker Godfrey Cheshire returned to his ancestral home, Midway Plantation, in 2003. When he arrived he found his cousin, Charlie Silver, about to move the southern mansion to make way for a shopping complex. “Moving Midway” is the story of Midway’s past, present journey, and future home.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
I am normally a fan of low budget films where the acting is sophomoric, the sets are made of cardboard, and the script could have been written by the C student in a high school creative writing class. These “so bad they’re good” movies include “Recon 2020,” “Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter,” and my former drummer’s favorite, “Piñata: Survival Island.” “Redemption” is not even worthy to be listed with the aforementioned films. To quote Enid from Terry Zwigoff’s “Ghost World,” this film “went past bad to good then back to bad again.”
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 21st, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
In a box, the men of importance placed a secret. They then created an underground city capable of complete autonomy, isolated from the outside world in hopes of shielding them from the trials of time. The box was given to the first mayor of “Ember City” and passed on to each successive mayor. After two hundred years the box was to open, revealing to the mayor’s descendant the way out of Ember City. Yet, somewhere along the way the box was lost. Meanwhile, the city has fallen into a major state of disrepair.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 14th, 2009
Posted by Ken Spivey
The Smithsonian Channel’s three part documentary, “NatureTech” explores the “striking parallels between nature and technology.” The episodes of “NatureTech” work with the assumption that scientists have ignored nature for the past century, and their narrow focus has limited their growth. Contemporary researchers who bear this in mind are making unexpected leaps in their respective fields.
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Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 22nd, 2008
Posted by Ken Spivey
“The History of Black New York” thematically explores various aspects of the black experience through the use of historian testimony and period specific media. The documentary begins with the early arrival of the Dutch on Manhattan Island and their fair treatment of black slaves. With the arrival of the English, morality and race became intertwined in New York, as with the rest of America, leading to the ensuing years of black oppression and segregation.
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News and Opinions by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2008
This morning Toshiba released the following statement:
TOKYO–Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.
Toshiba later mentioned that they have no current plans to transition to Blu-ray Player development. They will also be working with distributors to stockpile current HD-DVD blank media for purchase via their online store. As to future HD-DVD movie releases Toshiba stated, “it was not our business, we cannot predict their business.”
UPDATE:Universal President Craig Kornblau, today has stated, “While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray.” Paramount is also reportedly to be immediately dedicated to switching over their HD release schedule to Blu-ray ASAP.
