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Each year in early November, the market is flooded with new Christmas videos for the kids to lap up. This year was no different with releases from Sponge Bob Squarepants, the Rugrats, Blue’s Clues and the list goes on. Not to be outdone Hit Entertainment had responded with a release from one of their most popular franchises – Bob the Builder.

In this special Bob and his crew prepare for the season by helping to put on a rock show by Lennie and the Lazers. In addition Bob awaits a visit from his twin brothe…

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In this third offering by the combination of Jean Claude Van Damme and director Ringo Lam, Jean Claude plays the role of Kyle Leblanc, a man who is sent to one of eastern Europe’s most brutal prisons for the murder of his wife’s killer. There he is exposed to corruption within the prison system and a warden who attempts to provide entertainment for profit by pitting one inmate against another in no holds barred fights.

While on the surface this appears to be pretty typical fare for a Van Damme film this su…

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I’ll begin by stating that I was a huge NHL fan until the Winnipeg Jets left our dear city in 1995. I followed hockey half-heartedly for the next three years until the NHL’s greed destroyed the game with expansion team after expansion team (expansion fee was $100 million to enter the NHL) watered down the game so much that it became difficult to watch. In addition the NHLPA didn’t help by driving salaries through the roof. I recently saw the top ten salaries printed in the paper and was disgusted to see some of the n…

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Jack the Dog tells the story of Jack, a promiscuous, narcissistic, self centered man whose humanity is brought out through a relationship with a son whom he hardly knows.

The opening of the movie depicts Jack as a womanizing photographer whose conquests satisfy his more primitive needs but leave him emotionally hungry. He decides to give up that life and try to pursue happiness. He gets married and has a son but after a few years he falls back into old patterns and continues with his womanizing ways. His …

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“…but what I really want to do is direct.” This is a quote from Jeff Probst – otherwise known as the face of everyone’s favorite reality TV show Survivor. “Yikes,” I thought to myself after reading that quote. I mean how talented can the former host of Rock and Roll Jeopardy be? The answer is quite surprising.

Erik Palladino stars as Tepper, who’s on his way back to his apartment with two thoughts – a marriage proposal to his girlfriend and to prepare himself for a weekly poker game with some friends. …

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Synopsis

Archie the rabbit and Duke the guinea pig open this movie with a discussion about how Duke is very content about his life in the shed munching on food and enjoying his otherwise mundane existence but Archie is searching for something more. On Christmas Eve when a present falls off Santa’s sleigh and lands in the middle of their shed, it seems like Archie’s wish has been answered. They along with their hamster friend Babs engage on a great adventure to deliver the gift to the intended little…

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I guess they didn’t tell the producer and director of Wrong Turn that an official remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be gracing the screens in October of 2003. This movie borrows very heavily from the horror classic in terms of the set up, the killers and the level of gore. Now that being said, this is an above average horror film with excellent make up and special effects delivered by one of Hollywood’s greatest – Stan Winston, and a good performance by Buffy and Angel regular Eliza Dushku (although it is k…

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Losing Isaiah tells the story of a struggle between biological and adoptive parents in the care of young boy who is born to a cocaine addicted mother. Halle Berry gives an impressive performance as Khalia, a mother who makes the tragic error of leaving her infant son in a cardboard box while in an intoxicated state. The next morning after she sobers up, she recalls her actions of the night previous and frantically searches for her son. To her horror she can not find him. She then struggles with the conclusion that s…

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This latest incarnation of the wildly popular early 90’s kid series shows that not much has changed, at least from the writing perspective, in the last 10 years. I actually watched some of the early episodes from the original series because of the novelty of the show. There wasn’t anything like that around at the time on television. However, it became old quite fast and it amazes me that this show, although in a different incarnation, still exists. This series follows the adventures of 3 Rangers instead of the usua…

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This is a sequel to the little known Brave Little Toaster released by Disney in 1987. The first movie was very well written with memorable characters who appealed to kids and their parents alike. It is surprising that it did not get as much attention as it deserves and now languishes on the $0.99 rental shelf. I always worry when Disney releases sequels that are “Direct to video” because that usually means, “It’s so bad that it would cost us millions if it were released in theaters.” “Direct to video” is now u…

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The second and last sequel to the Brave Little Toaster reunites the crew of Toaster, Blanky, Lampy, Radio and Kirby as they engage in an adventure with their owner Rob, who is a college student. In this movie our appliance team befriends animals at a veterinary clinic. However, they soon discover that Rob’s up-to-no-good assistant, Mack, has his own plans for the animals – to sell them to a lab for experimentation purposes! The appliances once again embark on a rescue mission (what’s with these guys? The last …

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What do you get when you cross “Stand By Me” and “Aliens?” Not a likely combination, but in this case Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher really delivers. While I am a Stephen King fan, I have not yet read this novel but after watching this movie I am very tempted. Unfortunately, a lot of Stephen King thrillers that have been translated to film have not always worked (case in point “It”, “Salem’s Lot”, and “Tommyknockers”) whereas his non-horror stories turned major motion picture have generally been quite amazing – “Stand B…

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In 1998 NBC tried to cash in on the teen slasher flick craze that was “I know what you did last summer “ and “Scream.” So how do you do it? Well, make a movie out of some of the other stories written by the author of “I know what you did last summer” and throw in some TV sitcom stars from the “Where are they now file?” of 80’s TV sitcoms. This particular offering gives us Punk Brewster herself, Soleil Moon Fry, and Christine from Night Court, the always-perky Markie Post.

This movie opens with the burning …

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Film

This 1985 film was described as one of legendary director John Huston’s best works. Prizzi’s Honor is powered by an all star cast which includes Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner and Anjelica Houston. The movie had 8 nominations at the 1985 Academy awards including best actor for Nicholson, best director, best picture and won for best supporting actress for Anjelica Houston.

So was this an outstanding movie or was 1985 a really slow year for motion pictures? Well using a 2003 compariso…

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Mix one bright young woman loaded with potential, the high school jock who believes that his election into the high school council and winning the state championship are the most important thing in life, and a strict and at times demeaning teacher and you have Killing Mr. Griffin.

The film opens with introducing Susan (Johnson) a bright young woman who strives not only for good grades but also acceptance. When she is humiliated by the harsh Drama teacher Mr. Griffin (Jay Thomas) she collaborates in a prank…

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Rolie Polie Olie, The Book of Pooh and Out of the Box are programs that are aired on the Disney Channel. For those of you who have never seen these shows, Rolie Polie Olie is a computer animated show that follows the adventures of a family of robots with Rolie Polie Olie as the son. The House of Pooh uses puppets of Pooh and all of his friends superimposed on a computer animated background. Out of the Box is a live action activity based show for preschoolers. This DVD is a collection of their Halloween episodes. The…

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Probably very few of you ever heard of “The Debut.” I know I never heard of it until asked to review it. But surprisingly this is considered a landmark film for many reasons, one of which is that in certain film festivals in 2000 it was chosen over “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” as best of the year!

The Debut is a film that explores the experience of children of immigrants, in this case Filipino, as they try to establish their identity amidst the pressures of their families to uphold native traditions ver…

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Mirrorball, like the audio CD of the same name, is grafted from Sara McLachlan’s 1998 performances and tour. The music is drawn in almost equal parts from her multiplatinum “Surfacing”, as well as her best studio album to date, “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy”.

McLachlan is widely considered as one of the latest in a long line of women’s musical pioneers. While she has only been recently “discovered” by the mainstream because of her creation of and involvement with the Lilith Fair, she has been able to m…

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Ben Stiller is one of the most gifted comedic actors of my generation (I’m 31). From Fox’s early attempts at airing the short-lived “The Ben Stiller Show” to There’s Something About Mary to his underrated performance as Mr. Furious in Mystery Men, Stiller demonstrates his always impeccable comedic timing. Through the years and his many films, he has also shown us that he’s not afraid of being the butt of all the jokes. His most recent fare, Meet the Parents, shares a lot of the same Stiller ang…

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David is 11 years old. He weighs 60 pounds. He is 4 feet, 6 inches tall. He has brown hair. His love is real. But he is not.

As A.I. gets underway, there’s a very odd title that appears early on in the film – it says “An Amblin / Stanley Kubrick Production”. Amblin / Stanley Kubrick? You’ve got to be joking. Is this the same Amblin that brought audiences Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Back to the Future, The Color Purple, Schindler’s List, and

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The relationship between John Carpenter and Kurt Russell goes way back to 1979 when Russell became a household name after starring in the TV movie Elvis, which was directed by Carpenter. Carpenter then formed a long-lasting and successful relationship with Russell as they went on to collaborate on films such as Escape From New York, The Thing, Escape From LA, and the film I am here to review, Big Trouble in Little China. Here Carpenter creates a very campy tale in the vein of “Sna…

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This is one of those rare occasions where I knew absolutely nothing about a film going in to it. I admittedly haven’t read the classic novel by Stanislaw Lem, nor have I seen the original big screen treatment of the film in 1972’s Solaris by Andrei Tarkovsky. I went into 2002’s Solaris completely blind and having only heard the comparisons between the original and Soderbergh’s vision, I have to say, I don’t know what all the critical fuss was about, as in my opinion, Steven Soderbergh has created anot…

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When justice is blind, it knows no fear.

Daredevil just never seemed to generate the buzz that films like Spider-Man or even X2 managed to do. With heartthrobs Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell in the starring roles, filmmakers may have simply assumed that moviegoers would simply flock to theaters to see these two guys duke it out. The addition of the very popular and always beautiful Jennifer Garner to the cast seemed to solidify – at least in the filmmakers minds – an undeniable …

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The premise of this movie always intrigued me – a man answers a pay phone on a New York city street and the voice on the other end tells him that he’s in the sights of his high powered rifle and if he tries to leave the booth, he’ll be killed. The gunman kills an innocent bystander near the booth to prove that he’s not kidding and the vast majority of the film will take place inside the small confines of this nondescript phone booth and the surrounding city block.

The film quickly introduces us to …