Archive for the ‘French Mono’ Category
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 30th, 2007
Ron Howard’s move from sitcom star to director began with playing the lead in this Roger Corman-produced car chase flick, after which he would move to behind the camera to direct Grand Theft Auto. Here he plays the son of the local sheriff. In an effort to impress the girl of his dreams (Christopher Norris, and yes, that’s a woman’s name), he steals a stock car, and he and his friends then lead the authorities on a merry chase. As is typical of Corman productions, this works hard at delivering, on a stringent budget, exactly what its audience wants.
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Disc Reviews by Ryan Keefer on September 14th, 2006
Synopsis
While Some Kind of Wonderful may not feature the same kind of young spirit that Pretty in Pink may have had or the kind of older type of intelligence that Say Anything might have had, it’s still a cute, charming little romantic comedy with some recognizable faces penned by ‘80s icon John Hughes, responsible for such teen films as The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, to name a paltry few.
Keith (Eric Stoltz, Mask) is a bit of an underachiever, who…
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Disc Reviews by Ryan Keefer on June 7th, 2006
The Culpepper Cattle Company was a surprise for me, and one that I looked forward to immensely. I love a good western, and I’m particularly fond of anything post-Leone. A western doesn’t have to be spaghetti, however, for me to like it. I just feel that, for all Sergio’s overblown proportions, he did instill an accurate degree of nastiness in his films, which I’m sure was prevalent in that time of American history. Once Sergio came, westerns grew up, even if they were playing closer to the American style of fi…
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Disc Reviews by Mark Dancer on February 19th, 2006
This disc is one of those classic cartoon sets that is marketed directly to children alone. Serious animation collectors will no doubt go for Disney’s fantastic Walt Disney Treasures releases instead of a one off release such as this one. This disc is one of those products that is set up as a quick point of purchase sale for parents that need something to throw in the DVD player while in the mini-van, or to keep the kids entertained while the parents are busy doing laundry or making dinner.
The simple …
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Disc Reviews by Brendan Surpless on February 7th, 2006
I have always held a place in my mind and heart for the warmth of Mickey, even though I usually prefer the antics of Goofy or Donald Duck. Mickey just seems to have that innocent, charming look to him that one would not picture as someone who would get into mischief. This is probably why Disney slowly phased Mickey out of cartoon shorts and relied more on Donald Duck, Goofy and the rest. Funny Factory with Mickey Volume 1 contains 8 Mickey shorts totaling 61 minutes.
The 8 cartoons we are given range…
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Disc Reviews by Sean Jester on January 21st, 2006
If the Lifetime channel was around in the 70’s, I would swear that this was an original production. This is a women’s liberation film at the height of the movement. Unfortunately, while its heart is probably in the right place, the film is just a big mess. When Martin Scorsese made Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, he nailed the feeling and the theme of this movement on the head. This thing, however, is a train wreck. It just tries way too hard. An Unmarried Woman is one of those films that tells the vi…
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 22nd, 2003
Synopsis
Gene Tierney is Mrs. Muir, a young widow at the turn of the 20th Century, who has hadenough of her overbearing in-laws. She moves to the coast, falling in love with a cottage thatturns out to be haunted by Rex Harrison, a crusty sea captain. The two strong wills clash initially,but soon develop a real affection for each other. Directed by All About Eve’s JosephMankiewicz, this low-key romance is affecting and witty, and the black-and-whitecinematography is gorgeous. The per…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2003
Synopsis
Instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, it’s the Jets and the Sharks, two street gangs onthe mean streets of Manhattan’s west side (these gangs wouldn’t recognize their old stompinggrounds today). Full of energy and wit, bursting with spectacular choreography, the film is atriumph of the musical form.
Audio
A brand new 5.1 mix, and it sounds wonderful. There aren’t enough surround sound effectsto create an environment, the music is reproduced in …
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Michel Bouquet and Stephane Audran are a well-off couple with a young son. They live in anice house in the countryside near Versailles. Everything looks swell. But Audran has beendistant lately. Bouquest suspects she is having an affair. He hires a PI to discover the truth, andthis truth leads to murder. The film is deliberately paced, with a musical score that convincesyou that something awful is going to happen, even when all is, on the surface, benign. Thismakes the viol…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2003
Synopsis
Irascible Scottish scientist James Mason discovers evidence that an explorer made thejourney of the title. Determined to do likewise, Mason sets off for Iceland (there to descend avolcanic crater that will lead to the centre of the Earth) in the company of Pat Boone (whoseaccent must be heard to be believed). Along the way, they are joined by feisty widow ArleneDahl and towering Icelander Peter Ronson. They are not alone in their journey, however, andthey must confront huma…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
A flying saucer lands in Washington, causing widespread paranoia. Emerging from thesaucer are the ominous robot Gort, and the human-looking Klaatu (Michael Rennie). Klaatucomes with a warning for Earth (get your act together or be wiped out), but he will speak only torepresentatives from all nations. This turns out to be a difficult proposition. Klaatu escapes fromthe authorities and blends in with the population as he learns about humans. The questionbecomes whether he wil…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 9th, 2003
Synopsis
Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel are soldiers in Napoleon’s army. The film opens the yearNapoleon has become ruler of France. Keitel is a man of irrational and explosive temper. For noreal reason, he develops a hatred for Carradine, and challenges him to a duel. Over and overagain, during the course of the tumultuous years that follow, the two duel, but never manage tocomplete their battle and both always live to fight another day. Though not without darkness,this film, ba…
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 16th, 2003
Synopsis
Warren Beatty plays George, who is as gifted a hairdresser as he is a ladies’ man. He needsmoney to open his own salon, and is hoping Lester (Jack Warden) will invest. That Beatty issleeping not only with Jill (Goldie Hawn) but with Lester’s wife (Lee Grant), mistress (JulieChristie) and teenage daughter (Carrie Fisher) might just complicate the issue. Especially as moreand more characters find out about each other. Very well made, but also very much a productof its times -…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2003
Synopsis
Alec Guinness plays a man who appears to be a nobody, and that is just what he wants you tothink. He has worked to establish his reputation as the most unassuming, yet reliable, employeethe Bank of England has. His goal: to rob the bank of a vast amount of gold bullion. His plancomes together when he joins forces with Stanley Holloway, Sidney James and Alfie Bass. Theheist itself is, naturally, only the beginning of the zaniness.
Audio
As with the o…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2003
Synopsis
Alec Guinness quietly invents a fabric that is indestructible and never gets dirty. You’d thinkpeople would be happy. Not if they have anything to do with the fabric industry, they’re not. Bigindustry and big labour all get it in the neck in this hilarious film. The cast is top-notch(Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Ernest Thesiger, Michael Gough) and clearly having a great time.Not to be missed.
Audio
As with the other films in this series, the sound is t…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Dennis Price (icy in his perfectly correct heartlessness) is the son of a disowned member ofthe D’Ascoyne family. Determined to rectify this slight, and incidentally become Duke, Price setsout to cooly murder the eight D’Ascoynes who stand in his way. All eight, including LadyAgatha, are played by Alec Guinness. Price is utterly amoral, but he is such a charming narratorthat we root for him, and chuckle warmly over each demise. The script is supremely smart. Thisisn’t knock…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 5th, 2003
Synopsis
A corrosive satire of stardom in general, and the theatre world in particular, All About Evestars Bette Davis as an insecure theatre diva, and Anne Baxter as Eve, the young woman whobefriends Davis but is a the conniving, fawning sociopath who will stop at nothing for her ownstab at stardom. George Sanders (stealing every scene he’s in as a sublimely cynical critic) is onelof the only people who can see through Eve. Baxter overdoes the fawning, so it becomes difficultto bel…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
The setting is turn-of-the-century Wales, and a way of life is coming to an end as economiccrises hit. The film chronicles the saga of the Morgan family, headed by stern but lovingpatriarch Donald Crisp, and we get all this through the eyes of young Roddy McDowall. Analternative title might be “Cavalcade of Misery” and the answer to the film’s question might be“not very,” given the endless tragedies that afflict our loving family. The film hasn’t weatheredthe passing years …
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 31st, 2002
Synopsis
Gregory Peck is a freelance writer recently arrived in New York. Hired to write a series onanti-Semitism, he hits on the idea of passing himself off as Jewish. The angle works only toowell, and he experiences prejudice first-hand, in ways that threaten to completely derail his life.The performances are universally excellent, and the actors are really put to the test when theyhave to mouth the painfully moralizing speeches at the end of the film. Until the disappointingconcl…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 23rd, 2002
Synopsis
Petty crook Nicholson is transferred from prison to a mental institution. Is he crazy? Hecertainly seems to be to go up against head nurse Louise Fletcher, the well-meaning tyrant of theplace. In the course of his war, he ignites the spirits of the other inmates.
Audio
The sound has been remastered into 5.1. Though the sound quality is nice (barring somedistortion due to original recording), I’m not sure the surround mix was necessary. The musicand …
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2002
Synopsis
Robert De Niro is Rupert Pupkin, supreme loser. He has delusions of greatness, andconstantly fantasizes he has a wonderful friendship with talk show host Jerry Langford (JerryLewis, superb). Pupkin is determined to get his moment in the limelight, and he will stop atnothing, not even kidnapping, to make sure he gets what’s coming to him. Along for the ride issimilarly obsessed (and grotesque) fan Sandra Bernhard. Look out. Incredibly smart, incrediblyfunny, incredibly uncom…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2002
Synopsis
Wayne is veteran Lt. Col. Yorke, bedevilled by the fact that the Apaches attack and thenretreat across the Rio Grande, while the cavalry can’t pursue into Mexico. Further complicatinghis life are the arrival in camp of his young son as a fresh recruit, and his estranged wife(O’Hara) wanting to bring sonny home. This isn’t the greatest of Ford’s westerns, largely becauseof its meandering plot. But it does have those great Monument Valley vistas, and it is goodfun.
…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 21st, 2002
Synopsis
Country boy John Travolta arrives in the big city of Houston. He finds a home away fromhome in Gilley’s, a huge country & western bar. There he meets and falls in love with DebraWinger. But when villain Scott Glenn tries to steal her from him, will Travolta rise to thechallenge of the mechanical bull?
Audio
A pretty nice job done of giving an older soundtrack a solid surround mix. The music and thesound effects both come through very well. You won’t…
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 19th, 2002
Synopsis
The plot is very simple, as the spectacular song-and-dance numbers are the real star of theshow. Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen are big stars of the silent screen. But sound is arriving, andHagen’s voice sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard (and she has a personality to match). Kellyfalls in love with Debbie Reynolds, a struggling dancer with a terrific voice. This is enough of aframework on which to hang the production numbers, but the comedy in between is oftenhowlingly fun…
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 14th, 2002
Plot? What plot? Oh right: traumatized telekinetic teen accidentally raises Jason from the bottom of the lake. Jason kills folks. That’s about it. But you don’t watch these for the plot –you watch them for the killings. These are, sad to say, relatively restrained, and some of Jason’s tool acquisitions are silly (where did he get that electric hedge trimmer from?). The characters (I use the word loosely) are even more interchangeable than ever, and the continuity goes all to #%&@ in the latter part of the film.
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