Archive for the ‘Alliance Films’ Category
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Disc Reviews by Jay Macdonald on August 1st, 2010
Extraordinary Measures is a moving story about family and a father’s perseverance to find a cure for his children. John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) seeks out the help of an irritable medical researcher (Harrison Ford) whose theory cannot be fully developed without extensive funding. As the time ticks away, so does the probability of finding a cure. This film requires an emotional investment and audiences will be surprised at how invested they become.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2010
The second (and final) season of this erotic horror anthology series follows the pattern set down by the first. David Bowie replaces Terence Stamp as host, and takes up the job of briefly uttering portentous statements before each story rolls. These stories star such luminaries as Giovanni Ribisi, Eric Roberts, Jennifer Beals and Lori Petty, and are based on tales by a pretty impressive line-up of line-up of writers: Poppy Z. Brite, Kim Newman, David J. Schow, Gemma Files and Ramsey Campbell, to name but a few.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2010
In 1983, director Tony Scott wasn’t quite as prone to self-caricature as he is today, but he was already enamored of glossy, pretty surfaces, and if nothing else, his vampire movie The Hunger was glossy and pretty. The film arguably remains the most high-profile mixture of eroticism and horror, its place in libidinal history cemented by the love scene between Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve, and Deneuve’s body double. The film’s lasting cult appeal resulted in a short-lived TV horror anthology series, presented by brothers Tony and Ridley Scott, and running two seasons (1997-8 and 1999-2000). Here we have Season 1, hosted by Terence Stamp.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 28th, 2010
Woody Harrelson is Arthur Poppington, a child-like adult who fights crime by night in the guise of Defendor. His costume and weapons are DIY: a helmet that records his adventures on VHS, a duct tape “D” on his black turtleneck, a trench club, a slingshot, marbles, lime juice. He is obsessed with tracking down “Captain Industry,” a mythical figure whom he blames for the death of his drug-addicted mother. He runs afoul of corrupt cop Dooney (Elias Koteas at his scuzziest best), beating him and “rescuing” prostitute Kat (Kat Dennings), and the latter convinces him that the crime boss Dooney works for is, in fact, Captain Industry. Arthur sets out on his crusade, and the question is whether his naiveté will triumph, or get him killed.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 23rd, 2010
Several years ago comedian Doug Benson made a joke about wanting to parody the film Super Size Me, after watching it while high, by smoking pot continuously for 30 days. A filmmaker heard that joke and decided to make it a reality. Upon making the film, there was an added catch to Benson’s plan of 30 days being “Super High,” as he would have to be stone sober for the 30 days leading up to it.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 6th, 2010
Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) is a 16-year-old in terminal virgin mode. His home life with his mother and piggish boyfriend (The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis) is a nightmare, but when said boyfriend runs afoul of a trio of sailors, an enforced vacation is mandated. At the trailer park, Nick meets Sheeni (Portia Doubleday), a girl who not only speaks to him but shares his tastes. But Nick has a rival for Sheeni’s affection, and in order to win her heart, he must be bad. Conjuring suave alter ego François as his guide, he embarks on an escalating campaign of mayhem designed to unite him with his beloved.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2010
Meg Ryan arrives at her country home a day early, catching hubby Timothy Hutton in the middle of writing her a note telling her that he wants out of their marriage. Knocking Hutton out, Ryan duct-tapes him to a chair, and declares that he will remain her prisoner until he loves her again. Hutton is understandably skeptical that this tactic will work. He is also furious and freaked out. He is even less happy the next day when Ryan heads out to do some grocery shopping, and a thief (Justin Long) breaks enters the house.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2010
The title is grammatically ambiguous. Is this a film about vampire killers who happen to be lesbians, or killers of lesbian vampires? The former might have given the film some nicely subversive potential, but the latter is the case. Our heroes are the gormless pair of the serially dumped Jimmy (James Corden) and the piggish Fletch (Mathew Horne) – basically Shaun and Ed from Shaun of the Dead, minus the wit. Heading out to a randomly picked village in rural England for a low-budget vacation, the duo happen upon a VW bus filled with women who, based on the available evidence, have just finished a gig as background dancers for a hip-hop video. The group arrives at a decrepit mansion and proceed to party, unaware that the area is cursed by the lesbian vampire queen Carmilla. Seeking to resurrect their matriarch, her minions proceed to vamp all but one of the women, and the stage is set for a supernatural battle of the sexes.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 9th, 2010
Having accidentally blinded a singer during a contract killing, hit man extraordinaire Chow Yun-Fat, consumed with guilt, becomes the woman’s protector, and seeks redemption by finding some way to restore her sight. Meanwhile, Danny Lee is the plays-by-his-own-rules cop on his trail, and inevitably the two men will find themselves as unlikely allies in gigantically operatic gunfights.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 9th, 2010
We are in the midst of the Great War. Michael Dunne (Paul Gross) is a Canadian solider recovering from physical and psychological wounds. He falls in love with his nurse (Carline Dhavernas), and when her asthmatic brother enlists, Dunne heads back to the trenches to protect him, and the two men wind up at the gigantic, murderous battle that gives the film its name.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on May 2nd, 2010
It’s the Bronx in the early 60s and a psychotic man named Heinz (John Turturro) is released from jail and immediately starts stalking the girl he tried to rape (Jodie Foster), which landed him in prison in the first place. Upon hearing about his release, the son of a cop turned pacifist/activist is enlisted as protection despite his hesitancy and desire to move to Mississippi to support the Black communities’ struggles there.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 30th, 2010
A young girl, who is obsessed with purity, appears on a “Chicks Go Crazy” video (a parody of Girls Gone Wild) and gets a group of rowdy (by comparison to her) friends to go on a road trip to track down the dvd and its maker (played by an easy paycheck receiving Rob Schneider), all the while resisting the temptations of drinking and sex.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 27th, 2010
An extremely talented young break-dancer from New York, who goes by “Angel,” and her best friend are attacked in an alley. Both are stabbed and only Angel survives. She moves with her mother to Los Angeles and begins a quest to return to Brooklyn on her own. In the meantime, she is rehabilitating from her stabbing injury and is prompted to rekindle her love of dance. Before long she finds a crew and is set to find a new life in LA and display her talents once more.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 26th, 2010
A first-year film student named Yannick crosses paths with a black cat (literally) and crashes his bicycle, then knocks on the door of a family home in a nice neighborhood looking for assistance. A few minutes later he is held captive by a psychotic family, led by a patriarch who is convinced it is his life’s duty to rid the world of those who are “not righteous.” As our hero Yannick slips between clawing desperation and clever tact in his attempts to escape he is offered a chance at freedom. Jacques, the head of the household, is an undefeated, nation-wide renowned Chess champion, and if Yannick can beat him once, he will be released.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 7th, 2010
A spaceship crashes. From it emerge a monstrous creature called the Moorwen, and a man, Kainan (Jim Caviezel in Buff Action Mode), who is determined to hunt it down. However, he is promptly captured by vikings and taken to their village, at which point he must convince them of the terrible danger they are in. As it turns out, they don’t take much convincing, once the Moorwen attacks.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 11th, 2010
Laurel & Hardy. Abbott & Costello. Martin & Lewis. And now… Harold & Kumar? Perhaps the comparison is a bit forced, but that latter day pair certainly follows the classic set-up: best friends who are also polar opposites (Kumar is the confident, slacker stoner; Harold is the shy, conservative stoner); one has mad schemes (Kumar); the other (Harold) suffers for those schemes, and so on. At any rate, here we have the complete oeuvre of these two characters (and since Kal Penn, who plays Kumar, has subsequently gone on to a couple of season of House before taking a job for the White House, I think it safe to say that we are unlikely to be seeing any further episodes).
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2010
Every seven years, thirty assassins descend on an unsuspecting city and slaughter each other, all the while being observed by hijacked security cameras for the benefit of the high rollers who are betting on the outcome. The previous winner was Ving Rhames, and he thought he had walked away from the life after that tournament. But then his wife was murdered, and he learns that the killer is in the new contest (taking place this time in England). Also taking part is the fatalistic Kelly Hu, who winds up being the reluctant protector of drunken priest Robert Carlyle, who even more reluctantly has become a long-shot competitor in the tournament after accidentally swallowing a tracking device that paints him as a legitimate target.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 15th, 2010
This film chronicles the career of Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, an NHL player for the Montreal Canadians, from his childhood days in a Junior hockey league, to the season in 1955 where his suspension from playing for the remainder of that season led to violent riots in Montreal. This film is more than just an examination of Richard as a French-Canadian citizen and legendary hockey player (many still argue as the greatest ever to play) but also a look at his impact as an icon and living legend to the people of Quebec.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 13th, 2010
Years after his wife’s unsolved murder, Norman Reedus has retreated within himself, carrying on a morose existence in a low-end apartment, gloomily taking part in unofficial greyhound racing. His neighbour, Emmanuelle Béart, is in love with him. Since Reedus is obsessed with solving the murder to the exclusion of any other human interaction, Béart decides to present him a solution. Based on the tiny bits of information Reedus has on the suspect, Béart picks cabbie Harvey Keitel as matching the profile well enough to make for a good target. She begins a relationship with him in order to put him in the frame and give Reedus, though murder, the catharsis he needs.
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Disc Reviews by Jay Macdonald on November 27th, 2009
Don’t You Forget about Me is a documentary/tribute to the late John Hughes. Four amateur filmmakers set out to find answers to the questions, why did you leave? How did you capture adolescence so perfectly in your films? Why do your films remain a fixture in popular culture? After obtaining interviews with many of the John Hughes alumni such as Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Alan Ruck and Andrew McCarthy, the filmmakers came to the realization that they required an interview with John Hughes to complete the film. The documentary combines the interview footage as well as covers the filmmaker’s road trip from Toronto to Illinois to acquire an interview with the reclusive director.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 23rd, 2009
We are in the late 1920s, and to the family manor comes Ben Barnes, in the company of new wife, Jessica Biel. That this woman is both American and a race car champion does not sit well with the very conservative mother Kristin Scott Thomas. That her nose is out of joint delights husband Colin Firth, a veteran of the Great War who, thoroughly world-weary and disillusioned with just about everything, wants nothing to do with the petty concerns and squabbles of his family. What follows is a clash of cultures and generations, veering between slapstick comedy and something rather darker.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 23rd, 2009
This is the story of an unfortunate underachiever who is left with his niece after his even less fortunate sister abandons them. Unhappy with social services and the places they are forced to live, they take what little money they have to fund an aimless trip across the country until arriving at the home of his abusive father.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 22nd, 2009
Some thirty years after seeing his father killed by a car bomb, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) is a dealer in explosives. When he is imprisoned in Yemen along with members of a militant group he was about to make a sale to, he is drawn in and becomes an integral part of the group’s terrorist activities. But wait – is he in fact an intelligence agent who has infiltrated the group in order to bring down their leader? Meanwhile, FBI agent Guy Pearce is hot on Samir’s trail, but if he catches up, will that be a good thing or a bad one?
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 17th, 2009
This is the comedic tale of a grocery store’s young assistant manager (Seann William Scott) who believes he is the prime candidate to take over the soon-to-be built addition to the chain. This leads him to buying a house before the job is secured and lo and behold a hotshot Canadian (John C. Reilly) shows up in town from their sister company and begins campaigning for the job himself.
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Disc Reviews by Dale Krawchuk on September 1st, 2009
Already languishing in the $6.99 bin at my local Blockbuster, and with dismal reviews on its release, my hopes for The Haunting of Molly Hartley were not high. However, after viewing the DVD I can safely report that the movie falls firmly into the ‘not anywhere as awful as I thought it was going to be’ category.
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