Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 9th, 2007
Wings was one of those unusual sitcoms that depended more on the characters than the situations they were in. While the setting was a small
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 8th, 2007
Roger Corman is fond of saying that only one of his movies ever lost money. It was this 1962 release (shot in 1961), and it is his bravest film, and still arguably his most powerful. William Shatner plays Adam Cramer, a white supremacist associated with the “Patrick Henry Society” (read: John Birch Society), who arrives in the southern town of Caxton on the eve of racial integration of the school. The demagogue whips up the hatred of the white townspeople, leading to cross-burning, church-bombing, and worse.
Corman’s film has lost none of its power to shock and appal. Nor has it lost its power to amaze. An absolutely blistering condemnation of bigotry, it makes the likes of Mississippi Burning look mealy-mouthed by comparison, and its unblinking political directness is all the more astounding for when and where it was made. As we learn from the accompanying featurette, the cast and crew operated under the constant threat of violence, and the sort of events they were depicting were actually taking place nearby. One of the first cinematic statements on the struggle for civil rights, it is still hard to find another film as raw and as uncompromised as this. And those whose only impression of William Shatner is of a shameless ham are in for a revelation. His performance is a satanic mixture of charm, smarm, self-love and seething, explosive hatred. He incarnates a textbook definition of “evil charisma.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 6th, 2007
Hmm. A vision of elaborate torture in washed-out tones on the cover. A three-letter title. Gee, could Gag be inspired by Saw? Perhaps, but fortunately not in any slavish way, limiting its connections to the idea of extended torture, and that’s hardly something Saw invented. As opposed to the Saw franchise’s increasingly risible plot convolutions, Gag keeps its setup simple: a pair a burglars break into a house where they first discover a man chained to a bed, and then are captured themselves by the resident nutjob. The ensuing drama is a claustrophobic one, with the main characters trapped in the torture room at the mercy of a lunatic who has a definite, if mysterious, goal.
The film handles the grime and oppression quite nicely, and the torture scenes are genuinely disturbing. The limited budget is apparent in some of the sound design limitations, and the quality of the performances is variable, but still, this indie effort is far from dishonorable. I can’t help but feel, though, that the opening scene’s drooling voyeurism of a naked woman’s body just before she’s gruesomely killed isn’t gratuitous in the one sense that even this sort of film would do well to avoid.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 5th, 2007
The name of this double-pack is slightly misleading, but that is not to suggest the film and television mini-series on offer are in any way bad. Quite the contrary, in fact. It’s just that they aren’t exactly “action” films per se. So don’t pick this up hoping for something in the vein of The Road Warrior. Instead, these are brutally intense dramas with strong action elements. Both titles are excellent.
Metal Skin is a 1994 effort from director Geoffrey (Romper Stomper) Wright. He returns here to the world of youth subculture. Here, instead of Skinheads, this is a world of underground races, but the denizens are just as doomed as in the earlier film. The main character is a disturbed young man whose dreams of driving a fast car and forming a romantic attachment are utterly deluded. He has a fraught relationship with a trio, each of whom has his/her own reasons to see the world as a black hellhole. When the car-duel climax arrives, it is earned at the emotional level, and makes the likes of The Fast and the Furious look even more anaemic than it already is.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 2nd, 2007
This box set of three movies tries to take advantage of a college course theme to generate interest for films already available in these same editions. This collection uses Astronomy to bunch together three lighthearted science fiction adventures. The films are Killer Klowns From Outer Space, Spaceballs, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension. The lesson we’re really learning here is how corporate quests for profits can reach almost ridiculous proportions. Many studios are running low on the films in their libraries that have yet to be released but still have a market to sustain a DVD title. The obvious answer to this dilemma is double, triple, and beyond dipping. The idea is to repackage a film, maybe add an extra or two, often not, and put it in a newer, shinier package. In theory we unsavvy buyers are like wild raccoons who can’t resist putting their hands on that new glittering design and will buy products which we already own. It would sound silly, except that it works. Record companies have been doing it for decades. Elvis has been dead for almost 30 years, but there’s still at least one new Elvis CD every year since. OK. Rant out of the way. Let’s talk about the three films in the package.
Posted in: 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. Writer/director Charles B. Griffith was responsible for some of the better scripts to come out of the Corman stable (It Conquered the World, Little Shop of Horrors, Death Race 2000), and some of his trademark wit is on display here, but without the snap of the better films. It feels much more forced and laboured. The film clips along just fine, but today is little more than a curiosity.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2007
In my mind, Robert Wuhl has never really understood when to quit. The guy was the star of Arli$$, which was an anomaly on the HBO cable channel. Whereas all the other shows on the channel were ending too soon and were too well received, this show went on and on and on, and no one seemed to really like it. So when I saw he was doing a couple of one-off shows set at universities, I thought this was just another way to grab onto popularity.
AS it turns out, these specials, entitled Assume the Position, aren’t entirely horrible. What Wuhl manages to accomplish is to effectively discuss American history and perhaps introduce a point that history might not just be what was read and published. He discusses some things that many in the class (myself included) didn’t really know before, like the origins of the “Yankee Doodle” song and the benefit of the War of 1812. In between, he mixes in slides and animations that bring a smile, maybe even a chuckle, to these jaded lips. Don’t get me wrong though, there are times where Wuhl seems to hit a joke every so often that seems to be the perfect example of “old guy trying to connect to young audience”, and that’s why mentions of Ben Affleck and Outkast follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 29th, 2007
I admit I don't have the strongest faith. Sure I believe in God, but it pretty much ends at that like any other agnostic. So when I get a movie that is based on the idea of the Ten Plagues; let's say I'm not that familiar with the subject matter. I know there are locusts attacking and toads dropping involved along with the whole river of blood thing but outside of that I'm a little thin. However, not to say I wasn't interested. In fact I'm always intrigued by stories in the bible when they are used as methods of literature and peaks into the historical past.
The Reaping is the story of Katherine Winter (played by Hilary Swank), a LSU professor who has made a living off debunking miracles by explaining them away with science. We find out from her backstory that she was in fact an ordained minister who lost her faith when her husband and daughter were killed in Sudan on a mission. Her partner and fellow teacher, Ben (played by Idris Elba) helps her out. They are approached by Doug Blackwell (played by David Morrissey), a schoolteacher from Haven, LA about a new case. Haven, LA has seen a young 12-year old girl Loren (played by AnnaSophia Robb) murders her brother and turned the river to blood. The town also believes this is the start of the Ten Plagues of the Old Testament. Katherine & Ben go to investigate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 24th, 2007
I can still remember the first time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was just after my birthday in June, and I had some time to kill on a weekday afternoon. I didn’t recall seeing a lot of hype, and it seemed no one knew just how huge the film was going to be. My expectations were not really high. The film looked interesting, and I was just looking to escape for a couple of hours. By the time I left that theater, I felt a little bit like Indiana Jones himself having made some grand discovery. I had to tell my friends. I even managed to drag a friend who hadn’t liked a movie since 1972 to see it with me the very next day. Of course, the film was followed by The Temple Of Doom, and my faith in old Indy Jones was shaken somewhat. Along came The Last Crusade, and I was born again into the world that was Indiana Jones. All of us are now gearing up for a fourth film after what seems like decades, because it has been. However, the decades have not been a complete Indiana Jones blackout. For a short time Indiana Jones could be found in the most unlikely of places… network television. Enter The Adventures Of Young
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 15th, 2007
Do you know what happens when creative people get toys and wacked out people get a tv show? Robot Chicken happens. The first season was a great success on Adult Swim, so that meant two things. One, creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich would be able to move out of their parent's house (okay, not really) and we would get Season 2. Robot Chicken for those who don't know is toy figures (or special sculpted toys) put to life in hilarious sketches and parodies with the use of stop motion capture technology. The show has gotten such fanfare that it recently produced a Star Wars parody sketch show that was even supervised by George Lucas himself. Unfortunately that was the start of Season 3, and isn't on this dvd (but there is the infamous Star Wars sketch included that led to the whole sketch show in this box set).
The amount of bizarre pop culture references in this show is staggering. From the Brady Bunch meets the Mr. & Mrs. Smith to Inspector Gadget meets Terminator 2 Judgement Day, the show goes everywhere and beyond. Sometimes it finds the references too obscure and depending on the audience might not get all of the jokes. One that is brought to mind is the Spy Hunter 11:00 News Sketch. Not everybody like me has played the game 40-50 hours and gets the "joke". I might be on the floor for it but the person next to me might have a totally blank expression. However, where one fails, the next ten might be gold. That is where the show really succeds. The other great thing about Robot Chicken is the amount of talent on the show when it comes to voices. One of the great things is that they go and get the original voice talent in what it parodies with their toys. From little guys such as Michael Winslow (Police Academy) to the Coreys (Haim & Feldman) to big stars like Charlize Theron. It adds realism and humor to the show in spades.
