Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 16th, 2006
Director Pete Red Sky conducts a small, but capable cast in the psychodrama The White Horse Is Dead. Some bits of dialogue hit sour notes, but the cast, which consists of Resmine Atis, Andrew Welsh, and Irina Stemer, hold their own through the rough parts and truly elevate this flawed rendering of an otherwise intriguing – and sordid – tale. Atis plays Naya, daughter to Giselle (a domineering and beautiful hypochondriac), and at the film’s opening, we see she’s the kind of girl, who would do most anything to p...ease her mother. Inheritors of a rather large estate left to them following Naya’s father’s suicide, Giselle and Naya get along in quiet seclusion, so long as Naya does everything her mother says. Stemer injects a realistic sinister quality into the role of Giselle, but just how sinister she is, we never imagine until the film’s conclusion – a conclusion helped along by the arrival of sympathetic ex-con Vincent (Welsh), whom Giselle hires to upkeep the estate grounds. He does a lot more than that, striking up a relationship with Naya, and causing her to question everything about her past, which has been largely influenced by Giselle’s version of things. As Naya becomes more aware of her mother’s flaws, she starts to rebel and brings out the worst in Mommy Dearest. Atis is a revelation in the role of Naya, and it would be hard for me to imagine this young lady not having a long, fruitful career. Welsh shows some incredible range as well, and Stemer is a formidable antagonist for these two young lovers. As previously stated, there are some pieces of amateurish dialogue here and there, but even that is hard to detect under the guidance of these stars. And Red Sky’s direction rises above that of a typical first-time director. Out of the ordinary and sometimes over-the-top, indie fans will love what he’s done with his debut.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 14th, 2006
Take every Catholic movie cliché you can find, wrap them up in a weak and predictable murder-mystery, throw in Christian Slater and Stephen Rea as they struggle for some semblance of the glory their careers once held, release direct-to-DVD, and you have The Confessor. Slater plays a priest struggling with his own faith, to the point he hasn’t prayed in years. His primary purpose to the Catholic Church is as a fundraiser for whatever causes they deem necessary to support. Of course, all of his higher-ups are st...dgy old men more grounded in public relations than decent living, and he grows more at odds with them as he delves deeper into the death of a disgraced (but, of course, innocent) priest, who is accused of a murder he didn’t commit, which leads to his mysterious death while awaiting trial. When Slater takes over the priest’s parish, he comes to terms with his own human frailties and finds out all his suspicions about the dead predecessor’s innocence are true – but if he didn’t do it, who did? That’s an answer you shouldn’t have any difficulty figuring out.
While the film lacks entertainment value, it is a useful training ground for Molly Parker, the lead actress (or “actor in a female role” for you strict readers). As the love interest of Slater, she commands attention, more so than any of the rest of this washed-up cast. And as for the rest of the cast, it isn’t that their performances are awful – they are simply too bored with the script to inject any passion into it. Everyone but Parker is doing no more than collecting a paycheck, and I certainly can’t blame them, because the script – with its amateurish expository dialogue containing lines that reiterate exactly what you’re seeing through the characters’ actions – is too poor to secure a green-light for production, much less the attached talent’s hard work and ingenuity. Now grant it, with horror stories about Hollywood ruining good scripts being a dime a dozen, it may not have been the writer’s fault – but the fact remains, the script is the film’s greatest drawback.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 14th, 2006
In the first few years of the nineties, hip-hop singer/movie actress Queen Latifah headlined her own comedy show called Living Single. The show went on to last for five seasons. Although it never won much acclaim or any big awards, the show still had viewers. The basic premise for the show saw the day to day life of four twenty-something year old girlfriends and their two male neighbors.
In each episode, the cast sorted out its various issues with life. They also found time to find problems with eve...ything and also found time to overreact in nearly every situation. The show was might to show how normal people deal with everyday life. While I didn’t find the show to be constant laughter, I did find myself enjoying the show for what it was worth.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 14th, 2006
Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release the basketball drama Glory Road (starring Josh Lucas) on June 6th. This disc will be presented in separate 2.35:1 anamorphic and fullscreen versions, both with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks. Extras will include two audio commentaries (the first with director James Gartner & producer Jerry Bruckheimer; the second with screenwriters Christopher Cleveland & Bettina Gilois), deleted scenes, extended interviews (with the actual UTEP players), two featurettes ("The ...eal Coach Haskins" & "Coach Haskins' Practice Schedule") & a music video by Alicia Keys.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2006
Most of the time, I’m a pretty big fan of HBO’s documentaries, so you can imagine my disappointment when I had to sit through the overly long 76 minutes of Naked World, which follows attention-hungry tit-bag Spencer Tunick, as he embarks on a world tour to find idiots wanting to pose for him. They all have their reasons why they’re baring all for the handful of people, who watch this documentary, but the underlying reason is – much like that of Tunick himself – attention. These lunatics may have even convinced...themselves it’s not for attention, but make no mistake – it is. It doesn’t take much in way of talent to snap the shoddy photographs Tunick provides here, and his medium is nothing more than a gimmick, rather than an actual talent. He’s a sniveling, complaining, sideshow huckster demanding recognition as an artist, and there’s nothing more obnoxious to me than that. I’m not inclined towards nudist art, but I will admit, there are sculptors and painters out there with actual talent, who can carry out what Tunick is trying much more effectively.
Even more amusing than the claim that Spencer Tunick is an artist are the delusional subjects for much of his work. There is a woman dying of AIDS, who somehow feels showing her naked body in a group of over one thousand others doing the same thing will somehow make a worthwhile statement to the rest of the world regarding her plight. I’m sympathetic towards anyone dying of a vile disease such as AIDS, but the context in which this is done is a contradiction to her whole purpose. And once you have bared all – so what? What statement does it make? If nobody cares, what’s the point? If your statement is, I know no one cares, and I want them to know I don’t care either, then again – what is the point? If you really didn’t care – like you say – then why do you need to make a statement to begin with? This unfortunate lady is not the only one humiliating herself for five minutes of notoriety in this documentary, but she is one of the most memorable. The best favor you can do these participants is to avoid the film all together and not subject them to the self-deprecation they’re unwittingly committing upon themselves.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 12th, 2006
Sigh..Death Tunnel is another low-budget horror flick that is just so dull and mundane that it hurts to sit through the whole film. The film is over-directed, which some may think could be a good trait, but not in this case. Death Tunnel is about five college girls who all agree to spend a night in a horrific old asylum as part of a co-ed type event. Enter a few snickering boys trying to scare them and you have a horror film. Excuse me while I try to regain my thoughts as the film was a big yawn fest. < ...p>
The girls tend to walk around wearing next to nothing, which is one of the few positives about the film. They scream out each others’ names and wonder about until random people keep dropping dead. Naturally we have your standard semi-serious sentences like ‘this isn’t funny anymore’. The film is definitely right. The film isn’t funny anymore, nor did it ever get amusing or particularly good in any sense of the imagination.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 11th, 2006
Synopsis
First off, I never would have thought that a Comedy Central TV show featuring animated eight-year olds who curse like I used to (I still do, who am I kidding?), is transformed into a 94 minute movie with abundant musical numbers and (gasp!) an Oscar-nominated song performed by Robin Williams at said awards ceremony. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone created a dazzling, hilarious, and unpredictable movie, filled with musical numbers, and vocal cameos from George Clooney, Dave Foley and Eric Idle, ...o name a few.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 11th, 2006
Synopsis
The first time I became acquainted with the work of documentarian James Miller and reporter Saira Shah was when I first saw the documentary Beneath the Veil some years back, shortly after the September 11th attacks. It was an unnerving and powerful look at life in the Taliban-led area of Afghanistan, where women were brutalized and humiliated beyond comprehension.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 10th, 2006
Newsradio ran for five seasons. Four seasons gave us some of the best work of excellent comedic legend Phil Hartman, but the beginning of the fifth season marked a sadness period from which the show was never able to recover, as Hartman was shot to death by his wife, who committed suicide immediately following. It was the kind of tragedy you still can’t believe – even today – if you knew Hartman or his work. Luckily, season three offers some of his best moments, as well as the comic genius of the undera...preciated Stephen Root. Root will be known to many office workers as Milton from Office Space, but here, he plays Jimmy James. James is more egotistical and outspoken than Milton, but he’s no less funny. Last but not least, Vicki Lewis brings a surprising humor and sexual vitality to her role (I had only known her previously from her small part as George’s secretary on Seinfeld, and was shocked to see her out of that bookish mold).
But as much positive as there is to say about Newsradio, there are two drawbacks, which frequently slow the laughs and drag an otherwise high-quality show through the proverbial mud – and their names are Joe Rogan and Andy Dick. Neither has improved in the years since the show’s run ended, and the inclusion of either in more prominent roles only served to stifle the work of Root, Hartman, and Lewis. Joe Rogan is Joe Rogan, no matter what kind of show he’s in. He never acts; he just “is.” Andy Dick constantly overdoes it, and brings an obnoxious whininess to every scene he’s in. The rest of the cast just sort of watches the two extremes unfold with nothing significant to add – but then, they don’t detract either. Of course, some people are able to look at Rogan and Dick and see the charm – I am not one of them. But if that’s the case, then you should have no complaints regarding this season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 9th, 2006
Michael Ontkean and Kate Jackson play a married couple dealing with the ramifications of the husband's newly discovered homosexual behavior. Right off, I'll say these two seem too happy from the beginning to make the sudden turn believable. Also, the ending [SPOILER ALERT, kind of] is too predictable and cliche to be the least little bit effective. The "I'm okay/You're okay" resolution, where everyone moves on and everyone's okay with who they are, and the world is once more a wonderful place, is pure Grade-A drivel ...hat simply got by with it at the time because it was one of the first movies to deal so openly with such a controversial topic.
With that said, the film's flaws really have nothing to do with its handling of the subject matter. Instead, it goes down - in flames - at the hands of two actors, who haven't learned a thing since they nabbed their first roles. Kate Jackson's wife is supposed to be a career woman, but she never stops whining and self-indulging into her own feelings long enough to step off your nerves and convince you she's any more than a cry-baby trophy wife. Harry Hamlin secured his rightful place in Lifetime movie hell with performances such as this one, where he's so convinced he's charming that all he really accomplishes is making the viewer want to punch him right in the mouth. As two-thirds of the triangle (Ontkean is actually quite good as the husband), the film was dead in the water, and nothing Arthur Hiller's direction could do was able to save it.
