Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 7th, 2006
Ahh, Moonlighting. For people of my generation, this may be the golden age of television. That's not to take anything away from I Love Lucy or The Andy Griffith Show, but when you grew up in the 80's, there was this, L. A. Law and Miami Vice. For my money, Moonlighting was the best of the three. Even by today's standards, it is extremely rare to find a show such as this. A genuine drama/mystery program that succeeds in being very, very funny. The fact is, the entire show was ...uilt around the skill of a new actor on the scene named Bruce Willis, and had he been anything less than stellar in every single scene that he was in, the program would have crashed and burned. Suffice to say, the show soared. Cybill Shepard was both beautiful and clumsy, and quirky character work by Allyce Beasley and Curtis Armstrong filled in the supporting plotlines, but it was Willis who stole the show every week. By the time the series ended, he had made himself a superstar.
Season Three may very well be the best season of this shows five year run. On the one hand, the early introductions and quirks of the first season had been worked out. On the other hand, we are still in the midst of the brilliant episodes that came before David and Maddie took the plunge, so to speak. These episodes are the cream of the crop. If you are thinking about trying out this series to see if it is for you, Season Three actually might not be that bad of a place to start. It's cheaper that the combined Seasons One and Two release, and you don't necessarily need the back story to dive right in and have fun.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2006
Ever since making the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Director Peter Jackson has almost become a household name that seems to always guarantee success. Don’t get me wrong though, Jackson has not always been successful. Before making the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson had the film The Frighteners and a few smaller films where he only produced. The idea of giving this not so successful movie director hundreds of millions of dollars to remake the Lord of the Rings trilogy, made many turn their...heads simply wondering why. But, after the gigantic success of the trilogy, Jackson targeted another remake, a remake to a film he says was the reason he wanted to become a film director. The film in question is the 1933 classic King Kong
When news first arrived of this remake, many fans, including myself, were very excited to see what Jackson could come up with. However, I don’t need to spell out how many remakes, including the recent Pink Panther, are extremely horrid. With the news coming out that Universal wanted Jackson to trim the film down (from the final run time of 182 minutes to 140 for a quicker turn around audience) and that the film’s budget had sky-rocketed forcing Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh to fork over their money, a lot of fans started to worry if Peter Jackson’s King Kong was going to go down in history as simply another poorly made remake. Can a one-time nobody director, now an extremely famous director turn a black and white classic into a modern age epic? Read on to find out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Let me tell you a story. Back in 1904, I used to be in the Army. For 3 glorious years, I went to the office every day from 9 to 4:30 (with an hour and a half for lunch), typing up and processing awards and various evaluation reports and generally doing the best job I could. When I had to, I went out for field training and would (for lack of a better phrase) “play Army”, where I would sit in a communications center for 8 hours at a time, checking to see if the radios worked occasionally.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Well, a Terry Gilliam children’s film might seem like a bit of an oxymoron, however writing a film with fellow Monty Python alum Michael Palin actually resulted in a funny, and even philosophical film, reflecting on themes of good and evil.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 4th, 2006
Not only is HBO not afraid of controversial programming, they actually embrace it. It is widely believed that the two topics that cause the most tension among people is politics and religion. Maybe that's why abortion is such a hot-button issue. No other topic simultaneously evokes such strong political and theological views. Solders in the Army of God is an HBO original documentary that takes a close look look at the "Army of God" organization, the most violent anti-abortion group in the United States.
Now, my interest is not to share my personal beliefs on the subject of abortion, or to try to persuade others to share my viewpoints. My sole aim here is to comment on the quality of the film, which I will gladly do. This is a short but extremely powerful film that provides an incredibly insightful look into this frightening organization. By definition, the Army of God is a terrorist organization, and though this film was originally shot in 2000, it provides invaluable insight into the mind of a terrorist and the beliefs of a terrorist organization in the 21st century climate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2006
Neil Gaiman’s Mirrormask is just the sort of mixed bag I expected. While parts are mesmerizing and the performance of Stephanie Leonidas is a joy in itself, the plot fails to make room for credibility when it’s desperately needed. The holes left behind from this weak story cause the film to masquerade as art while carefully avoiding admission to what it really is – a product of sloppy writing. Gaiman is a talented scribe, but with Mirrormask, he’s dangerously close to believing his own hype. Judging fro... the work, it’s as if he’s looking back at his own accomplishments and thinking his minions of fans will like whatever he first puts down on paper; and for the most part, I think his hunch will prove correct. But that doesn’t mean it’s good just because his followers refuse to see the fault. It’s not that his words and sentences aren’t impressive. They are. No one can fault the man’s abilities with the mechanics of the language, but on issues of plotting, it’s as though he came up with three-quarters of a good story and refused to develop it to completion. Of course, the excuse for such disjointedness is that he’s attempting to create a dreamlike quality with the work. He does succeed, but he gives up too much ground when it comes to credibility.
Still, Mirrormask is not a bad film. The imagination, which goes into every aspect of the feature, is wild and vividly rendered. The effects are spectacular and proof an eye candy piece can be made for less than $5 million. The one-eyeball spiders, the black mass of destruction, the vicious four-legged riddle-loving creatures with human faces – all these characters are rendered beautifully, and do a great job of appealing to older children on the cusp of junior high or high school. And I admire the way Gaiman doesn’t underestimate his audience’s intelligence. At its core, the film has a positive and useful message for kids, and it’s able to relate it without talking down to them. Last but not least, Leonidas will hypnotize you with her grace and beauty. She emits a sexuality that will disturb older viewers until they discover she’s really in her early twenties. But that speaks even more of her talent. Here she is, playing a convincing adolescent, while still oozing sensuality. She’s a talented young actress, who will leave you with some bizarre feelings. To borrow a line from Steve Carrell’s sexually charged boss in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, she will haunt your dreams.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2006
Every so often, an idea for a movie, mini-series or TV show becomes so hot that multiple projects are given the green-light, even though the subject matter is very similar. Remember Dante’s Peak and Volcano in 1997? Murder at 1600 and Absolute Power the same year? Deep Impact and Armageddon in 1998?
Now comes ABC’s mini-series, Empire and HBO’s on-going series, Rome. Both were high budgeted, epic projects about ancient Rome, and both networks strived ...o get on the air first. ABC eventually won, airing Empire over the summer of 2005. However, HBO had the last laugh as Rome gained momentum in its fall 2005 run and was rewarded with a second season to be aired sometime in 2007.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2006
Week-End in Havana manages to entertain, but not by way of its musical numbers. For one, the songwriting is relatively lame and dated. Also, singing isn’t a forte for any of the performers. While Carmen Miranda certainly has a screen presence and a dynamic personality, her voice remains scratchy and flat – and she’s the best vocalist the film has to offer. But that doesn’t condemn it by any means. With films such as these that manage to function well as straight romance, the inclusion of musical numbers is mor... annoying than anything. Of course, without the numbers, Week-End would barely have cracked the one-hour running time mark. But at least all that remained would have been worthwhile. Once you do manage to cut through the padding of song-and-dance routines, the story provides a few nice surprises in the viewer’s journey. Instead of “will-they-or-won’t-they,” the film focuses on the question of “how will they?,” and it keeps things intriguing along that pathway.
John Payne plays leading man to Alicia Faye’s leading lady… but it’s not easy to tell this at first. Payne seems happy in his engagement, and Faye’s department store associate persona feels more than a little pathetic. She’s traveling to Havana alone, using Payne’s cruise liner company as her means of transportation. After an unforeseen occurrence ruins her trip, she plays hardball with the liner to get a free trip to Havana. But she won’t sign the waiver, which exonerates the company of any damages, until her vacation is in the bag, which means Payne has to come along for the ride. Contrived? Yes, but it’s also fun to see the complications that wait. Week-End in Havana is pure escapist fun in the nostalgic Jimmy Buffett sense of the words, and I’m sure no doubt influenced the great troubadour of beach and party tunes in his own professional journey.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 2nd, 2006
Originally released in 1997, The Next Step is one of those coming of age dance films that became so popular in the late 90's. Usually, that alone would be enough to put me off the film, but as I am a reviewer, I was forced to dig deeper. Unfortunately for me, there really isn't anywhere deeper to go. The genre pretty much dictates the plot.
For those who dare to actually be concerned with said plot, I really can't say it any better than it is already stated on the back of the box. Specifically, this ...ilm “tells of how a womanizing, arrogant dancer gets his just desserts and learns the hard way to treat his partners with more respect.” Seriously, how many hundreds of films have been made with this premise? Better films. Films helmed by talented directors. Honestly, I think I would rather sit through an entire season of Fame than to have to watch this horrible thing again. At least Fame has some of those “so bad it's good” moments. This thing is just uncomfortably embarrassing.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 1st, 2006
Just so you all know - UPCD is undergoing a big redesign right now. In addition to a new aesthetic treatment, there will be a tonne of great new features added and functionality improvements - long needed things like spam filters on comments, for instance. Also, DVD Battle will return to review pages, along with renewed and reinvigorated hardware and game reviews sections.
So, stay tuned! And if you have any comments or suggestions, please email me at rod@upcomingdiscs.com....Also, if you'd like a sneak preview of the new site, drop me a line, and I'll hook you up!
