Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Knowing that Stormy Weather is the title of a song that helped vault Lena Horne (The Wiz) into celebrity fandom, I had very little other ideas about her. But the cool thing that I discovered while watching the film is that, for the age of this film, it’s better than anyone would possibly think.
Horne plays Selina Rogers, a beautiful talented singer who was dating the head of an entertainment show that came through New York. She catches the eye of Bill (Bill “Bojangles” Robin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 3rd, 2006
Harry Belafonte stars as an ambitious young politician, who refuses to fear the white majority that holds a foothold over his island home, in Island in the Sun. Along the way, he strikes up a romance with Joan Fontaine. Incidentally, we are supposed to believe Ms. Fontaine’s character is younger than Belafonte’s, despite the fact that she looks ten years older. Dorothy Dandridge also stars as a pharmacy clerk, who falls in love with the white aide to the island’s governor. If this seems like it’s all over the ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2006
I would be a fool if I downplayed Tracey Ullman’s talent. She is a woman with anomalous abilities that most performers couldn’t dream of acquiring. She is an accomplished singer, a chameleon-like comedienne, and a serious actress – all in one unbelievable package with a multitude of awards to verify her capabilities. She’s also quite attractive when the light hits her a certain way, but she has a knack for too often burying that beauty under clever disguises. All these features result in a performer, who can do just ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2006
In the era of the popularity of documentaries, it seems that everywhere we look a new documentary is coming out about another subject. From Michael Moore’s look into the Bush administration’s ties with the Sauds in Fahrenheit 911, to the recent look into the world of penguins in March of the Penguins, each documentary holds something special as they bring us to a world we may have never known if it not for these filmmakers. One of the more special documentaries in recent time is an extremely powerful na...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
Synopsis
I never thought that a 90 minute documentary surrounding one joke could be so entertaining. And for all the praise that critics have heaped onto The Aristocrats, I was curious to see what the hype was. The film’s creators, comedians Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller) spend the time interviewing many different comedians, and all of them share their thoughts about the joke. But it does a little more than that. Along with various versions of the joke, there is a deconstruction...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
I will be honest and inform you that I have yet to like a video game based film since 1995’s Mortal Kombat. It seems that no matter how closely they try to follow the story based on the game, the director always fails. One of the more famous director’s in the video-game to movie based series is director Uwe Boll, who has brought us The House of the Dead and the recent Bloodrayne, These movies, as the popular consensus agrees, were extremely awful. They lacked anything redeeming, despite the orig...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
Synopsis
Disney has released a DVD that appears to be part of a compilation, and provided some karaoke subtitles and marketing it as a sing-along entitled “You Can Fly”. With animated (but dated) introductions by Disney characters, the songs featured are from such films as Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins and Dumbo.
For those who enjoyed Disney films in previous years, some of the obscure songs (along with some of the more popular ones) have been resurrected on ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
If you aren’t familiar with what Roll Bounce is, you will be pleasantly surprised by some of the tricks this small coming-of-age film pulls out of its hat. I expected horrendous acting, a poorly written script, and a story that cared more about racially motivated laughs than honesty. What I got was just the opposite. First of all, the film’s success begins and ends with a top-drawer screenplay that perfectly captures teen angst as well as the fears and traumas of growing up. Not something one would expect abou...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 31st, 2006
Yesterday is a powerful tale of the title character’s struggle to survive AIDS long enough to see her young daughter Beauty start school. Yesterday – named by her father because, in his opinion, yesterday was much better than today – lives for her young daughter. Her husband works in the mines of Johannesburg and carries a deadly secret, which, by the start of the film, has already entered his wife’s bloodstream. Through it all, Yesterday keeps bright spirits and a smile across her face. She only loses it when...
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on January 31st, 2006
Paramount Home Entertainment will finally release the Special Collector's Edition of the Tom Cruise action flick Mission: Impossible on April 11th. This disc will be presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras will include seven featurettes ("40 Years of Creating the Impossible," "Explosive Exploits," "Spies Among Us," "Catching the Train," "International Spy Museum," "Generation: Cruise," & "Agent Dossiers"), a Stanley Kubrick Award f...
