Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on October 27th, 2005
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose in separate rated (119 min.) & unrated (121 min.) editions on December 20th December. Each version will include a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras will include three featurettes ("Genesis of the Story," "Casting the Film" & "Visual Design").
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2005
Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. When is the last time you heard those two names? I'll bet it has been quite some time. Lundgren is the poor man's Schwarzenegger, and Van Damme is best known as the Canadian action superstar that is long on physical talent, but horrid at dialog. These two team up in Universal Soldier, a film that is filled with as much action as possible, with as little actual story as possible. This is the action film equivalent of pornography... give the viewers what they want, and a...d a little story in at the end to loosely tie together all of the set pieces.
The story involves two excellent Vietnam-era solders, who die on the battlefield and are reincarnated as... what?...zombie soldiers?... many years later to become super-soldiers. Unfortunately, the two gradually gain some of their memory back from their past lives, remember that they don't like each other, and go to war. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, a girl shows up. I was really shocked to see how much of this film was "borrowed" from the original Terminator film. For mindless action, this film has plenty of it. Just don't expect to go into this and find anything resembling a cohesive plot.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2005
Synopsis
India, 1938. Dissolute ex-pat Brit George Brent is amused when old flame Myrna Loy, now married to an aging aristocrat, arrives, but is less amused when he sees her set her sights on Indian doctor Tyrone Power (all done up in dark make-up). Power is so decent that Brent doesn’t want him corrupted. But it soon turns out that Loy really loves Power, as she demonstrates by helping selflessly after the city is savaged by torrential rains, flooding and an earthquake.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2005
Wooden monologues, bad jokes, revolting fashions and way, way too much hair. I wish I could say that this means one thing... but it means a lot of things. In this case, however, I am talking about Tony Orlando and Dawn. Now, the quality of Orlando's rich voice is undeniable. My bone to pick is with virtually every other aspect of this cheese fest. At the time in the 70's, it seemed like everybody had their own variety show. Such a thing could be a big boon to a performer's career, so you certainly can't fault ...rlando for signing on for such deal. Part music show, part comedy sketch show, marginal celebrity guests... it's like the Smothers Brothers show without actually being any good.
If you like the songs, the majority of the musical numbers are actually pretty good. The real disappointment is the simply horrid skits. Two to three minutes of buildup to one lame punchline? Really? Nobody thought this was a bad idea?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2005
Synopsis
In his mansion and forested estate, a rock star (played by Michael Pitt and named Blake, but obviously supposed to be Kurt Cobain) wanders about in a terminal drug stupor. Hangers on, business associates, Mormons and salesmen besiege him, but his flees human contact, withdrawing completely into himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2005
Wooden monologues, bad jokes, revolting fashions and way, way too much hair. I wish I could say that this means one thing... but it means a lot of things. In this case, however, I am talking about Tony Orlando and Dawn. Now, the quality of Orlando's rich voice is undeniable. My bone to pick is with virtually every other aspect of this cheese fest. At the time in the 70's, it seemed like everybody had their own variety show. Such a thing could be a big boon to a performer's career, so you certainly can't fault ...rlando for signing on for such deal. Part music show, part comedy sketch show, marginal celebrity guests... it's like the Smothers Brothers show without actually being any good.
If you like the songs, the majority of the musical numbers are actually pretty good. The real disappointment is the simply horrid skits. Two to three minutes of buildup to one lame punchline? Really? Nobody thought this was a bad idea?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2005
It is always a shame when unknown filmmakers take a page fromthe popular filmmaking techniques of the day. For this film, the model is part Run Lola Run, part Bend it Like Beckham. The similarities to Lola are plentiful, complete with the rapid still-frame snapshots that were that film's trademark. The plot is Beckham-esque, featuring a small-town soccer team, a new star player, and love.
This film is the very definition of “low budget”. It seems to me that if you are going to have...a film about a soccer star, you should actually be able to afford to shoot some shots of a game or two. The sad thing is, there are games depicted in the film, but instead of going to all the hassle of gathering together multiple players and uniforms, the games consist of showing the same couple of abstract jumping scenes over and over again. Even the film's start looks like a poor man's Seal, complete with giant gap teeth and markings on his cheeks.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2005
I was dreading watching this DVD. Hmmm...indy film, Sundance film, a woman "coming out" to her family film. This had all the hallmarks of arty and annoying. Thankfully, Saving Face is not like that at all. Michelle Krusiac plays "Wil", a surgeon, who falls hard for Vivian (Lynn Chen), a ballet dancer. Complications arise because Vivian is the daughter of Wil's boss. Yes, there are some screwball comedy elements. But it's all tastefully done. Joan Chen (what has she done since Twin Peaks) does a n...ce turn as Ma.
Alice Wu writes and directs the film. She shows a steady hand in both areas. The movie verges over into "feel good" territory, but this seems to be on par for the genre. Saving Face has a certain charm, and garners strong performances from the lead actors. Well done
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2005
The Battle of Britain was a famous turning point in the World War Two theatre. The movie, Battle of Britain, was brought to your home theatre a few years ago. This single disc edition, with very few features, seemingly cried out for more. Now we have it in Battle of Britain: Collectors Edition, 2 discs of military goodness.
The film itself has spectacle. The planes used for this film helped create an air force equal to a medium sized country. No CGI here. The director is Guy Hamilton (b...st known for early James Bond films). Battle of Britain is one of those large all star cast war movies (think of A Bridge Too Far) that was made popular in the late 60's/early 70's. This movie is all Brits however (with a sprinLing of Germans). Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson, Robert Shaw, Laurence Olivier, and many others take part in the action. The film has a few flaws. There are some phony photography shots and the dramatic construction is a bit sloppy. There’s an attempt at a romantic sub-plot (featuring Christopher Plummer and Susannah York), and thankfully it’s not as damn annoying as the love plots in Pearl Harbor. But I quibble.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 23rd, 2005
The 80's was the time of the birth of the mindless action movie. The popularity of this type of film has waned somewhat in recent years, but at the time such movies were all the rage. Perhaps the mother of all mindless action flicks came from 80's film darling Sylvester Stallone, with the ashamedly-fun Rambo series. The first film in this series, First Blood, has recently been released on UMD for Sony's PSP entertainment system.
This is a fitting decision, as the PSP has begun something of a renaissanc... in the over-the-top action flicks of the 80's. Such films are a perfect match for the PSP, as viewers will most likely be watching these movies on the go. Films with lots of action and an easy to follow plot allow viewers to watch a film spread out over three or four different occasions, yet still be entertained.
