Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 14th, 2005
In Good Company is a "feel good" movie about the ruthless corporate world. Now, is such a thing possible? Writer/Director Paul Weitz almost pulls it off. The movie stars Dennis Quaid as Dan Foreman, the head of advertising sales for a sports magazine. All goes down the toilet for Dan when the sports magazine is swallowed up my a major media conglomerate. Enter Carter Duryea, played by Topher Grace. Carter is brought in as the new "boss", but he's young and in way over his head. Carter decides to keep Dan...around. There's also a romance too, as Carter hooks up with Dan's daughter Alex (played by the lovely Scarlett Johansson). That's the basic gist.
The performances are all excellent here. Topher Grace seems perfectly cast. Johansson, as always, is a complete delight. But Dennis Quaid really seems to be coming into his own lately in these "older man" roles. Quaid has definite screen presence. David Paymer's performance is also worth noting, as the sad sack long time employee of the magazine.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on May 12th, 2005
Warner Home Video will relesae the 4-disc Collector's Edition of Ben Hur sometime this September. We will report full specs as soon as they are known, but for now, here are some of the extras... scene specific commentary by Charlton Heston, a new documentary, a "Making-of an Epic" Documentary, screen tests and more. Stay tuned.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2005
Based on real events, The Last Shot is a Hollywood comedy about an FBI sting operation. The joke (and the real life event) is that the sting is a Hollywood production. Get it? The sting operation will employ mob level types, who are toughing there way into the movie industry. Will the FBI catch the bad guys? Will this fictional movie get made? Rent it and find out.
Alec Baldwin and Matthew Broderick are the two stars of the film. Baldwin plays Joe Devine, the FBI agent running the opera...ion from the inside. Broderick plays Steven Schats (yes, the last name does sound like that), an aspiring screenwriter. The Last Shot also sports a great supporting cast: Tony Shalhoub, Toni Collette, Ray Liotta, Buck Henry, Tim Black Nelson, Calista Flockheart, and an always hilarious Joan Cusack. It's a great premise for a film. And I was hoping the "real" screenwriters who got duped would've written the screenplay. Jeff Nathanson, a veteran screenwriter but a newbie director, goes for a Get Shorty style satirical Hollywood stab, but also tries to create a quirky comedy. Both attempts are mildly successful. The strength of the film is Broderick and Baldwin. They create characters that, seemingly, are worlds apart. But really, these two men are looking for the same thing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 7th, 2005
Bill Maher - Be More Cynical is a recording of a 2000 performance in San Fransico. Now, the jokes are a bit dated. Monica Lewinsky and George W. Bush, back then, were still prime fodder (in fact Bush still is, but that's beside the point.) This performance lasts just over and hour and is an excellent introduction to Maher's work. He's one of those "edgy" comedians. He rants a lot about religion, drugs, and sex. But Maher's rants are well phrased and his comic timing is well polished. The guy knows how t... tell a joke. If you're a fan of his work, this DVD is a must pick-up. If you're not...well...I guess you won't watch it.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 7th, 2005
So how come a doughy looking white guy like me enjoyed these performances, and didn’t watch a single part of the Martin Scorsese miniseries that covered Blues music? It’s because growing up, the first big musical influence in my life was Jimi Hendrix, so I was a bit familiar with the Electric Blues sound that Jimi had. And names like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and Leadbelly were not new ones to me. And with the help of Led Zeppelin, I also learned about Robert Johnson too.
So while Antoine Fuqua (King Ar...hur) and Scorsese teamed to help revitalize the blues further with a 2003 concert at Radio city music hall, I certainly don’t bear any ill will at them for making blues fashionable or something stupid like that. It’s nice to see more people appreciate some uniquely American music legends for a change. The songs of the above artists, along with others including B.B. King and Billie Holliday are performed by the original artists or modern ones. The list, albeit lengthy, is:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 7th, 2005
Racing Stripes is a “family film” about a zebra (with the original name “Stripes”) who’s only dream is to race with the other horses. Stripes, you see, was abandoned and then rescued by horse farmer Nolan Walsh (played by Bruce Greenwood). Nolan’s younger daughter, Channing (played by Hayden Panettiere), takes the young zebra under her wing, and she helps Stripes realize his dream: to race with the horses. Stripes’ litany of zany friends include a pelican, a lazy bloodhound, flies, roosters, a wise goat, an... some Shetland ponies. That’s the story in a nutshell.
But is the movie any good? Well…the human actors are solid. And the list of voice actors is like a roll call of the star studded. There’s Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Foxworthy, David Spade, Snoop Dogg, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mandy Moore, and Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle himself) as Stripes. What a cast! But what’s the problem? Other than having a live animal’s mouth move in a computer generated manner? That looks a little weird. But, as they say, it all starts with the script.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2005
There are a lot of dumb movies out there. But there's a good kind of dumb and a bad kind of dumb. National Treasure falls into the good dumb category. Nicholas Cage plays Ben Gates, a treasure hunter, an archaeologist I'm really not sure. But his mission is to steal the Declaration of Independence in order to prevent the "bad" archaeologists from taking it. Make sense? There are hidden clues, apparently, in this document which lead to hidden treasure. A treasure Gates' grandfather (played by Christophe... Plummer) told him about when he was a child. In essence, this movie is part Indiana Jones and part Da Vinci's Code.
There are plenty of explosions and chases, no worries there. There's a high level of silliness here, not to mention Scooby Doo logic. But Nicholas Cage is perfectly cast. He is an actor who can walk that fine line between gravity and camp. There's also a love interest and a wise cracking sidekick (played by Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha, respectively). Both performances, particularly Bartha's, take a refreshing crack at the action movie archetypes. Sean Bean is also along for the ride as the main baddie. Bean is always worth watching.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 4th, 2005
Wes Anderson has been a breath of fresh air since he hit the Hollywood scene in 1996 with his first feature length film Bottle Rocket. Since then, Anderson has continued to stretch the imagination of film-goers with fabulous films such Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), and now with The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Anderson’s films are not for every joe-schmo film fan; his work could even be described as an acquired taste. But from a creative and visual perspective,...Wes Anderson’s work stands by itself.
Anderson has a thing for using actors that he is comfortable with, so in The Life Aquatic, we see many return actors from his previous films – Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, & Anjelica Huston. Fresh to this film, and with a good chance of appearing in future Wes Anderson projects, include Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, & Jeff Goldblum. With a cast that reads as a whos-who of Hollywood, how could this film not be entertaining?
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on May 3rd, 2005
Fox Home Entertainment will release an Unrated Edition of the Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn comedy Dodgeball on August 2nd. This disc will be presented in a 1.85 anamorphic widescreen transfer, along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras will include a new joke commentary (with writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber, Ben Stiller & Vince Vaughn), two additional "easter egg" commentary tracks, deleted and extended scenes (with optional commentary), an alternate ending, a blooper reel, four featurettes ("...ustin Long: A Study in Ham & Cheese," "Dodgeball Boot Camp: Training for the Dodgeball," "Dodgeball: Go for the Gold" & "The Anatomy of a Hit"), and more.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 2nd, 2005
Starting way back with The Simpsons, working up to King of the Hill, growing into Futurama & Family Guy, and now spawning American Dad, Fox sure does know the market of primetime animated TV; and the driving force behind the huge popularity of these shows comes down to DVD releases such as this. Not only have more fans come out of the woodwork since the incarnation of TV on DVD releases, these fans have also driven Fox to push forward with this genre of programming.
K...ng of the Hill was Fox’s second foray into the primetime animated marketplace. While it will never reach the levels of success that The Simpsons has, it will still live on for years as the best Redneck animated show on TV. You’ve just gotta love this show. The characters are hilarious with their off-beat behavior, and the storylines are all so bizarre that they are oddly captivating. Season three continues to tell the story of Hank Hill, his family, and his friends/neighbors. From lawn mower focus group to deer huntin’ dilemmas, Hank and those who surround him will keep you laughing all the way though the season.
