Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 19th, 2003
If you like a high-energy action/comedy, you have met your match with Bad Boys II. Michael Bay has once again created a wonderful cinematic experience with this film. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have never been funnier; they have the best on-screen chemistry I have seen in a while. This sequel has more action then its predecessor, and is much more graphic… in a good way. Bad Boys was a great film that started Bay’s career, and Bad Boys II continues his legacy of high-energy action flicks.
”The...danger quotient is heightened and so are the laughs in this new installment as Miami narcotics detectives Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith) become part of a high-tech task force assigned to stem the flood of designer ecstasy into Miami. They unwittingly uncover a deadly conspiracy involving ruthless drug lord Hector Tapia, played by Jordi Molla, who is determined to expand his empire and take control of the city's burgeoning narcotics trade, killing anyone who stands in his way.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 17th, 2003
Being a white, middle-class American male, my knowledge of the black struggle with apartheid in South Africa during the latter half of the 20th Century is virtually nil. My exposure to the music that was so instrumental to the success of that movement is even less. With these facts in mind, I was dreading having to review this title, as it is a documentary film covering a subject that I really had very little interest in.
My dread turned to fascination upon sitting down to watch the film, however. This is a... excellent documentary that hits a delicate balance between being informative, entertaining and beautiful. The struggle of the blacks in South Africa is told in a way that helped me to understand the intricacies of the situation in that country far better than anything that I have seen before. The powerful music of the movement is the star of the show here, with text and interview footage used sparingly to fill in the blanks. This fantastic film should be viewed by all Americans, as a reminder of the tragic realities that many people of the world face each day, due to the ignorance and fear of those who are frequently in power.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2003
James Gandolfini is a brilliant actor. He is one of those rare talents that sneak in the back door to show business, hiding in the shadows until the public realizes just what a powerful artist he has always been. I, like many Americans, first began to notice Gandolfini through his work in the immensely successful HBO television series The Soprano’s. In the French/American hybrid film New World, Gandolfini is at top form yet again, playing an American soldier stationed in France in the 1950’s with more ...ime than responsibility.
As with most films you have never heard of, there is a reason why this one may have passed you by. Gandolfini only has a supporting role in this film, which is unfortunate, since he is by far the greatest actor herein. Excepting his performance, this is a film that starts off slow, coasts through the second act, and then finishes with a rousing series of events that made me use the word, “whaaaat?” on several occasions. While the plot seems to be going somewhere at first glance, be forewarned… it isn’t. The film’s bad editing is a perfect compliment to its equally bad script, making for a confusing and pointless film that considers making some daring statements throughout, but in the end makes no statements at all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2003
Henry Turner from the Campus Circle is quoted on the cover of the DVD stating that Loco Love is “The funniest film since ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’” What I would like to ask Henry is “Dude what were you smoking and where can I get some?” This utterly lifeless and unfunny “comedy” is the first of what I would expect to be a long line of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” clones. I mean let’s face it “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” worked because of a great story, great cast and a very funny script. Let’s say that Loco Love falls ... little short – if you want to call a little short zero for three. For a film that is supposed to be dealing with adultery, racism, immigration and class struggle Loco Love definitely falls short of the mark.
The plot is horribly predictable and cliché. It follows the story of Donald, a man who marries into a rich family and through that relationship is able to acquire his own restaurant – his life’s dream. However, when his wife tells him that she’s been unfaithful and is now expecting a child by another man she drops him as fast as the movie studio should have dropped this film. As a result he loses his restaurant. This is followed by a really poor excuse for comedy as they show his failed suicide attempts. As fate would have it, his salvation lies with his Mexican gardener, Miguel, whom he has mistreated in the past with various racial insults. Miguel wins a lottery and wants to bring his sister, Catalina, to the US but she has had immigration difficulties. You can see where this is going. Miguel wants Donald to marry his sister and bring her to the US. Donald reluctantly agrees but predictably begins to fall in love with Catalina and vice versa much to Miguel’s chagrin. Throw in Donald’s ex-wife whom now wants to get back with him and you’ve got the makings of a lack luster Three’s Company episode.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2003
Primus is an enigma wrapped in a funk groove. The band members may come and go (and come again), but bassist Les Claypool stays the same. Seemingly the twisted spawn of Robin Williams and Victor Wooten, Claypool is a fanciful musical genius, an artist so ahead of everybody else that we all know he’s fantastic, but nobody knows exactly why.
Some of those “why’s” are answered on this DVD. It includes a smorgasbord of video clips, which cover what seems to be every single moment that the band has been on film....All of their music videos are included here, as well as some “making of…” segments, rare live performances, home video and broadcast radio performances. The result is the most complete record of Claypool’s body of work yet assembled. Strange, wonderful and sometimes a little creepy, Primus never ceases to push the envelope of popular music, and of sanity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2003
This film is based on a Greek comedy, but I feel like I just watched a Greek tragedy. A Miami Tail is based on the Greek play “Lysistrata”, which tells the story of how a group of women ended war by abstaining from sex with their husbands. It’s not an entirely bad idea for a film, but unfortunately the plot has fallen victim to bad acting and a horrid script, and is helmed by a director with no vision.
I’m not kidding, the acting really is bad. Appalling, in fact. Rapper Trina stars in her first (and...hopefully last) role as the woman who started the “no-sexual” revolution. Her awkward, wooden delivery makes me wonder how she could ever make her living as a wordsmith. Her deplorable skills are matched with those of just about every other actor in the film, resulting in what feels like a High School Drama Department’s presentation of a ghetto revolution film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2003
Soylent Green is an… interesting movie. Its one of the seventies movies that’s funny to look back on and recognize that people in the seventies thought that people in the year 2020 would still be dressing like… people in the seventies. Soylent Green steps beyond the traditional seventies sci-fi flick and into the boundaries of social activism, however, adding a further layer of irony to the film: as an apocalyptic tale its interesting to see how we haven’t traveled down the frightening route envisioned in Soylent Gre...n, and alarming to see how we still could. Not to suggest that in the next 17 years we’ll breed ourselves into oblivion and poison all of the farmland – but the points that the movie makes about resource use and pollution are valid, no matter how exaggerated. What isn’t particularly valid are the movie’s population – at least not in North America. Soylent Green’s out-of-control population visions might be more valid if the film was set in Mexico City or Calcutta perhaps. A more realistic vision of 2020 New York might be of a smaller and grayer populace than today – in any case, I’m rambling, but the point is Soylent Green is entertaining to watch from historical, social, political, and ecological standpoint.
As for the film itself, there’s some great cinematography and some sketchy acting. Check out the opening sequence photo montage – awesome, very well done. Similarly, the movie works well within the filmmaking technology constraints of the time to create a believable 2020 New York. Directory Fleischman has some interesting comments on this in his commentary. Acting is dominated by Charlton Heston, who personally I find to look wooden and contrived most of the time on screen. He does have one of his famous lines though – “Soylent Green is made of People!! Its people!!” My god, it must be in his contracts that he get one ridiculous line per film. His supporting cast is fine – no standout performances to my eye, but all solid.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2003
X2:X Men United is the follow-up film to the original X-men film from 2000. The original film did a good job of setting up the universe of the X-men and introducing us to the core characters that the comic books have always centered around. This film expands on this universe and brings along some of the coolest characters from the comics, this being Pyro, a brief glimpse of Juggernaut and lets not forget Nightcrawler. In this film we see the good and band mutants joining forces to defeat a common enemy. This is a little disappointing as we get to see cool new good characters but not really any super new baddies, but it also keeps the storyline fresh instead of it just being the good mutants versus the bad mutants.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2003
dc Talk mixed up the formula on their “Supernatural” album, trading in their signature hip-hop for a much more progressive sound. The result is what I consider to be their best album to date. While they are not afraid to continue to sprinkle some hip-hop into their work, the majority of the songs are more modern pop and rock based tunes. Their stage show has also come up to date, complete with a sleek stripped down look to the sets.
This disc captures some of the songs performed on the tour, mixed in with i...terview segments and music videos. The result is an “all in one” approach to a DVD title, as the feature and the extras are mixed together to form one major presentation. The result is something easy to watch, yet entirely unique. It is a documentary, of sorts, capturing the band during one short season of their artistic journey. This is the best of the numerous dc Talk DVDs on the market today.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2003
Love him or hate him, you have to admire his freakishly sponge-like brain. Dennis Miller has an amazing gift of recall, creating references so obscure that ABC Sports actually offered an on-line translator on the Tuesday mornings following his stint in the booth for Monday Night Football.
His rants are mostly easy to follow during this one-hour stand up performance, however. In fact, he even pokes fun at his own gift for the obscure early in the show, essentially acknowledging that he may have been too hig...-brow in the past, and he’s going to make it a little more mainstream this time around. There are a few truly big laughs here, but the majority of his material leans more toward mildly humorous and incredibly insightful. His conservative views come across as common sense when presented in his signature witty style. While the material is quite topical (and may be completely irrelevant in just a few years), it is dead on for its time. This is a great opportunity to witness free speech in action, carried out by a man that is completely unconcerned with whom he offends. Miller has strong beliefs, and he is not afraid to share them, a trait far too many of us have forgotten somewhere along the way.
