Posted in: Game Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2003
Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven continues the adventures of Rikimaru, and his ongoing battle with the evil sorcerer Tenrai, taking place one year after the original Tenchu. This time there is 3 playable characters, Rikimaru along with Ayame, and Tesshu (doctor by day, assassin by night). Fans of the first 2 original Tenchu games have nothing to worry about as developer K2 has improved upon every aspect of the game.
Graphics
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2003
The Hills are back! Hank, Peggy, Bobby and Luanne have returned for more down home shenanigans. After a successful first season that followed in the footsteps of the Simpsons, King of the Hill was a surprising hit from the creative mind of Mike Judge, formerly responsible for the heavy metal antics of Beavis and Butthead. The second series picks up where series one left off albeit with improved writing and further exploration of the characters. I particularly like the characterization of Hank as a true redneck – ... particularly sexually inhibited redneck at that.
There are some great moments in the second season that continued to define the pathological relationships between the Hill family – from the twisted father/son relationship that blossoms due to Bobby’s uncanny accuracy at shooting things which then allows us some insight into Hank’s own poor relationship with his war-vet father. There are some classic digs into American life as one episode gives us a little more background into Luanne as she is returned to the trailer park from whence she came, in time for the trailer park to be hit by a tornado. While this is happening, Dale’s wife, Nancy the TV weather girl, comments on air, “Why is it that tornado’s always hit trailer parks?”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2003
Synopsis
George and all his pals return for this second installment in the George of the Jungle Series…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2003
Go up front and live with one of music’s fasting rising young stars. Then follow her behind the scenes and find out what she is like in real life.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 21st, 2003
Many people would argue that T3: Rise of the Machines should never have been made; a new director, an unknown storyline, and a new actor playing John Connor. Others could not wait to see Arnie suit up as the Terminator one last time. Sure, the Rise of the Machines plot is somewhat questionable, but you sure do get a bunch of action packed into this film.
Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role of the big, bad, funny (yet not knowingly) terminator… but this time he is in for his biggest challenge yet, fa...ing off against a female terminator. Kristanna Loken does a good job as the newest Terminator, and the rest of the cast do an adequate job as well. This film may not hold a candle to the first two films in this series, it is still extremely entertaining to watch.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2003
The eighth season of the X-files brought major changes to one of Fox’s strongest running series. And whenever major changes occur there is always a concern about what is going to happen to the integrity of the show. By the end of the 7th season the worries about what David Duchovny was going to do left fans of the show in limbo. Luckily, the creative team behind the X-files (one of the best in television history) was up to the task.
The season opened with the introduction to Agent Fox Mulder’s replace...ent – John Doggett (Robert Patrick – best known as the lethal liquid metal T-1000 from T2). There was an initial great exchange between Scully and Doggett in which she throws a cup of water in Doggett’s face. The writers anticipated that this is exactly what the fans would have wanted to happen (how dare they replace Mulder?). Doggett was a great contrast to Mulder – a complete straight shooter and team player. A very similar premise reminiscent of the first season was replayed with a reversal of roles – Dogget was the skeptic and Scully was the believer. In addition a second addition to the cast occurred early with the appearance of Agent Monica Reyes – a true believer in the purpose of the X-Files with a weird new age feel about her that added some levity to Doggett’s “straight by the book” attitude. Scully was transformed throughout the season as her pregnancy progressed with worries about not only the health of her unborn child but also questions about its genetic make-up. How alien would it be? And what are the implications of its birth?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 17th, 2003
Just before the release of their eponymous second album, Portishead gathered at the historical Roseland Ballroom for their first ever performance in New York City. The band brought a film crew along for this special concert. It was a show that featured not only the first performance of much of the new album, but also the added attraction of playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The result is a brilliant and haunting presentation of all things Portishead. This legendary disc should be required viewing for ...ll fans of trip-hop, and for film students everywhere.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2003
“Let’s go kick some Christmas butt!” When these are the climactic words spoken by Santa Claus prior to his Christmas Eve trip using a flying ice cream truck instead of his sleigh, you know you’re in trouble. A Freezerburnt Christmas is easily the worst Christmas movie I have ever seen and would challenge any reader to find a worse holiday film. Even though it is only 22 minutes long, I was frustrated by the fact that I’m never going to get those 22 minutes back. This was a stop-motion cartoon but let’s face it – the...classics were stop-motion “Rudoph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman” to name two, but they were classics because they were made in the 60’s and stop-motion may have reached perfection at that point…almost 40 years ago!
<p Freezerburnt is an ice cream vendor that happens upon a plan by an evil toy tycoon to oust Santa and supply the world’s children with toys made by his company. As it happens the tycoon’s name is Sualc Atnas (otherwise known as Santa Claus backwards…ouch…they actually paid someone to come up with this stuff) and has a striking resemblance to Sadam Hussein. I don’t know if that was intentional or not but it’s pretty bad. Anyways Atnas breaks into the local science professor’s home and steals his prototype gravity generator to use it to ground Santa’s reindeer. How diabolical! He then wants to get Santa’s magic flying powder to use his own vehicle to disperse his toys on Christmas Eve.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2003
“Say hello to my little friend!”
This is just one of the many cultural references that have come out of Brian DePalma’s 1983 epic film, Scarface. Al Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee that arrives in the United States with nothing, and leaves with everything. It’s a story about the American Dream, about excess, and about ambition. A fantastic supporting cast (including Michelle Pfeiffer, F. Murray Abraham and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), and a script by Oliver Stone makes Scarface one of the...greatest gangster films of all time.
