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12 Monkeys (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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12 Monkeys tells the story of a man named James Cole (16 Blocks Bruce Willis) who is sent back in time from the year 2035 to the year 1996 in hopes of saving the human race from a deadly virus which has forced mankind into total seclusion from the above world. Down below the ground, they live in communities hoping one day to come out and start a new world. Once he arrives, Cole encounters a patient named Jeffrey Goines (Troy’s Brad Pitt) and a psychiatrist named Kathryn Railly (We Were Soldier…
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Spartacus (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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Stanley Kubrick’s ultra famous epic Spartacus tells of the story of a man named Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) who decided to defy and lead an uprising against the Roman empire. Spartacus, naturally a slave, is beaten in early scenes for biting a guard’s leg after falling down. He is sentenced to death for this. Before his death, a man named Batiatus decided to train Spartacus as a fighting gladiator. As many now know, gladiators were trained for two reasons, the first being to fight to the death, and the second as …
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Four Brothers (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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With impressive urban dramas under his belt, John Singleton sets out to create another classic. Boyz n The Hood is always associated with this genre, in terms of quality it remains a classic drama. Four Brothers doesn’t attempt a serious get out of the hood type movie, but rather an action film with serious themes and tones. Well that’s not to say that there isn’t a laugh or two in here, because there sure is.

It’s a cold November night in Detroit; Evelyn Mercer enters a convenience store to …
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Comeback – The Complete Only Season, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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I have to be honest. An HBO series about a fake reality series starring Lisa Kudrow hot-off-the-heels of Friends did not appeal to me as a worthy expenditure of time. And it does take a bit for the show to get started. However, as with other HBO comedies that deal in quirkiness and irritability (see Curb Your Enthusiasm), The Comeback – The Complete Only Season manages to press just the right amount of buttons to keep you watching. Now on DVD, and featuring all thirteen episodes, this show’s …
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Big Love – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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Synopsis

Bill Paxton is a polygamist. He and his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin) and their children live in three adjoined houses, and must constantly be careful not to let the secret of their lifestyle be revealed. That might be stress enough, but Paxton is having trouble keeping up on the sexual front, there is tension and competition between the wives (Tripplehorn is the alpha, Sevigny is manipulative and a shopaholic, Goodwin is insecure), and one of his fathe…
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Black Rain

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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Synopsis

Michael Douglas is a familiar figures: The Hard-Bitten Cop Who Plays By His Own Rules. He is currently under investigation by Internal Affairs. When he and partner Andy Garcia witness a Yakuza killing and nab the killer, they are tasked with escorting him back to Japan. They have barely landed when they lose him, and are pared up with straight-arrow Osaka cop Ken Takakura in the search to track the villain down again. Douglas and Takakura, as expected, engage in considerable culture clashing.
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Phat Girlz

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2006

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Phat Girlz is one rotten piece of crap. I hate to say it that way, but some movies don’t deserve the flowery lambasting some more deserving bad films get from their critics. They should simply be called what they are. That’s why I equate this film with the “c” word. Mo’Nique stars as a plus-sized hypocrite, who seems to have the same prejudgments about “skinny bitches” as they seem to have about her – in the confines of the film, that is. Overweight people are given a saintly presence, while most everyone…
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Goldfinger (Region 2)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2006

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Synopsis

Of all the Bond films and the various images and gadgets that have come from it through 20 films, the one that probably crystallized most of these images is Goldfinger. You have the awesome Aston Martin car with the ejector seat, machine guns, and the like. You had the female who could kick ass and had a really cool name in Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman, Bridget Jones’s Diary). And you had Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton, Ten Little Indians) experiencing the most creative death to…
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Ghost Whisperer – The Complete First Season

Posted in 1.78:1 Widescreen, Box Set, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), DVD, Paramount, Television by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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”My name is Melinda Gordon. I just got married, just moved to a small town, just opened up an antique shop. I might be just like you…except from the time that I was a little girl I knew that I could talk to the dead. ‘Earthbound spirits’, my Grandmother called them. The ones who’ve not crossed over because they have unfinished business with the living, and they come to me for help. To tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.”

So goes the opening for each episode of this first season of Ghost Whisperer, a series that blends drama, horror and comedy to carry its audience to an emotional place.
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Mission: Impossible III (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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With all that’s been going on with Tom Cruise as of late, I found myself doubting the integrity of this picture. I was fearful that the happenings of Cruise’s personal life would somehow bring down this movie; the previous two films did set the bar pretty high. So how did the third installment add up, did it fall short of expectations, or did it deliver beyond what I expected?

MI:III doesn’t hesitate a minute to bring us suspense, the picture begins with Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) having Et…
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Hellbent

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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OK, let’s just get this out of the way at the start. Hellbent is a film from a cable network called Here!, which is America’s foremost gay and lesbian television network. Consequently, this made-for-TV film is based solely around homosexual couples, as is all of the programming on the network. They make all manner of programming, including feature films, that deal primarily with homosexuality.

Now, here is my complaint. If you want to make programming that has homosexuals in it, I’m fine with that.
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Glory Road

Posted in 2.35:1 Widescreen, Buena Vista, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 2.0 (French), Dolby Digital 2.0 (Spanish), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Drama, DVD by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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Synopsis

Don Haskins may not be as well-known as Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, or other historical figures that have helped integrate sports with black players, but the impact that Haskins had on college basketball is arguably more significant than any coaching strategy could have possibly introduced, and it’s those events for which Haskins was at the helm that unfold in Glory Road, which some have unfairly labeled as producer Jerry’s Bruckheimer’s basketball equivalent to Remember the Titans.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2006

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Whichever generation you’re from I think we can all remember watching this movie as a child. I have great memories of this film, and when watching the newly released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I found myself comparing it to these memories. Finally I’ve gotten the chance to sit down and watch it again for the first time in years, and on HD DVD what a treat, so how does it hold up after all these years?

The movie centers on a young boy named Charlie Bucket, living with his mother and bedridden…
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Polar Express, The (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2006

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We’ve all been at that age where we begin to challenge the thought of how just one man could travel around the world in one night. This inevitable dilemma has been showcased nearly every year in a motion picture, so how does The Polar Express stack up against them?

Based on the 1985 short story written by Chris Van Allsburg, Robert Zemekis and Tom Hanks set out to make a memorable Christmas classic. Besides producing, Hanks voiced a numerous amount of the characters encountered throughout the film. Th…
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Thing, The (1982) (HD DVD)

Posted in 2.35:1 Widescreen, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (French), HD-DVD, Suspense / Thriller, Universal by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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Synopsis

(What can I say, I’m a lazy bastard, so I’ve liberally borrowed from my earlier review of this disc, which can also be found on the site, save for the audio and video information.)

John Carpenter can be hit or miss on some of the things he’s done in his career. Vampires may be a good case in point. In his version of The Thing, remade from Howard Hawks’ 1950’s classic, he doesn’t focus on the creature as much as the relationship between the men in the camp, and how th…
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La Femme Nikita – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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Written By Jeff Mardo

I never got into La Femme Nikita, but I can certainly appreciate it. This was a breakthrough series that defined the modern spy and con genres for both television and film. The show was just a bit too 80’s for me. It sometimes took itself too seriously, like a rerun of Airwolf. When you really stop and think about what is going on in some of these episodes, the whole thing is just a bit silly.

However, there are people who love this show, and I can respect that. Season five was the show’s last, …
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Deadfall

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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Synopsis

Michael Caine is a jewel thief recruited by Eric Portman and wife Giovanna Ralli for a big job. Caine falls in love with Ralli, but that’s fine with Portman, who’s gay. There are yet more secrets that he has yet to reveal, however, and they could jeopardise the success of the partnership.

As an example of how not to make a thriller, this is hard to beat. John Barry is undoubtedly one of the great film score composers, but the music should support the film, and not the other way aro…
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Out of Sight (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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Steven Soderbergh’s film Out of Sight tells the story of a man named Jack Foley (E.R.’s George Clooney) and his ability to rob banks. As the film opens up, we see Jack as he cunningly convinces the bank clerk that his partner is speaking to the bank manager and will blow off his head if Jack gives the word. Turns out that this is the exact opposite and Jack almost gets away had his car not flooded. As Jack is doing his time in jail, we immediately learn that he is going to escape soon, actually that nig…
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Mission: Impossible III

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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It’s been a decade since Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible hit theatres to box office success, established a new blockbuster franchise and added ‘action hero’ to Tom Cruise’s résumé. In 2000, John Woo’s highly stylized follow-up raised the franchise to new box office heights. This year, the long-awaited third installment arrived amidst controversy about Tom Cruise’s crazy off-screen antics.

M:i:III’s U.S. box office take suffered from the public backlash to its headliner’s whacky rants and questionable actions.
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Rocky Horror PIcture Show/ Shock Treatment

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006

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Synopsis

Staid middle-class couple Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) wind up, one stormy night, at the gothic mansion of the cross-dressing Dr. Frank N. Further (Tim Curry). Many songs and sexual awakenings ensue. Seriously, people, if you are reading this and require a summary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, then the movie is probably not for you. Shock Treatment, however, is less well-known. Once again we have Brad and Janet (this time played by Cliff De Young and J…
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Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006

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When the idea came to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, many wondered why would this need to be done? What in the world could be accomplished that Willy hadn’t previously done? Naturally that never stops Hollywood from making a film now does it? Thankfully, Warner Brothers decided to hire a feasible director in the visionary Tim Burton to helm this remake. Having made such previous visual masterpieces including The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences knew they were in for quite the …
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Highly Defined – The World of High Definition

Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on October 23rd, 2006

(In my best John Lennon sound-alike voice)I’m so tired…

Forgive the drowsiness, I’ll do what I can with what I have. The big news is that Sony has apparently postponed their Blu-Ray player yet again, from late October (this week I believe) to early December. Perhaps this was done to strike on both flanks with the PS3 furor, perhaps they’re still trying to get the bugs out of the machine. At this point, it’s anybody’s guess. In other hardware related news, Samsung has released a firmware upgrade (their first…
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The Butterfly Effect 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 23rd, 2006

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The Butterfly Effect 2 is a direct-to-video release, and for good reason. While the original film was a surprise hit back in 2004, this sequel is nothing more than a quick cash-in.

At least, that’s what I thought I’d be writing for this review. I definitely had low expectations for this film, especially since while I’ve heard good things about the original, I’ve yet to see it, and I still question its somewhat-acclaimed reputation. So surely this sequel must be a piece of junk, right? But it’s not.
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Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs & Blockbusters

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2006

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Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs & Blockbusters is all about the magic of movies. It’s about doing it right and doing it wrong, and how there’s no sure thing. This HBO documentary doesn’t get very technical about making films, but it certainly does get personal with some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters.

Through a well-crafted collection of interviews and clips from some of the best and worst movies of American cinema, this documentary brings us the perspectives of folks like Steven Spielberg, George Clooney…
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Little Man (Loaded with Extra Crap Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2006

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I must admit that I fully expected to hate this film. Turns out, I didn’t. The truth is, Little Man, the latest comedy from the Wayans brothers, is too harmless for such a vehement reaction.

Sure, Little Man is not very good, but if you can manage to check your brain at the door, you’ll probably get some laughs out of it. Then again, they’re probably the same laughs you had watching the trailer. My problem with comedy like this is that it’s really much better suited to short sketches than feature films.

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