Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 18th, 2004
Synopsis
Robert Wagner (yes indeed) is Prince Valiant, son of a deposed Viking king. Sent toCamelot, Valiant has a run-in with the treacherous Black Knight, and sees him conspiring withother Vikings (the bad ones) to conquer Britain. Valiant doesn’t see the evil knight’s face. Couldhe be one of the knights of the round table? Could he possibly be the arrogant and shifty-eyedJames Mason? Hmmm. Valiant trains for knighthood under Sir Gawain (hopeless miscastSterling Hayden), but in hi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 18th, 2004
Synopsis
Ben Affleck is a brilliant reverse engineer. He is hired by different companies to puzzle outand improve on their competitors’ technologies, then has his memory of his work wiped so hecannot divulge what he knows. His current job is something big. In exchange for a couple ofyears of his life, he will be granted huge stock options. But when he collects his paycheck, all hegets is a collection of mundane objects in a manilla envelope. And then everybody is trying tokill him. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 18th, 2004
Synopsis
Brigitte (Emily Perkins), having dispatched her werewolf sister in Ginger Snaps, isnow living with the fact that the wolfsbane antidote concocted in the previous film is not a curefor lycanthropy. It can merely hold the transformation painfully at bay. Mistaken for an addictto more traditional drugs, Brigitte is picked up and placed in combination drug rehab centre andburn ward (don’t ask). She needs to escape, as she is being stalked by a werewolf who seeks amate. B...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 16th, 2004
Synopsis
Welcome to the French Riviera, 1962. The youth are beautiful, aimless, and amoral.Searching for meaning in his life, whiny mope Olivier meets the sweet Barbara. These two mighthave something together, but Olivier must take a wide detour on the way to true love, as he firstfalls in with a pack led by Philippe and Elke (played be, you guessed it, Elke Sommer).
All sorts of hilarious stabs at decadence ensue, as imagined by director/co-scripter MaxPécas, a very conserv...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 16th, 2004
Synopsis
We are in the midst of the Taliban’s brutal rule of Afghanistan. The total suppression of allwomen’s rights means that a widow is on the brink of desperation. She cannot work, or evenleave the house without fearing retribution, as there is no male relative to accompany her. Hermother hits upon a solution born of desperation: the 12-year-old daughter will have her hearshorn, will wear male clothing, and so become “Osama,” a young boy. The subterfuge works. Atfirst.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Welcome to Mud Creek, Texas. In a depressing nursing home, senior citizen Elvis (BruceCampbell) is sleeping away what remains of his life. Some led gets put back into his pencil,however, when he and “JFK” (Ossie Davis, who else?) realize that an ancient mummy is killingoff the residents of the home. Barely able to walk, they nonetheless decide to fight thesupernatural evil.
As you might guess from the above description, and especially from the casting, this is prett...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Charlize Theron doesn’t play Aileen Wuornos, she incarnates her. At the end of hertether, highway prostitute Aileen meets 18-year-old Selby (Christina Ricci) when she accidentlywalks into a lesbian bar. They click, and suddenly, Aileen has a reason to live. She tries to turnher life around, but with the implacability of Greek tragedy, her attempts end in failure and shereturns to turning tricks. One date goes turns ghastly, and she kills the brutal john in self-defense...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Scarlett Johansson plays Griet, a young girl who enters into service in the home of painterJohannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). She catches his eye, partly because of her beauty, but even morebecause she has an intuitive understanding of art, and he takes her under his wing, much to thegrowing suspicions and jealousies of his wife. Ultimately, she becomes the model for theeponymous painting.
This is a film of looks and silences. In many ways, the story is constructed bet...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004
Synopsis
We’re back at the open plan offices of Wernham-Hogg in Slough, which have now mergedwith the branch at Swindon. This spells disaster for manager David Brent (Ricky Gervais). His(erroneous) self-image of popular, entertaining boss is dealt a mortal blow by the arrival of theSwindon employees and their genuinely smart and funny manager, who becomes Brent’simmediate superior.
The style, as in the original series, is mockumentary, with a fly-on-the-wall handheld camera...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004
Synopsis
Eight Pink Panther cartoons from the late 60s are offered here. See the cool cat deal with apersistent cuckoo clock, get caught in a jet fighter, drive a house painter mad, etc. Laid backcartoon fun, hardly in the same league as, say, the Looney Tunes, but appealing all the same. Thefrequently minimalist backgrounds add some visual interest to the efforts.
Audio
The sound is mono, and gets the job done. Given that the sound consists entirely of music...
