David Annandale

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Danger: Diabolik

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2005

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Synopsis

Diabolik (John Phillip Law) is a master criminal, pulling off one spectacular robbery after another to the endless frustration of the police. Ruthless and amoral, he nonetheless deeply loves Eva (Marisa Mell), and will risk everything to protect her. As his crimes become ever more spectacular, and the government teeters on the brink of chaos, even organized crime is pressed into service in order to capture the man.

There were plenty of films of this type in the late sixties in the …
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Overnight

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 20th, 2005

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Synopsis

Troy Duffy, bartender, writes a script and suddenly is given a lucrative deal by Miramax to make this film, and his band is promised a recording contract. The script is for The Boondock Saints, that stunning little word-of-mouth success that has found quite a life of its own on DVD. But this is what happened before the film became a cult hit, as filmed by two of Duffy’s then-friends who were hired to do a making-of documentary. What we see is a man whose talent, though (on the basis o…
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Prophecy – Uprising, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 20th, 2005

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Synopsis

In a perpetually gray, rainy, decrepit Bucharest, a series of strange murders is taking place. Brutal street-cop in search of redemption Sean Pertwee is paired up with enigmatic Interpol agent John Light. Light is not, of course, what he seems. Angels and demons are at war, as ever, and the demarkation lines of the battle are very blurry. Are there any good guys at all? Hard to sasy, but Kari Wuhrer had better hope so, as she is being used and stalked, respectively, by the different sides, a…
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Dodgeball

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 20th, 2005

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Synopsis

The superbly obnoxious Ben Stiller plans to have his Globo Gym take over and destroy the building that houses the apathetic Vince Vaughn’s Average Joe’s. Unless Vaughn and his friends raise $50,000.00 before the end of the month, all will be lost. Their only hope is to win a dodgeball championship. They’re no damn good, but help comes in the form of psychotic ex-dodgeball champ Rip Torn and Christine Taylor as an accountant with a killer throw.

The premise is ludicrous enough to be…
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Hellraiser: Deader

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 17th, 2005

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Synopsis

Direct-to-Video queen Kari Wuhrer headlines as hard-edged reporter willing to risk life and limb for a story. Her editor sends her to Bucharest (your first hint of the pic’s minimal budget) to investigate a strange cult of people who call themselves “Deaders.” The members of this group appear to have died and been resurrected by the charismatic leader. Wuhrer descends into the underground, and reality goes all rubbery after she finds and opens a Lament Configuration, summoning Pinhead into h…
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Seed of Chucky

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 16th, 2005

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Synopsis

Years after the events of Bride of Chucky, evil dolls Chucky (voice of Brad Dourif) and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) are dormant and being used to make a Chucky movie, starring in-decline sexpot Jennifer Tilly. (I know: very postmodern already, and we’ve only just begun.) Their offspring (voice of Billy Boyd), of indeterminate gender and gentle spirit, escapes its evil ventriloquist captor, travels to Hollywood and revives the demonic duo, unaware of their psychotic natures. Chucky wants …
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Razor’s Edge, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 16th, 2005

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Synopsis

Society belle Gene Tierney is in love with the dashing but penniless Tyrone Power, much to the displeasure of her snobbish uncle Clifton Webb (turning in another of his signature bitchy roles). Tierney wants Power to settle down and earn a good living in order to keep her in the manner to which she is accustomed, but Power needs to find some meaning in life, and he heads off to find enlightenment, first in Paris, later in India. Tierney doesn’t wait for him, and marries millionaire John Payn…
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Controversial Classics

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2005

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Synopsis

The degree to which any of these films is or was “controversial” varies quite a bit, but the claim can certainly be made that all seven of these films dealt with pertinent social issues of their times. Some are still quite relevant today, and all are well worth watching.

I Am a Fugitive from as Chain Gang (1932) is the film that, of this group, had the most direct impact on the real world: not only did it give a huge boost to penal reform, but Robert E. Burns, on whose book …
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Dirty Filthy Love

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2005

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Synopsis

Michael Sheen (so good as the sweet, big-hearted protagonist of Heartlands) is on the verge of losing his job as an architect, and he and his wife have just separated. His obsessive compulsive disorders, which led to these problems in the first place, are enormously exacerbated by the resultant stress, and Tourette’s Syndrome becomes a problem now too. He is desperate to win his wife back, an in an attempt to get his life together, he joins an OCD self-help group led by Shirley Hender…
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American Psycho

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 9th, 2005

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Synopsis

Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman, Wall Street dealer and psychotic. He, like his peers, is completely obsessed with surfaces, narcissistic beyond all measure, and about as deep as a sheet of mylar (and his extended exegesis on the music of Huey Lewis and the News doesn’t help make him seem smarter, despite what he thinks). He rapes and murders with impunity, but after all, isn’t that the 80s ethic in a nutshell?

Brett Eason Ellis’ novel, massively reviled by people who didn’t b…
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American Gothic

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 7th, 2005

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Synopsis

Inspired by the Grant Wood painting, “American Gothic” is a 24-minute experimental horror short. Director Carlos Batts explains in his intro that the idea is that the farmer in the Wood painting killed his wife, and is now consumed by guilt. This is conveyed through a collage of surreal images, mixing Magritte, Goth and splatter, with a soundtrack that mixes portentous poetry and death metal/industrial rock. The latter isn’t a completely successful fit, partly because of audio limitations (s…
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Getaway, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2005

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Synopsis

Steve McQueen is Doc McCoy, master thief. Having just been denied parole, he asks wife Ali McGraw to make a bargain with political fixer Ben Johnson to get him out. This she does, but what McQueen doesn’t realize is that the deal not only involved McQueen’s participation in a bank job, but also McGraw sleeping with Johnson. In short order, the robbery goes wrong, and husband and wife are on the run.

From its punchy, jaggedly edited credit sequence on, this is Peckinpah at his most …
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House of Bamboo

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 31st, 2005

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Synopsis

This remake of The Street With No Name shifts the scene from mid-40s US to mid-50s Japan. Robert Ryan heads up a ruthless gang of ex-GIs, and uses pachinko parlours as acover for his robberies. He recruits Robert Stack into his gang, little suspecting that Stack is, infact, an undercover investigator.

Samuel Fuller’s reworking plays up the homoerotic undercurrent (which Richard Widmarknonetheless conveyed quite effectively in the original), and Robert Stack i…
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Nightmare Alley

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 30th, 2005

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Synopsis

Tyrone Power is the amoral Stan, a carny worker who will use anybody, especially women,to facilitate his climb to the top. Joan Blondell is the carnival medium who teaches him the tricksof the trade. He dumps her for Coleen Gray, and is soon a performer in the big nightclubs. Butthat isn’t enough for him, and he overreaches when he allies himself with Helen Walker, anunscrupulous psychologist who is an even smarter operator than he is.

A noir-drenched rise and fall …
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Dance With Me, Henry

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 29th, 2005

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Synopsis

Costello is a big-hearted soul who takes in every stray (human or animal) that comes along.He runs afoul of the authorities, who deem him an unsuitable father for the two orphans he hasadopted. Meanwhile, Abbott, the black sheep Costello has taken on, is an inveterate gambler whoowes the mob a huge sum. Cue the running around.

This was the last film the two comedians made together, and the humour is getting ratherhere. There is also something very odd about having C…
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SpongeBob Square Pants — Fear of a Krabby Patty

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 29th, 2005

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Synopsis

You should know the drill by now. More lunatic stories, with a cavalcade of gags that haveyou exclaiming at the whole thing is stupid even as you are convulsed with laughter. The KrustyKrab, Mr. Krabs and food in general play a big role in a number of the episodes here, and muchfun is had with Mr. Krabs’ avarice (“Arrgh!”, where he becomes obsessed with finding a piratetreasure, is a standout). All in all, 95 minutes of goofy fun.

Audio

Par for the …
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Street With No Name, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 28th, 2005

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Synopsis

The FBI, determined to crack a gangland case involving two murders, sends undercoveragent Mark Stevens to the mean streets. Posing as a lowlife, he is recruited by sinister crime bossRichard Widmark. Stevens soon discovers that Widmark is indeed the man responsible for thekillings, but he needs concrete evidence before the FBI can move in. Meanwhile, Widmark hasan agent of his own in the ranks of the police, and Stevens’ cover may soon be blown.

The opening minutes …
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Knight Errant

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2005

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Synopsis

Jimmy Wang Yu is trying to scrape together the cash for his sister’s eye operation, but hekeeps getting involved in fights, and the need to pay fines and whatnot is actually pushing thefamily towards bankruptcy. Meanwhile, in Japan, a ferocious grandmother has been training herthree grandsons their entire life to be killing machines intent on taking revenge on the man sheblames for her wartime suicides of her daughter and son-in-law. That man is Jimmy’s father. Thestage is …
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Dirty Shame, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2005

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Synopsis

Irritable, repressed Sylvia Stickles (Tracy Ullman) is conked on the head, and the concussiontransforms her into a sexual dynamo, one of the followers of sexual healer and prophet Ray-Ray(Johnny Knoxville). The streets of Baltimore are the battleground of a culture war between theanti-sex Neuters, led by Sylvia’s mother-in-law Big Ethel, and the forces of the polymorphouslyperverse. The result is a little bit like a George Romero zombie movie, where getting headingthe bonked transf…
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Boogeyman

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2005

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Synopsis

Little Tim is convinced the boogeyman is in his closet. He’s right, and it gobbles up his dad.Fifteen years later, after many years of therapy devoted to convincing him that he didn’t reallysee a monster that night, Tim (Barry Watson) is still afraid of closets and is haunted by terrifyingvisions. When his mother dies, he returns to his home town for the funeral, and decides to stay atthe old house in order to confront his demons. Big mistake.

The basic set-up is no…
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The Day After Tomorrow

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 23rd, 2005

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As is the trend for today, this is the Special Edition re-release of The Day After Tomorrow tagged as the All-Access Collector’s Edition. As much of this set is the same as the original release, pieces of this review will be taken from our prior review of The Day After Tomorrow.

Storms both freakish and intense devastate the planet. Climatologist Dennis Quaid realizes that the world is on the brink of a sudden new ice age.
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Spaceballs

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 10th, 2005

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Synopsis

The evil Spaceballs, led by Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) plan to steal the atmosphere of thepeaceful planet Druidia. Daphne Zuniga, as the Leia-like princess of Druidia, accompanied byher faithful robot Dot Matrix (voice of Joan Rivers) teams up with the vaguely Han Solo-ish BillPullman and his dog/man/Wookie parody Barf (John Candy) to defeat the evil.

I think, maybe, if you’re eleven, this might be hilarious. But I have my doubts. As ever withMel Brooks, the humour …
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Dead Doll

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 10th, 2005

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Synopsis

A demented sculptor kills his girlfriend (Romi Koch) and turns her into a mannequin. At last,he has his perfect woman. But he still imagines her taunting him, and her beauty inspires oneman after another to kill to possess the now haunted doll. The tone is meant to be blacklyhumorous, some effort has gone into the camera work, and there is a subtext here about maleobjectification of women. But Koch’s line readings are so inept, and the storytelling so elliptical,that the ef…
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Dogtown and Z-Boys

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 9th, 2005

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Synopsis

This documentary gives us the birth of skateboarding culture as we know it today. In theearly seventies, the Z-Boys of the title, a group of surfing enthusiasts from a hard luckneighbourhood, move from surfing to more and more elaborate skateboarding tricks, worked onin guerilla fashion in the empty swimming pools and the like. Director Stacy Peralta (who alsomade the surfing documentary Riding Giants) was one of those skaters, and so he ispretty damn close to the ma…
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Best of Everything, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 6th, 2005

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Synopsis

The setting is a top New York publishing house, and our central characters are three womenbeginning their careers at the bottom of the secretarial ladder. Hope Lange is the smart one witha will, who might make a first-class editor. Diane Baker is the naive innocent, doomed to bepreyed on. Suzy Parker wants to dump the office pool for acting, and she begins a difficultrelationship with theatre director Louis Jourdan. Meanwhile, there is tyrannical editor JoanCrawford (whose …
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