David Annandale

About David Annandale

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Straw Dogs

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 29th, 2004

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Synopsis

American mathematician Dustin Hoffman has moved to the English home town of his wifeSusan George. The adjustment is difficult. A gang of local louts is taking forever to assemblehis garage, and he simply cannot stand up for himself or his wife. She, filled with contempt,teases the locals with predictable results. Finally, a crisis looms involving the simple-mindedDavid Warner, and Hoffman takes a spectacularly violent stand.

Peckinpah’s gift for cinematic violence i…
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Phantom of the Opera, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 26th, 2004

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Synopsis

A back-stage accident knocks New Yorker Jill Schoelen out and into her earlier incarnationas a 19th-Century opera singer in London. Madly in love with her is the Phantom (RobertEnglund), a composer who sold his soul (and his face) to the Devil in exchange for musicalimmortality. Englund coaches Schoelen and eliminates anyone who interferes with her career. Hewill also stop at nothing to ensure that he and Schoelen are united forever.

We’re a long way from Andrew Llo…
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Wild at Heart

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 24th, 2004

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Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern are the last-word in star-crossed lovers. Pursued by theminions of Dern’s psychopathic mother Diane Ladd, they engage in a nightmarishly picaresquejourney across the American south, encountering one grotesque after another (most memorablyWillem Dafoe’s deeply creepy Bobby Peru). The over-the-top sex and violence is held togetherby a narrative that is a dark remake of The Wizard of Oz.

This was David Lynch’s follow-up to Blue Vel…
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National Lampoon’s Holiday Reunion

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 24th, 2004

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Synopsis

Anaesthesiologist Judge Reinhold, dreaming of a traditional Thanksgiving holiday with long-lost cousins, packs up his resentful, upper-crust family and heads off to Idaho. The relatives turnout to be a group of hippies with a yard that would horrify the family in The Texas ChainsawMassacre. Cue the culture clash.

But don’t cue the laughs. This is sad, sad stuff, as only a made-for-TV (TBS in this case)version of National Lampoon can be. The gags are old, and …
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Kung Phooey!

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 23rd, 2004

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Synopsis

Many years ago, a mystical peach holding the secret of eternal life was stolen. Now, aftertraining since childhood at the Shur-Li Temple (get it?) under the tutelage of Master Card and thelike, a hero arises to recover the peach: Art Chew. He arrives in Vancouver (played by SanFrancisco, in one of the film’s cleverer conceits), and is joined on his quest by such friends asRoy Lee, who has seen a great many kung-fu movies, but is completely incompetenthimself.

This is an g…
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I, Robot

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 23rd, 2004

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Synopsis

In a rather sparsely populated Chicago in 2035, Detective Spooner (Will Smith) is called into investigate the death of US Robotics’ top scientist (Jame Cromwell). Spooner has deep-seatedprejudices against robots, and is eager to believe that a robot is the murderer. Evidence suggeststhat he is right, but then the signs build that the problem is much bigger: a general robot rebellionmight be in the works.

Director Alex Proyas, after The Crow, gave us Dark C…
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Eloise at Christmastime

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 22nd, 2004

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Synopsis

Eloise (Sofia Vassilieva) is a six-year-old who runs rampant through NYC’s Park PlazaHotel. Her only adult supervision is in the form of the eccentric Nanny (Julie Andrews). The plottakes the form of a series of incidents as Eloise races from one adventure to another, meddlingwith the best of intentions in the lives of all around her, with emphasis, as the title suggests, onthe Christmas spirit this time around. Specifically, she’s helping out with a Christmas wedding,and e…
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How to Steal a Million

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 21st, 2004

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Synopsis

Audrey Hepburn is the long-suffering daughter of incorrigible art forger Hugh Griffith. Whena phony Cellini sculpture Griffith has loaned to a museum is going to be subject to anauthenticity test, Hepburn decides to save her father by stealing their own statue. She enlists theaid of Peter O’Toole, whom she believes to be a professional burglar. The stage is set for anelaborate heist at the highly secure museum, not to mention a little bit of romance along theway.

Tracy and Hepburn — The Signature Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 19th, 2004

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Synopsis

Woman of the Year (1942) is the first pairing of Spencer Tracy and KatharineHepburn. He’s a sportswriter, and she’s a mega-influential political columnist. Though opposites,they fall in love, but the marriage has many kinks to work out, primarily because Hepburn nevertakes enough time out from her career. The gender politics here (as in the other films) might leadto some discomfort today, but the on-screen chemistry is electrifying, and Hepburn’s attempt tocook break…
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Elf

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 18th, 2004

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One Christmas Eve, an infant crawls into Santa’s sack while the big man is visiting an orphanage, and isn’t discovered until Santa (Ed Asner) is back at the North Pole. Adopted by the Papa Elf (Bob Newhart), the baby grows into Buddy (Will Ferrell). Though Buddy does his best, he is enormously clumsy by elf standards. He decided to head off to New York City to meet his birth father (James Caan), the Scrooge-like editor of a children’s book publisher. Buddy descends on the big city
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Elizabeth Taylor – The Signature Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

National Velvet (1944) is one of the most beloved horse movies out there. A veryyoung Taylor wins a horse named Pie, and dreams not only of entering the horse in the GrandNational, but of riding him, too. Helping her achieve this dream is jockey Mickey Rooney. Alsoon hand is Angela Lansbury as Taylor’s older sister. This is innocent fun of the most perfectlycrafted variety, and it expertly tugs at heartstrings from the opening moments on.

Father of the Bride (…
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Ju-On: The Grudge

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

Social worker Rika is sent to help a bed-ridden old woman, only to be confronted in thehome by terrifying and deadly apparitions. The film then jumps back and forth in time, showinghow every person who has any connection, however slight, with the evil house is hunted, hauntedand killed by the malevolent ghosts.

If that summary sounds a bit slight, that’s because the plot is, indeed, close to non-existent.The US version is actually considerably more coherent (and in …
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Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 15th, 2004

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Synopsis

The two sisters from Ginger Snaps and Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed are back,only this time Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins are 19th-Century versions of themselves. Lostin the snowy Canadian frontier, they arrive at Fort Bailey, only to find a rather chilly welcome.The fort is besieged by werewolves, and the starving, demoralized garrison is suspicious of anystrangers. The sisters do find shelter, along with rampant misogyny and racism. If those dangersweren’…
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Ghost Watcher

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 15th, 2004

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Synopsis

After being kidnapped and assaulted by a serial killer, Laura Kove (Jillian Byrnes) hasbecome acutely agoraphobic, to the point that she is physically unable to leave her apartment.This becomes a real problem when something begins to haunt her home, first by moving thingsaround, later by taking on terrifying physical shape. The ghost hunter she turns to in desperationis a scam artist, who in spite of herself becomes obsessed with solving the mystery and endingLaura’s tormen…
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Hellboy

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 15th, 2004

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Synopsis

In 1944, supernaturally inclined Nazis open up a other-dimensional portal, through whichcomes a demon infant. Rescued from such evil foster-parents, the baby grows up, under the wingof John Hurt, into Hellboy (a perfectly cast Ron Perlman), who now fights monsters undercoverfor the US government. Said government isn’t ecstatic about the clandestine work of Hellboyand other creatures (these guys get none of the respect of the Men in Black). But the need for thissupernatural …
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Reversible Errors

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 14th, 2004

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Synopsis

Detective Tom Selleck investigates a triple-murder. The trail of evidence leads to a twitchy,obviously mentally incompetent small-time crook named Squirrel. Prosecuter Monica Porter putsSquirrel away, and he is sentenced to death. Years later, Squirrel’s final appeal lands on the deskof William H. Macy, who begins to find odd inconsistencies that point to the possibility that thewrong man is on death row.

Every frame screams “Network TV Mini-Series.” This is not a g…
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Tom and Jerry — Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 11th, 2004

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Synopsis

Here is an excellent package for fans of classic animation: 40 cartoons, of which nine werenominated for Oscars, and seven won. Just about every variation of cat-chasing-mouse variationis provided, including the WWII-themed “Yankee Doodle Mouse” and the musical “The CatConcerto.” There are also the sequences from other films where our heroes dance with GeneKelly (Disc 1) and swim with Esther Williams (Disc 2). Under the guiding hands of WilliamHanna and Joseph Barbera can b…
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Shawshank Redemption, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 10th, 2004

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Synopsis

Convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, Tim Robbins is sentenced to serveconsecutive life sentences at the horrific Shawshank prison. He looks like the sort who wouldn’tlast a week in such circumstances, let alone decades, but he survives, and begins to transformall around him, most prominently long-time resident and operator Morgan Freeman. Robbinsnever gives up his dream of freedom, however, and so the film is, in some ways, about thelongest prison escape ever. But…
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Frankenstein

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 10th, 2004

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Synopsis

The ice-locked crew of a ship searching for the Northwest Passage finds, to its collectiveastonishment, a near-dead man quite literally in the middle of nowhere. This individual is oneVictor Frankenstein (Alec Newman), and he recounts to the captain (Donald Sutherland) hishorrific tale of creating a monster (Luke Goss), and subsequently losing his family to themonster’s vengeance.

Of all the versions of Mary Shelley’s novel, this is probably the most faithful. The m…
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Resident Evil

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 10th, 2004

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Synopsis

An act of sabotage releases a deadly virus (it kills you and turns you into a flesh-eatingzombie) inside the Hive, the underground R&D headquarters of the Umbrella Corporation.Descending into the Hive to find out what went wrong is a team of security operatives,accompanied by Mila Jovovich, who is a apparently another security operative, but is currentlysuffering from amnesia. It isn’t very long before the team is attacked by hordes of zombies, andtheir numbers dwindle alar…
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Harvest, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 8th, 2004

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Synopsis

Miguel Ferrer plays a screenwriter sent down to a rather rough Mexican city to research themurder his script is based on. He quickly discovers that the crime is not what was given out forpublic consumption, and he begins to rework his script in consequence. He also runs intoLeilani Sarelle. Smitten, he follows her to the beach, but is conked on the head and comes tominus a kidney. Then it seems that the organ thieves want his other one.

Writer/director David Marconi…
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The Beast

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 8th, 2004

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The setting is the home of a decaying family of French aristocrats. The Marquis del’Espérance (whose name is deliberately ironic) is desperate to marry his son Maturin to heiressLucy Broadhurst. Their marriage is in the will of ancestors, but with many conditions. Maturin’sgreat-uncle is desperate to stop the marriage, believing for some reason that it will kill Maturin.Meanwhile, Lucy has vivid dreams of Romilda de l’Espérance who, two centuries before, had avery erotic encounter with a beast in the woods.

Falling from Grace

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 7th, 2004

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Synopsis

John Mellencamp plays a darker, fictionalized (one hopes) version of himself as a rock starwho returns to his home town in Indiana. He is accompanied by his wife (Mariel Hemingway),and his journey stirs up a veritable hornet’s nest of resentments in his family and friends. KayLenz is married to his brother, but still resents Mellencamp for not choosing her, and the twobegin a very prickly flirtation and affair. As he begins to fall from grace, the question is whetherour her…
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Renegade

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 6th, 2004

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Synopsis

As a young man, Mike Blueberry (Vincent Cassel) falls in love with a prostitute, but theirtryst is rudely interrupted by the black-hearted Michael Madsen. The woman is killed, andBlueberry is badly wounded. He is taken in and nursed back to health by Native Americans, andthus taps into a bunch of mystical hugger-mugger as well. Years later, he is the town marshal,and who should ride into town but Madsen again, now possessed of supernatural power andintent on capturing the s…
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Little Women (Classic DVD and Book Collection)

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 5th, 2004

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Synopsis

For the audience this film is aimed at, a synopsis should be superfluous. At any rate, this isthe tale of March family, consiting of mother Marmee (Susan Sarandon) and her four daughters:protagonist Jo (Winona Ryder), proper Meg (Trini Alvarado), delicate Beth (Claire Danes) andyoungest Amy (first Kirsten Dunst, cute as a button, then Samantha Mathis). We begin during theCivil War, with the father absent, and the family dealing with the privations of that time, andthen move…
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