David Annandale

Baise-Moi

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2002

In 1993, Virginie Despentes burst onto the French literary scene with Baise-Moi (“F**k Me”), a snarling novel who’s unblinking, deadpan, yet philosophically pointed excess places it in the tradition of Sade. In 2000, Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi co-directed and scripted this adaptation, which has already forced the French government to re-evaluate its ratings rules.

Synopsis

Nadine (Karen Bach) is a prostitute. Manu (Raffaela Anderson) has done porn films, and has just been raped (in a t…
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Breaking Away

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 14th, 2002

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Intro

Eccentric and heartfelt, this Oscar-winning coming-of-age story deserves rediscovery.

Synopsis

Dennis Christopher is Dave, cycling enthusiast. Since the world’s greatest cyclists are Italian, Dave tries to become Italian, much to the low-key bemusement of his parents. Dave and his friends (played by Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley) are from the working class end of town, and are constantly at odds with the college boys, and this class rivalry ultimately climaxes…
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What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 5th, 2002

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Intro

We’ve just had one recent battle-of-the-rogues release with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Here’s a more recent film in a similar vein, with Martin Lawrence and Danny De Vito duking it out. Curiously, Glenne Headly features in both.

Synopsis

Martin Lawrence is a charming thief. Danny De Vito is a charmless businessman. When De Vito catches Lawrence robbing his home, he turns the tables and steals Lawrence’s precious ring. This, of course, means war, as the two men use all the means at …
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Glass House

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 3rd, 2002

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It’s one of the oldest childhood nightmares: your parents die, and evil guardians take over your life. The story has been told by countless fairy tales. The Glass House transposes the tale to contemporary California.

When Ruby (Leelee Sobieski) and Rhett (Trevor Morgan) are orphaned, they are taken into the care of Terry and Erin Glass (Stellan Skarsgård and Diane Lane). This couple seems to good to be true, and, of course, they are. Erin is a junkie, and Terry is in hock to the mob.
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Vertical Ray of the Sun

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 12th, 2001

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Intro

The most recent film from Tran Anh Hung, writer/director of The Scent of Green Papaya, continues his restrained, low-key examination of human interaction.

Synopsis

In some ways, providing a synopsis for movies like this is to do them a disservice. This is not meant to imply that there is no story. There is: three sisters prepare a feast to mark the anniversary of their parents’ death, and we explore their relationships with each other and with the men in their lives. But above an…
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War of the Roses

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 9th, 2001

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Intro

Mean-spirited. Nasty. Spiteful. Evil. All words that apply to this comedy. And they’re compliments.

Synopsis

Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas are Barbara and Oliver Rose. They’ve had seventeen wonderful years together. But their marriage collapses. Their hatred for each other emerges, and a tit for tat battle erupts, each indignity that one inflicts on the other inviting greater retaliation. The war escalates into a total domestic Armageddon. This is uncompromising black comed…
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Of Mice and Men

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 30th, 2001

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Gary Sinise (who also produced and directed) is George, the smart one. John Malkovich (in a role light years from his usual creepy venom) is Lennie, child-like but enormously strong. The two best friends wander Depression-era California, looking for work. They find what seems likea long-term gig at the Tyler Ranch, but trouble rears its head in the form of the unhappy Sherilyn Fenn, trapped in an abusive marriage. It isn’t long before everything goes to hell.

Now, Voyager

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 16th, 2001

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The melodrama is a tricky form. Done wrong, the result is risible. Done right, as it is here, and the result can be compelling.

Synopsis

Bette Davis is Charlotte Vale. Charlotte is, thanks to the brutal tyranny of her mother, a repressed, ugly duckling spinster. Then psychiatrist Claude Rains steps in, and she transforms completely. Her rebirth is completed on an ocean cruise when she falls in love with the unhappily married Paul Henreid. What follows is a story of romantic sacrifice and the triump…
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Wing and a Prayer

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 29th, 2001

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Intro

Weary of 24-hour CNN war coverage? Want to see a more emotionally satisfying version of war? Then look no further than this 1944 Oscar nominee.

Synopsis

Don Ameche is the rigid, no-nonsense commander of a US aircraft carrier shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The crew becomes frustrated as more and more time passes and they still don’t move into combat. Fate, however, has picked them to play a major role in the Battle of Midway and help turn the tide of the war.

A…
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Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 25th, 2001

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Intro

It’s amazing the effect that the passage of time has. It was hard to find a series that had a cheaper and nastier reputation than the Friday the 13th films back when they were first released. Now, in the wake of the slick postmodernism of Scream and its ilk, these slashers seem oddly quaint and innocent. Watching one is an exercise in Generation X nostalgia, and not at all an unpleasant one at that.

Synopsis

If you really don’t know what happens in a Friday the 13th flick, then you should be reading a different review. But for those of you who tuned in late, Tommy, who killed Jason at the end of Part IV, is now a seriously disturbed young man.
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