Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 20th, 2005
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 20th, 2005
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 20th, 2005
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 17th, 2005
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 16th, 2005
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 16th, 2005
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 ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2005
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 ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2005
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 9th, 2005
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 7th, 2005
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...
