Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 7th, 2005
Synopsis
Jean Reno plays Léon, a preternaturally gifted hit man. Shortly after taking down a smallarmy of goons in a high rise, he finds himself having to look after 11-year-old Mathilda (NataliePortman), whose family has been wiped out by Gary Oldman (whose performance goesshamelessly over the top). In between mega-massacres at the beginning and end of the film, wesee the development of the relationship between precocious Mathilda and child-like Léon.
And that is where many...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 2nd, 2005
Synopsis
The driver and passengers of a city bus are gunned down. One of the victims is an off-dutypolice officer, who is also investigating cop Walter Matthau’s partner. Saddled with a new,motor-mouthed partner (Bruce Dern), Matthau follows the clues, which gradually point to aconnection with an old, unsolved case of his.
Director/producer Stuart (The Amityville Horror) Rosenberg’s thriller aspires todocumentary realism in the investigation process, and there is an a...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 2nd, 2005
Synopsis
A group of teens (one of whom is searching for his brother, who is believed to be lost at sea)board a sailboat commandeered by a thief. The ship is unintentionally unmoored, and the groupfind themselves at sea. During a storm they are shipwrecked in an encounter with giant lobsterEbirah, and wash up on what at first appears to be a deserted island. In fact, they haveunwelcome company here: this is the base of the evil Communist outfit Red Bamboo, who areenslaving natives an...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 1st, 2005
Synopsis
Coalwood, West Virgina, is a typical mining company town in 1957. For most of the malepopulation, the only future is a descent into the mines, with all the hardships and early death thatentails. Jake Gyllenhaal hopes for better, and he is inspired by the launch of Sputnik to build hisown rocket, a project which involves three of his friends, and is encouraged by teacher LauraDern. Against Gyllenhaal are the skepticism of the town, the difficulties of the project, and thetro...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 28th, 2005
Synopsis
Julianne Moore plays Telly, who, fourteen months after the death of her son in a plane crash,is still in deep mourning, obsessively looking at pictures and videotapes of the boy. Then thepictures disappear, and no one believes that she ever had a son. She tracks down Dominic West,who lost a daughter in the accident, but doesn’t remember her existence. Moore makes himremember, and then the two are suddenly being pursued by the NSA.
SPOILER ALERT. Well, not really, th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Season Three of the much-loved series, and the ad copy can describe what’s here better thanI could. I quote: “Laugh out loud as Lucy and Ethel rip each other’s dresses to shreds during theirtelevised duet of Cole Porter’s ‘Friendship.’ Watch the fireworks when Lucy has to go 24 hourswithout telling a fib. Follow Lucy as her quest to recover a contest-winning dollar bill lands herin a giant starch vat.” And so on. This is the series that pretty much set the standards for sitco...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 25th, 2005
Synopsis
Stephen Dorff (adopting a most convincing accent) plays Iain Softley, bass guitarist in a banddriven by best pal John Lennon (you may have heard of the group). The lads leave Liverpool forHamburg, where they become house band for a strip club, and gradually build a following.Softley is more of a painter than a guitarist, and his commitment to the band is furtherundermined when he falls for photographer Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee).
Dorff is excellent, and Ian Hart ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 25th, 2005
Synopsis
More sordidness comes to light in the town of Peyton Place. Carol Lynley publishes a bookthat features a thinly disguised version of the town, and exposing the hypocrisies doesn’t earnher any friends. Off to the Big Apple, she becomes more friendly than perhaps she should withthe publisher (Jeff Chandler). Mother From Hell Mary Astor tries to destroy her son’s marriageto Luciana Paluzzi, and so it goes.
The star wattage isn’t as strong as the first film (no Lana Tur...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 24th, 2005
Synopsis
Cornel Wilde, a writer with a disabled younger brother, meets the gorgeous Gene Tierneyon a train, and it’s love at first sight. At least, on his side of the equation. For her, it’s moreobsession at first sight (and this because Wilde looks just like her excessively beloved -- andlately departed -- daddy). After a whirlwind courtship and marriage, they appear to settle down tohappily married life, but Tierney is ferociously jealous of anyone who might be taking Wilde’satten...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Ann Sothern are three wives in an upper-middle-classneighbourhood. Just as they head off on an outing with a group of children, they receive a letterfrom the narrator (a silken-voiced Celeste Holm) that she has left town with one of theirhusbands. Which one? Unable to get home until the end of the day, the three women must waitand wonder, and in flashback we see the strains in each of their marriages. Crain is the formerfarmgirl who doesn’t f...
