Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 26th, 2004
Synopsis
These are the first eight installments of the slasher franchise, a franchise that is now bathedin the warm glow of nostalgia. The basic premise for all the movies is the same: a vengefulmaniac hacks up teenagers in retaliation for the drowning of little Jason Voorhees back in 1958.The films resemble each other so closely, and their plotting is so minimal, that viewers may beforgiven for having trouble keeping them straight. Herewith, a brief reminder of the salientdifferences.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 26th, 2004
Synopsis
Nine years ago, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) met in Vienna and spent a magical night together, their conversation blossoming into love. But they did not meet six months later as promised, and they moved on with their lives. Now Jesse has come to Paris to promote his book (inspired by that one night), and Celine comes to his book signing. He has an hour or so before his flight, and they head off together for coffee. Their conversation ranges over all manner of topics, graduall... becoming more and more personal as they come to terms with what they mean to each other.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 25th, 2004
Synopsis
There’s nothing really to summarize about these films. Their reason for being, after all, is simply to present clips from classic MGM musicals. The first film, released to huge success in 1974, set the pattern, with various big stars (Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Kelly and so on) narrating different segments of a potted history of the MGM musical. That’s Entertainment, Part 2 (1976) broadened its scope to include comedy and romance scenes as well. The third film didn’t arrive...until1994, and dug deeper into the vaults to feature many scenes that were previously unseen because they were cut from the original releases. There’s something a little bit dubious about watching just the big numbers from famous films and stripping them of context (and the clips are very frequently not presented in their entirety anyway), and anyone looking for a serious documentary about MGM is better off looking elsewhere. There is still an enormous amount of material here, much of it now rare or hard to find. Simply bear in mind that the effect of watching these films is not unlike viewing a multi-hour marathon of Oscar night tribute compilations.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 25th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 25th, 2004
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Posted in: News and Opinions by David Annandale on October 22nd, 2004
Fox Home Entertainment will release the Zach Braff / Natalie Portman / Peter Sarsgaard / Ian Holm comedy Garden State on December 28th. This disc will be presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras will include two audio commentaries (the first with Writer/Director/Actor Zach Braff and Actor Natalie Portman; the second wiht Zach Braff along with Director of Photography Lawrence Sher, Editor Myron Kerstein and Production Designer Judy Becker), 16 del...ted scenes (with optional director commentary), a "Making of Garden State" featurette, outtakes and a soundtrack promo spot.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 22nd, 2004
Synopsis
Brian Benben is a book editor. He is still madly in love with his ex-wife, but his dreams of getting back together with her are smashed by her upcoming marriage. And “dreams” is very much the operative term here, since Benben’s emotional reactions to the world around him are daydreams in the form of B&W clips from old films and TV shows. Exec-produced by John Landis, the series follows Benben’s misadventures (primarily with the opposite sex), and features plenty of Big Name guest appearances...(David Bowie, Fran Drescher, etc.). Dream On beat Ally McBeal to the punch with postmodern collage, and there is no denying that there’s some fun editing going on here. On the other hand, the clips aren’t exactly subtle or necessarily very original (tree going up at moment of sexual arousal, tree going down at interruption, har har har). There is some snap to the writing, and enough witty moments, but in the final analysis, this isn’t a whole lot more than your average sitcom. Simply replace laugh track with HBO-style language and content.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 21st, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 19th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 18th, 2004
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