Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2003
Synopsis
The film unfolds in a series of interlocking scenes, all occurring at different times. The talebeing told concerns the arrival in a small Oklahoma town of an ex-con (Kevin Anderson), whodeveloped a prison-correspondence romance with shy Martha Plimpton. In the present, SheriffHal Holbrook is investigating a murder, and the flashbacks to Anderson and Plimpton, as wellas another series of flashbacks involving a quiet, somewhat disturbed teenager (Nick Stahl),show us what led ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2003
Synopsis
Gina Gershon is a prison psychiatrist. She is in the middle of a custody battle with her ex-husband, and she loses the case. The night her kids are taken from her, however, someone killsthe ex and his new wife. Gershon’s recently released patients are investigated by her newboyfriend, cop Michael Biehn. Looks like Sean Patrick Flanery is the one obsessively in lovewith Gershon, and will stop at nothing to bring them together. Competently staged, but no more.Nothing new here...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 15th, 2003
Synopsis
Cary Grant plays Sir William Rutland, British industrialist. He has arrived in Tokyo two daysearlier than his hotel reservation, and what with the Olympics going on, there isn't a room to behad. He fast-talks his way into sharing the apartment of Samantha Eggar, a young woman withobsessive clock-watching habits. She isn't thrilled to be sharing her apartment with a man, and iseven less thrilled when Grant brings home prickly architect/Olympic athlete Jim Hutton. Eggar iseng...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2003
Synopsis
Burt Lancaster, a member of the New England aristocracy, wanders out of the forest andleaps into some friends’ swimming pool. After much overly hearty banter, he realizes that thereis an unbroken link of swimming pools between here and his home. He sets off, and at each pool,there is a revelatory encounter of some sort. We gradually find out more and more about him, andit soon becomes clear that all is not sweetness and light in his world. The film is extremelystylized, and...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2003
Synopsis
David Arquette, terminal loser, utterly verklempt, and unable to get over the death of hiswife, decides to jump off a bridge. He is talked down by selfish sleaze Brad Hunt, who convinceshim to take sleeping pills instead. The pills turn out to be vitamins. Hunt, however, actually isdying, and has only a few weeks to live. He strikes a deal with Arquette. If Arquette will bankrollHunt’s last spree, indulging in all his fantasies (nude bowling, etc.), he will kill Arquette at t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2003
Synopsis
The year is 1949, and mainland China is falling to the Communists. Eruasian doctor HanSuyin (Jennifer Jones, and the casting should be a bit of a clue as to what you’re in for) has asuccessful professional life in Hong Kong, but her personal life has been nonexistent since thedeath of her husband. Then reporter Mark Elliot (William Holden) waltzes into her life, refusingto take no for an answer. Of course, their love is beset by all sorts of obstacles, be it racialsuspicio...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2003
Synopsis
Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young woman utterly lacking in self-confidence, andgiven to deliberately cutting herself. She gets her first job as secretary to E. Edward Grey (JamesSpader), as tightly wound and ferociously self-isolated and individual as you could imagine.What happens when the sadist meets the masochist? Sparks fly. Low key and sharply sly, thiswinning film shows (along with Amelie and Kissing Jessica Stein) that there is life in theromantic comedy g...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Five Power Rangers adventures, three of which are two-parters, add up to almost three hours-worth of material. The cheerful super-powered teens go up against the regular batch of rubber-suited bad guys. If you want your kids to develop an early appreciation of camp, this is just theticket. If you’re not already familiar with the basic premise of the series, the plot lines could be alittle confusing.
Audio
Ouch. The 2.0 surround is a very harsh mix. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Nothing really to summarize here: 13 clips of musical numbers from everything from TheLion King to Pinocchio to Aladdin. Captions encourage viewers to sing along. There are severalnew songs from recent direct-to-video movies too.
Audio
This isn’t a sound effects disc, so what is of interest is the music, and the 5.1 mix is verysolid: distortion free but not too deafening.
Video
Strong and sharp, with the colours generally vi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2003
Synopsis
A synopsis is beside the point here. The main feature is song clips from various Winnie ThePooh cartoons with animated captions encouraging the kids to sing along. I do wonder about theaudience for such bits as the Tigger song: this piece moves so fast that you need to be a speedreader to keep up, and so probably too old for the DVD.
Audio
No sound effects to speak of, naturally, since music is the whole point of the DVD. Themusic sounds fine. It is...
