Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2002
The Show
I cannot say enough about how great this series is. Not only is it extremely entertaining, but the DVD is of remarkable quality. If you have not had the pleasure to see an episode of The Sopranos, here is a synopsis of season three for you:
“Some suburban households have two cars. Some have two houses. But Tony Sopranos has two families.
This could be why the FBI is going to such lengths to wiretap his home. Why is the son of his dear late friend Jackie Ap...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2002
Synopsis
“A white school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined black high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.” – Columbia-Tristar
Audio
This film contains a very good Hip-Hop soundtrack. The base is substantial during the music sequences, and the surrounds are used effectively during these scenes as well. As just stated, the 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack was effective for the music, but did not do much in terms of the film. The surrounds were n...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 5th, 2002
The Lethal Weapon series peaked with the third installment. The addition of Rene Russo, while giving Riggs more of a personal life, adds little to the chemistry of Glover, Gibson, and Pesci. Make no mistake. By the third film it’s all about these three characters. This series does not mix well with romance thrown into the pot.
Synopsis
Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover) team up with an internal affairs cop (Russo) to track down a street gang of gun runners. Leo Gets (Pesci) attaches himself to the investigation and, once again, it’s off we go.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 5th, 2002
Just when it seemed that the Glover and Gibson chemistry was as good as it could be, Richard Donner finds a way to improve it. Joe Pesci was the best thing that could have happened to the franchise. This second installment keeps everything that was good about the original and makes it bigger and better. Lethal Weapon 2 is a lot more fun than the first film. The guys are much more comfortable in the roles and it’s obvious they’re having a blast. Watch for a few scenes where you can see Glover working very hard not to crack up around Pesci.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 29th, 2002
Synopsis
Colin Farrell plays the Hart of the title, a callow youth kept from the front lines of WWII by his senator father. Fate puts him in a prison camp, however, where he meets McNamara (Bruce Willis), who is determined to continue to fight (echoes here of William Holden in The Bridge On the River Kwai).
Audio
The sound is spectacular. You Are There, be it in the war or in the prison camp. Footsteps, wind, horses hooves -- everything resounds on all sides. The music, bea...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 26th, 2002
There have been so many “buddy cop” films that it has become its own genre of sorts. Still, no pairing has yet matched the chemistry of Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon franchise. Even with four films now under their belts, the duo is capable of delivering a relationship that is worn and comfortable while still remaining fresh and exciting. Some of the franchise’s running gags begin in this first film, like Riggs and his dislocated shoulder and Murtaugh’s familiar “I’m getting to old for this shit.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 26th, 2002
H. G. Wells is often considered the father of science fiction. Tales like The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, and, of course, The Time Machine, have become classics both in literature and cinematography. The latest version of The Time Machine attempts to satisfy both fans of the George Pal film and readers of the original novel. Having Simon Wells, grandson of the writer, direct the film was no accident. What you end up with is a pretty nice film, but one that might not satisfy fans of the earlier works.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 19th, 2002
Synopsis
Jodie Foster, victim of a gang rape, stumbles out of a bar called The Mill. Immediately before she appears, a young man also comes running out, and phones the police. Kelly McGillis is the prosecuting attorney on the case. She arranges a plea bargain with the assailants, which enrages Foster. McGillis then agrees to prosecute the men who stood by, watched, and did nothing. That young man at the beginning of the film will obviously have a crucial role to play.
The film is anchored b...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 11th, 2002
Synopsis
Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley star as Edina and Patsy, terminal fashion victims and loathsome relics from the sixties. Edina is a psychopathically narcissistic motormouth (conveniently, writer Saunders gives herself the lion's share of lines), and Patsy is a vaguely sinister man-eater. She spends most of the time lurking about on the edges while Edina makes life miserable for her long-suffering daughter. The sum total of the series' humour is graspable within five minutes, but that did...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 11th, 2002
Hard Cash wants very much to be a smart movie, with not one but three separate heists that are thought out and executed in complicated style much like the far superior films, Heist and The Score. The problem with Hard Cash is that it can’t resist being campy as well. Hard Cash also wants to be funny. The end result is a movie that does both adequately but neither very well. Val Kilmer looks so uncomfortable in his role, you wonder if his shoes are on too tight. Slater is accually quite convincing, but he can’t get any of the other actors to come along for the ride
