Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2002
Synopsis
State police officer Inayat Khan's son is critically injured in a fall and dies because doctors, intimidated by a terrorist's threat, refuse to treat him. Khan launches an assault on the terrorist, and during the battle guns down the family of 11-year-old Altaaf. Khan and his wife adopt Altaaf, whose new life is shattered when he discovers Khan's role in the loss of his parents. Ten years later, Altaaf is now a terrorist working for the deeply sinister Hilal Kohistani, who has sent him on a ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2002
Welcome to Oliver Stone’s history 101, where Vietnam looked a lot like Florida, and JFK was killed by a conspiracy so large it included the mafia, FBI, CIA, the Teamsters, and two bag ladies on Pennsylvania Avenue. Hollywood has always tinkered with history, but Oliver Stone performs reconstructive surgery. Nixon is no exception to this rule. It is much easier to view the film more as a character study than an historical piece. The film has you believe that Nixon used the F word more times than Richard Pryor on a roll, hated most of his advisors, and also had a hand in the JFK ordeal.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2002
Fresh off of its multiple nominations at the 2001 Academy Awards, and Academy’s winner of the Best Original Screenplay, comes Gosford Park to DVD. Most who have seen this film have fallen in love with it, I on the other hand, felt the story moved far to slow, and my interest waned as the film progressed. Though I was not captivated by the film itself, the acting was superb, and the premise was solid.
“It is November, 1932. Gosford Park is the magnificent country estate to which Sir William McCo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 1st, 2002
It’s hard to imagine, but in the 1930’s sequels were almost unheard of. If a work was considered to be a franchise, it was released in serial form before the main features. By today’s standards, Bride of Frankenstein would be no surprise. James Whale was reluctant to continue the Frankenstein saga as was the Monster himself, Boris Karloff. Universal was relentless and the world is the benefactor of its greed. Bride of Frankenstein not only lives up to its original but in many ways surpasses it. The sets are far more grand and the story was Universal’s most compelling.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 1st, 2002
Haven’t we all fantasized about what it would be like to be invisible? Most of the common perks come to mind: spying, getting into movies and amusement parks free, even the baser peeping tom inclinations come to mind. James Whale would pair his Frankenstein masterpieces with this equally trend-setting film. The film is only loosely based on the popular H.G. Wells novel and is played more for chills. Claude Rains does such a wonderful role when you consider that for most of the film he is denied physical presence on the screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 31st, 2002
Monster’s Ball is a very raw and powerful film. The story and the cinematography are wonderful, as is the acting… thus the Best Actress Academy Award for Halle Berry.
“MONSTER’S BALL is a hard hitting Southern drama tempered by a story of powerful, life-changing love. It is the story of Hank (Billy Bob Thornton), an embittered prison guard working on Death Row who begins an unlikely, but emotionally charged affair with Leticia (Halle Berry), the wife of a man he has just executed.” – Lions Gate
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2002
Synopsis
Child-like nun Meg Tilly is found one night lying on the floor of her cell, covered in blood, a strangled newborn in her wastebasket. Psychiatrist Jane Fonda is called in to determine whether or not Tilly is fit for trial. Mother Superior Anne Bancroft is convinced that she is not, and does not want skeptical Fonda destroying Tilly's innocence. Meanwhile, Tilly, it seems, cannot remember anything about that night, and certainly denies ever having been pregnant.
Audio
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 28th, 2002
Synopsis
The tale is told in flashback. We begin in 1950, in a labour camp in Czechoslovakia. Franta Sláma (Ondrej Vetch ) is imprisoned there for having flown with the RAF during World War II – his reward for having helped liberate his country. From this beginning, we move back to see Sláma's experiences in England, his fatherly relationship with his protégé Karel Vojtisek (Krystof Hádek), and their love triangle with the married Englishwoman Tara Fitzgerald.
The impressive battle sequence...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2002
Film
Jack Black, in my opinion, is one of the funniest actors in Hollywood today. Black, along with Gwyneth Paltrow, stars in Shallow Hal… the latest in the line of crude Farrelly Brother’s comedies. This film fell short of its potential, but was still mildly amusing.
“Jack Black is Shallow Hal, a superficial skirt chaser who, after a mind-altering experience with a self-help guru, doesn’t realize that his gorgeous girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow) is actually a 300-pound not-do-hottie. Meanw...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 23rd, 2002
Synopsis
Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), is on his way home from visiting his father at the hospital when he finds a human ear. He turns the ear over to the police, but the mystery eats at him, and, with the help of a detective's daughter (Laura Dern), he begins his own investigation. Very quickly, he gets in over his head, becoming involved with the masochistic Isabella Rossellini, and her deeply disturbed, deeply sadistic boyfriend, Dennis Hopper (in his most terrifying role).
This is...
