Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 9th, 2005
Synopsis
Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman, Wall Street dealer and psychotic. He, like his peers, is completely obsessed with surfaces, narcissistic beyond all measure, and about as deep as a sheet of mylar (and his extended exegesis on the music of Huey Lewis and the News doesn’t help make him seem smarter, despite what he thinks). He rapes and murders with impunity, but after all, isn’t that the 80s ethic in a nutshell?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 7th, 2005
“In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders …” If you haven’t seen Law and Order, this is the set to begin with. Season 3 is most notable as the first year for Jerry Orbach. His 11 years in the role of Briscoe gave this revolving door series the kind of stability it needed. The powers that be at Universal added confusion to the mix when it released season 14 following season 2. I suspect the move was intended to deal with the unfortunate death of Orbach. His final season was obviously a “hot” item. Fortunately it now appears the releases will continue again from the show’s beginning.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 7th, 2005
Synopsis
Inspired by the Grant Wood painting, “American Gothic” is a 24-minute experimental horror short. Director Carlos Batts explains in his intro that the idea is that the farmer in the Wood painting killed his wife, and is now consumed by guilt. This is conveyed through a collage of surreal images, mixing Magritte, Goth and splatter, with a soundtrack that mixes portentous poetry and death metal/industrial rock. The latter isn’t a completely successful fit, partly because of audio limitations (s...e below), but also because some of those scenes begin to resemble a fairly conventional rock video. Intriguing work all the same.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2005
National Lampoon was still around? I didn’t think so. But sure enough, there is a staff, they still produce movies occasionally (the cinematic tour de force Van Wilder being among their recent contributions to cinema), and in order to satirize some of the absolute sheet on TV nowadays, came up with the Lost Reality series of discs.
With introduction from (who I’m assuming are) members of the Lampoon staff, the clips are a bit hit or miss. Some of the funnier bits are OK, and could have turned ...nto decent sketches with some polishing. For instance, “Scare Me” is basically a few kids that scare the crap out of people in various locations. The concept is OK, but using actors that see it coming takes the fun out of it. “Payback” is set up a la Punk’d, and at first seeing two parents that terrorize their 8 year old is funny, then it just goes downhill from there. Even some of the bits that you would think be funny just aren’t. Using the American Gladiator TV show from the ‘80s and putting midgets in as Gladiators dragged.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2005
Synopsis
Aaron Jacob Estes’ film Mean Creek has been favorably compared to films like River’s Edge and in a sense, Lord of the Flies, for obvious reasons, and that’s not a bad thing. Written and directed by Estes, the film begins with Sam (Rory Culkin, Signs), who “borrows” a camcorder owned by George (Josh Peck, Spun), and gets beaten up for it. Sam’s brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan, The Patriot) steps in as the protective, bigger brother and does a little scheming.>
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 30th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 29th, 2005
In terms of concept, it seems kinda cool and avant-garde: take the old cartoon Space Ghost, hire some writers and voiceover guys to interview some guests as part of a talk show and see what happens. The result, being Space Ghost Coast to Coast eventually did turn into a cult following and captured an older (read: 18-30) demographic for the Cartoon Network.
Though Space Ghost is a superhero, in this series he has kidnapped a couple of his villains to be a part of his talk show. You have ...orak, essentially an animated praying mantis that serves as the Paul Shaffer of the show. The producer is Moltar, who looks like he should work as part of a hazardous material recovery team. And in the middle of it all, you have a 15 minute, disjointed conversation between a varying group of eclectic guests and a seemingly detached masked hero and show host. The guests over the course of the season include Jon Stewart, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, Jimmy Cliff, Beck, Ice T, Goldie Hawn and Colin Quinn, to list very few.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 29th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2005
Synopsis
Irritable, repressed Sylvia Stickles (Tracy Ullman) is conked on the head, and the concussiontransforms her into a sexual dynamo, one of the followers of sexual healer and prophet Ray-Ray(Johnny Knoxville). The streets of Baltimore are the battleground of a culture war between theanti-sex Neuters, led by Sylvia’s mother-in-law Big Ethel, and the forces of the polymorphouslyperverse. The result is a little bit like a George Romero zombie movie, where getting headingthe bonked transf...rms you back and forth between human and zombie. Here, the Neuters are thezombies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2005
I used to watch Moonlighting in the 80's. Back then, I thought it was so fresh and funny. The crackling dialogue, the rapid fire pace, the screwball comedy chemistry between the two leads. There was also mystery to boot. I loved it. Is still as fresh and funny? Is the show as good as I remember it being? I mean, ourmemories rarely hold up to reality. Watching this box set in 2005 was quite an experience. Does the show hold up? Yes and no. It feels atad "dated" (but what show from the 80's doesn't.... But the fresh wit and originality still come shining though.
6 discs, the feature pilot, and 23 episodes of Moonlighting are here. If you don't know the show, Bruce Willis (in the series thatmade him a star) plays David Addison, an authentic smart a$$ in need of a job. He hounds Maddie Hayes (played by the gorgeous Cybill Shepherd) for a position at her detective agency. Addison is hired and together, Dave and Maddie, form a partnership based on dislike, but with a definite electric energy. Plagued by production delays and contract disputes, Moonlighting went downhill after these first few seasons. There was even a season (or part of a season) without Dave and Maddie! But Moonlighting's originality was alwaysevident. An episode in black and white and the famous "Taming of the Shrew" show were examples of a televsion program that always wanted topush the envelope. Moonlighting pushed it, pushed it till it broke.
