Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2005
Ah, the 80's. I remember slapping on the vinyl for the new Def Leppard album, "Pyromania". And what an album it was. "Photograph", "Rock of Ages", the list of singles go on. Def Leppard seemed to be poised for superstardom. Then tragedy struck. Their drummer lost his arm in a car accident. But they still rocked on. "Hysteria" was their most popular album, but a bit too sugary for me. Now we have a movie that charts the rocky road to stardom and beyond, Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story is a heavy m...tal bio pic that meets with semi-successful results.
Hysteriahas all the band movie cliches. We have the forming of the band, the first hit single, lives change, drugs take over. But what makes this story distinct is not just the music (80's hair metal has a certain kitschy charm), but the fact the drummer lost one of his arms. The movie starts with this tragic event, thus setting up the rise and fall narrative. The low budget of this movie is quite noticeable at times (a North American left steering wheel for British driving scenes ¦ c'mon), but the story is told with conviction, cliches and all. The music performances are well done, but this is a minor "band" movie. The metal saves it from becoming a retread altogether.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2005
Edges of the Lord is a movie that wasn’t released theatrically, due to some distributing difficulties. We now have it on DVD. Billed as “in the tradition of Life is Beautiful”, Edges of the Lord is an edgy little coming of age story set against the backdrop of World War II. The plot is simple enough: a 12 year old Jewish boy (Haley Joel Osment) hides with a family of Catholic peasants to escape the Nazi’s. The results are resonant and often powerful.
Everyone’s favorite child actor, Osme...t, is quite good here. But the real find is Liam Tess as Tolo. Willem Dafoe also gives a good performance (when is he not good?) as Priest. The movie tries a little too hard to be remembered as a classic in the same vein as The Diary of Anne Frank or the much darker Life is Beautiful. Edges of the Lord is, simply put, a simple story well told.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 5th, 2005
Mike Leigh is one of England's most accomplished directors. His recent success, Vera Drake, shows that the man hasn't lost his touch. Leigh's films go back over 30 years. His famous "Mike Leigh" method (in short hand) involves actors improvising scenes for months; Leigh writes the scenes down and a screenplay is created. The films he's made include quirky character dramadies, Life is Sweet and down and dirty slices of life, Naked. But nowhere is this "Mike Leigh method" more successful tha... in his masterpiece Secrets & Lies.
Secrets & Lies has a few story lines. But the main narrative follows the character of Hortense Cumberbatch (great name) as she searches for her birth mother (played by Brenda Blethyn). But Hortense is a black woman and Cynthia (the birth mother) is a very working class white woman. Sounds like a vehicle for Beonce? Mike Leigh has more class than that. But there are hilarious moments; and the climax of the film is shattering. Secrets & Lies garnered many major Oscar nominations for its year, and rightly so. It's a damn fine film; a masterpiece of British cinema.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 5th, 2005
Mike Leigh is one of England's most accomplished directors. His recent success, Vera Drake, shows that the man hasn't lost his touch. Leigh's films go back over 30 years. His famous "Mike Leigh" method (in short hand) involves actors improvising scenes for months; Leigh writes the scenes down and a screenplay is created. The films he's made include quirky character dramadies, Life is Sweet and down and dirty slices of life, Naked. But nowhere is this "Mike Leigh method" more successful tha... in his masterpiece Secrets & Lies.
Secrets & Lies has a few story lines. But the main narrative follows the character of Hortense Cumberbatch (great name) as she searches for her birth mother (played by Brenda Blethyn). But Hortense is a black woman and Cynthia (the birth mother) is a very working class white woman. Sounds like a vehicle for Beonce? Mike Leigh has more class than that. But there are hilarious moments; and the climax of the film is shattering. Secrets & Lies garnered many major Oscar nominations for its year, and rightly so. It's a damn fine film; a masterpiece of British cinema.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 3rd, 2005
Soap is a curious soap opera parody from the late 1970?s. It has a quality ensemble cast, Richard Mulligan, Robert Guilliaume, Katherine Helmond, and much younger Billy Crystal (to name a few). Soap was a bit groundbreaking for its time, as it tackled some hot button issues (homosexuality being one). But the show is committed to its ridiculousness; alien abductions, demon possession, and prison breaks confirm Soap?s bizarre and wacky charm.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 2nd, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2005
There is cause for joy for TV sitcom fans. Taxi's second season is now on DVD. It's an important season to own, since the show develops more memorable characters like Reverend Jim and Simka (played by the great Christopher Lloyd and Carol Kane). But series regulars, like Alex, Latka, Louis, Nardo, Tony, and Bobby Wheeler, all show more depth here. Taxi really came into its own in the second year, and its multiple Emmy awards were justified. All 24 episodes are here. Farcical but human, Taxi...should belong on any TV collector's shelf. I could listen to that melancholic theme song for days.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2005
Fear of nuclear proliferation was a definite threat in the Reagan era 80's. Movies like The Day After played into those fears. Another film that deals with the consequences of nuclear fallout is 1983's Testament. Testament is a small, quiet film about the effects of nuclear fallout on a family and a community. The director, Lynne Littman, is a veteran of documentary films, and she brings a certain truth and realism to the story. There are no mushroom clouds or special effects, just human eff...cts. Jane Alexander plays the mother, and she's the rock that keeps her family together. She deserved the Oscar nomination she received that year. A very young Kevin Costner also makes a cameo.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2005
Written by Jason Franz
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 30th, 2005
In Season Seven, Voyager returns home and like Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation, the third Star Trek spin-off wraps up. The final episode “Endgame” is not as dramatic as the finales for the other shows. I guess it becomes anticlimactic when you have known for 7 years how this was going to end. The f/x are some of the best in Trek TV history, however. This is truly a visually stunning episode. The season is about on par with Season 6. Stories continue to grow stale. Even the Seven of Nine s...ory arc has pretty much run its course by now. Attempts to spice up the character with a romance fell horribly short.
Synopsis
