Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 8th, 2004
Vampire Clan is supposedly based on a true story. The film revolves around the actions of a teenage Vampire cult in a small American town. The clan gets involved in murder and mayhem, and the movie is supposed to be all the more chilling because it’s based on real life events. Not necessarily, it still has to be scary.
Drew Fuller plays Rod, the Manson like leader of this Vampire clan. Fuller has some natural charm, but isn’t diabolic enough. Kelly Kruger is the teenage runaway Heather, and she als... has some talent. But the movie is boooooring. Hanging around with a bunch of lepidopterists (butterfly collectors) would be more fun. It’s not a Vampire clan; it’s more like a Vampire club. They’re all Vampire wannabe’s; sucking a little bit of blood and dressing up in goth make-up doesn’t make you a Vampire. Maybe that was part of the point. But there has to be something seductive, something truly fetishistic about these kinds of cults. After all, these kids do commit murder. The movie, awkwardly filmed, doesn’t get into the origin of these kids’ behavior deeply enough.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 8th, 2004
Angels Don’t Sleep Here is the stuff of crime melodrama: long forgotten murders, revenge, twin brothers, and corrupt public officials. It’s a mild foray into the genre. The film knows the notes but not the music; but the actors, or the instruments, (if we continue the music metaphor) really save the day.
Dana Ashbrook (from Twin Peaks) plays a forensic specialist who returns to an unnamed city to start poking around about his long lost twin brother. The trail leads to a DA (Kelly Rutherford)... who later becomes Ashbrook’s lover. The trail also leads to corrupt cops and politicians (played by Robert Patrick and Roy Scheider, respectively). The strength of the film is the acting. Both Ashbrook and Rutherford play it very straight and very natural. A more “over the top” acting style would’ve made the movie, with its “over the top” subject matter, unbearable to watch. Patrick has seen better days. I kept waiting for him to turn into liquid metal. But he’s fine here. And Roy Scheider... What has happened to you? You were Popeye Doyle’s partner in the The French Connection... you were Joe Gideon in the fantastic All That Jazz… and you were the perfect everyman, Sheriff Brody in Jaws. You just look tired here, as if saying “why can’t I get any good scripts”. Note to Tarantino, if you’re looking at a comeback for an actor…writer a part for Scheider, okay?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 6th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 6th, 2004
Synopsis
Michael Ironside, in his patented bastard role, is pulling the strings on a secret militaryexperiment in weather control. The test goes wrong, killing the wife of Dale Midkiff and ruiningthe career of pilot Gregor Toerzs. Four years later, an asteroid grazes Earth’s atmosphere, andtriggers a superstorm. If this hurricane isn’t shut down in a matter of hours, it will go critical andrage for centuries. Hauled back in to save the day are Midkiff and Toerzs, now flying a souped-up 747 ...nto the eye of the storm with a big flashy gadget that just might save the day.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 6th, 2004
Synopsis
Michael Beach plays Ty Adams, a psychiatrist whose ego and belief in his methods is hardlyshaken by the deaths, after unsuccessful treatment, of his wife and daughter. He arrives at anmental hospital (whose name you should watch for as it blinks past) headed up by a skepticalRonny Cox. Beach will be filmed 24/7 for the purposes of a documentary as he treats a groupof patients over a few weeks. A particular challenge arrives in the person of Eriq La Salle,who claims to be Satan hims...lf. Is he? He is certainly very good at making Beach’s life comeapart at the seams.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 6th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 5th, 2004
Warning: Do not be taken in by the cover of this DVD. With iron gates, murky lighting, and a creepy stone angel, Lush has the appearance of a gothic horror film. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Lush is one of those quirky crime dramas. You know the ones I mean…eccentric characters, a unique soundtrack, off kilter comedy scenes, and a murder plot. The Coen Brothers have made an art out of this kind of film. Lush tries really hard to make inroads into the genre.
The story ...akes place in the “Big Easy” and involves an ex-con (Campbell Scott), who likes to golf, and gets involved in a murder plot involving a repressed, depressed lawyer (Jared Harris). The story is told, at times, in flashbacks. Scott becomes embroiled, in crime noir style, in a “world of ****”. The solution to the puzzle, of course, is all a big con. Who’s conning whom….yadda yadda yadda. The problem with the story telling is that we’re never really quite sure what’s going on. There’s a lack of narrative clarity, which is really important in a crime film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 4th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 1st, 2004
Liability Crisis tells the tale of Paul, a man obsessed with Hitler and the Holocaust. This obsession threatens relationships with the women in his life. Sounds like an interesting premise. But art is all in the execution.
The leads in the film are played by Jim Helsinger and Mirjana Jokovic. Helsinger has the potential to look good on screen, but the bad lighting gives off an unnatural brown pallor to his skin. His performance fluctuates between veracious and just plain awkward. Jokovic, an ac...or from Yugoslavia, still looks beautiful despite the poor cinematography. Her moments are much better. The rest of the acting, unfortunately, is just a step up from soft core porn.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 27th, 2004
Synopsis
