Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 21st, 2003
Decades before The Blair Witch Project drew attention to the small independent filmmaker, George Romero and a small band of Pittsburgh natives took the horror genre by surprise with the stunning and atmospheric Night of the Living Dead. Day of the Dead was the third and (so far) final entry into the Romero zombie trilogy. Romero admits that this is the least acclaimed film in the series while professing that it is his own favorite. There is absolutely no question that makeup magician Tom Savini did some of his greatest work in this film. The gore effects are as realistic as they are gruesome. Tom has told me countless times that he carries a certain extra pride about the work he did on the film. The problem is the story is just too over the top to be taken at all seriously. Most of the acting is really B grade with the notable exception of Howard Sherman’s brilliant portrayal of Bub the mascot zombie.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 18th, 2003
Angel: Season Two (a spinoff from the wildly popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer) follows the continuing adventures of Angel (David Boreanz), the vampire who searches for redemption while battling otherworldly demons and spirits on behalf of man. Angel and his team of modern day Ghostbusters find ways to track down trouble before it gets out of control, giving each episode an action-packed and imaginative flair, with numerous long-term story arcs running throughout the season. The overall theme of the en...ire season seems to be the character’s journey from relative good to a dark, lonely, near-resignation to evil, all played aptly by the brooding Boreanz. I wish I could tell our readers more, but I have a severe handicap when it comes to capturing the essence of the series that has made it (and its progenitor) so popular.
The problem is that before receiving my copy for review, I had absolutely NO contact with anything even remotely related to this show. Not only had I avoided watching Angel, I never watched a single segment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (though I did see the movie). This left me in a difficult position, as the show presumes prior knowledge of the backstory, and seems to rely on the viewer’s presumably previously forged emotional attachments. I don’t know if the previous season explains why Wesley, the staff nerd, is with Angel Investigations, but I am pretty sure that it wasn’t just to be the show’s dry witted foil to the bubbly, at times overly-Valley Cordelia. The way everyone reacts to the idea of Darla being around certainly points to some sort of encounter in Season One, but we only see her as part of Angel’s distant past here. I’m not sure what the conflict is in Angel, or why he wants to be human, because I have no idea who the character is to this point. I’m not asking the writers of shows like this to cater every year to the uninitiated, but for some reason, this show felt a lot more difficult to get into from the start of Season Two than something like NYPD Blue, or the inimitable (at least for the first six years) X Files. On its own, Angel: Season Two is a reasonably well written, very imaginative and occasionally thrilling product (though sometimes it takes the “kitsch” a little too far), but without Season One to build on, this one feels an awful lot like a big inside joke. Since I’ve never been a vampire lore enthusiast, Angel: Season Two just wasn’t my thing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 10th, 2003
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2003
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 8th, 2003
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 7th, 2003
Extreme sports films come in two flavors first there are the sport specific show off films and then there are the documentary like Ultimate X that show what extreme sports are about. Keep Your Eyes Open rides the line between these two types of films, it looks at six of the wildest sports out there by looking at the athletes. We get an understanding of what motivates them, how they got into it and we also get lots of footage of them doing what they do. Starring Marc Frank Montoya and Mike and Tina Basich (snowboardin...), Sunny Garcia and Andy and Bruce Irons (surfing), Eric Koston and Steve Berra (skateboarding), Seth Morrison (Skiing), Mat Hoffman (BMX) and Travis Pastrana (motocross) this is a well done film that holds your interest as you learn what really makes these people tick is the same as any Pro athlete and that is too be the best at what they do. There are also some very sobering moments in the film when we get to the subject of injuries, watching Matt Hoffman kiss his baby and his wife just before trying to break a record by hitting a quarter pipe at 60 miles an hour and then seeing if he can get 50 feet above a 42 foot quarter pipe, watching him crash and almost die shows that these are dangerous sports involving calculated risks that like any sport can go wrong.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2003
In the late 1950’s Westerns accounted for six of the top ten programs on TV. Only Gunsmoke had a longer run than Bonanza. From 1959 to 1973 Ben Cartwright and his boys rode across the small screen. Years later in syndication the series re-emerged as Ponderosa and a handful of TV movies continued the tale into the 90’s.We never have grown tired of the genre that gave us such heroes as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. While I am far more in favor of season sets, this best-of collection is a might heapin’ helping of tall tales. You’ll find two discs each with four episodes, two each from the following years: 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2003
Let me start out and admit that I never really understood this show to begin with. The DVD can at times be mildly humorous, but never once can I say I really enjoyed this disc. I’m sure fans of the show will “get” a few inside jokes. Tom Green’s act is reminiscent of some of David Letterman’s much more clever street sketches throughout New York City. In this show, Tom Green travels through Japan begging for laughs, mostly by pretending not to understand the people around him.
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