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ER – The Complete Seventh Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 18th, 2007

Written by Evan Braun

Television today is littered with shows that burned bright but died quickly. In a time when networks are quick to cancel, it’s becoming more and more rare to see a show live out its full potential. Having just concluded its thirteenth season, with many more years on the horizon, ER has more than shown itself to be a proven commodity. It could very well be remembered as one of the most successful and longest-running series in the history of primetime television.

It certainly can’t be said that the sh…
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Black Snake Moan

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 16th, 2007

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Watching the trailers for Black Snake Moan, I recall thinking it was going to drum up some outrageous controversy. I mean, the only thing we really knew about the film was that a big, scary black man chains up a half-dressed white girl in his home. Not exactly a wholesome image.

It’s a southern gothic parable, starring Samuel L. Jackson (Shaft) as Lazarus, a God-fearing man whose wife just left him for his own brother, and Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow) as Rae, a broken young woman wh…
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Hustler, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 16th, 2007

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I’m kicking myself. Martin Scorcese’s The Color of Money has long been a favourite of mine, but for some reason I never knew it was a sequel to The Hustler, a film 25 years older and three times better.

Starring a young Paul Newman (Road to Perdition) in a role that earned him his second Oscar nomination, The Hustler is about a cocky pool player hustling his way to the top. When “Fast Eddie” Felson (Newman) challenges undefeated straight-pool champ Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason,…
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Marsh, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 10th, 2007

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Synopsis

Gabrielle Anwar is a children’s author (of the Edward Gorey school, from the looks of things) who is haunted by intense nightmares. When she sees the house of her dreams on television, she heads out to the small town where it is located and rents the place. Sure enough, there are ghosts there. Fortunately, Forest Whitaker is also in the neighbourhood as a psychic investigator.

Moody, blue-black photography, sudden jump cues in the score, ominous shadows, equally ominous flashbacks:…
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Three Bad Men

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 6th, 2007

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I should have known I was in trouble from the opening credits. The graphics are accompanied by some really cheap sounding synthesizer music. It sounds like they sprung for the $39 Casio. Beyond the crappy sound, the melody, if you can call it that, didn’t fit the western I was unfortunately about to see. Let’s keep this simple, shall we? If you pick this baby up at your local video store, I’m going to advise you to put it down and back away from the shelf. Now you owe me. I gave you back 2 hours of your life you we…
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Light in the Darkness, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2007

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Synopsis

Recently released from a psychiatric institute, but hardly a model of stability, archaeologist Taylor Melnick (Geoffrey Lewis) returns home, still haunted by nasty hallucinations involving his demented mother (Karen Black). Complicating his attempts to function are the people around him, ranging from the alcoholic woman across the street to his shady uncle.

As one would expect, everyone’s life reaches a crisis point with the unfortunate Melnick as a focal point. Though some would-b…
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Wedding Night, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2007

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Synopsis

Gary Cooper is a writer who hit it big with his first book, but has been mechanically producing more of the same ever since while he and his wife booze it up in New York high society. When his publisher rejects his latest tossed-off effort, Cooper and wife (now dead broke) retreat to his old family home in the country. There he gradually falls in love with the daughter (Anna Sten) of his Polish neighbour. She herself is engaged (unhappily) to another man. The budding relationship is thus fra…
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Home Improvement – The Complete Sixth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2007

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What Time Is It? It’s Tool Time! Home Improvement was based on a stand-up routine that made a name for Tim Allen. In his act he would talk about his experiences with power tools and other manly misadventures. He came across as a comedic Bob Vila. Somewhere along the line it was decided this had the makings of a good sitcom for television. It was a rather inspired idea, and for many years it was one of the funnier shows on the tube. I often find myself referring to the show as Tool Time, which in reality is the cabl…
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Magnificent Seven, The – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2007

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Maybe it’s just not possible to do a good western on television these days. Most of the more recent attempts have come up pretty empty, and The Magnificent Seven is no exception. I’d have to say that perhaps The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr. might be the lone standout. The Magnificent Seven certainly tries. All of the traditional clichés are there, from the Ponderosa rip-off music to the “howdys” and “reckons” in the dialogue. There’s plenty of gunplay and horses to meet the expected quotas, but it all looks way…
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Tom and Jerry Tales Volume 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 3rd, 2007

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Synopsis

Tom & Jerry cartoons used to be so much fun back in the day. The mayhem, the violence, the pursuit of one cat to vanquish one tiny little mouse (and never succeeding). I remember one episode very vividly that involved Tom destroying the whole house to get to Jerry and literally killing himself in the process (well the fake cartoon dieing anyway). They probably took that off tv these days with trying to sanitize children’s programming and all. However, without Tom & …
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Dante’s Cove – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 2nd, 2007

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I must really love this job. That’s the only explanation as to why I keep reviewing for this site. Then I get across my desk a copy of Dante’s Cove – The Complete Second Season. (I guessed I missed the first one). On the cover they show three quite buff men (in the background two women, hey that’s Tracy Scoggins), all with pants being a little too low. Uh-oh. *flips to the back*; oh geez is that two men kissing, *sigh*, it is. From the here! network for openly gays and lesbians comes the guilty pleasure show; Dante’s Cove, a soap opera that let’s just say really pushes the envelope.
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¡Yo Soy Boricua PA’Que Tu Lo Sepas!

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 1st, 2007

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Synopsis

Most people don’t know where to place Puerto Ricans. Some would like to think they are Hispanic, some would like to think that they are African. To treat them as anything beside their own culture would be a mistake. They are Puerto Rican, proud and have been in the United States for almost a century. Puerto Ricans have been for the most part unfairly discriminated against and put into groups that they simply do not belong in. From Pedro Albizu Campos to Jennifer Lopez, there has …
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Casanova Brown — Movie Legends

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 31st, 2007

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Synopsis

After a whirlwind romance leads to a quick marriage, Gary Cooper’s introduction to his new in-laws ends in fiery catastrophe. The marriage annulled, he returns to his small town home and an earlier romance despite the best advice of father-in-law-to-be Frank Morgan, who wants to save his friend from the horrors of marriage. But when a critical number of months later, Cooper receives word that he is to be a father, and that his former wife (Theresa Wright) is planning on giving the baby up fo…
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Adventures of Marco Polo, The – MGM Movie Legends

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 30th, 2007

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Synopsis

Gary Cooper plays the title character, sent by his father on a perilous journey to the Far East to open up trade relations with China. Once in the court of Kublai Khan, he becomes involved in the palace intrigue, falling in love with the emperor’s daughter, and running afoul of evil councillor Basil Rathbone.

Cooper is hardly Italian, but in a film that offers us the spectacle of Alan Hale having his eyes narrowed by make-up to play a Chinese warlord, and Rathbone in shoe polish to…
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Life of the Party

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 30th, 2007

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Life of the Party is little known movie which was released in 2005 where it has since gone mostly unnoticed. I know the first time I’d heard of it was just a few days ago where I first saw it in my hands. It didn’t look half bad, a few cast members were recognizable, and as the movie actually went on I saw quite a few familiar supporting faces.

Michael Elgin (Eion Bailey, Band of Brothers) is a functioning alcoholic with a close-knit group of friends and a loving wife Phoebe (Ellen Pompeo, Old Scho…
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Griffin & Phoenix

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 29th, 2007

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Synopsis

It always feels good when you go into a film with very little expectations. Such as the case with Griffin and Phoenix, other than Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding), who is apparently in every fricken movie that involves the words “romantic” or “comedy”. While Griffin and Phoenix is a mite bit romantic and its story is hardly new, its execution makes things a bit more pleasant.

Written by John Hill, who originally wrote a 1976 TV movie of the same name, and di…
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Frasier – The Complete Ninth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 29th, 2007

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Kelsey Grammer reprises his role as Dr. Frasier Crane in the ninth season of Frasier. Spanning eleven seasons, winning 39 Emmy Awards, and being one of the most critically acclaimed shows of its time, these are just a few of the achievements Frasier amounted during its eleven year run. So there’s no denying that Frasier has quite a following and for any of us who have watched can admit that it has its moments, and its more ‘sophisticated’ humor can be quite funny at times.

For those of y…
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Moral Orel, Volume One – The Unholy Edition

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 29th, 2007

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Moral Orel airs on Adult Swim, and like a lot of programs on Swim, each episode is about 12 minutes long. After watching only a few episodes, I just knew this show must face a lot of criticism. A lot of the subject matters are pretty touchy – from the eleven year old Orel smoking crack to him impregnating the neighborhoods mothers. Although pretty much all races and denominations take a shot throughout this show, the blunt of all jokes are taken by Protestants. Without getting into a whole religious tirade, I’…
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Good German, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2007

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Synopsis

Steven Soderbergh has done a successful job of leveraging his reputation through the years in order to experiment with various directorial techniques and styles. With mainstream successes like Erin Brockovich and Traffic, he’s managed to keep in the spirit of anindependent film, producing stellar, less visible works like Bubble and a remake of Tarkovsky’s Solaris. Many of his works over the last few years have been with George Clooney, who starred in Solaris and < ...
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40-Year-Old Virgin, The (Double Your Pleasure Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2007

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Portions of this review have been “borrowed” from Brendan Surpless’ recent review of the HD-DVD version of the disc, which can also be found on the site.

Synopsis

Since Steve Carell broke into the comedic world with the film Anchorman, audiences have seemingly labeled him the new comedic genius with some comparing him to Jim Carrey. While I don’t completely agree with such a comment, Carell can definitely carry a film by himself, which is evident here with The 40-Year Old Virgin.

Martin – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2007

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Synopsis

When I was reviewing Season One of Martin, I was actually on a business trip in New Jersey, fondly recalling the early ‘90s and the huge popularity of the show that bore comedian Martin Lawrence’s name. Since that time, I’m no longer going to New Jersey on business, I’m working better hours, and a movie with Lawrence called Wild Hogs came out. It grossed over $150 million, and starred him, John Travolta and Tim Allen as aging adults who do the Easy Rider road trip. The only thi…
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NCIS – The Complete Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2007

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OK, it’s difficult to talk about Season Three of NCIS without talking about what happened in Season Two of the show, so I’d suggest anyone reading this who hasn’t seen it to skip ahead to the next paragraph. OK, done. Season Two of NCIS brought in a cast change that virtually nobody saw coming, let alone the cast member who indicated they wanted to leave anyway. Agent Todd (Sasha Alexander, Mission Impossible: III) had been shot and killed by a terrorist, and her comrades made concerted attempt to avenge her death at the beginning of Season Three.
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Ball of Fire

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 25th, 2007

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Synopsis

Gary Cooper and seven colleagues are introverted academics working on a new encyclopedia. When Cooper realizes this his slang entry is hopelessly out of date, he bravely ventures outside the ivory tower to learn what the new lingo actually is. The most fluent slang speaker he encounters is nightclub performer Barbara Stanwyck. When her gangster boyfriend (Dana Andrews) is wanted for murder, she hides from the police by moving in on the professors, ostensibly to help them with their project. …
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Thieves Like Us

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 23rd, 2007

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Thieves Like Us was never one of Robert Altman’s better known films. It did rather poorly at the box office in 1974, and I suspect it will fare little better on DVD. Certainly there is a bit more interest in Altman’s films with his recent passing, but Thieves Like Us is not a great representation of his work. It is a wonderful period piece, but there isn’t anything worthwhile happening inside that marvelously created world. Altman admits there were extreme cuts, over 45 minutes, made to the film. Perhaps that foota…
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Circle of Iron

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 22nd, 2007

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Synopsis

Cord (Jeff Cooper) is a martial arts expert in a mythical land who competes for the right to go on a quest to confront a legendary master (Christopher Lee) who protects a mystical book. Cord cheats and is disqualified, but heads out on the quest all the same. Along the way he encounters various threats (all played by David Carradine) and a supernaturally talented blind man (also Carradine), not to mention oddities such as Eli Wallach sitting in a barrel of oil as part of long-term project to…
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