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Dolby Digital 2.0 (English)

Deadly Species

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 29th, 2003

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Synopsis

An university expedition (two profs and a handful of students) is financed by a (improbablyyoung) tycoon. Their goal is to find traces of the long-vanished Calusas in the Evergaldes. Theyfind that evidence, all right, but they themselves are found bya monster, who kills them one byone. Behind a very banal title lurks a very banal film, with dialogue that is utterly lazy (any scriptthat uses “Let’s get out of here” as its second line is in serious trouble), characters so stupi…
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Murder in Greenwich

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 24th, 2003

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Synopsis

In the 1970s, a young girl is brutally murdered in the exclusive town of Greenwich,Connecticut. Among the suspects are two young members of the Kennedy clan. The murder goesunsolved, and in the 1990s, Mark Fuhrman, disgarced-cop-turned-author, re-opens the case.Though the gore is sometimes beyond prime time levels, this is still very run-of-the-mill TVfodder.

Audio

The sound (limited to 2.0) is crisp and clear, and privileges the music. The sound ef…
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X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 24th, 2003

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Synopsis

Four episodes (two of which are a two-part story) make up this offering, which, what withMagneto and the X-Men joining forces and Wolverine learning about his past, will bear someresemblance, presumably, to some of the action in the new movie. This is just Saturday morningcartoon fare, however, no more, no less. So be sure you like the TV show before you pick up theDVD.

Audio

Not too much to report on the audio. The 2.0 mix is certainly clear enough…
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Biggie & Tupac

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 24th, 2003

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Synopsis

Nick Broomfield, never one to shy away from hard and prickly topics, here tackles theshooting deaths of Biggie Smalls (the Notorious B.I.G.) and Tupac Shakur. The trail opens up allsorts dangerous vistas, including crooked cops moonlighting as security for Death Row Records.Most intriguing, and more than a little alarming.

Audio

The sound quality is all over the map, but that’s to be expected: this is a documentary, folks,and you don’t expect the ev…
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Drug Wars: The Camarena Story

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 22nd, 2003

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Synopsis

Undercover DEA agent Enrique Camarena (Steven Bauer) is kidnapped and killed inMexico. Drug lord Benicio Del Toro is responsible, but investigators Treat Williams and CraigT. Nelson discover the corruption is more widespread than they thought. The case boasts thatthis if “from the producers of The Insider, Ali and Black Hawk Down,” but a more accuratesense of this effort would be given had the tag read “from the director of Poltergeist III.” Prettystandard TV fare, and the …
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Hysterical Blindness

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 21st, 2003

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Synopsis

Uma Thurman plays Debby, a young woman so wound up that she has experiencedpsychosomatic blindness. She and her best friend Beth (Juliette Lewis) hit the bars looking forlove. If ever a character radiated desperation, it’s Debby. As Thurman plays her, she’s toxicallyradioactive, one more disappointment from snapping completely. Both the leads are very good,but this is the kind of role that Lewis has more than mastered in the past, whereas Thurman isone doing the real stretc…
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Walking with Cavemen

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 21st, 2003

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Synopsis

BBC’s documentary moves through four main phases, beginning with a groupAstralopithicus afarensis, and then stopping at other important milestones in our evolution,taking time to examine the dead ends (such as the Neanderthals) as well. The first half is plaguedby an excessively digressive narrative and massive overuse of time lapse photography. Theapemen are wonderfully rendered by real actors in make-up, but their interaction with CGI beastsproduces effects that aren’t qu…
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Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 20th, 2003

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Long before computers began to provide movie-goers with vivid representations of dinosaurs and alien invasions, Willis O’Brien and a young protégé, Ray Harryhausen, were thrilling audiences with stop motion. O’Brien’s masterpiece, of course, was King Kong. Ray Harryhausen developed that painstaking process for films like Earth vs. The Flying Saucers. Jaded audiences of today might find it hard to imagine that the f/x on this film held the fans spellbound in their theatre seats. Now, with digitally remastered prints and the new alchemy of DVD, you can treat yourself to an early craft that has influenced the great pioneers of today’s filmmaking.

American Family – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 19th, 2003

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Synopsis

The protagonists are the members of the Gonzales family, who live in East LA. The serieschronicles their many ups and downs, some comical — struggles between the father and hisfirebrand activist daughter, the drama queen aunt confronted by her daughter’s desire to be asingle mother — and other are less so, as in the recently paroled son who finds the difficulties ofparenting compounded by legal entanglements. The makers of the series are proud that this is thefirst of its…
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Eye of God

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2003

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Synopsis

The film unfolds in a series of interlocking scenes, all occurring at different times. The talebeing told concerns the arrival in a small Oklahoma town of an ex-con (Kevin Anderson), whodeveloped a prison-correspondence romance with shy Martha Plimpton. In the present, SheriffHal Holbrook is investigating a murder, and the flashbacks to Anderson and Plimpton, as wellas another series of flashbacks involving a quiet, somewhat disturbed teenager (Nick Stahl),show us what led …
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X-Files – The Complete Seventh Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 14th, 2003

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The X-files was one of the best written and directed shows on television, this unfortunately is the last year that the show held onto it‘s audience and originality. We start the season off with the two part season opener “The Sixth Extinction” and “The Sixth Extinction II” with Scully in Africa looking for a cure for Mulder’s mental state. In the middle we have the strangely sublime “X-cops” that finds Mulder and Scully on patrol with the Cops TV crew. We also find the typical mix of X-files weird and wonderfulness i…
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Dream with the Fishes

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2003

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Synopsis

David Arquette, terminal loser, utterly verklempt, and unable to get over the death of hiswife, decides to jump off a bridge. He is talked down by selfish sleaze Brad Hunt, who convinceshim to take sleeping pills instead. The pills turn out to be vitamins. Hunt, however, actually isdying, and has only a few weeks to live. He strikes a deal with Arquette. If Arquette will bankrollHunt’s last spree, indulging in all his fantasies (nude bowling, etc.), he will kill Arquette at t…
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Secretary

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2003

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Synopsis

Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young woman utterly lacking in self-confidence, andgiven to deliberately cutting herself. She gets her first job as secretary to E. Edward Grey (JamesSpader), as tightly wound and ferociously self-isolated and individual as you could imagine.What happens when the sadist meets the masochist? Sparks fly. Low key and sharply sly, thiswinning film shows (along with Amelie and Kissing Jessica Stein) that there is life in theromantic comedy g…
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Best of the Power Rangers – The Ultimate Rangers

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2003

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Synopsis

Five Power Rangers adventures, three of which are two-parters, add up to almost three hours-worth of material. The cheerful super-powered teens go up against the regular batch of rubber-suited bad guys. If you want your kids to develop an early appreciation of camp, this is just theticket. If you’re not already familiar with the basic premise of the series, the plot lines could be alittle confusing.

Audio

Ouch. The 2.0 surround is a very harsh mix. …
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Path to War

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2003

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Synopsis

Elected with the greatest majority of any US president, Lyndon Johnson (Michael Gambon,who will be replacing Richard Harris as Professor Dumbledore) begins his administration withgreat hopes for the positive transformation of American society. But he listens to the wrongpeople about Vietnam (Alec Baldwin instead of Donald Sutherland), and little by little everythinggets swallowed up by the war. Though long, this is one compelling drama, and much of thedialogue is spooky in …
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Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 4th, 2003

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Synopsis

On their way to a kid’s concert, the Veggies’ bus runs off the road, and they go for help ina seafood restaurant. At this restaurant are the “pirates who do nothing,” who teach one of theyoungsters a lesson in compassion through their tale of their adventures with Jonah. Nicelyanimated, Jonah for the most part avoids the ham-fisted didacticism that plagues many similarefforts.

Audio

A very strong, powerful mix. The music is a particular standout. Th…
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Troop Beverly Hills

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2003

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Synopsis

A wealthy Phylis Nefler (Shelly Long) has everything money can buy, except a husband. Freddy (Craig T. Nelson) is leaving her for good unless she can prove to him that she is still the dynamic and energetic person he married. She becomes the leader of her daughters Wilderness Girls troop and heads off into the wild blue yonder.

Video

Remeastered in High Definition like a lot of the Columbia Tri-star re-releases have been lately the video quality is better then ave…
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Bushwacked

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 30th, 2003

Synopsis

Daniel Stern stars as bumbling package delivery man “Mad Max” Grabelski who finds himself on the wrong side of the law after a get rich quick scheme makes him a murder suspect. He heads for the hills and is mistaken for a world famous scout leader and things just go down hill from there. Your pretty low end stab at slap stick kids comedy this film falls short and really disappoints on all fronts

Audio

This disc has a simple Dolby stereo audio track so there is not…
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Wind

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 30th, 2003

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Synopsis

A rare glimpse inside a world rarely seen by outsiders we have the story of a young, brash captain (played by Matthew Modine) on a quest to reclaim the America’s Cup (that he lost) to an arrogant Australian (played by Jack Thompson). Entangled in the battle of wits on the water we also have a classic love story of two people separated by their own personal ambition and reunited by a shared dream.

Audio

I suspect that the original audio for this film was a simple …
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Midnight Crossing

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

In 1959, US sailors stash a load of money on an island not far from Cuba. Flash forward tothe present, and one of those sailors (Daniel J. Travanti!) and his wife (poor Faye Dunaway)convince John Laughlin (the son of one of the other sailors) and his wife Kim Cattrall to sail outto get this cash. Naturally, all is not what it seems. Travanti is badly miscast as the villain, andthe plot takes so long to get in gear that you have plenty of time to realize this makes nosense.< ...
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Physical Evidence

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

An all-around sleaze is found murdered (and the discovery of his body is, I have to admit,pretty damn funny). All sorts of evidence points to hot-tempered cop Burt Reynolds, and he ischarged with murder. Defending him is a very wooden Theresa Russell. She and Reynolds areconvinced he was framed, and they begin to dig. There are loose ends all over the place by thetime the film wraps up, but it is decently entertaining along the way.

Audio

The sound …
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Shadows Run Black

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Someone, variously known as the Black Angel and the Co-Ed Killer is, well, killing co-eds.All of whom knew each other. Who is responsible? And who the hell cares? This is about as badas a slasher film can get. Never mind the amateurish acting, the sub-literate script, and the awfulphotography. There’s no blood!

Audio

The sound is technically 2.0, and I suppose it is, but just barely. There is virtually no soundat all from the rear speakers, music or…
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C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Jerry Bruckheimer becomes yet another A-List film producer to take a shot at the television drama. I have to admit that I never gave this show a prayer of success when I first saw it three years ago. It’s not that I thought it wasn’t good. I loved it. I thought it would be too cerebral for the normal Joe six-pack audience. Boy was I wrong. CSI has become the hottest drama in prime time, and like Law and Order before it has begun to spin off into another incarnation with CSI: Miami. The characters are engaging and it seems we’re all obsessed with some morbid fascination of murder.
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NYPD Blue – Season One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Steven Bochco is no stranger to innovative television. Hill Street Blues is arguably the best cop show ever made. Even his failures are praised for their innovativeness and freshness. Remember Cop Rock? NYPD Blue didn’t just push the prime time envelope. It tore the envelope to pieces and blew it away with hurricane force winds. George Carlin made a career out of his “7 words you can’t say on television”. Along comes NYPD Blue and Carlin just might need a new act. Language and nudity made this the first R-Rated primetime program.
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MTV – The Real World Movie: The Lost Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 25th, 2003

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How do you spoof something that is already a spoof itself? That’s easy. You mix a reality show concept with a contrived Hollywood script. You hire the worst actors you can find and you call it The Real World Movie: The Lost Season. Even if you’re a fan of the MTV reality series, you won’t find anything remotely entertaining here. If you don’t even like the TV show, then my advice is to run. Now we have bad actors pretending to be people who are pretending to be spontaneous.

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