Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 3rd, 2006
Synopsis
FBI agent Martin Lawrence has given up the dangers of field work because of his family responsibilities. Now he’s a safety mascot. But when his first partner is killed, Lawrence surreptitiously dons his Big Momma persona gain, posing as a nanny in the family of the chief suspect, a man who is developing software that could compromise national security.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2006
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother has everything that Young Frankenstein had except Mel Brooks (although he does make a very brief vocal cameo). With the combined comedic genius of Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, and Marty Feldman, how could this film go wrong? Like Young Frankenstein, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes offers a rich classical mythology to mine for material. A wonderful supporting cast featuring the likes of Dom Deluise can’t miss, right? No so elementary, my dear Watson. Focus. ...hat’s the rub. I’m not referring to the work of the cameramen here. Gene Wilder appeared so sure of his own brilliance that he forgot to bring the story.
The game’s afoot, and it smells like it, too. Never before has so much talent been squandered on so little substance. I understand this is a farce, and I’m fully prepared for the absurd. I’m just not prepared to go nowhere. I was extremely disappointed at every turn. Toilet humor replaces wit. There are also no straight men. What’s Costello without Abbott? Everyone is so into trying to be funny no one offers to be the foil. Simply uninspired. The entire film makes one feel they are witness to one large in joke and we’re on the outside of the punch line. The musical numbers make the film all that much more intolerable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 27th, 2006
Synopsis
Sarah Jessica Parker is the very Manhattan, high stress and rather repressed fiancee of Dermot Mulroney. They head off to small-town New England for Christmas with his family, headed by matriarch Diane Keaton. This is the family Stone of the title, and their free-and-easy lifestyle clashes with Parker’s, and she is seen as an interloper. She is subjected to no end of humiliations, principally at the hands of Rachel McAdams. But when Mulroney’s brother Luke Wilson shows up, Parker finds herse...f a rather oddball ally.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 26th, 2006
Dr. Dolittle 3 is yet another unnecessary direct-to-DVD sequel of a film, whose glory has long since passed. Young actress Kyla Pratt takes center stage as the next generation of Dolittle to inherit the gift – or curse – of hearing animals speak. At the outset of the film, she is ashamed of her gift, and her lineage. But when she is sent to an old family friend’s ranch for the summer, she begins to see that a talent is what you make of it. Along with telegraphed comedy, lightweight rivalries, and a budding rom...nce with a young ex-bull rider, Kyla’s feature debut is a harmlessly amateur piece of family film fluff, sure to delight the kiddies (but only the very young).
From an adult’s perspective, the film contains a lot of weaknesses – namely stemming from a core plot founded and developed on one cliché after another. The slapstick aspects of the humor have also been done to death – and here, they’re not very effective. The whole “will they or won’t they save the ranch” thing also feels like familiar territory, and tension is absent as a result. It’s been said there’s nothing new under the sun – certainly, this is the case at the Durango Ranch in Dr. Dolittle 3. But sometimes, a film filled with regurgitated plot points matters not when the eyes appealed to are that of a child. Kudos to the animal trainers, though – they do a fabulous job making all the ensuing hijinx feel authentic.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 25th, 2006
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes was the last of the original Apes films. It has been far too frequently maligned. While I will admit that some of the high concepts are a little too undisguised, there was still some life left in the franchise. Of course, the novelty had worn off by now. It didn’t help that the films’ budgets kept falling as Fox was looking for cheaper ways to sell the same ideas. “Battle” was a violent film, but it was really a film about peace and the violent rite of passage often necessary to ac...ieve any long-term tranquility.
Roddy McDowell was, in fact, Planet Of The Apes. He appeared in four of the original films as well as the short-lived television series. The series was a victim not of its viewership, but rather a strong anti-violence movement aimed at the television industry at the time. While it was no more violent than most shows, it seemed to draw the most fire. Whether playing Cornelius in the first film, Caesar in the final two, or Galen in the series, McDowell had an uncanny ability to bring emotion and strength of character to the Apes make-up. He brought a realistic animation to a risky business. The Apes films might have easily become farces with laughable characters that no one took seriously enough to listen to the social commentary being offered. With the help of brilliant makeup artist Chambers, these characters were real. Paul Williams was a surprising cast choice. Better known for writing syrupy love songs, the singer did a fine job as the cynical brain trust, Virgil. Claude Akins brings the gruffness of gorilla Aldo exactly what it needs. The cast is pretty solid.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 24th, 2006
Synopsis
In a New York happily riddled in sin, Frank Sinatra is Nathan Detroit, who runs a notorious floating crap game. But since the cops are breathing down his neck, he is having trouble finding a location for his game. He finds one, but needs a thousand dollars cash to get the space. Enter Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson, gambler extraordinaire. Sinatra bets him a grand that he can’t seduce missionary Jean Simmons, and the romantic complications are on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 21st, 2006
Hollywood can sometimes be so enthused to cash in on a certain type of film many decent projects looking to explore a worthwhile subject topple under the weight of the cash-grabbing, money-hungry throng. Such is the case with Director John Woo’s Windtalkers, coming to DVD a third time on April 25 in this director’s cut. Though it’s sometimes overly melodramatic, this Nicolas Cage vehicle makes good use of its characters to forge an intriguing story about Navajo code talkers, and the presumed military practice ...f protecting the code and not the man. Cage plays Joe Enders, a soldier with a death wish and a lot of survivor’s guilt for having made it through battle-after-battle, only to receive another medal, while all of his friends die around him. He has grown to hate the medals because they remind him of this fact, and it seems like his whole mission is to die in battle with honor… not to go on living in a world so terrible that it welcomes the horrors of war. Then, he receives a peculiar mission: the U.S. has found luck with a form of code based on the Navajo language. It’s vital the Japanese do not get their hands on any of the Navajo code talkers, and Enders must do everything in his power to protect the code… even if that means taking the life of a fellow soldier to do it.
Such a situation lends itself to great drama; however, this is still a John Woo film, and his enslavement to self-imposed convention does cause the film to have a few problems. For one, I would like to see Woo – just once – shoot an entire film, edit, and release it, without the use of one slow-motion moment. The reason for this: if the technique is an option, he will abuse it with zero regard – or knowledge of – having done so. After seeing film-after-film of his resort to this overused tactic, I’d say it’s time he laid off. He has a good story, and characters viewers can get emotionally involved with – so why does each fallen soldier have to take an hour to hit the ground? Also, just about every war movie cliché there is turns up at some point, whether it be the bigoted soldier with a change of heart, or the loving husband telling his buddy to make sure his wife gets his wedding band “should anything happen.” (On a side note, any time a soldier says a variation of this in a war film, you know “should anything happen” actually means “when something happens.”) Lastly, there is the clunky dialogue, mostly given to Adam Beach as the featured code talker Enders must protect. With these things said, something intrinsic about the film still manages to hold everything together in a respectable narrative. And I think whatever it is, the stellar cast consisting of Nicolas Cage, Christian Slater, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, and Jason Isaacs, has something to do with it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 20th, 2006
Synopsis
I’m late coming to this series about a fractious family and the funeral home they run. These are the first episodes I’ve ever seen, so I’m not going to pretend I have the faintest idea what’s going on here. All the various plot lines are clearly working to a conclusion, and for the benefit of those who know these characters, some of the things that are dealt with are James Cromwell’s depression and the difficulty in treating it, and the imminent arrival of a baby (which sets up the final epi...ode’s variation on the opening: instead of starting the show off with a death, it begins with a birth).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 19th, 2006
Mel Gibson stars as reluctant guerilla fighter Benjamin Martin in this story of courage, passion, and war, which dramatizes elements from the American Revolution into a gripping fictional narrative that will manipulate every emotion you have until its rousing finale. Martin endures great personal tragedies at the hands of the British - in particular, the despicable Colonel William Tavington (played with the vile gusto of a demon from Hell by Jason Isaacs). Tavington has already killed one of Martin's sons, and it is ...enjamin's concern for his other - as well as his insatiable lust for revenge - that drives him to take up arms for the Continentals and lead them into battle... and perhaps, freedom.
Whether it's tugging at heart strings, or planting viewers right in the middle of primitive warfare (no type of warfare is capable of being anything but), The Patriot maintains control of its audience, and only lets go at the final credits. Be forewarned, if you've never seen it. There will be times when you want to stop the film for fear of what might happen to Benjamin at Tavington's brutal hands. Then, other moments are "damn the torpedoes," kill that expletive-expletive, if it's the last thing you ever do. The point is, it will involve you the way few films can, and will actually have a physical effect on you - of some kind - by the time it reaches its conclusion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 18th, 2006
I always hated Moonstruck… but don’t get me wrong, this is a positive review. See, it seemed like, back in my childhood, every time I wanted HBO or Showtime to play The Goonies, they were always in the middle of yet another airing of this Academy Award-winning romance. It was a boring movie about love with that lady Cher, who needed to stick to the radio, and stay off my movie screens. My, how a little age and maturity can alter perceptions. As a seven-year old boy, I just didn’t have the sensibility fo... this film. And while many would argue I haven’t grown up much in the years following, I gauge all such detractors wrong by the simple fact I now enjoy Cher’s shining moment thoroughly. I mean, there has to be some growth there. Right?
Moonstruck is a modern film, which uses the model of classical Italian comedies as its primary structure. In fact, some elements are directly lifted from the divine comedies of yore, but Norman Jewison’s direction, along with a top-notch script, and a terrific cast, lend a freshness not seen in the romantic by-products of today, which make the film more homage than rip-off. For one, the story centers on a 37-year old widow (Cher) – not your common leading lady role – whose superstitions dictate her happiness. She agrees to marry an older man, whom she admittedly doesn’t love, just to bring some structure and stability to her life. Then, she meets her fiance’s estranged younger brother, and a spark ignites that turns her world upside down… in a good way. The eccentricities of her Italian-American family are mined to perfection with both warmth and humor. The film explores how cruel the closest people can be to one another without wrapping viewers up in any negativity. I can finally see what the critics were raving about – a good, solid film.
