Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2005
I was dreading watching this DVD. Hmmm...indy film, Sundance film, a woman "coming out" to her family film. This had all the hallmarks of arty and annoying. Thankfully, Saving Face is not like that at all. Michelle Krusiac plays "Wil", a surgeon, who falls hard for Vivian (Lynn Chen), a ballet dancer. Complications arise because Vivian is the daughter of Wil's boss. Yes, there are some screwball comedy elements. But it's all tastefully done. Joan Chen (what has she done since Twin Peaks) does a n...ce turn as Ma.
Alice Wu writes and directs the film. She shows a steady hand in both areas. The movie verges over into "feel good" territory, but this seems to be on par for the genre. Saving Face has a certain charm, and garners strong performances from the lead actors. Well done
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2005
Let's face it; Harrison Ford is not a particularly great actor. He is not capable of playing diversity in his roles, and he has never faded into a character. When you go to see a Harrison Ford movie, the result is always something like “Harrison Ford as the President of the United States”, or “Harrison Ford is wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit.” Never once have I seen one of his films and came away saying “it is about this professor that goes on a quest to find the holy grail. Harrison Ford played the profe...sor.”
Having said this, I like Harrison Ford. He happens to be one of those personalities, much like William H. Macy, that is comfortable and pleasant to watch on screen. He always handles each role with care, and is never content to let a role slip by without putting effort into the feelings and intentions of the character. He is much like the great Gregory Peck in this regard, as some of Harrison the man always comes through in the characters he plays. He is always genuine, always true to himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 3rd, 2005
Synopsis
The son of Seth Brundle, the unfortunate man-fly, is born with his mixture of human and fly DNA. He turns out to be uncannily brilliant, but also reaches adulthood (played by Eric Stoltz) in only five years. He grows up in the Bartok Industries facility, and is asked to carry on his father’s work. Inevitably, the fly genes make themselves felt, and he begins to transform, and love interest Daphne Zuniga wants to save him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 27th, 2005
Synopsis
And here we go again with some 37 stories of inspired stupidity. Among the crazed storylines we find the classic sitcom scenario of Plankton swapping lives with Mr. Krabs and discovering he can’t take the heat, Squidward being drawn willy-nilly into a plastic conch shell-worshipping club of SpongeBob and Patrick, the non-swimmer SpongeBob becoming a lifeguard with disastrous consequences, and so on. It’s all bright, cheerful, unobtrusively self-aware, and refreshingly silly in a way that har...ens back to classic cartoons of yore. A vital part of this generation’s cultural heritage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2005
Synopsis
In better days, the Disney company helped shape a lot of young minds back in the day. They released a lot of short films based on established fairy tales and fables. The animation was groundbreaking in its day, long before computers ruled the land, and some of the work really is great. As part of the movement to bring some of the tales to DVD, Disney has released two titles of Timeless Tales to reacquaint fans of the old work, and to bring new fans into the fold.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 24th, 2005
Synopsis
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) is the landmark, because of its star, and because of its subject matter. This intense, rich portrayal of juvenile delinquency triggered a flood of largely exploitive imitators, but it remains a powerful film, not least for the sympathy with which it treats its characters, and for its understanding. It shows why the Dean, Natalie Wood and company behave the way they do, and does not demonize. This was Dean’s second film, but the first to be released, and hi... performance here remains his most iconic role.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2005
Synopsis
Seth Brundle (David Goldblum) is on the cusp of perfecting an functioning teleporter, a device that will transform the world. Eager to share his creation with someone, he strikes up an acquaintance with science journalist Geena Davis. She is initially skeptical, but is soon converted, and as the work progresses, the two fall in love. Then, in a fit of misplaced jealousy (he believes that Davis is seeing ex-boyfriend John Goetz), Goldblum teleports while drunk, not knowing a fly is also in th... machine with him. Their DNA is fused, and the man slowly starts transforming into a fly, his relationship and his identity crumbling along with his flesh.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 16th, 2005
Fever Pitch is an American-ized version of the Nick Hornby novel and subsequent British Film. American-ized usually means “watered downâ€, and there’s no doubt a lot of the bite from the original source material is missing. But I am a big fan of the movies High Fidelity and About a Boy. Instead of soccer, the protagonist’s obsession, in this Fever Pitch is baseball (in particular the Red Sox). This obsession gets in the way of having healthy relationships. I think the change of...sport still works; pitch is an apt baseball term. And the correlation between heartbreak in love and heartbreak in Red Sox fans is also relevant. But how is the movie?
Well, the movie is directed by the Farrelly Brothers. So there’s the typical physical and gross out humor one might expect from the fraternal duo. But this is a more, shall we say, “mature†work? The Farrelly’s are really subdued here (sometimes bordering on tepid). Shallow Hal this ain’t. But the material doesn’t lend itself to their hi-jinks. Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore are the stars of this truthful romantic comedy. After the embarrassing Taxi, Fallon shows some range here. Barrymore also surprises with the degree of emotional truth in some scenes. The movie gains steam as it goes along, much like a baseball season, and the combination of smarts and schmaltz (from veteran writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) did win me over in the end. And I’m a Red Sox fan.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 15th, 2005
The classics become the classics for a reason. True, this may be a collection of classic cartoons, but they are classics all the same. This disc contains four different cartoons that introduce children to the stories of “The Ugly Duckling”, “Ferdinand the Bull”, “The Country Cousin” and “The Wind in the Willows”. Parents can rest easy by putting their children in front of something like this for an hour, as children will not only be be entertained, but they will learn a little something along the way as well. These s...orts are from the golden age of Disney animation, back when everything was drawn by hand, and the true creative artists practiced their craft. This is animation as an art form.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2005
Synopsis
John Cusack had done the 80’s adolescent romantic comedy thing to death. In one fashion or another, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer, Better Off Dead and Hot Pursuit had some mix of smooching and laughs to them, and Cusack was the main character. So why did he decide to do another in Say Anything, the directing debut for Cameron Crowe?
