Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 22nd, 2005
There are just some trilogy’s that should not be made – and the Wild Things trilogy is one of them. This is not really a trilogy per se, since each of the films carries with it the same story, with the same twists. If you have seen the first, you have basically seen each of the sequels… except the sequels are both much worse. Take out the big name actors and make a direct-to-DVD release… and you have Wild Things: Diamonds In The Rough.
I am sure you all know the story by now, but here is a brief syn...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2005
Star Trek: First Contact is light-years ahead of any other Next Generation film. There is virtually every characteristic that makes good Star Trek present here. James Cromwell as Cochrane provides the best comedy relief on Star Trek since the tribbles. The Borg infiltration reminds us of the first Alien film with its shadows and cramped airshaft scenes. The action is ramped up several notches from previous films. The basic crew seems to have found its feature legs and is more comfortable as a unit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 5th, 2005
Synopsis
After a daring art heist in Barcelona, Ellen Pompeo is ordered by her aggrieved client (EdLauter) to track down his lost paintings. Pompeo’s ex-husband, William Baldwin, arrives inSpain to protect his ex whether she wants his help or not. It looks like she’ll need it, as she findsherself up to her neck in conspiracies and being framed for the thefts herself.
Behind an utterly banal title lurks an utterly banal thriller. The opening shot is pretty nifty,but that’s mo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 30th, 2005
Synopsis
Don Cheadle plays Paul Rusesabagina, house manager of the luxury Hotel Mille-Collinesin Kigali. He does business with everybody, and strokes the egos of the powerful, and doesn’treally believe the anti-Tutsi sentiment being built up will really amount to anything. He is wrong,he discovers, when the genocide is unleashed. He gathers some 1200 refugees in the hotel, and,deprived of any help from the outside, must use all his wits to keep these people, along withhimself and hi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 19th, 2005
Synopsis
All three of thiese films have previous been seen release on DVD (one quite some time ago,from the look of things), and they are of varying importance to Streisand’s career.
The most notable of the bunch is The Way We Were (1973). Directed by SydneyPollack, this charts the relationship of Streisand (fiery activist) and Robert Redford (writer in theF. Scott Fitzgerald mould) from their college days in the 1930s to their inevitable breakup in1950s Hollywood. Th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 8th, 2005
Paul Giamatti, in typically depressed form, is an aspiring writer (his unpublished manuscript looks twice the size of War and Peace) and wine connoisseur who heads out with best friend Thomas Haden Church for a road trip through wine country before the latter’s wedding.Church is far more interesting in getting laid than in tasting wine, however, while Giamatti is still agonizing over his failed marriage (not to mention his perception of a failed life). He allows himself to be dragged by Church into all sorts of misadventures, but one particular entanglement,with Virginia Madsen, might perhaps turn out to be something special.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2005
I’m still trying to figure out why no one wanted anything to do with this project. Among some of the names I read that were attached to this in some fashion or another were Sean Penn, Mike Myers, Johnny Depp and Nicole Kidman. After what seemed like an eternity, George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven) decided to tackle the film as a first time director. The project seemed to roll from there, casting Sam Rockwell (Heist) as the lead, along with marquee names Drew Barrymore (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 3rd, 2005
Synopsis
The setting is the Adriatic in the 1930s. The hero is a bounty hunter known as Porco Rosso(“The Crimson Pig”), a former Italian seaplane pilot who deserted the post-war military ratherthan join the Fascists, and who, for mysterious reasons, has been cursed to look like a pig. Hemakes his living defending civilians from seaplane pirates, and his activities force the pirates tobring in outside talent: self-obsessed American aviator Curtis. In their first encounter, Porco’seng...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 20th, 2005
Synopsis
A series of heartrending cases drive judge Michael Douglas to the breaking point. Minortechnicalities force him to release suspects who are clearly guilty of horrendous crimes. At hismost vulnerable, he is approached by mentor judge Hal Holbrook, who is part of a cabal ofjudges who re-examine such cases, and have the suspects killed. Douglas becomes involved, butthe moral issues aren’t any easier now, and then there’s detective Yaphet Kotto who’s closingin on the truth.
...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2005
In the world of television spinoffs it is rare that the newer material will live up to that which spawned it. All In The Family holds the record for number of spinoffs and coincidentally produced the most memorable. Frasier was an instant hit after Cheers. But how many of you remember After-MASH or Beverly Hills Buntz?
Angel, to anyone living under a rock, dates back to the pilot episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I recently took another look at that maiden appearance. Who says vampires don’t age? This i...
