Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 15th, 2007
Adapted from the hit stage musical, Norman Jewison's film version of Fiddler on the Roof has established itself as a classic over and over again since its release in 1971.
"He loves her. Love, it's a new style... On the other hand, our old ways were once new, weren't they?" I'll hardly be the first to write it, but the reason Fiddler on the Roof, a story about Jewish people and their culture, is so popular, is that its themes have universal appeal. In fact, in a way it hardly matters th...t the characters are Jewish. As we learn from a famous anecdote, when the first Japanese production of the stage musical opened, the show's creators traveled to Japan to meet the producer. He said to them, "I don't understand, I don't know how this piece can work so well in New York. It's so Japanese!"
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2007
Written by Jason Smilovic, Lucky Number Slevin is an adaptation from the 1961 Japanesse film Yojimbo. Maybe a more referable title, 1964�s A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood which was also based on Yojimbo, or even another film starring Bruce Willis, Last Man Standing. Basically Lucky Number Slevin keeps the main plot elements, a protagonist playing off both sides of a gang rivalry, but retells the story in modern times along with a handful of notable actors. Among them...include; Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Stanley Tucci, Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, and Ben Kingsley. I think it goes without saying that its rare that an action movie disappoints when its headlined by Bruce Willis, not to mention the ensemble of other great actors its backed by, so how does Lucky Number Slevin end up?
The film opens up in an undetermined airport terminal where an old man in a wheel chair referring to himself as Smith (Bruce Willis) tells the story of a fix on a horse race back in 1979 leading to the deaths of an entire family. The sole listener of the story is enthralled, thus becoming distracted at which point Smith stands up and snaps his neck, killing him instantly. At this point in the movie this has no relevance to the audience, other than introducing Bruce Willis� character, the world famous assassin Mr. Goodkat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2007
Let me tell you something about myself. I am surrounded by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of snakes every day. As I write this review, there are about 500 snakes just a couple hundred feet away. I'm not on a plane, of course, but snakes are a big part of my life. I'm a snake breeder. I'm also a musician who has just released an entire CD of reptile tracks (see footnote). So it was with more than the little bit of curiosity that I just had to see this film. I knew everybody would be asking me what I thought. So what did I think? This film is a hell of a lot of fun. I've long since learned to forgive the use of common non-venomous species to play these nasties on screen. These are actors, for crying out loud. And at least Samuel L. Jackson's worth a ton of jack, so it really wouldn't be a great idea to place him in a confined space with a pack of cobras or mambas. At least they made some effort to mimic the deadly kinds. I had a little bit of fun trying to see how many species I could identify. Then the game becomes how many of them do I own. Quite a few, as it turns out.
Snakes On A Plane rocks. If you didn't catch this when it was out, you must at least rent it now. What I love most about this film has almost nothing to do with the snakes. This film pretty much puts it out there. As Jackson is fond of saying, you just know exactly what you're going to get with the title. There were efforts to tone down the gore and silliness, but Jackson wanted nothing to do with any of that. And so the film is a romp, but it never told you it would be anything more. The same can be said of Jackson himself. When you go to one of his movies, unless George Lucas has anything to do with it, you pretty much know what a screen full of Sam Jackson's gonna be. The supporting cast is your obvious planeload of stereotypes, but again, this is all what you paid your admission to see. There will be F Bombs littered across the dialogue. His in your face persona will make or break the film, not anything in the script. Lots of guys curse, but Jackson makes the language his own. I often complain in these pages about the use of vulgarity for vulgarity's sake ruining an otherwise nice film. Here I don't think there was enough. I first saw the film in a theater and when Jackson delivered his battle cry, the room exploded. Honestly, isn't that what we all came to see? Snakes? What snakes? Oh, those MF snakes. Got it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2007
Pulse is a remake of the 2001 Japanese film Kairo which was based on a novel of the same name. The movie opens with Josh entering a dark university library looking for someone named Zieglar, where he is instead met by some creepy old man and an entity that sucks life out of him. At this point everything seemed to be promising, although a bit out there. We soon find out that Josh was the boyfriend of Mattie (Kristen Bell) who is now worried as to where their relationship stands because Josh isn�t speaking with her anymore. She goes to his apartment where Josh is still alive but looking very pale and lifeless. Moments after he asks her to wait for him, he walks into another room and hangs himself using a wire, Mattie is left blaming herself. Shortly after his death Mattie and her friends begin getting messages from Josh online, believing it is a virus Mattie�s friend Stone goes to his apartment to turn off his computer, where he is in turn met by these entities. Basically the rest of the movie is Mattie and her new found friend Dex trying to figure out who these people are and how to stop them, while her friends are slowly being killed one by one.
The movie�s central theme is technology's negative impact on people; instead of connecting people together, it has in fact distanced us from personal and emotional relationships. But maybe that�s getting a little too deep, because that�s exactly the opposite of this movie�s intention. Instead, while keeping that as a core theme, the movie is essentially The Grudge combined with White Noise, The Ring, and Night of The Living Dead with the exception of digital zombies in the place of human-like ones. That�s right, two of the most overrated and weak horror movies, The Grudge and The Ring, essentially piled into one even crappier movie, Pulse. Referring to The Ring, as in Pulse a creature if you will comes from a television and kills people. With reference to The Grudge (another Japanese remake) you got someone wandering around trying to figure out some nonsense plot all the while leaving you to wonder when something scary is going to happen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 11th, 2007
Certain Christian churches and organizations in North America preach something often called �the prosperity gospel.� In a nutshell, this refers to the idea that God wants us to be rich, physically, emotionally and materially.
It�s a pretty controversial message, but also a very attractive one. After all, what could be better than marrying Christianity to the American dream?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 9th, 2007
Victor (Greg Bryk) is one piece of work: a millionaire playboy with a taste for torture and absolutely no regard for anyone but himself. Who wouldn’t want this guy dead? His wife Elizabeth (Kristy Swanson, emerging from the where-are-they-now file) and his lawyer Roman (Josh Peace) are having an affair and plan to knock him off. They poison him, but it turns out the drug only creates a death-like stasis. He is still fully conscious, even as he’s about to be dissected. Understandably, when he regains mobility, his disposition has in no way been improved.
The film is at its strongest during Victor’s pseudo-death, as it gives free reign to black humour, and the initially ho-hum lovers-kill-evil-husband plot ventures into fresher territory. The dialogue becomes quite witty at this stage as well. The first and third acts are rather more conventional DTV fare, though the gore level is surprisingly, and pleasingly, high. When all is said and done, this flick isn’t going to rock anybody’s world, but it is brisk, efficient and bloody enough that one won’t complain about the lost 85 minutes either. Call it rental fodder that actually delivers what it promises.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 9th, 2007
When you consider the huge amount of acting inherent to the WWF, you might expect acting talents to dominate this WWE horror production. OK, of course you wouldn't. Still, acting is not where this film shines. The tired formula of teens in an isolated location who get picked off one by one is certainly nothing original, so the script doesn't offer any real shining moments either. So where exactly does this film take on a luster of its own? Truth be told? It doesn't. Of course, looking at the target audience, the film doesn't really need to. What matters here is body count, right? The numbers are up there in respectable territory. And while the gore f/x are not groundbreaking, you have to give the film style points for creativity. The plot has plenty of holes. Let's just forget the overall premise of jail inmates earning time off for fixing up an old hotel. Let's totally ignore that when they arrive there's obviously no direction or equipment to do the job. The setting at least takes us away from the by now cliché babysitters and camp counselors. As for the rest of the story, it's pretty much horror 101. Everyone knows that when running for your life from a bloodthirsty maniac, there's always time to break for a joint and a quick romp in the sack.
The cinematography is almost video game in nature. There are plenty of POV shots and quirky lighting. There are too many rapid cuts, which tend to make the kill shots a bit frantic and hard to actually see. There's also a strong influence by the latest Asian Horror Invasion, as evidenced by jerky movements and again in some of the rapid cuts. Glen Jacobs is the wrestling world's Kane. The film was obviously developed for and catered to the wrestling personality. Unlike such icons as Hulk Hogan or even The Rock, Kane has a pretty limited range. Fortunately he's perfect for the part, but let's not get too many of those Shakespeare scripts to him yet. What makes Kane work is that all he really has to do is look menacing without really speaking, and Kane has it down. The film's atmosphere works on many levels, thanks to an inspired set design. Unfortunately the shooting style cheats us of any opportunity to linger a bit and enjoy the work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 9th, 2007
Four years after Jackass: The Movie took the popular MTV franchise to the big screen, Johnny Knoxville and his gang returned to theatres with Jackass - Number Two. The sequel is bigger, bolder and much more disgusting. But is it better?
In my humble opinion, the sequel equates to more of the same. If you loved the original, you'll eat this up. If you hated it - and we both know those are the only two options - you can happily make indignant remarks to any friends or family in the "love it" camp.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 8th, 2007
After seeing Casino Royale it's hard to look at a Bond film the same way, and when Roger Moore inhabited the guy who likes martinis, fast cars and dangerous situations, it may have been a little cheesy. Granted, Moore did appear in a couple of notable Bond misses, but in the tenth release of the James Bond franchise, The Spy Who Loved Me stands as one of his best, if not the best Moore film.
From a screenplay by Richard Maibaum (his 7th Bond film) and Christopher Wood (his first) and directed by Lewis Gilbert (his 2nd Bond film), this new situation finds James at first in Austria, being chased by assassins, with everyone on skis. The end of the chase, whether you like it or not, is one of the better (maybe the best) in Bond film history. Once he gets settled, he is sent to find out why nuclear submarines are going missing. Complicating things is that James has to work with a Russian agent, a striking female named Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach, Caveman). Together, they find out the cause of the disappearances, a reclusive businessman named Stromberg (Curt Jurgens, The Longest Day, The Enemy Below) and his henchman, the ginormous guy with metal teeth, lovingly nicknamed Jaws (Richard Kiel, The Longest Yard).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 8th, 2007
Sven Garrett plays the Photographer, who, when not exercising his profession of photographing beautiful women, is busy torturing and killing them. His girlfriend’s little sister (Jade Risser) thinks there’s something creepy about him, but isn’t listened to. Meanwhile, the bodies pile up.
There’s not a heck of a lot more to the plot than that. The title is an apt description of the film: it is basically a collection of set pieces. References to Nazi Germany and footage of 9/11 are tossed in to no very compelling purpose. The acting is painful, as is the dialogue (what one can make out of it – more on this below). This is a film that has stirred up quite a fuss among the critics, horror or otherwise, but viewers wanting to see what all the fuss is about won’t be enlightened by this release. The film originally ran 105 minutes, according to IMDB. This version runs 83. So when I said this is a collection of set pieces, I should have said “truncated” set pieces, and all the really nasty stuff is completely absent. The result is akin to a hardcore porn film with the sex removed. The actual technical aspects of the film are quite slick, but that doesn’t make it watchable.
![Pulse [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/pulse-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
