Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2006
Synopsis
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are two down-on-their-luck jazz musicians in Prohibition-era Chicago. They witness a gangland massacre, and in order to hide from the hoodlums, dress up in drag and join an all-female jazz band that is off to play an extended gig in Florida. The vocalist of the band is none other than Marilyn Monroe, and though it is Lemmon who first casts designs for her, it is Curtis who engages in the wooing. Lemmon, meanwhile, has his hands full when billionaire Joe E. Brown f...lls head over heels for his female persona.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2006
On paper, The Ringer must sound like the most un-PC movie in the history of cinema. After all, Johnny Knoxville from MTV’s Jackass plays a character in need of some cash, so he pretends to be “Jeffy” -- a mentally challenged athlete -- in order to fix the Special Olympics.
However, this movie is produced by the Farrelly Brothers, and as they have done in their past films (There’s Something About Mary, Shallow Hal), the Farrellys treat mentally and physically challenged people with resp...ct -- casting them in large supporting roles -- which allows The Ringer to become an endearing film, rather than the offensive and insulting piece of crap it could have easily become.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2006
OK, so I've gotta admit that I'm a little bit of an uncultured boob who is not that familiar with the writings of Russian Anton Chekhov. In fact I know a little bit more about Andrei Tarkovsky (Solaris) then anything else, and that Chekhov was (and still is) an influential force in dramatic works today. Well, he has to be if his work "The Three Sisters" gets adapted into a play by Richard Alfieri, then into a film starring a capable and recognizable cast, right?
Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, the film chronicles the events of sisters who are living their lives in the shadow of their late, scholarly father. Olga (Mary Stuart Masterson, Fried Green Tomatoes) is the oldest in the family and is in line to be named Chancellor of a University, the middle sister Marcia (Maria Bello, A History of Violence) is a bit of a shattered psyche who lives with her husband Harry (Steven Culp, Desperate Housewives) and they constantly fight, so she seeks the company of Vincent (Tony Goldwyn, The Last Samurai). The youngest sister Irene (Erika Christensen, The Upside of Anger) seems to live a life that her older sisters admire, but she's not without her own demons, despite the thoughts of her fiancée David (Chris O'Donnell, Vertical Limit). There is a brother named Andrew (Alessandro Nivola, Junebug), who the sisters almost seem to subconsciously gang up on, even more so with Andrew's wife, the caustic Nancy (Elizabeth Banks, The 40 Year Old Virgin). There are also some notable supporting character actors in the film also, like the sarcastic Gary (Eric McCormack, Will & Grace) and the creepy but foreign Dr, Chebrin (Rip Torn, Men in Black).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 6th, 2006
There is no shortage of vampire stories out there. There’s certainly no shortage of kick butt chicks dressed as sparsely as possible running around in depressed future populated worlds. Underworld, without a doubt, does the combination better than anyone. Ultraviolet makes a grand attempt that really ends up being more of a ride than anything else. Now, I can usually follow the most convoluted storylines, but this one gave me some trouble. It seems that while trying to create a super soldier (where is Mulder and Scully when you need them) the government made a big oops and created something akin to a vampire. Those infected with HGV, (I wonder what connection they’re going for there?), possess extraordinary strength. They also develop light sensitivity and a thirst for blood. After realizing these new hybrid beings weren’t going to quite fit in socially, the plan was to round them up and kill them all. That was the plan, anyway, before the likes of Violet. As part of an underground hemophage movement to survive the genocide, Violet finds herself having to protect a child whose blood might contain a cure or a plague. The inevitable chase through a futuristic city serves more to show off some expensive CG f/x than really further any plot.
Ultraviolet makes the fatal flaw of trying to serve too many purposes. There’s nothing wrong with a thrill ride with plenty of eye candy. Still, Ultraviolet is trying to make too many statements. The obvious HIV inferences, combined with the concentration camp mentality of the totalitarian future, overwhelm us most of the time. Another problem is the f/x are often too slick. More often than not the film just doesn’t appear believable. Now I don’t mean “That’s just not possible” unbelievable. I mean, the picture just doesn’t look real. This is what happens when color correction becomes manic. Everything is so smooth and shiny it looks as though it might as well all have been CG. The action is also almost comical. We’re talking Kill Bill on the believability gauge. She just takes on hundreds of enemies at a time. Before long you’re thinking, Who cares? She’s indestructible. Don’t get me wrong, I rather enjoyed it at times. It’s an over-ambitious thrill ride and nothing more. The problem is, it obviously wants to be so much more than that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 5th, 2006
This is a rather hard review to write. How do you separate the subject matter from the film? What reviewer wants to find himself in the unenviable task of critiquing the likes of a future saint? Certainly the filmmakers must have felt the same burden to do the story justice. But did they succeed? The answer is a not so simple.
The choice of Olivia Hussey was a remarkably inspired one. She portrayed the unselfish passion and self sacrifice as if they were emanating from her very soul. From her first moments on screen it is not hard to believe, while perhaps imagined, that we are seeing just a hint of something divine. The supporting cast does a fine job but can’t help but be overshadowed by Hussey. The location cinematography is also handled nicely with a great realistic approach that creates just the right touch of reality to it all. If the film is flawed at all, it is in its length. At 2 hours, it is overlong to maintain such powerful imagery, yet the running time is far too short to do justice to such a life that has touched and inspired the world. The film doesn’t start at the beginning. We find Mother Teresa already a nun and about to begin her mission to help the poor. Nor is that story complete. Huge gaps in time lead us all too quickly to aged and dying saint apparent. You don’t need to be Catholic to appreciate the film. Few would dare to challenge the purity and good works of Mother Teresa’s life. World leaders have been brought to tears, and more importantly to action, because of her example. Many films have spared no expense in graphic f/x to try and show us a face that is truly evil. Few have attempted to bring us such a picture of goodness. This film shows us how simply it can be done. The film is worth a look on those grounds alone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Anthony Michael Hall steps into Christopher Walken’s considerable shoes as Johnny Smith, a man who wakes up after years in a coma to discover that not only has life moved on without him, but he has psychic powers, and with them comes visions of politician Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery, taking on the role essayed by Martin Sheen in the Cronenberg film) bringing about some kind of apocalypse. Smith’s struggle against Stillson makes up the central arc of the series, and this season...opens with Smith trying to stop his friend Rebecca from attempting to assassinate Stillson, and act that will result in her death.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 2nd, 2006
Doctor Who is much more of a cultural phenomenon in the UK than it is here in the States. In fact, the series about a time traveler who fights evil is very much on par with the Star Trek series in North America in terms of its rabid cult following. The original series ran for a staggering 26-seasons on the BBC before finally fading away. The show has become one of the most popular Science Fiction programs of all time.
In 2003, the dead show was brought back as a new series, following the same ba...ic storyline as the original. The Doctor in question is actually an alien who fights evil with the aid of his rickety and unreliable time machine, which is cleverly disguised as a British police box. Though such boxes have become a bit rare in today's society (in much the same way as the common pay telephone has disappeared in the U.S.), the boxes are still fairly inconspicuous, which allows the good Doctor to leave the machine sitting about without too much interference from the general public.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 28th, 2006
There was a time when no major groundbreaking events were captured on film. The thing is, it's sometimes hard to know when something of historical significance is going to occur. Major events such as World War II and the fall of the Berlin wall were planned in advance (so to speak), so it was easy to set-up a camera and capture the event. Spontaneous events, however, were mostly passed over. As technology has progressed, however, it has become easier to capture important and notable moments on the fly. September 11, ...001 has taught us that fact in graphic and horrible detail.
That's part of what makes this disc so very unique. At the time, who would know how popular Otis Redding would become, or that he would die an untimely death in the weeks following his performance? What's more, who could have predicted the unbelievable phenomenon that was Jimi Hendrix? Obviously these men were talented musicians, but the kind of lasting fame they eventually garnered, especially Hendrix, could never have been predicted.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 28th, 2006
Synopsis
The ironically named Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan) is a hitman whose lifestyle of promiscuous sex, exotic locales and contract killings is catching up with him. As he approaches meltdown, he runs into Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a businessman who has had a long run of bad luck. The two strike up a friendship in Mexico city, and toward the end of their stay there, something happens. Six months later, Noble, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, turns uup on Wright’s doorstep.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 26th, 2006
Once in awhile, a film comes along that really catches you by surprise. Little Manhattan is one of those films. At first glance, it appears to be an updated take on a coming of age film that warms the cockles of your heart and leaves you smiling, but it's actually a bit of a romantic comedy that is timeless and memorable.
Written by Jennifer Flackett and directed by Mark Levin, who are a married writing team whose most notable work was Wimbledon, the focus of Little Manhattan is Gabe (Josh Hutcherson, Kicking and Screaming), who also narrates the film. At first the film starts with Gabe, sitting on his bed with a broken arm, crying over someone named Rosemary (Charlie Ray, in her first acting role). From there, Gabe tells the story of how happy he was before he met Rosemary. He was a happy 10 year old boy, knowing that girls were gross and he was going to be a placekicker with the help of his father (played by Bradley Whitford, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). Gabe has known Rosemary for awhile, since kindergarten, but they bump into each other again in a karate class. Gabe suddenly realizes that he has feelings for Rosemary, and wants to be around her as much as possible.
