Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 2nd, 2006
Synopsis
Over 400 years in the future, the remnants of humanity live in one last city. This is under the total control of the Goodchild regime. Innocents are constantly disappearing. The government is fought by the Monican resistance, and super-assassin Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) is sent to assassinate supreme leader Trevor Goodchild. At the moment of her victory, however, she hesitates, and it soon becomes apparent that nothing is as she though it was.
This financial dud is unlikely to be...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 30th, 2006
Honestly, does the world really need another Steven Segal movie? I think what's even more depressing than the thought of another Segal flick is the fact that he has attached himself to the project as an executive producer. Clearly, this is the failed actor's latest attempt in an ongoing quest to regain the successful film career he enjoyed in the 90's. Of course, his string of hits ended for a very good reason. Sure, there will always be a place for the big, dumb, mindless action movie. The thing is, even mindless ac...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 30th, 2006
There was a day in the not so distant past when there were about six big name comedians in the country, and everybody pretty much knew who they were. In the past several years, however, stand-up has really taken off in the United States, and it has become increasingly more difficult to keep track of who is who. Jeff Cesario is one of those that has garnered some popularity over the past several years, and is starting to make a big name for himself, but has certainly not arrived on the big stage just yet.
Sinc...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 29th, 2006
Best guess, this is David Lynch's way of showing how crude and tasteless many modern animated shows are. Maybe by creating one of these shows at the truly lowest possible denominator, Lynch is trying to make an artistic comment on what the American public freely accepts as quality entertainment. Shows such as Beavis and Butt-Head have been mocked for their poor animation quality. South Park has frequently been mentioned when strong language is the topic of discussion. This series hits an all-new low in...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 28th, 2006
Synopsis
Red (as in Riding Hood) visits Granny, only to find the Wolf in disguise. Granny bursts out of the closet, and then the Woodsman crashes through the window, axe upraised. We then cut to the police investigation of this scene, as a frog investigator interviews each of the players in turn. The forest has been terrorized by the Goodie Bandit, who has been stealing recipes, and one of these characters might be the guilty party. What follows is a series of tales in the vein of Rashomon, wh...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 28th, 2006
Teddy Pendergrass, one of the lesser known soul rebels of the seventies, comes to DVD in this lackluster edition, which purports to be 80 minutes – but that’s only true if you factor into the running time the one bonus feature. This fact could be a detriment to fans of Teddy’s music. For me, however, it was a relief to discover the actual concert only ran about an hour. There was nothing here to justify the man’s status as some kind of legend, as his audience interactions and movements on stage were limited in scope ...
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 27th, 2006
Huff – The Complete First Season, the Emmy Award-winning series from Showtime, comes to DVD from Sony Home Entertainment, and I have to say I couldn’t be more pleased with discovering it. The one thing I miss about premium channels in my cable package is getting to take part in the onslaught of superior original programming channels such as Showtime and HBO have to offer. Needless to say, Huff is a fitting inclusion to my reasons for jealousy towards all you subscribers out there. It follows the life of...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 26th, 2006
Manny Coto almost saved Star Trek. After 2 years of Rick Berman’s floundering on Enterprise, Coto came in and gave the show its legs. It was too little too late, of course. The show would be canned when most critics, myself included, thought the show was finally clicking. This near resurrection should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen Odyssey 5. Coto created this Showtime series. Superior f/x and a compelling story arc drove this cable cousin to Stargate SG-1.
The astronauts of the Space Shu...
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...
