Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
I will be honest and inform you that I have yet to like a video game based film since 1995’s Mortal Kombat. It seems that no matter how closely they try to follow the story based on the game, the director always fails. One of the more famous director’s in the video-game to movie based series is director Uwe Boll, who has brought us The House of the Dead and the recent Bloodrayne, These movies, as the popular consensus agrees, were extremely awful. They lacked anything redeeming, despite the orig...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
Synopsis
Disney has released a DVD that appears to be part of a compilation, and provided some karaoke subtitles and marketing it as a sing-along entitled “You Can Fly”. With animated (but dated) introductions by Disney characters, the songs featured are from such films as Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins and Dumbo.
For those who enjoyed Disney films in previous years, some of the obscure songs (along with some of the more popular ones) have been resurrected on ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 1st, 2006
The opening titles of this film are a bit misleading. The font is a colorful, comical display played against animation more suitable for the opening of a Pink Panther film. Instead of a comedy, we are presented with a film likely to appeal to a very limited audience. To the film’s credit, it doesn’t abandon the themes and style it intends to portray in an effort to gain more mass appeal.
Antonio is a young man living in Mexico. His dreams are filled with playing music. Like most young ambitious music...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
If you aren’t familiar with what Roll Bounce is, you will be pleasantly surprised by some of the tricks this small coming-of-age film pulls out of its hat. I expected horrendous acting, a poorly written script, and a story that cared more about racially motivated laughs than honesty. What I got was just the opposite. First of all, the film’s success begins and ends with a top-drawer screenplay that perfectly captures teen angst as well as the fears and traumas of growing up. Not something one would expect abou...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
Synopsis
I never thought that a 90 minute documentary surrounding one joke could be so entertaining. And for all the praise that critics have heaped onto The Aristocrats, I was curious to see what the hype was. The film’s creators, comedians Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller) spend the time interviewing many different comedians, and all of them share their thoughts about the joke. But it does a little more than that. Along with various versions of the joke, there is a deconstruction...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 31st, 2006
Synopsis
Sarah Miles is the spoiled young daughter of Leo McKern. In the troubled Ireland of 1916, she falls in love with, and marries, middle-aged schoolteacher Robert Mitchum. Their marriage hits troubled waters when she begins a passionate affair with a young English officer, which is a politically delicate move, to say the least.
Ach and begorra, but ‘tis a wee long, the story is, to be sure. This simple love triangle is stretched out over a mind-boggling 206 minutes. Everything is Oiri...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2006
American Women is a difficult film to write about because it evokes such little passion from its viewer. By no standards is it a good film, but pinpointing its frailties becomes quite the daunting task. Set in a small Irish village, the story centers on a group of sexist men, who want to import girls from America because the ones accessible to them do not meet up to the appropriate standards. The plot is farfetched, even as goofball comedies go, and none of the male characters are likeable. Also, with so many ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 29th, 2006
It's great to see Scorsese return to his love and respect of music in documentary form. Of course, the first time he did a music documentary, the result was what many consider to be the best musical performance film of all time; The Last Waltz. He has always paid special attention to rock and roll music in his films, from using Cream in a gangster film (Goodfellas) to The Moody Blues in a film about old Las Vegas (Casino). Music has played an interesting and important role in all of Scorsese's fi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 27th, 2006
Synopsis
Based on the novel by Helen Cross, and adapted for the screen and directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, My Summer of Love is an interesting story about two girls in Ireland (or England) who find friendship in each other’s company among a sea of desolation.
Mona (Nathalie Press, Chromophobia) lives above a pub that her brother Phil (Paddy Considine, In America) owns. But Phil, an ex-con, has found religion, and plans to close the bar and turn it into a gathering place for fel...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 27th, 2006
When news of a sequel to 1998’s The Mask of Zorro was first announced, I was very excited as I really enjoyed The Mask of Zorro. The film had an interesting story and great acting from Banderas and Hopkins. But as I learned more and more about the sequel, I became extremely worried as neither of the two screenwriters (Ted Elliot or Terry Rossio) were returning. Also, we would be introduced to their cute little child (and EVERYONE knows how much adding little children to sequels can do for a film’s likea...
