Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 24th, 2005
Enduring Love claims to be a psychological thriller, but comes across as more of a drama then a thriller. The story moves along quite slowly and the overall tone of the film is somewhat dry. The story does take a few interesting turns, and does keep you guessing at times, the story was not suspenseful enough to keep my eyes peeled to the screen for the span of the film.
One thing I can say about this film is that the story is different than anything that I have seen before. It touches upon some od... yet creative human elements, and the acting is quite good. Here is the stories synopsis provided by Paramount… “Joe (Daniel Craig, Road to Perdition) is an accomplished writer and professor whose rational life is thrust into a downward spiral of guilt after witnessing a freak, fatal ballooning accident while picnicking with girlfriend Claire (Samantha Morton, Minority Report). Jed (Rhys Ifans, Notting Hill), another man involved in that fateful day, seeks out Joe looking for consolidation and a way to make sense of this tragedy they’ve both witnessed. Jed soon becomes as inescapable to Joe as his guilt, and both men find themselves hurtling towards a final, terrifying choice driven by the destructive nature of obsession or the true endurance of love.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Set in a girls’ high school, this tells the tale of Min-Ah, who finds a diary written by two of her schoolmates. This is a revealing book, exposing as it does their love affair. Concurrently with Min-Ah reading the diary, that relationship comes to an end, and one of the girls leaps to her death from the school roof. Supernatural events begin almost immediately thereafter.
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...psis… “Things get steamy in Blue Bay, Florida, when Marie, a 17-year-old beauty, gets caught in a tangle of deceit and double-crossing after meeting the promiscuous Elena, the new girl at school. Will they get away with the perfect crime or is someone else behind this scheme?” – Sony Pictures
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 21st, 2005
The Film
Suspect Zero follows the contradictory teacher/student relationship between serial killer Benjamin O’Ryan (Ben Kingsley) and FBI Agent-in-Pursuit Tom Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart, sporting as much chin as Bruce Campbell). O’Ryan is a tormented refugee of a government program to tap psychic powers for military intelligence, and Mackelway is a borderline-rogue agent, tormented by visions and headaches. Without letting slip any spoilers, the movie sees O’Ryan draw their paths together in pur...uit of justice for him self, his victims, and Mackelway.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2005
I don’t expect this film will appeal to any but the biggest Van Damme fans; even many of them will be disappointed. If you’re a Van Damme fan, you might not be looking for the most original of story ideas. What you want is good solid action and some sweet action f/x. This film simply doesn’t deliver the goods on any level. The action is too sparse for anyone looking for an adrenaline rush. The dialogue is entirely lame; I mean, does anyone talk like that? To be fair, it is possible the script is an English translation of a French work. The most unforgivable problem here, however, is the over- the-top-stylish cinematography. The angles and slow pans are a complete distraction from what little substance there is. Philippe Martinez is trying so hard to achieve a 70’s film noir feel that he ignores all of the basic rules of pacing. Even for a direct-to-DVD release, this one is a complete waste of your time.
Synopsis
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.
Purists will find some fault with the continuity errors the film brings to the Trek Universe, but after four years of Enterprise, these errors are quite minor. Jonathan Frakes is not, in my opinion, one of the brightest actors in Trek’s world, but here he does show he has the chops to be a first class director. Like Nimoy before him, it took one of the show’s main actors to breathe emotion into the franchise. The atmosphere in the cinematography is the best of any Trek before or since. This is probably technically the finest Trek film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 13th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2005
While House of Flying Daggers may be easy to pigeonhole as a movie similar to Zhang Yimou's own Hero or even Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the only thing you could say about all three is that they have an impressive level of stuntwork that also, features the acting skills of Zhang Ziyi. But where Lee's work is more story based around three characters' feelings for one another, and Hero had some great stuntwork set against some breathtaking cinematography, House of Flying Dag...ers seems to trump them all.
Set in 9th century China, Mei (Ziyi) is a blind dancer in a brothel, who a policeman named Leo suspects can help find a rebel group called the House of Flying Daggers, who possess exceptional skills with small knives. Leo enlists the help of Jin to help free Mei from prison (after she attempted to kill Leo at the brothel) to help lure the government to the rebels. Along the way, he falls in love with Mei, and he does not want her to fulfill his mission, and will protect her at any cost. If you think any of these details divulge spoilers in any way, then you may not have seen the movie yet, as there are many twists and turns that keep you off-balance in the film, while enjoying the excellent fight sequences.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 10th, 2005
The who’s who of Hollywood have assembled once again in this sequel to the highly successful film Ocean’s Eleven. This time around the cast are equally great and extremely entertaining to watch, but the film seems to lack the same strong storyline that it predecessor carried with it.
This time around, the story takes place a few years after the Bellagio heist. A leading European thief known as The Nightfox, consumed with being the best thief in the world, derives a plan to take out Ocean and his te...m. He informs Terry Benedict, the owner of the Bellagio, that Ocean and his men are the people who robbed him year back. Benedict gives all 11 2-weeks to come up with the cash they stole from him… or they are all dead. As can be expected, after numerous misses and comedic capers, the team one’s up The Nightfox, and clears their dept to Benedict.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 10th, 2005
Synopsis
