Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 21st, 2004
Synopsis
Set in the near future, well before the Alien films but after the Predatorfranchise, AVP has a group of scientists and security experts in the pay of the LanceHenriksen (Weyland, of the Weyland-Utani Corporation that plays such an important role in theAlien films) arrive in Antarctica. Here they find a pyramid buried deep in the ice, whichturns out to be a Predator training site. A trio of these creatures arrives for training, but thehumans have ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 20th, 2004
Synopsis
We are in the 1920s. Two young tiger cubs live in what seems to be the tiger version of theGarden of Eden. Then Guy Pearce comes along to ruin everything (though he will subsequentlyrepent). He kills the cubs’ parents, and sells one cub to the circus. The other is also captured andwinds up as the beloved pet of Raoul, the colonial governor’s son. The tension resides in whetherthe brothers will eventually reunite, and will they be allowed to live their lives in peace?
< ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 20th, 2004
Synopsis
Kris Kristofferson narrates the story in flashback, telling the story of his younger self (JosephAshton) during the Depression. The young boy dreams of owning a hunting dog, and afterslaving away on odd jobs for two years, he finally acquires two: “Old Dan” and “Little Ann.”Together they become an unbeatable team, and have various adventures in a setting that is bothbucolic and poverty-stricken. The film is handsomely mounted and genuinely performed (with,interestingly, Dav...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 17th, 2004
Synopsis
We’ve all known (or been -- be honest, now) Napoleon Dynamite at some point in highschool. He’s too tall for his own good, lives in a fantasy world of his own, and is a socialcatastrophe. At home, his thirty-something brother Kip is just as odd, and when their hard-partying grandmother winds up in the hospital, Uncle Rico (permanently reliving his supposedglory days of 1982) comes to look after things, and generally makes everything worse. ButNapoleon is also coming out of ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Ben Stiller wants to propose to sweetheart Teri Polo, but first he has to impress her dad --Robert De Niro. The weekend with the parents proceeds as one would expect a movie with BenStiller in the lead: disastrously. De Niro is an over-protective ex-CIA control freak, and Stillerinevitably finds the way to wreak the most humiliating havoc possible.
As the embarrassments mount, and yet more loom ominously over the horizon, you findyourself wishing you could look away...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 15th, 2004
Synopsis
Alan is the youngest member of the Tracy family, and would dearly love to be a full memberof International Rescue, but is stuck in school and is treated as a kid by his bothers and father.But then it is up to him and his two young friends to save the day when The Hood (BenKingsley) takes over IR’s base, traps the Tracys up in space, and plans to turn the Thunderbirdvehicles to evil uses (starting with robbing the Bank of England).
What I want to know is why oil rig ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 13th, 2004
Synopsis
Lai Xi (Nakai Kiichi) must complete one last mission for the Emperor before he can returnto Japan: track down and execute mutinous Butcher Li (Jiang Wen), who refused to kill femaleand children prisoners, and is now an outlaw. Li and Lai Xi’s first encounter ends in a draw, andLai Xi agrees to wait for a rematch until Li has completed his current mission: escorting acaravan through bandit country. Lai Xi is soon caught up in the effort to protect the caravan, andthe battles...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 12th, 2004
Synopsis
If you don’t know what this movie is about, you grew up in a cave. If you’ve never seen it,ditto. This is the tale, it need hardly be said, of Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews), the nanny whoarrives to take charge of two children whose imaginations have been repressed by theirexcessively proper father. In the care of Mary, and accompanied by chimney sweep Bert (DickVan Dyke), the children bounce from one magical mix of dance, live action and animation toanother.
A more...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 11th, 2004
Synopsis
Zach Braff (who also wrote and directed) stars as Andrew Largeman, a young man so heavilymedicated since his childhood that he finds it completely impossible to experience any kind ofemotion. This is true even at his mother’s funeral, for which he returns from LA to New Jersey.There he reconnects with his old friends (chief among them being Peter Sarsgaard), all of whomare living odd, if aimless lives, and encounters Sam (Natalie Portman), whose emotions-on-the-sleeve appro...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 10th, 2004
Spider-Man 2 is a superior film to the first. While it is rare for sequels to live up to expectations, there are rare moments in film history when the sequel may even surpass the first film’s quality. The Godfather Part II and Bride of Frankenstein are two well known examples. But for Every T2 there are usually 20 Jaws 3-D’s. Doc Ock was the perfect choice as the story’s villain; Alfred Molina was a wonderful selection to bring this fan favorite to life on the big screen. Peter Parker’s life is more multi-dimensional...
