Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 19th, 2004
Synopsis
James Bishop arrives at S. Andrew’s Asylum for the Criminally Insane to be a new intern.He suspects things are not as they should be. His clues include obviously mistreated patients,and an asylum director who is exaggeratedly uncaring and speaks with a sinister Britishaccent.
Meanwhile, in the audience, we’re waiting for old James to catch up, as the movie showed usa satanic cult at work in the hospital in the opening five minutes, complete with an extremelycheesy...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Mario Van Peebles plays his father Melvin, and the film charts the making of Melvin VanPeebles’ landmark 1971 film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Obsessed withmaking a film by and about his community, and expressing all the built-up anger of his peopleand his time, Melvin will stop at nothing in the fulfilment of his dream. The economic, personaland health costs are very high.
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is arguably where Black cinema begins,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 16th, 2004
Synopsis
Based on true events (or at least on tales told by the Inuit), The White Dawn is setin 1896, when three whalers are stranded on Baffin Island, and are rescued by an Inuitcommunity. The three men are Timothy Bottoms (who is instantly converted to this way of life),Lou Gossett (who is skeptical) and Warren Oates (who’s just plain trouble). The meeting ofcultures is not an easy one.
The film is leisurely, but never dull, and much of the running time is spent sho...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 15th, 2004
Synopsis
Psychologist Dina Meyer has a device that, all jargon put aside, permits one to literally seeinto the mind of a subject. Since it has no legal standing, this machine is of no help to aninnocent death-row inmate. Nor, for that matter, is the warden (Dennis Hopper), a fundamentalisttyrant, nor the governor (Jeff Fahey), a greasy political operator who, behind his Family Valuesimage, once got an underage Meyer pregnant. Into the prison comes serial killer Pavan Grover,who is n...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2004
Scooby-Doo 2 is pretty-much the same as the original film. Oh, sure, the plot differs slightly, but for the most part, this is the same film. If you liked the first one, you will like this one. However, if you hated the first one, like I did, then this is regrettably more of the same mindless fluff.
Recently, movie studios have caught on to the idea that if they make children’s movies with subtle in-jokes for adults, their profits will rise. This was the case with Finding Nemo, Shrek an...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 11th, 2004
Synopsis
In a totally enclosed dystopia, THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) gradually begins to rebel againstthe completely controlled and drug-managed existence. He dares to think, and to have an affair,and, after a nightmarish imprisonment in a featureless white limbo, he attempts an escape.
It’s hard to believe that this dark, almost abstract film with its elliptical narrative approachcould have been made by the same man who has assaulted us with such pap as The PhantomMenace and
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 9th, 2004
Synopsis
The “Patch of Heaven” farm is about to be seized by the bank, unless $750.00 can be raised,and raised quickly. By lucky coincidence, that is precisely the reward being offered for thecapture of cattle rustler Alameda Slim. Three plucky cows (voiced by Roseanne Barr, Judi Denchand Jennifer Tilly) decide to capture Slim and win the reward, thus saving their home.
The opening moments, with a series of Tex Avery-style catastrophes befalling an unfortunaterabbit, are ver...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 8th, 2004
Synopsis
Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) boards the Orient Express with his friend Martin Balsam(playing an Italian). On the train is an eccentric group of characters: sullen millionaire RichardWidmark, his twitchy aide Anthony Perkins, motor-mouthed Lauren Bacall, Bible-obsessedIngrid Bergman, aristocratic couple Michael York and Jaqueline Bisset, army officer SeanConnery, his lover Vanessa Redgrave, princess Wendy Hiller, and so on and on, each with anaccent more outrageous than th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 7th, 2004
Synopsis
Let’s start with the two biggest titles in the collection, which have a life outside thiscollection. North by Northwest is arguably Hitchcock’s greatest exercise in sheer roller-coaster thriller entertainment. As in so many of the director’s films, an insane chain of eventsis set in motion by the smallest of actions, in this case Cary Grant signalling a bell boy just asthe latter is calling out a name. Grant is thus misidentified by the villains, and he is suddenlyrunning fo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 4th, 2004
Synopsis
Returning to his home town after eight years in the Special Forces, Chris Vaughn (The Rock)finds that everything has changed. The lumbermill has shut down, and in its place a casino hasarisen, dispensing drugs and sin on all sides. Beaten and left for dead by casino hoods, Chrisfights back, eventually replacing the sheriff and cleaning up the town by cleaning clocks.
This remake is loosely inspired by the life of Sheriff Buford Pusser (who was actually a prowrestler...
