Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello essentially play themselves. Once a teen surf idol andMouseketeer, they are now, respectively, a stressed-out car salesman and a neurotic housewife.Their son is a leather-bedecked punk who addresses the camera directly to itemize the failingsof his parents. A trip to LA revives aging pair’s youthful spirit, however, thanks also to cameosfrom everyone from Bob Denver (in Gilligan outfit) to Pee-Wee Herman.
Nostalgia is one thing, ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 20th, 2004
Synopsis
The plot is as simple as that of any 40s or 50s World War II movie: in the immediateaftermath of the D-Day invasion, eight men (led by Tom Hanks) are sent on a dangerous missionto find the only surviving son of a decimated family and send him home.
On this simple framework, Spielberg hangs the most viscerally intense evocation of theSecond World War yet committed to film. The exhausting Omaha Beach sequence that opens thefilm has been justly celebrated, but there ar...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2004
The time of being a teenager and self discovery can be a difficult one. We watch the life of Simon mainly through flashbacks as he is dealing with his drug addiction. We see a young man who doesn’t seem to fit in with his rich family friends. He finds friendship and comfort with a group who follows bands like Phish and The Dead around the country, getting high and having fun. Simon’s descends into drug addiction driven by the memory of his father betraying his mother just before she dies. The plot has the potential t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 18th, 2004
Synopsis
Ben Affleck is a brilliant reverse engineer. He is hired by different companies to puzzle outand improve on their competitors’ technologies, then has his memory of his work wiped so hecannot divulge what he knows. His current job is something big. In exchange for a couple ofyears of his life, he will be granted huge stock options. But when he collects his paycheck, all hegets is a collection of mundane objects in a manilla envelope. And then everybody is trying tokill him. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 18th, 2004
Synopsis
Brigitte (Emily Perkins), having dispatched her werewolf sister in Ginger Snaps, isnow living with the fact that the wolfsbane antidote concocted in the previous film is not a curefor lycanthropy. It can merely hold the transformation painfully at bay. Mistaken for an addictto more traditional drugs, Brigitte is picked up and placed in combination drug rehab centre andburn ward (don’t ask). She needs to escape, as she is being stalked by a werewolf who seeks amate. B...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Charlize Theron doesn’t play Aileen Wuornos, she incarnates her. At the end of hertether, highway prostitute Aileen meets 18-year-old Selby (Christina Ricci) when she accidentlywalks into a lesbian bar. They click, and suddenly, Aileen has a reason to live. She tries to turnher life around, but with the implacability of Greek tragedy, her attempts end in failure and shereturns to turning tricks. One date goes turns ghastly, and she kills the brutal john in self-defense...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Scarlett Johansson plays Griet, a young girl who enters into service in the home of painterJohannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). She catches his eye, partly because of her beauty, but even morebecause she has an intuitive understanding of art, and he takes her under his wing, much to thegrowing suspicions and jealousies of his wife. Ultimately, she becomes the model for theeponymous painting.
This is a film of looks and silences. In many ways, the story is constructed bet...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Welcome to Mud Creek, Texas. In a depressing nursing home, senior citizen Elvis (BruceCampbell) is sleeping away what remains of his life. Some led gets put back into his pencil,however, when he and “JFK” (Ossie Davis, who else?) realize that an ancient mummy is killingoff the residents of the home. Barely able to walk, they nonetheless decide to fight thesupernatural evil.
As you might guess from the above description, and especially from the casting, this is prett...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004
Synopsis
Kelly Lynch is distraught after girlfriend Sherilyn Fenn moves out, claiming she "needs somespace." Lynch hires male escort William Baldwin (who is having troubles of his own with aviolent past acquaintance) to be her date at her sister's wedding, and then hits upon a scheme: shewill hire Baldwin to seduce Fenn and break her heart, thus sending Fenn running back to Lynch.But matters take an unexpected turn.
That last sentence is a lie. Things play out safely and pre...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 10th, 2004
In 1980, the United States was in need of something to give hope to its citizens. What it got was a miracle.
Now, hockey has never really been a major sport in the United States. While it is played feverishly in many of the Northern states, those in the rest of the country are just not as passionate about it. Basketball, baseball and football are the big three in this country. This fact just goes one step further to show just how unbelievable the Miracle on Ice really was. I am sure that most people already...
