Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 23rd, 2003
Charlie Kaufman is a neurotic, narcissistic, self loathing writer who is hired to adapt Susan Orlean’s novel The Orchid Thief into a film. The only problem is that he is suffering from writers block, add in a twin brother who is also writing a screenplay and his inability to interact with people and hang-on for a wild ride. Charlie tries a number of different approaches to writing the script and suddenly finds himself being written into the story. What starts out as an adaptation of a book into a film turns into a completely different story all together. It turns into a tongue and cheek story about movie making in Hollywood and a person’s ability to adapt and change to fit their surroundings.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 23rd, 2003
In 1939 Warsaw is invaded by Nazi Germany, Wladyslaw Szpilman is performing live on a radio station as it is dive bombed by the Luftwaffe. He continues to play until he is almost killed. This opening scene sets the tone for the story of a man so driven by his passion for music even in the face of adversary. As the film continues we watch the establishment of the Warsaw ghetto and the beginning of the reign of hate towards the Jews by Nazi Germany.
The Warsaw ghetto is full of stark contrasts we watch as people die in the streets from hunger and others prosper by bribing guards and importing goods, we see Germans helping Jews escape from the ghetto and Jews who join the ghetto police in an attempt to save themselves. At one point in time the ghetto contained over 500,000 people, as the war continues Wladyslaws family and most of the residents of the ghetto are loaded onto trains and shipped off to concentration camps never to be seen again. Those who are left over are formed into work camps by the Germans and start an uprising. Threw all this Wladyslaw survives even when he comes face to face with a Nazi officer who finds him hiding in their headquarters. The officer knows that the war is almost over as the Russian army is fast approaching and brings him food in exchange for listening to him play.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 22nd, 2003
Jared Leto plays Basil, youngest son of the tyrannical Derek Jacobi. Traumatized by the death of his mother when he was young, the exile of his brother (who dallied with a young woman beneath his station), and oppressed by a father for whom class consciousness is the be-all and end-all, Basil is barely equipped to deal with the outside world. He has no friends, and only the most naive notions of romance. Into his life comes Christian Slater, whose worldly ways inspire Leto, and ...ho offers friendship, but in fact has deeply destructive motives. The movie s good fun in the vein of semi-gothic Victorian melodrama. Hearing Leto and Slater sporting British accents takes some getting used to (especially when it comes to Slater), and budgetary limitations show in dreadfully cheesy lightning effects and endlessly repeated establishing shots of Windermere mansion. But if you’re a faithful viewer of Masterpiece Theater, you’ll find much to enjoy here.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2003
A serial arsonists is terrorizing the Los Angeles area. Investigating are veteran John Orr (Ray Liotta) and his junior partner Keith Lang (John Leguizamo). Before long, it appears that the arsonist is actually a fireman. The synopsis on the case implies that the film is a mystery: whois the arsonist, Liotta or Leguizamo? In fact, this isn’t really a mystery, since the film is based on a well-publicized case, and when was the last time Liotta didn’t play a weasel? In fact, Liotta becomes the prime suspect quite early on, and we see both his double life and the tightening net.This is a stylish tour-de-force, that makes most other based-on-a-true-story movies seem even more staid and boring than they really are. By turns grim and hilarious, Point of Origin is unfailingly intelligent, and even the music conveys more information than simply mood (listen for the sound of a typewriter, audible right from the start of the film).
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2003
Made for TV (and showing it, what with that jarring fade-to-black exactly 20 minutes in),this film tells the story of a group of men trapped together in a coal mine when they suddenly strike water and their claustrophobic environments floods. We cut back and forth between their struggle to survive, the struggle to reach them, and the experience of their wives and families. At times, what, precisely, is happening in the mine is a bit hard to follow, though the realism is quite strong.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2003
Eleven-year-old Harriet wants to be a writer. Told by her nanny (Rosie O’Donnell) to write down everything she sees, Harriet takes this command to heart and becomes the neighborhood spy. The people she writes about would not be gratified by what she has to say about them, and inevitably, her notebook falls into the wrong hands, leading to some painful lessons for Harriet.The pace is brisk, the editing even faster.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2003
Steven Seagal is certainly showing his age in Half Past Dead. To ardent fans of his tough-guy act, this might be a bad thing. To those of us just looking for a good film, I think it’s actually a good thing. With Seagal’s ass-kicking held more in check there appears more room for a story to grow. This one is above average. Seagal’s age also means a stronger supporting cast and this one has a nice one. Mia Peoples is stunning as one of the main villains. Ja Rule and Kurupt add the necessary urban reality and some comedy relief when called for. Morris Chestnut is a believable baddie and Hill Street Blues alum Bruce Weitz provides a very refreshing convicted killer found God. Don Michael Paul does a splendid job as director. The story moves constantly and the fight scenes are neatly filmed. You’ll find enough bullets and martial arts to fill a Matrix sequel, but for a change they aren’t extended dance scenes but rather tightly staged moments of action.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2003
Synopsis
The Legend of the gunfighter who wears the red scorpion jacket has come to South Beach in Miami. When the parking valet at a local strip club gets pulled into the legend he hinds himself the target of a mob hit and running for his life. Throw a sociopathic blonde into the mix and he might as well finish himself off before someone does it for him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 19th, 2003
Dracula II drops all the characters from Dracula 2000, fudges the ending of that film, but retains the central idea of Dracula in fact being Judas Iscariot, cursed with eternal life. This time around, his sunlight-burned body is recovered by a group of grad students and their crippled professor with the hope of finding a miracle cure from the regenerative qualities of vampire blood. Meanwhile, a vampire-hunting priest named Uffizi (Jason Scott Lee, no more improbable as Italian than he was as Irish in Tale of the Mummy) is on the trail of Dracula (with minor help from Roy Scheider, putting in a few seconds of screen time). Within the limited budget, the story has admirable ambitions, and it skips along at a good pace. Character motivation is a bit hazy at times, however. As well, you’re much better off renting this and Dracula III at the same time,because the story here is very incomplete, leaving viewers hanging in much the same way (all proportions retained) as The Two Towers and The Matrix Reloaded.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2003
This is the story of Frida Kahlo, now recognized as one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Most particularly, the film is the story of her tempestuous love affair with fellow artist Diego Rivera --their loves, their clashes, their politics, their infidelities, their betrayals, and so on. So much attention is paid to this relationship that Kahlo’s art itself slips into the background, which is too bad. That said, this is a tremendously engaging film, with great performances all round.It is also a spectacular movie to look at. If Kahlo’s art doesn’t take centre stage in the narrative, it does in the look of the film, informing almost every frame. The visual impact is not simply eye candy,however. Every colour is thematically relevant. This is a film made by creators very conscious of the visual possibilities of cinema.
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