Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 19th, 2002
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2002
Written by Dan Bradley
I’ve experienced sleepless nights, as I’m sure most everyone has at some point in their life. But for some, this conscious prison can linger for many days, sometimes weeks at a time. Christopher Nolan’s remake of Insomnia manages to capture this feeling through terrific writing and strong sensory cues littered throughout.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 19th, 2002
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 18th, 2002
“I think they pulled it together in a way only Texans working together could.”
David Blocker – Producer, Frailty
Well, those Texans certainly did bring it together in a unique fashion, and Lions Gate has packaged it in an excellent DVD release. Bill Paxton’s directorial debut captures a family’s descent in dementia in 1979 in a performance that is surreal and believeable. The everyday and the unexpected are blended into a nightmare world where the mundane and supernatural are superimposed...and inseparable. Therein lies the fear of Frailty – the implication that dementia can ride in to any family (in the form of a winged angel spewing fire), and wrap itself in a guise of normalcy that renders it routine.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 17th, 2002
Band of Brothers, as should be expected from multiple emmy award winner, is an amazing miniseries. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have collaborated on creating a memorable and poignant story that can be appreciate by all.
”Based on Stephen E. Ambrose's nonfiction bestseller, BAND OF BROTHERS tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Starting with their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942, it recounts the achievements of the elite rifle company fr...m D-Day to the fall of Nazi Germany and the surrender of Japan. Drawn from hours of interviews with survivors, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, BAND OF BROTHERS chronicles a unit that took 150 percent casualties and whose lives became legend.” - HBO
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2002
Tommy Lee Wallace. Not John Carpenter. Do not be fooled. Just because “Vampires: Los Muertos” (V:LM) says “Presented by John Carpenter” on the front, doesn’t mean it has anything to do with John Carpenter. It was directed, in fact, by Tommy Lee Wallace, who is a Grade B king, responsible for such other gems as “Stell Chariots” and “Danger Islands”. Whether Carpenter was involved or not (no big prize after Ghosts of Mars, anyway), V:LM was a fairly large disappointment anyway. The sound and video are fine, but the mov...e is definitely direct-to-video. Strangely enough, this is a “Destination” film, implying that it is supposed to be distinct and alternative. That it is – but it may not quite be of the caliber that destination collectors are expecting.
V:LM follows the saga of some character played by Jon Bon Jovi, who has cast off his super-stardom to become a Grade B movie star. There are no spoiler warnings forthcoming because I only last through half of the movie. In the half that I saw, a bunch of randomly timed, ill-conceived plot devices created not much drama, a few uninspired action sequences, and zero character empathy. Ok, perhaps that’s a bit harsh. The movie is not a complete loss, with a few decent Matrix-esque scenes thrown in, and the occasional creative prop, such as (Spoiler!) Jon Bon’s folding surfboard weapons. For some reason, this movie is rated R – don’t expect anything too wild.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2002
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 14th, 2002
Plot? What plot? Oh right: traumatized telekinetic teen accidentally raises Jason from the bottom of the lake. Jason kills folks. That’s about it. But you don’t watch these for the plot --you watch them for the killings. These are, sad to say, relatively restrained, and some of Jason’s tool acquisitions are silly (where did he get that electric hedge trimmer from?). The characters (I use the word loosely) are even more interchangeable than ever, and the continuity goes all to #%&@ in the latter part of the film.i Who’s running where and why? Who knows? There’s some nostalgic pleasure to be had here, but not much more than that.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 13th, 2002
As my odds-on favorite to win Best Animated Film at this years Academy Awards, Ice Age combines a wonderful mix of breathtaking digital animation, and a wonderful story full of entertaining characters. Fox, with this film, has jumped into the upper echelon of digital animation studios, along with Disney and Dreamworks.
”Twenty thousand years ago, the Earth was being overrun by glaciers, and creatures everywhere were fleeing the onslaught of the new ICE AGE. In this time of peril, we meet the...weirdest herd of any Age: a fast-talking but dim sloth named Sid (voiced by John Leguizamo); a moody woolly mammoth named Manny (voiced by Ray Romano); a devilish saber-toothed tiger named Diego (Denis Leary); and an acorn-crazy saber-toothed squirrel known as Scrat. This quartet of misfits unexpectedly, and reluctantly, comes together in a quest to return a human infant to his father. Braving boiling lava pits, treacherous ice caves, freezing temperatures and a secret, evil plot, these "sub-zeroes" become the world's first heroes!“ – Fox
