Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 9th, 2010
Grace, California is the kind of “small” town that all the young people wish to escape. Why? I suppose it is because they have ambitions for “greater” things. What are their ambitions while they have to stay? To be as catty and backstabbing as possible while living out a teen soap opera existence. Such is the groundwork for Seven Deadly Sins, a two-part mini-series created for the Lifetime network and based on a series of books of the same name. On this DVD the two parts are merged into a monstrous movie (clocking in at over 3 hours).
The story starts when a new girl arrives from Manhattan and uses the fact that she has designer merchandise and a snobby attitude to usurp the throne as coolest girl in school, all the while making a best friend out of the very girl she usurped. As the story progresses we are offered no more than the usual teen drama prattle of high school cliques, “who likes who” and “who betrayed who” which I frankly could care less about. Things do not perk my interest until a central character dies, only to have their ghost linger as the narrator and sometime provoker of events for her still living friends. It is through this implementation of the supernatural that the film desperately tries to tie in the “Seven Deadly Sins” theme, but it is VERY loose ties that it makes. Really, one should not come up with a provocative, albeit over-used, title first and worry about what it actually means to the story and characters second.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 9th, 2010
Three couples are meeting for a trip out to the country to have an old fashioned, American orgy. What instigated said orgy is mostly a mystery, as is what truly keeps them motivated to go through with it. Needless to say, most of them are in it for reasons beyond being carefree and their ulterior motives and inner demons will only spoil the party.
The pacing of this film is like that of an art film...which is code for saying it's slow. This would not be a hindrance on the film if the mood of did not waver so often between being painfully uncomfortable and being curiously intriguing (more often the former). Some of the characters are perpetually unlikeable, while others are just so bland that one could hardly care enough to notice if they were likable or not. The last half of the film offers more for the audience as they inch closer to the moment of moving their relationships past casual friendship...and then when they do well beyond that, but that tension is all the film has going for it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 8th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
I’ve come to learn that you either love the 1997 – 2002 American drama-comedy series Ally McBeal, or you loathe it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 7th, 2010
A hitman is getting into his senior years; a notable luxury for someone in his line of work. To feel more secure, he plans to pull off one last job before calling it quits. In order for this film to have an interesting plot something surely must go wrong, and it does. Now reunited with his son, who is aspiring to learn from dear ole (estranged) dad and elevate himself in the crime world, Charlie Valentine hopes to settles things in one way or another.
Gangster films either have too much Scorsese or too much Tarantino in them, and not enough originality. With a slew of typical scenarios, over-wrought tough guy dialogue and enough self-congratulatory bravado to make Joe Pesci blush, this film is hardly bringing anything fresh to the table.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 7th, 2010
Robert Mutt feels like a hopeless loser and tries to “off” himself (several times). Even in death, he is a failure and finds himself in a mental asylum. Upon receiving some experimental treatment from a new therapist, his confidence is (seemingly) restored and he sets back out into the real world to become a real “somebody.”
Without a doubt, this would be classified as a “Dark Comedy” for it does not skimp on the nudity, vulgar jokes, drugs, violence, cannibalism, and other assorted bits of madness and politically incorrect gems. At the same time, the film is almost endearing in how relentless it is. The disabled are fair game for jokes, but also play the most sentimental roles for our lead (especially one catatonic girl who wins his heart). Mutt is as naive as a young child, and even though the man who is bent on ruining his life is clearly a manic pedophile, he still assumes the best of him and does his best to simply get around him. Mutt's quest is an adorable one but it takes him to the strangest places imaginable. Thanks to hallucinating his life long hero, Clifton Manitoba, an infamous baseball player, and getting some advice from said hallucination, Mutt does everything from dealing out animal porn DVDs to roller skating with a transvestite to find the three things he needs to fell like a somebody: some money, a girl, and a championship ring.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 4th, 2010
For me, I’ve never understood the fascination behind zombies unless it involves Milla Jovovich (See Resident Evil). They are undead, lumber around, make strange noises and have a primal urge to eat brains. So, admittedly I saw Colin in my review pile and mostly shrugged. Another zombie movie, *twirl finger*. However, after reading the back jacket, I realized this one had something more: it was told from the zombie’s point of view.
Colin (played by Alastair Kirton) walks into his house and closes the door. He calls for Damien, presumably his roommate. We hear gunshots in the background and a general ruckus. Colin walks over to the sink and starts to wash his hands. He notices a steady flow of blood down his arm. That’s when he pulls back his sleeve to reveal a massive wound.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 3rd, 2010
Apparently, animated shows created by Seth McFarlane are in high demand. He has had considerable success with Family Guy and American Dad. It was only a matter of time before Fox would try their luck with a Family Guy spinoff. The subject would be one of Peter’s friends. No, not Quagmire. That will be reserved for Cinemax late night. Giggity giggity. Actually, the subject would be Cleveland. Let us see how this one plays out.
It is another late night at the Drunken Clam, Cleveland is sitting with Peter, Joe and Quagmire. It seems that Cleveland has lost his house to his ex-wife, Loretta. He does have custody of Cleveland Jr. who is now fourteen years old and very overweight. As a result, he is going to leave Quahog and head to California to pursue his dream of becoming a minor league scout for a professional baseball organization.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 2nd, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
As the title suggests, Attack on Darfur depicts the genocide occurring in Darfur, and it doesn’t get more real than this.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 1st, 2010
WELCOME! TO THE MOULIN ROUGE! *tips her purple satin top hat with an amethyst topped cane* Come in, come in! Take off your cloaks and have a drink of Absinthe! So many lonely women here tonight that need a partner... to dance with of course! Hope you brought lots of cash, your dancing shows, and perhaps a nice big diamond for one of our infamous Diamond Dogs! What's that? Oh! Yes of course! I know, you came to see a show, and of course to see our lovely Satine! Well take a look see, here she comes! *cues "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and the curtains pull open!*
The year is 1899, meet Christian (Ewan McGregor)a young, handsome, man who intends to be a writer. He moves from England to the Montmartre district in France to write about love. One problem, he has never been in love before, so how can he write about something he has never experienced? -crash!- A man falls through the ceiling of his room (Jacek Koman) and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo) comes in through the door. A few heads pop around the hole in the floor, and they are discussing what to do about their narcoleptic friend who can't stay awake during the rehearsal for a play they are working on. Oh how they need a replacement, but where oh where are they going to find one? Christian is upstairs rehearsing with the group, and he comes up with some lines that blow their minds. They talk about introducing him to Satine, but decide that will wait till after they have some Absinthe!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 1st, 2010
Two young boys start a rivalry that is forged into a friendship by way of helping an ailing dog. As one boy's caregiver passes away, the other boy's family takes him on as one of their own. This family struggles through tough times on their farm as well as tensions from bigoted neighbours because the boy they took into their home happens to be black. Such is the “family bond” thesis of this highly sentimental Xmas film, co-authored by Country superstar Kenny Rogers, and starring country star turned famous dad, Billy Ray Cyrus.
Presented by the Hallmark Channel, it certainly spends much of its time trying to construct those type of “Hallmark Moments” that tug at your heart. The first act (the initial 'unlikely friends' tale) is a bit too cornball for my tastes but darned if it didn't manage to bring in a more interesting story involving a black civil rights meeting, and a racist protest gone violent and nearly deadly. This lead to some interesting choices for the central characters at the climax, which play a slightly unexpected angle on what seemed to be a 'family sticks together no matter' what sort of story. I appreciate it managing to bring me back into the film as it was steering way too steadily into the territory of overly sentimental antics of an impossibly upbeat family...that and Billy Ray's character doesn't seem to visually age despite MANY years going by in the film.
![Moulin Rouge! [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/moulin-rouge-blu-ray-large.jpg)
