Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2010
"During the 1980's over 70% of American adults believed in the existence of abusive Satanic cults. Another 30% rationalized the lack of evidence due to government cover-ups. The following is based on true unexplained events."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2010
Anyone who has come here long enough to get to know my likes and dislikes probably knows what a Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse fan I am. The man and the character opened the road for so much of what we have today, from Pixar to Tom and Jerry. But, if you're looking for the kind of cartoons you and I have grown to expect, this one is bound to disappoint you. It's an episode of the current television series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It's an animated Sesame Street, however, and not really a cartoon adventure.
While I use the term Sesame Street, I don't mean it literally. You'll find the traditional Disney characters, to be sure. There's Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, and even Professor Von Drake. You won't find a Cookie Monster or a Big Bird anywhere. What you will find is that strictly educational style. The characters talk directly to the children watching. They ask questions geared toward teaching such basic concepts as identifying colors and shapes to basic math problems. There's a great deal of shouting encouragement as well. You should be prepared for your young one to answer Mickey's questions and join him in some hollering. There's a particularly annoying repetition as the gang calls for a character named Toodles. Toodles carries objects that the characters need to accomplish various tasks. Whenever they find they are in the need of one of these tools Mickey encourages everyone, including your child, to yell “Oh Toodles”, to bring the character to them with the needed item.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 15th, 2010
When the UK minister for International Development (Tom Hollander) has the nerve (not to mention lack of political acumen) to opine that war in the Middle-East is “unforeseeable,” all hell breaks loose. The pro- and anti-war bureaucrats in Washington see him as useful to their cause, and descend, talons outstretched. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Director of Communications (Peter Capaldi), a Scot who makes Don King look even-tempered and restrained, goes into apoplectic overdrive in his attempts to keep everything on-message.
Though this blistering satire leaves the precise nature, or even location, of the war-to-be is unspecified, it's pretty clear that what the film has in its sights is the collection of mangled information, doublespeak and unstoppable political agendas that led to all the fun and games in Iraq. Filled with sharply drawn characters, wonderfully creative profanity, and a bracingly cynical worldview. Not a film for the optimistic (or naïve, depending on your perspective), but the kind of black political farce that the British excel at – think Yes, Minister and House of Cards and you begin to have the idea.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 15th, 2010
This film chronicles the career of Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, an NHL player for the Montreal Canadians, from his childhood days in a Junior hockey league, to the season in 1955 where his suspension from playing for the remainder of that season led to violent riots in Montreal. This film is more than just an examination of Richard as a French-Canadian citizen and legendary hockey player (many still argue as the greatest ever to play) but also a look at his impact as an icon and living legend to the people of Quebec.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 13th, 2010
Years after his wife's unsolved murder, Norman Reedus has retreated within himself, carrying on a morose existence in a low-end apartment, gloomily taking part in unofficial greyhound racing. His neighbour, Emmanuelle Béart, is in love with him. Since Reedus is obsessed with solving the murder to the exclusion of any other human interaction, Béart decides to present him a solution. Based on the tiny bits of information Reedus has on the suspect, Béart picks cabbie Harvey Keitel as matching the profile well enough to make for a good target. She begins a relationship with him in order to put him in the frame and give Reedus, though murder, the catharsis he needs.
So goes the setup of this interesting but flawed neo-noir. As one would expect in a noir, the plan does not go exactly as foreseen, and everything becomes increasingly complex and deadly. This is to the good, and there is some nice suspense that builds up, as one is worried first about one character, and then another. Reedus doesn't have too much to do, and is too cold for audience sympathy to really develop, but Béart and Keitel's walking wounded are compelling. But if twists and contrivances are all well and good in the genre, utterly insane coincidences are harder to take, there's finally such a doozy in here that the story's credibility is torpedoed. Along the way, though, the pic makes for gripping viewing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2010
"My old man calls space travel a fool's game. He says human beings are 60 percent water; they eat, sleep, defecate, can't follow directions, and explode like piñata when exposed to the vacuum in space. Lately, I've been wondering if he is right."
Houston, this is Canaveral. Initiating prelaunch checklist. Please respond go/no go:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by BABY on February 9th, 2010
"This is the story about a football team. From the beginning this football team had heart and ability. But there was this one big problem. They didn't believe that they could win. And then this dog came along, and this dog could do amazing things, and suddenly, the team started winning. But the truth is, even without the dog, they were winners, each and every one of them. So, if you believe that a dog can play football, then you better believe that we're gonna win this game."
Nah, this story isn't about that. It's about me ... Baby.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 9th, 2010
"Look sharp, act sharp, be sharp. These guys coming out of prison? They're buff, been on drugs. You do what they teach you in the academy, you will die. Knucklehead wants to take your gun. So if it's you or some 300-pound naked guy on PCP, you take his ass down any way you can. You ride with me, you back your badge."
There probably isn't a group of people who have been profiled more than the men and women serving in the LAPD. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. It's a large city with an incredibly diverse population. Oh, and it doesn't hurt any that Hollywood's a part of this particular asphalt jungle. So we get to see a lot of L.A. or New York cops on television. Even long before Jack Webb was asking for the facts and only the facts, the cops of L.A. have had more than their fair share of screen time in film and television. With that in mind, it is awfully difficult to do anything new with the LAPD.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 9th, 2010
What if you took the Desperate Housewives and placed them on an Army base? If that thought has been keeping you awake at night, sleep tight, gentle reader. You can find out simply by picking up a copy of Army Wives on DVD. I’m not exaggerating about this at all. Army Wives has the very same soap opera plotting and tone as the ABC hit does. You gotta really be into that sort of thing if you have any hope at all of keeping up with the antics of these four friends, or of having any desire to. I’m afraid I have to confess that I am not in that group and so found the 19 episodes to be very trying indeed.
The series follows the trials and tribulations of four wives of enlisted Army personnel. They call themselves “The Tribe”. Claudia Joy (Delaney) is the unofficial head of the group. The other women are Denise Sherwood (Bell), Pamela Moran (Brannaugh), and Roxy LaBlanc (Pressman). The show often focuses on their rather emotional situations and makes a center for itself in the idea that these women are there for each other. In this second season the Army life aspect of the show was intentionally held back somewhat, and the stories dealt more intimately with the wives. Likely a good move for the target audience that would have very little interest in the military aspects of the setting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 8th, 2010
Recently, my parents moved to Tennessee in their attempt to enjoy retirement. We actually lived there about six months when I was in the 8th grade. So, apparently there was something in the water that made them want to go back. After the movie Glitter, I never wanted to see anything with Mariah Carey that involved anything where she actually had to speak. For some reason, I also came back to Tennessee.
The movie opens with a mother who is abused by her husband. As this is happening, their son Carter comes in and stands up to his father. Then Carter takes his brother, Ellis and his mother into a car and drives as far as he can without looking behind him. They end up in Tennessee. Later, Carter and Ellis’s mom dies and Carter is forced to take care of Ellis until they both reach the age of maturity.
