Dolby Digital 5.1 (English)

Far From Heaven

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005

Synopsis

I haven’t seen The Hours. And I haven’t seen Chicago. And while all the Oscar talk seemed to revolve around either Kidman or Zellweger, after seeing Far From Heaven, I’ve gotta think that the wrong woman got the brass ring. Or gold little guy, whatever. Julianne Moore (who was also nominated in The Hours) does an outstanding job in this movie, set in 1957 Hartford. Moore plays Kathy Whitaker, the wife of a man (Dennis Quaid, Innerspace) who she surprises at work w…
Read More

Old Yeller 2-Movie Collection (Old Yeller/Savage Sam)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Old Yeller is a hard film to take if you’re a child. I thought the same would be true as an adult, so needless to say, revisiting this family classic for the first time through an adult’s eyes promised to be a harrowing experience. In fact, for the longest time, I hated Old Yeller and berrated its merits as a film. I realize now after years of maturity and a second visit to the Coates family ranch my belittling of this film masterpiece was a defense mechanism to build up my own sense of machismo. The re…
Read More

Hondo

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Hondo is something of an oddity among John Wayne films. For starters, it was a western not directed by Howard Hawks or John Ford, but by John Farrow, a director Wayne only teamed up with one other time in his career (a WWII film called The Sea Chase). This is also a very tightly edited film, clocking in at just 83 minutes, including an intermission! Though he had certainly performed in his fair share of westerns by this time, Hondo came a couple of years before the release of the long series of w…
Read More

Newsfront

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Phillip Noyce’s critically acclaimed Newsfront comes to DVD from Blue Underground in a quite impressive package. While not always exciting, Newsfront does manage to attract attention, and is pieced together very well. It’s also a film covering unique material I am not sure has ever been covered in the realm of cinema.

The plot centers around Len, a newsreel photographer, who manages to keep audiences apprised of world events long before the nightly news ever exists. Len shoots films of any newsworthy item his employers at Cinetone can find for him.
Read More

Stargate Atlantis – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Stargate Atlantis took a little getting used to. I wasn’t sure the characters had enough chemistry or were even dynamic enough to carry the high expectations for a Stargate series. When the show was first introduced it was likely that Atlantis would soon take over for the original series. Anderson had wanted to leave for years and it seemed the end was near for SG-1. Since that time SG-1 is about to enter a tenth season and the new format is working quite well. Now I can view Atlantis more as the companion show it really excels at being.
Read More

My Date with Drew

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

“If you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul.” – Drew Barrymore. Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Now, 20 years later and much wiser, he has one goal in mind. He hates to get a date, somehow, with Drew Barrymore. There’s one small problem: She’s Drew Barrymore and he’s, well, Brian Herzlinger, a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey. However, this doesn’t stop Mr. Herzlinger and his friends from tr…
Read More

Madison

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Baseball, basketball, football… boat racing. While it’s not one of the premiere sports in America, the people of Madison, Indiana sure loved boat racing during the summer of 1971. As the town of Madison was dealing with layoffs and closures, the people looked to Jim McCormick (Jim Caviezel) and their boat, the Miss Madison, to be their saving grace.

Although it’s framed as a coming of age story, seen through the eyes of McCormick’s son, Mike (Jake Lloyd), Madison is a sports film through and throu…
Read More

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

John and Jane Smith are a seemingly happy couple. They live a pretty normal but almost mundane existence of shared meals, kissed farewells and chats about the color of their curtains. They even go to therapy together, purportedly to iron out their differences. It turns out, however, that they have a lot more in common than they both realize. You see, they both have secret lives—they are both assassins. We’re not talking some street-punks you might hire in a bar, or leather coat wearing mafia hit-men, they are the bes…
Read More

Honeymooners, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Cedric the Entertainer is Ralph Kramden. Mike Epps is Ed Norton. They have the get-rich-quick schemes that never work. Gabrelle Union and Regina Hall are Alice and Trixie, the long-suffering and very sensible wives who are increasingly exasperated by their numbnuts husbands. The latest scheme involves things like turning a pet greyhound into a competitive racer, all in the hopes of purchasing a duplex.

Cards on the table: I was never a fan of the TV show. Born too late, I suppose, …
Read More

AVP – Alien Vs. Predator

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Written by Clayton Self

Alien vs. Predator had mixed reviews upon its initial release in theatres. Fox studios demanded a PG-13 rating (to gain a wider audience) and two weeks before the release, cuts were made to reduce the amount of human blood onscreen, and a few moments of character moments. This new, un-rated edition restores some of those cut scenes, adding just over 8 minutes of previously unseen footage.

So, what’s new? The alternate beginning, also available on the first DVD release is included in the unrated …
Read More

Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Inspired by the 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film, Reefer Madness is a musical by Showtime. The film stars Steven Weber as Jack, Ana Gasteyer as Mae, John Kassir as Ralph, Amy Spanger as Sally, Neve Campbell as Miss Poppy, and Robert Torti as Jesus. The film was a pretty fun watch especially if you enjoy musicals.

Directed by Andy Fickman from the screenplay by Kevin Murphy & Dan Studney based on their musical stage play, the three men also serve as the film’s executive producers. Reefer Madness< ...
Read More

Lords of Dogtown

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

According to some reports, Fred Durst almost directed this thing, and if I ever wind up supporting anything Fred Durst does, I’ll kill myself. Having said that, Lords of Dogtown is a fond look back at the California skateboarding explosion in the late ‘70s. Since, like everything else, timing is everything, this film was largely neglected in a lot of circles, because it came out shortly after the outstanding documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, which was written and directed by Stacy Peral…
Read More

Catch Me If You Can

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

One of the first scenes in Out of Sight was the main character robbing a bank using only his words. That same kind of knack for thinking quickly under pressure is employed in Catch Me If You Can, which tells the story of Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), who, after witnessing the end of the marriage of his parents (Christopher Walken and Nathalie Baye), decides to flee, and begins to bounce checks. Not only does he bounce over $2 million in checks, but he also impersonates a tea…
Read More

Cheaper by the Dozen

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

This remake ofCheaper by the Dozen, like the original, focuses on the Baker family. Father Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and mother Kate Baker (Bonnie Hunt) decided to have 12 children. The children range from 5 years old to 22 years old. Nora (Piper Perabo) is the oldest child and the one who lives outside the home. Tom coaches Division III football at the small Lincoln College. When Tom’s old teammate Shake Maguire (Richard Jenkins) shows up to offer Tom a big fat contract to coach Division I at Illinois Poly Uni…
Read More

Perfect Man

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Jean Hamilton, after having a bad relationship, decides to move to New York City with her two daughters. We quickly learn that this particular mother feels the need to move after EVERY bad relationship. The whiny eldest daughter gets sick of it, so she decides to set up her mom with an imaginary guy so she can get her mother on the possible right path.

The Perfect Man is the type of film that you watch once and literally cry through. No, it’s not the type of film that you cry because it is really s…
Read More

Imagining Argentina

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

The year is 1976. Buenos Aires, Argentina. A ruthless dictatorship has just begun, where people who speak out against the government are “disappeared.”

One of the “disappeared” is newspaper columnist, Cecilia Rueda (Emma Thompson). Her recent column denounces the government for kidnapping some young men who were in a disagreement over a bus fare. When her husband Carlos (Antonio Banderas) returns home and can’t find her, he goes to the police only to receive little help.

In what could be the film…
Read More

To Live and Die in L.A.

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 20th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

If your first introduction to William L. Petersen is through CSI, then you’re missing some real treats with his short-lived film career, which burned brightest about fifteen years before he ever became Gil Grissom and investigated his way onto our small screens and, subsequently, into our hearts. Both of his cinematic outings never got the respect due them until after Petersen reminded us he was still alive, still well, and still acting. His best effort was Manhunter, Michael Mann’s adaptation of the Th…
Read More

War of the Worlds (2005)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 19th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a middle-aged divorcee with a blue-collar job and a rundown home in the New Jersey suburbs. When his ex-wife unexpectedly drops his estranged kids—ten year old Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and sixteen year old Robbie (Justin Chatwin)—off for the weekend, Ray is less than pleased. He’s always struggled with his parental duties, but now finds it increasingly difficult to communicate with his children. However, events beyond his control are about to force Ray to come to terms with his responsibili…
Read More

Coach Carter

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 18th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

In the poor area of Richmond, California, Ken Carter takes charge as a basketball coach, and fights his way to transform a team of rowdy boys into a team of accomplished men. Based on a true story.

There are way too many problems with COACH CARTER to call it great, but it certainly has its heart in the right place at the right time. The very first immediate problem is the script of the film. A lot of the dialogue feels like it has been overly simplified for its audience. Almost all of the actors play stock…
Read More

Bridge Too Far, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 18th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Operation Market Garden is the most famous Allied defeat in the Second World War. An audacious plan scuppered by bad luck and worse decisions, it is recounted in this visually spectacular film. The goal is to seize a group of bridges across Holland, culminating in the brdge at Arnhem. Everything imaginable goes wrong. Richard Attenborough’s film stars just about every big name actor under the sun, and his re-enactment has so many extras and so much hardware that one feels he could have convi…
Read More

Kingdom of Heaven

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Written by Clayton Self

Kingdom of Heaven is a handsome epic by Gladiator director Ridley Scott. It is an underrated film due to a less than successful theatrical release, but at closer examination, this film is a deeply important tale of courage, faith and self-sacrifice. It focuses on a relatively lesser-known period of the crusades, when peace was trying to be made between Christian and Muslim.

Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a blacksmith in a French village, who has just lost his wife and child. Balian was …
Read More

And Now for Something Completely Hilarious! Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

And Now for Something Completely Different (1971) was Monty Python’s first theatrical release, and consists of remounted, often more elaborately staged versions of many of their most beloved TV skits. You want your Dead Parrot, it’s here. So is the Lumberjack Song, How Not to Be Seen, and so on. As a one-stop intro to Python, it’s hard to beat.

Funny as the above film is, it is eclipsed in most people’s hearts by Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974), easily the most…
Read More

Office Space

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Written by Clayton Self

The cult classic “Office Space” from creator Mike Judge (Bevis and Butthead) found a huge following on its initial release on DVD. The movie stars Ron Livingston as Peter Gibbons, a software analyst for the computer giant Initech. Fed up with his condescending boss (Gary Cole) and the frustrations of his job in general, he visits a hypno therapist who puts him in a state of well being and relaxation. The therapist dies of a heart attack before the procedure is complete, leaving Peter permanately care free. Peter …
Read More

Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

In this, the third Bionicle film, the Toa return to Metru Nui to find their land overrun by the evil dictator Sidorak, his soon to be queen, Roodaka and the Visorak, a spider-like army. Roodaka, who plans to take over Metru Nui for herself, tries to lure Toa leader Vakama over to the dark side to lead the Visorak army when Vakama feels disrespected as the leader of the Toa.

While Vakama is seduced by the forces of evil, the remaining Toa meet up with the friendly Rahaga to find Ketongu, a powerful Buddha li…
Read More

Star Trek Enterprise – The Complete Fourth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 10th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

It is tragic that the fourth year of Enterprise would be its last. More tragic is the fact that in the fall of 2005 for the first time in almost 20 years there would be no new Star Trek on the air. By far the worst tragedy, however, was the fact that year four of Enterprise was the year it all came together. This is by far the best overall season of Star Trek since The Next Generation. The addition of writer Many Cuto was the spark this fledgling franchise needed. With the exception of the final episode, these 2-4 eposode arcs were for the most part quite fresh and inspired.
Read More

«< 65 66 67 68 69 >»