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Dolby Digital 5.1 (English)

Shadow of Fear

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 6th, 2005

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Synopsis

Driving home one rainy night after losing an important deal, Matt Davis runs over a manstanding in the middle of a deserted country road. Repressing his initial impulse to call thepolice, Davis tries to cover up his crime. But then he finds out that not only are the police veryinterested in the victim, who might be involved with a local bank robbery, but that said victimmight also be his brother-in-law. Threatened with losing everything, Davis turns to sinisterlawyer James …
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Five People You Meet in Heaven, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 5th, 2005

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Synopsis

Jon Voight plays Eddie, known as “Eddie Maintenance,” who keeps things running at an amusement park. When a faulty ride clobbers him, he winds up in Heaven, where he meets, as the title suggests, five people from his past, in five different kinds of Heaven, at each stage learning truths about his life, and how much it mattered, for better or for worse. There are many flashbacks to his early years when he showed promise as a gifted engineer, but was held back by a drunken lout of…
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Dead Birds

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 1st, 2005

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Synopsis

1863. After a brutal bank robbery, with plenty of civilians brutally slaughtered, a group ofConfederate deserters hole up in an abandoned farmhouse to pass the night before heading downto Mexico. There are already a few problems: the younger brother of leader Henry Thomas hasbeen injured, and two of the other gang members are thinking they should have a larger shareof the gold (i.e. all of it). But they will all soon have much bigger worries, as the house is stalkedby demon…
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American Splendor

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 27th, 2005

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The movie’s tagline is “Ordinary Life is Pretty Complex Stuff.” And the movie itself, with Paul Giamatti (Sideways) as Harvey Pekar, a file clerk at a Cleveland Veterans’ Hospital, is very good. Harvey creates a comic book based on his life, and he and his book hit a stride of popularity, which includes several appearances on Late Night with David Letterman. Things manage to take a downturn when he is diagnosed with testicular cancer. So he and his wife Joyce (Hope Davis, About Schmidt) decide to…
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Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 26th, 2005

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Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 is one of the worst movies ever made. At least…that’s what I keep reading. Reviews have torched this movie, and I must concur. This movie is bad. And I don’t think the first one was much of a hit either. So why make this dreck?

The plot of the movie revolves around our little genius heroes saving the world from an evil TV mogul played by Jon Voight (need a paycheck?). This baddie wants to submit subliminal messges through kiddie TV and control children (and baby ta…
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I Heart Huckabees

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2005

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Synopsis

Jason Schwartzman is a young man in despair. His brand of environmental activism (whichinvolves reciting a lot of bad poetry and planting trees in the middle of parking lots) isn’t gettinghim far, and then he is on the verge of being ousted from his own organization when Jude Law,executive at the Wal-Mart-like Huckabees, becomes a sponsor and takes the whole thing over.Schwartzman turns for help with his life to existential detectives Dustin Hoffman and LilyTomlin, but he t…
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Matchstick Men

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2005

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I’m always a sucker for con men movies, movies about the grift, or general films about robbers who are smart and get money from dumb people. If they’re too stupid to know what to do with the cash, send it over here, Daddy needs it. Sometimes there are new and interesting wrinkles that usually crash and burn, but sometimes work out quite well in the end.

Matchstick Men tells the story of Roy (Nicolas Cage, Adaptation) and Frank (Sam Rockwell, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), two men wh…
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Incident at Loch Ness

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 24th, 2005

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Synopsis

Director Werner Herzog is off to Scotland to shoot a documentary entitled The Enigmaof Loch Ness. This is coinciding with the shoot of a documentary about his life calledWerner in Wonderland. So what we have here is a documentary about the making of adocumentary. Or, more accurately, of a failed doc, since things start going wrong right away,mostly due to producer Zak Penn, who clearly wants something more exciting and sexy than aphilosophical essay on why peo…
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Exorcist — The Beginning

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2005

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Synopsis

In 1949, Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård), lapsed of faith and now an archaeologist for hire,heads off to Kenya, where Byzantine church has just been uncovered in a location it doesn’tbelong. The opening of the church unleashes the evil contained therein, which, not content withpossessing a little boy, gradually puts the locals and the British military force at each other’sthroats. Merrin must regain his faith and confront the demon (cue the exorcism of the title).

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Donnie Darko

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 20th, 2005

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Synopsis

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a resentful teen under therapy, and supposed to be takingmedication for his borderline schizophrenia. When a giant demonic bunny (Jimmy Stewart neverhad to deal with the like in Harvey) takes him out of the house just before a plane enginesmashes into his bedroom, life becomes even more strange. Reality becomes rubbery, and thefact that Donnie survived has more and more significant effects on the world around him.

David Lynch…
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Star Chamber, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 20th, 2005

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Synopsis

A series of heartrending cases drive judge Michael Douglas to the breaking point. Minortechnicalities force him to release suspects who are clearly guilty of horrendous crimes. At hismost vulnerable, he is approached by mentor judge Hal Holbrook, who is part of a cabal ofjudges who re-examine such cases, and have the suspects killed. Douglas becomes involved, butthe moral issues aren’t any easier now, and then there’s detective Yaphet Kotto who’s closingin on the truth.

Ultimate Matrix Collection

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

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The Matrix (1999) was a landmark film in the Sci-Fi genre. While it’s box office intake was dwarfed by Episode 1, it was The Matrix that had people talking. Andy and Larry Wachowski’s story of a post-apocalyptic world where humans serve as biological generators of energy for the machines that rule the planet, challenged people’s perceptions of what reality was.

In addition to the well crafted story, The Matrix was well known for the creation of one of the most copied special eff…
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Raise Your Voice

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2005

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Synopsis

Hilary Duff is the small-town girl who aspires to attend a summer music camp in LosAngeles. Keith David is the gruff father who stands in her way, but only because he loves her somuch. Poignancy is added by the car-accident death of her supportive older brother in the earlygoings. Anyway, off goes Duff, thanks to mother Rita Wilson and cool aunt Rebecca De Mornay,and she has to struggle against the evil sophisticates and snobs to prove herself, but she has helpfrom new frie…
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Step Into Liquid

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2005

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Many seem to rule surfing out of hand as some sort of pastime for burnouts, potheads, or life’s free spirits. But Bruce Brown helped shine a light onto the sport with his release of 1966’s The Endless Summer, a landmark release that still is highly revered by people to this day for the revolutionary photography and its ability to capture the awesome feats of nature. And where some studios put out near-annual sequels, Brown waited 28 years to get his done, appropriately titled The Endless Summer II, repr…
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Short Cuts

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 16th, 2005

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The barometer for those interested in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts is usually whether or not they liked Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. Hell, it’s the question I posed to my fiancée when we were trying to figure out what to watch over the Thanksgiving holiday. The comparisons are pretty conventional; both are large ensemble films with intertwined plotlines set in California, both have a 3 hour runtime. Both even have Julianne Moore in predominant roles.

Based on short stories by Raymond Carver…
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SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 15th, 2005

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Synopsis

Passed over for promotion to manager, SpongeBob SquarePants is ticked at Mr. Krabbs, butnot to the point of wishing him dead. That is the fate that awaits his employer, after he is framedby Plankton for the theft of King Neptune’s crown. SpongeBob and Patrick must brave no endof dangers on their long journey to Shell City to recover the crown. On the way, they encountereverything from a hit man named Dennis (voiced by Alec Baldwin) to monsters, to DavidHasselhoff (as himsel…
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Grudge, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2005

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The Ring was an almost overnight success. Based on a Japanese horror film, it was “Americanized” and captured audiences with its creepy cinematography and wickedly sinister story. It was inevitable that the formula would be tried again.

You would think that The Grudge has everything necessary to continue that successful story. The Grudge is based on not one but a well known series of haunted house films in Japan. Spider Man’s own Sam Raimi teams up with Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Ge…
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Kill Bill: Volume 1

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 12th, 2005

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Uma Thurman (Gattaca) plays the Bride, whose bloody and battered face we see at the beginning of the movie. She is pregnant, but is shot in the head and left for dead. She actually is comatose, and stays that way for four years, before waking up one night from a mosquito buzzing in her ear. The Bride’s name is inconsequential, as any mention of her name draws a loud beeping sound during the movie, and her rehabilitation is also fairly hard to believe also, as she “focuses” in order to use her legs again. Then …
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Anchorman – The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 12th, 2005

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Arguably the last funny member of Saturday Night Live has picked some strange movies to be in since leaving the sketch comedy show. Appearing first as a co-star in Old School and then later in the kid-friendly (but cute) Elf, Will Ferrell took his time in getting to what fans wanted, a good PG-13 or better comedy for him to stretch his comedic talent.

By and large, Anchorman does deliver on that, though occasionally Ferrell himself isn’t the one causing the laughs. As 1970s San …
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Kill Bill: Volume 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 12th, 2005

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After the Quentin Tarantino ode to kung fu chophouse films in Kill Bill Volume 1, Volume 2 shows us the substance behind the style. You see why a Hattori Hanzo sword is as prestigious as it is, you see how and why Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) lost her right eye, you even find out what the Bride’s (Uma Thurman) name is. But at the end of the day, this movie is about killing Bill, so you see Bill (David Carradine), in all his splendor and glory, and you see the relationship that the Bride and Bill share, both befo…
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Ray

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 11th, 2005

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Synopsis

The film opens at the very beginning of Ray Charles’ career, as he makes his way to Seattlefor his first paying gigs with an unscrupulous band leader and manager. We see him grow inconfidence and artistry, soon becoming a force to be reckoned with. Intercutting his rise areflashbacks to his childhood, and specifically the accidental death of his little brother and his ownloss of sight. In the present, we also see his womanizing personal life and his descent into drugaddicti…
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Mulan II

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 11th, 2005

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Synopsis

A few months after the events of Mulan, the sequel picks up with our heroine aboutto marry General Shang. Their betrothal is interrupted, however, by an urgent request from theEmperor: escort his three daughters cross-country for their marriages, which have been arrangedfor political purposes. As the pair begin their mission, Mulan feels increasingly uneasy about theprincesses having to marry men they have never met. As well, the women are falling in love withthe thr…
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Master and Commander – The Far Side of the World

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2005

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After hearing that Russell Crowe had decided to embark on a movie about an early 19th century sea captain whose character was written about in several books by an author I never heard about, there was a part of me that was intrigued. This feeling was elevated by the film receiving 10 Oscar nominations, second only to Return of the King. And perhaps in another year, Master and Commander would have won more awards than it did (just one), and perhaps may go down as one of the more underappreciated films i…
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Fifth Element

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2005

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Admittedly when I first saw The Fifth Element, I wasn’t too impressed by it, though Chris Tucker (Friday) did provide some good comedic moments, and it was nice to see Ian Holm (Lord of the Rings) return to major films also. I mainly thought that Bruce Willis had gone a bit silly with this one with dyed blonde head hair, in yet another action movie.

Chariots of Fire

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2005

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Synopsis

In the years leading up to the 1924 Paris Olympics, Ben Cross is Harold Abrahams, who useshis speed as a runner to fight back against the quiet but persistent anti-Semitism of Britishsociety. Ian Charleson is Eric Liddell, the profoundly religious Scot who runs for God. Wefollow their lives and training, along with those of Abrahams’ college friends, up to theOlympics, with a few smallish tribulations along the way.

And that’s about it, really. There are plenty of s…
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