Dolby Digital 5.1 (French)

Together

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 18th, 2003

Synopsis

Liu Cheng will do anything for his son, 13-year-old violinist Xiaochun. They leave theirprovincial town and travel to Beijing to seek more opportunities for Xiaochun. Liu Cheng packshis entire fortune into his hat, and cheerfully puts up with all kinds of humiliation for the good ofhis son. Xiaochun’s encounter with the city include a flighty, gold-digging young woman in thesame apartment block, and the very different characters of his teachers. At the centre of the fi…
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Hulk

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 23rd, 2003

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It has taken years to finally get a block-buster Hulk film produced, and the outcome has received mixed reviews. Grossing $132 million in the domestic box-office is usually nothing to sneeze at, but considering it cost $150 million to make the Hulk, it must still be looked at as disappointing. Many would argue that the animation was unrealistic, other would argue that it was amazing… each to their own. I, myself, found the film quite disappointing. I found the animation far too overdone, and the story to be lack…
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George of the Jungle 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2003

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Synopsis

George and all his pals return for this second installment in the George of the Jungle Series…

L’Auberge Espagnole

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 22nd, 2003

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Synopsis

Romain Duris plays a young man who wants to get a good job in the French bureaucracy, andneeds to improve his Spanish. In order to do this, he leaves Paris to live for a year in Barcelona,much to the chagrin of his girlfriend (Audrey Tautou). After navigating the red tape (a realplague in France, and hilariously, mercilessly satirized here), he’s off. Once in Barcelona, hewinds up living in an apartment that he shares with other students from England, Germany,Belgium, Italy…
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Terminator 3 – Rise of the Machines

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 21st, 2003

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Many people would argue that T3: Rise of the Machines should never have been made; a new director, an unknown storyline, and a new actor playing John Connor. Others could not wait to see Arnie suit up as the Terminator one last time. Sure, the Rise of the Machines plot is somewhat questionable, but you sure do get a bunch of action packed into this film.

Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role of the big, bad, funny (yet not knowingly) terminator… but this time he is in for his biggest challenge yet, fa…
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The Lion King

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 9th, 2003

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For a long time The Lion King was the highest grossing animated film in history. For my money it is still miles ahead of any other animated feature. Using more frames per second in animation than the modern cost-cutting standard, this animation simply flows. Elton John and Tim Rice combined for some spectacular songs that somehow appeal to adults and the pop crowd while still maintaining that charm and sing-along ability necessary to attract children. The story is far richer in content than the typical animated fare.
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Fargo

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 18th, 2003

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Synopsis

Terminal loser William H. Macy hatches a scheme to get out of his debt problems: hire SteveBuscemi and Peter Stormare to kidnap his wife, then get the ransom from his father-in-law.Naturally enough, everything goes spectacularly wrong. Bodies pile up, and hugely pregnantSheriff Frances McDormand investigates. All the elements of prime Coen work are present:wonderful character turns from a top cast, dialogue to die for, cinematography that will take yourbreath away, and a sc…
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Mighty Wind, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2003

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Synopsis

Following the death of a legendary folk music impresario, his son organizes a tribute concertwith the acts the father made famous. Through interviews and rehearsals, we see the groups (TheFolksmen, Mitch and Mickey, and The New Main Street Singers) prepare for the big show. Thecast is talented and funny, and the music is a well-nigh perfect pastiche. The creative team seemsa bit too close to the music, however, and so the comedy lacks the bite it could have. The wholeprotes…
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Bend It Like Beckham

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 7th, 2003

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Synopsis

Parminder Nagra is at odds with her family, who want her to follow the traditional path foran Indian woman. She wants none of that, and dreams instead of becoming a professional soccerplayer. Kiera Knightley is already playing on a female team, but has her own familial issues, witha mother (Juiet Stevenson) who despairs of what she perceives as her daughter’s lack offemininity. Knightley sees Nagra playing soccer in a park, and recruits her for the team. Thoughthis i…
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Stitch! The Movie

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2003

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Synopsis

Stitch the lovable alien of mass destruction is back with 625 of his closest relatives ready to wreak havoc on the Hawaiian Islands. Captain Gantu has kidnapped Dr. Jumba and brought him to his evil partner Dr. Hamsterviel, they want the other 625 experimental aliens of mass destruction that Dr. Jumbo created. Lilo and Stitch find them and decide that they don’t want to give them up as they are part of the family, so in order to keep them they must rescue Dr. Jumba.

Video

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Bringing Down the House

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Steve Martin plays a tax lawyer who has let his job consume his life. This has already costhim his marriage, and might soon cost him his children. He engages in some chat room romance,but the woman he meets isn’t the blond lawyer he was expecting, but escaped con Queen Latifah,out to clear her name. She turns his life upside down, but all for the better, naturally. A good-natured, but hardly side-splitting comedy, with most of its big laughs given away in the trailer….
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Anger Management

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Adam Sandler plays Dave Buznik, an introverted executive who internalizes all of his anger.His life spins out of control when, on a business flight, a simple request for headphones leadsto his being charged with assault. He is obliged to submit to anger management therapy, underthe direction of the deeply unorthodox Jack Nicholson, whose role in life seems to be to makeSandler as miserable as possible. The set-up is extremely promising, the two leads clearly havegrea…
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Chicago

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Roxy Hart will do anything to get famous; she cheats on her husband (John C. Riley) with a furniture salesman because he tells her that he can get her a jazz act in a club. When he admits that he was lying about his contacts at the jazz club she kills him in a fit of rage. She convinces her somewhat dim husband to lie to the police and take the blame but as he is telling his story to the police he puts one and one together and figures and tells the cops the truth. She finds herself on Chicag…
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Levity

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2003

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Synopsis

Twenty-two years ago, Billy Bob Thornton killed a cashier in a botched robbery. He hasdwelt on this crime ever since, and doesn’t want to be released from prison. He is, though, and re-enters society very much adrift. His life begins to take on a sense of direction when he meetsand strikes up relationships with an embittered preacher (Morgan Freeman), a young woman onauto-destruct (Kirsten Dunst) and the sister of the man he killed (Holly Hunter). Low key,gorgeously photogr…
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La Femme Nikita

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 4th, 2003

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Synopsis

Drugged-out, hyper-aggressive street punk Nikita (Anne Parillaud) is recruited (whether shelikes it or not) by a top-secret government agency. The first act of the film sees her rebelliousnature gradually being channelled by Tcheky Karyo, and Nikita becomes a glamorous assassin.The action scenes are terrific (so much so that John Badham replicated them shot-for-shot in theremake Point of No Return), and the flick, as with all Besson pictures, has style to burn. I’venever be…
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Basic

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 3rd, 2003

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A Ranger training exercise goes horribly wrong. The instructor (Samuel L. Jackson) and halfthe cadets are missing. There are two survivors. One is injured, and the other was seen engagedin a firefight with one of the other cadets. Investigating are Connie Nielsen and John Travolta,who bounce back and forth between the two survivors as the stories they tell keep changing,Rashomon-style. The twists pile upon twists, and so few are motivated by anything in the storythat audience good will is soon exhausted, despite the decent atmosphere and performances.
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Narc

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 3rd, 2003

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Synopsis

Nick Tellis (Jason Patrick) is an undercover narcotics officer who is placed on suspension after a shootout with a dealer gone very wrong. He is brought back to active duty to shadow another officer who might have had something to do with the death of his partner.

Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) is a short tempered renegade cop intent to find out who killed his partner. AS they start to dig deeper into the life of Oak’s partner we find that things are not as they may seem. We see some intere…
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Black Hawk Down

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 30th, 2003

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We are all familiar with the so called “great wars” of American history. Hollywood has supplied more hours of World War II film than the actual war itself. From classics like Torra Torra Torra to Saving Private Ryan, we have gotten to know every inch of those wars. Vietnam became a popular subject by the mid 80’s with films like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. “Peace-keeping” missions like the U.N. directed effort s like the one in Somalia in the 1990’s isn’t the “stuff” of heroes it seems. Leave it to Ridley S…
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Kangaroo Jack

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 24th, 2003

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Synopsis

Charlie is a hairdresser with a mob boss for a step father; Booker is his best friend and a bumbling idiot. Together they find themselves in the outback of Australia after hitting a kangaroo and loosing $50K of mob money. They need to recover the money from the kangaroo or they are dead. They meet a cast of interesting characters along the way to catching the kangaroo (who they have dubbed Jacky Legs) and manage to get themselves in and out of all kinds of funny situations.

Vid…
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Adaptation

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 23rd, 2003

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Charlie Kaufman is a neurotic, narcissistic, self loathing writer who is hired to adapt Susan Orlean’s novel The Orchid Thief into a film. The only problem is that he is suffering from writers block, add in a twin brother who is also writing a screenplay and his inability to interact with people and hang-on for a wild ride. Charlie tries a number of different approaches to writing the script and suddenly finds himself being written into the story. What starts out as an adaptation of a book into a film turns into a completely different story all together.
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Frida

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2003

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This is the story of Frida Kahlo, now recognized as one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Most particularly, the film is the story of her tempestuous love affair with fellow artist Diego Rivera –their loves, their clashes, their politics, their infidelities, their betrayals, and so on. So much attention is paid to this relationship that Kahlo’s art itself slips into the background, which is too bad. That said, this is a tremendously engaging film, with great performances all round.
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Analyze That

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2003

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Analyze This was funny for several reasons, not the least of them being that it came from out of nowhere. We always knew that Billy Crystal could be rolling-in-the-aisles funny, but Robert DeNiro really isn’t “the King Of Comedy”. The movie worked because of chemistry more than anything else. Analyze That is no different. If anything the interplay between DeNiro and Crystal has improved. While not nearly as original (and how could it be?) Analyze That is just as funny as the first film.
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Guy Thing, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2003

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Synopsis

Jason Lee plays Paul who is engaged to Karen (Selma Blair), after his bachelor party he wakes up to one of the Tiki girls (Becky played by Julia Stiles) in bed with him, to make matters worse he discovers that she is his fiancée’s cousin. SO he does “The Guy Thing” and does everything he can to cover things up but, when Becky’s pscho ex starts stalking Paul things start to get out of hand.

Video

Presented in both a 1.85:1 anamorphic version and a 1.33:1 fullscreen …
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Two Weeks Notice

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2003

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Synopsis

Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) is an anti-establishment lawyer, fighting to preserve historiclandmarks from heedless developers. One of these heedless developers is George Wade (HughGrant), a man as shallow as he is rich. Lucy confronts George just as he is desperate for a newlaywer, and he talks her into working for him despite her misgivings. He comes to depend onher for absolutely everything (clothes to wear, stationary to use, etc.), to the point that he takesover her lif…
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Darkness Falls

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2003

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Synopsis

A woman, wrongly accused of killing children, is hanged and curses the town of DarknessFalls. Now she is the Tooth Fairy, vulnerable to light, but otherwise deadly. If you peak whenshe comes for your tooth, you’re toast. In what is the scariest scene of the film, young Kyle seesher and escapes with his life (though his mother doesn’t). Twelve years later, the young brotherof Kyle’s old crush Caitlin is similarly haunted. Kyle is drawn back to Darkness Falls, there toconfron…
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