Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2006
I admit it. I thought our heroes at Stargate Command had finally had it for sure. Were the replicators back? How about the dreaded G’Ould? Perhaps another serious malfunction of the Gate caused by Carter’s meddling was about to tear a hole in the time/space continuum. What was I so sure might spell doom for Earth’s last line of defense? We’ve already escaped fiendish bombs and other devious devices. Plagues and epidemics? No problem. Just business as usual at the SGC. No. These things are just minor worries compar...d to that ruthless killer: major cast changes. Not only do we lose Richard Dean Anderson whose name appeared in larger letters above the title, but some of the new crew makes Stargate SG-1 look like a Farscape spin-off. Ben Browder takes over the team as Mitchell and Claudia Black returns as that interstellar con artist, Vala. Beau Bridges fills the very large shoes left by Don S. Davis as Gen Hammond to command the SGC. Yeah, I know Anderson took the gig for a while, but did we ever really believe that was going to last? A new base doctor comes to life, thanks to Andromeda’s living ship Lexa Doig. Even the villains are the new baddie Ori, and man, are they tough. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Shows like Law & Order have made cast changes the norm, but even on that show, never were so many major characters and threads changed so quickly. So call it Stargate SG-1 version 2.0. So how could all of this occur and leave our beloved series the same animal it always was? The answer is simple. It can’t.
I won’t go so far as to say the show is better, but I will say that it reinvented itself quite nicely after all. The powers that be made some smart choices after all. Teaming Black with Shanks avoids the inevitable Farscape trappings. It turns out the two of them have some rather fine, if awkward, chemistry. How about those new bad guys. Another great approach was to finally give us new enemies. The old story lines have pretty much run their natural course. The Ori are wickedly wonderful heavies. It’s not lost on me the religious fanatic angle either. Fortunately the creative team remains, so the writing and production values remain as high as ever. Now we’re exploring more Anglican mythology as we explore the traditions of Camelot and Arthur. The end result is a show we can still feel familiar and comfortable with, yet enjoy a fresh new take. If you are willing to give it a chance, I think that this new Stargate SG-1 will grow on you. So maybe let’s call it version 1.2.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 27th, 2006
Synopsis
Adam Sandler plays Michael Newman, stressed-out workaholic who, overwhelmed by his job though he is, is allowing it to interfere with his family life. At the end of his tether one night, he sets out to buy a universal remote, but Christopher Walken (apparently playing Christopher Lloyd) sells him a truly universal remote.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006
Mix two parts hip-hop artists, two parts Oscar-winning actors, one part TV actor, and one part bad actor, and what do you get? The stars of Edison Force, that’s what. Now just because I specify one as a bad actor doesn’t let the others off the hook. Of course, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman are going to be tolerable. They’re phenomenal at their craft. Even the TV actor (Dylan McDermott) does a worthy job of bringing menace to his role as primary leg-breaker. But when it comes to poor performances, Cary ...lwes, L.L. Cool J, and Justin Timberlake have the market cornered. It’s unfortunate the film hangs its hopes and dreams on the abilities of the latter two.
Every L.L. Cool J character comes across as a bulked-up sissy, because the actor tries way too hard to walk the line between sensitivity and men-wearing-dresses. Normally, he falls over to the wrong side of that line. Edison Force is no exception. As for Timberlake, he sounds like a lisping chipmunk every time he opens his mouth. When these two guys are forced to carry an action film, get ready for metro-sexuality at its finest. While some girls will find these men extremely pleasing to the eye, the target audience will probably laugh this one out of their players.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 8th, 2006
Poseidon doesn’t waste any time getting to the action so I won’t waste any time with an introduction to this review. Yes, it’s a remake of the 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure. Yes, it is chock full of convenient cardboard characters (a former Navy man, a fireman, a nurse, etc...). But we don’t watch movies like Poseidon for character exposition, do we?
Poseidon is a rip-roaring 90 minutes of intensity and even delivers some gory goods. Yes, I said gory. I know Poseidon...is a PG-13 movie, but it is chock full of carnage. It's also very exhausting. I haven’t had a movie leave me feeling beaten down in a long time, if ever. Does that make Poseidon an excellent movie? No. But it’s 100% effective for a disaster film – and deserved a better fate at the box office.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Anna Faris takes a job as a social worker, moving into a house with the evil presences we know and love from The Grudge. Meanwhile, next door, Craig Bierko is about to deal with The War of the Worlds. And off we go, as the movie riffs one parody of recent films after another.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2006
The Bone Collector tells the story of a man named Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) who has been confined to his Manhattan bed after being injured on his job by a falling beam. Lincoln has since become a Quadriplegic who simply wants to kill himself, and his nurse (Queen Latifah) is planning on assisting him in his suicide. As he is planning this, Lincoln learns of a serial killer who has been abducting random people, throwing them in a taxi and proceeding to torture them in extremely gruesome manners. Lincoln...recruits detective Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie), who is one of the first officers on the scene of a horrible murder. The murder scene features a man buried in gravel only showing a hand with each finger showing a different forensic clue. This scene shows that this killer is quite a different type of killer, one who leaves little hints and clues almost painting a canvas with the person he just killed.
The serial killer genre was really brought to a new level via 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs in regards to the power of the story, direction, score, and acting. The Bone Collector doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The Bone Collector adopts what is normal about serial killer films, such as standard plot ideas, characters and situations. This does tend to make the film lose a lot of replay value, but The Bone Collector is not as bad as one may think mainly because of the actors involved. For some reason I always find myself enjoying Denzel Washington’s performances, regardless if what he’s performing in is rather weak. He always seems to bring a higher level of skill and quality to his films. Relatively unknown at this point, Angelina Jolie definitely had the makings of a star. Granted since this film she’s had some weaker roles in films like Tomb Radier, but she still manages to do what she can with a film. I found it interesting how Washington, who was a bigger star at this time, spends the entire film kind of on the sidelines with Jolie doing a majority of the acting. I wonder if Director Philip Noyce realized early on that Jolie was going to be a big star eventually. Did he want to showcase something he already knew? Enough on this though.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
In the mid 90's, poachers are decimating the antelope population in the pristine lands of Kekexili. The locals have organized themselves to fight back, and now one of their patrolmen has been murdered by the poachers. Ga Yu, a journalist from Beijing, arrives to cover the story. Initially rejected by the leader of the mountain patrol, Ga Yu is taken in by the group when he suggests his coverage might help turn the area into a wilderness preserve. A long, grueling, dangerous manhunt ensues.>
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 10th, 2006
Tell me if you've heard this one before... a high school girl is not allowed to join a certain club because it is boys only, so she dresses up like a (transvestite) boy to sneak into the club and prove that she has girl power!
Seriously, how many times can Hollywood make the exact same movie, before somebody sues somebody for copyright infringement? I understand the argument that each new generation of teens will pay big bucks to see the same crappy movie that has been made every couple of years for generations, but come on. Does nobody have any artistic integrity left?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 8th, 2006
Synopsis
A group of masked criminals, led by Clive Owen, take over a Manhattan bank and hold everyone there hostage. Denzel Washington arrives on the scene as police negotiator, and he rapidly finds that his opponent is extremely clever, and appears to know every move the police will make even before they do. Complicating matters further is the arrival of Jodie Foster, an ice-cold fix-it woman hired by bank-owner Christopher Plummer to protect his interests: there is a safety deposit box he desperate...y wants to avoid having opened.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 4th, 2006
Synopsis
Robin Williams is struggling to keep his job, and struggling to keep his sanity in the face of his teenage children (particularly daughter Joanna “JoJo” Levesque). This all becomes more difficult when his boss forces him to cancel a trip to Hawaii and head off to Colorado instead. Williams rents an RV, packs his family in, and hits the road for misadventures and hijinx.
