Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 6th, 2006
Synopsis
The Bennet family is not rich, and when Mr. Bennet (Donald Sutherland) dies, the estate will pass out of the family’s hands and into those of a rather pompous little twit of a parson. There are five daughters, and their future can only be achieved through marriage. Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) is the second daughter (improbably described as plain). Her path repeated crosses that of Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), an aloof, brooding gentleman who apparently has little use for her or her ...amily. She doesn’t like him much, either. They are both, of course, in for a surprise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 3rd, 2006
Synopsis
In the late fifties, Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and Vince Collins (Colin Firth) are a top-rated comedy duo, hosts of a polio telethon. At the height of their career, everything comes crashing down when the body of a young woman is discovered in the bathtub of their hotel suite. They have cast-iron alibis, but the team is dissolved. Fifteen years later, up-and-coming journalist Karen O’Connor (Alison Lohman) lands a sweetheart deal to write a book about Vince, and he is being paid a million d...llars to agree to in-depth interview. What Karen really wants to know is what really happened to that young woman, but she also quickly becomes ensnared in the angled web of guilt shared by the two men.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Quite frankly, I didn’t remember much about 13 Going on 30 when I first saw it (yes, I’m copping to watching it), but in revisiting it for the purposes of the review, I found that it was a cute film whose story is quite clearly lifted from the ‘80s Tom Hanks film Big (right down to the scene where the main character rides in a limo), but the performances by the cast is actually quite commendable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 20th, 2006
Synopsis
Dennis Quaid is a widower Coast Guard Admiral with eight kids. He runs his household with (of course) military precision. His career has taken him back to his home town, where he runs into high school sweetheart Rene Russo. She is a widow (no divorces in THIS movie, thank you very much) with ten kids (four biological, the rest adopted), and her household is a joyful chaos of artistic self-actualization. Quaid and Russo fall in love and marry immediately, and then announce to their kids that ...heir family has just double in size. Cue conflict as the military kids and the artsy-hippy kids collide, and then collude to try to break up the marriage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 18th, 2006
In the era we live in, the eventuality of a movie about a soldier’s experience in war was going to come, whether or not we wanted to see the film. Since the war in Iraq is such a hot button topic with a majority of people, regardless if you were for the war or against the war, Universal thought this would be the perfect moment to capture our interest in war. Enter director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) and Academy-Award winning Actor Jamie Foxx (Ray) ...nd you know you have a movie that will pique the average person’s curiousity. But was Jarhead made too soon? Would people really want to see what our soliders are going through? Read on to find out.
Jarhead is based on the 2003 memoirs of Anthony Swofford who is portrayed by Gyllenhaal. Swofford served in the first Gulf War. The film is obviously about a war, but what makes the film amazing is that it is a war film that rises way, way above the concept of a war to tell an intriguing story of exhaustion, boredom, lonliness, obession and drama.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
I will be honest and inform you that I have yet to like a video game based film since 1995’s Mortal Kombat. It seems that no matter how closely they try to follow the story based on the game, the director always fails. One of the more famous director’s in the video-game to movie based series is director Uwe Boll, who has brought us The House of the Dead and the recent Bloodrayne, These movies, as the popular consensus agrees, were extremely awful. They lacked anything redeeming, despite the orig...nal source material being pretty good. When I heard of a film being made on the game series Doom, I began to worry as I figured it would follow the typical trend of terrible video-game based movies. Can Doom reverse the horrible trend of terrible video-game based movies? Read on to find out
Doom begins with a fly in shot over the red planet Mars. We move in more and see the Olduvai Research Station, which is a remote scientific facility on Mars. And that is the last scene we see of the planet Mars. For a movie based on a game that takes place on the red planet Mars, we never fully see the planet except for the opening scene. Maybe this is me wanting what I saw in the game series. But every film director has to take a few creative liberties right? Well, I am very disappointed to report to that director Andrzej Bartkowiak and Universal seem to have taken a few too many creative liberties when making this film as the film is nothing like the game at all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 1st, 2006
The opening titles of this film are a bit misleading. The font is a colorful, comical display played against animation more suitable for the opening of a Pink Panther film. Instead of a comedy, we are presented with a film likely to appeal to a very limited audience. To the film’s credit, it doesn’t abandon the themes and style it intends to portray in an effort to gain more mass appeal.
Antonio is a young man living in Mexico. His dreams are filled with playing music. Like most young ambitious music...ans he longs for the “big time”. When his mother dies, Antonio travels to America where his uncle has painted a picture of a golden field of dreams which turn out to be a rundown taco stand. We’re not really told if the move to America was under legal circumstances or not. Still, Antonio uses every spare moment to capture his musical career. The chance comes in a Latino band competition. The prize is $10,000 and a chance to perform with a big “mystery musician”. Suddenly we have a film with an abundance of clichés. Throw into the mix a mistaken romantic triangle and the stage is complete. It’s no real surprise how any of this turns out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 31st, 2006
Synopsis
Sarah Miles is the spoiled young daughter of Leo McKern. In the troubled Ireland of 1916, she falls in love with, and marries, middle-aged schoolteacher Robert Mitchum. Their marriage hits troubled waters when she begins a passionate affair with a young English officer, which is a politically delicate move, to say the least.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 21st, 2006
Having originally seen Underworld on HBO one summer night, I recall myself finding the film fairly dull and vapid. When I heard of a director’s cut coming out, I thought back to my original viewing of the film Daredevil, which was made that much better via more explanation of plot and the characters. Maybe this could occur for this film. Unfortunately, Underworld is not that much better this time around.
Underworld stars Kate Beckinsale as Death Dealer Selene. We learn, at the be...inning of the film, that there is a ancient blood feud that is occurring between vampies and Lycans (creatures we call werewolves). Unlike the typical werewolves we are use to seeing on screen, these Lycans can change form at will. Cue in the Death Dealers who try to kill off all of these Lycans. Why so much animosity toward the Lycans you may ask? Well, according to Selene, the Lycans are planning something big and this may be in correspondence to the ‘Awakening’. A vampire named Kraven (Shane Brolly) is in charge until the ‘Awakening’. Naturally Kraven doesn’t get along with Selene.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2006
Al Pacino is one of those actors who always seems to find himself in those type of roles that bring out the absolute best in him. In his last four films (Insomina, People I Know, Angels in America, and The Merchant of Venice) Pacino has brought the needed tension and power to his performances. Add 2005’s Two For The Money to that ever-growing list of excellent performances.
Pacino plays Walter who runs a sports betting hotline. Matthew McConaughey plays Brandon, the Vega... oddsmakers Walter brings to New York. Walter befriends Brandon and makes him a star by showing him how to act with an unleveled amount of confidence and exuberance. Rene Russo plays Toni, Walter’s wife.
