Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 16th, 2007
10 years ago, Clerks was released, appealing to the ever-growing population of the subculture of slackers. For a generation of grunge-music-listening, going-nowhere, fast-food-working young adults, Clerks became a cult favourite. With the release of Clerks II, I�m sure the very same people are attracted to this title, whether they have grown up and want to revisit that nostalgic feeling, or are still flipping burgers and living the slacker lifestyle. Whether you live in your parents� basement or ...ou�re an upstanding citizen, Clerks II appears to be a slapstick movie that everyone can enjoy.
Clerks II picks up just where the original left off. Randall (Brian Anderson) and Dante (Brain O�Halloran) are still working their dead-end jobs at the Quickie Mart. Their days consist of one sarcastic quip after another, and of course the barrage of insults for every customer that walks through the door. But one day their world is turned upside down when a fire demolishes the Quickie Mart, forcing them to find employment with Mooby�s, the local fast food joint. Life here continues much as it did back at their other job, with the exception of the new boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson), with whom Randall appears to be infatuated. Aside from documenting the daily tribulations of a burger flipper, Clerks II actually has a plot; Randall finally has a chance to grow up and make something of himself, as he is engaged and ready to move to Florida. Of course, this doesn�t sit well with best friend and man-child Dante, but more importantly Randall is ultimately unsure if it�s what he wants as well. As the movie plays out, some hilarious dialogue as well as some dismal humour is thrown our way. Our two protagonists have to make some important life decisions, such as, are they ready to turn their backs on their slacker lifestyles?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 7th, 2007
Some of you might know the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, then others of you might known the movie simply called Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but one way or another you know about the crazy days Hunter S. Thompson had in Vegas. Hunter Thompson along with his buddy Oscar Zeta Acosta are the credited creators of Gonzo Journalism (Journalism with indistinct lines between fact and fiction), so the book and movie are partially based on their accounts, except replace Thompson with Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and Acosta with Dr. Gonzo (Benicio del Toro). The movie is very similar to the book, and Thompson had a large role in the production of the film, even lending Depp clothes and accessories for authenticity.
Raoul Duke and lawyer buddy Dr. Gonzo are sent to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race for a magazine, to prepare for the trip the two have come armed with two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole multi colored collection of uppers, downers, laughers, screamers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. It goes without saying that the rest of the movie consists of these two and there adventures around Las Vegas while taking copious amounts of narcotics, and I can assure there is very minimal journalism done.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 16th, 2006
Synopsis
Not to fawn too heavily on one side in the next-generation format wars, but how cool is HD-DVD? Well, if for nothing else, the HD-A1 and HD-XA1 players from Toshiba are all region-free. And while Warner Brothers has been slipping over themselves and teasing American consumers with a release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, British customers have gotten full penetration, and can pick up the fourth Potter film now. So I went onto Amazon UK and picked up my own copy, and I�m going to presume that the disc will be the same when it comes out here, whenever that will be.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 26th, 2006
Natalie Portman stars in V for Vendetta, cast in a role unlike what I typically expect from her, a dialogue driven action movie with a serious tone to it. This movie even got me thinking a little bit about mankind’s intolerance of other man and how far society has to go to protect itself. I enjoy movies of this nature, you know the kind taking place in a not to distance future and not so distant problems, but a drastically different way of life. Something these movies always have in common is the civil rights ...hat are stripped from society for “beneficiary” reasons and leadership is in the form of a dictatorship. Basically, mankind takes a step back and a docile society is brought forward. Curfew and the inability to freely express oneself via certain forms of art and music plague a futuristic England. The real question here being, would you rather live in a world with few forms of expression and the inability to be a non-conformist but with crime almost non-existent? Comparable to the movie Equilibrium before it, the people in this future must sacrifice these certain rights in order to live in a “safe” environment.
The movie also has obvious Nazi undertones; the most obvious would be the rise and rule of Chancellor Adam Sutler, which shares similar traits and action of Adolph Hitler. The way the speeches are conducted, and the way the personal army of the Chancellor have rule of the streets all seem to remind me of the Nazi regime. I believe this element of the film makes it much more real to the viewer, seeing as fear tactics have and still are being used by government officials today.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2006
After numerous horrible, horrible Batman films (Batman and Robin and Batman Returns are my least favorite), the Batman film’s have finally returned to a place where someone can be proud to have seen and proud to own to this film. Director Christopher Nolan (probably mostly known for Memento) was chosen to helm this latest Batman film while actor Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Machinist) was chosen to portay Mr. Bruce Wayne.
The film mostly follows how ...ruce became Batman. As the film begins we learn how Bruce’s parents were killed, what happened to Bruce to cause his initial fear of bats and how he trained to become Batman. After the death of his parents, something Bruce blames himself for, Bruce continues his life never really feeling like himself. During his early twenties, Bruce decided to head overseas where he gets caught up in a kind of theft ring, which results in his arrest. Turns out that he was stealing from his own company. Once in jail, Bruce decides to stand up to a few guards basically eliminating them quickly. He’s thrown into a cell where he meets Henri Ducard (Schindler’s List’s Liam Neeson). It’s here that Bruce learns the art of stealth and fighting. This gains the eventual attention of a man named Ra’s Al Ghul (The Last Samurai’s Ken Watanabe in a short, but fabulous performance). Bruce eventually returns home and becomes Batman.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006
Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy tells the famous story based on the poem ‘The Iliad’ by poet Homer. The film recounts the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. The Trojan War has quickly begun after young and beautiful Helen (Diane Kruger) is seduced by Paris (Orlando Bloom) while he is on a peace mission to Sparta. Obviously Helen’s husband, Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) is annoyed by this as is Paris’ older, wiser brother Hector (Eric Bana). Paris eventually wins Helen’s heart and sneaks her away from her husba...d back to Troy. Here Helen is declared to be a queen.
Menelaus is naturally furious about this and demands that Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, take ships and men (1,000 ships and about 50,000 men) to bring her back. Here is where the fun begins as the Trojans refuse to give up their new queen. As history tells us the Greeks would lay siege to Troy for nearly ten years. Where poet Homer’s ‘The Iliad’ picks up is around the tenth and final year of the struggle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2006
Keanu Reeves really really wants to break out of his pigeonholed role as the charismatic good guy in an action film, but sometimes he just can't help himself, and takes the easy paycheck (Chain Reaction may be a good indication of that). But in the action roles he's noted for, both as Neo in The Matrix trilogy and as John Constantine in Constantine, he's got the "protagonist with an internal conflict" down pat, that's for sure.
Written by Kevin Brodbin (who came up with the initial story) and directed by Francis Lawrence, who was previously well-reputed as a music video director (think Tarsem or David Fincher maybe), Reeves plays Constantine as a man with a conflict. While others may think that he has a gift in exorcising and deporting demons, he sees it as a burden, a duty he thinks he should get into heaven for. With the help of a grizzled priest (Pruitt Taylor Vince, Nobody's Fool) and an aspiring apprentice (Shia LaBeouf, IMDB), he plods along through the days and nights, doing his duty while battling an aggressive form of lung cancer which he doesn't make any better by chain-smoking.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 11th, 2006
Training Day stars Academy Award Winning Actor Denzel Washington in the role of Alonzo Harris. Harris, who is one of the meanest, baddest cops in the city of LA, is a person who cruises the streets in his customized Caddy. Harris, in one of the film's opening scenes, meets Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), a young cop whose dream is to be promoted to the elite narc squad. Naturally, this is Jake's first day of training and he is thrown into the arms of Harris. Alonzo tries to show him the streets so he can understand e...erything. He has Jake smoke pot just because he can. In one interesting scene, possibly Alonzo being a tough ass to Jake, doesn't arrest two rapists like Jake wants to, but, instead, proceeds to beat the living crap out of them.
For Alonzo, acting the way he does is simply because this is the way Alonzo feels he should act. As he tells Jake in one scene "If you turn down gifts on the street, you'll be dead." Jake, who has just learned his pot has been laced with PCP, has just awoken to find out that he is now involved with a raid on a drug dealer's house. Alonzo continues to take Jake on these various trips, which all seem to be teaching Jake more and more about the type of cop Alonzo truly is. It makes me wonder if all LA cops are truly this evil, not necessarily as a poke at LA and the crime, but possibly a look into the corruption of the cop field in itself.
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