Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 11th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 8th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 3rd, 2004
In today’s age of manufactured talent less pop stars you have to hand it to the artists that still write and actually perform their own original material. Versus the one’s who simply head into the studio with a team of writers and producers and who don’t even have the talent to actually sign live but instead just lip sync. Jewel whether you like her music or not is an artist, she writes her own material and even co-produced her last album. At times she is incredibly engaging at other times slightly annoying but, her ...yrics are richly textured and captivate the imagination.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 30th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 9th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 5th, 2004
Master and Commander is an epic tale that is adapted from 2 novels of a 20 novel collection by writer Patrick O’Brian. This Napoleonic-era story follows the escapades of Captain “Lucky” Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and his intrepid crew aboard the British war frigate HMS Surprise, as they try to hunt down and capture or destroy the French warship Acheron. The Film gets off to a fast start as Capt. Aubrey and crew are ambushed by the Acheron and decimated in short order. This initial attack is well done and well acted ... the initial surprise and horror of the crew of the Surprise is visceral, which is then overtaken by the start of a fine performance by Russell Crowe as a battle savvy Captain who quickly sizes up the situation and inspires his crew to survive the initial assault. After the narrow escape we are introduced into a few of the other major members of the crew. Paul Betthany plays the ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin, and the Captain’s close friend and confidant. This is a very fine performance in which the friendship the two share and their differences in opinion about duty are strained. After two narrow escapes, Jack Aubrey makes it his personal mission to track down the faster, more heavily armored, and more heavily armed Archeron even if it takes him to the far side of the world (which in this case is the Galapagos Islands).
The acting in this film is great. While these are men of war and duty, and the emotional tone is one of courage and bravery, there are many scenes where the fear is palpable and scenes of betrayal that are very believable. In particular the exchanges between Betthany and Crowe when Crowe has to pull rank is very moving – he has to do what he believes even if that costs him the most important relationship that he has on his vessel. The two major battles are well done – both the ship to ship cannon-fire and the chaos of the boarding scene at the end. The cinematography is excellent with wide sweeping shots of the ship on the open ocean in varying conditions from calm sunsets to “perfect storm” settings.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 22nd, 2004
Brother Bear is the story of a boy who becomes a man by becoming a bear. Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) is a young man set on revenge against a bear he feels is responsible for his brother’s death. Going up against the beast and winning the battle, the great Spirits who guide Kenai transform him into a bear himself. As Kenai tries to undo the spell placed on him by the spirits, he meets Koda (Jeremy Suarez) a young cub who was separated from his mother. As the story unfolds Kenai becomes more find of Koda and “adopts... him, however, his main desire is to once again become human. Kenai’s journey takes himself and Koda to the salmon spawning grounds where they meet a group of other bears led by a huge black bear voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan. It is here that we learn that Koda’s mother was the bear that Kenai did battle with at the beginning of the film – he learns that Koda’s mother was attempting to protect Koda from ‘the hunters’ i.e Kenai and his brothers. Because of Kenai’s anger at the bear he attacked and as a result is the reason for Koda being without his mother. The climax of the movie comes when Kenai faces off against his remaining brother who believes that Kenai, in his bear form, is responsible for the death of Kenai and their older brother. While Kenai tries to avoid harming his brother he is torn when his brother starts going after Koda. Kenai does his best to protect Koda and at this point the spirits intervene and transform Kenai back to his human form. Kenai is finally reunited with his brothers but his joy is overcome with the responsibility that he feels for Koda and in the end makes the decision to remain as a bear and care for his brother bear.
While this sounds very serious, the comedy provided here is some of the best that Disney has offered in a long time. Now I am a huge SCTV fan so keep that in mind. The comedy relief is provided by Rutt and Tuke, a couple of moose voiced by none other than Bob and Doug themselves, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. How cool is that? And where else are you going to hear a line like, “How do you total a mammoth (referring to the trip that they all took on the backs of a herd of mammoths that Rutt and Tuke ‘crashed’ offscreen)?”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2004
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