Disc Audio

Shadows Run Black

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Someone, variously known as the Black Angel and the Co-Ed Killer is, well, killing co-eds.All of whom knew each other. Who is responsible? And who the hell cares? This is about as badas a slasher film can get. Never mind the amateurish acting, the sub-literate script, and the awfulphotography. There’s no blood!

Audio

The sound is technically 2.0, and I suppose it is, but just barely. There is virtually no soundat all from the rear speakers, music or…
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C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Jerry Bruckheimer becomes yet another A-List film producer to take a shot at the television drama. I have to admit that I never gave this show a prayer of success when I first saw it three years ago. It’s not that I thought it wasn’t good. I loved it. I thought it would be too cerebral for the normal Joe six-pack audience. Boy was I wrong. CSI has become the hottest drama in prime time, and like Law and Order before it has begun to spin off into another incarnation with CSI: Miami. The characters are engaging and it seems we’re all obsessed with some morbid fascination of murder.
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Lone Star State of Mind

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Earl Crest (Joshua Jackson) and his (extremely feisty) girlfriend Baby (Jamie King) aregetting ready to up sticks from Texas for LA. Unfortunately, Earl’s deeply moronic cousin hasstolen a lot of money from the wrong (and dangerous people). All sorts of comical troubleensues.

Audio

A full 5.1 mix, and pretty good stuff. The music has some particularly nice echo effects,sounding as big as the state of the title. The sound effects are good too, with s…
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MTV – The Real World Movie: The Lost Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 25th, 2003

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How do you spoof something that is already a spoof itself? That’s easy. You mix a reality show concept with a contrived Hollywood script. You hire the worst actors you can find and you call it The Real World Movie: The Lost Season. Even if you’re a fan of the MTV reality series, you won’t find anything remotely entertaining here. If you don’t even like the TV show, then my advice is to run. Now we have bad actors pretending to be people who are pretending to be spontaneous.

Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The

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

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Synopsis

Gene Tierney is Mrs. Muir, a young widow at the turn of the 20th Century, who has hadenough of her overbearing in-laws. She moves to the coast, falling in love with a cottage thatturns out to be haunted by Rex Harrison, a crusty sea captain. The two strong wills clash initially,but soon develop a real affection for each other. Directed by All About Eve’s JosephMankiewicz, this low-key romance is affecting and witty, and the black-and-whitecinematography is gorgeous. The per…
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Darkwolf

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

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Synopsis

A huge biker dude wreaks havoc in a strip club. Captured by the police, he tears his way outof the police truck and is on the loose again. Naturally, this is because he is a werewolf (or, moreaccurately, a “hybrid werewolf,” but you would be forgiven for failing to notice what the hell thedifference is), and he is seeking the next werewolf matriarch, killing all and sundry she hastouched (they have her scent on them, you see), along with anyone else in his way. The nextmatr…
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Four Feathers, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 22nd, 2003

Synopsis

Harry Feversham (Heath Ledger) appears quite comfortable with his life as a soldier, andhe is about to be engaged to Kate Hudson, so life is good. But then his garrison is assigned toquell an uprising in the Sudan, and Harry is frightened. He resigns his commission. His friends,feeling betrayed, send him the white feathers of cowardice. Shamed, Harry follows themincognito to the Sudan, and his presence turns out to be crucial to their fates. In many ways athrowback to such …
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Dream for an Insomniac

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

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Synopsis

Ione Skye is Frankie (named after Frank Sinatra, the patron saint of her family). She is achronic insomniac, and is unable to find a man who meets her high standards (why any rationalmale wouldn’t run screaming from this scary neurotic, however, is as mysterious as the fact thatthat geek always winds up with the babe in male-centred romances). Into her life walksMackenzie Astin, who has the necessary blue Sinatra eyes (which is also the cue for the film toshift from black-a…
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The Ring

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2003

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To be fair, The Ring is not the most original horror film to come along recently. It is not only based on the cult classic Japanese film Ringu, but at times mimics the script word for word. There are also enough similarities to the recent Fear Dot Com to make one take pause. It is one of the scariest and most atmospheric films to appear in quite a few years. Since the 1980’s the state of the American horror film has been in a steady decline. Yes, special effects have advanced light years since the days of Karloff and Lugosi, but the end result has more often been to gross out rather than engross.
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Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2003

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Synopsis

There is no plot, as such, here. Each of the dreams has some sort of narrative, but moreimportant are the visuals and the themes (humanity and nature, nuclear power, and so forth).Dreams is not on the same level as Kurosawa’s great masterpieces (Ran, The Seven Samurai,Throne of Blood, and so on), and is not always compelling. But it is very frequently jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Audio

The music, a curious blend of eastern and western influences, sound…
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I’m With Lucy

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Lucy (Monica Potter) is dumped by the man she though would love her forever. In fact, sheis so off-putting in her confidence, that it’s hard to feel sorry for her when the dumping occurs inthe most humiliating way possible. The rest of the film follows her through a series of five dates.We cut back and forth between the dates, and which man she marries is held off for the end. Ifyou still care by then.

Audio

The 5.0 audio mix is a completely profess…
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Kingston High, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Sketch (Jeramie Gladman) is artistic and sensitive. He doesn’t want to have anything to dowith his buddies’ obsessive quest to lose their virginity on prom night. Nevertheless, he getsroped into a bet to do just that. Misadventures ensue. A very independent film, whose low-budgetquirks and likeable central character keep threatening to make it transcend the morass of itsgenre.

Audio

Box claims to the contrary, the audio tracks come in both 5.1 and 2…
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Sol Goode

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Balthazar Getty is Sol Goode, charming campus rogue unable, as his best friend Chloë(Katharine Towne) says, to commit to a relationship for longer than 20 minutes. The hijinks can’tlast forever, though, and as Sol matures, he realizes he’s fallen in love. No points for guessingwho with. The direct-to-camera asides make this the college version of Malcolm in theMiddle.

Audio

The 2.0 mix is solid, if unspectacular. It is certainly crisp and clear, and…
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Redeemer

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Matthew Modine, somewhat down on his luck as a writer, takes a job as a creative writinginstructor in a prison. He suspects a particularly bright student has been kept in prison unjustly.This man also wants to make amends with the sister of the man for whose murder he has beenheld responsible. Wouldn’t you know it, redemption is a two-way street as Modine finds newpurpose in life too. Ordinary, but competent TV drama.

Audio

The music is good, there …
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Killing Me Softly

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 10th, 2003

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Killing Me Softly is a decent sexual thriller. This disc is the unrated version of the film, containing a little more skin, and a more “erotic” cover. The story is a little far fetched, but does contain a few twists that will help to keep the viewer entertained.

”From the very moment that Alice (Heather Graham) locks eyes with Adam (Joseph Fiennes), a mysterious stranger, she is catapulted into a whirlwind of intense erotic desire and adventure, risking everything just to be with him. But, when se…
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West Side Story

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2003

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Synopsis

Instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, it’s the Jets and the Sharks, two street gangs onthe mean streets of Manhattan’s west side (these gangs wouldn’t recognize their old stompinggrounds today). Full of energy and wit, bursting with spectacular choreography, the film is atriumph of the musical form.

Audio

A brand new 5.1 mix, and it sounds wonderful. There aren’t enough surround sound effectsto create an environment, the music is reproduced in …
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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2003

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture is considered a failure not because it was a bad film, but because it just didn’t feel at all like Star Trek. Star Trek IV is perhaps the most Star Trek of all the films. A mixture of saving planet Earth with a social message, humor, and a strong character chemistry has always been Roddenberry’s dream at its very best. There’s no question that of all the Trek films this is the most enjoyable even if you’re not really a fan.

From Russia to Hollywood

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003

Synopsis

I can’t say I’d ever heard of Michael Chekhov and George Shdanoff, but I have now. GregoryPeck narrates the lives of these two men, which play out with the 20th Century as a backdrop.There are many clips here of actors whom they taught (such as James Dean).

Audio

The sound is mono, but you don’t really need anything else for this sort of documentary,depending as it does largely on the spoken word. The sound is certainly clear enough.

Vide…
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Korean Connection, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003

Synopsis

Tiger was once a fearsome fighter, but now he is a drunk. We learn, in flashback (and inflashbacks within flashbacks), that he fell from grace after being unintentionally involved in thekilling of his fiancee’s brother. Now his own treacherous brother has kidnapped the fiancee, andthat is all Tiger needs to come roaring back. This is truly awful stuff, with boringly filmed fightscenes, choppy editing, and nonsensical plot.

Audio

Bad as the film is, …
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Unfaithful Wife, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003

Synopsis

Michel Bouquet and Stephane Audran are a well-off couple with a young son. They live in anice house in the countryside near Versailles. Everything looks swell. But Audran has beendistant lately. Bouquest suspects she is having an affair. He hires a PI to discover the truth, andthis truth leads to murder. The film is deliberately paced, with a musical score that convincesyou that something awful is going to happen, even when all is, on the surface, benign. Thismakes the viol…
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MTV – Real World You Never Saw: Las Vegas

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003

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I’ve got a confession. I just don’t get it. The Real World lays claim to being one of the first “reality” shows, dating back almost ten years. If you get off on watching a group of 7 twenty-somethings pretending to be spontaneous while basically either making out or grossing out, then this DVD is for you. This particular version is a season that was deemed too “hot” for broadcast TV so never appeared on MTV.

Claudine

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 8th, 2003

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When this movie first came out in 1974 I think it probably caused a stir and was maybe even labeled “controversial”. We have the story of Claudine (played by Diahann Carroll) a struggling Harlem mother with 6 children to support; she collects welfare and works under the table on the side as a maid for a wealthy family. She meets a charming garbage man named Roop (James Earl Jones, much younger and thinner then I have ever seen him) who is struggling with his own life trials which makes him slow to respond to her invi…
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Sugar Hill

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003

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Let me admit from the start I have an almost pathological fear of needles. This means I watched several minutes of this film with my eyes closed. If you share the phobia this is not a DVD for you. Sugar Hill has a lot of unfulfilled potential. The acting is mostly first rate and the story is often compelling. The producers mucked it up with too many Godfather clichés from the “I’m your older brother and I was stepped over” to Snipes coming of age at a baptism. Even AbeVigoda shows us what Tessio would have turned into if he hadn’t taken that “ride”.

Savage Boys

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003

Synopsis

Imprisoned for the revenge killing of the man who murdered his parents, Calvin Jung isreleased after 25 years. He returns home to discover that his younger brother (Eddie Mui) is nowworking for a Chinese crime lord. This is a film that doesn’t reach the lofty heights it aims for,but does work an interesting social angle to the usual crime film.

Audio

The sound (2.0, as far as I can tell) is pretty good. The music comes through very nicely. Thesound …
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Master of the Flying Guillotine

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003

Synopsis

China is under the rule of the Ching dynasty, who send out assassins to kill anyone whochallenges the regime. Greatest of these assassins is the blind master of the flying guillotine. Hesets out to kill the One-Armed Boxer (don’t ask me why all these guys have disabilities). Thecharacters come together at a huge martial arts tournament (this is where Mortal Kombat comesfrom, kiddies). The plot is no more developed than that of a typical porno. The film’s reason forbeing is …
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