Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2006
It’s true that MASH was winding down by year 10. Everyone involved already knew that the next year would be the last. This is what separates the true professionals from those in it for the money. Instead of dragging out the concept until there was virtually nothing of quality remaining, the entire cast and crew decided it was time to finish on top. A lot of folks would have simply gone through the motions once the end was in sight. Instead, these guys kept pouring it on. The stories and acting in this season are just as good as in any other.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 29th, 2006
Synopsis
The attack on Pearl Harbor and the days leading up to that fateful event are the subject of the 1970 effort. The narrative jumps back and forth between the Japanese and American perspectives as just enough things go both wrong and right and both sides (the ascendancy of the militant army faction over the reluctant navy in Japan, crucial intelligence always arriving just a bit too late to the right people in States) to make the surprise attack inevitable.
For anyone who has had to e...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 29th, 2006
Tommy Lee Goes to College is a show that was really sort-of set-up to fail from the beginning. NBC used to be the #1 channel on television, but they slipped badly in the ratings once the big reality television boom hit. In a bid to catch up, they took a chance on this show, which would have been much more at home on MTV or even FOX. The end result was something that was surprisingly similar in tone and charm as another rock-and-roll reality show; The Osbourne's. The thing is, the NBC audience is just no...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 28th, 2006
The 2005 Version of Assault on Precinct 13 is an obvious remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 classic. Precinct, for Carpenter, was one of his first films made before his ultra famous Halloween. But if anyone has seen the 1976 version, you can easily know what will come from the 2005 version. Instead of making a possible change to the 2005 version, Director Jean-Francois Richet decided to use the similar theme of a police station being abandoned that Carpenter did. Instead though, Richet focuses on the corru...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 28th, 2006
As is the case with many of Criterion's releases, Viridiana is a film that was quite controversial upon its original release, and to some extent, still is today. The film's namesake is a young woman who is just a week away from taking part in the investiture ceremony, her convent receives a letter from her Uncle, who sends his regrets that he will be unable to attend the event. The convent's Mother Superior sends Viridiana to see this Uncle, and that's where the trouble begins.
The Uncle is a single ol...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2006
The Adult Swim series of shows from Cartoon Network are sometimes amazingly hilarious, sometimes overly bizarre, but always creative. While some of the shows, such as Robot Chicken are roll-on-the-floor funny, others are just too strange for me. Lucky for me, The Venture Bros. falls into the first category. While not a constant source of laughter, this show is always clever and contains a few big laughs in each episode.
The Venture brothers are the sons of a moderately-successful scientis...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2006
It seems like I keep saying this, but here we go again... Jennifer Anniston is way too good of an actress to be stuck in this film. Now, that's certainly not to imply that Shirley Maclaine isn't fantastic as well, but that's a given. Anniston is clearly the star of this film, and it's easy to see what attracted her to it. Not only is it a romantic comedy directed by Rob Reiner, but the premise is a really clever one. While in town for her sister's wedding, Sarah (Anniston) discovers that her family was the inspirati...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2006
Synopsis
Syd (Chris Evans) is still mourning his break-up with London (Jessica Biel), drowning his sorrow in booze and cocaine. When he hears that she is leaving New York, and there’s a going-away party for her, he decides to crash the scene, dragging along Bateman (Jason Stratham), a businessman from whom he has just scored more coke. Arriving at the party before the guest of honour (and just about everybody else), the two men retreat to the spacious bathroom where they will spend much of the film, ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2006
I've never met anybody who doesn't like Penn and Teller. I'm not saying that those people don't exist, I'm just saying that I have never met them. Penn is loquacious and amusing, Teller is the ultimate straight man, and their magic almost always catches the viewer off guard. Many times, the understood premise of the trick itself actually turns into something different by the time the performance is over.
Unfortunately, this disc has some problems that makes it one of their worst performances. The concept is a...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2006
David Kelley’s hit series The Practice ran for 8 seasons. While it may have started slowly, the show was a huge hit for most of its run. This success led to other hits like Boston Public and Ally McBeal. Unfortunately, the end of this series was a rather tragic tale itself. The last year limped along with about half of the cast having been fired. There were public wars of words waged. As Warren Zevon used to say: “Ain’t that pretty at all”. That final season would have been a total failure if not for the introduction of James Spader’s Alan Shore.
![Assault on Precinct 13 [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/assault-on-precinct-13-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
