Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 28th, 2005
Synopsis
Julianne Moore plays Telly, who, fourteen months after the death of her son in a plane crash,is still in deep mourning, obsessively looking at pictures and videotapes of the boy. Then thepictures disappear, and no one believes that she ever had a son. She tracks down Dominic West,who lost a daughter in the accident, but doesn’t remember her existence. Moore makes himremember, and then the two are suddenly being pursued by the NSA.
SPOILER ALERT. Well, not really, th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Season Three of the much-loved series, and the ad copy can describe what’s here better thanI could. I quote: “Laugh out loud as Lucy and Ethel rip each other’s dresses to shreds during theirtelevised duet of Cole Porter’s ‘Friendship.’ Watch the fireworks when Lucy has to go 24 hourswithout telling a fib. Follow Lucy as her quest to recover a contest-winning dollar bill lands herin a giant starch vat.” And so on. This is the series that pretty much set the standards for sitco...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 25th, 2005
Synopsis
Stephen Dorff (adopting a most convincing accent) plays Iain Softley, bass guitarist in a banddriven by best pal John Lennon (you may have heard of the group). The lads leave Liverpool forHamburg, where they become house band for a strip club, and gradually build a following.Softley is more of a painter than a guitarist, and his commitment to the band is furtherundermined when he falls for photographer Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee).
Dorff is excellent, and Ian Hart ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 25th, 2005
Synopsis
More sordidness comes to light in the town of Peyton Place. Carol Lynley publishes a bookthat features a thinly disguised version of the town, and exposing the hypocrisies doesn’t earnher any friends. Off to the Big Apple, she becomes more friendly than perhaps she should withthe publisher (Jeff Chandler). Mother From Hell Mary Astor tries to destroy her son’s marriageto Luciana Paluzzi, and so it goes.
The star wattage isn’t as strong as the first film (no Lana Tur...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 25th, 2005
Written by Jason Franz
Synopsis
First Daughter is a coming of age drama/comedy about Samantha Mackenzie (Katie Holmes), the Presidents daughter, who is eager to start her college/adult life. Directed by Forest Whitaker and based on a story co-written by Jerry O'Connell, I had no idea what I was in for.
The flim starts with a quick montage of Samantha's childhood growing up with political parents. We're looped into the story as she heads towards her first year in college, and her first...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 24th, 2005
Written by Jason Franz
Synopsis
In Taxi, Jimmy Fallon plays a bumbling big city cop (Washburn) that has an extremely bad driving record, trying to catch a big case. Queen Latifah plays a bicycle messenger (Belle) trying to make it as a New York cabbie in her home-made "super cab". The two meet up when Fallon comes accross a robery while walking the beat. Hilarity does not ensue.
Taxi tries to do it all. Deliver laughs, action and a bit of drama and manages to fail on every attempt. From the unbelievable "...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 24th, 2005
Synopsis
Cornel Wilde, a writer with a disabled younger brother, meets the gorgeous Gene Tierneyon a train, and it’s love at first sight. At least, on his side of the equation. For her, it’s moreobsession at first sight (and this because Wilde looks just like her excessively beloved -- andlately departed -- daddy). After a whirlwind courtship and marriage, they appear to settle down tohappily married life, but Tierney is ferociously jealous of anyone who might be taking Wilde’satten...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 22nd, 2005
To put it succinctly, HBO has done it again. The network simply has no fear. It prides itself on bringing groundbreaking programming to the masses, laughing in the face of such cookie-cutter faire as American Idol and Two And A Half Men. First there was Sex and the City, then the behemoth that is The Soprano’s, and now we have Carnivale.
I love TV shows that feel they don’t have to explain themselves, and this series is certainly that. Think “David Lynch vs. the Jim Rose C...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Ann Sothern are three wives in an upper-middle-classneighbourhood. Just as they head off on an outing with a group of children, they receive a letterfrom the narrator (a silken-voiced Celeste Holm) that she has left town with one of theirhusbands. Which one? Unable to get home until the end of the day, the three women must waitand wonder, and in flashback we see the strains in each of their marriages. Crain is the formerfarmgirl who doesn’t f...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Charlize Theron doesn’t play Aileen Wuornos, she incarnates her. At the end of hertether, highway prostitute Aileen meets 18-year-old Selby (Christina Ricci) when she accidentlywalks into a lesbian bar. They click, and suddenly, Aileen has a reason to live. She tries to turnher life around, but with the implacability of Greek tragedy, her attempts end in failure and shereturns to turning tricks. One date goes turns ghastly, and she kills the brutal john in self-defense...
