Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2005
Exit light…enter night. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is a documentary about the inner workings of the band. But it’s not a “behind the music” type piece or a concert movie. The filmmakers attempt to gnaw away at the troubling trials of fame, addiction, and friendship. It’s fascinating stuff. Now, I’m not a big fan of Metallica, but I’ve been in creative collective situations. The personal relationships are constantly shifting. You bicker one minute, you love one another the next. In Metallica’s cas...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2005
What a find! Film footage from a landmark 1970 concert sat in a producer’s garage for almost 3 decades. So finally, after all the music rights and remastering were taken care of, we have a landmark rockumentary. Thank the maker. Festival Express is a rock concert movie about a 3 city train tour, with stops in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary (not to mention a stop in Saskatoon for booze). The performers included The Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, and Janis Joplin (among many, many others).
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 18th, 2005
Synopsis
That Man Bolt is a long way from Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. It’scloser to the Shaft films, but its closest relation is the Bond series, as our man Bolt (FredWilliamson) jets from Hong Kong to Las Vegas and back again, karate-chopping his waythrough the bad guys, working to bring down the crime lord who set him up as a fall guy. Bolteven winds up with a British government liaison. The action scenes are very flat, but theproduction values are high for th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2005
The rise in popularity of TV on DVD has brought about an interesting side effect. Namely, shows that would have previously faded into oblivion after a few airings are now finding a new audience. Often, such as in the cases of Firefly and Boomtown, audiences (and networks) are discovering that they may have pulled the plug too soon on some shows. While Crusade doesn’t exactly fit into this category, it does prove itself to be a show with promise, that may have developed into something special if i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 17th, 2005
Synopsis
Centuries ago, a gargoyle is shot down by a priest and sealed in the ground. In present-dayRomania, an earthquake breaks the seal and unleashes a host of monsters on Bucharest. CIAoperative Michael Paré is investigating what at first appears to be a series of kidnappings, buteventually finds himself up against the mythical beasts.
The dialogue consists of cobbled-together clichés (and bargain-basement ones at that), andthe plot makes no sense. The Romanian setting i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 16th, 2005
Synopsis
Paul Bettany once had an almost-promising career in tennis, but he’s on his way out now,and his last hurrah is a wild-card placement he’s landed at Wimbledon. A chance encounter withrising super-alpha player Kirsten Dunst revives his passion for both life and the game, and hesuddenly starts beating all comers. Her game, however, begins to suffer as she becomesdistracted by her new relationship.
As a romantic comedy, this leaves much to be desired. Top-billed Dunst i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2005
M. Night Shyamalan has a knack for channeling the spirit of Rod Serling each time he sits down to write and ultimately direct and produce a new film. When Serling’s spirit is unavailable, then it seems that Hitchcock will do. The Village, like each of his previous films, is carried off in rather subtle tones both in visual textures and storytelling.
The Village again begins with little or no action but somehow compels us to begin to ask questions about the deceptively simple story unfolding b...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2005
The second volume of Lost In Space Season 2 is pretty much like the first. I’m still not sure I like the idea of splitting seasons. The reason given was that stores were refusing to carry a higher priced season set. This set does contain one of my favorite of the entire show. “Trip Through The Robot” is an obvious “Fantastic Voyage” rip-off but is a terribly entertaining romp. The stories continued their slide into even sillier tales and lower budget monsters. Gene Roddenberry often told the tale of how CBS pi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 14th, 2005
First off, let me say that if you have only seen Showgirls on VH-1, then you haven’t had the full experience. It’s bad on network television, but the sheer scope of how truly awful it is can only be experienced in the full, uncut version. Laughing at an idiot is one thing. Laughing at a naked idiot is something else entirely. It’s amazing how un-sexy this film really is. Showgirls is funny in the same way that it was funny to make fun of the fat kid riding in the front of the bus in Junior High. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2005
Ahh, Scooby-Doo. The cartoon of my youth is back with all new episodes. Luckily, the new episodes haven’t meddled too much with the classic formula, as so often happens with remakes of movie and TV shows. There are four episodes included in this collection, each dealing with a different spooky mystery. Trampy Fred and Daphne, sexually confused Velma, baked Shaggy and their English-speaking dog are all here, and their trippy hippy van as well. You know them, you love them. Scooby is back!
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