Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 6th, 2004
With the popularity of the bio-pic Ray, Rhino comes out with O Genio: Ray Charles Live in Brazil 1963. Ray Charles is truly an O Genio, and this disc confirms that. Jazz, gospel, blues, rock n’ roll, this guy did it all. We have two performances recorded live in Sao Paulo. Each performance runs about an hour long. Ray is accompanied by a full brass orchestra and a lovely collection of female back-up singers. The first show gets off to kick-butt start with Charles’s famous hit “What’d I Say”. The ...est of the disc won’t let anyone down.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 6th, 2004
Synopsis
The storytelling is oblique in the extreme, but as near as I can discern it, the film tells the story of a young woman (Gong Li) who, after reading a collection of poems by Chen Ching (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) called Zhou Yu’s Train, attempts to imaginatively recover the experience of Zhou Yu (Gong Li again). Zhou Yu is an artisan who travels vast distances by train twice a week to keep up an increasingly troubled romance with Chen Ching. The other major figure is a veterinarian (Sun Hongle...), who also travels on that train, and wants to become more than a friend to Zhou Yu.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 6th, 2004
Despite season two's unquestionable quality, Smallville's third season is probably its best -- and with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel now completely off of television, it's pretty much the only thing around that can fill the whole supernatural Scooby gang void.
Of course, one of the big reasons that Smallville helps fill that spot so well is because it has a lot of the same ingredients that powered Whedon's universe along in its prime: that is, it has a ton of supernatural special effects, and a heal...hy but intimate cast of likeable heroes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 5th, 2004
Synopsis
The McGuffin here is the titular Blood Orchid, a plant that blooms only once every sevenyears, and which seems to hold the secret to eternal youth. A team is dispatched by amultinational drug company, but the expedition arrives in Borneo (where, as numerous reviewshave already pointed out, anacondas do not exist) at the height of the rainy season, andeverything goes wrong very quickly. Soon our heroes are slogging through the jungle, beset bypoisonous spiders, treachery from within... and giant, hungry, CG snakes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 5th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 4th, 2004
Synopsis
Chris L. McKenna plays Sean, who seems, at first, to be a typical slacker, working nothingjobs. He is hired by Daniel Baldwin (doing a very fine dissolute turn) first to watch atroublesome city hall accountant (whose wife -- Kari Wuhrer -- McKenna falls for), then to killhim. McKenna agrees with surprisingly little reluctance. He has a falling out with Baldwin andhis associates (including a brutal George Wendt), and they beat him to within an inch of the life,the idea being to indu...e such brain damage that he won’t remember them. The planbackfires.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 4th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 3rd, 2004
Synopsis
This is the life story of Howard Hughes, as told by the man himself. Literally. Sort of. Michael Ferreri is the voice of Hughes, and he narrates his life from birth to death. This narration is intercut with interviews with Hughes’ surviving friends and widow. The visuals are a lively mix of footage and animated stills. Though the case boasts a running time of almost three hours, this is when all the extras are factored in. The actual feature is only 56 minutes long. Though the effort is alwa...s interesting, the decision to go with the fiction of Hughes telling his story is a very odd one, and one that I, personally, found very off-putting.
