Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Many years ago, a mystical peach holding the secret of eternal life was stolen. Now, aftertraining since childhood at the Shur-Li Temple (get it?) under the tutelage of Master Card and thelike, a hero arises to recover the peach: Art Chew. He arrives in Vancouver (played by SanFrancisco, in one of the film’s cleverer conceits), and is joined on his quest by such friends asRoy Lee, who has seen a great many kung-fu movies, but is completely incompetenthimself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2004
I must admit that this show wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it. That’s not to say it isn’t great 70’s escapist science fiction, or that I am at all disappointed in seeing it again. Buck Rogers was almost a companion piece to Battlestar Galactica. They had a great deal in common. Both pilots were released in theatres with the trendy Sensurround. The concept was mostly overloaded subs to create a shake in the room during the space battles. The f/x were done by some of the same folks. Even the control sticks to the...Rogers fighters were identical to the Viper controls in Galactica. The comparison ends, however, when we get down to the scripts. Rogers was far lighter in tone. What do you expect when one of the characters is a short little robot named Tweekie who speaks with Mel Blanc’s cartoonish voice? I do remember having my first adolescent crush on Erin Gray’s Wilma. I remember mostly thinking that Gil Gerard looked a lot like Lee Majors. A highlight of the show is the appearance of the original Buck Rogers, Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon (another original Crabbe character).
The short second year was a completely reworked show with Buck and Wilma serving aboard the “Seeker,” which was searching for the lost tribes of Earth. No doubt there was once an intended tie-in with Galactica, which featured Earth’s lost tribes searching for Earth. Thom Christopher’s birdman Hawk was a nice touch, but the reworked show was not accepted by the fans. Ratings fell, and Buck Rogers was gone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 22nd, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 21st, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 20th, 2004
Everybody’s favorite guy in a construction hat is back. No, not Sully from Sesame Street It’s Bob the Builder! He stars in Snowed Under: The Bobblesberg Winter Games. To join in on the fun, Bob has his favorite buddies along too, Lofty, Scoop, Muck, Roley, Travis, Spud, Wendy, Dizzy. And there’s even a new character to the crew, Benny. What trouble does Bob have to fix this time? Well…let me tell ya kids. It’s the Bobblesberg Winter games and the course is snowed under. And it’s up to Bob and h...s crew to fix and re-build everything before the opening ceremonies. Can he fix it?? Well…what do you think.
This is a full length Bob episode (just over 50 minutes). It’s about 5 times longer than a normal episode, so the kids might get restless. And there’s a feature where you loop the movie. So the kids can watch the same episode over and over again while Mommy can do the mommy stuff upstairs. Is it worth repeated viewings? The episode length is stretching it a bit. But there is an air of familiarity for the hard-core Bob viewers. The main characters are exactly like expected (even though Scoop seems a little more bossy than usual). But the alpine scenery, action and yodeling are enough to keep the kids attention.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 19th, 2004
Just in time for Christmas, and starring the Governator himself, we have Jingle All the Way with Arnold Swartzenegger. The story follows Arnold’s relentless pursuit to get a Turbo Man action figure for his son. This obsessive quest brings a lot of complications for our hero, from kidnapping, to stealing another kid’s toy, to a manic riot for numbered balls. Arnold even assumes the persona of Turbo Man at a parade and rockets around the city on a real turbo pack (Turbo rocket packs are real?). This all sound... like crazy fun and, for the most part, it is.
The cast is rounded out by Sinbad, as Arnie’s mailman nemesis in this quest, and Phil Hartman, as a sensitive dude putting the moves on Arnie’s wife (played by Rita Wilson). Swartzenegger gives his usual mugging comic performance. The movie climaxes with a lot of action, so it’s entertaining from that respect. But the message about the materialism of the holidays gets a little lost. Who needs a toy when you have your dad, right? But only if he dresses up as Turbo Man.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 19th, 2004
Taxi was a very funny sitcom that is most notable for the number of future stars it produced. Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Tony Danza, and Judd Hirsch all went on to bigger and better things when the Taxi ride ended. Andy Kaufman’s life and early death provided one of the more bizarre stories in Hollywood history. The truth is that season 1 was not quite that funny. Sure, Lloyd makes an appearance here, but the lovable Rev. Jim would not get behind the wheel of a taxi until the second season. We can only be glad ...hat Taxi came at a time in history when shows were given time to develop. Today Taxi would not have gone 6 weeks.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 19th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 19th, 2004
There have been umpteen movie adaptations of the Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol”. Some of my favorites include the Alastair Sim version, the Henry Winkler version (yes, the guy who played Fonzie), the Bill Murray version, the Muppet version, and the Mister Magoo version. This 1997 version of A Christmas Carol is an animated feature featuring the voices of Tim Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, Ed Asner, and Michael York. It’s a story that we all know well.
But what makes this different from the other ve...sions? What sets this horse apart from the rest of the pack? Well, this version of A Christmas Carol has musical numbers, a child character as the ghost of Christmas past, and a sassy black woman Whoopi Goldberg type (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) as the ghost of Christmas present. Oh…and they give Scrooge a dog. Finally! It’s about time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 18th, 2004
Born Rich is a documentary about, well, rich kids. The subject makes it hard to sympathize with the piece (“oh those poor millionaires”). But the director and main character, Jamie Johnson (an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune), gives us interviews with other heirs from rich families - Ivanka Trump (Real Estate Heiress), Josiah Hornblower (Vanderbilt/Whitney Heir), Cody Franchetti (Textile Heir), S.I Newhouse IV (Publishing Heir), Luke Weil (Gambling Heir), and others. Johnson makes his subjects talk abo...t that taboo topic: money.
There are some revealing interviews, and we get taken inside a secret world, which is the whole point of documentary filmmaking. And the subject matter, obviously, satisfies people’s curiosity (remember Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous). But the problem with the film (an “official” selection at the Sundance Film Festival) is that we’re only scratching the surface here. It’s an interview based documentary, and the interviews aren’t nearly exciting to support an entire film. What about the clubs? The parties? The chi-chi stuff? We just get glimpses. The movie is only 67 minutes long and NOT the 81 minutes advertised on the DVD cover. Surely a rich kid could afford a little bit more budget?
