Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2010
As a kid who grew up in the 1960's I remember Cher mostly for her musical career and the music and variety show she shared with then-husband Sonny Bono. When they split, it was a big deal in the time. We didn't quite follow celebrities’, lives near as obsessively as is done today, but these guys were a power couple that had gained fame pretty much as a package deal. When they split Sonny wasn't very successful at maintaing the same level as Cher was able to do. It turned out that we took sides in the split. We kept buying Cher's records, and we sent Sonny to Congress. Not sure which was the better idea there.
Cher eventually turned her singing career into a pretty good acting career. Her years in television had given her a lot of experience in front of the camera, so it wasn't as much of a stretch as you might think. The movies she's appeared in have been a bit of a mixed bag of stuff. The same can be said for this collection. There are gems like Moonstruck and Tea With Mussolini, and there are odd tidbits like Chastity and Mermaids.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2010
"Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, we have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first Bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster."
I remember as a kid we used to imitate the Bionic Man when we would be playing in the playground. We would run in slow motion and make that distinctive "chchacha" sound and pretend we were bending steel bars or lifting tons of weight. In the 1970's bionic play was everywhere. For a time it was the most popular thing on television.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 30th, 2010
Tyler Perry burst on the scene in 2005 with Diary of a Mad Black Woman. It was one of the worst-reviewed movies of the year, but when it raked in over $50 million dollars at the box office, Tyler Perry silenced critics and became a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. Before his movie-making career, Perry was already a huge success in the African-American community, having written several Christian and family-oriented plays upon which many of his movies are based.
After Diary, Perry went on to star in and direct the sequel, Madea’s Family Reunion, which did even better at the box office. And since then, he’s created his own studio, released three more movies, is set to release a few more, and currently produces a sitcom, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, on TBS.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 30th, 2010
Tyler Perry once again dons multiple costumes to incarnate several characters, most prominently Madea, the no-nonsense but mischievous matriarch of a very fractious family. She is ordered by the court to take in a runaway as a foster child, and that project of reclamation joins that of helping out her nieces. They have a mother from hell. One sister is struggling to learn how to love again, while the other is being forced into marriage with the hideously abusive Blair Underwood.
I hope that outline makes the plot sound as bizarrely split as it really is. This feels like two completely different movies yoked together with violence. On the one hand, you have Perry mugging it up as Madea and her husband, dispensing pithy aphorisms and grits in what passes for comedy. On the other, you have the saga of the nieces, which involves horrific abuse both mental and physical, and builds to emotional climaxes so over the top we’re in Southern Gothic territory. And then the slapstick re-enters the picture for a dangerously simplistic solution to at least one real problem. This is a picture as smug in its own morality as it is confused in its tone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 30th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
One hundred writers gathered together at the PEN World Voices Festival in New York to discuss faith and reason. PEN is a literary and humanitarian organization that is composed of poets, essayists, and novelists. Its chief concern at the festival was the threat to freedom of speech and conscience from religious extremism. Writers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives came together in an open forum to discuss their experiences with faith and reason. Bill Moyers: on Faith & Religion is a collection of interviews with twelve renowned authors who were among the speakers at the PEN World Voices Festival. Bill Moyers interviewed them on their background, literary works, how they related to faith and religion, and what they hoped to see for the future.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 29th, 2010
My wife is known as a very big Madea fan. She’s watched most of the Madea films and often quotes lines at random. So, naturally when I saw I was receiving a Tyler Perry film, I thought I might be able to slide the movie into my wife’s direction. However, Tyler is trying to expand his repertoire into something more than a one-trick pony and I kinda got left holding the bag (or the disc in this case). This should be quite the adventure staring Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard, let us begin.
Today is a very special day. Andrea (played by Sanaa Lathan) is going to marry Chris (played by Rockmond Dunbar). Charlotte Cartwright (played by Kathy Bates) is doing a favor for her friend, Alice Reynolds (played by Alfre Woodard) by picking up the tab and throwing a lavish wedding. At the wedding, Andrea and Chris meet Charlotte’s son, William (played by Cole Hauser) and his wife, Jillian (played by KaDee Strickland).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 27th, 2010
As one could expect, I read a lot of books when I was a kid. I stuck with the classics from Ronald Dahl, Tolkien, and even Charles Dickens . But among all of the male authors in this boy's life, I also read a few female ones too. One stands out in particular, Beverly Cleary. From Henry Huggins to Runaway Ralph and the beloved Dear Mr. Henshaw , I clearly enjoyed her work. But I must confess, I even read the beloved Ramona books, so naturally I was delighted to see Ramona and Beezus on my doorstep.
Ramona Quimby (played by Joey King) is 8 and three quarters and attends the third grade. She would be a normal student if it weren't for one thing: her overactive imagination. It gets her into trouble more often than not and leaves her at the mercy of her third grade class. Apparently, it also leads to less than desirable grades and a report card that she has to hide when she gets home.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2010
When I first put this dvd into my player, I had no idea of how much information and research the Library of Congress was responsible for. I, like most people, assumed that it’s a big building where members of Congress go to conduct research. This may be so, but there is so much more to the Library that it practically boggles the mind, which is the ultimate goal of The Real National Treasure.
The Real National Treasure is actually an episode of History Channel’s series, Modern Marvels. It focuses on every aspect of the Library of Congress, from its layout to the services it provides. There are some fascinating items showcased in the episode, including original texts handwritten by the founding fathers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 25th, 2010
A surgeon named Michael Foster, played by Peter Gallagher, has his world turned upside down when his wife disappears one morning without a trace. Initially he suspected she was having an affair and ran away with another man, but as strange evidence gathers he soon realizes that she has been a part of a strange coven of witches and her disappearance might not have been her choice.
Originally airing on the Lifetime network, this film retains being separated into two parts on this DVD. Each part clocking in around the 90-minute mark, the first part can be a touch tedious as so little time was spent establishing the relationship between Foster and his missing wife that we have no reason to emotionally connect with the situation, aside from our hero's despair as he searches. As all the supporting characters, along with our desperate protagonist, come to accept the supernatural truth driving the plot, by the second part, the story finds a better pace and can hold your attention with more action and moments of tension.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 24th, 2010
The Winners are anything but, being an undistinguished rock band playing to tiny, apathetic audiences in nowhere bars. Their time has not only passed, it never arrived. But just as they seem headed for the scrapheap, their bass player (Jessica Paré) is bitten by a vampire. Though her newly acquired taste for blood is a bit of an inconvenience, leading to some extremely messy murders to clean up, she now mesmerizes audiences, and the band catches fire. Leader Rob Stefaniuk is so desperate to catch a break that he is willing to turn a blind eye to just about anything. But complications loom, not least of which is Malcolm McDowell in full Van Helsing mode, heavily armed and sporting an eye patch.
“Suck has the potential to become a cult classic,” reads the blurb from Rolling Stone, and that might well turn out to be the case. But Suck also rather desperately wants to be a cult classic, and that desire can stand in the way of its becoming the genuine article. It pulls all the right moves – black humour, full musical numbers, rock star cameos, outrageous gore, Malcolm McDowell – but those moves feel just a bit too self-conscious. The songs are rather bland, and the humour is hit and miss – though to its credit, when the film is funny, it is very funny (Iggy Pop's deadpan turn is one highlight). The flashback scenes of McDowell's traumatic first vampire encounter are very well done, cleverly incorporating repurposed footage of a young McDowell. In the end, while not everything works here, what does work, works well enough to make this worth a rental.
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