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Action

Stealth

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 8th, 2005

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Sometime during the 1990’s, big-budget blockbusters stopped getting by on special effects alone. Even though Independence Day, Godzilla, and Armageddon showed us that ground-breaking special effects don’t translate into quality films, Hollywood kept making them — and people kept spending their hard-earned money to see them.

Stealth is the newest movie in that mold. Heavy on great visuals and special effects, it fails to deliver any character development, emotion or common sense, result…
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Batman Begins

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 7th, 2005

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Written by Clayton Self

Batman Begins is a brand new and WAY cooler take on the Dark Knight franchise than anything we’ve seen before. Most importantly, this is NOT a prequel to any of the previous four Batman films. This is a fresh start for the franchise, and it gets done the way it should have been done in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, Burton made two very dark and original films, but let’s face it; Batman Returns sent children bawling out of the theatre, and left parents with a sour taste in their mouth. That mo…
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Marksman, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005

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Synopsis

Wesley Snipes (Major League) and straight to video really provide for several comedic moments. I don’t really know that much about Snipes, aside from some anonymous reports about just how nice he was on the set of the third Blade movie, along with the “cataract problem” he has. Nevertheless, his role in this film of the strong, silent type who is some Army special forces member provides him the chance to say a small amount of dialogue for what is presumably a lot of cash.

Th…
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2005

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John and Jane Smith are a seemingly happy couple. They live a pretty normal but almost mundane existence of shared meals, kissed farewells and chats about the color of their curtains. They even go to therapy together, purportedly to iron out their differences. It turns out, however, that they have a lot more in common than they both realize. You see, they both have secret lives—they are both assassins. We’re not talking some street-punks you might hire in a bar, or leather coat wearing mafia hit-men, they are the bes…
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Catch Me If You Can

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2005

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Synopsis

One of the first scenes in Out of Sight was the main character robbing a bank using only his words. That same kind of knack for thinking quickly under pressure is employed in Catch Me If You Can, which tells the story of Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), who, after witnessing the end of the marriage of his parents (Christopher Walken and Nathalie Baye), decides to flee, and begins to bounce checks. Not only does he bounce over $2 million in checks, but he also impersonates a tea…
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To Live and Die in L.A.

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 20th, 2005

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If your first introduction to William L. Petersen is through CSI, then you’re missing some real treats with his short-lived film career, which burned brightest about fifteen years before he ever became Gil Grissom and investigated his way onto our small screens and, subsequently, into our hearts. Both of his cinematic outings never got the respect due them until after Petersen reminded us he was still alive, still well, and still acting. His best effort was Manhunter, Michael Mann’s adaptation of the Th…
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Kingdom of Heaven

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2005

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Written by Clayton Self

Kingdom of Heaven is a handsome epic by Gladiator director Ridley Scott. It is an underrated film due to a less than successful theatrical release, but at closer examination, this film is a deeply important tale of courage, faith and self-sacrifice. It focuses on a relatively lesser-known period of the crusades, when peace was trying to be made between Christian and Muslim.

Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a blacksmith in a French village, who has just lost his wife and child. Balian was …
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Mask of Zorro, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 9th, 2005

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The Mask of Zorro was the Pirates of the Caribbean of its day. A classic swashbuckling story packed with action and romance, yet still presented in a family-friendly style that hearkened back to the days of the old Saturday afternoon matinée. Indiana Jones was conceived in this style, as was Disney’s National Treasure, in a way. There is a ton of room in the marketplace for PG and PG-13 rated films like this, as it provides something that the whole family can not only attend at the theater, but t…
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Universal Soldier (UMD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2005

Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. When is the last time you heard those two names? I’ll bet it has been quite some time. Lundgren is the poor man’s Schwarzenegger, and Van Damme is best known as the Canadian action superstar that is long on physical talent, but horrid at dialog. These two team up in Universal Soldier, a film that is filled with as much action as possible, with as little actual story as possible. This is the action film equivalent of pornography… give the viewers what they want, and a…
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Rambo: First Blood (UMD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 23rd, 2005

The 80’s was the time of the birth of the mindless action movie. The popularity of this type of film has waned somewhat in recent years, but at the time such movies were all the rage. Perhaps the mother of all mindless action flicks came from 80’s film darling Sylvester Stallone, with the ashamedly-fun Rambo series. The first film in this series, First Blood, has recently been released on UMD for Sony’s PSP entertainment system.

This is a fitting decision, as the PSP has begun something of a renaissanc…
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Mark of Zorro, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2005

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This release is identical in every respect but one (the colourization) to the previous Studio Classics edition, and so what follow below is the same review, with an additional note about colour.

Synopsis

Returning to California after some years in Spain, Don Diego (Tyrone Power) finds that his father has been deposed and that the region is ruled by a venal, corrupt governer under the thumb of tyrannical lieutenant Basil Rathbone. Pretending to be a useless fop by day, Diego dons mask and sw…
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Warriors, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 14th, 2005

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Synopsis

At a gathering of all the gangs of New York City, the messianic leader proposing a unification of all the organizations is gunned down, and the Warriors are unjustly accused. They must make their way from the Bronx to Coney Island with every gang in the city out for their blood.

Set in a vaguely defined near future, this is a cracker of an action flick, one that has lost none of its pace and excitement over the years. The different gangs are all wonderfully realized and bizarre, an…
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Sahara

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2005

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Synopsis

Based on the novel by Clive Cussler, Sahara is a popcorn movie at its purest level. It is equal parts National Treasure and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and God help me, I actually got a kick from watching it. To give you an idea of its popularity, it was nominated for several Teen Choice awards.

I understand that I mock, but I do care a little bit. Dirk (Matthew McConaughey, A Time to Kill and Al (Steve Zahn, Out of Sight) are childhood friends t…
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Sinbad of the Seven Seas

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2005

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This is not your father’s Sinbad. The emphasis is on the Bad, very bad. Seek and ye shall find no Ray Harryhausen magic to carry you away to distant lands and grand adventure. Lou Ferrigno was much better as The Hulk than as Sinbad. His much too modern use of slang coupled with a wise-guy barrage of one-liners makes this a difficult film to watch. Trust me. This film is really bad. Most disturbing is the total lack of respect the producers of this mess show for the grand traditions of previous Sinbad films. There is no majesty and mystery.
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Red Tent, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 26th, 2005

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Synopsis

Peter Finch plays Umberto Nobile, an Italian general and explorer who is haunted by his disastrous attempt to fly over the pole in a dirigible in 1928. In the present day, sleepless, he summons the ghosts of his crew and the people affected by the disaster to sit as judge and jury, and the film then proceeds to tell the tale in flashback. When the dirigible crashes, Nobile and his men are marooned on pack ice, while rescue attempts are met with one tragic setback after another. Among those s…
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Kung Fu Hustle

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2005

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Synopsis

In the 1930s, the dreaded Axe Gang is taking over all organized crime, terrorizing the city. One of the only places they don’t control is a slum complex ruled by a formidable landlady and her henpecked husband. Into this place come a couple of con artists, who pretend to be members of the Axe Gang. They set in motion an chain of events that leads to one apocalyptic battle after another, with ever more bizarre and powerful Grand Masters of Kung Fu turning to fight either for or against the Ax…
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Magic Sword, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 10th, 2005

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Synopsis

Evil wizard Basil Rathbone kidnaps a beautiful princess (Anne Helm), and the bland Gary Lockwood, who has loved her from afar, charges to the rescue with his magic horse, armour and sword. Along the way he must confront seven curses set by Rathbone (ogre, burning heat, hideous hag, dragon, and so on), not to mention the treachery of one of his party.

This is an all-ages fantasy from Bert I. Gordon, who is best known for his cheapjack back-projection SF epics the likes of The Ama…
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Crow: Wicked Prayer, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 28th, 2005

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Synopsis

A small mining town is torn apart by strife between the workers at the toxic mine that is about to be closed down, and the Native Americans on whose land the mind is, and who are about to erect a casino over the closed facility (but won’t that make a for a dangerous contaminated entertainment complex?). Stirring up trouble is Satanist David Boreanaz and his cohorts (which include Tara Reid, whom we first see as a sniper, so you know the audience is in deep, deep trouble here). As part of a r…
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Island in the Sky

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 24th, 2005

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Synopsis

John Wayne plays Dooley, a transport pilot. He and his crew become lost over the frozen wastes of Labrador, and are forced to land in the middle of nowhere. A concerted search is launched for the missing men, and the film becomes a race against time as the rescuers search for a needle in a haystack, and the downed crew must survive with no food against unforgiving weather.

As downed airplane movies go, this is no The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). The premise is very simple (…
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Hard Boiled

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2005

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Synopsis

John Woo did not just direct Tom Cruise from a big rock in Mission Impossible:2, nor EVERY recent action movie with featuring either Nicolas Cage or John Travolta. He was only a name you heard about whenever the hot director of the moment (Quentin Tarantino comes to mind) talked about their film influences. Woo was recognized as a top directing talent before his move to the West, and is the one name people consistently mention when talking about the Hong Kong crime/action film genre. This fi…
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Errol Flynn — The Signature Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 11th, 2005

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Synopsis

Captain Blood (1935) is the picture that made Errol Flynn a star, and paired him for the first time of many with Olivia De Havilland. There had been pirate movies before (Douglas Fairbanks was the star in them), but this became the new high watermark of the genre. Flynn plays a doctor who is unjustly accused of treason and shipped off to a life of slavery in the colonies. He fights back, eventually becoming the pirate of the title, but always remaining an honourable man, of course. Th…
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Gone in 60 Seconds

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 27th, 2005

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Gone in 60 Seconds is a guilty pleasure – its vacuous and superficial, full of typical Hollywood produced “guy-movie” cues. Cars, guns, explosions, anti-heros, and Angelina Jolie abound, as well as comically evil villains, comically thin plot devices, and comically honourable car thieves. All that being said, though, the movie is great for what it is – a typical Bruckheimer celebration of over-the-top action. Its fun to get lost in the action, and director Dominic Sena imparts a great sense of …
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Danger: Diabolik

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2005

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Synopsis

Diabolik (John Phillip Law) is a master criminal, pulling off one spectacular robbery after another to the endless frustration of the police. Ruthless and amoral, he nonetheless deeply loves Eva (Marisa Mell), and will risk everything to protect her. As his crimes become ever more spectacular, and the government teeters on the brink of chaos, even organized crime is pressed into service in order to capture the man.

There were plenty of films of this type in the late sixties in the …
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Getaway, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2005

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Synopsis

Steve McQueen is Doc McCoy, master thief. Having just been denied parole, he asks wife Ali McGraw to make a bargain with political fixer Ben Johnson to get him out. This she does, but what McQueen doesn’t realize is that the deal not only involved McQueen’s participation in a bank job, but also McGraw sleeping with Johnson. In short order, the robbery goes wrong, and husband and wife are on the run.

From its punchy, jaggedly edited credit sequence on, this is Peckinpah at his most …
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Knight Errant

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2005

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Synopsis

Jimmy Wang Yu is trying to scrape together the cash for his sister’s eye operation, but hekeeps getting involved in fights, and the need to pay fines and whatnot is actually pushing thefamily towards bankruptcy. Meanwhile, in Japan, a ferocious grandmother has been training herthree grandsons their entire life to be killing machines intent on taking revenge on the man sheblames for her wartime suicides of her daughter and son-in-law. That man is Jimmy’s father. Thestage is …
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