Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2007
Dan Chupong plays a young warrior, armed with rockets and martial arts skills, who roams the Thai countryside in the 19th Century, searching for the man who killed his parents. His only clues are that he trades in buffalo and is a unique tattoo on his chest. He finds the man he believes is his target, but this trader, who possesses magical powers, is also in the sights of an evil local aristocrat who is trying to get rid of the local buffalo population in order to drive up sales for his tractor franchise. Said ne’er-do-well sets up our hero to do his dirty work.
The first fifteen minutes or so are a bit confusing as the plot gets all its ducks lined up, but once everything is in motion, the storyline clears up. The action, a mix of traditional stunt work and wire work, is not on the same level as Ong-Bak, but it is still exciting, and there’s plenty of it. If the lead-in to act 3 drags a bit, with an excessive use of flashbacks filling in events the audience has already figure out, the payoff makes it all worthwhile.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 4th, 2007
(Non-format specific portions of this review are culled from my review of said film, so enjoy or read elsewhere.)
In watching Being John Malkovich again recently, for the first time in awhile, the thing I was struck by is how unique it is (duh!). It doesn’t try too hard at being different, to the point that it’s going to suck, everything is matter of fact, and it’s hilarious. Its characters are flawed, but we feel for some of them a great deal. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s dramatic, it works on many levels.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 31st, 2007
In the same cinematic style of Sin City another Frank Miller graphic novel has found its way to the big screen. For those of you history buffs out there, you might recognize this story as the Battle of Thermopylae. Although 300 is large in part fictitious, the core elements of the historical story remain intact, and factual. Regardless of your knowledge of history, 300 is to be enjoyed by anyone, and everyone.
300 is told in a narrative from Spartan orator Dilios (David Wenham, The Lord of The Rings). It begins with a young Leonidas who is in the midst of his typical Spartan training. He is cast out into the wild and survive amongst the beasts throughout the winter, when he comes home he is crowned King of Sparta. Some time goes by and Leonidas (Gerard Butler, The Phantom of the Opera) now the fully grown Spartan King is faced with a problem. Persian King Xerxes sends messengers to Sparta demanding their submission to the Persian Empire. Insulted by the offer King Leonidas kicks the Persian messenger into a pit and the rest of his commandants follow shortly. Leonidas seeks the advice of the Oracle and requests permission to go to war, only to be denied. He then takes the matter into his own hands and gathers 300 of Sparta’s best warriors, to take on the dominating numbers of the Persians. The Persians demand that the Spartans drop their arms but the persistent group of warriors will not let up and they try to hold up knowing that they are facing sure death.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 30th, 2007
I have to admit that I have never heard of this film prior to receiving it for review, so I went into this one completely blind without any expectations. My only guess was that this would be some sort of fantasy/horror film, and it turns out I was right. Perfect Creature is a different sort of take on a vampire film which makes it rather unique, but how’s it going to end up?
Set in a fictitious New Zealand referred to as Nuovo Zelandia, Perfect Creature takes place in an alternate world not unlike our own. There is, of course, one major difference, which is the acceptance of vampires as the next level of evolution in human beings, referred to as The Brotherhood. Members of The Brotherhood and humans have a pact in which they live amongst each other in harmony, humans donating blood at the churches to quench the thirst of the vampires. That is, at least, until the renegade vampire Edgar begins attacking and killing human beings. Lilly, the local hard-knock cop, who has lost her entire family to a sweeping influenza epidemic, teams up with Edgar’s brother Silus who wants to protect the rights of The Brotherhood and stop Edgar’s madness. Eventually, the two succeed and even share a few almost romantic moments, but before long Edgar escapes the confines of The Brotherhood once again, and he carries with him a dark secret powerful enough to change the society forever.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2007
Shooter is based upon the Stephen Hunter novel Point of Impact, and although there are multiple similarities, readers of the book can look forward to a modern rehash of the Hunter story. Since the release of the trailer I have been looking forward to this one, especially now that its being released on HD DVD, how does it turn out?
Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg, The Italian Job) is an elite Marine sniper and patriot. But that all changes when his commanding officer abandons him behind en...my lines, his best friend and spotter dies and Swagger narrowly escapes. Naturally Swagger turns to a life of solitude in the minuteness wilderness of Wyoming, where he shares a log cabin with his dog.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 21st, 2007
Synopsis
Honestly, the only thing that I remembered from watching For Your Eyes Only was that Sheena Easton sang the title song (qualifying her as probably the most attractive Scotsperson out there) and that there was a sprawling chase scene involving Roger Moore on skis that was cool. But that’s it. And now that I’m wrapping up this long winding once over for all the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVDs and I get a chance to see everything again, it turns out that this film is a pretty good one.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2007
Synopsis
I’ve gotta say that when the first Die Hard was released, I was in a position where I hated, absolutely despised Bruce Willis. In my opinion, the world honestly didn’t need another loudmouthed movie star who was from New Jersey and didn’t hesitate to say so, and that whole schtick about him and the Bruno persona would allow him to release music albums reeking of self-promotion and another money grab. And when he hooked up with Demi Moore, my initial reaction was “good, they’ll have mongoloid...babies and divorce after a couple years”. And since 1985 or so, there’s only one part of my opinion that held true for the most part.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 5th, 2007
Disaster films are nothing new in Hollywood. While most disaster films tend to focus too much on destroying random objects, there’re are a film good disaster films that come around every so often that actual try to explain the film instead of giving us two hours of random explosions. One such film is 1997’s Dante’s Peak.
Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) works for the US Geology Survey Team. Four years after experiencing a volcano eruption, Harry and a few other scientists are called to a town named Da...te’s Peak to research into the town’s dormant volcano. Harry immediately piques the interest of Mayor Wando (Linda Hamilton), quite possible for his looks not for his scientific merit. Most of the town and its members aren’t concerned about the volcano, simply because nothing has occurred for many years now. Obviously this doesn’t sit well with Harry. When two dead teenagers are discovered near the top of the mountain in a hot spring, Harry begins to think that this mountain is ready to explode. However, as per the typical natural disaster film, no one believes Harry (including his boss), despite numerous instances of proof (acidity levels increasing, dying animals, etc). Now Harry must race against time to prove this volcano is a ticking time bomb.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 1st, 2007
Synopsis
Timothy Dalton might have endured a bit of grief for his short tenure as James Bond, enduring comments equating him to Connery and Moore plagued his two film run, with this one being the last. However, this one was quite the doozy, and almost in the area of “forgotten gem” status.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 27th, 2007
Synopsis
In slowly but surely wrapping up my reviews of each and every Ultimate Edition James Bond title on DVD, coming to Thunderball, a sect of people say that this is the quintessential film for the man who quintessentially personified James Bond. So in his fourth outing as the man who likes martinis, cars and women, he encounters a large swath of them all over two hours.
![Being John Malkovich [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/being-john-malkovich-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Shooter [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/shooter-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Dante's Peak [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dantes-peak-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
