Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 29th, 2006
Truth be told, when I first heard of the idea of a new Mummy film, I became excited. The first two in the series were surely not examples of Oscar material, but were damn entertaining films. Then news slipped out that the next film would be based on WWE Superstar The Rock�s character The Scorpion King, which seemed like an odd idea on paper. Was The Scorpion King that much of an awesome character that he needed his own film? Well, success continues as The Scorpion King isn�t excellent film making, but sure is pretty entertaining.
The basic plot of the film goes a little something like this� Mathayus (The Rock) is hired by a band of evil thugs to kill Memnon�s () sorcerer Cassandra (Kelly Hu). What Mathayus doesn�t realize is that there�s always more underneath the sand than on the surface as he soon learns that these men have more sinister plans.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 29th, 2006
Based on a true story, Jet Li�s Fearless takes place just after the turn of the 20th century. Huo�s father is challenged and beaten by the leader of the Zhao Clan leading to sheer embarrassment for everyone involved. Soon Huo Yuanija, his son, suffers a similar fate. Only Huo swears to never let a beating like this occur again. Huo wants nothing more in the world than for his father to teach him the way of the wushu, which is the way of fighting. The problem is that Huo doesn�t tend to put his heart in the right places. He hates studying his medicine and doing his calligraphy leaving his mother to tell him that wushu is not all about winning, but rather about patience and self-discipline.
The film flashes forward a few years reveling to us that Huo is grown with a daughter. His mother insists he be married once more but getting the Huo Clan�s respect and power back is far too important for him to ever consider marriage. Being the champion of Tianjin is the single most important aspect of Huo�s life. Huo eventually defeats his childhood enemy gaining not only respect for himself and his family but also the entire city. Master Yuanjia is back and here to stay. Master Huo soon develops an intense following as nearly every citizen begs to either be taught Wushu or begs to join him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 28th, 2006
Jet Li's Fearless is reportedly the star's final martial arts epic. Since we're talking about the guy who did Once Upon a Time in China, Twin Warriors and Hero, that fact alone makes this is a significant film for martial arts fans.
Fearless tells the story of Huo Yuanjia, who in 1910 helped found the Jin Wu Sports Federation (Chin Woo Athletic Association), the first civil Kung Fu organization in China. Li plays Yuanjia, who is a Chinese folk hero. The film follows Yuanjia's life from early childhood until his last days, showing his journey from a weak, little boy to a cocky, selfish bully, and finally to a respected martial arts master and Chinese patriot.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 27th, 2006
Synopsis
I must be crazy, but I kinda liked Hulk! Although, this is coming from the kid who faithfully watched the old CBS show and loved every damn minute of it. When Universal decided they were going to make a big-screen adaptation, with a computer created green machine, so be it. I fell for the trailers, and everything else. So when it came out to theaters, it seemed like the consensus result was: �Blah!� in large part to said CG leading man/monster. But at the end of the day, it doesn�t seem like he takes up much of the movie, and the action scenes aren�t hurt by his presence, some of them look very good. Ang Lee (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon lore) took the $100+ million production and made it a watchable film. Some scenes have comic-book paneling to them, either in a new scene altogether or a different angle of the same scene. Despite what some have said about this, I didn�t think it was so bad, and since it was done on mostly the action, they escape your eye quite a bit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 16th, 2006
Synopsis
Not to fawn too heavily on one side in the next-generation format wars, but how cool is HD-DVD? Well, if for nothing else, the HD-A1 and HD-XA1 players from Toshiba are all region-free. And while Warner Brothers has been slipping over themselves and teasing American consumers with a release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, British customers have gotten full penetration, and can pick up the fourth Potter film now. So I went onto Amazon UK and picked up my own copy, and I�m going to presume that the disc will be the same when it comes out here, whenever that will be.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2006
Michael Mann, for myself, has always been an entertaining director. His commercial successes like Last of the Mohicans, Heat and Collateral are some of my favorite guilty-pleasure films that I can always enjoy. When Mann decided to make a feature film on the classic TV series Miami Vice, I immediately piqued interest in the film. I figured with Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx acting and Michael Mann directing that Miami Vice would be a home run. In the end, Vice is more of a double that has a few faults which keep it from hitting a home run.
Some may instantly criticize me for this next sentence. Colin Farrell is a great actor. There I said it. I loved his performances in Phone Booth, Daredevil, Tigerland and yes, Alexander. He brought his own unique style to each performance adding a bit of quality to each of the said films. In Miami Vice though, Farrell as Detective James �Sonny� Crockett failed on nearly all cylinders never convincing me of his performance. Even in scenes of action, Farrell and his partner Jamie Foxx as Detective Ricardo �Rico� Tubbs tended to almost bore me causing myself to continuously look at the clock.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2006
A secret military research base (consisting of boring green-lit corridors and boasting a total staff and solider complement of about eight plus Michael Madsen) is working on a serum that boosts aggression and creates super-soldiers. Used on war heroes, it turns them into raging psychotics, so the decision is made to test it on losers, with the idea that they won’t be boosted quite as much. (Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t write the script.) A group of misfits is hauled in, but they don’t like what they’re being subjected to, and are soon running around corridors, looking for a way out. One of the previous subjects is accidentally freed, and he stalks the hallways as a very economical monster.
The introduction to our losers is actually quite funny, raising hopes that this might turn out to be some kind of torqued satire. No such luck. Just another DTV exercise in hallway horror. Depressingly familiar and tedious.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2006
Excalibur tells the story of King Arthur, from his simple beginnings to his noble ends. War plagues Great Britain, and many countrymen relish at the thought of peace as everyone is making claim to the Kingship. It is told that who ever removes Excalibur from the stone will be declared King. This legend might sound familiar to you as The Sword in the Stone (Excalibur being the sword). It is a mythical sword, which has been said to have magical, and only a noble and worthy man can bear it. Every noble i... the land claims they are worthy enough to remove the sword from the stone but each who tries, fails. Arthur, who has yet to realize who he really is, accidentally removes the sword one day. Being so young, the nobles are divided on whether to follow him as King. Civil war wages on and Arthur quickly defeats and unites the remaining noble leader, forming the fellowship of the Round Table. From here we are taken on the adventures that span most of Arthur’s life, including the search for the Holy Grail.
Excalibur has hit a chord with many people and has its own cult following, unfortunately I could not be completely drawn in to this film. Excalibur has all the elements to make it an enjoyable movie but misses the mark from making it truly memorable. Some scenes seemed really out of place, and overall it failed to captivate my attention with drawn on dialogue and mediocre action scenes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 26th, 2006
Natalie Portman stars in V for Vendetta, cast in a role unlike what I typically expect from her, a dialogue driven action movie with a serious tone to it. This movie even got me thinking a little bit about mankind’s intolerance of other man and how far society has to go to protect itself. I enjoy movies of this nature, you know the kind taking place in a not to distance future and not so distant problems, but a drastically different way of life. Something these movies always have in common is the civil rights ...hat are stripped from society for “beneficiary” reasons and leadership is in the form of a dictatorship. Basically, mankind takes a step back and a docile society is brought forward. Curfew and the inability to freely express oneself via certain forms of art and music plague a futuristic England. The real question here being, would you rather live in a world with few forms of expression and the inability to be a non-conformist but with crime almost non-existent? Comparable to the movie Equilibrium before it, the people in this future must sacrifice these certain rights in order to live in a “safe” environment.
The movie also has obvious Nazi undertones; the most obvious would be the rise and rule of Chancellor Adam Sutler, which shares similar traits and action of Adolph Hitler. The way the speeches are conducted, and the way the personal army of the Chancellor have rule of the streets all seem to remind me of the Nazi regime. I believe this element of the film makes it much more real to the viewer, seeing as fear tactics have and still are being used by government officials today.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2006
Synopsis
With Casino Royale now out in theaters and being shown to a mostly positive audience, let’s all take a step back and remember that James Bond just celebrated an anniversary in 2002 with the release of Die Another Day. The film was the twentieth in the Bond legacy, and Brosnan’s fifth (and last) in the role. How does it stack up?
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