Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 27th, 2005
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 ...ace (which he failed to carry over into 2001's Swordfish), keeping the tension level-high, the action front & centre, and the cars at full throttle. There's also some real funny moments too - the "Brick House" rendition at the police impound lot makes me cackle like a hyena every time.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2005
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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2005
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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 22nd, 2005
Assault on Precinct 13 is a remake of the 1976 John Carpenter classic (which is remake of the Howards Hawks western Rio Bravo). The plot scenario is something we've all seen before. Our heroes are holed up in an indoor arena (in this case, a precinct), trying to keep the outside forces at bay. In this case, the hero is Jake Roenick (played by Ethan Hawke). On New Year's Eve, and with the closing of the precinct looming, crimelord Bishop (played by Laurence Fishburne)is dumped off at the office. A s...owstorm has forced the criminals here. Meanwhile, Bishop's men try to bust him out, hence the assault. As we all know, hell will break loose.
Assault sports an excellent cast. The always engaging Mario Bello plays a psychiatrist caught up in the seige. Soprano's star Drea De Matteo is along for the ride as a sexy secretary, crusty Brian Dennehy is crusty Brian Dennehy, and Ja Rule and John Leguizamo round out the other baddie detainees. The success of the film, however, can mostly be attributed to the slick and taut direction of Frenchman Jean-Francoise Rinet. The film moves along at a stylish pace. Despite lacking in the Carpenter moral ambiguity, and the synth score, this Assault on Precinct 13 is a solid, modern action movie for the 21st century.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 16th, 2005
The Bodyguard is silly. Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner star this decade old thriller/romance. Houston plays Rachel Marron, a pop singer. Not much of stretch back then, these days...not so much. Costner plays Frank Farmer, bodyguard to the stars. It seems as though Marron is receiving death threats. Enter Frank Farmer. A romance eventually develops. This is this the stuff of high camp. Instead, we get low camp. The Bodyguard is not quite bad enough to be Showgirls, and not quite good ...nough to be Basic Instinct. The Brit director, Mick Jackson, tries to add some intelligence to the precedings. But why bother. It's The Bodyguard.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2005
There are a lot of dumb movies out there. But there's a good kind of dumb and a bad kind of dumb. National Treasure falls into the good dumb category. Nicholas Cage plays Ben Gates, a treasure hunter, an archaeologist I'm really not sure. But his mission is to steal the Declaration of Independence in order to prevent the "bad" archaeologists from taking it. Make sense? There are hidden clues, apparently, in this document which lead to hidden treasure. A treasure Gates' grandfather (played by Christophe... Plummer) told him about when he was a child. In essence, this movie is part Indiana Jones and part Da Vinci's Code.
There are plenty of explosions and chases, no worries there. There's a high level of silliness here, not to mention Scooby Doo logic. But Nicholas Cage is perfectly cast. He is an actor who can walk that fine line between gravity and camp. There's also a love interest and a wise cracking sidekick (played by Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha, respectively). Both performances, particularly Bartha's, take a refreshing crack at the action movie archetypes. Sean Bean is also along for the ride as the main baddie. Bean is always worth watching.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2005
When first reading the synopsis of Control I thought that it would be something similar to the Michael Keaton-Andy Garcia movie Desperate Measures, and how violent criminals can be reformed somehow. Lee Ray (Ray Liotta, Goodfellas), a convicted criminal sentenced to death, is offered the chance to start life anew with the help of counseling from Dr. Copeland (Willem Dafoe, Spider-Man), along with some behavior suppressing drugs.
And of course, Lee Ray resists at first, but soon g...ows to appreciate what the drugs can do for him. He eventually is released to the outside, where he finds a job and meets a girl he’s crazy about (Michelle Rodriguez, Girlfight). He finds remorse about a man he’d disabled and attempts to make peace with him, but the man’s brother (and other criminal elements), soon come back to haunt him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 1st, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 28th, 2005
Sony once again hits us with not only a double dip, but a triple dip release of xXx. What started out as a Special Edition, evolved into a Superbit release, and has now ultimately become the Uncensored Unrated Director’s Cut of the film. What is different this time around you ask… well, you get 8 more minutes of action and skin.
Let me guess… you want more specifics don’t you? Well here is what has been added… The scene with the girl “dancing” in Xander’s room has been extended. The...single girl in Yorgi's bed turns into three naked girls. The gunfight at the end has been extended. And a scene has been added with a young girl talking to Xander on a plane. Each of these scenes can be viewed in the Deleted Scenes section on the Special Edition release.
