Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2003
Synopsis
James Cagney plays a hard-boiled newspaper editor in pre-WWII Tokyo. He gets wind ofa Japanese baron’s plans for world conquest, and risks his life (with the help of Chinese-American spy Sylvia Sidney) to expose the dastardly plot. We even get some early martial artsaction with Cagney jodo-chopping his way through men twice his (diminuitive) size. Be aware,though, that the film was made in 1945 and shows it, with all but one of the Japanese charactersportrayed as unidimensi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 14th, 2003
Quite possibly the worst Jackie Chan film ever … strike that … quite possibly one of the worst films ever, City Hunter is a live-action film based off of the Japanese anime of the same name. Here, Chan plays private detective Ryu Saeba, who, along with his partner, Kaori (Joey Wong), are hired to track down the missing daughter of a wealthy Japanese publishing tycoon.
Ryu is quite the ladies man and his initial thoughts of turning the job down vanish once he sees a picture of the magnate’s beautiful ru...
Posted in: Game Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2003
Written by Jason Franz
I can't remember the last time I've installed a game on my PC that had so many entertaining qualities matched with such brilliant gameplay. All too often PC developers focus on the eye candy and give gameplay little thought. WithGTA: Vice City, Rockstar not only avoided that problem, but they take us back to the glory days of fun PC gaming.
After an effortless installation I fired up the game, configured my settings and began my journey as Tommy Vercetti, on my way to terrorizing the b...
Posted in: 1.33:1 Fullscreen, Action, Artisan Entertainment, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 2.0 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), DVD by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2003
Synopsis
Professional hit man Christopher Lambert is given a new contract, but this one doesn’tinvolve killing. He is to travel from Europe to Cape Town (where his parents were killed whenhe was but a wee lad) and protect Dennis Hopper, a businessman with mob ties who is going totestify against psychopathic gangster Christo. Even in jail, Christo’s reach is long and deadly, andLambert has his work cut out for him protecting the very unpleasant Hopper and his daughter.So far, so conventional...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 7th, 2003
Synopsis
Kitty (Chingmy Yau) and Tinam (Simon Yam) have just met and are falling in love. Theirrelationship faces a few obstacles, however: he’s a cop so traumatized by his role in theaccidental shooting of his brother that he can no longer draw his gun without throwing up; shehas an explosive temper, and has already stabbed her unpleasant hair stylist in the groin. They areseparated after their first date: Kitty’s father is killed, and she takes revenge by shooting up theoffice of ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 30th, 2003
Black Mask 2 doesn’t really seem to have anything to do with the first film. Instead what you get is a cheesy Japanese version of The X-Men. With the help of less than special effects, professional wrestlers change into hilarious creatures that are more loony tunes funny than actually dangerous. It doesn’t help that newcomer Andy On has the large fists of Jet Li to fill. Even fans of the original won’t find too much to like about this odd sequel.
Audio
The sound is an adequate Dolby Digital 5.1 track.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2003
Synopsis
The Legend of the gunfighter who wears the red scorpion jacket has come to South Beach in Miami. When the parking valet at a local strip club gets pulled into the legend he hinds himself the target of a mob hit and running for his life. Throw a sociopathic blonde into the mix and he might as well finish himself off before someone does it for him.
Audio
This film has a number of gunfights and I expected the audio to be above average but, instead it is somewhat belo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2003
Steven Seagal is certainly showing his age in Half Past Dead. To ardent fans of his tough-guy act, this might be a bad thing. To those of us just looking for a good film, I think it’s actually a good thing. With Seagal’s ass-kicking held more in check there appears more room for a story to grow. This one is above average. Seagal’s age also means a stronger supporting cast and this one has a nice one. Mia Peoples is stunning as one of the main villains. Ja Rule and Kurupt add the necessary urban reality and some comedy relief when called for.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 18th, 2003
Fred Ward is a tough, no-nonsense cop. One night (when for some reason he has no partner),he is the victim of an attack, and wakes up with a different face and a new identity. He has been recruited by a shadowy government organization (currently made up of three other people). He is trained by Korean master Chiun (Cabaret MC Joel Grey under lots of makeup) to become a fighting machine. Meanwhile, future starship captain Kate Mulgrew is an army major investigating an industrialist who seems to be fleecing the US military for billions of dollars. All paths will soon merge.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2003
After a disastrous voyage in which he loses his ship and all his crew, Richard Widmark journeys back from the Mediterranean to Norway (apparently swimming all the way). He say she has discovered the location of a giant bell made of solid gold (don’t ask how well something like that would ring), and along with his brother (Russ Tamblyn) steals the king’s funeral boat(along with his daughter). Off they go for many wild adventures. As you can probably guess, this is an exceedingly silly film, from its eccentric casting on down. But it is very entertaining, and doesn’t take itself seriously.
