Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2006
Synopsis
Audrey Hepburn is Holly Golightly, a young woman to her name born. Flighty, hopping from party to party, she waits for her life to match her ideal. Into her apartment moves writer George Peppard, who is certainly not the millionaire our heroine imagines will sweep her off her feet. Peppard himself is a kept man, and his keeper is Patricia Neal. Peppard does have a more realistic view of how life works, in the long run, and that is a lesson that Hepburn must learn before romance can follow it...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2006
Synopsis
Though they span a mere five years of his career, these are some of Cary Grant’s best films. They are also among the directors’ best films. Viewers wanting to see comedy from Hollywood’s Gold Age at its best and most sophisticated will be amply rewarded by spending a few evenings with this collection.
Holiday (1938) sees Grant engaged to the snobbish Doris Nolan. The real prize in her family is Katharine Hepburn (natch), who will ultimately break from her families more stult...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 7th, 2006
The most amazing thing about this one-joke movie is that it was based on a John Grisham novel: Skipping Christmas. Chris Columbus certainly does not display his biting wit and the skills he debuted with Gremlins 20 years ago. It’s hard to imagine this is the same guy who kicked off the Harry Potter series.
When their daughter joins the Peace Corps and leaves for South America during the Holidays, the Kranks decide to skip Christmas altogether and go on a cruise with the money they save. Why these altern...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 7th, 2006
Pity the younger generations that will forever associate the character of Inspector Clouseau with Steve Martin. Peter Sellers might not have been a “wild and crazy guy,” but he was nothing short of brilliant as a comedic actor. Sellers never relied on over the top grandstanding to make a point. You never needed to be hit over the head with the jokes. He displayed an altogether different, more subdued, flamboyance than the modern comic. You didn’t need to be told when to laugh. The problem was more often being able to stop.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2006
Synopsis
For awhile, Jim Carrey looked to be taking the career path that Michael Keaton had previously established. Start off with strong, hilarious comedic performances, attempt to get into dramatic roles with some critical success, and fade into the sunset, with the occasional bad script choice. While Carrey hasn’t dipped into the Jack Frost period yet, with The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, Carrey had established the fact that he could pull off carrying a dramatic movie, and do it...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
If you aren’t familiar with what Roll Bounce is, you will be pleasantly surprised by some of the tricks this small coming-of-age film pulls out of its hat. I expected horrendous acting, a poorly written script, and a story that cared more about racially motivated laughs than honesty. What I got was just the opposite. First of all, the film’s success begins and ends with a top-drawer screenplay that perfectly captures teen angst as well as the fears and traumas of growing up. Not something one would expect abou...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2006
American Women is a difficult film to write about because it evokes such little passion from its viewer. By no standards is it a good film, but pinpointing its frailties becomes quite the daunting task. Set in a small Irish village, the story centers on a group of sexist men, who want to import girls from America because the ones accessible to them do not meet up to the appropriate standards. The plot is farfetched, even as goofball comedies go, and none of the male characters are likeable. Also, with so many ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 27th, 2006
Synopsis
At West Valley High (how generic a name is that?), homecoming week is marked by a special challenge: can you perform ten outrageous dirty deeds in twelve hours. The record is eight. Zach (Milo Ventimiglia) has no interest in any of the school traditions, but when the younger brother of the girl he is sweet on volunteers to take the challenge, Zach steps in to save the boy from certain doom and do the deeds himself, in the process taking down the king of the jocks a few notches.
Wha...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 25th, 2006
Broken Lizard’s Puddle Cruiser follows Felix Bean, a smitten young college student, whose entire life changes when he sees pretty Suzanne at a party. He immediately tries to impress her, but only ends up incurring the wrath of Traci Shannon, her rather large rugby-playing boyfriend from a rival school. He does manage to wiggle some of her affections away, enough so that she halts her go-nowhere relationship. Together, the two embark on a passionate love affair, but Suzanne still has difficulties letting go of ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
Dean Stiffle (Jamie Bell) is a teenager in an affluent suburb who appears to be completely disconnected (due in no small part to the happy pills prescribed by his celebrity psychiatrist father). When he finds his best friend Troy dead (a suicide), he doesn’t even tell anyone about it. He is forced to become involved when three other teens kidnap a boy they think is Dean’s brother in order to force him to find Troy’s drug stash. Turns out they’ve kidnapped the wrong boy, and so begins a chain...
