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Comedy

Dazed & Confused (Flashback Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2004

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Slow Ride…take it easy…ah yes. Foghat. Dazed and Confused is Richard Linklater’s love letter to teenage nostalgia. And it shows up on DVD in a “flashback edition”. The film is also a love letter to the 70’s and contains a bitchin’ soundtrack. In the same vein, Dazed is like Fast Times and Ridgemont High, American Graffiti, and Almost Famous. Linklater’s approach is different. Like his previous film Slacker, Linklater is interested in the composite effect. There’s no ON…
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Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 9th, 2004

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Okay. I admit it. I’m guilty. I’m probably one of the few people on the planet Earth who has never seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Not because I’m an art film snob or anything (which I’m not…usually). I just never got around to it. I heard all the hype, heard a lot of the famous lines. But I’ve never actually seen the movie. Until now.

The Special Edition of Fast Times is now available and it’s worth picking up. For all the rest of the planet that has seen it, the movie takes plac…
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Sense and Sensibility (Classic DVD and Book Collection)

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 5th, 2004

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Synopsis

Jane Austen’s tale concerns the Dashwood sisters. Elinor (Emma Thompson) is sensible tothe point of excessive caution in matters of the heart. Marianne (Kate Winslett) is the opposite,so passionate that she might follow her heart into trouble. Their lives (and those of their littlesister and their mother) are made difficult by their loss of fortune. They are at the mercy ofselfish in-laws, though the brother of the gorgon-in-chief is the extremely likeable Hugh Grant(with w…
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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 3rd, 2004

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Synopsis

Sterling Hayden, as the demented General Jack D. Ripper, sends a squadron of bombers offto nuke the Soviet Union. The principle bomber pilot is the equally demented Slim Pickens.Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers) desperately tries to stop the bombers. The President (PeterSellers again) summons his principle aids to the war room and the assembled characters(including George C. Scott, and Sellers again as the titular character) do all they can to avert adoomsday scenario.

Three Coins in the Fountain

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 3rd, 2004

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Synopsis

This is the tale of three young American women in Rome, and the men who romance them.The recently arrived Maggie McNamara sets her cap for aristocrat-with-a-reputation LouisJourdan. Jean Peters, who is supposed to be heading back to the States soon, is drawn againsther better judgment into a relationship with kindly translator Rossano Brazzi (they work at thesame office, and the rules are strict about such things). And Dorothy McGuire is secretary toprickly writer Clifton W…
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Raising Helen

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 27th, 2004

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Synopsis

Kate Hudson is the golden girl at a modelling agency, scouting out talent and being very much the apple of ruthless boss Helen Mirren’s eye. She enjoys her cosmopolitan Manhattan lifestyle to the fullest, and then everything goes to smash. Her elder sister is killed in a car accident, leaving the care of her young’uns not to middle sister Joan Cusack (humourless and annoying) but to Hudson, who is promptly fired by Mirren and forced to move to Queens and work at a car dealership. Fortunately…
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Ed Wood

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 19th, 2004

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Synopsis

This is the story of Edward D. Wood, Jr., who gave the world such classics as Glen orGlenda? and Plan 9 From Outer Space. Tim Burton’s film follows Wood (JohnnyDepp) from his dismal theatre days through to the premiere of Plan 9, along the wayexploring his friendship with various misfits, including Bela Lugosi (an Oscar-winning turn byMartin Landau), not to mention Wood’s own cross-dressing proclivities.

Purists can complain about the factual in…
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White Chicks

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 15th, 2004

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Synopsis

Shawn and Marlon Wayans are two FBI agents. After screwing up royally (busting an ice-cream salesman instead of a drug dealer), they are anxious to redeem themselves. Charged withescorting the heiress Wilson sisters (read: Hilton) to the Hamptons where they will be bait fora socialite kidnapper, they mar the sisters’ faces, and so go themselves, made-up as the WhiteChicks of the title. Misunderstandings, racial and sexual, ensue.

I’ll grant the brothers this: there …
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Heartlands

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 4th, 2004

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Synopsis

Michael Sheen plays Colin, a very ineffectual but well-meaning sort, who is obsessed bydarts and has a bored wife. When she takes off with the captain of Colin’s dart team, Colindecides to travel to Blackpool (“the Las Vegas of the North”) to win her back. He mounts hisscooter and heads off on a picaresque adventure, and each encounter he has along the way hasa transformative effect.

I confess, I had my reservations. The first act is set in what is rapidly becoming …
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I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 4th, 2004

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Synopsis

It’s 1964 and The Beatles are about to make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.Teenage girls are losing their minds. We focus on four (with two boys in tow) who head off toNew York to try to crash the show and meet the band. Our heroines are the Shrieking Fan, theWould-Be Photographer, the New-Fiancee-Who-Has-Other-Things-On-Her-Mind and theBeatles-Hater.

This was a bomb in 1978, perhaps because it wasn’t hugely different from the sort of thing…
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Breakin’ all the Rules

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 30th, 2004

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Synopsis

Dumped on the night he was to announce his engagement, Jamie Foxx turns his pain into abestselling breakup manual. When his cousin, Morris Chestnut, thinks his girlfriend GabrielleUnion is going to break up with him, Foxx is enlisted to help, which leads to a massive chainreaction of mistaken identities and misunderstandings.

The structure is clearly and consciously that of a classical farce. Though the film neverachieves the proper frenzy requires of a farc…
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Garfield – The Movie

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 24th, 2004

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Synopsis

Garfield goes about his happy existence, scarfing lasagna, tormenting the neighbourhooddog, and taking advantage of fellow cat Nermal’s stupidity. Chaos arrives when Jon (BreckinMeyer), hoping to impress vet Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) adopts Odie the dog. Garfield doesall he can to remove Odie from the home, but when Odie actually is kidnapped by an evil animalshow host, Garfield heads off to the city on a perilous rescue.

Other than Garfield’s look and an appropria…
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Ladykillers, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 24th, 2004

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Synopsis

Into a sleepy town, and into the home of the formidable senior citizen Irma P. Hall comecriminal mastermind/Foghorn Leghorn impersonator Tom Hanks and his dastardly crew.Pretending to be musicians, the crooks use Hall’s basement to tunnel their way to a casino shipand a big heist. Their carefully laid plans naturally start going terribly awry thanks both to Halland to the incompetence of the gang.

The original Ladykillers is one of the greatest comedies every…
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Whole Ten Yards

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2004

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The Whole Nine Yards was a pretty funny film. It wasn’t outstanding. It wasn’t classic cinema. It certainly didn’t cry out for a sequel. The Whole Ten Yards goes one yard too far. Most of the original cast is back, but the film has no life. Even the laughs are forced. By now the novelty of the characters has long since worn thin. Bruce Willis seems to be acting for acting’s sake. The mood swings and unnecessary facial exaggerations seem to provide Willis with some distraction from how empty the rest of the film is. I…
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My New Gun

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 20th, 2004

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Synopsis

Diane Lane’s jerk of a husband, always imitating his best friend, buys her a gun she does notwant. Bizarre neighbour James LeGros asks to borrow the gun. Lane turns down the request, butLeGros helps himself anyway, and a chain of events as bizarre as it is low key is sent inmotion.

Owing some of its dry, absurd humour to David Lynch, My New Gun is also morefirmly grounded in a recognizable world than is Lynch’s work. The pace might be a tad too muchon the l…
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Good Times

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

When sinister businessman George Sanders offers to produce a film starring Sonny and Cher,Sonny can’t wait to get started, though Cher has severe doubts. It turns out the shooting scriptis impossibly bad, and Sonny has ten days to come up with an alternative. We see his fantasiesof various film possibilities (western, mystery, jungle adventure), each one clearly a catastrophein its own right.

This was the directorial debut of William Friedkin. Of course it was! Obvi…
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Naked in New York

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 15th, 2004

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Synopsis

Naked in New York follows the ups and downs of the relationship between EricStoltz and Mary-Louise Parker. Stoltz is our narrator. He is raised by deeply neurotic singlemother Jill Clayburgh, and he works out his conflicted feelings about his family in some(apparently) promising plays during his college years. It is hear that he meets Parker, who hashuge talent as a photographer, but is very insecure and self-deprecating about her own talent.Their relationship is put…
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Scooby-Doo 2 – Monsters Unleashed

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2004

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Scooby-Doo 2 is pretty-much the same as the original film. Oh, sure, the plot differs slightly, but for the most part, this is the same film. If you liked the first one, you will like this one. However, if you hated the first one, like I did, then this is regrettably more of the same mindless fluff.

Recently, movie studios have caught on to the idea that if they make children’s movies with subtle in-jokes for adults, their profits will rise. This was the case with Finding Nemo, Shrek an…
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Soul Plane

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2004

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Synopsis

After a catastrophic flight, during which his rear end is stuck on the toilet and his dog issucked into an engine, Kevin Hart sues the airline and wins a hundred-million dollar settlement.With this windfall, he establishes a new airline: NWA. The film then follows the maiden voyageof NWA’s purple pimpmobile plane, complete with every hip-hop video stereotypeimaginable.

Clearly aspiring to be an urban Airplane!, this dog rarely rises above the level of thewo…
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Chris Rock – Never Scared

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 28th, 2004

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Chris Rock is quite possibly the most important comic of all time. There are quite a few entertainers that have shown up in the public spotlight over the past few years that have blurred the lines between comic, social satirist and political lecturer. Bill Maher and Dennis Miller come to mind. However, Chris Rock is a special comedian, due to his masterful knowledge of how to manipulate an audience. Anybody can make wise cracks about racial differences, but it takes a special person to be able to change the minds of …
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New York Minute

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 19th, 2004

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Synopsis

Ashley Olsen is the anal-retentive honour student who is off to New York to give a speech.Rocker bad-girl sister Mary-Kate is skipping school in order to hit the Big Apple also, hoping tocrash a music video shoot for the benefit of her band. Everything conspires against their success,with the principle antagonists being Eugene Levy as the obsessive truant officer after Mary-Kate,and Andy Richter (sporting a Chinese accent) as a music pirate whose crucial computer chipwinds …
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Laws of Attraction

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan are two formidable divorce attorneys. Neither has losta case prior to meeting each other. Thereafter, they wind up taking turns going down to defeat. Adrinking contest leads to a night together, one that Moore would rather forget, but we know thesetwo are going to wind up together even as they spar in court. When another drunk binge leads tothe two getting married, they must pretend to love each other, even if they don’t. Or do they?

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Sweet Potato Pie

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2004

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Synopsis

Three friends head out planning to lose their virginity. Misadventures ensue. You really don’tneed to know anymore about the plot than that, because you really, really, really don’t want towatch this amateurish, shot-on-video attempt to be an “urban” American Pie. Theassumptions behind the film seem to be that the target audience is completely stupid andundiscriminating, and will laugh uproariously at jokes lifted completely from other movies.Dreck of the lowest orde…
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Girl Next Door, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2004

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Synopsis

On the cusp of graduation, honour student Emile Hirsch’s quiet, orderly life is thrown intochaos when he falls in love with girl next door Elisha Cuthbert, who turns out to be a porn star.Hirsch’s reaction to this revelation drives a wedge between the couple, and pushes Cuthbert backinto the industry. Hirsch’s attempts to redeem himself lead him into deeper and deepertrouble.

This is not another would-be American Pie (though apparently the script started out…
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Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Volume 3, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2004

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Synopsis

By 1948, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello’s film career was in the doldrums. It was revived inthis year by an inspired melding of genres: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Moreon the importance of this film a bit later on. For now, its premise sees Bud and Lou asdeliverymen who unknowingly help bring Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and the Frankenstein Monster(Glenn Strange) into the States. Hot on the heels of the monsters, determined to destroy Dracula,is Larry Talbot (Lon C…
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