Comedy

100 Women

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 7th, 2003

Sam (Chad Donella) is a down on his luck artist who has just been told by his professor that he sucks as an artist and dumped by his girlfriend. The same wind that blows his life a way also brings him Hope (Erin Bartlett) who shows him how to get his smile back. As they part ways he writes down her phone number on his hand, this disappears though as it is raining heavily. After taking up a job as a delivery man for his friend’s coffee shop he finally finds her but, she is now in need of someone to show her her smile. On the way to restore Hope’s zest for life he finds his..

Big Shot’s Funeral

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 7th, 2003

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Surrounded by hundreds of extras in China’s Forbidden City director Don Tyler (played by Donald Sutherland) is hit with a creative draught and doesn’t know where to go with his latest masterpiece. YoYo (played by Ge You who some of you may remember from Farewell my Concubine) is hired to be the documentary making of camera man befriends the troubled Tyler. Tyler and YoYo discuss film maker and philosophy and happen upon the idea that in Chain if someone over the age of 70 dies the funeral is not sad but happy, Tyler …
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Livin’ Tha Life

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003

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Synopsis

Jamal and Peanut get together to hang out and cruise Compton. At Jamal’s house, however,they interrupt a thief who has broken in. Confronted with a gun, the thief keels over from a heartattack. In a panic, our two heroes bundle the body into their car and continue on their way. Thisis one-man-show filmmaking (the director handled just about every behind-the-camera duty),and the cast is very natural. The script is entirely (and obviously) improvised, and so each scenegoes on…
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People From Space

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003

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Synopsis

Two couples looking for something to do on the weekend decide to drive down to BeavertailLake and look for a UFO that supposedly landed there. (There’s a $100,000 reward if they findevidence.) Along the way, they squabble, meet odd characters, and get lost in the woods. Thisis another film with improvised dialogue. Improv is a tricky form to get right in films. It worksin films like Best in Show and The Blair Witch Project because a) the very forms of thosenarratives (pseud…
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Two Weeks Notice

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2003

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Synopsis

Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) is an anti-establishment lawyer, fighting to preserve historiclandmarks from heedless developers. One of these heedless developers is George Wade (HughGrant), a man as shallow as he is rich. Lucy confronts George just as he is desperate for a newlaywer, and he talks her into working for him despite her misgivings. He comes to depend onher for absolutely everything (clothes to wear, stationary to use, etc.), to the point that he takesover her lif…
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Walk, Don’t Run

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 15th, 2003

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Synopsis

Cary Grant plays Sir William Rutland, British industrialist. He has arrived in Tokyo two daysearlier than his hotel reservation, and what with the Olympics going on, there isn’t a room to behad. He fast-talks his way into sharing the apartment of Samantha Eggar, a young woman withobsessive clock-watching habits. She isn’t thrilled to be sharing her apartment with a man, and iseven less thrilled when Grant brings home prickly architect/Olympic athlete Jim Hutton. Eggar iseng…
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Dream with the Fishes

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2003

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Synopsis

David Arquette, terminal loser, utterly verklempt, and unable to get over the death of hiswife, decides to jump off a bridge. He is talked down by selfish sleaze Brad Hunt, who convinceshim to take sleeping pills instead. The pills turn out to be vitamins. Hunt, however, actually isdying, and has only a few weeks to live. He strikes a deal with Arquette. If Arquette will bankrollHunt’s last spree, indulging in all his fantasies (nude bowling, etc.), he will kill Arquette at t…
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Secretary

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2003

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Synopsis

Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young woman utterly lacking in self-confidence, andgiven to deliberately cutting herself. She gets her first job as secretary to E. Edward Grey (JamesSpader), as tightly wound and ferociously self-isolated and individual as you could imagine.What happens when the sadist meets the masochist? Sparks fly. Low key and sharply sly, thiswinning film shows (along with Amelie and Kissing Jessica Stein) that there is life in theromantic comedy g…
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Brown Sugar

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 5th, 2003

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Synopsis

Sanaa Lathan is a music journalist, and Taye Diggs is a hip-hop star. They’ve been friendssince childhood, but not a romantic couple. Diggs is about to get married to someone else, whichcauses Lathan to reconsider her feelings. The naturalism of the performances and the importanceof the setting make this a refreshing break from too many cookie-cutter romances.

Audio

The environmental effects aren’t bad, with decent use of sound effects. The music, how…
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2003

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Originally released in 1988 this film received 4 Academy awards (Best film editing, best sound effects editing, best visual effects, special achievement in animation direction) and was the first film to feature a combination of live action and traditional cell drawn animation. Before any of the other big budget animation films of the 90’s (think the Little Mermaid, The Lion King, etc.) there was Roger Rabbit. This film spawned the animation revolution of the 90’s and there still to this day is nothing like it. One pa…
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Troop Beverly Hills

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2003

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Synopsis

A wealthy Phylis Nefler (Shelly Long) has everything money can buy, except a husband. Freddy (Craig T. Nelson) is leaving her for good unless she can prove to him that she is still the dynamic and energetic person he married. She becomes the leader of her daughters Wilderness Girls troop and heads off into the wild blue yonder.

Video

Remeastered in High Definition like a lot of the Columbia Tri-star re-releases have been lately the video quality is better then ave…
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Death to Smoochy

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 1st, 2003

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Synopsis

Kiddie-show host Rainbow Randloph (Robin Williams), up to his armpits in graft, is nailedby the FBI and turfed from his slot. Replacing him is Smoochy the Rhino (Edward Norton), arelentlessly nice and upstanding individual. Being so nice makes the target not just of theobsessive and psychotic Randolph, but also of the mob (headed, in a brilliant piece of casting, byHarvey Fierstein). Almost everyone in the film is a nasty piece of work, which makes the blackhumour all the m…
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Lone Star State of Mind

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Earl Crest (Joshua Jackson) and his (extremely feisty) girlfriend Baby (Jamie King) aregetting ready to up sticks from Texas for LA. Unfortunately, Earl’s deeply moronic cousin hasstolen a lot of money from the wrong (and dangerous people). All sorts of comical troubleensues.

Audio

A full 5.1 mix, and pretty good stuff. The music has some particularly nice echo effects,sounding as big as the state of the title. The sound effects are good too, with s…
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Dream for an Insomniac

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2003

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Synopsis

Ione Skye is Frankie (named after Frank Sinatra, the patron saint of her family). She is achronic insomniac, and is unable to find a man who meets her high standards (why any rationalmale wouldn’t run screaming from this scary neurotic, however, is as mysterious as the fact thatthat geek always winds up with the babe in male-centred romances). Into her life walksMackenzie Astin, who has the necessary blue Sinatra eyes (which is also the cue for the film toshift from black-a…
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Kingston High, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Sketch (Jeramie Gladman) is artistic and sensitive. He doesn’t want to have anything to dowith his buddies’ obsessive quest to lose their virginity on prom night. Nevertheless, he getsroped into a bet to do just that. Misadventures ensue. A very independent film, whose low-budgetquirks and likeable central character keep threatening to make it transcend the morass of itsgenre.

Audio

Box claims to the contrary, the audio tracks come in both 5.1 and 2…
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Sol Goode

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Balthazar Getty is Sol Goode, charming campus rogue unable, as his best friend Chloë(Katharine Towne) says, to commit to a relationship for longer than 20 minutes. The hijinks can’tlast forever, though, and as Sol matures, he realizes he’s fallen in love. No points for guessingwho with. The direct-to-camera asides make this the college version of Malcolm in theMiddle.

Audio

The 2.0 mix is solid, if unspectacular. It is certainly crisp and clear, and…
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I’m With Lucy

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Lucy (Monica Potter) is dumped by the man she though would love her forever. In fact, sheis so off-putting in her confidence, that it’s hard to feel sorry for her when the dumping occurs inthe most humiliating way possible. The rest of the film follows her through a series of five dates.We cut back and forth between the dates, and which man she marries is held off for the end. Ifyou still care by then.

Audio

The 5.0 audio mix is a completely profess…
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On the Run

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 4th, 2003

Synopsis

Albert is not a people person. He doesn’t enjoy his job as a travel agent, doesn’t travelhimself, and doesn’t want to go out. All he wants to do is stay at home and be left alone.Unfortunately, his childhood friend Louis, who was always good at getting him into trouble,breaks out of prison two weeks before his sentence is up, and calls up Albert, dragging himwilly-nilly into After Hours-style misadventures.

Audio

The sound (in a 2.0 mix, from all av…
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Auteur Theory, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2003

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Synopsis

George Sand is a documentary filmmaker, and quite conceited about the fact. He comes tothe US from the UK to shoot a documentary about the 2nd Mike Wong Film Festival. Curiously,all of the competitors at the festival, each of which worked on Wong’s last movie before he died,start being murdered one by one. Sand decides to uncover the murderer. This is a cheerfully sillylow-budget film, loaded with hilarious send-ups of student films. The sense of the absurd isnicely underst…
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Mostly Martha

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 1st, 2003

Synopsis

Martha is the highly strung, control-freak chef at a top restaurant. Her organized life isthrown into chaos when her sister is killed in a car accident, leaving Martha to look after her littleniece Lina. Lina, understandably traumatized, refuses to eat. Meanwhile, Martha feels that herposition at the restaurant is threatened by newcomer Mario. Soon, though, she realizes that Mariohas other, more romantic goals in mind. Though witty, the film does not shy away from the realp…
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Cactus Flower

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2003

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posted by Marc Atonna

Film

Goldie won the best supporting actress Academy Award as a ditsy, blonde mistress. Not bad for a debut. Goldie starts the film with her suicide attempt foiled by a neighbor (who unknowingly gives a great James Stewart impression). Matthau thinks he has the perfect love scenario. He has a stuffy secretary (Bergman) who keeps his life in order and a fling (Goldie) he keeps in check by telling her about a non-existent wife and kids.

As with all successful romantic comedies, a wrench has…
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Glory Daze

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 26th, 2003

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I doubt the makers of the current Daredevil film took one look at Glory Daze and said, “We’ve got to have that guy.” Glory Daze is a mindless romp through the last weeks of a group of frat-like college students. If you’re interested in plots, solid acting, and quality cinematography, this really isn’t your film. If, however, a cheap imitation of Animal House sounds like a good way to spend an hour and a half, look no further.
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I’ll Do Anything

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 15th, 2003

Synopsis

Nick Nolte is a down-on-his-luck actor, who suddenly has to look after his six-year-olddaughter (who naturally winds up with a better TV career than he has). This film was a big flopfor writer/director James L. Brooks. It was originally a musical, but all the songs were cut priorto release.

Audio

The audio specifications aren’t really indicated, which smells like 2.0 to me. Theenvironment effect is all right, though not spectacular, and the left-rig…
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Sordid Lives

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 14th, 2003

Synopsis

An ensemble piece, along the lines of something John Sayles or Robert Altman might do,only on a minuscule budget and played strictly for laughs. A massively dysfunctional Southernfamily meet for the funeral of Grandma Peggy, and all sorts of animosities and such are workedout. The film is based on a play, and boy can you tell — static as hell, boring to watch. There aresome moments of genuine emotion with the gay characters, but for the most part this is just apainful slog…
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Master of Disguise, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2003

Synopsis

Dana Carvey returns to the big screen with the tale of Pistachio Disguise. He plays a waiter at his father’s Italian restaurant who can’t figure out why he compulsively mimics his customers and is always changing his appearance. What he soon learners’ is that these are all traits of the Disguisey family, harnessing the great power of Energico they are able to transform themselves and have used their powers to fight evil for centuries. When his parents are kidnapped Pistachio must learn to us…
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