Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2007
I like Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting). A lot. Generally, his presence alone is enough to make me watch a particular movie — an unfortunate fact, given his spotty record. The man can be hilarious, and he has starred in some highly entertaining films over his long career. But he's also done bad movies, flops and failures. License to Wed is one of those.
10 minutes in, I wanted to turn it off. At 18 minutes, I was actively mocking everything and anything onscreen. By the half-way point, I was cursing my obligation as reviewer to sit through the entire film. This movie is an all-around bust. Stop reading now, and check out some other Upcomingdiscs reviews for better films to watch. You can pretty much close your eyes and click to find something that'll top License to Wed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 14th, 2007
Lando Buzzanca plays Senator Puppis, a telegenic young politician on track to become Italy’s next president. He’s been groomed for the part practically from birth by the Vatican, which plans to re-exert social control over the country through its presidential puppet. But plans go badly awry as Puppis suddenly develops an uncontrollable urge to fondle women’s buttocks (Stephen Thrower has aptly described the character as a “repressed heterosexual”). Even as he seeks help for his condition, various parties around him begin to panic, as the police think Puppis is planning a coup without telling them, the military think they are being left out of the loop by the police, and the Vatican, along with its Mafia catspaws, starts whacking everyone in sight in a desperate attempt to keep everything from completely unravelling.
How’s that for a sex comedy plot? Not exactly of the been-there-done-that variety, is it now? Behind the nonsensical UK release title is one of the most interesting Lucio Fulci films to reach these shores. Fans wanting the Fulci gore will have to look elsewhere, but those open to something new will encounter a level of filmmaking absent in too much of his later work. The sex gags are rather dated (though the moment of the Puppi’s first goose is a bit of wonderful deftness I’ve never seen in Fulci), but the black political satire, which makes up the bulk of the film, while being very tied to the specific Italian context, has lost none of its bite. This is an angry film, one that builds to an utterly appalling resolution, all the more sour for its comic framing. Without going so far as to compare Fulci’s filmmaking skills to Kubrick’s, one might think of this film as Fulci’s Dr. Strangelove – a bitter, hopeless indictment that can only fully express its venom in the form of farce.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 14th, 2007
Gomer Pyle began life as a one of the down home residents of Mayberry, where Andy Griffith held court as the sheriff and Don Knotts blundered his way to fame and fortune. It’s no small task indeed to find a way to shine as a minor character who wasn’t even there from the beginning; he replaced Floyd after the second year. But shine he did. Much of the character’s charm and success has to be given to Jim Nabors. The shy naive Gomer worked as an auto mechanic in Mayberry, but for his own series he appeared in one of the most unlikeliest of places, the U.S. Marine Corp. There Nabors found the perfect comedic partner in Frank Sutton, who played his superior Sgt. Vince Carter. The chemistry and remarkable timing these two brought to the Andy Griffith spin-off made it an instant hit. Critics at the time were very skeptical of the move, and most of the predictions called for a swift end to Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. But before you can say “surprise, surprise, surprise”, the series became as popular, if not more so, than the parent series, at least for a time. In syndication the show was always a hit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 14th, 2007
Frasier was another one of those unlikely hits. Frasier started as an intended one-off character on the hugely popular Cheers. Kelsey Grammer made the most out of it, and before long he was one of the regular barflies inhabiting a stool at Sam’s. In Cheers the wit worked because Frasier was so unlike his fellow characters. He was a sophisticated, almost snobbish psychiatrist with a taste for fine art and high class entertainment. Instead of a ballgame, Frasier was more at home at the opera or an art opening. The humor was to be found in his attempts to blend in with his crass companions or even make a run at enriching their lives with his cultured tastes. My favorite Frasier moment will always be his plan to expose the bar patrons to Charles Dickens, but instead of his changing them they eventually had him reinventing the brilliant author in his reading of David And The Coppers In The Field. Soon Cheers had run its course, and everyone was expecting a spin-off. There was too much rich material to be found here to let it just die with the closing of Sam’s bar. While Norm or Cliff were the natural choices, it was Frasier who would move on. While most fans were a little confused by the move, the show would go on for 11 seasons that were arguably far funnier than Cheers ever was.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 10th, 2007
So in a summer where a film directed by Judd Apatow and starring Seth Rogen made a truckload of money, another film released a couple months later where Apatow produced and Rogen co-wrote made almost the same truckload of money, yet both films were funny for different reasons.
In Superbad, Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Da Ali G Show) wrote the script that Greg Mottola (Undeclared) directed, and the film’s premise is simple enough. Seth (Jonah Hill, Knocked Up) and Evan (Michael Cera, Arrested Development) are high school seniors who are attending one last party, with the help of their friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and his fake ID and subsequent new name ‘McLovin’. The trio’s night takes a dramatic turn, as Fogell is assaulted at the liquor store and Seth and Evan presume that he’s been taken to jail for the fake ID. So Seth and Evan try to get liquor for a party that Seth’s friend Jules (Emma Stone, Drive) is throwing, and Evan wants to get some vodka for Becca (Martha MacIssac, Ice Princess), and the boys desperately want to get with the girls before the boys go to their respective colleges. In the meantime, Fogell isn’t taken to jail, but is taken on a wild ride and a wild night by Officers Slater (Bill Hader, You, Me and Dupree) and Michaels (Rogen), who take him through various twists and turns in the city.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 10th, 2007
Will Ferrell, arguably the last funny member of Saturday Night Live has picked some strange movies to be in since leaving the sketch comedy show. Appearing first as a co-star in Old School and then later in the kid-friendly (but cute) Elf, Ferrell took his time in getting to what fans wanted, a good PG-13 or better comedy for him to stretch his comedic talent.
By and large, Anchorman delivers on that, though occasionally Ferrell himself isn’t the one causing the laughs. As 1970s San Diego newsman Ron Burgundy, Ferrell is the one everyone in town trusts, along with his newsteam. The chemistry is broken when female newscaster Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate, Married With Children) is hired. Ron has to resolve the conflicts between himself, his team and his new interest in Veronica…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 6th, 2007
Malcolm McDowell’s second collaboration with director Lindsay Anderson, after their triumph with If..., sees McDowell as an enthusiastic new coffee salesmen sent off to make his company’s fortune in an ever widening area of the Britain. In true picaresque style, he has one strange adventure and encounter after another, each more bizarre than the last, and the whole is intercut with studio performances of Alan Price’s songs that comment on the whole enterprise.
Picaresque narratives are, by their nature, sprawling, episodic tales, and that is certainly true of O Lucky Man, which clocks in at just under three hours. They can, however, also have plots that only appear to be random, but are in fact as tight as wound watch, as is the case with Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones. This is less the case with Anderson’s film, which feels considerably more scattershot in approach. The episodes can be amusing, and McDowell is excellent throughout, but the satirical broadsides feel more obvious than pointed. Viewers will likely be divided over how they feel about the same actors (including Ralph Richardson and Helen Mirren) popping up in multiple roles, a convention rarely seen except in theatre. An interestingly messy work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 5th, 2007
The movie of Hudson Hawk was often panned by critics who thought the movie was the worst thing since George Bush Sr moved into office. Look where that has got us! Remember kids, bad presidents only birth worse presidents. Anyhow, Hudson Hawk which was billed as an action comedy and was thought of by many as sloppy, over-inflated movie making that took the cream of bad movie making. Was it a turd that sank like the Titanic?(both the movie and the ship) Was it a lemon like XXX? (both the movie and the scent of Vin Diesel's Mr. Clean head) Actually no. *gasps and shufflings* I know, you expect me to blast it for the steaming pile it is. But when in fact, I enjoyed myself for a solid one hundred minutes. I didn't even need lotion either.
The story starts off with a song. Actually Eddie "Hudson Hawk" Hawkins (played by Bruce Willis) just did a song or term over in Sing-Sing for cat burglary. Now he wants to go straight. However, others in the business have different ideas. Seems there is a plot to steal various items that were in possession of the great Leonardo Da Vinci. The only one they feel that is suited for this job is Hudson Hawk. So, they make an effort to push him in that direction. He does the deed enlisting the help of Tommy Five-Tone (played by Danny Aiello), his old thieving buddy. The first item is a gold horse from Leonardo that is to be put on auction and certified authentic by the Vatican. They make the theft the night before and think they have finished the adventure. But in reality, it's only started. The plot takes off from there until we get to a rising climax where a nun, a CIA group that goes by the name of famous candybars and a recreation of a machine that turns lead into gold all take part.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 2nd, 2007
What we have here is an average film based on what I'm told is a great little bestseller, The Nanny Diaries. There's a lot of talent at work in this romantic dramedy, with stars like Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), Laura Linney (Kinsey) and Paul Giamatti (Sideways), and the directing talents of husband-and-wife team Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor), so I expected more.
But are there any disappointments lurking on this widescreen DVD? Read on to find out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 30th, 2007
I love some Adult Swim. There are some real standouts shown that have fun plots, edgy animation, and a whole lot of outlandish humor. Venture Bros, Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force immediately come to mind. Heck, I've even gave smaller shows like The Boondocks and Metalocalypse a try and liked them on some level. So needless to say, I was interested when I received Squidbillies Volume 1. Twenty episodes staring a Georgia-based hick squid family. How bad could it be?
The story goes something like this. Early Cuyler (voiced by Stuart Daniel Baker) is a backwoods Georgia hick squid (yes, calamari) that has sex with a rather overweight white girl named Krystal. In the process, he robbed a liquor store for cassettes and booze and was caught by the Sheriff. Convicted for 15 years of hard labor, he had no idea that he had got Krystal pregnant. Krystal gave birth to Rusty, a little green squid. Krystal leaves him on Lil's (Early's sister) doorstep where the squid spends the next 15 years. At that point, Rusty finds his dad working on the chain gang and the Sheriff takes pity on the two. He decides to release Early which is where this story really begins. The mis-adventures of Early bringing up his illegitimate child Rusty serve as fodder for the rest of the twenty episodes.
![Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Unrated) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/anchorman-the-legend-of-ron-burgun-large.jpg)
