Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 26th, 2006
Jack Nicholson can make a convincing case for being one of the greatest actors of all time. He's had his share of memorable moments in movies, with quoted lines etched in our brains. It took a while for me to get "You can't handle the truth!" out of my head. He has also turned in outstanding performances in lesser known movies that have shown his range and dramatic ability. Alternate viewing recommendations to see Jack in action include Hoffa and The Pledge, among a variety of others....In About Schmidt, the follow-up effort by Alexander Payne (Election), Jack strips away the sunglasses, the eyebrow and the devilish grin, puts on 20 pounds, and gives us a performance that some have labeled as career defining.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 25th, 2006
For better or worse, Hugh Grant has carved out a niche in Hollywood as the nervous, awkward, charming, British romantic leading man. He's tried doing other things, paired with Gene Hackman as the protagonist in the thriller Extreme Measures. But attempts such as these are few and far between, and haven't seemed to work. For better or worse, he'll always be the stodgy British guy trying to bed an American chick over the objection of her parents, or some other convoluted romantic comedy plot. To his credit, he has been playing against that stereotype lately, to a lesser degree in Bridget Jones's Diary, but to a larger scale in About a Boy, recently nominated for a Golden Globe in Comedy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 24th, 2006
The sad thing about building a strong acting career is one usually has to take on roles better forgotten to get to the pinnacle of success. I'm sure Johnny Depp still has the occasional nightmare of being associated with Private Resort (on an artistic level anyway); and he is about to be reminded of this forgotten-with-good-reason teen sex comedy as Sony debuts it in the digital format just in time for summer. The release Sony offers bills Depp as the main star, and while his role is substantial, the film is m...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 14th, 2006
I like to call movies like this “exception films”. They are the exception to the rule. Those odd little films that show up every once in a great while that really have no right to be good. You hear the plot, you see the trailer, and you know that this film is mere days away from losing vast sums of money for someone on the left coast. Then the movie comes out and it is... inexplicably entertaining and fantastic.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has carved out a surprisingly strong cult following for itself since it...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 13th, 2006
Utter the words ‘Dave Chappelle’ or ‘The Chappelle Show’ to any person and odds are they will think of the ‘Lil’ Jon’ skit or the ultra famous “I’m Rick James, bitch”. While this one joke doesn’t even come close to the charm and humor that Dave Chappelle had on his once popular ‘Chappelle Show’ on Comedy Central, it still has become the most popular joke. But enough about that and more about the actual film at hand.
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party takes place around September of 2004, which was before ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 12th, 2006
In Failure to Launch, Trip (Matthew McConaughey) is a 35-year-old man who still lives with his parents. His parents simply want him out of the house, which doesn’t seem so harsh considering his age. So what do they do? Why, they simply decide to hire a woman named Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) to assist them. Paula, you see, is a specialist in helping grown men move out of their parents’ homes. I didn’t even think such a job existed. Well, Paula, we soon learn, has a very simple method that usually guarantees h...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 6th, 2006
It's hard to tell what Ronnie Warner and Kent George were trying to accomplish when they perpetrated Puff, Puff, Pass on the video rental public, but hopefully, they will discover it takes a little more work to write a funny script than cobbling together every stupid pot joke and lame religious blasphemy they can think of into a coherent script. Think "lame sitcom trying to be edgy for 95 minutes," and you'll have exactly what this film turns out to be. Featuring six stars from various TV shows - with Mekhi Ph...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 4th, 2006
A long time ago, Sony owned the MGM video library (before Fox picked it up for impending HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Wars) and re-released some films as Special Editions, and combined others as part of convenient two-packs. This is an example of the latter, perhaps as some sort of romantic two-pack that's easy on the wallet but heavy on the heart.
At First Sight is directed by Irwin Winkler (Night and the City) and tells the tale of Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer, Real Genius) who has been blind all of his life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2006
It seems like I keep saying this, but here we go again... Jennifer Anniston is way too good of an actress to be stuck in this film. Now, that's certainly not to imply that Shirley Maclaine isn't fantastic as well, but that's a given. Anniston is clearly the star of this film, and it's easy to see what attracted her to it. Not only is it a romantic comedy directed by Rob Reiner, but the premise is a really clever one. While in town for her sister's wedding, Sarah (Anniston) discovers that her family was the inspirati...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2006
Dave Chappelle and I are the same. Well, he's a year younger than me. And he's black. But we're both from Washington DC, but I live in the suburbs, and usually never go into the downtown area unless someone dared me. But he's a lot funnier than me, and Comedy Central decided to give him a 12 episode commitment on their network after seeing him in such films as Half Baked, Screwed and Undercover Brother.
