Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 17th, 2010
The teenage soap opera sensation of the 90s came to an end with this, its 10th season. As one would expect, in a season all about wrapping up storylines, along with various assorted crises, romantic and otherwise, weddings are in the offing. One is supposed to be between Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Matt (Daniel Cosgrove), but is complicated by the brooding presence of Dylan (Luke Perry). Will Kelly and Dylan sort out how they feel about each other (and I note with amusement that the jacket copy describes the relationship between these two twenty-somethings as “age-old”)? Perhaps more promising is the wedding between David (Brian Austin Green) and Donna (Tori Spelling), which provides a reason for most of the cast, past and present (minus the problematic Shannon Doherty) to reassemble for the grand finale.
This was always a pretty slick package, and for all that it was about terminally pretty people, the series did delve into some heady topics (gay bashing is one that is handled this season). But the overpowering odor of cheese was never far away (I remember a particularly hilarious studio-set version of Paris that the gang visited), and how did anyone ever take Perry's Poor Man's James Dean impression seriously? This will be an enjoyable nostalgic trip for fans, though, and a startling reminder of how many cast members became household names, only to plunge into the Where Are They Now File within seconds of the series' cancellation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 17th, 2010
A 911 operator returns to work after suffering the loss of her child during delivery, only to start suffering what seems like hallucinations of a lost girl and a menacing man. Obsessed with what she sees, she starts a journey from New York to Pennsylvania to discover the truth behind her visions.
Catherine Bell is solid as the lead but the supporting cast is less than stellar, placing the weight of the film onto her shoulders. Sadly, the pacing does nothing to help her. The building of this film's mystery could have been edited down to fit within a hour as if it were a prime-ime drama. Granted, the conclusion is interesting enough but the path getting there contains too many scenes of filler dialogue that seem only there to get it closer to a feature length of an hour and a half (which it still doesn't quite make). So all in all, Bell is largely left stranded while everytone else plods through the motions, and we the audience are left less than riveted (Fun Fact for Geeks: Keep an eye out for actor George Buza, who might be recognized from Sinbad or as the voice of Beast from the X-Men).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 17th, 2010
Based on the books by Jan Guillou this film is in fact the merging of two epics produced in Sweden. It also happens to be Sweden's most expensive production thus far. It tells the tale of a boy raised in a convent and trained to become a warrior by a former knight Templar. He falls in love and has a child with a young woman named Cecilia and the two are forced away from each other. Cecilia must pay penance living as a nun while Arn is sentenced to 20 years fighting in the name of God as a Knight Templar in Jerusalem.
This is indeed a huge production, and a beautifully shot one at that. The director of photography deserves any credit he recieves for making this film look as big and epic as it wishes to feel, allowing it to rub shoulders with the monster budgets of Kingdom of Heaven and Braveheart.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 16th, 2010
My dad was a Vietnam veteran. He did his time and came home to his wife (and eventually me). Because of when I was born, I never knew my father before the war. Therefore, I can’t really speak on his personality changes after he went off to fight the good fight. But in the same breath, I can tell you that we really don’t talk about that time except in very broad brush strokes. War is heck and hopefully my experience with The Dry Land is one that isn’t such a painful undertaking.
James (played by Ryan O’Nan) is an Army man and has come home from Iraq and arrives in the El Paso airport. He is greeted by his wife, Sarah (played by America Ferrera) and his best friend Michael (played by Jason Ritter). They exchange pleasantries and affection and go home to their doublewide trailer so that James can adjust to civilian life once again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2010
Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is basically the kid from The Sixth Sense, only with boobs, killer cheekbones, and a formerly lucrative pop career. I may not be entirely accurate about that last item, but until this 6-disc set arrived, I had not really watched the show. It always seemed a little too Touched by an Angel meets The Sixth Sense meets Jennifer Love Hewitt’s aforementioned cheekbones for my taste. Upon viewing the episodes in this set, I pretty much stand behind that assessment, and though it is still not my particular cup of tea, I can understand its appeal to its fans.
The show revolves around Melinda’s ability to communicate with ghosts, spirits of the dead who have unfinished business in this realm and are unable to cross over to the next world. Whether that’s heaven or another dimension is never expanded on in the show, so it avoids awkward questions about religion. In most episodes, she comes in contact with one of these troubled spirits, and then spends the episode working out what happened to them, what’s keeping them from crossing over, and things of that nature. She does this with the help of a stalwart group of friends, some of who have abilities of their own. Jamie Kennedy’s character, for example, can’t see but can hear dead people. A second gifted character is introduced in this season, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 9th, 2010
Grace, California is the kind of “small” town that all the young people wish to escape. Why? I suppose it is because they have ambitions for “greater” things. What are their ambitions while they have to stay? To be as catty and backstabbing as possible while living out a teen soap opera existence. Such is the groundwork for Seven Deadly Sins, a two-part mini-series created for the Lifetime network and based on a series of books of the same name. On this DVD the two parts are merged into a monstrous movie (clocking in at over 3 hours).
The story starts when a new girl arrives from Manhattan and uses the fact that she has designer merchandise and a snobby attitude to usurp the throne as coolest girl in school, all the while making a best friend out of the very girl she usurped. As the story progresses we are offered no more than the usual teen drama prattle of high school cliques, “who likes who” and “who betrayed who” which I frankly could care less about. Things do not perk my interest until a central character dies, only to have their ghost linger as the narrator and sometime provoker of events for her still living friends. It is through this implementation of the supernatural that the film desperately tries to tie in the “Seven Deadly Sins” theme, but it is VERY loose ties that it makes. Really, one should not come up with a provocative, albeit over-used, title first and worry about what it actually means to the story and characters second.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 8th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
I’ve come to learn that you either love the 1997 – 2002 American drama-comedy series Ally McBeal, or you loathe it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 7th, 2010
A hitman is getting into his senior years; a notable luxury for someone in his line of work. To feel more secure, he plans to pull off one last job before calling it quits. In order for this film to have an interesting plot something surely must go wrong, and it does. Now reunited with his son, who is aspiring to learn from dear ole (estranged) dad and elevate himself in the crime world, Charlie Valentine hopes to settles things in one way or another.
Gangster films either have too much Scorsese or too much Tarantino in them, and not enough originality. With a slew of typical scenarios, over-wrought tough guy dialogue and enough self-congratulatory bravado to make Joe Pesci blush, this film is hardly bringing anything fresh to the table.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 2nd, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
As the title suggests, Attack on Darfur depicts the genocide occurring in Darfur, and it doesn’t get more real than this.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 31st, 2010
For most people in high school, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is required reading. Sometimes more than once. Somehow, whenever it came time to read aloud in class, I always ended up with the part of Romeo. It certainly wasn’t for my striking good looks but apparently for my charming voice. As a result, I remember most of Romeo’s part to this very day. But would I be able to enjoy a fairly recent adaptation of Romeo and Juliet directed by Baz Luhrmann? We shall see.
Somewhere in Verona Beach there are two families who struggling for power, the Montagues and the Capulets. The blood feud has continued for years between Ted Montague (played by Brian Dennehy) and Fulgencio Capulet (played by Paul Sorvino). But everybody from their wives, Caroline Montague and Gloria Capulet (played by Christina Pickles and Diane Venora respectively) to their families have felt the impact.
![The Dry Land [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-dry-land-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Romeo + Juliet [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/romeo-juliet-blu-ray-large.jpg)
