Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 4th, 2006
Synopsis
Everything I needed to know about why there was a double-dip of Save the Last Dance was answered within the first five minutes, when I saw a trailer for what appears to be the straight-to-video sequel for the film. So from there, the strategy appears to be to throw two or three semi-current extras onto the existing disc and call it a special edition. My favorite. Like green vegetables first thing in the morning. Now don’t get me wrong, the movie itself I like, but I would guess that there ar...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 30th, 2006
Synopsis
The film opens with the Senate pornography hearings of the 1950s, which cracked down on bondage-movie purveyor Irving Klaw. As Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) waits to be called to testify, she flashes back to the events that brought her to this point. After an abusive childhood in Tennessee, a failed marriage and a gang rape, she flees to New York, where she becomes first a glamour model, and eventually the most highly sought-after bondage queen.
Director Mary Harron returns to her bel...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006
Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic tells so many stories intertwined into one unique story that one can’t help but be drawn into what we’re viewing. The story involves many different characters including, Javier and Manolo (Benicio Del Toro and Jacob Vargas), newly appointed Presidential Drug Czar Bob Wakefield (Michael Douglas), daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen), Drug Enforcement agents Castro (Luiz Guzman) and Gordeon (Don Cheadle), drug kingpin Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer) and his wife (Catherina Zeta-Jones). < ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2006
Fortunately, American Gun does not appear to be about the debate on owning guns. It’s a trap, and I doubt there will be much movement on either side of the issue. The film instead mostly deals with members of a community where three years earlier a Columbine-like school shooting occurred. The story slowly plods through the lives of several families, most notably the mother and brother of one of the deceased gunmen. This is where the title and its advertised premise confuse me.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2006
Rap movies have com a long way. They have begun to evolve, from glorified music videos, to black cinema (which has come a long way in its own right), on up to a new level of art. Hustle and Flow brought the new style of black film into the limelight, and ATL follows right behind. I was really surprised how much I liked this film. In my line of work, you see a lot of bad films, and you can usually spot them from a mile away. I admit that I was fooled by this one. I was expecting to find another tired tale of a young hustla' making it big in the hood, but instead I found a genuinely touching film about what happens to four friends when High School is over and the next stage of life has not yet begun.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 19th, 2006
Tom Hanks is sometimes called this generation's Jimmy Stewart. In an odd sort of way, that is sort of a compliment to both men. Both are extraordinary actors who have secured a place in film history as the best of their time at playing the everyman. While such a role would doom other actors to being typecast as the all-time greatest supporting actor, both Hanks and Stewart have been able to pull off the role with amazing versatility.
Clearly, this is not the definitive set of Stewart's work as an actor. For t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2006
Seabiscuit tells the true tale of three men and one legendary racehorse. The story takes place right after the Great Depression has hit leaving many feeling the after effects. John Pollard (Tobey Maguire) is a young man who wants nothing more than to race his horse. Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) is his ‘horse whisper’ in that he seems to be able to communicate with his horses. Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) is your standard businessman at this time, completely broke. Looking for a way to get out of his hole, he dec...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2006
Synopsis
Andy Garcia plays Rick... er... I mean Fico, who runs a lavish nightclub in Batista-era Havana. The revolution is brewing, and two of his brothers are drawn to the cause. Fico is apolitical, putting family above all, but the revolution will transform his life whether he wants it or not, and then there’s the problem of falling in love with his brother’s wife.
Garcia not only starred here, he also directed, co-produced and scored the film. His elegy to pre-Castro Cuba is shooting to ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 8th, 2006
Helen Hunt is horribly miscast as a 1930’s infamous seductress on the prowl for vulnerable rich husbands. There’s not a moment in the film she doesn’t look and sound completely out of character for the role. Fortunately Scarlett Johansson is better suited for her performance. Still, most of the cast seems ill-placed. The film is based on the Oscar Wilde play “Lady Windermere’s Fan” which I have never seen. Of course, things are never what they appear to be throughout the film. While the dialogue contains the tradem...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 7th, 2006
Jean Harris made international headlines in 1980 for killing her on again off again lover and fiancée. Of course, such crimes are rather commonplace and would hardly merit all the attention let alone a feature film. The victim, however, in this case, was the famous Dr. Herman “Hi” Tarnower, better known to you and me as the “Scarsdale Diet Doctor”. The film claims to base its script on actual testimony from the well publicized trial. While this may in principle be true, the tale is obviously intended as a satire. T...
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