Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 19th, 2005
Synopsis
Robert Redford is a small-time con man who swindles a runner working for big-time gangster Robert Shaw. When Redford’s partner is killed in retribution, Redford swears revenge, and hooks up with Paul Newman, a veteran at the con game who has fallen on hard times. They put together a veritable army of operators, determined to bring Shaw to his knees in the ultimate con.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2005
I am a foreign film fan, so I was quite excited to find this disc in my queue of DVDs to review. From the cover, this looked like just the kind of thing that I typically enjoy. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, you shouldn't judge a DVD by it's cover... or something like that. The plot of this film sounds reasonable enough; a couple of documentary filmmakers set out on a quest to try to find out what happened to a beautiful missing girl. Now, this is not a film shot in a “mocumentary” style, it is just a fictional f...lm that happens to feature documentary filmmakers.
Only it's not, really. This is a film that seems to be suffering from multiple personality syndrome. On the one hand, it presents itself as a movie about the filmmakers' search for the truth. On the other hand, so much of the film includes scenes presented “flashback style”, that the segments with the documentarians are the ones that seem out of place. This is a story that would have worked much better if it had followed a more basic storytelling style, instead of dragging extraneous characters into the mix.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2005
Synopsis
Art Carney is a spirited senior (the Harry of the title) who is evicted from his home (the building is going to be torn down to make way for a parking lot). He sets out with his cat Tonto on a cross-country journey that sees him bouncing off family members and strangers on their own journeys.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 27th, 2005
Synopsis
After being the hunk of the moment on E.R., George Clooney came out of the starting blocks as a film actor in a few films, ranging the gamut from cult favorite (From Dusk ‘Til Dawn) to somewhat critically praised (The Peacemaker). He was also played the starring role in the film that put the Batman franchise on life support. One of his first smart acting choices came in Out Of Sight, directed by Steven Soderbergh, before Soderbergh became the Hollywood flavor of the mont... with Traffic and Erin Brockovich. His female co-star was Jennifer Lopez, whose most notable films at the time were Money Train and Anaconda. The pair was surrounded by an outstanding cast that included Don Cheadle (Boogie Nights), Albert Brooks (Mother), Luis Guzman (Punch Drunk Love) and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), to name a few.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 25th, 2005
Synopsis
This is the biopic of Irish painter and writer Christy Brown. Born with crippling cerebral palsy, he retained movement only in his left foot. His body is a cage for his mind, and at first, only his mother believes that he is an intelligent being. When, as a child, he spells “MOTHER” on the floor in chalk, this is the breakthrough moment, and we follow him through the triumphs and frustrations of his adult years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 12th, 2005
This is one of those films that is depressing solely for the sake of being depressing. There was a string of these kinds of films in the 90's, but they have gone out of style as of the past seven years or so. This particular film tells the story of what happens to a dysfunctional family when one of the members commits suicide. Apparently, each member of the family grieves in his or her own way, all of which are wildly dangerous. Sexual promiscuity, substance abuse, lawlessness and despair abound in this tale of miser... and woe. In fact, just when you don't think this film can get any more screwed up, it goes one step further.
The acting is top-notch, but the script is painfully sub-par. Plot twists are easily perceived way in advance, and the inevitable questions that arise after a suicide are addressed in a way that, quite frankly, seems to make the answers a bit to easy. Let's face it, suicide is an extremely heavy subject, and one that is very hard to discuss. This film attempts a monumental task, and gives it an admirable try, but just doesn't quite live up to the goals it sets for itself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2005
Synopsis
Kelly Lunch plays a young woman who begins the movie by attempting suicide. She is saved, and annoyed by the friends and family who visit her in the hospital, she takes off in her hospital clothes and a coat, hopping on a bus and getting off in the middle of a desert nowhere. One drunken night later, she wakes up in a house married to a stranger. Cue a whole bunch of sex scenes and psychological drama.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 1st, 2005
Synopsis
In the 1950s, Blue (Nina Siemaszko) travels from town to town with her itinerant jazz musician father (Tom Skerritt). When Dad is killed, Blue winds up under the thumb of brothel madam Wendy Hughes, and after some initial difficulty, assumes her new identity. But she pines for the boy (Brent Fraser) she met before her life went to hell, and she eventually fights to leave the addictive world of decadence she has entered. Escape will not be easy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 30th, 2005
Synopsis
Poor Tom Selleck. The guy has had to deal with the Magnum P.I. stigma for so long, whenever he tries to play darker characters in a film noir-style TV movie, people just don’t buy it, as what seems to be the case in Stone Cold.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 21st, 2005
Synopsis
In the 1920s, heiress Bo Derek (looking wildly anachronistic) seeks to learn the ways of ecstasy. (Don’t get mad at me. I didn’t make this up.) Accompanied by her best friend and faithful chauffeur George Kennedy (here making a huge career step down from such *ahem* highs as The Concorde: Airport ‘79), she hares off to Morocco, inspired by Valentino movies to give her virginity to a sheik. When he fails to come through in the clutch, she next turns her sights on a Spanish bullfighter....He turns out to be the man of her dreams all right, but then a bull nails him where it counts. Shock! Drama!
