Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 9th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 9th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 2nd, 2004
Let’s face it… when it comes to boxing movies, there’s Raging Bull, and then there’s everything else. Rocky (and the subsequent cash driven vehicles) is a great film, but not really a great film about boxing. Even Daniel Day-Lewis’ The Boxer is more about the man than the sport. It’s hard to make a great boxing film. Not only is it extremely difficult to capture the action authentically, but very few actors have the physical ability to pull off such a role.
Well, I don’t know how easily...it was done, but John Leguizamo has made quite a valiant effort at conquering this challenge in this film, his directorial debut. The story is just what you would expect, chronicling the rise of a young poor kid from the streets as he wins fame and fortune, and loses himself along the way. The good news is, this predictable plot is peppered with some truly fantastic boxing segments. The viewer feels the momentum shifts in the matches, and is not just subjected to a highlight reel of punches, which seems to be the norm in so many of the movies of this genre.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 1st, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 29th, 2004
Following closely on the heels of Doug Liman’s swift and engaging Go, of which director Mazzei must be a huge fan, Devious Beings follows Jackson (Andre B. Blake), Arrow (Patrick Van Horn), and Casey (Kevin Connolly), three childhood friends who push X for their supplier, Leo (Joseph Sicari). When their buyer, Tiny (Andre Rosey Brown) unexpectedly dies, they make off with the money and the product. However, dealer Damone (Robert Gossett), who was expecting to get the drugs in the deal, decides to get ev...n with the three friends when he learns that he has been cheated. Throw in a rogue cop (Jerry Doyle) who is blackmailing Jackson by threatening to send his junkie mother to jail if he’s not included in the action, and you have one convoluted plot where tension is always at a high.
Devious Beings has some things working for it. Mazzei seems to have modeled his cast around that of Go, and several actors here will remind you of those from Liman’s film. Andre Blake is strong in the lead, resembling Taye Diggs, while Patrick Van Horn from Swingers (another Liman film) acts and looks like Timothy Olyphant. While the actors may not play characters that mirror those from Go, you will definitely find the cast oddly similar. The same can be said about the writing, which has the action take place at Christmastime, just like Go! Scenes with violence and tragedy are played for humor, and most of the time they work, especially in one particular scene that had me doubling over in laughter. Of all the scenes in this film, this one works to the point of black humor perfection. It is worth the price of rental alone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 26th, 2004
Hayden Christensen is the very incarnation of smarm as Stephen Glass, hot-shot writer for The New Republic. His stories are all fabulous, seemingly too good to be true. Which is, in fact, the problem. His tissue of lies begins to unravel when Steve Zahn, reporter for Forbes Digital, tries to follow up one of Christensen’s articles, and can’t find a single legitimate fact. Peter Sarsgaard is Chuck Lane, Christensen’s editor, and he begins to smell a very big rat.
Utterly absorbing stuff. The fall from grace has the structure of a tragedy, but Christensen’s Glass is such a skin-crawling phony that his destruction carries the deep satisfaction of black comedy. Christensen’s oil is perfectly foiled by Sarsgaard, who has the dead-eyed, exhausted integrity of the honest man who has already seen it all far too many times. This is a film is small details and quiet conversations, and it flies by with the pace of an action thriller.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 24th, 2004
No surprise that in Master and Commander and Pirates of the Caribbeanwould trigger the re-release of older pirate movies. And oh look: those two hits are the firstthings mentioned on the blurb!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 24th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 16th, 2004
Film
Ah, Baltimore. The Inner Harbor, Camden Yards, Preakness, corrupt government officials, devastating crime rate, as well as a nasty STD epidemic to boot. You gotta love my hometown. But what Baltimore has in negative traits, it makes up for it with creativity. If you have caught HBO’s The Corner or The Wire, you see that Baltimore’s issues can make for captivating television. While Little Red isn’t on the level of these excellent shows, it does have a certain level of amateur charm ...hat makes up for what it lacks.
