Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 13th, 2002
Synopsis
Minerva Mirabal (Salma Hayek) is an independent spirit in a society where that can get you killed. Her spiritedness, present from childhood, gradually evolves into outright rebellion against the brutal regime of General Trujillo (Edward James Olmos). The personal cost is heavy.
Audio
This telefilm has a very solid soundtrack. It is free of distortion, the music sounds wonderful, and enough care has been paid to the sound effects that there is always something going...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 13th, 2002
Synopsis
Bill Murray (finding some difficulty to lose that trademark smirk) plays Larry Darrell, a man who takes nothing seriously until World War I happens to him. Disillusioned, he embarks on a quest to find meaning in life, a quest that will take him to the Himalayas and back to his home town.
Audio
All in all a pretty successful creation of a sound environment. Ambient sound effects are a constant presence, and the music is served well by its mix. Some of the dialogue s...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2002
Synopsis
“A white school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined black high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.” – Columbia-Tristar
Audio
This film contains a very good Hip-Hop soundtrack. The base is substantial during the music sequences, and the surrounds are used effectively during these scenes as well. As just stated, the 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack was effective for the music, but did not do much in terms of the film. The surrounds were n...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 19th, 2002
Synopsis
Jodie Foster, victim of a gang rape, stumbles out of a bar called The Mill. Immediately before she appears, a young man also comes running out, and phones the police. Kelly McGillis is the prosecuting attorney on the case. She arranges a plea bargain with the assailants, which enrages Foster. McGillis then agrees to prosecute the men who stood by, watched, and did nothing. That young man at the beginning of the film will obviously have a crucial role to play.
The film is anchored b...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 18th, 2002
Synopsis
After a prank goes horribly wrong, almost resulting in the death of another student, high school bad boy Landon (Shane West, doing his best impression of Christian Slater channelling Charlie Sheen), is condemned not to jail, or to community service, but to act in the school play. In this new environment, he becomes more and more acutely aware of self-assured preacher's daughter Jamie (Mandy Moore). Opposites attract, hard lessons are learned, and redemption is handed out all round. Call it t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 11th, 2002
Sins of the Father is an emotional film. It is overflowing with disturbing images of both racial and domestic violence. The cast is quite convincing. This film is not for everyone. The portrayal of the racial tensions of 1960’s Alabama closely resembles the historic footage interwoven in the film for realism. The film often switches from 1998 to 1963 and the transitions are often confusing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 19th, 2002
Synopsis
Crowe plays John Nash, schizophrenic genius. The film follows him from his grad student days at Princeton, to his revolutionary formulation of game theory, to his later breakdown, and climaxes in his reception of the Nobel Prize in 1994. Though overlong, often burdened by an excessively emphatic score by James Horner, and following all the usual conventions of Hollywood melodrama, the film also offers stunning cinematography by Roger Deakins, uncharacteristically good dialogue by Akiva Golds...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2002
Synopsis
Tom Cruise is the deeply shallow David Aames, who undergoes a conversion when he falls in love with Penelope Cruz (repeating her role from the original). This upsets Cameron Diaz, who commits vehicular suicide with Cruise in the passenger seat. Horribly disfigured, he nevertheless re-establishes his relationship with Cruz. And then reality starts coming apart at the seams.
The film looks terrific, and has an interestingly eclectic soundtrack (I'm amazed that they dug up "Doot Doot"...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 8th, 2002
There was a time when everything Stephen King wrote was considered movie material. Somewhere studios were trying to figure out how to make a film franchise from his shopping lists. Most of the time the films fell massively short of the original material. The Green Mile is a noteworthy exception, as this is far superior to the King story. There are no monsters or ghouls (unless you count guard Percy), instead, this film manages to pull on your emotions in subtle ways in contrast to King’s usual M.O. of hitting you over the head with your fears.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 5th, 2002
Synopsis
Buddy Young Jr. (Billy Crystal) is in the twilight of his career. Once he had his own television show, but his self-destructive impulses and violent temper torpedoed that (not to mention increasingly alienating his loved ones). Now a senior citizen, he is still trying to make a go of it, still making life miserable for his long-suffering brother. The film flashes back and forth, showing us Buddy's rise and fall in the past, and his current attempts to make something remotely resembling a com...
