Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 28th, 2008
Three female friends are there for each other’s personal storms. One is a coke-addled sensation addict, one aspires to be an artist (and does her share of powder too) and the third is taking refuge from an unhappy marriage and questioning her sexual identity. Many scenes of heightened emotion are the order of the day.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 28th, 2008
Tyler Perry burst on the scene in 2005 with Diary of a Mad Black Woman. It was one of the worst reviewed movies of the year, but when it raked in over $50 million dollars at the box office, Tyler Perry silenced critics and became a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood.
Before his movie-making career, Perry was already a huge success in the African-American community, having written several Christian and family oriented plays upon which many of his movies are based.
After Diary, Perry went on to star in and direct the sequel, Madea’s Family Reunion, which did even better at the box office. And since then, he’s created his own studio, released three more movies, is set to release a few more, and currently produces a sitcom, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, on TBS.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2008
The Kite Runner is one of those films that is extremely hard to pin down. On the surface it’s a moving story about friendship and redemption, but I have to wonder if that is really the collection of themes intended by either the original novel’s writer Khaled Hosseini or the film’s director, Marc Foster. The story begins with two young Afghan children who appear to be friends, but they are from different worlds.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 27th, 2008
It has always been odd to me that for as popular as Bollywood films are in India, they really haven’t made much of an impact here in the States. Films from other countries find their place here, but Indian works are pretty widely overlooked here. Maybe it has to do with the wide cultural differences. Maybe it is because so many Bollywood films rely heavily on the traditions of the American musical. Whatever the reason, no Indian films have really caught on here, and the same can be said of the beautiful and talented Indian actors and actresses.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 27th, 2008
From the Oscar ceremony, the only thing to speak of when it came to the quaint Irish charmer Once is that the girl was going to speak after the song “Falling Slowly” won the award for Best Original Song, and she was cut off, but she got a chance to thank everyone after the commercial, so points for trivia in case you stuck in there for that long (I know I didn’t). For those who hadn’t seen the film before that, they were certainly missing a slightly profound and moving experience.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 27th, 2008
Imagine my surprise when I found out that the show Wildfire, aired exclusively on the ABC Family network on Monday nights, is coming up on its fourth season. So it makes me wonder, since ABC Family is a little long on episodes, if a show airs on a network that people barely watch (aside from the occasional Gilmore Girls repeat), does the show really exist?
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 27th, 2008
The Nines truly is a film that defies description, albeit in not an entirely new and convincing manner. For instance, I could tell you that I just got done eating a chicken sandwich after consuming several mojitos and a beer, and at least with that statement, you could tell what it is that I’ve done, you know? But to be fair, The Nines decides to take on some daring filmmaking and storytelling, and does it in a way that you can’t help but want to watch it again, even a little.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 19th, 2008
It seems like foodies are everywhere these days. Maybe Emeril is to blame, maybe it’s Paula Dean, maybe it’s the Food Network as a whole.I have even been sucked in my Anthony Bourdain myself (whose show is ironically also named No Reservations). Wherever there is a trend, there is guaranteed to be a romantic comedy to follow. Enter Aaron Eckhart and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Eckhart has been doing some fantastic work lately, from his work in Thank You for Smoking to lesser known films such as Conversations With Other Women, he is quickly becoming one of the best actors on the scene today.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 18th, 2008
Two couples, each with their own intimacy issues, set out to spice up their love life by attending a sex therapy seminar. After navigating through their problems for about forty minutes, they each settle on group sex to solve their problems, because that’s always the best solution to everything, right?
The first couple is James and Heather (Culkin and Alexis Dziena). James is madly in love with Heather, but she can’t have an orgasm when they have sex. That, my friend, is a problem. The second couple is Ellis and Renee (Kuno Becker and Dushku), who seek thrills to liven up their bored sex life. That, is a problem too… but not as bad as the first.
As fate would have it, these two couples both sign up for the same group sex therapy and… wait for it… they have group sex together. Score!
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 17th, 2008
“Greed is Good.”
No other cinematic phrase described the 1980’s better. And no other movie captures the financial corruption of the 80’s better than Oliver Stone’s Wall Street.
The film celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a 2-disc re-release that includes never-before-seen special features. And while Wall Street is very dated (my wife and I cracked up at the fashion and decorating styles), it still works as a morality tale in the era of big business.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 14th, 2008
Here are four films from renowned maverick Jean-Luc Godard. Insofar as these films have plots in the conventional sense of the word, Passion is about a filmmaker struggling to rediscover his love for his profession, First Name: Carmen plays with the tale of that same name to tell another story of filmmaking and bank robbery, Detective is an idiosyncratic tribute to films noirs, and Oh, Woe Is Me is about a man who may or may not be possessed by a god wanting to seduce his wife.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 13th, 2008
Most people like a good heavy dose of action. Guns a blazing, explosions bursting and people’s dead bodies flying in each and every direction. But most people also want something a little more. Perhaps a little suspense or a little who dun it. Or perhaps they are looking for their favorite actor to make a dramatic on-screen performance that will leave them breathless at the door. This lonely review writer loves action but a good dose of story and a well done gotcha at the end means more than the next building that gets blown up. Chaos would prove to have everything I wanted from an action drama and make me believe that there is at least one semi-original story left in Hollywood today.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2008
I am a sucker for a good biopic. Walk the Line, Ray, Man on the Moon, Cinderella Man… all these films and many more like them feature prominently in my DVD collection. With this release, I am now excited to be able to add this fine film to my collection. Brad Pitt’s James is not the one of fables and adventure books, but one grounded in reality. While charismatic criminals are frequently glorified in these types of films, it is often times hard to remember that in real life these are often times people with severe social problems. The result is a film that is more open and honest than the vast majority of the biopics that have come along in the past decade.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 9th, 2008
Without knowing if he is or not, I’m willing to bet that director James Gray is a fan of The Godfather. His previous films, The Yards and We Own the Night show flashes and flourishes of The Godfather so familiar, it’s uncanny. Also, while The Yards featured Sonny Corleone, We Own the Night features Tom Hagen.
Funny, huh?
As a matter of fact, while watching We Own the Night, I was unsure who had directed it, but after a few all too familiar scenes, I reached a conclusion. It had to be Gray, and damn if I wasn’t right when the credits rolled.
If ever there is a Part IV, or dare I say it, a remake, of The Godfather, I hope Gray is the guy behind the camera. His two last movies feel like he’s actively lobbying for the position.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 9th, 2008
On paper, Rendition looked good. Damn good. It had Reese Witherspoon, hot off her best actress win as June Carter in Walk the Line. It had “it boy” Jake Gyllenhaal from Brokeback Mountain and Zodiac. It also had stalwarts in Alan Arkin and Meryl Streep rounding out the cast. It was directed by acclaimed Tsotsi director Gavin Hood. And it was about post 9/11 hot-button issues such as torture and imprisonment without due process.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 8th, 2008
Jack Lemmon is a rather meek insurance company employee who is slowly working his way up the corporate ladder by lending his apartment to married executives looking for a place to take their girlfriends. Life is rather inconvenient, as he is locked out of his home at all hours, but things become even more complicated when the big boss (Fred McMurray) takes an interest. The good news is that Lemmon gets another promotion. The bad news is that McMurray’s affair is with Shirley MacLaine, the elevator girl for whom Lemmon is carrying a torch.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 4th, 2008
“The Invasion” is a remake of the classic “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. This time around, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are the heroes that uncover the diabolical truth behind a secret plot to take over the world. This is a film that has been re-made several times before, in various forms. Each time, the film is turned into a heavy-handed metaphor for the current political climate. That is most certainly the case this time around as well, as the oblivious citizens are expected to accept everything their leaders tell them, no matter how implausible that information might be. I’ll spare you the pop politics, but the parallels between the Bush administration and the story are rampant.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2008
I’m going to be honest with you, I can’t stand the stand up comedy of Robin Williams. Growing up, I used to like it and thought it was pretty hilarious, but two things have changed since then. First off, my voice changed and I grew hair in strange places, but secondly, Williams stopped doing cocaine, which as any artist will tell you, seems to neuter them creatively (Eddie Van Halen, I’m looking at you). But hey, at least in his later years he seems to have mellowed out and Patch Adams seems to be a progression of that.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 28th, 2008
Beowulf is one of the oldest written stories known. The story began as a heroic tale passed from generation to generation only by word of mouth. Naturally there’s no way to know how much the story changed during those years of oral tradition. The author of the piece is unknown, and it is likely several persons contributed to the work. By the 8th Century an epic poem was written that forms the story as it is remembered today.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 26th, 2008
Guy Pierce fascinates me. He first broke on the scene in a big way in LA Confidential, which just happens to be one of my favorite films. Instead of taking the path of his co-star Russell Crow and chasing the big Hollywood dollar, however, Pierce chose to explore smaller, more interesting fringe films. Sometimes, this decision pays off for him, as was the case in the amazing Memento, or the recent The Proposition. Other times, however, the gamble falls flat, as was the case with The Hard Word. Pierce is consistently excellent, but the films he picks are hit and miss. That’s the problem with interesting projects, they either turn into surprise hits, or predictable failures. So the big question is, is First Snow a hit or a miss?
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2008
Written by Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice has been made into a film several times, with varying results. The novel itself is a classic, written by one of the most pioneering woman in literature history. This 2005 film version stars Keira Knightley (Atonement) as Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennett, one in a family of five sisters, living in Hartfordshire, a small English country town. Lizzie is the second-oldest sister and should already be married, according to her overbearing mother (Brenda Blethyn, Beyond the Sea). However, much like Jane Austen herself, Lizzie wants to marry for love, and not just to please her parents (although her father (Donald Sutherland, JFK) just wants her to be happy). To add to her parents concern, once they die, the girls will have nowhere to live, as back in those days, property and money passed only to males, and in their case it goes to the girls’ cousin, Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander, A Good Year).
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2008
Just another working day in Los Angeles. Lexi (Mary McCormack) heads off for the commute, while hubby Brad (Rory Cochrane) stays home. His morning ablutions are interrupted by the news that a series of dirty bombs have just gone off in the city. Stymied in his attempts to reach his wife, Brad retreats home, where he acts on the instructions to seal up the house, as the bombs have released a deadly toxin. When Lexi does return, Brad cannot let her in, as she is contaminated. How’s that for a strain on a relationship?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2008
World War II has just ended, and the recently discharged Robert De Niro hits New York on the prowl for sex. He runs up against WAC Liza Minnelli, and the more she resists his advances, the more determined he becomes. There is more: he is a saxophonist, and she (of course) is a singer). So begins a tempestuous relationship between two artists whose enormous talents and equally enormous personalities mean they can neither live with nor without each other.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2008
When MI-5 first hit American shores, Alias was in full swing, and the comparisons were inevitable. After all, both were sy shows set in a post September 11 world, and both were slick, fun thrillers. Fast forward to 2006, however, and the landscape has changed dramatically. Alias is now off the air, having crashed in spectacular fashion, yet MI-5 is still going strong. In fact, the show just seems to keep getting better and better.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2008
There was a new Cowboy in
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