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Drama

Sopranos – The Complete Fourth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 31st, 2003

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Not since the height of the American Western has there been a film genre where we find ourselves rooting for the bad guys and booing the good guys. Yesterday’s Jesse James and Billy The Kid have become Michael Corleone and Tony Soprano. Add to the mix that The Sopranos have totally revolutionized the face of the television drama. It’s no fluke that this show dominates nearly every Emmy category there is. The cinematography is feature film quality. The cast is high end and the writing is gutsy and tight. Make no mistake about it.
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Charlotte Sometimes

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 23rd, 2003

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Synopsis

Michael Idemoto plays Michael, an introspective bookworm and mechanic. His tenant isEugenia Yuan, who has a boyfriend, but spends most of her evenings with Michael. Theirrelationship is platonic, but Michael clearly has strong feelings for her. Then he meets Darcy(Jacqueline Kim), a distant but alluring young woman. In fact, Darcy is Yuan’s sister Charlotte.Our protagonist is a man of few words, and the same can be said of the movie. The mostimportant elements are the thing…
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All The Real Girls

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 14th, 2003

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All The Real Girls is an attempt to delve deeper into the emotional landscape involved with being young and in love. Most movies that try to tackle this very complicated issue often only so a very superficial job. The main thrust of this movie is to examine what it’s actually like to be smitten i.e. not being able to think straight, how desperate our emotions can make us feel and doing things we hadn’t planned and facing the consequences.

Paul (Paul Schneider) is the 22 year old town heart-throb who is wo…
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Sweet Sixteen

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 11th, 2003

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Synopsis

Liam (Martin Compston) is about to turn 16. His mother is in prison, taking the fall for hisbrutal drug-dealing father. (And his grandfather is just as bad.) Thrown out his home fordeliberately messing up a drug exchange which would have spoiled his mother’s chances forrelease, Liam sets about creating not just a new life for himself, but trying to provide for hismother when she gets out. His quest won’t be easy, to put it mildly. Strong, naturalisticperformances, and an un…
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Once In The Life

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 9th, 2003

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A double crossed drug deal goes bad and two half brothers 20/20 Mike (Laurence Fishburne) and Torch (Titus Welliver) retreat to an abandoned New York warehouse. When Mike calls his friend Tony the Tiger to help them out, tension erupts and not everything is as it seems in this story of loyalty and love. This is a well written, well shot and very well acted film, Titus Welliver is riveting as the dope fiend half brother. Written and Directed by Laurence Fishbourne this film is raw and gripping.

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Gas Food Lodging

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 1st, 2003

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Three women in small town Texas deal with their complicated lives. Nora Evans (Brook Adams) struggles with being a single mother raising two daughters. Trudi Evans (Ione Skye) is a rebellious trouble maker and very promiscuous much to the dismay of her mother, after getting pregnant and the father disappearing she moves to Dallas to have the baby and give it up for adoption. Her sister Shade (Fairuza Balk) justs wants everyone to be happy and does whatever she can to find her mom a man, including tracking down her re…
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Better Luck Tomorrow

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 1st, 2003

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MTV film’s Better Luck Tomorrow is a chilling look in the high schools of today. It starts out like an 80’s teen comedy but by the middle of the film quickly turns into a Guy Ritchie style movie with quick cuts and even faster action.

The movie follows the story of 4 Asian high school students in Orange County California who are preparing to enter college. They all excel in academics and during the first half of the movie try to “pad” their college applications by engaging in many extra curricular a…
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Regarding Henry

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

Harrison Ford first appears with slicked-back hair (now oddly, but not inappropriately,reminiscent of Christian Bale’s look in American Psycho) as a top-flight lawyer andworld-class SOB, inconsiderate toward his wife and daughter. Then he’s shot in the head.Recovery is long and slow, and he has lost his memory. As he returns to his life, he is now amuch nicer person, and discovers that he doesn’t like the man he used to be. Director MikeNichols and writer Jeffrey Abr…
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Expiration

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 26th, 2003

Synopsis

Gavin Heffernan is told by best pal Erin Simkin that she is pregnant, and that the child is his.Convinced that he hears destiny calling, Heffernan drives Simkin to Montreal for an evening out,intending to propose. He’s right about destiny being just around the corner, but it doesn’ttake the form he thought. Stopping in a convenience store to pick up some stomach medicine forSimkin, he gets caught by a robbery, and his engagement ring is stolen. So is a bag that belongsto Janet Lane…
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Silkwood

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 23rd, 2003

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Synopsis

Meryl Streep copped another Oscar nomination for her performance as Karen Silkwood, low-level employee at an Oklahoma nuclear power plant. She is driven to activism once she realizeshow her life and those of her fellow employees are being endangered by the shoddy safetystandards. Streep is backed up by fine performances from Kurt Russell and Cher, but Nicholstakes his own sweet time with the direction.

Audio

A mono soundtrack, and this is a film fro…
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Big Girls Don’t Cry

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 20th, 2003

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Synopsis

Kati and Steffi are best friends, and each relies on the other to get through the trials andtribulations of high school. Challenges arise, such as when they discover [x]’s father is cheatingon her mother. They plot an elaborate revenge. Boy trouble also figures prominently, of course,as these two girls painfully reach toward adulthood.

Audio

The sound is first-class. The music has good, pumping energy in its mix. The dialogue isclear and distortion-…
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Fargo

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 18th, 2003

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Synopsis

Terminal loser William H. Macy hatches a scheme to get out of his debt problems: hire SteveBuscemi and Peter Stormare to kidnap his wife, then get the ransom from his father-in-law.Naturally enough, everything goes spectacularly wrong. Bodies pile up, and hugely pregnantSheriff Frances McDormand investigates. All the elements of prime Coen work are present:wonderful character turns from a top cast, dialogue to die for, cinematography that will take yourbreath away, and a sc…
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Cat’s Meow, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 16th, 2003

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Synopsis

In 1924, a mysterious death occurred on a yacht owned by newspaper tycoon WilliamRandolph Hearst. This story imagines what might have happened amongst the variousHollywood luminaries who were aboard that ship. Along with Hearst and his young lover MarioDavies (Kirsten Dunst) are (among others) Charlie Chaplin (Eddie Izzard), writer Elinor Glyn(Joanna Lumley) and up-and-coming gossip columnist Louella Parsons (Jennifer Tilly). Jealousyand deception are the order of the day a…
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Nicholas Nickleby

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 10th, 2003

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Synopsis

At the at of 19, Nicholas Nickleby loses his father. He, his sister Kate and their mother go toLondon to seek the help of a rich uncle, played with villainous gusto by Christopher Plummer.Plummer packs Nicholas off to be teacher at a hellish Yorkshire boarding school, while keepingthe women in London under his thumb. At the school, Nicholas befriends the crippled Smike,and soon begins to stand up against the tyrants. So begin his adventures, during the course ofwhich he gat…
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Men With Guns

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 8th, 2003

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Synopsis

In an unnamed Latin American country, an elderly doctor decides to leave the city to visitseven former students. He had trained them for work in the countryside, with the idea of bringingmodern medicine to the underdeveloped regions. His journey becomes one of disillusionment, aseach student he seeks turns out to have been killed by “men with guns” (the army). As he movesfurther and further into the countryside, he witnesses more and more evidence of barbaritysanctio…
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Sunday Bloody Sunday

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 4th, 2003

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Synopsis

Glenda Jackson is a job placement consultant who wants to resign. Peter Finch is a doctorwho has more than his fair share of neurotic patients. Both Finch and Jackson are in love withMurray Head, a young artist who really loves himself more than either of his two lovers. Jacksonand Finch know about each other, and try to reconcile themselves with having to share Head. Asensitive character study, Sunday Bloody Sunday rivets with its superlative performancesand …
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Casablanca

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 26th, 2003

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Synopsis

Surely you know the story. It’s WWII. France has fallen. Refugees from Europe are flowing into Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart is the cynical owner of Rick’s Cafe. His life is disrupted byt he reappearance of former lover Ingrid Bergman, who is married to Resistance leader PaulÂ Henreid. They need to escape to the US. Which way will Bogart go? Will he obey the demands of his heart? His greed? His honour? The film hasn’t aged a day since its release, its grip is as powerful as …
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Forbidden Fruit

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003

Synopsis

Michael Kremko plays Adam, dashing young priest. Nadia Mansouri is a young woman whohas a crush on him. Her name is Eve. Get it? If you don’t, Jake Simons as a gay dancechoreographer helpfully points out the symbolism for us. Sure enough, Adam is tempted from thestraight and true path and begins a torrid affair with Eve. The jealous Simons starts underminingthe two characters. The dialogue is banal, even as it has pretensions to deal with Really BigIssues of faith and free …
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Nuts

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003

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Synopsis

Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand) has been charged with first-degree manslaughter. Hermother and stepfather try to have her declared incompetent to stand trial, so she will go to apsychiatric hospital rather than jail. Claudia refuses to be railroaded, punching out her lawyer incourt. Public defender Richard Dreyfuss winds up saddled with her case, and decides to fight forStreisand’s right to have her day in court. The role of Claudia is big, scenery-chewing exercisefor Str…
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Levity

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2003

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Synopsis

Twenty-two years ago, Billy Bob Thornton killed a cashier in a botched robbery. He hasdwelt on this crime ever since, and doesn’t want to be released from prison. He is, though, and re-enters society very much adrift. His life begins to take on a sense of direction when he meetsand strikes up relationships with an embittered preacher (Morgan Freeman), a young woman onauto-destruct (Kirsten Dunst) and the sister of the man he killed (Holly Hunter). Low key,gorgeously photogr…
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Titanic

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 3rd, 2003

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Synopsis

Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck are an estranged couple aboard the Titanic. In ahilariously caricatured Europe vs US conflict, he is elitist snob, and she is the paragon ofMidwestern values, fighting to save her children from corruption. Naturally, Webb will redeemhimself once the ship starts sinking. Though the focus on these two characters gives the storya firm centre, the result is very soap-operatic. The sinking scenes in the last 30 minutes are good,but very sanitize…
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Degree of Guilt

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2003

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Attorneys Chris Paget (David James Elliot) and Terri Peralta (Daphne Zuniga) are lawyers who come together to defend Chris’s ex-lover Mary Carelli (Sharon Lawrence). As they get deeper into the case they become closer; when Terri’s estranged husband is found dead and Chris is charged with the murder, things change. This film plays out like a three hour episode of Melrose places and it could have easily been two movies instead of one with two almost unrelated storylines.

Double Life, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2003

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Synopsis

Ronald Colman, in an Oscar-winning performance (1948), plays an actor who takes methodacting to the extreme. He truly disappears into his roles, and this becomes a problem when hiscurrent project is Othello. Little by little he loses touch with reality, with consequences that provedeadly for waitress Shelley Winters. Filled with delicious portraits of the New York theatrescene, with top talent both behind and in front of the camera, this is a strong thriller. Highlyrecommen…
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Gangs of New York

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 17th, 2003

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In 1927 Herbert Asbury published a book entitled The Gangs of New York: An informal history of the Underworld. This book would prove to be the inspiration for Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. This film was originally supposed to start filming in the late 1970’s, and after numerous delays and many financial issues, the film finally came to fruition in 2002.

It is an epic film of staggering proportions about a little known part of the history of the United States and New York City. We follow a story filled with both real and fictional characters through the slums of the lower Manhattan’s Five Points.
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Inn of the Sixth Happiness, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 12th, 2003

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Synopsis

Based on the life of Gladys Aylward, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness features IngridBergman as Aylward (granted, Bergman’s accent makes her an unlikely Englishwoman, but shealso played a cockney wench in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, so what the hell). Desperate to be amissionary, but turned down by the society she approaches, Bergman makes her own way toChina, where her extreme goodness soon wins over everyone in sight. At the climax, during theJapanese invasion of China, she must…
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