Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 29th, 2011
All eyes are on Angelina Jolie; okay, so that's not much of a surprise, is it? But, I'm talking about the opening scenes of Jolie's partnership with Johnny Depp in the remake of the French spy thriller Anthony Zimmer, retitled for the American audience, The Tourist. Her character Elise is attracting a lot of attention from men hidden away in vans with surveillance equipment trained on her every move and from every angle. No, it's not the paparazzi this time. Elise is being followed because the intelligence community believes she will lead them to their real target, an elusive master criminal named Alex.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 29th, 2011
By 1978 the television detective model had been nearly complete and possibly already a cliché. Dan Tanna might have well been the complete model as far as the formula goes. It was almost as if you could go down a checklist and, like Dr. Frankenstein creating a monster, check off the necessary elements. The scripts could then almost write themselves, and you let the show fly on autopilot for three seasons or so until someone decides to look behind the curtain.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 24th, 2011
The home video release of Hereafter, like its Asian box office release, is the victim of bad timing. The movie has been pulled from theaters in Japan since the tragic events that have struck that country in recent weeks. It's unfortunate that the movie opens with one of the most realistic depictions of a tsunami that I've ever seen. The ultra-realism will be an emotional pang for anyone who shares the sadness of the current disaster. The film has suddenly been criticized for its graphic portrayal, but that kind of statement bears the mark of the worse kind of insincerity
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 23rd, 2011
A sure sign that Easter is just around the corner is yet another home video release of perennial seasonal favorite The Ten Commandments. In years past, we got the multi-disc edition, complete with original silent version of the film. This particular version is rather more stripped down, as far as features go, but it does mark the film's extremely welcome arrival on Blu-ray.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 22nd, 2011
While Scarecrow And Mrs. King first aired in 1983, this show is really one of the last of the 1970's crime dramas. It was an early attempt to bring in more of the female audience that seemed reluctant to join the popular detective shows of the era. While not really a "detective" show (they were spies), it employed a lot of the 1970's conventions. Even the film footage has that distinct style from those days and type of shows. The idea worked, and the series did bring in a sizeable female audience, but it never really caught on with the guy crowd who found it a bit too relationship-heavy. The two leads were chosen less for their character appeal than for their apparent "easy on the eyes" look.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 14th, 2011
The cover of this DVD is, depending on which signals you pick up on, either misleading or perfectly accurate. If all you see is George Clooney running with a gun, and you therefore come to the conclusion that this is going to be some action-packed thriller, and that is what you're hoping for, then you're going to be disappointed. If, on the other hand, the orange colour and the rather retro look to Cloney's image, not to mention the rather uninformative title, makes you think of the 1970s, then you're on the right track.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 9th, 2011
There have been very few films of this stature that I have not had the chance to see over the years. Even if I don't think I might enjoy a particular movie, there are those titles that have become so well known or a part of the culture that one feels a sense of obligation to take in. For years The Last Tango In Paris was one of those films for me. Thanks to a new Blu-ray release by MGM, I was finally afforded the opportunity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 9th, 2011
Monica Guerritore is an unnamed wealthy socialite (all of the characters in the film are unnamed) who catches her husband in flagrante with another woman. To add insult to injury this woman is a TV personality of a sort unknown in North America, but common in France and Italy – an attractive woman whose only job is to let you know what's coming up next – and, rightly or wrongly, can represent, as is the case here, a certain form of empty glamour.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 9th, 2011
I must admit, I came at The Storm Warriors with very little knowledge of its creators, the Pang brothers, but as someone who appreciates Asian cinema, I felt that I had the sensibilities to enjoy the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 3rd, 2011
Paula (Carmen Montes), a dancer at a strip club, is arrested for the murder of Paula (Paula Davis), a fellow dancer. The arresting officer (Lina Romay) questions the near-catatonic Paula, and the rest of the film is a slow-motion, flashback of the dead Paula dancing, the two women making love, and the murder. Once the slow-mo begins, there is no further dialogue, except for a cryptic fable that Paula tells to the camera.
![The Ten Commandments (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-ten-commandments-two-disc-spec-large.jpg)
![Last Tango in Paris [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/last-tango-in-paris-blu-ray-large.jpg)
