Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 21st, 2010
Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) has been the maid for the family run by matriarch Pilar (Claudia Celedón) for 23 years. Those years have taken their toll, and Raquel looks worn far beyond her 41 years. She is clearly unable to look after the household on her own, and Pilar tries to hire another maid to help out. Raquel takes this the wrong way, imagines she's being eased out, and treats each new maid as an invader who must be repulsed.
Saavedra is extraordinary in the title role, her exhausted, pained, but determined look invoking a sullen bulldog who is on the verge of going feral. But this is not the story of a maid's psychotic break, nor is it one where the family she works for is made up of monsters. Everyone in the film is very human, and the story is a very human comedy. The comedy is not of the slapstick nature (though there are some pretty physical moments), but rather grows out of the finely observed characters, and is shot though with genuine drama. A find, deeply sympathetic piece.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 20th, 2010
This compilation of cartoons takes from different Madeline series', produced from about 1993 to 2001. Each episode is in the half-hour long format, with different title cards, theme songs and narrators, but all following the same format of rhyming narration, and imaginative story lines, songs peppered throughout, and a couple even dipping into the supernatural.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 20th, 2010
The Real McCoys was a major TV hit during its run of 1957-1963. Starring three-time Oscar winner Walter Brennen and a pre-Rambo Richard Crenna. Led by Grandpa, the family move from Virginia to California (sound a touch familiar?) and is comprised of brothers and sisters that range in age from their twenties right down to eleven. This series paved the way fir rural comedies, especially the Beverly Hillbillies, proceeding it, and Brennen's voice set the bar for wiley Southern farmer characters for a generation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2010
"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Come inside. Come inside."
The rock gods must have been smiling when Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer journeyed from their perspective corners of the music world and combined to form the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, or merely ELP to the fans. Keith Emerson had made quite a name for himself with his manic organ riffs while working in the band The Nice. Greg Lake was busy with the band King Crimson where he worked with long-time ELP collaborator Peter Sinfield. Carl Palmer was the youngest member of the group and had played for several bands before meeting up with his eventual ELP bandmates. Together they would help to define an entire genre of music. This new progressive rock era would be recognized not by hit singles and AM radio play. Instead this music would be enjoyed for its virtuosity and complexity. In all of the years the band enjoyed success, they've released less than a handful of what the industry defines as a single. Yet, anyone who has ever seriously picked up an instrument in the last 40 years knows exactly who they are.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2010
This was Lucille Ball’s follow-up to I Love Lucy. Here Ball is a widowed mother of two, sharing her home with best friend Vivian Vance, who is a divorced mother of one. All the other members of household are, of course, faced with the disasters triggered by Lucy. I screened this set immediately after viewing its close contemporary, Petticoat Junction, and the difference between the two was instructive. There are plenty of hokey gags and situations on The Lucy Show, but there is an enormous difference between the shows, thanks to the comic genius of Lucille Ball. Her energy fills each episode, her timing is spot-on, but there is also her commitment to a type of physical comedy that to this day remains pretty much the exclusive domain of male performers. Not only does she make this style her own, she grounds it in a female reality. There is a reason she was so beloved a performer, and why her work still stands up today.
The second season offers up even more laughs. While the show was filmed in color, the episodes still aired originally in black and white. Here they are in full color on this 4-disc collection. Some highlights of the season include: What could go wrong when Lucy and Viv start their own children's party business? Watch Kiddie Parties, Inc. and find out. Gale Gordon joins the cast as Lucy's new nemesis Mr. Mooney in the two part episode Lucy Gets Locked In The Vault. Mr. Mooney would go on to be the perfect foil for Lucy, and this is the genesis of the show most of us remember to this very day. In Lucy And The Bank Scandal, Lucy is convinced that Mr. Mooney has stolen ten grand and has buried it in his own back yard. Now the girls grab some shovels to recover the missing dough. Lucy and Viv have their sights set on the same guy and enroll in an art class to impress the man. But, when Viv lands a date, Lucy's going to make sure things don't go so well in Lucy Goes To Art Class. In the two-part shows Lucy Teaches Ethel Merman To Sing and Ethel Merman And The Boy Scout Show, guest star Merman shows why she was the queen of Broadway for so long. It's one of the show's most famous classic moments. Lucy takes Mooney to court to shut up his barking dog in Lucy Is Her Own Lawyer. Lucy and Viv are baking contest rivals in Lucy Enters A Baking Contest. The all out food fight will remind you of those old Three Stooges gags.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2010
The fifth season of Matlock brought more of the same. If you’re a fan, that’s very good news indeed. What is that, you ask? Imagine Sheriff Andy Taylor older and now an attorney, and you pretty much have the setup for Matlock. Forget for a second that both characters were played by Andy Griffith. That’s not all they have in common. Matlock is every bit the “southern gentleman” that Taylor was. He might be a little smarter, but he walks and talks like Andy Taylor.
Matlock began life as a television movie from Dean Hargrove, who brought us Columbo. Hargrove would later work the same magic with Dick Van Dyke in Diagnosis Murder. In fact, the two shows could easily have been companion pieces. Both featured sit-com stars from the 1950’s and 60’s that had become somewhat iconic characters. Both would don the role of professionals. Both shows would subscribe to the “formula” mode of storytelling. Diary Of A Perfect Murder would set up the Matlock formula. It’s simple, really. Matlock was a lawyer in Atlanta. Some wronged defendant, usually charged with murder, would show up asking for Matlock’s help. Matlock and his team would investigate the crime with an eye toward, as OJ Simpson is fond of saying, finding the real killer. His team consisted of his daughter Charlene, herself a competent lawyer, and Tyler Hudson (Holliday), his private investigator. In the pilot the Matlock character was less Andy Taylor and a little more slick at first. I’m sure that while it was intended to show Matlock’s prowess as a high-priced attorney, somewhere along the line it became obvious that the show’s finest asset was Griffith himself and that southern charm he was already famous for. Whatever the reason, you can see the character soften significantly during the early episodes of the season. And that decision was a smart one, as Matlock would continue for nearly a decade.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 19th, 2010
G.I. Joe the Movie was originally supposed to be a real box office movie. It was to be the first of three animated motion pictures put out by Hasbro Toys. The other two were based on Transformers and My Little Pony. However, production delays caused the other two to go first. When Transformers and My Little Pony did poorly (gee, never would have guessed that a talking magical pony failed to grab box office sales), it was decided that G.I. Joe would go the direct video route. Years later, it still proved to be arguably the best of the three.
It seems that Cobra Commander and Serpentor just can’t get along. They constantly bicker as to who is in charge of Cobra and would rather accuse each other of incompetence than figure out how to defeat G.I. Joe. It is at that moment that a woman breaks into the Terrordrome. Cobra Commander tries to rally the troops and goes off to find this stranger leaving Serpentor behind. However, the woman still makes it to the Cobra Leader.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 19th, 2010
In an attempt to win over more of the male viewers into their audiences, filmmakers of the romantic comedy genre have tried many tactics. To date, very few of them have worked to any great extent. The problem appears to be getting the mixture just right. Too much of the guy stuff and you'll turn away your core "chick" audience. Too little and you're really not reeling in too many guys. Of course, we go anyway to please the ladies in our lives. Just between us, I once found myself at a Barry Manilow concert for a girl. Yes, I'm trying to get some help for that. We'll go. That doesn't mean we have to enjoy ourselves. Hopefully, it's just enough that we go,because no matter how much it tries to be a guy flick, The Bounty Hunter might as well have a neon sign hanging from the marquee that says "Ladies Only, Please".
Nicole (Aniston) is a reporter who is onto a big story, or at least it could be. She thinks that a recent death ruled a suicide was really a murder and that some cops are trying to cover it up. As you might expect, she's not too popular with the police department,and she's also facing a charge of assault on a police officer stemming from a "misunderstanding" between her car and a police horse. When she's ordered to appear in court for the crime,she gets a call from her informant who claims to have info that will break her suicide case, but he has to meet her now. Naturally, she blows off the court appearance to meet the snitch. Unfortunately, the snitch has been snatched by the bad guys,and now there's a warrant out for her arrest. The bail bondsman who posted her bail sends one of his best bounty hunters to pick her up;that'll be Milo (Butler),her ex-husband. For most of the film we have the two ex-spouses playing their own cat-nd-mouse game while the killer in Nicole's case is out to kill her. Then there's the mob boys that Milo owes a huge gambling debt to. Finally, to complete a hat trick of pursuers,there's Stewart (Sudeikis) who is in love with Nicole and decides to "rescue" her from her situation. As you might have guessed, Stewart is going to end up in a world of hurt.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 19th, 2010
This series from Comedy Central began as a low-budget film hosting show in a small television station in Minnesota. It was the brainchild of Joel Hodgson. It ended up running for 11 years and a feature film version.
Mystery Science Theatre is an acquired taste. For me, I’ve really got to be in that certain mood to watch it. That’s the beauty of these DVDs. You pop them in when you’re ready. The idea is pretty whacked. Depending on the season you’ve got, Joel or Mike is trapped in space on the “Satellite of Love”. Doomed to spend his life watching very bad films, our hero makes the best of a bad situation. He uses his resources to construct a couple of robot pals. There's Crow T. Robot (Beaulieu), Tom Servo (Murphy), and Gypsy (Mallon). Part of an experiment together, they watch the films from the front row, constantly ranting throughout. If you’re like me, you’ve invited a few friends over to watch a schlock festival. The movies weren’t as important as the banter you created while watching. That’s exactly what you see here. The silhouettes of our host and his robots dominate the lower portion of the screen, where they provide alternative dialog and sometimes witty commentary on the action. The two evil station owners/mad scientists send them a new bad film each week to observe their reactions to the bombs. The films are broken up by off-the-wall skits and fake commercials to alleviate the tedium. This DVD collection is better than some because it includes films from four different seasons to give you a good sample of the overall series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2010
Parasomnia is a broad term that covers a lot of sleep disorders. I even ran into the term in association with restless leg syndrome. But there is a severe disorder called Kleine-Levin Syndrome, also known as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, where the sufferer spends a very large part of their lives asleep. In reality, it usually amounts to days at a time. In William Malone's new thriller Parasomnia, we meet Laura, who sleeps about 90% of the time, making her a true Sleeping Beauty. Malone's had a bit of an inconsistent history. He was responsible for the extremely disappointing remake of The House On Haunted Hill as well as the unfairly maligned feardotcom. His style is almost always over the top and often dominates anything that the story is trying to say. Much of that can also be said of Parasomnia, except here there is a wicked sardonic tale that manages to blend perfectly with the overactive style components. Is it possible that Malone has finally found a gene-splicing technique that has created the perfect stylish thriller? After spending some time with this DVD, I have to say that he has.
Laura (Wilson) is a teenaged girl who has spent most of that time asleep. She has no known family, so she spends all of that slumber time in a corner of a mental hospital. Her next-door neighbor happens to be one of the most notorious serial killers ever known. He has a strange hypnotic power that he has used to mesmerize others to do his diabolical deeds. His name is Byron Volpe (Kilpatrick), and the only way he can be safely contained is chained in a room with his face covered by a black hood. His cell looks like something out of a medieval torture chamber. Enter Danny (Purcell), a young artist who is at the hospital visiting his friend who is in rehab there. The two neighboring rooms make quite an emotional impact on the young man whose girlfriend has just left him. Volpe he finds morbidly fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Laura he is drawn to. He develops an overwhelming desire to protect her. When he discovers that an unethical researcher is about to take her away to use as a guinea pig, he swings into action and kidnaps, or rescues, depending on your point of view, the girl from her fate. It's not easy taking care of a girl who is only awakes for minutes at a time. She is pretty much a blank slate, since she's never been awake enough to experience everyday things like a car ride. To make things worse, Volpe appears to have a hold on her, able to dominate her dreams. It is here that she lives a terrifying life taunted and tormented by the killer. When his hold is able to control her few waking moments, the result puts both her and Danny on the radar of the police, particularly Detective Garrett, played by sci-fi genre favorite Jeffrey Combs. Danny decides that the only way to truly free Laura is to kill Volpe, but that won't be easy. Still, there must be a showdown.
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