Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006
Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic tells so many stories intertwined into one unique story that one can’t help but be drawn into what we’re viewing. The story involves many different characters including, Javier and Manolo (Benicio Del Toro and Jacob Vargas), newly appointed Presidential Drug Czar Bob Wakefield (Michael Douglas), daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen), Drug Enforcement agents Castro (Luiz Guzman) and Gordeon (Don Cheadle), drug kingpin Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer) and his wife (Catherina Zeta-Jones). < ...p>
Traffic deals with the issue of drug trafficking, and drugs in general. Soderbergh presents all the aforementioned characters in this drug world giving each character their own story resulting in each story containing a purpose and a point that makes us get involved. What we eventually learn is that the film isn’t necessarily about drug lords like Carlos Ayala trafficking drugs, but rather trafficking a part that belongs in everyone’s life, as we find out in the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Boy, this haunted technology stuff is getting out of hand. Seems a body can’t touch a single appliance or toy without some evil spirit emerging in smite-mode. In this instance, the problem is a survival-horror video game called Stay Alive, which not only refuses to let you stop playing, after your character dies, you die in the same way. At the root of it all is the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who has been the subject of many a film already. Unaware of this, our usual batch of charact...rs (the Regular Guy, the Regular Girl, the Goth Chick, Her Annoying Brother and the Nerd) must try to beat the game in real life before it beats them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006
Synopsis
So what we have here is Season 4, Volume 1 – i.e. the first 20 episodes of the season. I’m not sure I’m wild about this new trend to trap us into shelling out our hard-earned dollars into buying TWO box sets per season, but there you have it. None of which is to take away from the actual qualities of the show. Either I’m growing softer in the head with age (an entirely likely event) or the series just keeps growing funnier. Everything here is funny, but some are epically so, forcing you to r...wind (after a bout of painful-to-the-ribs laughter) to confirm that you really saw what you think you did. “Mermaidman & Barnacleboy VI – The Motion Picture” is a case in point. Here SpongeBob and Patrick make a movie with their heroes, and the final result is as concentrated a does of rapid-fire, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hilarity as I have seen in recent years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2006
The team of Hanna and Barbara are as much a part of my childhood as Uncle Walt Disney. The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Johnny Quest, and yes…Tom and Jerry, were like faithful companions that were never farther away than our 15 inch black and white television set. Nostalgia is very in these days. Baby boomers are all facing the midlife years, and not surprisingly there is a warm longing for those buddies of our youth. It’s simple economics that studios would attempt to cash in on our bygone days. Now in our direct to ...VD marketplace, shows like Tom and Jerry are resurrected as much for these pining adults as they are for the eager youth just looking for a good toon. Add to this the popularity of pirate themes of late and you have the setup for the latest Tom and Jerry adventure. As much as it is good to see the cat and mouse team back in action, it reminds us yet again that you really can’t go back home. Now under the direction of Warner, Shiver Me Whiskers plays more like a Loony Tunes entry than the traditional Tom and Jerry buffoonery. Now this isn’t all bad, because Loony Tunes were some sweet toons. It’s just different.
Tom and Jerry are hanging out with one of three pirate brothers, Red Pirate Ron. Tom finds a map leading to one of the largest treasures in pirate lore. With dreams of wealth and a life of ease, the duo plot to plunder the booty for themselves. Naturally, the three pirate brothers might have something to say about that plan. Plenty of gags ensue.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2006
Fortunately, American Gun does not appear to be about the debate on owning guns. It’s a trap, and I doubt there will be much movement on either side of the issue. The film instead mostly deals with members of a community where three years earlier a Columbine-like school shooting occurred. The story slowly plods through the lives of several families, most notably the mother and brother of one of the deceased gunmen. This is where the title and its advertised premise confuse me. The story is more about the emotional toll any tragedy takes on a small town. Except for a paranoid obsession of a principal trying to keep the school free of guns, the weapons have less to do with the stories than one would expect. The most confusing factor in the film is the B story of a girl who works in her grandfather’s gun shop. This sidetrack takes place across the country and seems unrelated to the main plot. We never get a satisfying answer as to the connection. She has supposedly moved there from the West coast, and while it is never explained, one might guess she was at the school during the shooting. The film tries to stay away from the hit you over the head emotional plea to ditch all guns… that is, until a shocking and quite unnecessary convenience mart scene at the film’s end.
There are a ton of speaking parts in the film. It’s estimated at over 50 in the making of feature. The cast is quite good. I don’t only mean the obvious heavy hitters in Forest Whitaker and Donald Sutherland. Chris Warren, Jr. is marvelous as a kid who doesn’t really like guns but feels forced to carry because of his neighborhood. He considers walking around without a gun as being “naked”. Chris Marquette also has a strong role as the brother of one of the killers. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be forced to attend a school where your brother killed students and teachers three years prior.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2006
Synopsis
This is it. The finale. The many twists and turns and intricate plotlines of the series finally get wrapped up. If you haven’t been watching the series from the start, much resonance will be lost, but the last season is still comprehensible. For those in the know, this is where many of the stories come to some form of end. The battle between Schillinger and Beecher, for instance, has its final act during a performance of Macbeth, and that is precisely the kind of literate, neat, contrived, ...TT conclusion one would hope for. The series began in an almost realist vein, but before too long there were elements that were almost Twin Peak-sian in their bizarreness that crept in. The title does say it all – this is a kind of demented fairy tale, and what a wild ride it has been. Don’t expect all loose ends to be tidied up, and don’t hope for a lot of happy endings. The finale moments might seem a bit rushed, but they are certainly pretty dramatic.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2006
Synopsis
While George Lucas was in the midst of his then-recent Young Indiana Jones series, he decided to try and put together a film based on the radio theater broadcasts of the 1930s and 40s. Basically, the film is based on a radio station in Chicago that is scheduled to launch its first broadcast, hoping to become the next big radio network. But when people start to get murdered during the broadcast, things become a little bit tense.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2006
Synopsis
1968. In a Northern California town, teenagers parking at night are being killed. The police do their best to sell the first attack as a botched robbery, but then another murder happens, and the killer, dubbing himself the Zodiac, turns out to be very media-savvy. Charged with tracking him down is Justin Chambers, and his frustration with the case spills into his home life, straining his relationship with his wife (Robin Tunney) and worshipful son (Rory Culkin).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2006
Synopsis
Anthony “Treach” Criss of Naughty By Nature plays the title character, a one-man army as part of a vaguely defined intelligence agency. He is the midst of rescuing the President’s wife from a hostage situation when bungling by the Secret Service results in an explosion that blinds him. Three years later, his old boss lures him back to the field with the promise of regained sight. This he gets, but now he can see in the dark. The plan is apparently to steal a satellite component in order to p...ove that old-fashioned agents are still the best, but there is more afoot than, ahem, meets the eye.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2006
Rap movies have com a long way. They have begun to evolve, from glorified music videos, to black cinema (which has come a long way in its own right), on up to a new level of art. Hustle and Flow brought the new style of black film into the limelight, and ATL follows right behind. I was really surprised how much I liked this film. In my line of work, you see a lot of bad films, and you can usually spot them from a mile away. I admit that I was fooled by this one. I was expecting to find another tired tale of a young hustla' making it big in the hood, but instead I found a genuinely touching film about what happens to four friends when High School is over and the next stage of life has not yet begun.
Now, that's not to say that the film is perfect. There are still some cliches here, and the scenes at the skating rink are probably a bit too flashy for their own good, but all told, this is an ambitious film that succeeds in much of what it is trying to accomplish.
