Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 29th, 2006
When The Passion of the Christ was released on DVD several years ago, I didn't buy it, opting instead to wait for the strongly-rumored special edition release to come. Here we are almost three years later, and no such release is being discussed. The funny thing is, The Big Question is essentially an extra for that non-existent DVD package. This documentary, which discusses questions of faith, was shot on the set of The Passion of the Christ, amongst the actors and artisans that were gathered from all parts of the planet for the production. This is a wonderful idea, and it makes for a great documentary featurette to support the film, but I just don't feel that there is enough here for a stand-alone release.
Various people from various cultural and religious backgrounds were asked the same set of questions about who God is and how He (or She, as the film asks) relates to us, and us to Him. The resulting comments serve as something of a glorified "man on the street" view of religion. While there were some religious scholars included, the end result is a muddled collection of opinions that really don't go very far toward answering many of the questions raised by the film's directors.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2006
This is another one of those films that is best suited for the international film festival crowd. I’m not sure, however, if even that group will get this one. Jennifer Van Dyck gives one of the silliest and most wooden performances I’ve ever seen as a woman suddenly constrained by normal life. Under the influence of a messed up play director, she is encouraged to experience life through other eyes. Her use of profanity, sleep deprivation, and depravity are just not interesting to observe. I’ve had bouts of sleep de...rivation, and trust me, it’s not the sense-stimulating experience she writes about. It plays out like a poor art film student’s work. Not to be taken seriously at all. It won’t likely even show up at the local video chains . “You ain’t missing nothing.”
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2006
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother has everything that Young Frankenstein had except Mel Brooks (although he does make a very brief vocal cameo). With the combined comedic genius of Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, and Marty Feldman, how could this film go wrong? Like Young Frankenstein, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes offers a rich classical mythology to mine for material. A wonderful supporting cast featuring the likes of Dom Deluise can’t miss, right? No so elementary, my dear Watson. Focus. ...hat’s the rub. I’m not referring to the work of the cameramen here. Gene Wilder appeared so sure of his own brilliance that he forgot to bring the story.
The game’s afoot, and it smells like it, too. Never before has so much talent been squandered on so little substance. I understand this is a farce, and I’m fully prepared for the absurd. I’m just not prepared to go nowhere. I was extremely disappointed at every turn. Toilet humor replaces wit. There are also no straight men. What’s Costello without Abbott? Everyone is so into trying to be funny no one offers to be the foil. Simply uninspired. The entire film makes one feel they are witness to one large in joke and we’re on the outside of the punch line. The musical numbers make the film all that much more intolerable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 28th, 2006
Synopsis
Red (as in Riding Hood) visits Granny, only to find the Wolf in disguise. Granny bursts out of the closet, and then the Woodsman crashes through the window, axe upraised. We then cut to the police investigation of this scene, as a frog investigator interviews each of the players in turn. The forest has been terrorized by the Goodie Bandit, who has been stealing recipes, and one of these characters might be the guilty party. What follows is a series of tales in the vein of Rashomon, wh...re we gradually come to understand what is really going on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 28th, 2006
Teddy Pendergrass, one of the lesser known soul rebels of the seventies, comes to DVD in this lackluster edition, which purports to be 80 minutes – but that’s only true if you factor into the running time the one bonus feature. This fact could be a detriment to fans of Teddy’s music. For me, however, it was a relief to discover the actual concert only ran about an hour. There was nothing here to justify the man’s status as some kind of legend, as his audience interactions and movements on stage were limited in scope ...nd creativity. Also, his raspy voice doesn’t translate well to the performance setting. Not that I’ve heard his studio work, but it seems that would be the most effective venue for him.
Still, he seems to enjoy performing – he just doesn’t bring anything remarkable to the table. Some of the tracks on this disc will be familiar, but it’s pretty much just Teddy conducting someone else’s orchestra – and a couple of songs, which do ring familiar, have been performed better by other artists. This disc includes the following tracks: “Life Is A Song Worth Singing,” “Only You,” “All By Myself,” “Medley: If You Don’t Know Me By Now / The Love I Lost / Bad Luck/ Wake Up Everybody,” “Easy, Easy, Got To Take It Easy,” “Close The Door,” “When Somebody Loves You Back,” and “Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 27th, 2006
Synopsis
Sarah Jessica Parker is the very Manhattan, high stress and rather repressed fiancee of Dermot Mulroney. They head off to small-town New England for Christmas with his family, headed by matriarch Diane Keaton. This is the family Stone of the title, and their free-and-easy lifestyle clashes with Parker’s, and she is seen as an interloper. She is subjected to no end of humiliations, principally at the hands of Rachel McAdams. But when Mulroney’s brother Luke Wilson shows up, Parker finds herse...f a rather oddball ally.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 27th, 2006
Huff – The Complete First Season, the Emmy Award-winning series from Showtime, comes to DVD from Sony Home Entertainment, and I have to say I couldn’t be more pleased with discovering it. The one thing I miss about premium channels in my cable package is getting to take part in the onslaught of superior original programming channels such as Showtime and HBO have to offer. Needless to say, Huff is a fitting inclusion to my reasons for jealousy towards all you subscribers out there. It follows the life of...Craig Huffstodt (Hank Azaria), a psychiatrist in need of a few answers himself after witnessing the shocking suicide of a young gay patient during a therapy session. The tragedy reminds him to focus more on his own life, and start actually living it – but as the first thirteen episodes of this season attest, Huff has too much “angel of mercy” in him for such a task to be easy. The show, unflinching in its honesty, examines both sides of the “helping others” coin. Often times, one person helped translates to the neglect of several others much closer to the do-gooder. I enjoyed that aspect of the show, as well as its well-drawn characters.
Hour-long dramas such as Huff are free to create more depth and realism to their characters. In this particular case, it’s like watching a great novel set to film. Instead of telling you what to think or believe about a person or situation – as films do - Huff manages to “let it be,” and allows the viewer to draw conclusions on their own. Azaria has a stellar cast to fall back on, too. Blythe Danner (Huff’s mother); Oliver Platt (his oft-unscrupulous attorney); and Paget Brewster (his wife), put everything they have into their characters; and Bob Lowery (writer and series creator) knows how to present them in a lifelike manner. You don’t just get their shining moments of humanity or inhumanity – you also get to observe these men and women, when life throws them a curve, and they’re forced to walk a different path – unnatural to their basic natures, but realistic to the human condition. It’s a warts-and-all series that, like life, manages lighthearted moments of humor one minute, and heartbreaking tragedy the next. Who knows how long it will last? But with this first season, Lowery and company have built a strong foundation deserving of many more to come.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 26th, 2006
Manny Coto almost saved Star Trek. After 2 years of Rick Berman’s floundering on Enterprise, Coto came in and gave the show its legs. It was too little too late, of course. The show would be canned when most critics, myself included, thought the show was finally clicking. This near resurrection should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen Odyssey 5. Coto created this Showtime series. Superior f/x and a compelling story arc drove this cable cousin to Stargate SG-1.
The astronauts of the Space Shu...tle “Odyssey” encounter one situation the nerds at NASA hadn’t prepared them for: the total destruction of Earth. The five surviving crewmen don’t have time to consider their situation before an alien approaches them with a sad story. It seems that every time he reaches a sentient species, he arrives after they have destroyed themselves. Fortunately for everyone, he has the power to send the crew’s consciousness back to their bodies 5 years in the past. They will relive the last five years, but with the knowledge they already possess in an attempt to uncover the conspiratorial elements that will eventually destroy the world.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 26th, 2006
I must first admit that I never saw The Sentinel when it originally aired in the 90’s. I guess this one never made my radar. It’s basically a cop show with a somewhat sci-fi or maybe paranormal twist. It seems that Jim Ellison’s (Burgi)plane went down in the jungles of South America. While the crash killed his crew, he not only survived, but somehow obtained strange super powers. The idea is that this ancient jungle tribe develops a “sentinel” to be their guardian. For years Ellison protected the village before his...eventual rescue. Now he’s a cop with a certain advantage. Ellison has heightened hearing and vision. The rub is he can’t really control when or where it kicks in. As I watch the series, predictably the powers always kick in at just the right time. His other senses are also super-active, but sight and sound make for the most used power. Of course there has to be a team. Blair Sandburg (Maggart) is an anthropologist who studies Ellison. Captain Banks (Young) also contributes to the team This was an early UPN show. It should be noted that this series has nothing at all to do with the upcoming film with the same title.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 26th, 2006
Synopsis
Not much to is. This is one larger film and a series of shorter ones (though they are all of a piece) extolling the virtues of contemplative prayer, which, it appears, consists in sitting quietly and listening to God, rather than speaking yourself. The whole thing drips in every “inspirational” cliché you can imagine (lots of shots of parks, clouds, sunsets, gentle spring rains, and so forth). Oddly, for a piece that’s supposed to help viewers practice being quiet, some of the speakers here ...re hardly advertisements for that fact. Priscilla Shirer, in particular, speaks in a Camille Paglia-style torrent of words, making one extremely doubtful that she has ever had a quiet moment in her life. But whatever. Those who like this sort of thing will surely like this sort of thing. Obviously, I’m utterly outside the demographic for this thing. For a chuckle, check out the consumer review on Amazon to see how this bit of flotsam can generate hugely polarized viewpoints. Hilarious.
