Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 20th, 2005
Note: the following synopsis contains spoilers. Only read this first section if you know have happens in season four.
The Fourth Season of 24 begins with a deadly terrorist strike resulting in the kidnapping of Jack Bauer's new boss, the U.S. Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane). Even though Mr. Bauer was dismissed from his job at the Counter Terrorist Unit in Los Angeles at the end of Season Three, it comes as no real surprise that Robo-Jack is called back into action. We quickly l...arn that this kidnapping of Heller is just the beginning of trouble for Jack and CTU. The main villian is master-mind Habib Marwan (Arnold Vosloo) the middle eastern terrorist cell leader the US government has been trying to track down for years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 20th, 2005
Charlie was a British effort in the typical gangster style. It begins more like an A&E biography. Various characters from the film with ties to Charlie appear to be giving their insights on the man for a documentary camera. Charlie Richardson, it appears, was one of Britain’s most infamous gangsters. The film, directed by Malcolm Reeds, no relationship to a certain starship tactical officer, tries hard to be another Goodfellas. The film utilizes the same style of retrospective narration. There’s also the trademark period songs and freeze-frame on a particularly violent image. There’s enough rough language to fill a South Park feature film. In addition to the American mob clichés the film is riddled by more than bullets. Typical dry British humor abounds and appears entirely out of place in an otherwise brutal depiction of character. Although I found the film highly derivative and inconsistent, I must admit that at times it was quite entertaining. Like watching a train wreck, it was often difficult not to be drawn to the film’s exploitive portrayals.
The film has an annoying habit of abruptly switching time periods without much warning or visual clue. We find ourselves often enough in Charlie’s younger days. These transitions are seamless; in fact that is the whole problem. They are too seamless. It requires far too much attention to detail to know where you are in the timeline. The film also resorts to stylized cinematic distractions such as multi-frames during some of the trial sequences. The frames are completely unnecessary and require the viewers to again remove themselves from the flow of the action.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 20th, 2005
It was an excitable time for this young 13 year old boy. No matter where you were in the house, the sound came to you. No matter what you were doing, it drew you to the living room television. No matter how bad things were going, that sound brought a smile to your face. Mike Post’s opening theme for The Rockford Files has to be one of the best in television history, and it lingers in my mind as a precious anthem of days gone by.
He was every young boy’s hero. How could you resist James Rockford? He had the toughness of Dirty Harry. Yet, beneath it all, he was terribly flawed and even a little naive. Why is it that after the hundreds of TV detectives that have crossed our paths a small handful endear themselves to the pop culture? The answer is simple. Every once in a while an actor combines with strong writers and creates a character with incredible heart and soul. We can’t imagine anyone else playing the part. Peter Falk accomplished it with Columbo. In recent years Tony Shalhoub has graced us with Monk. You can’t complete such a list without James Garner and his alter ego, Rockford.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 19th, 2005
Synopsis
A prehistoric crocodile is genetically resurrected (using the Jurassic Park treatment, one assumes, though one is never told), supposedly because its growth hormone will solve world hunger (more or less the scenario that led to giant grasshoppers in Beginning of the End, and that was 1957). Anyway, the titular dinocroc gets loose from the sinister corporation’s lab, and starts gobbling up the nearby population. It’s up to Aussic crocodile hunter Costas Mandylor (Your Guide To Quality ...ilm) along with the local animal control officer and her welder/artist boyfriend to stop the beast.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
I would hope that with films like The Wedding Date, that the genre of films set around weddings is over and done with. There’s nothing left to mine, the horse is very dead, and in this case, the film is rather predictable. Or to put in another way, my wife said “this film will probably be stupid, but I’ll like it”. And when I was watching parts of the film, the story was so easy to follow that I could go and make a batch of chili, come back, and be caught up to the story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
After years of answering questions running along the lines of "When are you guys going to make a movie?" X-Files creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson decided, in lieu of taking the time off between TV seasons 4 and 5, to go ahead and start production on a feature-length movie and a place in the summer blockbuster arena.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
Thankfully, as part of Criterion’s desire to be completists of the Akira Kurosawa collection, they have finally decided to release Ran on DVD. For the sake of time, I’ll include my thoughts of the film based on my review of the Kurosawa boxed set, which included a previous version of Ran:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
In Akira Kurosawa’s later years, it was almost criminal that a director with his resume was forced to practically beg for financing. Kurosawa was in the midst of a career drought, having made only two movies in almost 15 years with Dersu Uzala and Dodesukaden. This coming after a run of films that has proved influential to even today’s filmmakers. While Kurosawa did have to obtain foreign financing for his movies in later years, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, both of whom cite...Kurosawa as heavy career influences, agreed to finance his next film, 1980’s Kagemusha (or The Shadow Warrior).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2005
Pickpocket is precisely the kind of film that could never have been made in Hollywood in the 50's. The Hays Code was a set of morality guidelines that dictated what was and was not acceptable to be shown in motion pictures. Amongst many other things, the code would not allow a criminal to be depicted on screen in such a way as to induce sympathy from the audience. It also said that criminals must always be punished for their actions. (For a complete copy of the code, visit http://www.artsreformation.com/a...01/hays-code.html.)
Luckily, the Hays Code only applied to films made in the US, giving foreign filmmakers certain freedoms that were not awarded to those in here the states. Robert Bresson made the most of his freedoms with Pickpocket, a film that, as one might deduce, tells the story of one such nimble-fingered miscreant, and his evolution into the business. His first attempts are quite clumsy, but with time, practice, and the help of a tutor, he soon becomes quite handy. Of course, nobody can break the rules of law forever, and consequences almost inevitably follow a crime.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2005
In the light of today's world - all the changes that are going on in Iraq, and with hostilities toward America for our involvement being the naturally derivative baggage - I fully expected a piece of anti-American propaganda with Zaman: The Man from the Reeds. However, I was pleasantly surprised upon the discovery that director Amer Alwan, regardless of his political feelings, has instead told a simple, sweet story of love and sacrifice.
Spirituality does play a part of Zaman's character, but keep in mind before any rushes to judgment that Zaman's family is very poor. He and his wife and their adopted son live in a floating village of huts deep in the marshlands of Iraq. All they have is each other, whatever the land supplies them to live on, and their beliefs. The film implies in its presentation of Zaman's family how important one's faith is, especially when it's the only source of hope. But the film does remain blissfully ambiguous in endorsing any one belief system, and opts instead for telling a general tale of faith and love that can appeal to all audiences, who consider themselves spiritual people. While it lacks depth and complexity, its simple nature is refreshing and recommends at least one viewing.
