Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 15th, 2004
Synopsis
Naked in New York follows the ups and downs of the relationship between EricStoltz and Mary-Louise Parker. Stoltz is our narrator. He is raised by deeply neurotic singlemother Jill Clayburgh, and he works out his conflicted feelings about his family in some(apparently) promising plays during his college years. It is hear that he meets Parker, who hashuge talent as a photographer, but is very insecure and self-deprecating about her own talent.Their relationship is put...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 15th, 2004
Synopsis
Very much an allegory, the film moves through the seasons of the title, each one representinga season in a man’s life. In Spring, then, he is a little boy. In Summer, an adolescent. And so on(young man, middle-aged man, older man). The scene remains the same: a Buddhist templefloating on a lake, surrounded by mountains. The other characters are the elderly monk who israising the boy, and the young girl who enters his life in adolescence. The story is told with aminimum of d...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2004
Paul McCartney once implored John Lennon’s son Julian to “take a sad song and make it better”. The same basic concept is at work here, but the words “sad song” should be replaced with “bad cartoon”. Sealab 2021 is a clever show from Cartoon Network that takes a bad old show, Sealab 2020, and replaces the dialog track with something much more enjoyable. Think of it as the Mystery Science Theater 3000 approach to creating a cartoon.
Admittedly, the results are sometimes mixed. When a gag ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Lola (Anna Ammirati) delights in turning heads in her village, engaging in such antics as riding her bike with her skirt billowing up behind her. The men all think she's great, while the women aren't so fond of her (though the woman working on her wedding dress would clearly like to get to know her better, if you catch my drift). Her main problem is her fiance, who, much to her frustration, refuses to have sex before their marriage. Then there's her stepfather, who seems more than appro...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2004
In the shadow of the Olympics’ return to Athens, PBS has decided to take a look back at the original games. This mildly-interesting program that feels more like a documentary that might be screened in a High School classroom than one you might watch on television in your free time. Such is the difference between PBS and the History Channel, I suppose. It is a good documentary, but certainly not great.
That’s not to say that the disc is all dry, though. There is some interesting background into some aspects ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2004
Scooby-Doo 2 is pretty-much the same as the original film. Oh, sure, the plot differs slightly, but for the most part, this is the same film. If you liked the first one, you will like this one. However, if you hated the first one, like I did, then this is regrettably more of the same mindless fluff.
Recently, movie studios have caught on to the idea that if they make children’s movies with subtle in-jokes for adults, their profits will rise. This was the case with Finding Nemo, Shrek an...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 13th, 2004
Synopsis
Welcome to Austin, Texas. Here, in a series of short, interconnected vignettes, we will meeta huge diversity of characters, who are variously eccentric, insane, disaffected, apathetic,coasting, and so on. Director/writer/producer Richard Linklater’s approach is not unlike RobertAltman taken to the next level. Plot, as such, finally disappears completely. Instead, the camerafollows one character (or set of characters) for a minute or two, then leaves them to trail someonewho...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 11th, 2004
Synopsis
In a totally enclosed dystopia, THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) gradually begins to rebel againstthe completely controlled and drug-managed existence. He dares to think, and to have an affair,and, after a nightmarish imprisonment in a featureless white limbo, he attempts an escape.
It’s hard to believe that this dark, almost abstract film with its elliptical narrative approachcould have been made by the same man who has assaulted us with such pap as The PhantomMenace and
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 10th, 2004
Synopsis
When an undercover operation results in the death of his son, crime lord Howard Saint (JohnTravolta, recycling his Swordfish shtick) orders the wipe-out of the entire family of FBIagent Frank Castle. This duly occurs, and Castle (Thomas Jane, sounding just like HughJackman) is left for dead. He survives, however, and returns to Tampa as the Punisher, andengages in an elaborate vendetta against Saint.
Unlike the disastrous Dolph Lundgren Punisher, this ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 9th, 2004
Synopsis
The “Patch of Heaven” farm is about to be seized by the bank, unless $750.00 can be raised,and raised quickly. By lucky coincidence, that is precisely the reward being offered for thecapture of cattle rustler Alameda Slim. Three plucky cows (voiced by Roseanne Barr, Judi Denchand Jennifer Tilly) decide to capture Slim and win the reward, thus saving their home.
The opening moments, with a series of Tex Avery-style catastrophes befalling an unfortunaterabbit, are ver...
