Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2004
Homicide: Life On The Street began when Baltimore reporter David Simon spent an entire year with the day shift of Baltimore’s Homicide Squad. His subsequent book was a New York Times Best Seller and drew tremendous critical acclaim. Barry Levinson, Paul Attansio and Tom Fontana took the spirit of that book and created the NBC series. The first two seasons were spotty and featured only a handful of episodes each year. Season 3 marks the first full season of this remarkable show. Simon’s book detailed the psychology of...the detectives as much as the killers, and the series drew heavily from that work. Unlike most cop shows, Homicide didn’t contain car chases and the typical action sequences. Instead, this show counted on smart writing. The City of Baltimore is wisely used as a character on the program. Richard Beltzer’s Munch now appears on Law and Order’s SVU.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2004
Billy Bob Thornton is a strange ranger, even by Hollywood standards. He is a self-made man, resulting from his breakthrough role as writer/director/star of Sling Blade. With Daddy & Them, Thornton returns to his role as a triple threat, and the result is a film that is not only funny, but features more stars than a stint in rehab. The list of notables includes Thornton, Laura Dern, Dianne Ladd, Kelly Preston, Jim Varney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Affleck, Brenda Blethyn, musician John Prine and even America... legend Andy Griffith.
The film follows Thornton and Dern, an insanely jealous married couple, as they travel to visit his family in Little Rock, AR, as his uncle (Varney) has been incarcerated while awaiting trial for attempted murder. This is not just a story about white trash family, but they are unbelievably dysfunctional as well. The comedy comes quickly and masterfully from all directions, resulting on one of the best independent films that I have seen in quite some time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2004
Billy Bob Thornton is a strange ranger, even by Hollywood standards. He is a self-made man, resulting from his breakthrough role as writer/director/star of Sling Blade. With Daddy & Them, Thornton returns to his role as a triple threat, and the result is a film that is not only funny, but features more stars than a stint in rehab. The list of notables includes Thornton, Laura Dern, Dianne Ladd, Kelly Preston, Jim Varney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Affleck, Brenda Blethyn, musician John Prine and even America... legend Andy Griffith.
The film follows Thornton and Dern, an insanely jealous married couple, as they travel to visit his family in Little Rock, AR, as his uncle (Varney) has been incarcerated while awaiting trial for attempted murder. This is not just a story about white trash family, but they are unbelievably dysfunctional as well. The comedy comes quickly and masterfully from all directions, resulting on one of the best independent films that I have seen in quite some time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 24th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 23rd, 2004
Sightings: Heartland Ghost is based, apparently, on a true story. One is reminded of that other “true story” haunted house movie, The Amityville Horror. But both films have the same hokey quality in common. (no blood in the toilet in Sightings, however). Sightings starts with the “new couple moving to the neighborhood”. They slowly learn that there is something “not quite right” about their new house. Enter paranormal debunker (Beau Bridges) and his T.V crew. Bridges’ character host... a quasi-reality show about ghosts and other worldly behavior. Like the couple, Bridges comes face to face with the history of sin and murder that took place in this house. He is forced to deal with his cynicism about the paranormal and becomes changed by the whole experience. Sounds good, huh. It’s not.
Beau Bridges is a fine actor. Why is he in such a cheesy movie? Times must be tough. Beau, like his brother Jeff, always brings a sense of humanity to his roles. The case is still true here. The movie is laughably bad at times (see spoiler notes). But Bridges grounds the movie and gives it a depth it doesn’t deserve.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 22nd, 2004
The third and hopefully final entry in the American Pie series, American Wedding keeps with the sweet charms and gross out comedy of the first two movies, but can’t live up to the humor of the original or its sequel. Average Joe Jim, (Jason Biggs) and former band geek Michelle, (Alyson Hannigan) are now engaged to be wed and must decide whether raucous Stifler (Seann William Scott) should be invited to the wedding. Shenanigans ensue involving a night out at a gay club, a bachelor party, pleasing the in-laws, and pubi... hair on a wedding cake.
Sure, Stifler eats dog poop and does for curse words what bullet time did for special effects, but missing characters and lack of novelty cannot lift this one into the rare category of sequels being as good or better than the previous installments. While it offers plenty of funny moments, most courtesy of Stifler, the movie just seems tired and worn out. The filmmakers should excuse themselves from the table after this. No more pie for them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 22nd, 2004
Season three sees Futurama cooking on gas. This is THE SIMPSONS on some mind-altering substance. For the uninitiated (and if you have never watched the series before - watch seasons 1 and 2 first…duhhh!) pizza delivery boy Fry has awoken from cryogenic suspension and finds himself in the year 3000. Here he teams up with the girl of his dreams, one-eyed space captain Leela, the hard-drinking, wallet-lifting robot Bender (he bends things for a living), the frankly barmy Professor Farnsworth and an assorted bunch of ge...ks and aliens who tag along for the ride.
The reason Futurama is an acquired taste is because, as its creators intended, it uses every opportunity to parody and poke fun at the conventions of practically every science-fiction show and film ever made. By season three the writers are in full flow and watching these episodes is an exhausting experience because they are so packed with visual gags and brilliant one-liners. By the time you've realized the significance of the hypno frog you've missed a dozen other quips and in-jokes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2004
Synopsis
