Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 20th, 2004
MGM keeps rolling out the Best Picture award winners. A few weeks ago it was Mutiny on the Bounty, this time it’s The Great Ziegfeld . I think Ziegfeld belongs in the category of those Best Picture winners that aren’t necessarily the best films for that year (Driving Miss Daisy?? C’mon). I actually prefer Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Gregory La Cava’s seminal screwball comedy My Man Godfrey (starring Ziegfeld’s own William Powell). The Great Ziegfeld al...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 18th, 2004
MTV is getting used to productions about provocative love affairs. Just look at Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson at this year’s MTV produced Super Bowl. So in their production of a modern updating of Emily Bronte’s novel “Wuthering Heights”, MTV throws in everything but the nipple.
“Wuthering Heights” is a benchmark of Gothic Romantic literature. It tells the tale of a doomed and frenzied love between the two protagonists, Heathcliff and Cathy. “Wuthering Heights” has been adapted for film and tel...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 18th, 2004
Synopsis
Our story begins in 1939, just before the outbreak of WWII. The Minivers (Greer Garsonand Walter Pidgeon) enjoy an idyllic existence in a charming town where the biggest controversyis over whether the station master Henry Travers should be entering his rose against localaristocrat Dame May Witty’s in the flower competition. But then the war comes, and little bylittle, it reaches into the lives of the townspeople, wreaking ever more havoc. Through it all,Garson remains a tow...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 17th, 2004
Ah….Armand Assante…what happened to your career. You were so brilliant in Sidney Lumet’s Q & A (rent it, people). I guess things happen. You have bills to pay. A family to raise.
Consequence is a made for cable HBO film. The opening voice-over, in classic film noir tradition, sets the table for a lurid crime melodrama. Unfortunately, Assante’s awkward southern accent makes the voice over, like the film itself, a bit off putting. The story involves a dentist (Armand Assante) who decides...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Mickey and Negra Rosario run an inner city boxing center in New York, helping youngpeople not only to do well in the sport, but also to turn their lives around. We learn about theRosario’s lives and courtship (and about Mickey’s time in a gang), and follow a group of theirproteges as they train for an upcoming amateur tournament.
An interesting piece, with a wide variety of voices and theories about boxing. (I particularlyliked what a ref had to say about the sport ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Adventurer Allan Quatermain (Richard Chamberlain) learns that his brother has disappearedin the wilderness of eastern Africa, apparently after having found a city of gold. Abandoningplans for a honeymoon trip to the US (much to the displeasure of shrill fiancée Sharon Stone),Quatermain sets off to find this city. Many perils are encountered along the way, and whenQuatermain and his doughty band find the city, they discover that it is in the tyrannical grip ofevil high pries...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Welcome to Lampedusa, a Mediterranean island that is simultaneously impoverished andparadisical. The central character is Grazia (Valeria Golino), a mother of three. Her neighboursthink she is insane, seeing her mood swings from extreme happiness to extreme depression asunhealthy. Is she insane? Or is she simply far more in tune with the natural world than everyoneelse?
The atmosphere conjured by the film is very peculiarly its own. You can almost feel thescorchin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2004
Synopsis
In 1920s Australia, Father Richard Chamberlain (the king of mini-series) is lusted over byBarbara Stanwyck. He isn’t interested, but not because he is above temptation. Instead, he isfalling for Stanwyck’s niece, who grows up to be Rachel Ward. Love, lust, vengeance andVatican power politics mesh together into a pretty heady brew.
Granted, there's nothing very subtle about any of this. Right from the get-go, every line delivered is in the servide of graphically mappi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2004
Synopsis
The tale is told in flashback as Myrna Loy witnesses the graduation of her youngest daughter.In this flashback, we see Loy, now recently widowed, struggling to keep her family together,even as various forces try to separate the twelve children. The sequel is even more sentimentalthan the original, and so even harder to take. So heartwarming, it makes The BradyBunch look like The Wages of Fear.
Audio
Urgh! Nasty audio. Not only do we ha...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2004
Synopsis
