Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 24th, 2002
Written by Dan Bradley
The formula for sequels to highly successful films has been practiced by filmmakers for decades and continues to flourish today. It’s quite simple: take what audiences loved in the original, add more of it and throw in a twist. Guillermo del Toro's Blade 2 follows this rule of thumb and creates a film that is bigger, badder, louder and more entertaining than its predecessor. It should come as no surprise that the DVD edition of Blade 2 surpasses the original Blade’s disc in every imaginable way as well.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 12th, 2002
After a dismal resurrection on film with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it appeared that the crew of the good ship Enterprise was finally stilled forever. Enter two heroes to rival Kirk and Spock in Harve Bennett and Nicholas Myers. Star Trek II is everything that shines about Star Trek. Finally the triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy dazzle longtime fans with the chemistry that made the original series so enduring. In The Motion Picture, the characters come off stiff and cold. They hardly seem to know each other. In Wrath of Khan we believe these old friends haven’t missed a beat. Add to all of this perhaps the greatest Star Trek villain of all time in Ricardo Montalban’s enigmatic and obsessive Khan and you truly see Star Trek at its very best.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 11th, 2002
Synopsis
Two brothers survive a plane crash (a crash in which their father dies, but they don't seem too broken up about the sad event), and find themselves washed up on the island of Dinotopia. As the name implies, this is a land where humans and dinosaurs co-exist. We explore this island with the brothers, and get caught up in their quest to help save this world in its hour of peril. The characters here are a long way from believable, and so the main draw is the special effects, which are, by telev...sion standards, most impressive.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 26th, 2002
H. G. Wells is often considered the father of science fiction. Tales like The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, and, of course, The Time Machine, have become classics both in literature and cinematography. The latest version of The Time Machine attempts to satisfy both fans of the George Pal film and readers of the original novel. Having Simon Wells, grandson of the writer, direct the film was no accident. What you end up with is a pretty nice film, but one that might not satisfy fans of the earlier works. The device itself is certainly in homage to the Pal machine. Enough liberties are taken with the story to warrant criticism from the novel’s fans. I rather enjoyed this film for what it was: simply a wonderful time travel story.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 15th, 2002
Synopsis
Herbert's novel is very complex, and one attempts a synopsis at one's own risk (this is part of the problem with Lynch's film). At its most basic, it is about power struggles in a galactic empire, power struggles centred on the planet Arrakis, or Dune, home of the spice, the most vital element in the empire. Paul Atreides, newly arrived on Arrakis, turns out to be the long-prophesied messiah. This is an incredibly ambitious project for a telefilm, and though some of the budgetary limitations...are visible (primarily in the obviously cost-conscious spartan look to the set design), the effort deserves kudos for going for the gusto.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 25th, 2002
Aliens was one of those rare sequels that must include T2 where everything gets taken up a notch without spoiling the elements that made the first successful. This is not to say Aliens is better than the original, but very different yet somehow very much the same. Sigourney Weaver acts with a confidence made possible by the first film. It’s hard to believe but Ripley just gets stronger. The story is much more complex but still retains the chilling simplicity of a horrible creature stalking its prey. There are more cr...atures but you still only get enough glimpses to creep you out. The most important difference, however, is James Cameron and his action oriented style. For Aliens Cameron literally brings out the marines.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 18th, 2002
“In space no one can hear you scream” was the slogan that drew a conglomerate of horror and science fiction fans to theatres in 1979. Was it horror or sci-fi? Alien turned out to be a rare cross-genre film that managed to satisfy both audiences. Ridley Scott started out by bringing the “space ship” film away from the glamorous bright future and depicted a world startlingly very much like our own. In Scott’s gritty future companies are quasi-government agencies and these astronauts are not explorers out for glory and...heroism. They are strictly blue collar workers trying to make a buck. It’s hard to imagine that most of the cast, including Sigourney Weaver, were relative unknowns at the time. Weaver would create a new model for female leads that would later pave the way for actors like Linda Hamilton.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 16th, 2002
Exceptional! Starship Troopers (Special Edition) is a must have in any movie fanatics collection. Combine a controversial cinematic and special effects masterpiece with a superb DVD release, and Columbia-Tristar has a sure winner in its catalog.
Paul Verhoeven’s (RoboCop, Total Recall, Showgirls, Hollowman) 1997 adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers is stunning not only for its Academy Award nominated special effects, but also for the volume of controversy that the film elicited amongst c...itics and the public. The movie and its director were widely lambasted for glorifying Nazism, totalitarianism, and fascism, and its not hard to see where these charges come from. Verhoeven’s future Earth is ruled by a single fascist government that has eliminated poverty and disease, and created a uniformly attractive, educated, and affluent populace. Verhoeven’s response to these critics (in the “Death From Above” documentary) makes owning this Special Edition a must for any serious film lover; in the feature Verhoeven and screenwriter Ed Neumeier discuss at length their ironic intent for the movie, talk about how the script and filming were designed to mimic and mock WWII warfare and propaganda, and how ultimately the movie failed to communicate their anti-fascist agenda (“We were warned not to be ironic.”).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 9th, 2002
“Danger, Will Robinson.” Attempting to make a serious film out of Irwin Allen’s beloved space family Robinson wasn’t one of Hollywood’s brightest ideas. The filmmakers did a pretty decent job of creating a fun science fiction film, but their obvious attempts at nostalgia never quite gel with the overall vision of the film. Complete with stellar special effects and a much more logical plot than the campy 60’s show, Lost In Space had promise. What New Line failed to understand was the cheese cardboard effects and zipper-toting aliens spun around a totally ridiculous plot was the true charm of Lost In Space. While it was warming to see 4 of the original cast in cameos the two that were missing, Jonathan Harris and Bill Mumy were the true heart of the TV series. The one jewel in this film has to be the performance of Gary Oldman as the indomitable Dr. Smith.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2002
Time travel stories and their inevitable paradoxes have been with us since Twain’s Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. This film takes a fresh approach to the subject. Instead of the characters moving through time, they are afforded the chance to communicate through time. Frequency is both engaging and often emotional. There is an amazing chemistry between father and son even though for most of the film they are never actually together. The baseball theme, for me, adds warmth that makes the relationship play out like a common memory. I hesitate to use the moniker “feel good movie” but it does seem to fit Frequency.
Synopsis
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