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Suspense / Thriller

Gentleman Bandit, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2003

Synopsis

Brooklyn-to-the-core thief Nick (Charlie Mattera) is betrayed by his friend Manny (PeterGreene), who is jealous of his love with Maria (Justine Miceli). Released from prison years later,Nick moves to LA, where he re-connects with Maria. Maria had married Manny (who is nowa brutal cop), but the two have since split. Nick is also taken under the wing of Harry (EdLauter), an aging gentleman bandit, who trains Nick to be a more elegant criminal than he hasbeen until now. The fi…
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Asunder

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2003

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Synopsis

After a freak Ferris wheel accident kills his pregnant wife, Chance (Blair Underwood) istaken in by best friends Michael (Michael Beach) and Lauren (Debbi Morgan), friends whosemarriage is already shaky. The thing is, Chance and Lauren previously had an affair, somethingthat wracks Lauren with guilty, but that Chance is increasingly obsessed with reviving.Gradually, things go from bad to worse. Too gradually, in fact: we’re almost 45 minutes in beforethe thriller angle begi…
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City by the Sea

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2003

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Synopsis

De Niro is Vincent LaMarca. His father was a kidnapper and accidental murderer. Now hisson, a junkie, has also killed a man. Will LaMarca be able to stop the generational cycle ofviolence? The Long Beach settings are very effective, combining rotting former grandeur withStalinist architecture. So far, so 70s, and the hard-luck characters fit right in. FrancesMcDormand, however, is stuck with a woefully underwritten part as De Niro’s girlfriend. Theplot, as well, is strictly…
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Dead Reckoning

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 19th, 2003

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Synopsis

Humphrey Bogart is Rip Murdock (that a manly enough moniker for ya?). His best frienddisappears, and then shows up dead. Bogart investigates and finds himself in a web of deceit andmurder, at the centre of which is Lizabeth Scott, his buddy’s former flame, and the woman forwhom he might have committed murder. There are a couple of embarrassing moments (theending scene, and a hilariously bad lip-synching exercise by Scott), but there are also more twistsand turns than you ca…
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Signs

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 17th, 2003

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Film

M. Night Shyamalan, the brilliant director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, comes through again with his latest film Signs. Buena Vista has given Shyamalan his due respect by adding Signs to their Vista Series of DVD’s.

Synopsis

One morning on their farm in Buck’s County, Pennsylvania the Hess family wake up to find a 500 foot crop circle in the corn fields in their back yard. Watching the news brings them reports of similar circles showing up …
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Bad Influence

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 15th, 2003

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Film

Bad Influence, while not a bad film, is certainly not a good one either. Try as I might I could not bring myself to really care about any of the characters. The film tries to portray Rob Lowe’s influence on James Spader as, well … bad. It’s not like he was a great guy to begin with. There is an incredible irony within the film when Lowe gets Spader out of a marriage he is dreading by slipping the family a copy of the groom-to-be having sex with another woman. Lowe, of course, had a real life video tape episode and Spader dealt with the same thing in Sex, Lies, and Video Tape.
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Handgun

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2003

Synopsis

Karen Young (turning in a remarkable performance) is a sweet, somewhat insecure schoolteacher who is date-raped by attorney Clayton Day. The law is no help. This being Texas, thereare plenty of opportunities for her to learn how to use a gun, and she proceeds to do so. Thoughinteresting, the film is divided against itself. On the one hand, it sets out to criticize Americangun culture. On the other, it encourages us to root for Young as she transforms into an avengingwarrior…
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Blood Work

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 2nd, 2003

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Synopsis

While pursuing the elusive Code Killer, Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) suffers a heartattack. Two-and-a-half years later, recovering well from a heart transplant, McCaleb is visitedby the sister of the woman whose heart he now has. She would like him to investigate the sister’smurder. Some of the plot twists you can see coming, and the story takes a major credibilityhit three quarters of the way through, when Eastwood gets involved with a woman young enoughto be his grandda…
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Enigma

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 17th, 2002

Synopsis

Dougray Scott plays Tom Jericho, brilliant but psychologically fragile code-breaker. He wasinstrumental in cracking the German Enigma code, and is needed again, since the code haschanged. He is still trying to put himself back together after a wrenching relationship with theglamorous Saffron Burrows, who has disappeared. As he works on Enigma, Scott also getsinvolved with Kate Winslet. The two of them try to solve the mystery of Burrows’ disappearance.The intelligent script…
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Spider’s Web

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 28th, 2002

Synopsis

Kari Wuhrer is an ambitious corporate lawyer constantly hitting the glass ceiling in a male-dominated world. Her affair with Stephen Baldwin leads to a $40-million theft, and doubt,deception and betrayal follow. Now, if Wuhrer really turned your crank in Eight Legged Freaks,then you might be interested in a film that has her naked as often as possible (and thus makingthe plot’s pseudo-feminism even more laughable). And, if you’re into trivia, one-time JamesBond George Lazen…
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Desert Saints

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 27th, 2002

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The only reason I can see for this film getting a DVD release is the sudden reemergence of Kiefer Sutherland’s popularity with the trendy TV show 24. In all fairness to Sutherland he is the best thing about the film. He does an outstanding job of portraying the brooding hit man. The supporting cast is weak and uninteresting. Although Desert Saints is rated R and was a theatrical release it has the basic feel of a made for TV film with nudity. The most annoying thing about the film is the intercut of future scenes for no apparent reason than to achieve a film noir art flavor.

Trois 2: Pandora’s Box

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2002

Synopsis

Psychologist Mia is caught up in a web of erotic danger thanks to Tammy, whose husbandgets killed in the opening scene, and who is no doubt not as innocent as she appears to be. Bigyawn. And hasn’t anyone noticed that “Trois 2” is a singularly stupid sounding title? Why not“Trois 2: Uno”?

Audio

Film aside, the sound quality is pretty damn good, with an excellent music mix, and a prettysolid environment creation, with sound effects noticeably present…
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Where Sleeping Dogs Lie

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 13th, 2002

Synopsis

Dylan McDermott is a struggling writer in LA (cue de rigueur pseudo-profundities about thesoulless evil of Hollywood, many provided by ice-bitch agent Sharon Stone). He sets himself upin a house where murders took place, and starts work on a book about the murders. He rents aroom to Tom Sizemore, Norman Bates-ish in his shyness and fastidiousness. Guess that meanshe’s bad news, right? The plot asks rather too much good faith on our part, and so suspense iscrushed by falling…
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Spellbound

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 5th, 2002

Synopsis

Ingrid Bergman is a psychoanalyst and, according to her male colleagues, a cold fish. Thischanges when Gregory Peck shows up as the new head of the psychiatric institution. The onlyproblem is, Peck is not who he says he is. In fact, he doesn’t even know who he really is.Bergman is determined to help him find out, but meanwhile, the man whose identity Peck hasassumed is missing, perhaps murdered… The psychoanalysis in the film is pure hokum, and theplot’s contrivances are …
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Enough

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2002

Synopsis

Jennifer Lopez plays a waitress named Slim. She meets Prince Charming in the person ofMitch (Billy Campbell). They get married, have a kid, and overnight Prince Charming turns intoJason Voorhees. After suffering a relentless campaign of terror, Slim shifts from Sleeping withthe Enemy to I Spit On Your Grave, and fights back. Her retaliation, which is the entire pointof the film in terms of title and promotion, only begins 80 minutes in. That’s a long time to waitthrough wha…
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Insomnia (2002)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2002

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Written by Dan Bradley

I’ve experienced sleepless nights, as I’m sure most everyone has at some point in their life. But for some, this conscious prison can linger for many days, sometimes weeks at a time. Christopher Nolan’s remake of Insomnia manages to capture this feeling through terrific writing and strong sensory cues littered throughout.

On the verge of a departmental decision that could jeopardize his career, detective Dormer (Al Pacino) travels to Alaska with his partner, Detective Ekhart (Martin Donovan) to investigate…
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No Way to Treat a Lady

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2002

Synopsis

Rod Steiger, obsessed with his dead mother, adopts one disguise and accent after another(Irish priest, German plumber, gay hairdresser, you name it) as he kills women and marks theirforeheads with lipstick. Frustrated cop on the case is George Segal, perpetually harassed by hiscartoonish Jewish mother, but also falling in love with Lee Remick. Good fun to be had here,especially from Steiger — an actor who always had a propensity to ham it up, and here he is givenfree reign…
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New Best Friend

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 13th, 2002

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Synopsis

Meredith Monroe is the rich girl who’s been breezing through life. Mia Kirshner is the poor girl for whom life is a struggle. Thrown together for a sociology project, they find that each has something the other needs, and dangerous wheels are set in motion. All of this is recounted in flashback, as Sheriff Taye Diggs (looking a bit young for the role) investigates the cause of Kirshner’s near-fatal drug overdose.

Audio

Good, crisp sound, with decent surround for bo…
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Gosford Park

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2002

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Fresh off of its multiple nominations at the 2001 Academy Awards, and Academy’s winner of the Best Original Screenplay, comes Gosford Park to DVD. Most who have seen this film have fallen in love with it, I on the other hand, felt the story moved far to slow, and my interest waned as the film progressed. Though I was not captivated by the film itself, the acting was superb, and the premise was solid.

“It is November, 1932. Gosford Park is the magnificent country estate to which Sir William McCo…
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Blue Velvet

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 23rd, 2002

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Synopsis

Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), is on his way home from visiting his father at the hospital when he finds a human ear. He turns the ear over to the police, but the mystery eats at him, and, with the help of a detective’s daughter (Laura Dern), he begins his own investigation. Very quickly, he gets in over his head, becoming involved with the masochistic Isabella Rossellini, and her deeply disturbed, deeply sadistic boyfriend, Dennis Hopper (in his most terrifying role).

This is…
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Mothman Prophecies, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 18th, 2002

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Film

The Mothman Prophecies is a nice little thriller. This Richard Gere film is quite dark and mysterious. The story and film are both hit and miss, but overall, it’s a good view.

“Distraught by the sudden, tragic death of his wife (Debra Messing), John Klein (Richard Gere), a journalist for The Washington Post, finds himself mysteriously drawn to a small West Virginia town when his car inexplicably strands him. Rescued by the sympathetic but skeptical local police sergeant…
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Memento

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2002

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WOW! This is one of the most unique and fascinating films ever made… and this DVD release is equally as amazing. If you have never been introduced to Memento, this is your chance. This film works like no other (not counting “The Following” – Christopher Nolan’s first film), running backwards rather then sequentially. And let me tell you, once you have found the Easter egg that contains the film played sequentially, this film will take on a whole new life.

“In MEMENTO, Guy Pearce (“L.A. Confidential”)…
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Best Men

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2002

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The case features Drew Barrymore front and centre, but don’t be misled. This is a 1997 effort, and Barrymore’s star was still on the (re)ascension. She has a supporting role in this crime story, yet another smart-aleck tale to come in the wake of Quentin Tarantino.

Synopsis

Luke Wilson (doing his best Nicolas Cage impression) has just been released from prison. He is picked up by his friends to be driven to the church to marry Drew Barrymore, but along the way, one of them (Patrick Flannery) decide…
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The Cell

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 10th, 2002

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Let me start off by saying that “The Cell” is not for the timid. It can be as disturbing as it is visually stunning. On the surface this is a serial killer thriller but in reality the film is much more. Elements of suspense and graphic horror combine with a science fiction premise that one can enter the dreams of another person. It’s hard not to make comparisons with the 1980’s film “Dreamscape”; both have created elaborate larger than life dream worlds where if you die in your dream you die in reality. “The Cell” goes much further with its stark contrasts of often gritty environments followed by lavish and brightly colored settings.

Heist

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 9th, 2002

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Intro

This was a very interesting crime thriller. The acting was quite good, and the triple-crossing plot was very unique. It is too bad that a film such as this would get a bare-bones DVD release.

Synopsis

“Question: What makes the world go round?

Joe Moore (Gene Hackman) has a beautiful young wife, money owed to him, and a job he loves. He’s a thief. His job goes sour when he gets caught on security camera tape. His fence, Bergman (Danny DeVito) reneges on the …
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