Disc Reviews

Don’t Say a Word

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 22nd, 2002

Intro

I was quite interested in viewing this film, and I must say, it did not disappoint. Don’t Say a Word is a very suspenseful film with great acting and an interesting storyline.

Synopsis

“When the daughter of a prominent New York psychiatrist (Douglas) is kidnapped, his only hope for her safe return is to pry a 6-digit number from the memory of a troubled teenage girl – and time is running out!”

Audio

This film sounded great on DVD… in both DTS and Dolby Digital…
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Boycott

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 22nd, 2002

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Intro

Now this is a pretty rare achievement: a film that has an educational goal, but reaches that goal while being exciting cinema. And once the film has you wanting to know more, the DVD obliges.

Synopsis

We are in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Rosa Parks has just been arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This incident sparks the civil rights movement, and a young pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr. is about to begin his rise to prominence. The respons…
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Baise-Moi

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2002

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In 1993, Virginie Despentes burst onto the French literary scene with Baise-Moi (“F**k Me”), a snarling novel who’s unblinking, deadpan, yet philosophically pointed excess places it in the tradition of Sade. In 2000, Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi co-directed and scripted this adaptation, which has already forced the French government to re-evaluate its ratings rules.

Synopsis

Nadine (Karen Bach) is a prostitute. Manu (Raffaela Anderson) has done porn films, and has just been raped (in a t…
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Adventures of Huck Finn

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 20th, 2002

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Intro

This release has added interest now for the later careers of its director and star: Stephen Sommers is now best known for his Mummy films, and Elijah Wood is currently sporting a British accent as Frodo Baggins.

Synopsis

Based on Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the original American picaresque, the film follows Huck Finn, fleeing his terrifying father, and Jim, an escaped slave, as they travel down the Mississippi in search of freedom, encountering no end of colo…
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Tron

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 15th, 2002

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Intro

I got quite a kick out of this film. It is great to see the creative minds of 20 years ago try to put a spin of the world of computers. I had forgotten the basis for this film, and watching it 20 years after it was released was really fun.

Synopsis

“When Flynn (Jeff Bridges) hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer to prove his work was stolen by another executive, he finds himself on a much bigger adventure. Beamed inside by a power-hungry Master Control Program, he joins comput…
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My Bodyguard

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

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Intro

Fox’s recent set of Family Features includes a couple of films aimed at older viewers, and are that rare thing: the smart teen comedy. This is one (the other is Breaking Away).

Synopsis

Chris Makepeace plays Clifford, the new kid in school. The son of a hotel manager, he’s a fairly laid-back sort, dealing without blinking with his flamboyant grandmother (Ruth Gordon of Harold and Maude) and the various characters at the hotel. School becomes a trial, however, when he runs afoul o…
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Breaking Away

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 14th, 2002

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Intro

Eccentric and heartfelt, this Oscar-winning coming-of-age story deserves rediscovery.

Synopsis

Dennis Christopher is Dave, cycling enthusiast. Since the world’s greatest cyclists are Italian, Dave tries to become Italian, much to the low-key bemusement of his parents. Dave and his friends (played by Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley) are from the working class end of town, and are constantly at odds with the college boys, and this class rivalry ultimately climaxes…
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Kiss of the Dragon

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 9th, 2002

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Intro

Wow… Luc Besson, Chis Nahon, Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, and Tcheky Karyo have created one of the few action epics to come out of Hollywood recently. Amidst the never ending river of s…
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What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 5th, 2002

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Intro

We’ve just had one recent battle-of-the-rogues release with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Here’s a more recent film in a similar vein, with Martin Lawrence and Danny De Vito duking it out. Curiously, Glenne Headly features in both.

Synopsis

Martin Lawrence is a charming thief. Danny De Vito is a charmless businessman. When De Vito catches Lawrence robbing his home, he turns the tables and steals Lawrence’s precious ring. This, of course, means war, as the two men use all the means at …
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Glass House

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 3rd, 2002

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It’s one of the oldest childhood nightmares: your parents die, and evil guardians take over your life. The story has been told by countless fairy tales. The Glass House transposes the tale to contemporary California.

When Ruby (Leelee Sobieski) and Rhett (Trevor Morgan) are orphaned, they are taken into the care of Terry and Erin Glass (Stellan Skarsgård and Diane Lane). This couple seems to good to be true, and, of course, they are. Erin is a junkie, and Terry is in hock to the mob.
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Smashing Pumpkins Video Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 30th, 2001

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Posted in Disc Reviews by Carly Peters

Intro

I had to dab the drool from the corner of my mouth when I was handed this beauty. The Smashing Pumpkins are considered to be one of the most musically and visually creative bands of the Twentieth century. This DVD features every music video released by the Pumpkins from Gish to Machina, and includes some live footage that was not released previously.

Audio

The audio sounds exactly like CD quality. The music is clear, rich and full, with no auditable distortion. Unfortunately thi…
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Taboo (Gohatto)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 26th, 2001

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Intro

A recent effort from director Nagisa Oshima, perhaps best known for In the Realm of the Sense, Taboo continues his elegant exploration of sexuality and dangerous passions.

Synopsis

Imagine a samurai version of Death in Venice, and you have some sense of Taboo. The year is 1865, and a militia has two new recruits. One of them, Kano, is decidedly adrogynous, and the other recruit, Tashiro, promptly falls in love with him. As time goes on, more and more members of the militia fall u…
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Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 23rd, 2001

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Intro

This is a deeply, deeply silly film. But it takes being silly deeply, deeply seriously.

Synopsis

Peter Weller is Buckaroo Banzai: brain surgeon, physicist, rock star, fighter of evil. He and his merry men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, fight to save the world from destruction caused by a war between the Black Lectroids (good aliens) and the Red Lectroids (bad aliens). The deadpan cast includes good guys Jeff Goldblum and Ellen Barkin, and, on the side of evil, John Lilthgow and Christ…
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MASH – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 19th, 2001

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Intro

For those who just can’t get enough of the much-loved series on perpetual re-run, now comes the 3-disc set of the first season.

Anyone needing a summary of the premise is clearly not part of the set’s target market. But in case you need a reminder, the setting is a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, and the series revisits the characters introduced by the movie of the same name. Wacky hijinks interweave with the horrors of war. The show is at its tightest when the dialogue i…
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Ghosts of Mars

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2001

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Intro

Ouch… this movie carried such high expectations that its failure on so many levels came as a major disappointment. After such remarkably entertaining schlock-horror epics (and legitimate cinematic masterpieces) as “Hallowe’en,” “ In the Mouth of Madness,” and “Escape from New York,” “Ghosts of Mars (GoM)” came of as a…
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Vertical Ray of the Sun

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 12th, 2001

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Intro

The most recent film from Tran Anh Hung, writer/director of The Scent of Green Papaya, continues his restrained, low-key examination of human interaction.

Synopsis

In some ways, providing a synopsis for movies like this is to do them a disservice. This is not meant to imply that there is no story. There is: three sisters prepare a feast to mark the anniversary of their parents’ death, and we explore their relationships with each other and with the men in their lives. But above an…
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War of the Roses

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 9th, 2001

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Intro

Mean-spirited. Nasty. Spiteful. Evil. All words that apply to this comedy. And they’re compliments.

Synopsis

Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas are Barbara and Oliver Rose. They’ve had seventeen wonderful years together. But their marriage collapses. Their hatred for each other emerges, and a tit for tat battle erupts, each indignity that one inflicts on the other inviting greater retaliation. The war escalates into a total domestic Armageddon. This is uncompromising black comed…
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What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 4th, 2001

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Intro

1993 isn’t that long ago, but watching this film makes that year seem much further back than it is, given the subsequent career paths of some of the cast.

Synopsis

Johnny Depp is Gilbert, our hero and narrator. He lives in the US heartland small town of Endora, with a family that includes his mentally impaired brother Leonardo DiCaprio (in a performance that reminds us that yes, he really is a good actor) and his enormous mother (Darlene Cates), who has not been out of the house …
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Jurassic Park III

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 3rd, 2001

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Intro

I Loved Jurassic Park. I was extremely disappointed with Jurassic Park II. Jurassic Park III fell right in the middle. This film is good, but really cannot compare to the greatness of the original. The story is a bit better then the second installment and it is still fun to see Dinosaurs come to life.

Synopsis

Desperate to fund research for his new theory of Velociraptor intelligence, Grant is particularly vulnerable when wealthy adventurer Paul Kirby (William H. Macy) and hi…
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Mixed Nuts

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2001

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Intro

This quirky little Christmas film will really put the holidays into perspective for you. The cast of Mixed Nuts contains a who’s who of comedy… Steve Martin, Gary Shandling, Adam Sandler, Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, Etc. This is not the best Holiday comedy ever made, but it should bake you chuckle.

Synopsis

Funnyman Steve Martin leads an all-star cast in this cracked-up comedy about a suicide hotline where the only people crazier than the clients are the ones answering the …
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Dracula

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2001

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Intro

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the first Horror/Suspense film to hit the SuperBit Circuit. This film is quite good, and the disc is another great release.

Synopsis

“Sumptuous retelling of the Dracula legend as originally conceived by Stoker in his 1897 novel. Avenging the death of his beloved wife, a 15th-century Romanian warrior lives on through the ages… and sets his sights on Victorian London. Sexual, sinuous, exquisitely realized (using every movie artifice imaginable); o…
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Of Mice and Men

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 30th, 2001

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Gary Sinise (who also produced and directed) is George, the smart one. John Malkovich (in a role light years from his usual creepy venom) is Lennie, child-like but enormously strong. The two best friends wander Depression-era California, looking for work. They find what seems likea long-term gig at the Tyler Ranch, but trouble rears its head in the form of the unhappy Sherilyn Fenn, trapped in an abusive marriage. It isn’t long before everything goes to hell.

Willow

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 26th, 2001

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Intro

The timing on this release is just about perfect: close enough to the theatrical release of The Lord of the Rings for people to be eager for some high fantasy, but far in advance enough that comparisons will be less likely.

Synopsis

The story, by George Lucas, should be familiar to followers of his work. Once again, there is the promised deliverer, this time in the form of a baby girl. A quest ensues to save her, and the leader of this quest is Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), a Lu…
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Beethoven’s 4th

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2001

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Intro

Once a franchise is launched, it seems, it is by definition unstoppable, even when, as is the case for this series of films involving a large St. Bernard, the franchise has moved into the direct-to-video realm.

Synopsis

Beethoven, with his slobbery, chaotic ways, is making life impossible for the Newton family. He is thus packed off to obedience school. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Michelangelo, the impeccably behaved St. Bernard owned by the impossibly rich Sedgwicks. The Sed…
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Dirty Harry Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2001

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Intro

From 1971, a newly restored “Dirty Harry” has been returned to the screen. This is a fantastic DVD release in every way – as either a solitary disc, or as part of the Dirty Harry box set. The video looks fantastic, the audio sounds good, and the disc is packed with valuable features. Beyond the quality of the DVD presentation, the movie itself is a classic – “Dirty Harry” is a seminal detective story in the annals of Hollywood – Harry Callahan is one of the original disaffected anti-heroes, a traum…
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