Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 24th, 2004
Synopsis
An orphan who learned to survive in the cauldron of the war-torn Balkans, Modesty Blaise(Alexandra Staden) now runs a casino in Tangiers for kingping Mr. Louche. But her boss iskilled, and armed men invade the casino, taking Modesty and fellow employees hostage.Modesty plays for time by engaging the leader of the gang (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in endlessrounds of roulette, with the prizes being the liberation of hostages versus the truth of herbackground.
This is an...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 24th, 2004
Synopsis
Into a sleepy town, and into the home of the formidable senior citizen Irma P. Hall comecriminal mastermind/Foghorn Leghorn impersonator Tom Hanks and his dastardly crew.Pretending to be musicians, the crooks use Hall’s basement to tunnel their way to a casino shipand a big heist. Their carefully laid plans naturally start going terribly awry thanks both to Halland to the incompetence of the gang.
The original Ladykillers is one of the greatest comedies every...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
This is a tale of two adopted brothers. One (Paul Sampson) stayed home in Jersey, becominga hit man for the Mob. The other (Patrick Muldoon) tried to escape that life, and became anassassin for the CIA. When computer nerd Judge Reinhold discovers a crooked deal arrangedby a rogue CIA officer, a contract is taken out on his life, and Sampson gets the job. Reinholdruns to Muldoon for help, thus reuniting the brothers, who realize the Agency goon has beenmanipulating them. Now they fi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 22nd, 2004
Synopsis
An art-museum heist leads to the discovery of a map pointing the way to a treasure hiddenby Christopher Columbus. Two groups wind up on a remote island, racing each other and aferocious storm for the treasure. One group is a collection of criminals and crooked cops, eagerto kill our heroes in the second group (Stephen Baldwin, Nicolette Sheridan, and assorted comicrelief).
The director of this dead duck is supposedly someone named “Jay Andrews,” but withinmoments it is pa...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2004
This box set has restored my faith in television. I actually don’t have cable or satellite or anything, and if you ask anyone that knows me, they’ll tell you that I’m a steadfast refusenik when it comes to watching TV. Law & Order, however, is intelligent, well-cast, and has very high production values – all the ingredients of a winning series, as its ridiculously long run (14+ years) is testament to. Each episode has a well thought-out plot, usually with some sort of twist – and generally without any glaring plot ho...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 21st, 2004
Synopsis
The peasant father of Tess (Nastassja Kinski) discovers that their family is of noble descent,and, hoping to improve their fortunes, he sends Tess to work for a well-to-do family. Shebecomes a victim of the rakish son of the household. Abandoned, she eventually falls in lovewith parson’s son Peter Firth, but her past catches up with her.
As is typical of Thomas Hardy novels, the story is about a slow decline into misery anddeath. The intensity one associates with Po...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 21st, 2004
Synopsis
Katie Wright is an English art student studying in San Francisco. She is a bit of an odd duck,and after being disturbed by her inability to see a first date through, she avoids the boy who askedher out. She is having problems in class too, as she keeps sculpting not the model before her, butthe faces of the man we know is her neighbour: insane actor Jeff Fahey. Things get even worsewhen Wright winds up sculpting one of Fahey’s victims.
Having the heroine unintentionally pro...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2004
This box set has restored my faith in television. I actually don’t have cable or satellite or anything, and if you ask anyone that knows me, they’ll tell you that I’m a steadfast refusenik when it comes to watching TV. Law & Order, however, is intelligent, well-cast, and has very high production values – all the ingredients of a winning series, as its ridiculously long run (14+ years) is testament to. Each episode has a well thought-out plot, usually with some sort of twist – and generally without any glaring plot ho...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 20th, 2004
Synopsis
The scene is a middle-class apartment building in Washington, DC. Our characters are Mary(Marla Gibbs), hard-nosed mother; her best friend and gossip-buddy Rose (Alaina Reed); big-time flirt Sandra (Jackée Harry) and the relevant husbands and offspring. It’s the expectedcollection of wisecracks and Issues Moments in an utterly typical, and I would have thoughcompletely forgotten, sitcom.
Audio
The 2.0 sound may be stereo, but it has no surround pres...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 20th, 2004
Synopsis
This is a chronicle of battles over Bill Clinton, climaxing with his impeachment. Based onothe book by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason, the movie, narrated by Morgan Freeman, takes theapproach that this ten-year-war was not something that just happened, but was the systematicattempt by an organized group to bring down the president. One’s sympathies in the matter willlargely determine how much, if any, of this one buys, but the film does make some convincinglydisturbing charges....
