Disc Reviews

This is the story of Frida Kahlo, now recognized as one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Most particularly, the film is the story of her tempestuous love affair with fellow artist Diego Rivera --their loves, their clashes, their politics, their infidelities, their betrayals, and so on. So much attention is paid to this relationship that Kahlo’s art itself slips into the background, which is too bad. That said, this is a tremendously engaging film, with great performances all round.It is also a spectacular movie to look at. If Kahlo’s art doesn’t take centre stage in the narrative, it does in the look of the film, informing almost every frame. The visual impact is not simply eye candy,however. Every colour is thematically relevant. This is a film made by creators very conscious of the visual possibilities of cinema.

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Melina Mercouri plays Illia, a character who makes prostitution seem like a carefree Utopia.She lives in a version of Greece where there only appear to be 5 women, and they are all ladies of the night. Into this extraordinarily male fantasy comes Jules Dassin, a deluded American idealist who wants to save Illia from herself. Naturally, he doesn’t have a hope, and Greek enthusiasm (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding on steroids) will inevitably overcome his anti-fun attitudes. Obviously, the picture has dated quite noticeably, and makes Pretty Woman look like a gritty expose. But the point of the film is cheerful good humour, and it is for this reason that it is beloved. I found the good cheer a little relentless, but that’s me being churlish.

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Eric Roberts, miles away from direct-to-video action fodder, plays Nick, a man in the terminal stages of AIDS. Over the opening credits, we see his long-term relationship with Gregory Harrison rise and disintegrate, and in the present, this relationship and its fallout will have a major role to play at Nick’s party. This party, the heart of the film, is an event he throws to say goodbye to all his friends and family. The story has added poignancy since this is based on an actual event.

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Synopsis

An all new adventure for all of your favourite characters form Disney’s Jungle Book. Back for more fun we have Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera and Shere Khan of course, Mowgli has moved out of the jungle and into the village but, he misses his old friends. He soon finds an excuse to wander back into the jungle and quickly finds himself hunted by his old enemy Shere Khan. With all new songs and a couple of new characters the fun continues in The Jungle Book 2.

Synopsis

The follow-up to Jackie Chan’s Project A, Dragon Mao returns to Hong Kong after defeating Pirate Lo on the high seas. Dragon is assigned to lead the local police force and finds that police corruption is running wild. Framed for a jewelry robbery he must fight for his freedom and his life against a group of spies, pirates and revolutionaries.

On the heals of the release of Charlie Angels: Full Throttle we have a collection of the five best episodes from season one of the original television show. The five episodes are as follows:

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The topic for this documentary are the Shakers, more properly the “United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.” The Shakers weren’t around that long: they were celibate, which meant no offspring. However, as the film explores, that didn’t stop them from having a profound impact on American life (they were, for instance, feminist and anti-slavery well ahead of the game).

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