Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2003
William Shatner refused to reprise his role of Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home without a promise to write and direct the next film in the franchise. Against their better judgment Paramount agreed, and to this day wish they had not. The story is absolutely silly and the direction very one-dimensional. The truth is, however, that there still are some very endearing Trek moments in the film. DeForest Kelly gives a superb performance as McCoy must face his past decision to allow his terminal father to die. Even the Kirk / Spock moments are often quite compelling. Unfortunately Shatner couldn’t help but show with how little regard he held his minor cast mates. Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, and Chekov are reduced to comic parodies of themselves. The f/x are some of the franchise’s weakest.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 29th, 2003
Once in a blue moon, though, there’s a re-make that not only takes the original to a new level of appreciation, but actually improves upon it. In musical terms, it’s Ike and Tina’s “Proud Mary.” In the cinematic forum, Martin Scorsese’s 1991 re-work of the B-movie thriller Cape Fear is another.
Max Cady (Robert DeNiro, lost the Oscar to Anthony Hopkins) is a recent parolee, fresh out of the joint after serving a fourteen year stretch for aggravated assault. During his trial, his lawyer, public...defender Samuel Bowden (Nick Nolte, the rich man’s Gary Busey) had pled the charge down from rape and aggravated sexual battery, which could have earned Cady a death sentence. Why, then, would Cady have such a vendetta toward the man who may have saved his life? In his fourteen years in prison, Cady has basically done two things: covered his body in tattoos, mostly scriptural and threatening in nature, and learned to read law books. After his conviction, he dismissed Bowden and acted as his own attorney and found something in his file that he feels Sam buried, and has since focused every fiber of his being on one final goal: to make his lawyer pay for the fourteen years he lost. As soon as he is released, Cady immediately sets about getting his long-planned revenge with an almost Ahab-ian fervor, making Bowden and his family the white whale, the perpetrator of his anguish.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 4th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2003
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is considered a failure not because it was a bad film, but because it just didn’t feel at all like Star Trek. Star Trek IV is perhaps the most Star Trek of all the films. A mixture of saving planet Earth with a social message, humor, and a strong character chemistry has always been Roddenberry’s dream at its very best. There’s no question that of all the Trek films this is the most enjoyable even if you’re not really a fan.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 9th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 8th, 2003
In 1988 Richard Chamberlin played the signature role of Jason Bourne in a made for TV adaptation of the classic novel The Bourne Identity. The show was a two-part pilot for a projected series that was never picked up. While the TV version might have been more faithful to the novel, the 2002 film with Matt Damon as Bourne effectively brings the spy yarn into the 21st century. Microfilm is replaced with a laser decoder and the awkward doctor is replaced with a more fitting female companion. Damon’s youth is both an asset and a liability. He certainly appears to be too young for such an accomplished assassin. Still Damon’s youthful energy brings the character to life in ways that a more seasoned actor could not. With obvious Bond elements and style, Jason has been re-Bourne for an audience with higher expectations.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2003
This set contains all episodes of season 3 from M*A*S*H in broadcast order. This season of M*A*S*H from a critical standpoint was probably one of the best of the 11 seasons, this was the year that the show won the Peabody award, the highest award you can receive in television, and co-producer gene Reynolds won an Emmy award for directing the episode, "O.R." which is seen here uncut and unedited. Also on this disc are the episodes The General Flipped at Dawn, Officer of the Day, Check-up, and Rainbow Bridge, Iron gut... Kelly, Springtime and Life with Father.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 8th, 2002
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 30th, 2002
In an interview with producer Harve Bennett he tells us that Star Trek II was so successful that he was given the green light for Star Trek III three days after its predecessor’s release. The Search For Spock is not the best of the franchise, but it is certainly the most underrated. Trek lore states that even numbered films are great and odd numbered films bite. This is certainly an exception. Christopher Lloyd is surprising as the main villain, the Klingon Kruge. Shatner actually provides one of his best scenes with Mark Lenard as Spock’s father. Deforest Kelly steals the film with the charm and wit that makes McCoy such an endearing figure and the actor’s death such a loss to Star Trek. There are many moving scenes to be found here: The death of Kirk’s son, Spock’s reunion with his friends, but perhaps the most startling is the destruction of the good ship Enterprise.
Synopsis
