Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 22nd, 2007
Although it arose from the talented minds behind The Muppet Show, this 1982 fantasy classic is no kids' film. While The Dark Crystal can be enjoyed by kids, it's a little too dark and a little too abstract for your average seven-year-old.
Set in "another world, in another time...in the age of wonder," The Dark Crystal represents a monumental creative undertaking, and the first live-action feature film to not have any humans appearing on screen. While this 25th Anniversary Edition release appears to be a quadruple-dip, it just might be worth your attention.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 16th, 2007
Volume 4 of Warner’s Film Noir Classic Collection series raises the bar over its wonderful predecessors by doubling the number of movies on offer: ten this time around.
Very briefly:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2007
There must be very few people out there who haven’t seen Taxi Driver or at the very least muttered the words, “you talking to me?†Regardless, this thirty year old film is easily a classic, and still on the top of many critics lists. It marked the blooming of an epic and ongoing relationship between Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese, the spawn of Jodie Foster’s career and arguably Harvey Keitel’s as well. At any rate Taxi Driver managed to receive four Academy award nominations as well as gaining a huge cult following. I don’t think it’s a surprise that I’ve already seen and love this movie, but how does the newly released DVD pan out?
Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro, Heat) is an ex-marine who had recently fought in the Vietnam War. He has since developed several psychological disabilities as showcased throughout the movie including insomnia, obsession, and depression. He works as a nighttime taxi driver and spends his sleepless days in pornography movie theatres or watching presidential aide Betsy (Cybill Shepherd, Alice). He finally garners the courage to approach Betsy and ask her on a date, initially she in intrigued by Travis, but after he takes her on a date to a pornographic film she ditches him and takes a cab home. This acts as a catalyst for Travis’ depression and increasingly paranoid and delusional behavior. He begins having vigilante fantasies and acquires several handguns. One night a 12 year prostitute named Iris (Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs) jumps in to his cab trying to escape a beating from her pimp. Travis has a moment of realization about the decaying world around him. From here he begins toying with the notion of killing Senator Charles Palatine and Iris’ pimp (Harvey Keitel, Reservoir Dogs).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 6th, 2007
In the United States, we tend to take for granted; influences. In the case of movies, we take certain film styles for granted. We just figure that they always existed. Doesn't really matter where they came from, we just know we like that style of movie; over and over and over again. Enter Hard Boiled, a 1992 film directed by John Woo. This featured Chow Yun-Fat as Tequila, a hard nosed cop who is on a quest to derail an arms smuggling ring that has both cops and innocent civilians dead in its wake. The movie also featured Tony Leung as Alan, an undercover cop who is in deep cover as a Triad hitman who tries desperately to keep his sanity and protect his true identity. But what set Hard Boiled apart from other films and that was duplicated time and time again was over the top action and no-nonsense gunplay. In the first five minutes alone with the teahouse scene, you see more dead bodies fly across the screen than most action movies deliver in a couple of hours. But it wasn't just dead bodies, you can rent George Romero Dead movies if you want to see lifeless bodies. It was the style, you had the imagery of three guns emptying from the bottom of a birdcage, Tequila jumping in the air and killing two gangsters with a gun in each hand; and sliding down a staircase with such grace. This would continue in other scenes where similar heroics would come into play. For over two hours, your breath would escape you and somehow return by the final bell.
Hard Boiled was a film that made no apologies and has only amassed popularity as time goes on. The term cult classic would be more of an insult to the film as it has gone beyond that premise. In addition to two fine leading roles, the film included many popular supporting roles; primarily on the villains' side. Anthony Wong played the devious Johnny Wong, a character that had no morals and whose only real mission was to control the arms smuggling ring of China and get all the money in the process. Phillip Kwok (also known as Cheung Jue-Luh) played the role of Mad Dog (or One-Eye), the action counterpart to Wong's character as he enforced what Johnny didn't want to dirty his hands on. These characters developed a chemistry that produced memorable dialog with and without words. This was especially true when it came to the characters of Tequila and Alan once they get on-screen together. It was a flow of actions and reactions that had you enthralled for every last phrase that was used. The film's only negative would be the scenes where they decide to spend an inordinate amount of time surrounding getting the infants to safety. Once you dive into the extras on Disc Two, you start understanding that the babies actually were to be the main plot point or original concept of the film. So as a result they contributed to a major scene. The movie is still a masterpiece even with that small discordance with its amazing action and a hard running story that lead to be an influence of many future Asian and American action movies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 1st, 2007
Edward G. Robinson is the war crimes investigator on the relentless hunt for the fugitive Nazi who masterminded the Final Solution. He arranges for the one man who knows his face to escape imprisonment, and follows him to a small Connecticut town. There he loses his quarry, but evidence soon points to Orson Welles, who, under the identity of Charles Rankin, is now a college professor and new husband to Loretta Young. Welles stops at nothing, including murder, to protect his secret, but little by little Young is forced to realize who her husband really is.
Welles’ third film as a director is far more conventional than Citizen Kane or The Magnificent Ambersons, and it isn’t quite up to its predecessors. Robinson is terrific as a detective who must become almost as cold-blooded as his prey, but Welles’ performance is too big: his character might as well be wearing a “NOT A NAZI WAR CRIMINAL†name tag. That said, the suspense is powerful, and the cinematography pure, gorgeous noir.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2007
Left alone when his family leaves town to visit relatives, professor Edward G. Robinson hangs out at his club with his two cronies, one of whom is DA Raymond Massey. He is fascinated by a striking portrait of a young woman, and one night, leaving the club late and alone, he runs into the portrait’s model (Joan Bennett). Though he knows better, he accompanies her back to her apartment. A jealous lover bursts in and attacks Robinson, who murders him in self-defense. Panicked by the situation, Bennett and Robinson cover up the event, but both the authorities and a blackmailer circle closer and closer.
Robinson is magnificent as a basically decent man whose one lapse in judgment leads him to catastrophe. His eyes radiate a desperate desire to turn back the clock, and the audience squirms along with him. Bennett’s character is interesting as the unintentional femme fatale: she never has any desire to cause trouble for Robinson. Director Fritz Lang holds the audience in a lethal grasp, which never loosens in the slightest until the unfortunate cop-out ending.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 28th, 2007
I still remember the first time I watched a Spawn animated episode. I was with my parents in my younger years on what I believe was the last vacation we ever took together. It was a hotel we were staying at which had HBO (I never had that channel growing up). I had read Spawn but didn't even know of the animated series. The fact it was late at night and on a premium movie channel meant it had to be good. I was simply blown away and remember telling my parents that we had to be back at the hotel to watch it again the next night. I remember that later I would procure used copies of the series. All beat up, in snapper cases, it didn't matter. I soon dumped those copies in a couple of years and hoped that it would get reissued in a nice box set. That time has come, Spawn has come home.
Spawn is Todd McFarlane's baby; his issue of defiance when he and a group of artists started Image Comics. Great art, compelling stories and no boundaries. Spawn was the story of Al Simmons who sold his soul to the demon Malebolgia so that he come back to avenge his death and be with his wife Wanda one more time. Problem was once that occurred he was to become an undead "hellspawn". So he fights that control constantly along with enemies from that conflict and those enemies in the human world that would bring him harm. He is not a superhero so much but the boogieman, a character that lives in the shadows and comes out at night to take care of business and then return to those same shadows by morning.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2007
Some of you may know John Grisham as a politician or an attorney but that’s not very likely. Like me you probably know him as an author of some of the best legal/crime fiction novels. His works have made their way to the big screen several times including; The Firm, Runaway Jury, A Time To Kill, The Client, and of course The Rainmaker. Although it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen any of the aforementioned films I do remember them all being rather good, I just hope The Rainmaker can live up to what I remember.
Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon, The Bourne Identity) has recently graduated from the University of Memphis Law School, but can’t nail a well paying job. Eventually he resorts to something that goes against his principles and becomes an associate to J. Lyman “Bruiser†Stone (Mickey Rourke, Sin City), a cutthroat and successful ambulance chaser. On the brink of bankruptcy things aren’t looking very promising for Rudy, especially once his employer’s office is raided by the FBI. Nonetheless Rudy decides to stay on a case he had just accepted and enlists the help of associate Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito, Twins). Although Deck has failed his bar exam multiple times he has experience working with insurance companies and excels at information gathering.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 26th, 2007
Preston Foster is a bitter ex-cop who masterminds a gigantic robbery. Hiding behind a mask, he forces three cons to work with him, and makes sure they too wear masks, so only he knows everyone’s identity. The heist also involves framing an innocent flower delivery-man (Joe Rolfe), who unfortunately has done his own stint in jail, and so is put through the brutal wringer by the police. Freed but understandably ticked off, Payne sets off on the trail of the men who framed him. Tracking one to Tijuana, Payne adopts his identity and arrives at the resort where Foster and others have gathered. Foster’s master plan is complicated by the arrival of his daughter, who develops an interest in Payne.My summary likely makes the film sound hellishly convoluted. Though it does indeed have a plethora of twists and turns, the storytelling remains crystal-clear throughout, and it is astonishing how many issues and incidents it packs into 99 minutes. The near torture that Payne suffers at the hands of the police is wince-inducing, and Neville Brand and a young Lee Van Cleef are memorably sleazy cons. Marvellous fun.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 22nd, 2007
George Dolenz is the Montreal scientist working on an atomic something-or-other. Foreign spies (could they be.... Communists??!!) hire exiled American gangster George Raft to get Dolenz and his secret into their clutches. His secret weapon for this project is the seductive power of Audrey Totter. Working for the angels is RCMP detective Edward G. Robinson. The expected race against time ensues.The Montreal setting is unusual, as is the idea of Robinson as a Mountie, so that's fun. Rraft is very much the aging gangster by this point, but still rasps it out with the best, and the film is really about his redemption. Not only is Dolenz' research a pure McGuffin, so is he, his character nothing more than the means to have Robinson and Raft play cat and mouse. This isn't in the top rank of films noir, but it is still a lesson in how to pack a lot of entertainment into an economical 87 minutes.
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