Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Despite the upside of pro wrestling-being on worldwide TV and having people from ages 6 to 60 buy a shirt with your face on it, and cheer (or boo) you in the ring until they become hoarse, there is still a downside. A wrestler can be on the road for 250 days out of the year. The pay is comfortable, but there is the risk of injury, or worse, addictions to drugs to overcome the pain you can suffer from while on the road. And unlike John Q. Businessman, a lot of the wrestlers out there either don’t ha...e a health or pension plan, or can’t even afford either or both to begin with. Numerous wrestlers over the years have been incapacitated from the life, and at least that many have committed suicide, including several well known (to fans) wrestlers in the recent months. The upside can be great though, and a wrestler’s character can have a lasting impact on the public, long enough to maybe make them lifelong fans. I’m still watching it, off and on for (damn!) 20 years, and Barry Blaustein has the same identification with it, and uses it to help focus on several different people who have, and are, making their livelihood in the business, in Beyond the Mat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 23rd, 2005
Synopsis
Angie Dickinson is a single mother of two teenage girls (whom the film very explicitly characterizes as “ripe” – boy howdy, they don’t make movies like this anymore). Money is tight during the Depression, and after a fiasco of an interrupted wedding, mother and brood hit the road to seek their fortune, and before you know it, they’re robbing banks.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
In the year 2000, the United States (and much of the rest of the world, it seems) is under the dictatorial rule of Mr. President, and the masses are kept passive with the Transcontinental road race, where the competitors must not only race from the remains of New York to the remains of LA in record time, but kill as many pedestrians as possible. Chief rivals are fan favourite Frankenstein (David Carradine) and the villainous Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 21st, 2005
Where does Dukes of Hazzard fall on the spectrum of TV show adaptations? Somewhere in the middle, which came as a surprise. I expected a stupid flick with no entertainment value, but I got a stupid flick with more than a few glimmers of amusement. The film’s plot borders on irrelevant, but I’ll recap it anyway. The flick focuses on the adventures of cousins Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville) Duke. They deliver moonshine for their Uncle Jesse (Willie Nelson), and Bo also succeeds as a local ra...e driver. He looks forward to his fifth consecutive victory in the annual Hazzard County road race. However, an obstacle arrives when former four-time champion – and now pro driver – Billy Prickett (James Roday) returns to compete.
It turns out he’s there to create a diversion for local mogul Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds). Hogg frames the Dukes to take over their land, and they learn that he’s done the same to claim other connected properties. With the aid of their sexy cousin Daisy (Jessica Simpson) and others, Bo and Luke attempt to find out Hogg’s plan and stop it. Along the way, they try to avoid law enforcement authorities and score with some babes – oh, and Bo still wants to win that race.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
Thankfully, as part of Criterion’s desire to be completists of the Akira Kurosawa collection, they have finally decided to release Ran on DVD. For the sake of time, I’ll include my thoughts of the film based on my review of the Kurosawa boxed set, which included a previous version of Ran:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
In Akira Kurosawa’s later years, it was almost criminal that a director with his resume was forced to practically beg for financing. Kurosawa was in the midst of a career drought, having made only two movies in almost 15 years with Dersu Uzala and Dodesukaden. This coming after a run of films that has proved influential to even today’s filmmakers. While Kurosawa did have to obtain foreign financing for his movies in later years, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, both of whom cite...Kurosawa as heavy career influences, agreed to finance his next film, 1980’s Kagemusha (or The Shadow Warrior).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2005
Peter Jackson is a true visionary. In most circles, such a statement is agreed upon if the subject is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or his brand new King Kong remake. There are also those who'd rather remember him for his schlocky, disgusting, and dangerously enjoyable efforts Braindead and Bad Taste. Of course, either camp will love his work. It's just a matter of preference as to which type of film they love more. I'd say most find his latest efforts to be superior to those low budget e...rly works. But none of his modern genius would have been possible without The Frighteners, his breakout studio film, which garnered respect and financing from Hollywood heavyweight Robert Zemeckis. By the same token, one might say The Frighteners would have never been possible without his terrific Heavenly Creatures. The debate can rage on for as long as it needs to, but the heart of the matter reveals this: Peter Jackson makes great films, and while he may not be a perfectionist, his work argues to the contrary -- The Frighteners being no exception.
This two-hour director's cut treats its viewers to a hefty 14 minutes of extra footage, and most of it is easily recognizable to those who have seen the theatrical release a couple of times, or once recently. By recognizable, I mean you'll know it's new when you see it. Right away, I want to mention a mild concern I have for the director's cut, and it's the same kind of problem other critics have pointed out about his latest effort King Kong. Most of the deleted scenes add a stigma of excess to the film. It's longer than it probably should be. But at the same time, you find yourself so in love with the picture Jackson puts together that you don't really mind the more meandering pace. In fact, you kind of enjoy it because the new scenes add more of the same rowdy horror-comedy fun, and come across as visually endearing. This film is eye candy, but it also doesn't forsake characterization and plot for the sake of its mayhem.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2005
Pickpocket is precisely the kind of film that could never have been made in Hollywood in the 50's. The Hays Code was a set of morality guidelines that dictated what was and was not acceptable to be shown in motion pictures. Amongst many other things, the code would not allow a criminal to be depicted on screen in such a way as to induce sympathy from the audience. It also said that criminals must always be punished for their actions. (For a complete copy of the code, visit http://www.artsreformation.com/a...01/hays-code.html.)
Luckily, the Hays Code only applied to films made in the US, giving foreign filmmakers certain freedoms that were not awarded to those in here the states. Robert Bresson made the most of his freedoms with Pickpocket, a film that, as one might deduce, tells the story of one such nimble-fingered miscreant, and his evolution into the business. His first attempts are quite clumsy, but with time, practice, and the help of a tutor, he soon becomes quite handy. Of course, nobody can break the rules of law forever, and consequences almost inevitably follow a crime.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2005
Written by Clayton Self
The Polar Express is a milestone in digital film making. Making use of “performance capture” (little attachments connected to the body to mimic human movement) and green screens, Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) has created a stunning visual world that is sure to find its way into homes of millions to be enjoyed during the Holiday season. Labeled by some as creepy because of the not quite real, yet not quite fake digital characters, The Polar Express is nothing more than an epic Christmas a...venture to be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 11th, 2005
Stargate is something of a cult phenomenon among sci-fi buffs. It is so popular, in fact, that it produced not one, but three spin-off TV shows. It is amazing that the big business of the Stargate franchise started with a quirky little film. Now there are some big fans of this movie that will surely have strong words of disagreement for me, but this is really not a very good film. The premise alone is enough to make most moviegoers roll their eyes. An Egyptian historian cracks an ancient code on a strange artifact, and discovers a method by which to travel to the other side of the universe. Accompanied by token military-types, the whole crew jets off to a strange and distant land, where they find an alien slave camp run by an Egyptian god and... oh, what's the point. This is all really just the stuff of a 16-year-old geek writing stories in his parents' basement. The real story here is that, for some completely unexplainable reason, the movie actually kind-of works in an odd action adventure sort of way. If viewers can suspend belief and go into this with low expectations, you might find an exciting flick to fill an afternoon.
For those that wish the story in this action thrill ride made more sense, this disc includes the extended cut of the film, though unfortunately this cut extends the film by only five additional minutes. Still, with a film like this one, every little bit helps.
