Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 10th, 2005
Synopsis
Gene Tierney plays the kleptomaniac wife of respected psychiatrist Richard Conte. When she is caught shoplifting a pin, she is rescued from embarrassment by con artist and hypnotist Jose Ferrer, who wins her confidence, and then sets her up for a murder wrap. His alibi is airtight, and the evidence all points to her guilt.
Tierney, as ever, excels at being beautiful and unstable, though here she is sympathetic, as opposed to the monsters she plays in Leave Her to Heaven and ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 9th, 2005
Synopsis
John Hodiak plays a soldier who wakes up after being wounded with no memory. All he knows is what he is told: that his name is George Taylor. He makes his way to LA, and before long is looking for one Larry Cravat, a man who is apparently his friend. But lots of other people are looking for Cravat too, both hoodlums and cops, and our hero is quickly up to his neck in danger, without even knowing why.
An early storyline centred around amnesia, Somehwere in the Night’s twists ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 8th, 2005
Synopsis
As the US enters the conflict of WWII, a ring of Nazi spies works to uncover American research into the atomic bomb. The are based out of a dress shop at the house of the title, and they are infiltrated by double agent William Eythe. Will he uncover the traitor in the nuclear program before the Nazis uncover the traitor in their own midst?
This isn’t, properly speaking, a noir, something that the commentary itself points out, adding that this is, rather, the first of the pseudo-doc...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 27th, 2005
Synopsis
After being the hunk of the moment on E.R., George Clooney came out of the starting blocks as a film actor in a few films, ranging the gamut from cult favorite (From Dusk ‘Til Dawn) to somewhat critically praised (The Peacemaker). He was also played the starring role in the film that put the Batman franchise on life support. One of his first smart acting choices came in Out Of Sight, directed by Steven Soderbergh, before Soderbergh became the Hollywood flavor of the mont...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 25th, 2005
Synopsis
This is the biopic of Irish painter and writer Christy Brown. Born with crippling cerebral palsy, he retained movement only in his left foot. His body is a cage for his mind, and at first, only his mother believes that he is an intelligent being. When, as a child, he spells “MOTHER” on the floor in chalk, this is the breakthrough moment, and we follow him through the triumphs and frustrations of his adult years.
The film is markedly different from what one would imagine would be th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 20th, 2005
Boudu Saved From Drowning is a style of film that is quite popular in the modern independent film scene. Tales of understanding the outcasts and what it means to fit in with the status quo have always been powerful, especially ones such as this one, where the moral is that no particular group or culture is without its drawbacks.
This film tells the story of Boudu, a homeless man who decided to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge, but is saved by a man of “integrity”. He is then taken in to the ma...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 19th, 2005
Synopsis
Charlton Heston is the title character, a Union officer who determines on his own hook to track down a group of Apache raiders. He gathers together a ragtag group of raw recruits, criminals and Confederate prisoners, and heads off to Mexico. His second-in-command is Confederate officer Richard Harris, and the two men have a long history of mutual hatred and respect. Heston forges ahead despite all obstacles, and despite the costs both to his men and to the civilians they encounter.
<p ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 19th, 2005
I'll bet the script to this film read like a dream. The Exorcist meets Hellboy meets The Mummy. Surely this is the ideal vehicle for Keanu Reeves following his three picture run on The Matrix. Sound too good to be true? Unfortunately, it is. Now, there is a lot that is admirable in this film. For example, the acting, which is is far above the tired bar set by most modern action/sci-fi flicks. Furthermore, the special effects in Constantineare simply fantastic. In fact, I would go so...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 11th, 2005
Synopsis
Akira Kurosawa’s impact on filmmaking and storytelling will be part of Western cinema for decades to come. Despite being slightly underappreciated in his later years in his native Japan, some of the work he put to film is some of the greatest and most influential ever seen. His work, such as Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress and The Seven Samurai, to name a few, have been remade or cited as major influences in the films and/or careers of George Lucas, Clint Eastwood and James Cobur...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 1st, 2005
Synopsis
Think of this as the John Waters version of Grease, with everything that that entails. The setting is the fifties, and kids are divided between the Squares (so clean-cut and conformist they make Ward Cleaver look like Marlon Brando) and the black-leather-clad Drapes. The leader of the Drapes is Cry-Baby Walker (Johnny Depp), and his posse includes the likes of Ricki Lake (BEFORE she became a talk-show host) and Traci Lords (AFTER... well, after). Square Amy Locane is drawn to Depp an...
