Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
In 1927, young Charlotte Hollis’ married lover (a young Bruce Dern) is hacked apart with a meat cleaver, and Charlotte’s blood-stained dress points to her as the murderer. There is never sufficient evidence, however, and she is never charged, but lives on as the subject of endless gossip, slowly going mad. In 1964, Charlotte (Bette Davis) is decaying as much as her house, which is about to be torn down to make way for a highway. She refuses to give up the house or her past, and, convinced th...t her lover’s widow is trying to driver her out of home and mind, calls cousin Miriam (Olivia de Havilland) to her aid, much to the displeasure of eccentric housekeeper Agnes Moorehead (in the role Una O’Connor would have played had the film been made in the 30s). Soon after Miriam arrives, all sorts of mysterious and terrifying events take place.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2005
Synopsis
Gregory Peck is having trouble making ends meet in his current job. A more lucrative one opens up, but with it comes many more demands that create more stress in his family. There is also a secret from his past that is coming back to haunt him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2005
Synopsis
Mother O’Leary and her brood arrive in Chicago just as it is beginning to transform into a metropolis. Her sons grow up to become the amoral Dion (Tyrone Power), who never misses a bet and hooks up with the similarly canny cabaret performer Belle (Alice Faye), and the idealistic lawyer Jack (Don Ameche). Betraying political boss Brian Donlevy, Power arranges for his brother to become mayor, but then finds himself in the targeting sights of Ameche’s reforms. The family feud builds to the nigh... when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow makes that fateful kick.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 15th, 2005
Synopsis
Grand Hotel (1932) was the model: a large cast of known faces with soap opera problems. The High and the Mighty takes this set-up and puts the characters in a plane flying from Hawaii to San Francisco, then blows out an engine and has the fuel leak away. John Wayne is the Co-Pilot With The Tragic Past, Robert Stack is the Pilot Losing His Nerve, and they are surrounded by a collection of other very recognizable types: the Cute Kid, the Charming Dying Man, the Loud Couple From N...w Jersey, the Selfish Coward, the Guilt-Ridden Atomic Scientist, and so on. The crisis brings out the best and worst of everybody.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2005
Synopsis
John Woo did not just direct Tom Cruise from a big rock in Mission Impossible:2, nor EVERY recent action movie with featuring either Nicolas Cage or John Travolta. He was only a name you heard about whenever the hot director of the moment (Quentin Tarantino comes to mind) talked about their film influences. Woo was recognized as a top directing talent before his move to the West, and is the one name people consistently mention when talking about the Hong Kong crime/action film genre. This fi...m was his last before coming to the US, his American debut was Hard Target, and following that were several other action films. His creativity and action sequences seemed to resuscitate the American action film, which, until that point, had stagnated for a few years. One can only subject oneself to so many Chuck Norris 80’s action films without losing sanity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 11th, 2005
Synopsis
Captain Blood (1935) is the picture that made Errol Flynn a star, and paired him for the first time of many with Olivia De Havilland. There had been pirate movies before (Douglas Fairbanks was the star in them), but this became the new high watermark of the genre. Flynn plays a doctor who is unjustly accused of treason and shipped off to a life of slavery in the colonies. He fights back, eventually becoming the pirate of the title, but always remaining an honourable man, of course. Th...s is a terrific swashbuckler, and its worthy descendant today would not be the entertaining but shallow Pirates of the Carribean, but Master and Commander.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 30th, 2005
Synopsis
Strong-willed Englishwoman Irene Dunne (the Anna of the title) arrives at the court of King Rex Harrison to teach his wives and 67 children. The clash of cultures is immediate, with the very British Anna refusing to bend to the more outlandish demands of her new surroundings, and Harrison himself torn between modernity and tradition.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 27th, 2005
Gone in 60 Seconds is a guilty pleasure - its vacuous and superficial, full of typical Hollywood produced "guy-movie" cues. Cars, guns, explosions, anti-heros, and Angelina Jolie abound, as well as comically evil villains, comically thin plot devices, and comically honourable car thieves. All that being said, though, the movie is great for what it is - a typical Bruckheimer celebration of over-the-top action. Its fun to get lost in the action, and director Dominic Sena imparts a great sense of ...ace (which he failed to carry over into 2001's Swordfish), keeping the tension level-high, the action front & centre, and the cars at full throttle. There's also some real funny moments too - the "Brick House" rendition at the police impound lot makes me cackle like a hyena every time.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 26th, 2005
Synopsis
After making such internationally renowned samurai period films such as Rashomon and The Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa did make another film Yojimbo, with a decidedly different tone, bordering on dark comedy. The opening shot is of Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune, Throne of Blood), a samurai without a master, who looks at a mountain, and suddenly scratches his head, as if his hair is on too tight. It’s almost the breaking down of a facade, helping to show you that the film will ...e bit different from other Kurosawa samurai films. The introductory cards say that the film is set in the 1860s, and the samurai comes into a town ruled by rival gangs. He doesn’t know this when he comes in, but the first thing he sees in town is a dog carrying a human hand. People have said that the way that this film was told reminds them a lot of the Clint Eastwood/spaghetti westerns that came out several years later, and it’s easy to understand why, with the quiet main character whom you can never really tell he’s a hero or villain. He deals with some situations with a toothpick in his mouth, reminding me of Chou-Yun Fat in Hard Boiled. Kurosawa does action flicks? That’s probably the best way to characterize it, but he does it well, without a lot of one-liners or lack of common sense seen within a lot of today’s action films.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 23rd, 2005
Synopsis
The setting is a prestigious black college, and the set-up is along the lines of what you would expect in a college-set musical: conflicts between the black-uniformed frat brothers and the political activists (of which the leader is a young Laurence Fishburne), gender wars and misunderstandings right, left and centre, and plenty of music. It’s all very lively, but not nearly as funny as Lee clearly thinks it is (see notes on commentary below). The bigger question is whether the satire and po...nted politics are able to survive the knockabout gags, and whether the movie actual works as a cohesive whole.
