Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 7th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 1st, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 30th, 2005
Predator vs. Alien was not as successful at the box office as was hoped. It seems that this 2-disc edition of Predator 2 might be intended to build interest for the troubled fusion of the two popular space creatures.
This film has had its share of detractors since its release in 1990. I, for one, find it to be as good as, if not better than, the original film. Watching the two governors Arnold and Jesse take on the Predator in the Columbian jungles was certainly a hoot. Let’s be honest... however. Who didn’t cheer, if only inside, when the big bad ugly started to take on LA’s drug lords in Predator 2?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2005
What a find! Film footage from a landmark 1970 concert sat in a producer’s garage for almost 3 decades. So finally, after all the music rights and remastering were taken care of, we have a landmark rockumentary. Thank the maker. Festival Express is a rock concert movie about a 3 city train tour, with stops in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary (not to mention a stop in Saskatoon for booze). The performers included The Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, and Janis Joplin (among many, many others).
<p ...The film doesn’t have the sociological impact of Woodstock and Gimme Shelter, or the melancholic “meaning” of The Last Waltz. Festival Express has more of a backstage pass quality. We get to see the performers (mostly in the bar car) sitting around talking or jamming. The retrospective interviews have some amusing anecdotes (I like the one where the concert promoter slugs the mayor of Calgary). The concert footage is not especially amazing, and some of the songs are merely OK. But Janet Joplin, man, she steals the show. Her two songs in the movie will blow your mind. It’s sad that she died just two months after the festival.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 12th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 11th, 2005
De-Lovely is a musical bio-pic based on the life of Cole Porter. Now, Porter was an American genius, responsible for writing such song classics as “Love for Sale” and “Anything Goes”. Porter’s personal life was also legendary. He had a wife, but also had affairs with men. Porter also suffered a horse riding accident in the late 1930’s that debilitated him for the rest of his life (to his death in 1964). Sounds like the great makings of a movie, right? Well….
Kevin Kline plays Cole Porter, and h... has the necessary panache to pull off the role. Ashley Judd also has a nice turn as Linda, Porter’s wife. The problem with the film is the presentation. The film tries for a musical within a musical idea, as an older Porter oversees a musical based on his life. Sometimes the technique works, sometimes it misfires. Modern music stars are also peppered throughout the film (like Elvis Costello, Alanis Morissette, and Sheryl Crow) singing Porter tunes. Some of these songs do not work very well (Miss Morissette – guilty as charged!). The director, Irwin Winkler, is an old Hollywood vet, so he does show reverence for the material. The result is a charming, if not entirely successful, musical bio-pic.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 31st, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 23rd, 2004
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