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2-Disc

Ran

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005

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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:

In Kurosawa’s last outstanding film (inspired by “King Lear”), the aging Lord Hidetora Inchimonji decides to split his power equally among his three sons Taro, Jiro and Saburo. Saburo ques…
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Kagemusha

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005

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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…
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Polar Express, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2005

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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…
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King Kong

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 9th, 2005

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Synopsis

We all know the story, even if we haven’t seen the film. Risk-taking (and potentially criminally irresponsible) documentary maker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) charters a ship and sets off for an uncharted island. On board are first mate Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) and Ann Darrow (Fay Wray), the woman Denham has tapped for the lead in his film. They arrive at Skull Island, and before long, Ann is kidnapped and offered as a sacrifice to Kong. The giant ape falls for Ann, and a romantic trian…
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Batman Begins

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 7th, 2005

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Written by Clayton Self

Batman Begins is a brand new and WAY cooler take on the Dark Knight franchise than anything we’ve seen before. Most importantly, this is NOT a prequel to any of the previous four Batman films. This is a fresh start for the franchise, and it gets done the way it should have been done in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, Burton made two very dark and original films, but let’s face it; Batman Returns sent children bawling out of the theatre, and left parents with a sour taste in their mouth. That mo…
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Cinderella Man

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 7th, 2005

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Cinderella Man tells the heartwarming true story of heavyweight fighter James J. Braddock, a man thought to be washed-up, who rises from the ranks of the forgotten to rebuild the life and potential he lost somewhere along the way. It’s also one of Ron Howard’s finest films, and with a body of work which includes Backdraft, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Far and Away, and Ransom, this is a fine accomplishment. Unfortunately, this film’s success never rose to the level anyone ant…
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Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2005

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Yes, I dreaded this one like the plague. Call it a pure hatred for reality television. But honestly, after starting these episodes, I found myself lending a begrudging respect to it all. If you’re unfamiliar with this enormously popular program, here’s a brief education. Home interior designers Ty Pennington, Michael Moloney, Constance Ramos, Paul DiMeo, Tracy Hutson, Preston Sharp, and a slew of others, who have made appearances here and there, get together and help some needy family realize their dream home in just seven days.
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Long Way Around

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005

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Written by Clayton Self

Long Way Round is a reality show/documentary in which two actors, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, trekked 20,000 miles around the world on their motorcycles. They started in London, and headed east through Russia and other countries, caught a short flight to Alaska, continued down through Canada and all the way to New York. It was an idea originally conceived by McGregor as a best friend road trip, but turned into an international spectacle, as millions of people shared their experience via television. A…
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Old Yeller 2-Movie Collection (Old Yeller/Savage Sam)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005

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Old Yeller is a hard film to take if you’re a child. I thought the same would be true as an adult, so needless to say, revisiting this family classic for the first time through an adult’s eyes promised to be a harrowing experience. In fact, for the longest time, I hated Old Yeller and berrated its merits as a film. I realize now after years of maturity and a second visit to the Coates family ranch my belittling of this film masterpiece was a defense mechanism to build up my own sense of machismo. The re…
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AVP – Alien Vs. Predator

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2005

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Written by Clayton Self

Alien vs. Predator had mixed reviews upon its initial release in theatres. Fox studios demanded a PG-13 rating (to gain a wider audience) and two weeks before the release, cuts were made to reduce the amount of human blood onscreen, and a few moments of character moments. This new, un-rated edition restores some of those cut scenes, adding just over 8 minutes of previously unseen footage.

So, what’s new? The alternate beginning, also available on the first DVD release is included in the unrated …
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War of the Worlds (2005)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 19th, 2005

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Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a middle-aged divorcee with a blue-collar job and a rundown home in the New Jersey suburbs. When his ex-wife unexpectedly drops his estranged kids—ten year old Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and sixteen year old Robbie (Justin Chatwin)—off for the weekend, Ray is less than pleased. He’s always struggled with his parental duties, but now finds it increasingly difficult to communicate with his children. However, events beyond his control are about to force Ray to come to terms with his responsibili…
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Bridge Too Far, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 18th, 2005

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Synopsis

Operation Market Garden is the most famous Allied defeat in the Second World War. An audacious plan scuppered by bad luck and worse decisions, it is recounted in this visually spectacular film. The goal is to seize a group of bridges across Holland, culminating in the brdge at Arnhem. Everything imaginable goes wrong. Richard Attenborough’s film stars just about every big name actor under the sun, and his re-enactment has so many extras and so much hardware that one feels he could have convi…
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Kingdom of Heaven

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2005

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Written by Clayton Self

Kingdom of Heaven is a handsome epic by Gladiator director Ridley Scott. It is an underrated film due to a less than successful theatrical release, but at closer examination, this film is a deeply important tale of courage, faith and self-sacrifice. It focuses on a relatively lesser-known period of the crusades, when peace was trying to be made between Christian and Muslim.

Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a blacksmith in a French village, who has just lost his wife and child. Balian was …
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Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 13th, 2005

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A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…

It was really 1977 and as close as your neighborhood theatre. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Darth Vader, and Princess Leia captured our imaginations and have never let go. Star Wars has become nothing less than a modern mythology. No one can deny that George Lucas changed how we see films forever. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Star Wars fan or even watch science fiction as a whole. Movie making changed in 1977. Lucas continues to shape the industry with the f/x empire he built on Star Wars.
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State Fair

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 7th, 2005

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Synopsis

Things don’t get much more anodyne than this storyline, showcasing an impossibly idealized family and their trials of love and prize pigs as they travel to the eponymous event. This is strictly for the nostalgic and pure fans of Rodgers and Hammerstein (the songs generally are not as culturally engrained as those of Oklahoma!). There are two versions of the film here, and the 1945 take is easily the better of the two. The 1962 remake (and the third film by this name, a non-musical ver…
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Oklahoma!

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 4th, 2005

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Synopsis

You don’t really care about the plot, do you? Gordon MacRae is romancing famr girl Shirley Jones, but thuggish Rod Steiger also has designs on her. And so on. But it’s the songs that matter: “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” “The Surrey with the Fringe On Top,” “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No.” And one could go on for much longer. The list is of tunes that one is familiar with without even knowing it, so completely have they permeated the mass consciousness. Fred Zinnemann’s film is handsome…
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Star Trek: Nemesis

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2005

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The extras are the only significant difference between the Collector’s Edition and the near barebones first release of this film. Therefore, some pieces of this review will be taken from the standard release review.

If ever there was a film that was badly misunderstood it is Star Trek: Nemesis. The most common complaint I’ve heard is it was too much like an episode. Excuse me, but isn’t it supposed to be? Nemesis has everything a good Star Trek film should have. The character chemistry, space battle, a morality tale, and terrific f/x.
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Battle of Britain

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2005

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The Battle of Britain was a famous turning point in the World War Two theatre. The movie, Battle of Britain, was brought to your home theatre a few years ago. This single disc edition, with very few features, seemingly cried out for more. Now we have it in Battle of Britain: Collectors Edition, 2 discs of military goodness.

The film itself has spectacle. The planes used for this film helped create an air force equal to a medium sized country. No CGI here. The director is Guy Hamilton (b…
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Fly II, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 3rd, 2005

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Synopsis

The son of Seth Brundle, the unfortunate man-fly, is born with his mixture of human and fly DNA. He turns out to be uncannily brilliant, but also reaches adulthood (played by Eric Stoltz) in only five years. He grows up in the Bartok Industries facility, and is asked to carry on his father’s work. Inevitably, the fly genes make themselves felt, and he begins to transform, and love interest Daphne Zuniga wants to save him.

The director is Chris Walas, who handled the makeup FX in th…
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Naked

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2005

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The great thing about DVDs produced under the Criterion moniker is that they can’t really be compared to much else. Usually, I can just whip out a peppy little monologue about the film I have just watched, but Criterion always makes things a bit more difficult… which is great for film fans that have seen it all before.

Naked is, of course, no different. There is no easy summation for this piece of art, which won awards for Best Actor and Best Director at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. This is …
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Fly, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2005

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Synopsis

Seth Brundle (David Goldblum) is on the cusp of perfecting an functioning teleporter, a device that will transform the world. Eager to share his creation with someone, he strikes up an acquaintance with science journalist Geena Davis. She is initially skeptical, but is soon converted, and as the work progresses, the two fall in love. Then, in a fit of misplaced jealousy (he believes that Davis is seeing ex-boyfriend John Goetz), Goldblum teleports while drunk, not knowing a fly is also in th…
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Pom Poko

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 21st, 2005

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Synopsis

When the economic boom in Japan leads to massive deforestation, the raccoons find their habitat threatened. They band together and mount a campaign to stop the destruction of their world by humans. They learn to shape change, and wreak merry havoc with construction crews. Some of their stunts simply frighten the people off, but some of the sabotage is deadly, too.

The packaging and the “From the Creators of Howl’s Moving Castle” might be a bit misleading in this case. Studio…
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Revelations

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 20th, 2005

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Evil sells. From the time of Adam and Eve it appears that Satan makes for great storytelling. The mini-series from NBC gets its name, obviously, from Revelations, the final book in the Bible. Combine the idea of pure evil and the end of times and you get… well, The Omen. Revelations deals more with the impending Armageddon than it actually does with the Anti-Christ. The clash of science and religion is far more important in this film than past films like The Omen. Bill Pullman is a good choice here. His portrayal of a Harvard scientist caught in the middle of this epic tale contains just the right reserved element to make him completely believable.
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Constantine

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 19th, 2005

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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…
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Tales from the Crypt — The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2005

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Synopsis

Hugely popular in the 1950s, but politically excoriated and ultimately shut down, EC Comics such as Tales from the Crypt saw their stories revived first in the theatrical Amicus anthologies of the early 70s, and then as this TV series. Here is the first season (a mere six half-hour episodes), directed by the likes of Richard Donner, Walter Hill, Robert Zemeckis and Mary Lambert, among others. The stories are very faithful to the spirit of the comics (and are taken from actual stories)…
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