Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 2nd, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 27th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 20th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 16th, 2005
The barometer for those interested in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts is usually whether or not they liked Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. Hell, it’s the question I posed to my fiancée when we were trying to figure out what to watch over the Thanksgiving holiday. The comparisons are pretty conventional; both are large ensemble films with intertwined plotlines set in California, both have a 3 hour runtime. Both even have Julianne Moore in predominant roles.
Based on short stories by Raymond Carver...and written by Altman, many of the characters in Short Cuts are reprehensible turds, let’s face it. You’ve got the policeman/husband and father of three Gene (Tim Robbins, The Player), who frequently cheats on his wife Sherri (Madeline Stowe, Stakeout), and even drops off the family dog hundreds of miles from home because he barks too much at Gene. Gene pulls over women at traffic stops to get phone numbers, one of whom may have been Betty (Frances MacDormand, Fargo), who is separated from her pilot husband Stormy (Peter Gallagher, The OC). Jazz singer Tess (Annie Ross, Pump Up the Volume) frequently drinks and never provides any encouraging words to her daughter Zoe (Lori Singer, Footloose). Limo driver Earl (Tom Waits) is a drinker who frequently berates his wife Doreen (Lily Tomlin, Nashville).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2005
Many seem to rule surfing out of hand as some sort of pastime for burnouts, potheads, or life’s free spirits. But Bruce Brown helped shine a light onto the sport with his release of 1966’s The Endless Summer, a landmark release that still is highly revered by people to this day for the revolutionary photography and its ability to capture the awesome feats of nature. And where some studios put out near-annual sequels, Brown waited 28 years to get his done, appropriately titled The Endless Summer II, repr...sing many more of the stunning visuals and amazing camera shots from the first. Bruce’s son Dana picks up from that film, and produces another film similar in style and substance to the first, although with a more hippie-ish title in Step Into Liquid.
The movie is about, well, surfing. There’s not too much more than that. Both in the Endless Summer II and Step Into Liquid films, Bruce and Dana combine the trademark Brown visuals with the usual “betcha didn’t know they surfed here” locations ranging from Galveston, Texas to Vietnam, shooting holes of truth through Robert Duvall’s immortal quote in Apocalypse Now, that Charlie does surf after all. The movie also shows you some of the current names of surfing, from ex-Baywatch actor (and multiple World surfing champ) Kelly Slater, to longtime big wave seeker Laird Hamilton. And the other main parts of substance have to do with the simple passion that some surfers have (like Dale Webster, who have caught waves once a day for over 10,000 days) or the joy that new people have when introduced to surfing for the first time (such as a group of Catholic and Protestant children who were united for a lesson). The movie culminates with a desire to catch waves in the Pacific, some of them reaching over 60 feet in height. At the end of the day though, the movie is about surfing, plain and simple, and the fascinating pictures nature can give us.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2005
Admittedly when I first saw The Fifth Element, I wasn't too impressed by it, though Chris Tucker (Friday) did provide some good comedic moments, and it was nice to see Ian Holm (Lord of the Rings) return to major films also. I mainly thought that Bruce Willis had gone a bit silly with this one with dyed blonde head hair, in yet another action movie.
Upon further inspection however, the movie contains a lot of the breathtaking action that has made Frenchman Luc Besson's films (Leon>) as unique as they are. Written by Besson, the movie focuses on the title character (object?), when connected with the other elements (fire, water, earth and air), will prevent ultimate evil from ruling Earth. And when evil rules earth, light becomes dark, life becomes death, you get the idea. Every so often evil tries to come and destroy earth, and the elements must unite together to stop it. Willis is Korben Dallas, a former elite government soldier who became a taxi driver, has a modest apartment with a cat (his wife left with his lawyer, leaving him with nothing). His mission? Well, let's be frank, it's to save the world. The Fifth Element, a.k.a. Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich (The Messenger) is played with equal parts comedy and action, combined with a brief (and somewhat unnecessary) glimpse at the end of her emotions, when she views a montage of war footage. The elements are represented as stones in the movie, and the “art dealer” Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman, Sid and Nancy) attempts to do what he can to obtain the stones. He works for a buyer who sounds a lot like Bob Guccione or Barry White, but maybe is symbolized as Evil itself?
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 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?
