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Doctor, the Tornado, and the Kentucky Kid, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 15th, 2007

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Don’t let the goofy title fool you; The Doctor, the Tornado, and the Kentucky Kid is a serious documentary. This film takes an inside look at the fast-paced world of MotoGP motorcycle racing. Specifically, the subject is the lives of three top riders as they enter the week of the race at Laguna Seca, one of the most difficult tracks in the world. While this film may be a little too in-depth for those that don’t at least casually follow the sport, fans of motorcycle racing will likely be thrilled with this, the…
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Pinky and The Brain – Volume 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 15th, 2007

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Two lab mice, one world to conquer. When the ACME Labs shut down each night, Pinky and the Brain set out for world domination, armed only with Brain’s genetically enhanced, um, brain, and Pinky’s good-natured insanity.

We have here 22 episodes of this high quality animated series, picking up near the end of season two – where the vol. 1 release left off – and continuing in broadcast order to about the mid-point of season three.
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From Russia With Love (Region 2)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 11th, 2007

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Well, after the worldwide success of Dr. No, producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman went back to figure out what to do about a sequel, and following a nod to the series by then-President Kennedy, From Russia With Love was the next candidate in line to be given the Bond treatment from the library of Ian Fleming novels.

In this film, Bond (the returning Sean Connery) has recently vanquished Dr. No, and the organization that he worked for, SPECTRE, decides to try to eliminate Bond, using two things that will lure any well-respecting secret agent, a decoding machine that the Russian government currently is in possession of, and a Russian defector that wants to turn it over to James specifically.
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Mad About You – The Complete Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 7th, 2007

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Boy, this title really came out of left field. I am one of those DVD collectors who picks out their favorite television shows and collects all the full DVD season sets. I did this with Wonder Woman, with Kung Fu and with The West Wing. I also started collecting full season sets of Mad About You just a couple of months after I started with Friends. I finished all ten seasons of Friends in late 2005, yet I was only two seasons in to Mad About You‘s seven season run. What…
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Martin – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 3rd, 2007

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All, the early ’90s! I spent my time counting the days until my military service ended by drinking as much beer as possible until I got to the bright red circle on my calendar. But when Martin Lawrence (House Party) pitched an idea for a sitcom with an African American cast, Fox picked up the show and added it to a then-fledging group of shows that balanced themselves between evening soap operas and raunchy family comedies.

Martin tells the story of Martin Payne (Lawrence), successful host of an urban radio station program in Detroit.
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Extras – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2007

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The only thing I knew about Extras as of a couple of weeks ago was that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were behind the show, the follow-up to their cult hit The Office, which has been adapted into a Steve Carell vehicle to showcase his talent. Seeing very little on The Office and not being familiar with Gervais’ work, I downloaded the first episode of the second season of Extras from iTunes (Season Two recently resumed airing on HBO), and I found it one of the funnier things I’ve seen in recent memory, and not just because it didn’t cost me anything.
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Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Film Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2007

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The relationship between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor appeared to blossom when they were both on the set of Cleopatra. The epic film was famous, not for the success of the film but more for the near bankruptcy of the studio and for the romance that blossomed between the two. Warner Brothers has recently been releasing groups of films surrounding various film icons, and this set of four titles focuses on the two acting giants.
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Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete Pluto Volume Two

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 18th, 2007

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This is the second volume of Pluto cartoons, here going from 1947 to the end of the series in 1951. The neat thing about these themed collections in the Wald Disney Treasures series is that they highlight particular strengths in Disney’s animation. Thus, if the Silly Symphonies sets focus on the marriage of movement with music, the Pluto cartoons are wonders of pantomime, since the central character doesn’t speak. Pluto is not a jot less communicative for not using words, however, and the sight gags involved in some of his facial expressions (such as when wearing the unwanted “Pluto’s Sweater”) are priceless.
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Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two (1929-1938)

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 15th, 2007

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Warner Bros. had the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, Disney had the Silly Symphonies. This is the second volume collecting those shorts, covering the years 1929 to 1938. The shorts are selected on a menu that can be presented in alphabetical or chronological order, and it is the latter approach that is the most enlightening, as we can see the cartoons evolve. There is no dialogue in these shorts – the point was to fuse animation and music. And while that is an end in itself in the earlier cartoons (and quite the technological feat at that), more and more narrative content develops over the years.
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Fiddler on the Roof

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 15th, 2007

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Adapted from the hit stage musical, Norman Jewison’s film version of Fiddler on the Roof has established itself as a classic over and over again since its release in 1971.

“He loves her. Love, it’s a new style… On the other hand, our old ways were once new, weren’t they?” I’ll hardly be the first to write it, but the reason Fiddler on the Roof, a story about Jewish people and their culture, is so popular, is that its themes have universal appeal. In fact, in a way it hardly matters th…
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SpongeBob SquarePants – Season 4, Volume 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 15th, 2007

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The zaniness continues in Bikini Bottom, and the series shows no sign of losing its appeal or its lunatic creativity. Wonderful little example: “Whale of a Birthday” is about Mr. Krabbs’ daughter’s sixteenth birthday. The highlight: a performance by “Boys Who Cry” singing “It’s All About You.” Perfect. There are twenty episodes here to keep your funny and whimsy bones tickled. (What, you don’t think you have a whimsy bone? Of course you do.)

The Spy Who Loved Me (Region 2)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 8th, 2007

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After seeing Casino Royale it’s hard to look at a Bond film the same way, and when Roger Moore inhabited the guy who likes martinis, fast cars and dangerous situations, it may have been a little cheesy. Granted, Moore did appear in a couple of notable Bond misses, but in the tenth release of the James Bond franchise, The Spy Who Loved Me stands as one of his best, if not the best Moore film.

From a screenplay by Richard Maibaum (his 7th Bond film) and Christopher Wood (his first) and directed by Lewis Gilbert (his 2nd Bond film), this new situation finds James at first in Austria, being chased by assassins, with everyone on skis.
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Shottas

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 5th, 2007

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Here we go, with another rise and fall story in the underworld. Two young friends in Jamaica, Biggs and Wayne, grow up separately to become powerful gangsters (the “shottas” of the title). After a prolonged separation, they reunite in Kingston, and the story takes them back and forth between that city and Miami as they climb the drug totem pole, heading for the inevitable fall shown pre-credits.

All the characters speak Jamaican patois, making subtitle necessary.
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World Trade Center

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 30th, 2006

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Comments on the supplemental material on this edition have been ported over from Ryan Erb’s excellent (and recent) review of the HD DVD, which also can be enjoyed on this site.Â Now onto this review…

Remember when it was announced that far-left conspiracy theorist (and resident Castro admirer) Oliver Stone would be making a film about the September 11 attacks? Of course you do. In fact, the collective pucker of the nation tightened in horror and trepidation when the notion was first thrown around, and later grew in suspicion as the film’s realization became closer and closer.
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Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law – Volume 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 29th, 2006

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I’d never seen, nor heard of, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law before I received my review copy of this second volume of the series, which aired as part of Adult Swim. What a bizarre show! Not since Ren and Stimpy have I seen such a strange, adult-oriented cartoon.

Harvey Birdman was a shoddy superhero who has become a substandard Attorney. His firm handles cases for well-known animated Hanna-Barbara characters like The Jetsons, with each of the 13 episodes in this second volume presenting a new case.
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World Trade Center (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 22nd, 2006

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Everyone in the world knows about the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. With films hitting the big screen in 2006, I guess the studios thought time enough had gone by to start making movies on the tragedy. World Trade Center is based on the attacks on the World Trade Center, as obvious by its name, but makes mention of the other attacks of the day. I canï¿½t comment on the realism of the movie pertaining to the individuals depicted in the film (John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno) but they were involved with the production of the film, and since film is based on their accounts of the day I could imagine itï¿½s very realistic. There are a few factual inaccuracies regarding some of the events of the day, but nothing major.
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Forbidden Hollywood

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 21st, 2006

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What we have here are three films from Hollywood’s days before the Production Code kicked in, which show just how much the envelope was being pushed when it came to sexual subject matters. The recurring theme here is sex as a commodity, whether the situations beinig dealt with involve outright prostitution or not.

Outright prostitution is very much the issue in Waterloo Bridge (1931), director James Whale’s effort just prior to making Frankenstein. Mae Clarke (who would play Elizabeth in Frankenstein) is an out-of-work chorus girl during WWI, not a prostitute trolling for men on the titular bridge.
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Fish Called Wanda, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2006

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A Fish Called Wanda returns to DVD, this time in a stunning 2-disc collector’s edition that finally gives adequate treatment to one of the funniest surprises of the eighties. John Cleese stars as an English barrister, whose life is so dull and – well, British – that a seductress/jewel thief named Wanda comes along and steals his heart in record time. But Wanda carries a lot of baggage with her, the heaviest piece being a Nietzche-quoting moron, who just so happens to be her psychotic boyfriend. Add an anima…
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Full House – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2006

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Why is it that kids watch so much bad programming? When I was a child I watched a lot of Full House, even though I knew at the time that it was a poorly-crafted program. I really don’t remember ever laughing during an episode, and I knew how cheesy the whole thing was, yet if I was at home changing channels, and the show came on, I would inexplicably stop and watch. At first, I think it was confusing for me that Dave Coulier was on the show, as up until that point I was used to seeing him as the host of Nickel…
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Dukes of Hazzard, The – The Complete Seventh Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2006

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I can’t believe this show ran for seven seasons. Sure, I enjoyed it as a child, but I was a child, and didn’t know any better. Seeing it today, it is shocking how bad it really is. The acting is pathetic and the storylines are lame and predictable. Every episode for seven straight seasons had the same basic skeleton. The boys are having a good time, the corrupt county commissioner does something for personal gain, the half-retarded Sheriff blames it on the innocent Duke boys, car chase, short shorts, car flies throug…
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NCIS – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 8th, 2006

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Synopsis

Hooray for Donald Bellisario and his decision to create prime time television shows with various branches of the armed forces! But in this case, NCIS takes advantage of the craze of all the CSI related shows that have sprouted up over the last several years. But with various jump cuts and clips of music that are interspersed with it, it’s still hard to make the distinction.

And to make things even more confusing, the show features a grouchy leader who utters the occasional g…
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I Was a Teenage Movie Maker: Don Glut’s Amateur Movies

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 8th, 2006

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This is an interesting package, in that the title feature could just as easily pass as an extended extra to accompany all the shorts here. At any rate, said feature is a 104-minute documentary/autobiography. Don Glut has been successively fan, amateur filmmaker, writer and pro, and most of the film consists of him sitting in front of the camera, recounting his amateur days. Interspersed are brief interview with his mother, friends, and other notable fans/historians such as Bob Burns and Bill Warren, as well as clips from the films.
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Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2006

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Synopsis

Christmas, 1914. In the trenches, we see the Scots, French and Germans beginning to celebrate in their own way. Singing in one trench inspires more in the opposing one, and before long, an unauthorized truce has broken out, and the enemy combatants are marking Christmas together. The film concentrates on a handful of characters who play a pivotal role in the truce in this particular section of the trenches, in particular the local commanding officers.

This was one of the most start…
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Rocky

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2006

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I donï¿½t recall when I first saw Rocky, and I havenï¿½t kept track of how many times Iï¿½ve seen it since. The answers are probably ï¿½15 years agoï¿½ and ï¿½more than 10 timesï¿½, but accuracy isnï¿½t important. What is important for you to know, is that Sylvester Stalloneï¿½s masterpiece is one of my favourite films of all time.

In other words, I love this movie, so donï¿½t expect any criticism until at least the ï¿½videoï¿½ section of this review. I donï¿½t deny that there may be aspects of Rocky that merit denigration, I just refuse to let anything distract me from what I consider to be the ultimate inspirational story.
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The Irving Klaw Classics

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 4th, 2006

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Four discs of Irving Klaw’s 8mm films from the fifties: 270 minutes of material, which is astounding, given that all this was supposed to have been destroyed. The discs are distinguished by theme: “The Bettie Page Films,” “The Wrestling Films,””The Fetish Films,” and “The Dance Films.” The titles are self-explanatory, and a synopsis is, of course, utterly beside the point. These are short films featuring women parading around in heels and hose, fetish gear, and wrestling while got up in sam.
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