Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006
Synopsis
Hurricane Eve descends upon the Florida coast, wreaking particular havoc on the rural town of Homestead. The central characters are a park ranger, his two children, a reporter who is the ranger’s second wife, his conspiracy-nut brother (channelling Jack Black), his ex-wife and her second husband (the always suspicious-looking William Fichtner). As if the devastation weren’t enough, there are all those weird lights, and... hey... some people are acting kinda strange, like they’re might not be...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Marilyn Monroe was THE blonde bombshell. Jayne Mansfield was the cartoon version of Monroe, bombshell become sex bomb, with proportions so improbable she could give Barbie an inferiority complex. Her cartoon figure makes it appropriate that two of the movies here are directed by a specialist in cartoons: Frank Tashlin. In fact, this set might almost be more appropriately called the Frank Tashlin Collection.
The two Tashlin movies are The Girl Can’t Help It (1956) and Will...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
Arriving late one night at a village near Canterbury are an English sergeant (Dennis Price), and American one (Sgt. John Sweet) and a landgirl (Sheila Sim). As they leave the train station, Sim is set upon by a mysterious figure who dumps glue all over her hair. The trio become amateur detectives, determined to unmask the “glue man” and their suspicion first falls on Eric Porter, the local magistrate who is consumed by an enormous love for the countryside.
The film was made in 1944...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 20th, 2006
Synopsis
So when you’re the head of Fox prime time programming, and you’ve got a television staple like The Simpsons on your Sunday night lineup, and Arrested Development wins the Best Comedy Series Emmy in its first season, what do you do? Well you callously trim the order of episodes from 22 to 18, put The Simpsons as its lead-in without a lot of fanfare, and almost even more egregiously barely hype guest appearances by well-established comic performers like Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Se...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 19th, 2006
Clearly, I am in the minority when it comes to Veronica Mars. Reviewers go on and on about the sharp writing on this show, but I just don't see it. With character names like “Beaver”, “Butters”, “Weevil” and my favorite, “Dick Casablancas”, this is a show where the writing is actually one of the things that is wrong with this show. (And yes, Beaver and Dick are friends. How's that for creativity?) The character of Wallace is an African American stereotype that is embarrassing, and stinks of what old while people think young black men are like.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 15th, 2006
Synopsis
Robert Mitchum shows up twice here, as does Robert Ryan. The two clash in The Racket (1951), where Mitchum is the incorruptible cop, and Ryan is the old-school gangster whose brutally direct methods put him in conflict not only with Mitchum, but with the more sophisticated crime syndicate spreading over the land. The focus of the film is rather split between the two, but is pretty tense, and is further enlivened by a memorably sleazy turn by William Conrad as a VERY corrupt cop.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 13th, 2006
I've said it before, and as long as Warner Brothers keeps putting these classic discs out, I am going to keep on saying it. No studio respects their classic film catalog like Warner's. They have done marvelous things with their special editions of classic films, such as their fantastic 2-disc tin box release of King Kong. They have the largest collection of classic films on the planet, including the entire RKO Pictures catalog, and they are succeeding in introducing an entirely new generation of film fans to the best that cinema has to offer.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 12th, 2006
You would have to either be from another planet, been raised by wolves or be under the age of 15 to not have some sort of a personal history with Full House. The show was a staple of Friday night television for eight seasons, defying all logic and proving that the general public doesn't always know quality when they see it. The story about a non-traditional household was inexplicably popular, despite the fact that it got consistently poor reviews year after year. Even more surprising was how many careers came out of the show.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 11th, 2006
I think the fact that Invasion only ran for one season is more of a result of circumstance than anything else. The series starts with a very large hurricane hitting Florida, and the rest of the season dramatizes the aftermath of such a tragic event. Unfortunately, the series made its debut right after the real life hurricane Katrina wiped out much of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. With the 24-hour coverage of the real-life disaster plastered all over the airwaves, audiences just didn't feel much like unwinding with a dramatization of the very same experience.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2006
It goes without saying that the James Bond franchise is the crown jewel of the MGM and Sony vault. And in preparation for Daniel Craig’s turn as the man who likes his martinis shaken and not stirred in Casino Royale, it was decided to let them run with some things in order to double-dip Joe Q. DVD Buyer. And in the UK, where Bond reigns supreme, these new “Ultimate Editions” of all the James Bond movies have just been released (don’t worry US fans, these are on their way in November).
The UK version ...
