Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 11th, 2003
Synopsis
Twenty years ago, a deadly tropical rattlesnake gets loose near the town of San Catalano. Itinterbreeds with the local rattlesnake population. In the present, the hybrids are disturbed by theblasting going on a construction site, and make their way into the town. All the stock charatersfor a nature-on-the-loose film are present and accounted for: the fire chief no one will listen to,the heartless developer whose fault this is, the mayor more concerned with money than withli...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 6th, 2003
Synopsis
As a child, Nancy (Linda Blair, who played “Regan” in the original -- get it?) was possessedby the devil, but was saved by Father Leslie Nielsen. But now she has been repossessed, and thebattle begins anew. Repossessed adopts the approach of the Airplane andNaked Gun films, but has none of their skill. There are a couple of okay chuckles, butmost of this plays like a bad high school sketch show. Writer/director Bob Logan forgot thatwhat made Niel...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Loosely (to put it mildly) based on a Bram Stoker novel, this is the tale of the town ofD’Ampton, where once there was a monster (a clear reference to the Lambton Worm of legend).Archaeologist Peter Capaldi digs up the skull of what appears to be a giant snake. He andaristocrat Hugh Grant come to realize that a snake-worshipping cult is active in the area, and theysuspect Lady Sylvia Marsh (Amanda Donohoe). They’re right: Donohoe is a snake-woman intenton sacrificing...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 24th, 2003
A cautionary tale about gangs and racism we have the story of Rick Brown convicted of drug offenses and now out on probation trying to get his life back together. With no where to go he gets sucked back into his own life. Lieutenant Redding (Morgan Freedman) is on the hunt for a ruthless gang killer. Things soon go bad for Rick and he finds himself in the middle as the violence erupts. Unfortunately the acting, directing and storyline is so weak that you are not really interested if the two s...orylines are ever going to come together.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 24th, 2003
Synopsis
Ever had an imaginary friend as a kid? Then this movie is for you. Elizabeth (Phoebe Cates) has just split with her husband and returns home to find the imaginary friend that she lost twenty-one years before. Drop Dead Fred (Rick Mayall) is ready for mischief and mayhem after being cooped up. After Fred sinks her best friend’s boat (played by Carrie Fischer) Elizabeth decides it is time to get rid of Fred once and for all. Instead she finds herself and gets her life back.
Vide...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 8th, 2003
Synopsis
There are four 90-minute telefilms here: “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” “The Sign ofFour,” The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire,” and “The Royal Scandal.” They are of varyingand iffy degrees of fidelity to the Conan Doyle stories. Starring as Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson are, respectively, Matt Freuer and Kenneth Welsh, who essay British accents to varyingdegrees of success. Ex-Max Headroom Freuer puts plenty of energy into his role, but takes it soover-the-top that he co...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 7th, 2003
Extreme sports films come in two flavors first there are the sport specific show off films and then there are the documentary like Ultimate X that show what extreme sports are about. Keep Your Eyes Open rides the line between these two types of films, it looks at six of the wildest sports out there by looking at the athletes. We get an understanding of what motivates them, how they got into it and we also get lots of footage of them doing what they do. Starring Marc Frank Montoya and Mike and Tina Basich (snowboardin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Our two heroines head out to the Dutch countryside for a holiday. They run into car trouble,and blunder into The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or so the available evidence would haveone believe. They stop at the wrong gas station, and it isn’t long before first one, then the otherare prisoners of a deranged family and their masked, hulking youngster. You’ve seen this before,and done so much better.
Audio
Both 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks are available,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Misadventures aplenty are in store for our hapless duo. On offer are “Sons of the Desert”(which, at 65 minutes, counts as feature-length), “The Music Box” (which won an Oscar),“Another Fine Mess,” “Busy Bodies” and “County Hospital.” In virtually every case, a simplepremise (such as delivering a player piano or visiting a friend in the hospital) is milked formaximum chaos. A terrific introduction to two comedic geniuses.
Audio
There are two versions...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2003
In the late 1950’s Westerns accounted for six of the top ten programs on TV. Only Gunsmoke had a longer run than Bonanza. From 1959 to 1973 Ben Cartwright and his boys rode across the small screen. Years later in syndication the series re-emerged as Ponderosa and a handful of TV movies continued the tale into the 90’s.We never have grown tired of the genre that gave us such heroes as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. While I am far more in favor of season sets, this best-of collection is a might heapin’ helping of tall tales.
