Fox

Christmas Carol, A (1997)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 19th, 2004

There have been umpteen movie adaptations of the Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol”. Some of my favorites include the Alastair Sim version, the Henry Winkler version (yes, the guy who played Fonzie), the Bill Murray version, the Muppet version, and the Mister Magoo version. This 1997 version of A Christmas Carol is an animated feature featuring the voices of Tim Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, Ed Asner, and Michael York. It’s a story that we all know well.

But what makes this different from the other ve…
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Jingle All the Way

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 19th, 2004

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Just in time for Christmas, and starring the Governator himself, we have Jingle All the Way with Arnold Swartzenegger. The story follows Arnold’s relentless pursuit to get a Turbo Man action figure for his son. This obsessive quest brings a lot of complications for our hero, from kidnapping, to stealing another kid’s toy, to a manic riot for numbered balls. Arnold even assumes the persona of Turbo Man at a parade and rockets around the city on a real turbo pack (Turbo rocket packs are real?). This all sound…
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Three Coins in the Fountain

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 3rd, 2004

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Synopsis

This is the tale of three young American women in Rome, and the men who romance them.The recently arrived Maggie McNamara sets her cap for aristocrat-with-a-reputation LouisJourdan. Jean Peters, who is supposed to be heading back to the States soon, is drawn againsther better judgment into a relationship with kindly translator Rossano Brazzi (they work at thesame office, and the rules are strict about such things). And Dorothy McGuire is secretary toprickly writer Clifton W…
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Man on Fire

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

This is a redemption movie – in this case, redemption for CIA assassin (“counter insurgent expert”) John Creasy – a burnt out alcoholic in search of forgiveness for the heinous acts perpetrated under the banner of his job (“Do you think God will ever forgive us for what we’ve done?”). Creasy’s path to redemption is laid out by his friend and compatriot Rayburn, who lands him a job as a bodyguard for a wealthy family in Mexico City. Apparently kidnapping the children or spouses of wealthy cor…
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Beyond Christmas

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 15th, 2004

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Synopsis

Three philanthropic businessmen — the boisterous Irishman, the English Gent, and theOklahoman Grump — live together on Central Park South, tended to by exiled Russian countessMaria Ouspenskaya (best known today for her turn as Bela Lugosi’s mother in The WolfMan). One Christmas Eve, they experimentally toss wallets out into the snow to see if theyare returned. A young man (Richard Carlson) and a young woman (Jean Parker) turn up andunder the happy gaze of our lovea…
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Star Wars Trilogy

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 8th, 2004

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How else am I to begin the review for the most anticipated films ever to be released on the DVD medium?

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

Who among you doesn’t notice your pulse quickening and your breathing become more slightly more rapid when you see those infamous words appear on the screen? Anyone who has seen my basement will attest that my pulse and respiration don’t just quicken but enter into full anticipation mode (needless to say that a large percentage of my earnin…
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Lost in Space – Season 2 (Volume 1)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2004

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There were a lot of changes to Lost In Space in Season 2. The most significant was the decision to begin filming in color. There’s no question the show just looks so much better in color. The second drastic change was the overall mood of the show. Season 1 was much more serious and atmospheric. By the time the second year rolled around it became obvious that the trio of Smith, Will, and the Robot was what was drawing in the viewers. From that point onward most of the stories would revolve around that relationship. Th…
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Three Faces of Eve, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 4th, 2004

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Synopsis

Psychiatrist Lee J. Cobb is visited by Joanne Woodward and husband David Wayne. She ishaving spells during which she cannot remember what she gets up to. It turns out that she has amultiple personality disorder, and when repressed, demure housewife Eve White fades out ofthe picture, teasing minx Eve Black steps out. Hubby, who is neither the most sympathetic northe smartest cookie going, cannot understand what’s going on, but Cobb does his best to help.Woodward’s wife spira…
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Day After Tomorrow, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 26th, 2004

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Synopsis

Storms both freakish and intense devastate the planet. Climatologist Dennis Quaid realizesthat the world is on the brink of a sudden new ice age. As a freezing hurricane descends uponthe US, Quaid must struggle through the snow and killing cold to reach a crippled New YorkCity, where his son (Jake Gyllenhaal) is huddled with other survivors in the Public Library.

The science is preposterous rubbish from start to finish, the dialogue is laughable, and theplot…
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Garfield – The Movie

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 24th, 2004

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Synopsis

Garfield goes about his happy existence, scarfing lasagna, tormenting the neighbourhooddog, and taking advantage of fellow cat Nermal’s stupidity. Chaos arrives when Jon (BreckinMeyer), hoping to impress vet Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) adopts Odie the dog. Garfield doesall he can to remove Odie from the home, but when Odie actually is kidnapped by an evil animalshow host, Garfield heads off to the city on a perilous rescue.

Other than Garfield’s look and an appropria…
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Angel – The Complete Fourth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2004

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Many fans of the series would agree that during Angel’s five-year run, season four was it’s strongest. It was the first, and only, time that the series made a drastic change in format. Nearly all episodes, 22 in total, ran along a single continuous plot. Not that different compared to Fox’s other hit series “24.” Beginning at around the episode “The House Always Wins”, each episode essentially hangs with a major cliffhanger and immediately continues at the beginning of the next. This was much more engaging than the s…
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Hunting of the President, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 20th, 2004

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Synopsis

This is a chronicle of battles over Bill Clinton, climaxing with his impeachment. Based onothe book by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason, the movie, narrated by Morgan Freeman, takes theapproach that this ten-year-war was not something that just happened, but was the systematicattempt by an organized group to bring down the president. One’s sympathies in the matter willlargely determine how much, if any, of this one buys, but the film does make some convincinglydisturbing charges….
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Love Comes Softly

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 20th, 2004

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Synopsis

In a typically golden-hued television version of the 19th Century, Katherine Heigl is movingout to the Western frontier with husband Oliver Macready. They have barely arrived at the site oftheir future homestead when Macready gets himself killed in a horse-riding accident. Widowedand alone, Heigl accepts a proposal from widower and single father Dale Midkiff: to have aplatonic marriage with him in order that the two might help each other out until the followingspring, at wh…
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Boston Strangler, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 4th, 2004

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Synopsis

Boston is in a panic as a maniac stalks the streets, strangling women in their own homes. Thefirst half of the film follows the police investigation, headed up by Henry Fonda and GeorgeKennedy. A huge task force tracks down lead after lead, picks up suspect after suspect, all to noavail. The second half of the film shifts to Tony Curtis, who is the killer, only he doesn’t knowit: he suffers from a multiple personality disorder. The question, when he finally is caught, iswhe…
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Alligator People, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2004

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Synopsis

Beverly Garland (who was, with Allison Hayes, one of the queens of 50s SF) is on ahoneymoon train ride with her new husband Richard Crane. A telegram makes Crane blanch,and he hops off the train at the next stop, disappearing form Garland’s life. She searches for him,finally tracing his last address to The Cypresses, a plantation deep in the Louisiana swamp. Itturns out that Crane is slowly turning into an alligator due to the well-intentioned experimentsof scientist George…
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Doing Time on Maple Drive

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 21st, 2004

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Synopsis

The Carter family might appear to have it all. But as this is a Movie of the Week, we knowthat these people are really a dysfunctional calamity. And so they are: Dad is a tyrant, Mom isa social-climbing bitch-on-wheels, daughter is terrified of becoming like her mother and so hasan abortion behind her husband’s back rather than risk being a mother, older son (Jim Carreyin a supporting role) is a disappointment in every aspect, and Perfect Younger Son turns out tobe gay. My …
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King Kong Lives

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 21st, 2004

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Synopsis

Turns out Kong didn’t die at the foot of the World Trade Center. He’s been kept alive(though in a coma) in a University lab for the last ten years. Linda Hamilton has designed a hugeartificial heart for him, but he needs a massive blood transfusion. By lucky coincidence,adventurer Brian Kerwin is wandering around a set that is supposed to be Borneo, and hestumbles upon a female Kong. A half-dozen tribesmen with blowdarts promptly sedate her (asimple solution to monster trou…
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Alexander’s Ragtime Band

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 20th, 2004

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Synopsis

Tyrone Power comes from a good family and a has a fine future as a concert violinist, but hedreams of leading a band. A chance encounter in a bar leads to the formation of Alexander’sRagtime Band, with the brassy Alice Faye as singer. Power and Faye are at it hammer and tongs,so you know they’ll wind up falling in love, and so they do. But the road they must travel is notan easy one, as Faye is hired away from the band to Broadway, and Power is recruited into thearmy just i…
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Girl Next Door, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2004

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Synopsis

On the cusp of graduation, honour student Emile Hirsch’s quiet, orderly life is thrown intochaos when he falls in love with girl next door Elisha Cuthbert, who turns out to be a porn star.Hirsch’s reaction to this revelation drives a wedge between the couple, and pushes Cuthbert backinto the industry. Hirsch’s attempts to redeem himself lead him into deeper and deepertrouble.

This is not another would-be American Pie (though apparently the script started out…
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Moto X Kids

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2004

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Synopsis

Lorenzo Lamas is the coach of a group of motocross-racing kids. When an evil biker gangthreatens to take over the good guys’ track, a race is proposed, winner take all. The bikers don’tplay fair, however, and our heroes lose both their top rider and their bikes. Fortunately, as far asthe rider is concerned, a chimpanzee is able to fill in.

Groan. This is “family viewing” in the form of the worst kind of pabulum. But then, wat doyou expect from a film that tosses a m…
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Predator

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2004

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When I was a kid in the 80’s, Predator was one of those films that you weren’t supposed to watch, but everybody did anyway. Over-the-top action, invincible heroes, cheesy one-liners and big, big explosions made this a film that was a favorite of pre-pubescent boys everywhere. Going into this disc, I found myself wondering if the film would stand up to the harsh tests of time and maturity.

The answer to that question is both “yes”, and “no”. In the “no” column, it is very apparent early on in the film…
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Garfield and Friends (Volume One)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2004

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Garfield has been hunting lasagna, out-witting his clueless owner Jon, and frolicking with his intellectually challenged partner in crime, Odie since 1978. While the recent big screen release failed to capture the attention of the public, the animated series from 1988 did everything that the movie failed to do. It made the viewers laugh. The animated series was cleverly written, very witty and in a way similar to the Simpsons, had the ability to make both kids and adults laugh.

Garfield first appeared on T…
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Zorba the Greek

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 26th, 2004

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Synopsis

Repressed, timid writer Alan Bates arrives in Crete with the goal of re-opening a mine leftto him by his father. On the way to the small village where he will live, he hooks up with theexuberant Zorba (Anthony Quinn, who, as an American of Irish and Mexican extraction, is nomore Greek than Bates). Bates puts Quinn in charge of the mine, and Quinn sets himself themission of teaching Bates how to take risks in life.

The broad arc of the story — repressed Anglo-Saxon …
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Dreamers, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 29th, 2004

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Synopsis

May 1968. Paris is about to explode. Moving at the periphery of events that made whathappened at the same time in the States look like a mild-mannered debate are our threecharacters. American student Michael Pitt is a film buff, religiously attending the screenings atthe Cinémathèque Française. When that institution is closed (an event that helps ignite thepolitical powderkeg), Pitt falls in with two fellow buffs: twin siblings Eva Green and LouisGarrel. When the twins’ parents lea…
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Wizards

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 18th, 2004

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Wizards is a Ralph Bakshi production that is a lot more family friendly than some of his other better known works aka Fritz the Cat and the less said about his adaptation of The Lord of The Rings, the better. Wizards does borrow a lot from the Tolkein classic however, in it’s themes of industrialism versus nature as played out in the classic good versus evil story.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where an ancient prophet foretells the coming of twins who will battle and the outcome of the con…
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