Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 20th, 2007
Synopsis
Interracial relationships in movies tend to be hit or miss. If treated fairly, it can make the movie an uplifting picture, one that will make people stand up and cheer for a satisfying ending. Misused, and it just becomes an ugly context for the movie to hide around. Constellation starts out with the love story between Carmel Boxer (played by Gabrielle Union), an african-american lady and her white boyfriend & solider Bear (young version played by ...aniel Bess, older version played by David Clennon). The problem here is that this love story is placed in the heart of Huntsville, Alabama before the civil rights movement takes place. So the love is forbidden but never falters. However, it never ends up where it should truly be. Fifty years pass (now the present) and Carmel has died, bringing together both families back in Alabama. Bear is hosting the funeral with his daughter Celeste (played byEver Carradine). Carmel's relatives that join the procession include her brother Helms (played by Billy Dee Williams) and his two daughters Rosa (played by Zoe Saldana) and Lucy (played by Melissa De Sousa).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 18th, 2007
Synopsis
My life has been a strange journey. Recently I found myself divorced after a three year marriage. Needless to say I'm probably need a bit of soul searching. Perhaps I need to cleanse my spirit before setting back out into the world from which I came. Now I've never been a religiously deep person but I do take myself on as a spiritual one. So to see a surprise title in my queue with the words The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success would bring at least a little ...bit of curiosity to my senses. In 1994, Deepak Chopra wrote a book with the above title and it granted him critical acclaim from people worldwide. Thirteen years later, this is brought to us in dvd form to enjoy. While some of the theories can be debated, a lot of its fundamental ideas make sense.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 16th, 2007
Following the success of back-to-back hits Forest Gump and Apollo 13, Tom Hanks wanted to shake things up. His project of choice? Writing and directing his first feature film.
The result was That Thing You Do!, a light, enjoyable comedy about a 60’s pop band that makes it big on the strength of one hit song. Barely together a few weeks, The Oneders (pronounced “Wonders”) win a small-town talent contest, which lands them their first gig, playing at a local bar. Before they can adjust to ...heir first taste of success, they land a touring deal with Play-Tone, a record label. Just like that, they’re on a whirlwind tour that echoes the success of The Beatles. But can they handle the big-time, or will fame tear them apart?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Holy crap, this movie made a boat load of money for Fox when it came out around Christmas 2006, making $250 million and running second only to the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel for box office money. And to see Ben Stiller finally appear in a film that could be considered a blockbuster success was nice too. And in Night at the Museum, he gets to play Larry, night security guard in the New York Museum of Natural History.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 4th, 2007
Synopsis
A serial killer who sounds just like Jigsaw (only rather less interesting) and kills exclusively using explosives (!) blows up the brother of a criminal psychologist, then turns his unwanted attentions to seminary student Marc Blucas, taking his life apart one explosion at a time. Blucas is convinced that the killer is a dark figure from his past, and turns amateur sleuth even as he is consumed by guilt. Most of his time, however, he puts his energy into being one of the whiniest protagonist... ever.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 1st, 2007
Synopsis
After serving ten years as a galley slave for having stolen a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean returns to the outside world a bitter man. He is transformed by the saintliness of a bishop who gives him shelter and the gift of the very items he was trying to steal. Starting his life over again, he becomes Mr. Madeleine, highly respected pottery plant owner and eventually mayor. He even adopts young Cosette, whose mother is dying. But the relentless Inspector Javert feels he recognizes Madeleine as ...he parole-evading Valjean, and so begins a pursuit that will take all three characters to a Paris about to erupt in an uprising.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 23rd, 2007
The History Boys is a film version of the award-winning play of the same name. The link between film and play is especially strong here, as not only was it adapted and directed by the original writer and stage director, but each member of the stage cast also reprised his or her role for the film.
Set in the early 80’s, The History Boys is about a group of bright young men preparing for their futures and the teachers helping them along. The boys have just received top marks at their grammar sch...ol, and the next step is studying for university entrance exams, on the subject of history. With Oxford or Cambridge in their sights, the students enter the new term ready to study under three remarkable teachers, one of whom wants to fondle their genitals, and another who’s new and barely more than a boy himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 18th, 2007
Synopsis
Anna Karenina (Vivien Leigh) is married to a rigid and boring politician (Ralph Richardson). Despite herself, she falls in love with the dashing young Kieron Moore. Richardson retaliates by cutting her off from her son. And though having an affair is tolerated by upper class Russian society, the couple wind up challenging convention too far, and Anna finds herself completely ostracized.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 16th, 2007
Synopsis
A young Jane Eyre thinks she is escaping Hell when she is sent from the home of her unloving aunt to a boarding school, but she has simply traded one Hell for another. Despite the attempts of sadistic Henry Daniell, she survives her years at the school with her spirit intact, and, now a grown woman (Joan Fontaine), she goes to work as a governess at the gothic home of Edward Rochester (Orson Welles). She perceives something good behind his forbidding extrior, and finds herself falling in lov... with her haunted employer. But what is the secret in the locked tower?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 12th, 2007
Synopsis
Lloyd Nolan stars in this quartet of films about Michael Shayne. Less hard-boiled than he was in other media, here he’s an inveterate wisecracker and the films are sometimes more comedies than thrillers. Our boy takes his first bow in <>i>Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1941), where he’s hired to keep an heiress (Marjorie Weaver) out of trouble. But when one of the dubious people she’s been hanging out with turns up killed, apparently by Shayne’s gun, the detective must stay one step ...head of the police while he works to solve the crime. Good thing there’s an eccentric, mystery-loving aunt about. Shayne is such a joker and so unflappable that there is no real suspense here, but the entertainment level is high. The box copy implying that these films are noirs is clearly shown up for a lie here.
