Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 11th, 2007
If you�ve been anywhere on the planet over the past year then there�s no doubt that you�ve at least heard the name Borat in passing, well Borat - Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has finally made its way to DVD. Although I�ve wanted to see this movie since I saw its preview before Jackass 2, this is the first time I�ll actually be watching it and I eagerly anticipate it; I�ve heard lots of things about this controversial mockumentary comedy. Adding to my anticipation of the film is the fact that Seinfeld writer Larry Charles is the director.
Sacha Baron Cohen plays Borat the fictitious journalist from Kazakhstan who first introduces us to the people of his village and their way of life. He then explains that he is being sent on a mission to America to observe the way of life there and bring back lessons to help make Kazakhstan a better place, hence the title. Ken Davitian stars as the producer and close friend of Borat who accompanies him on his journey to America. From this point Sacha Baron Cohen stays in the character of Borat and tricks people into thinking that he is this over the top character, and basically their reactions to his hilarious comments are what make this movie what it is. For example, there is one scene where Borat is dinning with high society and he basically makes an ass of himself by acting indifferent, and oblivious to the customs in America. In another scene he sings at a rodeo, where a bunch of redneck�s apparently insight a riot over his comments. Its things like this that makes Borat what it is, a hilariously unpredictable journey across America.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 10th, 2007
Terminally naive and beautiful Noelle Page (Marie-France Pisier) is abused and conned by every man she meets. In 1939 Paris, penniless and at the end of her tether, she meets American pilot Larry Douglas (John Beck, looking more like a 70s porn star than a 40s air force pilot). A great romance begins, but then duty calls him away. He promises to find her again in three weeks, but he never shows up. Noelle discovers that she is pregnant, and then finds out Larry is a terminal womanizer. She aborts herself with a wire hanger, and then, feeling she has nothing left to lose, slaughters all the young Jedi... I mean, she sleeps her way to movie stardom, hooks up with a Greek tycoon, obsessively tracks Larry’s life, including his marriage to PR executive Catherine Alexander (Susan Sarandon), and plots a dastardly revenge, a reigniting of the romance, and a murder. Busy girl!
As you might have inferred from the above, Noelle’s transformation from abused and abandoned waif to Queen of Darkness is no more convincing than a recent whiny brat’s transmogrification into the Lord of the Sith. In point of fact, NOTHING in this three-hour soap opera is the least bit convincing (right down to careless framing that permits a skyscraper completed in 1972 to be visible over Nazi-occupied Paris). But then, anyone expecting great art to be made from a Sidney Sheldon novel needs to see a therapist, and quickly. What we have here is trash of the absolutely highest order, and hence the four-star rating. Excessive, grotesque and unfailingly hilarious in a way only the 70s could produce, this is the cinematic equivalent of chowing down on a huge bowl of 100% deep fried, trans-fat munchies. Terrible for you, but delicious. And who can fail to love that title. What in the name of all that is holy does it MEAN?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2007
To watch a good movie you must have the right equipment. A nice sound processor connected to kicking speakers are an absolute must. Add a 200 Watt 17 inch powered sub and you've increased the experience ten fold. Wrap it all up with a sweet DLP HD monitor and you now have everything you need - except of course a good movie. Trust The Man is everything but. All you need here is a good supply of insulin and an IV drip to keep you from lapsing into a sugar coma. I'm not talking peanut butter cup melts in your mouth sweet. I'm talking pure concentrated syrup makes you want to hurl sweet.
"A Fart is just as good as a burp". This is the kind of wit and wisdom you can expect from Trust The Man. The film didn't do very well in its very short theatrical run, and I expect it to fail just as miserably on DVD. The film is an obvious Woody Allen ripoff. The entire concept is the uneven relationship between two related couples and their various romantic problems. The problem is the film never goes anywhere. All we really know is that Rebecca (Moore) is a washed up actress who apparently doesn't find her husband Tom (Duchovny) exciting any longer. Tom is basically looking for action and talks way too much about his bodily functions. As a long time X-Files fan I love Duchovny, but this is pitiful stuff. To further complicate this drivel, we find that Rebecca's brother Tobey (Crudup) is having commitment troubles with his 7 year girlfriend Elaine (Gyllenhaal) That's all, folks. We suffer through endless moments of pure dialogue that never goes anywhere. The ending is the most contrived nonsense I've seen in some time. Basically this movie goes nowhere, and very slowly. Like a nagging toothache, this film is quite painful. Fortunately, relief won't require a visit to your dentist. My discomfort faded wonderfully with the end credits.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2007
The lines between news and entertainment, documentary and fiction continue to fade every day. It's a dangerous trend, as people have begun to believe the fiction, and ignore the facts. This film seems to make that line disappear altogether. The movie is based on a bestselling book of the same name, written by Eric Schlosser. The book is a fascinating investigation of the fast food and meat packing industries in the United States that has really shed some light on this often-overlooked dark secret of the dining indust...y.
While the book was a fantastic expose of the problems that exist, the movie is something else entirely. When I heard they were making a fiction film about a non-fiction book, I wondered how they were going to do it. Turns out, the writers have constructed a thinly-veiled interpretation of the author's own book research. Greg Kinnear leads an all-star cast (including Wilmer Valderrama, Luis Guzman, Bruce Willis, Patricia Arquette and others), playing an executive from a fast food chain who is sent to investigate the company's chief meat supplier and find out how feces has gotten into the meat. Meanwhile, we also get to see the story of a group of migrant workers as they work in the plant (Babel style).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2007
An epic is defined as an artistic work that celebrates the feats of a legendary figure. The film Cleopatra actually deals with many such figures, the title character being merely one of them. The truth is the film was never really about the Egyptian queen as much as it was about Rome and its relationship with Egypt.. Of course, Elizabeth Taylor's portrayal has achieved something of a classic status that is not completely deserved. Much has been made of the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor pairing in this film. Certainly both delivered entertaining and even at times compelling performances. However, these efforts pale in comparison to the brilliance of Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar and Roddy McDowall as Octavian. Others like Martin Landau add considerable weight to often underused characters. It is doubtful much would have been made of this film at all, let alone Burton and Taylor's overrated contributions, without such help. Taylor in particular makes more use of her looks than any thespian grandeur here. Elaborate and frequent costume changes are designed to take full advantage of her more obvious attributes. She does appear a stark contrast to the unusual woman most notable in recent years for her staunch loyalty to Michael Jackson. The enormously grand cinematography also plays no small role in the film's ultimate success. This release is intended to pay homage to the Academy Awards taken by this film, which included statues for cinematography and visual effects.
Cleopatra runs over four hours and can be broken down into four distinct parts. Hour one is clearly a setup for things to come. Julius Caesar (Harrison) is close to a glorious victory over his rival Pompey Magnus in a Roman civil war. His quarry has fled to Egypt, where Caesar is in pursuit. Upon his arrival Pompey's head is presented by the boy king Ptolemy. Caesar inserts himself into Egypt's civil war in favor of the King's exiled sister, Cleopatra (Taylor). Upon his fathering a son with the Nile Queen, the hour ends with her safely back upon her throne.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 23rd, 2007
If you'd asked me last year whether I thought Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe should work together again, I would have said "absolutely." No hesitation. We're talking about the director and star of Gladiator, after all, and I'd love to see another epic picture from that team.
What I didn't expect to see was A Good Year, a romantic comedy that wholeheartedly joins the ranks of the "wine is like life" camp. What's with that, anyway? Maybe it's time to move on to another beverage, like coffee. You know, coffee and life have a lot in common - plenty of lessons to be learned there.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 22nd, 2007
Marisa Tomei caused quite a stir in 1993 when she walked away with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in My Cousin Vinny. Even after watching the film again, I guess I'm still a bit amazed. Now that's not to say she doesn't do a wonderful job here. The fact is the entire cast did a splendid job. I can't say I found her performance any better than Joe Pesci as Vinny "Sack Of Potatoes" Gambini or the wonderful portrayal of the judge by Fred Gwynne. While it's not my intention to open up an old can of worms, it is that award which brings us to the re-issue DVD of My Cousin Vinny. To help celebrate this next round of Academy Awards and to line the old pockets with a little more gold dust, Fox is releasing some films that have taken those statues in the past. Unfortunately Fox did not see fit to add anything or even shine the print up in any way. This disc is identical to the 2000 release in every way. The video and audio transfers are exactly the same as is the commentary and small list of extras.
The story is nothing more than an elaborate setup for Pesci to do his thing. Billy, played by the old Karate Kid Ralph Macchio, is driving through backwoods Alabama with his buddy Stan (Whitfield). They accidentally steal a can of tuna from a small store. When the cops chase them down and cart them off to jail, they consider the threats of execution a bit harsh for shoplifting. That is, until they discover the clerk was killed shortly after they left, and now they're charged with his murder. Short on cash, they call in Billy's cousin Vinny who has finally after 6 years passed the New York Bar Exam. Vinny's in over his head, and his New York Italian attitude doesn't earn him any points with the down home justice ideology of Judge Haller. Desperately outclassed, Vinny must resort to street smarts to save the boys. The case turns on the testimony of automobile expert girlfriend Lisa (Tomei). The truth is, there are several rolling in the aisles funny moments here. Stan's seen too many prison films, so when he first meets Vinny he fears the man is there to have his way with him. In a play on words conversation that would make Abbott and Costello proud, this 20 second joke plays out for a few minutes of gut busting hilarity. Pesci's interplay with Gwynne is also classic, and while always predictable, it is nonetheless very funny.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 18th, 2007
Synopsis
I grew up with Beavis & Butthead, the so stupid it hurts MTV cartoon show that basically would launch MTV programming and put it on the map for future series. Mike Judge was the creator behind that masterpiece. He would go on later to be the guy behind King of the Hill and a few assorted good shows. However, somewhere along the way he decided to direct a couple of movies. His most recent affair, Idiocracy; a feature film staring Luke Wilson (Old...School, Anchorman) & Maya Rudolph(Saturday Night Live) is the story of an Army grunt & a prostitute who participate in an army experiment to be frozen for a year and then returned to live their lives. The problem is the experiment goes awry and they end up frozen for 500 years and hilarity ensues.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2007
These are the other four films featuring Peter Lorre as the mysterious detective Mr. Moto. All but the first are from 1939.
1938's Mr. Moto’s Gamble began life as a Charlie Chan film, but difficulties with that franchise’s star (Warner Oland) led to Fox putting the Chan films on hiatus. Keye Luke, Chan’s Number One Son, is here anyway, as is plenty of footage shot for the Chan film. Luke and comic relief ex-boxer Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom do their best to help Moto solve a case of murder in a boxing ring.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 16th, 2007
Before Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, there was another film full of warriors running through the wilderness, accompanied by a majestic score. That film was The Last of the Mohicans, director Michael Mann's remake of the 1936 film of the same name, which was a remake of the 1920 silent film. And all of these movies were based on the original novel by James Fennimore Cooper, a popular 18th Century American writer.
So there's a lot of history to this story, which is set during the French and Indian War in the mid-18th Century. Our hero is Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York), the white adopted son of a Mohican father, Chingachgook (Russel Means, Natural Born Killers). Together with Chingachgook's biological son, Uncas (Eric Schweig, Tom and Huck), they do their own thing in the wilderness, hunting and trapping and uninvolved in the ongoing war.
