Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2006
My Super Ex-Girlfriend certainly has a fun premise, but after 10 minutes or so, you'll quickly realize that the originality is at most skin-deep. What we have here is a formulaic romantic comedy with the usual character types and plot points.
Luke Wilson plays Matt Saunders, a nice guy who's kind of unlucky with love. He meets Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman), falls for her, realizes she's a needy psycho, and dumps her because he's really in love with his co-worker, Anna (Hannah Lewis).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 7th, 2006
They say you can't turn back the clock. Sometimes, that really sucks. Like when I pressed "play" to watch Garfield and Friends, Behind the Scenes. There was a time in my life when I lived and breathed Garfield, and everything Jim Davis touched glittered like a clear, starry night to my eyes. I'm exaggerating, but the point is I used to really like the comic.
Well, that was age seven, and this is now. My mature, adult brain just cannot compute why this comic strip still runs in the dailies, and still sells off store shelves. So you can guess that I wasn't too keen on watching nearly two hours' worth of the animated Garfield cartoon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 6th, 2006
I remember that this film was all the rage when I was a kid growing up in the early 80's. I always assumed that the reason that I didn't care for the film at the time was that I was just too young to fully appreciate it. Turns out, it's just not a very good movie. I certainly appreciate where it is trying to go, it's just that it takes the hokiest path possible to get there. The film tells the story of a military academy that is slated to be shut down and turned into condominiums. The cadets, who apparently enjoy the fact that they are in military school, are so proud of the institution that they use their minimal combat training to hold off the developers. It this a dramatic film that wishes to be taken seriously, or The Goonies? By the time the situation escalates to the point where the cadets are involved in a full-fledged skirmish with the real US military, audiences will likely be too bored to care. Part of what makes Dog Day Afternoon such a fantastic film is that the standoff in that film comes at about the 5-minute mark. This thing is more like an 80's sitcom for the first hour or so.
The acting, however, is surprisingly good under the circumstances. This film marks the first real film efforts from both Tom Cruise and Sean Penn. Even with such hokey source material, these two fine actors give it their all, and it is occasionally possible to believe that they really care about the academy here and there. George C. Scott is also here as the school's Dean, which was an excellent casting decision for anyone who remembers him best as General George Patton. In the end, though, the mixture of great young actors and seasoned veterans just isn't enough to elevate this film beyond being a second-rate After School Special version of The Lord of the Flies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2006
When I sat down to watch The Devil Wears Prada with my wife, who was excited to see it, I was braced for a complete chick flick. I figured it was another one of those �ugly� duckling turns beautiful to conquer her situation movies, and that prospect didn�t exactly have me jazzed up.
Well, that�s not quite how it goes, and I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the film. The story centres around Andrea (Anne Hathaway), an aspiring journalist who�s getting nowhere, who takes a job as second assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the frightening editor-in-chief of a leading fashion magazine. The idea is that this job could be an influential stepping stone to her career as a serious journalist. Unfortunately, Andrea is totally out of her element in the fashion world, and at first struggles to accomplish the simplest tasks of her ridiculous new job. Everyone mocks her complete lack of style, and she mocks them right back � though much, much more timidly � for taking this fashion stuff so seriously.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 30th, 2006
John Tucker Must Die has all of the elements of an average teen movie: a high school setting, an unrealistically attractive cast, cliques, and the list goes on. That’s my way of saying I can’t think of any other obvious teen movie stuff, so fill in whatever comes to your mind and I’m sure it’ll fit just fine.
If it looks and sounds like a duck, then it probably is an average teen movie, right? Right. I may have skipped a step there, but the point is you shouldn’t expect anything special from John ...ucker Must Die. But if you want some eye candy and a fluffy, feel-good ending, then this might be the movie for you.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 29th, 2006
The first full season of Kelley’s “The Practice” spin-off was somewhat abbreviated. It was also a time to introduce us to the firm and new cast of characters. As is Kelley’s trademark style, we were sure of one thing. These characters would be quirky with enough of a touch of reality to keep them interesting. So as his flagship series faded away into production problems and slipping ratings, Boston Legal erupts like a phoenix from the ashes of certain death. Now as popular or more so than The Practice, Boston Legal...hits our DVD shelves for season 2. This set contains a whopping 27 episodes, which includes several originally produced for season 1. There is an awkward beginning to this season, as cast changes don’t kick in for a handful of episodes. Once the season finds its legs, however, it is better than ever.
Most of the action surrounds friends Alan Shore (Spader) and senior partner Denny Crane (Shatner). From the very beginning this coupling has been character chemistry at its best and perhaps drives the entire show. I say this because even the weakest and most outrageous stories are somehow worth watching just for the Shore/Crane antics. Shatner has certainly enjoyed a rebirth of his own with this role. The supporting cast is also very strong. Fellow Trek alumnus Rene Auberjonois plays senior partner Paul Lewiston and Candice Bergen is senior partner Shirley Schmidt. Both seem to exist only as foils for Shore and Crane. Leaving the series by the 5th episode are Rhona Mitra’s Tara and Monica Potter’s Lori. Lake Bell’s Sally left earlier to pursue sea monsters in the doomed NBC series Surface. The combination of laughs and drama continue. In spite of the often over the top Democratic rhetoric and Republican demonizing, the show offers plenty of entertainment no matter what your own philosophies. Still, Kelley just can’t seem to help himself, and when the show suffers, this is often where the weak link lies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2006
Synopsis
John Steinbeck, looking and sounding remarkably like James Ellroy, and coming across as surprisingly two-fisted given the overall tone of the movie, introduces a quintet of stories by O. Henry. “The Cop and the Anthem” features Charles Laughton as a dignified bum trying unsuccessfully to get himself arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice, warm prison (Marilyn Monroe is one of the top-billed, but she has only one brief scene here). “The Clarion Call” has Dale Robertson as a detective w...o realizes that a wanted murderer is, in fact, a childhood friend to whom he owes a huge debt. The friend is played by Richard Widmark, who shamelessly recycles his psycho act from Kiss of Death, right down to the hyena laugh. In “The Last Leaf,” Anne Baxter struggles to convince her pneumonic sister (Jean Peters) that life is worth living. “The Ransom of Red Chief” is the tale of two con-men (Fred Allen and Oscar Levant) who kidnap a young boy and very quickly wish they’d never clapped eyes on the holy terror. And “The Gift of the Magi,” the most famous story of the bunch, is the Christmas tale of a young couple (Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger) who give up their most treasured possessions in order to buy each other a special gift.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
Michael Caine is a down-on-his-luck PI in LA. He’s hired to find the long-lost daughter of a man who is now wealthy, though being hunted by goons. Caine heads off to house of the presumed daughter’s adoptive parents. There are two women the right age here. Which one is he looking for? Could it be Natalie Wood?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
This is another film one feels a little silly summarising, given that it must be an exercise in redundancy. At any rate, Macy’s department store gets a new Santa, and this one (a marvellous Edmund Gwenn) insists that he is the real thing. He sets about restoring the sense of wonder in hard-nosed Maureen O’Hara and her skeptical daughter (Natalie Wood), and John Payne winds up having to prove that our boy is who he says he is in a memorable court case.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2006
Synopsis
Based on the book by Christopher Buckley, the cellular version of Thank You for Smoking may be misconceived by some as a movie about a guy who’s defending smoking, but I think it is a movie about a couple of different things. The first, more obvious things is that it’s a movie about spin. Either in the early ‘90s (when the book came out) or in the last year or so (when the film came out), even if the setting has changed, the method of dispelling one’s argument, even without possessing any co...crete facts, and how important it is in American debate is still a clear message.
