Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 13th, 2006
Synopsis
Jane Fonda plays Lilliam Hellman. She is living in a beach house with Dashiel Hammett (Jason Robards), struggling with a play (The Children’s Hour, though the film is ridiculously coy about mentioning its title). She is also worried about her childhood friend Julia (Vanessa Redgrave), who is caught up in the struggle with the rising tide of fascism in 1930s Europe. Hellman loses contact with Julia, but on a trip to Europe in the wake of her play’s success, she is contacted by friends ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2006
One of the unfortunate responses to the emergence of a successful movie is the appearance of copycat films. When Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture, all these sword and sandal flicks went into production. Now we have epics such as Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Alexander to show for it. Sometimes, the backlash is even worse when the hit film is a bit of a surprise hit. Such was the case with The Fast and the Furious. Now, I really enjoyed Furious, but I knew on the...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Knowing that Stormy Weather is the title of a song that helped vault Lena Horne (The Wiz) into celebrity fandom, I had very little other ideas about her. But the cool thing that I discovered while watching the film is that, for the age of this film, it’s better than anyone would possibly think.
Horne plays Selina Rogers, a beautiful talented singer who was dating the head of an entertainment show that came through New York. She catches the eye of Bill (Bill “Bojangles” Robin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 5th, 2006
The concept of the musical biopic is nothing new. We have seen many films come and go, some good and some bad. A majority of these musical biopic films try to tell the rising of a group, whether or not the group is a reality, in a manner that will connect with the audience. Robert Townsend’s The Five Heartbeats is a prime example of a film that connects with its audience by taking this concept of the musical biopic just that one step further than we might expect from a film like this.
The Five Hea...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 3rd, 2006
“Let’s be careful out there…”
The men and woman of Hill Street Station, a fictitious police precinct in Chicago, have found it rather difficult at times to live by their sergeant’s admonition. Steven Bochco’s award winning police drama changed most of the rules for a one hour television drama. Some of Hill Street’s trademark style has become rather ordinary over 20 years later. Bochco protégés now dominate the scene. Dick Wolf (Law and Order), David Kelley (The Practice), David Milch (Deadwood), Scott Brazil ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 3rd, 2006
Harry Belafonte stars as an ambitious young politician, who refuses to fear the white majority that holds a foothold over his island home, in Island in the Sun. Along the way, he strikes up a romance with Joan Fontaine. Incidentally, we are supposed to believe Ms. Fontaine’s character is younger than Belafonte’s, despite the fact that she looks ten years older. Dorothy Dandridge also stars as a pharmacy clerk, who falls in love with the white aide to the island’s governor. If this seems like it’s all over the ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
If you aren’t familiar with what Roll Bounce is, you will be pleasantly surprised by some of the tricks this small coming-of-age film pulls out of its hat. I expected horrendous acting, a poorly written script, and a story that cared more about racially motivated laughs than honesty. What I got was just the opposite. First of all, the film’s success begins and ends with a top-drawer screenplay that perfectly captures teen angst as well as the fears and traumas of growing up. Not something one would expect abou...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2006
American Women is a difficult film to write about because it evokes such little passion from its viewer. By no standards is it a good film, but pinpointing its frailties becomes quite the daunting task. Set in a small Irish village, the story centers on a group of sexist men, who want to import girls from America because the ones accessible to them do not meet up to the appropriate standards. The plot is farfetched, even as goofball comedies go, and none of the male characters are likeable. Also, with so many ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2006
Obviously, the idea of making a film about mixing races in 1949 was a topic that was quite taboo. Nobody can fault Pinky for being groundbreaking in its subject matter. However, this is the very definition of a timely film. Being viewed almost 60 years later, it comes across as silly, almost like a midnight viewing of Refer Madness. Just as the kids in Reefer are obviously not under the spell of some horrible mind-altering herb, so Jeanne Crain is about as convincingly “colored” as Bill Gates on ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 25th, 2006
Broken Lizard’s Puddle Cruiser follows Felix Bean, a smitten young college student, whose entire life changes when he sees pretty Suzanne at a party. He immediately tries to impress her, but only ends up incurring the wrath of Traci Shannon, her rather large rugby-playing boyfriend from a rival school. He does manage to wiggle some of her affections away, enough so that she halts her go-nowhere relationship. Together, the two embark on a passionate love affair, but Suzanne still has difficulties letting go of ...
