Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Jason Schwartzman is a young man in despair. His brand of environmental activism (whichinvolves reciting a lot of bad poetry and planting trees in the middle of parking lots) isn’t gettinghim far, and then he is on the verge of being ousted from his own organization when Jude Law,executive at the Wal-Mart-like Huckabees, becomes a sponsor and takes the whole thing over.Schwartzman turns for help with his life to existential detectives Dustin Hoffman and LilyTomlin, but he t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 25th, 2005
Synopsis
The saint of the title (Bradford Dillman) begins as a very secular young man, eager to sign upfor the war in which the Pope is engaged. But it is during this conflict that he receives a visionfrom God, and renounces violence. This is perceived as cowardice by some (such as the father ofhis sweetheart) but as inspiring principle by others (such as said sweetheart, Dolores Hart). Thehumble holy man eventually runs up against politics within the Church.
Michael Curtiz ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 24th, 2005
Synopsis
Director Werner Herzog is off to Scotland to shoot a documentary entitled The Enigmaof Loch Ness. This is coinciding with the shoot of a documentary about his life calledWerner in Wonderland. So what we have here is a documentary about the making of adocumentary. Or, more accurately, of a failed doc, since things start going wrong right away,mostly due to producer Zak Penn, who clearly wants something more exciting and sexy than aphilosophical essay on why peo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Feeling deathly ill, an illegal immigrant leaves a poker game, only to be ambushed andmurdered by three of the other players (the most notable of whom are Zero Mostel and a youngand scary Jack Palance, here appearing as Walter Jack Palance). When his body is found the nextmorning, the victim is discovered to have been sick with pneumonic plague. Doctor RichardWidmark, in charge of public health, takes over, and is initially at loggerheads with DetectivePaul Douglas, who is ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Charlton Heston is Michelangelo, busy at work on the monumental sculptures he proposesfor the tomb of Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison). Julius has other ideas, however, and ordersMichelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which is the last thing the sculptor wantsto do. The film then follows his struggles with the monumental task, as well as the clash ofpersonalities.
There’s more than a whiff of Heston as Michelangelo as Moses, and Harrison as Julius as...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 21st, 2005
Synopsis
Dana Andrews is in suitably hard-boiled mode as the detective called in to investigate thedeath of beautiful society woman Laura (Gene Tierney). There are plenty of suspects, as Laurainspired passion on all sides. Accompanying Andrews on his investigation is misanthropiccolumnist Clifton Webb, whose protege Laura was. Chief suspect is fickle fiancé Vincent Price,but Andrews isn’t ruling anyone out, as his questioning leads to flashbacks that take us towardthe moment of the ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 20th, 2005
Synopsis
A series of heartrending cases drive judge Michael Douglas to the breaking point. Minortechnicalities force him to release suspects who are clearly guilty of horrendous crimes. At hismost vulnerable, he is approached by mentor judge Hal Holbrook, who is part of a cabal ofjudges who re-examine such cases, and have the suspects killed. Douglas becomes involved, butthe moral issues aren’t any easier now, and then there’s detective Yaphet Kotto who’s closingin on the truth.
...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2005
In the world of television spinoffs it is rare that the newer material will live up to that which spawned it. All In The Family holds the record for number of spinoffs and coincidentally produced the most memorable. Frasier was an instant hit after Cheers. But how many of you remember After-MASH or Beverly Hills Buntz?
Angel, to anyone living under a rock, dates back to the pilot episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I recently took another look at that maiden appearance. Who says vampires don’t age? This i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 20th, 2005
Synopsis
Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a resentful teen under therapy, and supposed to be takingmedication for his borderline schizophrenia. When a giant demonic bunny (Jimmy Stewart neverhad to deal with the like in Harvey) takes him out of the house just before a plane enginesmashes into his bedroom, life becomes even more strange. Reality becomes rubbery, and thefact that Donnie survived has more and more significant effects on the world around him.
David Lynch...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2005
I may have been late to the rapidly growing bandwagon of admirers of the TV comedy Arrested Development, though it was kinda cool to see David Cross (Mr. Show) get onto a network show that would have appeared to been lucky to stay around for a whole season, in a sitcom where the main character was played by Jason Bateman. I mean, Jason Bateman! A guy who was known as Justine’s brother who bounced around from sitcom to sitcom and was virtually off the radar, playing bit parts in other harmless comedies. ...
