Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2007
This is, I gather, part of a series of documentaries under the wider umbrella of “America Undercover,†and is not the first of the taxicab ones. What we have here is a collection of vignettes as various people hail a cab and, captured by the cab’s security camera, engage in revealing conversations with the driver. Most of these discussions deal with relationships and sex (the guy and his transsexual girlfriend, the guy with the big woman fetish, the guy with a thing for “crazy chicks†and so on). Over the course of the hour, this becomes a little tiresome, and one hopes for a passenger with something else on his/her mind.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 28th, 2007
I still remember the first time I watched a Spawn animated episode. I was with my parents in my younger years on what I believe was the last vacation we ever took together. It was a hotel we were staying at which had HBO (I never had that channel growing up). I had read Spawn but didn't even know of the animated series. The fact it was late at night and on a premium movie channel meant it had to be good. I was simply blown away and remember telling my parents that we had to be back at the hotel to watch it again the next night. I remember that later I would procure used copies of the series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2007
Synopsis
It’s no big secret that I enjoy Extras, and found my way to it through the first episode of the second season, which included a guest appearance by Orlando Bloom (of Pirates of the Caribbean lore). And now that I’ve seen the first season, and rabidly followed the second season on HBO, while it’s a bummer to see Extras fade away after a dozen episodes, and just like The Office, it’s not going to soon forgotten.
Both shows were written and directed by Ricky Gerva...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2007
Not all heist films are created equal. The Hard Easy is a poor man’s Ocean’s Whatever. Number. While that might appear more often than not a knock on the film, that would not be so in this case. Actually I rather liked the film, more for its nuances. The first thing that impressed me was the cast. This isn’t the gaggle of A listers found in the Ocean films. These are still some hard working craftsmen. Just because this isn’t as hyped or financed to the hilt doesn’t take anything away from the performances. It might...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2007
Synopsis
When I was reviewing Season One of Martin, I was actually on a business trip in New Jersey, fondly recalling the early ‘90s and the huge popularity of the show that bore comedian Martin Lawrence’s name. Since that time, I’m no longer going to New Jersey on business, I’m working better hours, and a movie with Lawrence called Wild Hogs came out. It grossed over $150 million, and starred him, John Travolta and Tim Allen as aging adults who do the Easy Rider road trip. The only thi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2007
Synopsis
I really wasn’t entirely sure how to digest watching a film about a natural disaster where a quarter million people have died or are presumed missing/lost. Nevertheless, Tsunami: The Aftermath is a compelling portrait of the events surrounding the 2004 event that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.
Written by Abi Morgan (Brick Lane) and directed by Bharat Nalluri (The Crow: Salvation), the film was shown on HBO as a two part miniseries and focused on severa...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 24th, 2007
Synopsis
Emilio is a Grade 11 student smitten with Jacklynne, the most popular girl in the school. She, of course, doesn’t even know he exists. He decides to get her attention by running for president of the Student Council, but no sooner does he declare himself as candidate then he discovers that his opponent is Jacklynne herself. Oops. He is now forced to run, but plans, with the help of his friends, to sabotage the results of the election to make sure he loses, but the is fraught with risks, most ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2007
Synopsis
Five different horror stories play out in this film, though they are all loosely interconnected, in that main characters in one story put in cameos in another, and the same locations are revisited. A sullen teenage girl comes home to her fractious family to see her father struggle with a newfangled remote. It doesn’t change the TV channel, but does zap her through alternate universes. A young man living in a dilapidated building starts taking orders from his possessed radio. A serial killer ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 2nd, 2007
In the continuing need for media mogul Russell Simmons to produce an HBO show and put the word "Def" in front of it, musician Mos Def approached Simmons with the opportunity to present a weekly show for urban spoken word artists to show off their wares. And surprisingly, not only has the show survived, but has thrived into a fourth season that has come out on DVD, with ten episodes in all, split over two discs.
The layout of the show is pretty straightforward, as Mos Def introduces the beginning and end of the shows and the acts in between.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 2nd, 2007
I don't mean for this to be a joke, but when Paul Mooney recently said that he was glad that Hispanics got their (and I'm paraphrasing here) "African-American wake up call" in the midst of the illegal immigration debate of 2006, the problem wasn't whether or not the Hispanics were being treated fairly or not. The problem was that this discussion has been going on in some manner or fashion for almost four decades now without a large-scale epiphany that required action. However back in 1968, there was some action (which led to the coordinated efforts of students to walk out of their classes in Los Angeles High schools as a protest of the conditions there), and Walkout helps to tell the tale.
