Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 7th, 2006
Ahh, Moonlighting. For people of my generation, this may be the golden age of television. That's not to take anything away from I Love Lucy or The Andy Griffith Show, but when you grew up in the 80's, there was this, L. A. Law and Miami Vice. For my money, Moonlighting was the best of the three. Even by today's standards, it is extremely rare to find a show such as this. A genuine drama/mystery program that succeeds in being very, very funny. The fact is, the entire show was ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2006
Wildfire has all the subtlety and charm of an ABC After School Special. Truth be told, the pilot episode reminded me a lot of Showgirls, but instead of becoming a pole dancer, this girl is becoming a horse trainer. The basic elements are still the same, though. A girl with a rough past gets an entry-level position at her dream job, and must work her way up the ranks. Only this show is on ABC Family. Gone is all the glitz and flash that tried to cover up the horrid plot of Showgirls. Withou...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Donnie Wahlberg plays a cop whose past, to say the least, is checkered. He is drawn into a very personal confrontation with Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) when the killer kidnaps his son. Jigsaw wants Wahlberg to sit and listen to him if he wants his son to live. The boy, meanwhile, is trapped in a house where the air is slowly filling with a toxic nerve agent, and surrounded by a group of people who, desperate as they are to escape and to find antidotes to the poison, also, did they but know it, have ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
What distinguishes Nicolas Cage from other more mainstream actors is that his choices of independent films, providing him the opportunity to take on a wide variety of roles that broaden his range, while periodically taking on the occasional Jerry Bruckheimer production to maintain his box office gravitas and make some money to allow him to work the indie films. It’s a circuitous route that helps to benefit the viewer. Sometimes those lower-level films are hits, while others miss.
In Lo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 20th, 2006
Each year there are quality films that slip through the cracks for one reason or another. Lord of War is one of those movies. At first look, I would blame this film’s lack of financial success on the marketing department. It was hard to get a feel for the film through the trailers and commercials.
What was it about? A gun salesman? With Nicolas Cage and a bunch of spent bullet casings at the front and center of the ad campaigns, one might think that this was another Jerry Bruckheimer action-fest muc...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2006
The idea of a gross-out comedy is nothing new. There have been some extremely funny gross-out comedies like The 40-Year Old Virgin and The American Pie Trilogy. However, there have also been some extremely boring and stupid gross-out comedies like National Lampoon’s Van Wilder and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalow. The key to a successful gross-out comedies to is have a smart plot and jokes that actually make sense and aren’t just made for a quick laugh. While there are some funny sequences ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 9th, 2006
Synopsis
FBI trainee and psychic Caterina Scorsone is suddenly graduated because her abilities are needed on a missing person case, and so begins her partnership with borderline rogue FBI agent Vivica A. Fox. And there’s the premise set up: each episode, someone else is missing, and CSI meets the X-Files, but with none of the panache of either show. The dialogue is pseudo-hard boiled, and Fox is no more an federal agent than I am the Pope (I highly doubt those stiletto-heeled, snakeskin boots are eit...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2006
In the era of the popularity of documentaries, it seems that everywhere we look a new documentary is coming out about another subject. From Michael Moore’s look into the Bush administration’s ties with the Sauds in Fahrenheit 911, to the recent look into the world of penguins in March of the Penguins, each documentary holds something special as they bring us to a world we may have never known if it not for these filmmakers. One of the more special documentaries in recent time is an extremely powerful na...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2006
Oliver Stone has developed a well-deserved reputation for injecting conspiracy tales into his films. A veteran of Vietnam, he has developed quite a case of drug-induced paranoia over the years. While this probably makes him a real drag at parties, it makes for some really interesting films... especially when said films are based on actual events. Audiences can drive themselves crazy trying to separate fact-from-speculation-from-rumor-from-flat-out-fiction, and that kind of thing is great fun for somebody like me.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 12th, 2006
I have said it before, and I will continue to say it as long as it is relevant... these Saturday Night Live releases are the perfect product for the PSP. They are short, funny and get right to the point with little depth or exposition required. It is easy to drop in and watch a skit here or there during your morning commute, waiting for a cup of coffee or while killing time before the big game. Of course, it is also easy to burn through a full hour by spinning the entire disc, as Ferrell is just so funny that it is s...
