Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2004
Synopsis
Popeye has a nightmare in which his “no-good Pappy” is in mortal danger. Convinced thatthis is actually the case, he scuppers land-locked plans for Christmas with Olive Oyl in order tosearch for Pappy. Off the whole gang goes on the search: Olive, Swee’ pea, Bluto (as firstmate???) and Whimpy.
I’ll give this points for trying, and the animated does have a fluidity lacking in theaccompanying cartoons (about which more below). But Popeye looks odd in three dimensions,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 1st, 2004
Synopsis
Lili Taylor essays another of her trademark depressed wallflower roles as Evie, a woman who hates her job, her town and her life. She becomes obsessed with local rock star and pseudo-philosopher Drumstrings Casey (Guy Pearce), to the point of carving his name in her forehead (backwards, since she was looking in a mirror). This brings her to the attention of Pearce, and both of the to the attention of the media, and so begins a prickly, off-kilter relationship.
We’ve certainly been ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 29th, 2004
Synopsis
It’s all just so heartwarming. Spirited single-mother Virginia Madsen (what in Heaven’sname is she doing in this?) struggles to make ends meet flipping waffles, while spunky, talenteddaughter Lindsey Haun longs to attend The Haverty Conservatory of Music and Dance. WhenMadsen becomes aware of Haun’s dream, she moves mountains for her daughter. You canpredict the rest.
Mother and daughter wuv each other sooooooo much, you just want Jason Voorhees to stepin and stag...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Social worker Rika is sent to help a bed-ridden old woman, only to be confronted in thehome by terrifying and deadly apparitions. The film then jumps back and forth in time, showinghow every person who has any connection, however slight, with the evil house is hunted, hauntedand killed by the malevolent ghosts.
If that summary sounds a bit slight, that’s because the plot is, indeed, close to non-existent.The US version is actually considerably more coherent (and in ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 15th, 2004
Synopsis
The two sisters from Ginger Snaps and Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed are back,only this time Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins are 19th-Century versions of themselves. Lostin the snowy Canadian frontier, they arrive at Fort Bailey, only to find a rather chilly welcome.The fort is besieged by werewolves, and the starving, demoralized garrison is suspicious of anystrangers. The sisters do find shelter, along with rampant misogyny and racism. If those dangersweren’...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 15th, 2004
Synopsis
After being kidnapped and assaulted by a serial killer, Laura Kove (Jillian Byrnes) hasbecome acutely agoraphobic, to the point that she is physically unable to leave her apartment.This becomes a real problem when something begins to haunt her home, first by moving thingsaround, later by taking on terrifying physical shape. The ghost hunter she turns to in desperationis a scam artist, who in spite of herself becomes obsessed with solving the mystery and endingLaura’s tormen...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Detective Tom Selleck investigates a triple-murder. The trail of evidence leads to a twitchy,obviously mentally incompetent small-time crook named Squirrel. Prosecuter Monica Porter putsSquirrel away, and he is sentenced to death. Years later, Squirrel’s final appeal lands on the deskof William H. Macy, who begins to find odd inconsistencies that point to the possibility that thewrong man is on death row.
Every frame screams “Network TV Mini-Series.” This is not a g...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 10th, 2004
Synopsis
The ice-locked crew of a ship searching for the Northwest Passage finds, to its collectiveastonishment, a near-dead man quite literally in the middle of nowhere. This individual is oneVictor Frankenstein (Alec Newman), and he recounts to the captain (Donald Sutherland) hishorrific tale of creating a monster (Luke Goss), and subsequently losing his family to themonster’s vengeance.
Of all the versions of Mary Shelley’s novel, this is probably the most faithful. The m...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 28th, 2004
Synopsis
On the tenth anniversary of his wife’s death (and his daughter’s tenth birthday), TimothyHutton finds a mysterious briefcase (we see it appear out of nowhere near his wife’s grave). Thecase has his name on it, and when he unlocks the combination, Hutton finds a file containing thedetails of his murder five days in the future. The clock starts ticking. Once he accepts that he isnot the victim of a hoax, will he be able to alter his destiny?
If the idea of a man inves...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 7th, 2004
"Long ago and far away..."
So begins the latest direct-to-video CGI-animated Barbie movie, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. Based on Mark Twain's classic tale, this video/DVD is a modern-retelling of the story. It's Barbie's first musical, and it does a fantastic job of both entertaining kids and giving them something to think about.
At the same moment, two identical baby girls were born. One, Princess Anneliese, had everything, while Erika, born to a poor village family, lived a li...
