Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 3rd, 2006
Synopsis
The murderous, cannibalistic Sawyer family is at it again, carving up yuppies and winning chili contests. Obsessed Texas Ranger Dennis Hopper is tracking them down, hoping for a final chainsaw duel. DJ Caroline Williams tries to help out, attracting the attention of the Sawyers, and, as it turns out, the puppy love of Leatherface.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2006
Synopsis
Of all the Bond films and the various images and gadgets that have come from it through 20 films, the one that probably crystallized most of these images is Goldfinger. You have the awesome Aston Martin car with the ejector seat, machine guns, and the like. You had the female who could kick ass and had a really cool name in Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman, Bridget Jones’s Diary). And you had Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton, Ten Little Indians) experiencing the most creative death to...that point.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2006
One of the nice side effects of the popularity of DVD is that the general public is seeing many films that they would not have seen before. The more people that have DVD players in their homes, the more budget titles hit store shelves. Therefore, people are more apt to pick up a title sight-unseen, and some pretty descent direct-to-video films that would never have made it into theaters have found new life in the home theater market.
Warner Brothers knows a good thing when they see it, so they have created a company that produces horror movies with the specific intention of releasing them in the direct-to-DVD market. The first film in the three-picture package is Rest Stop: Dead Ahead This is the story of Nicole, a young girl that runs away from home with her boyfriend to make it big in Hollywood. On the way, the couple pull over at a rest stop. As it turns out, this is a very bad idea.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2006
I admit it. I thought our heroes at Stargate Command had finally had it for sure. Were the replicators back? How about the dreaded G’Ould? Perhaps another serious malfunction of the Gate caused by Carter’s meddling was about to tear a hole in the time/space continuum. What was I so sure might spell doom for Earth’s last line of defense? We’ve already escaped fiendish bombs and other devious devices. Plagues and epidemics? No problem. Just business as usual at the SGC. No. These things are just minor worries compar...d to that ruthless killer: major cast changes. Not only do we lose Richard Dean Anderson whose name appeared in larger letters above the title, but some of the new crew makes Stargate SG-1 look like a Farscape spin-off. Ben Browder takes over the team as Mitchell and Claudia Black returns as that interstellar con artist, Vala. Beau Bridges fills the very large shoes left by Don S. Davis as Gen Hammond to command the SGC. Yeah, I know Anderson took the gig for a while, but did we ever really believe that was going to last? A new base doctor comes to life, thanks to Andromeda’s living ship Lexa Doig. Even the villains are the new baddie Ori, and man, are they tough. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Shows like Law & Order have made cast changes the norm, but even on that show, never were so many major characters and threads changed so quickly. So call it Stargate SG-1 version 2.0. So how could all of this occur and leave our beloved series the same animal it always was? The answer is simple. It can’t.
I won’t go so far as to say the show is better, but I will say that it reinvented itself quite nicely after all. The powers that be made some smart choices after all. Teaming Black with Shanks avoids the inevitable Farscape trappings. It turns out the two of them have some rather fine, if awkward, chemistry. How about those new bad guys. Another great approach was to finally give us new enemies. The old story lines have pretty much run their natural course. The Ori are wickedly wonderful heavies. It’s not lost on me the religious fanatic angle either. Fortunately the creative team remains, so the writing and production values remain as high as ever. Now we’re exploring more Anglican mythology as we explore the traditions of Camelot and Arthur. The end result is a show we can still feel familiar and comfortable with, yet enjoy a fresh new take. If you are willing to give it a chance, I think that this new Stargate SG-1 will grow on you. So maybe let’s call it version 1.2.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 20th, 2006
Synopsis
A Christmas Story featured a charming, old-fashioned story about Ralphie (Peter Billingsley, Elf), who wanted nothing more in life than to get a Red Ryder BB Gun. His parents (played by Darren McGavin (Raw Deal) and Melinda Dillon (Magnolia)) in the depression era-Midwest kept him in check as he pleaded with them to get it for Xmas.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 17th, 2006
Road House is macaroni and cheese for a lot of movie goers that are over 27 years of age. Released in 1989, the movie chronicles the life of James Dalton (Patrick Swayze, Ghost), a “cooler” at a local bar, who is offered a huge sum of money to help a bar owner named Frank Tilghman (Kevin Tighe, Mumford) get his place called the “Double Deuce” back on its feet. A cooler for lack of a better explanation is a bouncer who helps diffuse situations before they blow up into brawls.
When Dalton gets to the bar, he sees the type of environment he’ll have to deal with. Even though his old friend (and house band singer) is there, he’s got drug dealing waitresses, statutory raping bouncers and money stealing bartenders. And apparently the few legitimate operating businesses in town appear to be owned by Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara, The Big Lebowski). Brad doesn’t hesitate to break the rules whenever necessary, even if it means that Dalton has to call in his mentor Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott, We Were Soldiers), while he continues romancing Dr. Elizabeth Clay (Kelly Lynch, Charlie’s Angels), who just happened to be Wesley’s woman for a little while.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2006
It goes without saying that the James Bond franchise is the crown jewel of the MGM and Sony vault. And in preparation for Daniel Craig’s turn as the man who likes his martinis shaken and not stirred in Casino Royale, it was decided to let them run with some things in order to double-dip Joe Q. DVD Buyer. And in the UK, where Bond reigns supreme, these new “Ultimate Editions” of all the James Bond movies have just been released (don’t worry US fans, these are on their way in November).
The UK version ...f this collector’s set is somewhat snazzy, as there’s a locking metal attaché case that houses all of the films (20 in total), and each film gets a 2 disc edition to boot. So the bottom line is that if you’re a fan of Connery, Moore, Brosnan, Dalton and Lazenby, get that fridge by the TV installed and get a case of diapers ready, because you’re getting married to that furniture for the short and intermediate term with 40 discs of James Bond cinematic joy. I did some skimming of the titles, and decided to get this party started by watching Octopussy. I think the reason I might have gone with this is that I think this may have been the first Bond film I saw in the theater, and I remember it being a really cool thing to see as a tyke growing up as the son of a British mother.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2006
Well, there’s nothing quite like your first, and when producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman decided to bring about a barely 30 year old Scotsman named Sean Connery, whose most recent work was as a British soldier in The Longest Day, into the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, who had any idea that Dr. No would become a culture landmark, let alone a movie franchise?
Now, one of the first things that comes to mind when you watch Dr. No, if you haven’t watched it in aw...ile (or at all) is that Michael Myers seems to liberally steal from this film when it comes to the Austin Powers trilogy. Connery (as Bond) goes to Jamaica to discover the reasons behind a disappearance of a colleague. There he meets his American CIA contact Felix Leiter (holy crap, that’s Jack Lord from Hawaii Five-O!) and with the help of some of the locals, they meet a mad scientist named Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman, Viva Zapata!), and he captures Bond and a female companion named Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress, Clash of the Titans), feeds them a lavish dinner while telling them about a plan to destroy the world for money, and James and Honey get out of the trap to eliminate them while James saves the world while telling Michael York about it (wait, stumbled into the wrong film there).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 29th, 2006
While V For Vendetta certainly met with some backlash when it was released in theaters earlier this year, having now seen the film myself, I am shocked that it didn't meet with even more opposition; especially from the White House. Of course, if the White House had come out against the film, it would not only have spurred greater ticket sales, but it also would have placed the government in the position of the film's villain. To speak out against this film would be to be to speak out against basic American values.
Set in the near future, this film tells the story of V, a terrorist that rallies against an unjust government. He is something of a modern-day Che Guevara, except he bases himself on a 17th century activist named Guy Fawkes, who was foiled in an attempt to destroy the English Parliament. Among other acts of terror, V plans to succeed where Fawkes failed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2006
Synopsis
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are two down-on-their-luck jazz musicians in Prohibition-era Chicago. They witness a gangland massacre, and in order to hide from the hoodlums, dress up in drag and join an all-female jazz band that is off to play an extended gig in Florida. The vocalist of the band is none other than Marilyn Monroe, and though it is Lemmon who first casts designs for her, it is Curtis who engages in the wooing. Lemmon, meanwhile, has his hands full when billionaire Joe E. Brown f...lls head over heels for his female persona.
