Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2005
Stargate SG-1 is about to enter its ninth year. There was speculation that after season 8 the series would bow out gracefully with the anticipated exit of Richard Dean Anderson. With that plan in mind the folks at Stargate Command decided it was time to spin off the franchise, and so was born Atlantis. Stargate Atlantis boasts pretty much the same team as SG-1. The quality of the production and tight storytelling have translated well to this sister series. The only flaw in this plan is that fans don’t want to let go of the original. With a cast shake-up that brings us a newer look, SG-1 Atlantis will find it harder to learn to stand on its own.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 16th, 2005
As usual, National Lampoon comes up with a silly but at times funny movie - if you like silly that is. The two leading goofballs are just off the wall enough to make this movie bearable.
Gold Diggers is about two young losers named Cal (Will Friedle) and Lenny (Chris Owen) who enter a life of crime trying to survive on the streets. Unfortunately, they are terrible at it and end up going in and out of jail a couple of times before things begin to look up for them - they attempt to rob two very old si...ters who end up wanting to marry them. The guys are all for this as Cal has the idea of offing them to inherit their estate while the sisters want to off the young men to collect on an insurance policy they have taken out on them. The two opposing teams show smiling faces toward each other while plotting the others' demise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 9th, 2005
Swimming Upstream is one of those "small" sports underdog films. It's a true story about Aussie Tony Fingleton, a swimmer who vies to be National champion. Is he racing against all odds? Well...the odds are in the form of family. Geoffrey Rush plays Fingleton's father, an abusive alcholic. So...not only is Fingleton trying to achieve athletic glory, but also trying to win the heart of his father. This is a paint by numbers sports story. The performances are the saving grace, however. Rush, Jesse Spencer ...playing the swimmer), and the always wonderful Judy Davis are all excellent.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 5th, 2005
Synopsis
Without a doubt, Bob Hope was one of (if not) the best comedic actors of his era. During a time after Charlie Chaplin had peaked in silent films, Hope picked up the comedic torch, and during a time where actors consistently appeared in 3-5 films a year, and an early recognizable title was 1940’s Road to Singapore, the first of several Road To films with him and friends Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 29th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2005
Fascination is a potboiler without a pot. It loosely follows the plot of Hamlet. Adam Garcia plays Scott Doherty, a spoiled young artiste who sulks more than Anakin Skywalker. Scott's father dies (played by James Naughton) under mysterious circumstances, and his wife (played by the "still a hotty" Jacqueline Bisset") returns from a cruise with a new beau (Stuart Wilson). Scott smells something fishy, and with the help of a new stepsister/lover (Alice Evans), he tries to get to the bottom of this crime. So...nds fascinating? Not really.
Everything about Fascination is not fascinating. It's only interesting in the sense of how much worse can it get! For a thriller, it moves like molasses. For eroticism, it's more awkward than sexy. As far as underwater sex scenes go, I'll take the one in Showgirls any day. The performances aren't the saving grace either. Garcia is one note, Bisset tries her bisset, and Alice Evans deserves an award for one of the strangest performances I've ever seen. You can watch the film in a director's cut or a theatrical cut. The director's cut is a bit shorter, so I might go for that one.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 10th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 7th, 2005
Kiss the Bride tells the story of a fairly large Italian family living in Rhode Island as Danni (Amanda Detmer, The Majestic) is preparing to marry Geoffrey (Jonothon Schaech, That Thing You Do!) and her sisters come home for the wedding. You have Nikki (Brooke Langton, Swingers), the oldest daughter with a degree but yet still shows up in a belly shirt on the beach each week on a popular TV show. Chris (Vanessa Parise) is a New York financial manager/workaholic, and Toni (Monet Mazur) as ...he youngest who will do anything to get attention. The mother and father will look familiar to you, as they are played by Talia Shire and Burt Young, who played Adrian and Paulie in the Rocky films.
Produced, written and directed by Parise, the film has been slightly compared to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and may be, if that film had snorted a two foot line of cleanser, I could buy the comparison. This film is substantially darker and goes into each of the individual women’s conflicting emotions about the family and each other, but because the family’s so large, there’s nothing that carries out, or it’s left unresolved altogether. The scene that most typifies the movie is when Nikki and her boyfriend, whose relationship is deteriorating, are almost arguing (in between something between two other sisters), and the boyfriend asks if anyone wants to go out to play football, and everyone happily jumps at the chance. Just when you think the film may go somewhere, it goes into another direction.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 1st, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 26th, 2005
Synopsis
This is a film that delights in not being what it appears. The opening moments look like a period gangster film. Suddenly, the scene transforms into a musical. Then this turns out to be movie within the movie. And so it goes, as one scene after another turns out not to be what we thought it was. The plot has roguishly charming Jean-Louis Trintignant setting up a kidnapping scheme with two colleagues. I can’t say much more without giving away the whole plot and the strange circuit on which it...operates. Suffice it to say that though there might be a couple of confusing moments, this is a playful, light-on-its-feet effort that will have you smiling (if sometimes sardonically) from start to finish.
