Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 21st, 2005
Primer is notable not only for its critical success, having won awards at Sundance and been lauded by independent and mainstream media alike, but also for its production methods: independent, low-budget, and home-brewed. Using rented equipment, his parent’s garage, his brother’s apartment, a slew of public facilities, and a desktop PC, Shane Carruth (writer, director, producer, and one of two main characters) has created a $7,000 Sci-Fi Drama that’s able to compete with the efforts of the big studios.
< ...>Ultimately, Primer defies classification – it can stand as an intelligent Sci-Fi film, riddled with realistic engineering and cutting edge ideas, or as a Drama, Suspense, Thriller, or Mystery. The film blends elements of all to create a film that is involving in its human dimension, terse and edgy in its suspense, and ultimately pleasing to all audiences that appreciate a thought-provoking film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 31st, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 15th, 2005
Bright Young Things is a sumptuous adapation of Evelyn Waugh's novel "Vile Bodies". The book is a cutting satire of British cafe society of the 1930's. The director and adapter, Stephen Fry, retains much of the novels comic edge. I would expect nothing less from Fry, the noted British humorist and living embodiment of Oscar Wilde.
The movie is mostly about the posh lifestyle of novelist Adam Fenwick-Symes (played by Stephen Campbell Moore)and his lover Nina (played by Emily Mortimer). The circle ...f friends, however, add to the decadence; cameos by Peter O'Toole, Jim Broadbent, and Dan Akroyd add to the fun. However, World War II comes around, and we find out that glitz and glamour isn't what it's cracked up to be. This a very underrated movie that we didn't hear much about. Too bad.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2005
What a find! Film footage from a landmark 1970 concert sat in a producer’s garage for almost 3 decades. So finally, after all the music rights and remastering were taken care of, we have a landmark rockumentary. Thank the maker. Festival Express is a rock concert movie about a 3 city train tour, with stops in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary (not to mention a stop in Saskatoon for booze). The performers included The Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, and Janis Joplin (among many, many others).
<p ...The film doesn’t have the sociological impact of Woodstock and Gimme Shelter, or the melancholic “meaning” of The Last Waltz. Festival Express has more of a backstage pass quality. We get to see the performers (mostly in the bar car) sitting around talking or jamming. The retrospective interviews have some amusing anecdotes (I like the one where the concert promoter slugs the mayor of Calgary). The concert footage is not especially amazing, and some of the songs are merely OK. But Janet Joplin, man, she steals the show. Her two songs in the movie will blow your mind. It’s sad that she died just two months after the festival.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2005
“All good things must come to an end…” Truer words have never been spoken, especially when it comes to describing what may be argued as the greatest epic ever produced for the silver screen. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy has redefined excellence in movie making. The only other series that I can compare this accomplishment to is, not surprisingly, the original Star Wars trilogy in terms of the scope of what was accomplished – old fashioned story telling which captured its audience with ground...breaking visuals and sound. Where Peter Jackson has surpassed George Lucas however, was in the DVD production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The extended versions of the three films should be identified as the best DVDs ever produced. Period. These versions of the films truly demonstrate the full potential of what DVD has to offer.
The Return of The King completes the Lord of the Rings trilogy by allowing Aragorn to fulfill his destiny and bring honor back to his disgraced family line, bringing together the peoples of Middle Earth to fight for a common good, and for Frodo to end his life altering journey to save all of the people of his world. The extended version adds 50 minutes to the already 3 hr and 20 minute long theatrical cut. One would think that it may be difficult to sit through a 4 hr and 10 minute film, but nothing could be further from the truth. The additional scenes contribute an added depth to the movie that rounds out the story very nicely. The mix of the scenes involve a deepening of not just action, but also emotional tenderness, suspense, and humor.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 18th, 2004
One Christmas Eve, an infant crawls into Santa’s sack while the big man is visiting an orphanage, and isn’t discovered until Santa (Ed Asner) is back at the North Pole. Adopted by the Papa Elf (Bob Newhart), the baby grows into Buddy (Will Ferrell). Though Buddy does his best, he is enormously clumsy by elf standards. He decided to head off to New York City to meet his birth father (James Caan), the Scrooge-like editor of a children’s book publisher. Buddy descends on the big city with infectious naivete, and has no end of misadventures while he tries to inculcate the Christmas spirit back into his father.
This was a delightful surprise, infinitely better than the uninspiring trailers had led me to believe. Ferrell is the very incarnation of bouncing, wide-eyed, über-innocence, and his collisions with NYC realities are frequently side-splittingly funny. There are numerous extremely quotable lines, and the syrupy sentimentality that plagues most self-consciously Christmas-oriented movies is largely kept to a minimum. The forced perspective in the North Pole scenes is howlingly obvious, but the fanciful production design makes up for that flaw. The case has been made (convincingly, I think), that there have been no legitimate Christmas classics made since1983's A Christmas Story. It is, of course, far too early to tell how Elf will stand the test of time, but its mix of sharp wit and child-like whimsy makes it a serious contender. It is also entirely fitting that Peter Billingsley, the star of A Christmas Story makes a cameo here as the head elf.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2004
Well if you don’t know what is going on in this film then I am not quite sure why you are reading this review. This is the third and final installment of the Lord of the Ring’s trilogy, we finally after three long years get to discover the fate of Frodo, the ring, Sam, Gollum and all of Middle Earth. This film like The Two Towers just keeps getting better and managing to exceed our ever increasing expectations.
The multiple story lines all come together and finally conclude themselves, maybe not quite exac...ly as it is in the book but some changes had to be made. The only complaint about the film itself is that the endings seem to drag on longer then necessary but again when viewed in the context of the books it actually wraps up quite neatly and quickly. Nonetheless the film is superb and for all those collectors out there we are still waiting with baited breath for the announcement of the 4 disc extended cut but, this will keep is satisfied until then.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004
Synopsis
