Studio

X-Files – The Complete Eighth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2003

The eighth season of the X-files brought major changes to one of Fox’s strongest running series. And whenever major changes occur there is always a concern about what is going to happen to the integrity of the show. By the end of the 7th season the worries about what David Duchovny was going to do left fans of the show in limbo. Luckily, the creative team behind the X-files (one of the best in television history) was up to the task.

The season opened with the introduction to Agent Fox Mulder’s replace…
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Evening with Kevin Smith, An

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2003

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Synopsis

At first glance, a 3 1/2 hour spoken word documentary is probably not something the average person would care to sit through, and certainly not the kind of thing the average DVD aficionado would want to purchase. However, this is not just any DVD set, and the speaker is not just any run of the mill personality. This is an intimate evening with actor/filmmaker Kevin Smith.

This brilliant two-disc set follows Smith to five different American universities, where he simply hosts a que…
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Christmas Storykeepers, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 17th, 2003

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Synopsis

Though there is a intro that summarizes who’s who and what’s what, if you’re not familiarwith the Storykeepers cartoon, you might well find this a bit confusing (I know I did). Anyway,in 64 AD, a group of Christian orphans and their protector are on the run from the evil EmperorNero (who has henchmen with such subtle names as “Nihilus”). They flee the burning Rome,but do find the time to sit down and hear tales of Christ’s nativity and the like. The animationis primitive, a…
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Scarface

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2003

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“Say hello to my little friend!”

This is just one of the many cultural references that have come out of Brian DePalma’s 1983 epic film, Scarface. Al Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee that arrives in the United States with nothing, and leaves with everything. It’s a story about the American Dream, about excess, and about ambition. A fantastic supporting cast (including Michelle Pfeiffer, F. Murray Abraham and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), and a script by Oliver Stone makes Scarface one of the…
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Freezerburnt Christmas, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2003

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“Let’s go kick some Christmas butt!” When these are the climactic words spoken by Santa Claus prior to his Christmas Eve trip using a flying ice cream truck instead of his sleigh, you know you’re in trouble. A Freezerburnt Christmas is easily the worst Christmas movie I have ever seen and would challenge any reader to find a worse holiday film. Even though it is only 22 minutes long, I was frustrated by the fact that I’m never going to get those 22 minutes back. This was a stop-motion cartoon but let’s face it – the…
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Christmas Wish, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 16th, 2003

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Synopsis

Jimmy Durante and his family, penniless circus performers, move into a run-down rentalhome. Also living in the house is Rupert, a trained squirrel (brought to life primarily throughstop-motion animation). The miserly owner of the rental is stashing money in his walls, and asfast as he can do this, Rupert halls the money out and dumps it into the rental living room.Durante’s wife (Queenie Smith) sees money floating down from the ceiling, and thinks it is theanswer to her pra…
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Cronos

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 15th, 2003

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Synopsis

Hundreds of years ago, alchemist Fulcanelli created the Cronos device, a contraption thatlooks like a silver Faberge egg. This device conveys eternal life, but at a price, as a kindlyantiquarian (Federico Luppi, who also starred in The Devil’s Backbone) discovers. Hebecomes younger, but also monstrous, and develops a thirst for blood. He must also battleRon Perlman, thuggish henchman of a dying millionaire who also wants the device. Then there’sthe bond Luppi has wit…
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Cracker – Series One

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 15th, 2003

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Synopsis

Robbie Coltrane plays Fitz, a criminal psychologist as brilliant as he is hard to take: gambler,smoker, drinker, lousy husband and father, he’s no prize. But he is also very good at what hedoes. These three stories feature an amnesiac serial killer, a misfit couple of murderers, and mobviolence. Coltrane is superb in the lead, but is backed up by equally strong performances by thelikes of Christopher Eccleston. With luck, the other episodes will follow shortly. If they do, br…
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Ox-Bow Incident, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 15th, 2003

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Synopsis

Henry Fonda and Henry Morgan are two outsider cowhands who ride into town just as wordarrives that a popular ranchers has been killed. A posse, or, more accurately, a lynch mob, forms,and Fonda and Morgan go along. Three men (including Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn) arefound and blamed for the crime. The mob decides to kill them, even though Fonda and a fewothers become convinced of their innocence. Though a bit heavy-handed at getting its messageacross, and resorting to u…
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Halloween – 25th Anniversary Edition

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 15th, 2003

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Synopsis

In 1963, little Michael Meyers stabs his sister to death (the scene shown in a justly famouscontinuous POV shot). Fifteen years later, Michael escapes from the asylum and returns to hishome town of Haddonfield. On Halloween night, he stalks Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) andher friends, while being pursued himself by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence). The first and stillthe best of modern masked slasher films, Halloween towers above its imitators. Stylish,smart, restra…
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I Love Lucy Season One, Volumes 7-9

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 14th, 2003

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Synopsis

Each disc contains four episodes of the series, moving forward in the order they wereoriginally broadcast (so volume 9 ends gets us as far as episode 35). These are valuable historicaldocuments of TV’s pioneer days, and the show, at the time, was hugely impressive from aproduction standpoint in that it used multiple cameras (and employed such luminaries aslegendary cameraman Karl Freund). I’ll admit Lucille Ball’s style of slapstick doesn’t do muchfor me, but I guess I just…
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All The Real Girls

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 14th, 2003

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All The Real Girls is an attempt to delve deeper into the emotional landscape involved with being young and in love. Most movies that try to tackle this very complicated issue often only so a very superficial job. The main thrust of this movie is to examine what it’s actually like to be smitten i.e. not being able to think straight, how desperate our emotions can make us feel and doing things we hadn’t planned and facing the consequences.

Paul (Paul Schneider) is the 22 year old town heart-throb who is wo…
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Sanford and Son – The Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2003

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I understand that it might be highly debatable, but Sanford and Son was one of if not the funniest sitcom in TV history. Based on a British series called Steptoe and Son, Sanford made television history by becoming the first sitcom to feature a predominantly black cast. Norman Lear, known more for the historic All In The Family, took a chance on a black comedian with a risqué reputation. Redd Foxx was recording records he called Party Albums that came in plain brown wrapper and featured dirty jokes that would even make Richard Pryor blush.
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SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 14th, 2003

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Synopsis

Nine more SpongeBob episodes, including the double-length “Christmas Who?” Not all theepisodes are Christmas, or even winter, related. “Procrastination,” for instance, showsSpongeBob desperately trying to write an essay (amusing enough, but not a patch on RichardCondie’s animated short “Getting Started”). All in all good-humoured fun, though I keep beingreminded of Ren and Stimpy with the edge removed.

Audio

The sound is much the same as that on the…
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Christmas Carol – The Movie

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 13th, 2003

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Synopsis

This is, of course, the familiar tale of miser Ebenezer Scrooge (voice of Simon Callow) andhis conversion thanks to his encounters with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet-To-Come. This version has a few alterations, though: Scrooge’s lost love (Kate Winslet) is still verymuch around, and is trying to get in touch with him; there’s a new subplot involving a hospitalfor poor orphans that shuts down because of Scrooge; and Scrooge’s only friends are two mice,who sca…
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House That Dripped Blood, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 12th, 2003

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Synopsis

A movie star has disappeared, and a police inspector arrives in the small town where he wasstaying to investigate. He is informed that there is something very strange about the house wherethe star was living, and we then see the stories of what happened to the various tenants. In thefirst story, writer Denholm Elliott fears that a strangler in the novel he is working on has come tolife. Next, Peter Cushing visits a wax museum and sees a statue of Salome that bears an uncanny…
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Mimic 3: Sentinel

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 12th, 2003

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Synopsis

A survivor of Strickland’s disease (the illness that led to the creation of the Judas breed ofgiant cockroaches in the first place), Karl Geary is extremely allergic, cannot be far from hisoxygen bottle, and is essentially of prisoner of his bedroom. From here he watches theneighbourhood through a telephoto lens, obsessively photographing. His mother (AmandaPlummer) is an oblivious flake, and his younger sister is well on her way to becoming a junkie.Gradually, Geary realiz…
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Sweet Sixteen

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 11th, 2003

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Synopsis

Liam (Martin Compston) is about to turn 16. His mother is in prison, taking the fall for hisbrutal drug-dealing father. (And his grandfather is just as bad.) Thrown out his home fordeliberately messing up a drug exchange which would have spoiled his mother’s chances forrelease, Liam sets about creating not just a new life for himself, but trying to provide for hismother when she gets out. His quest won’t be easy, to put it mildly. Strong, naturalisticperformances, and an un…
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Once In The Life

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 9th, 2003

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A double crossed drug deal goes bad and two half brothers 20/20 Mike (Laurence Fishburne) and Torch (Titus Welliver) retreat to an abandoned New York warehouse. When Mike calls his friend Tony the Tiger to help them out, tension erupts and not everything is as it seems in this story of loyalty and love. This is a well written, well shot and very well acted film, Titus Welliver is riveting as the dope fiend half brother. Written and Directed by Laurence Fishbourne this film is raw and gripping.

Video

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The Lion King

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 9th, 2003

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For a long time The Lion King was the highest grossing animated film in history. For my money it is still miles ahead of any other animated feature. Using more frames per second in animation than the modern cost-cutting standard, this animation simply flows. Elton John and Tim Rice combined for some spectacular songs that somehow appeal to adults and the pop crowd while still maintaining that charm and sing-along ability necessary to attract children. The story is far richer in content than the typical animated fare.
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Men Seeking Women

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 9th, 2003

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Three best friends all born on the same day in the same hospital make a bet to help them find love. Each of them put two thousand dollars in a bank account and the first one that get get a girlfriend and live with her for 60 days wins. Nick the playboy makes a pact with a college friend, Al (played by Will Ferrell) embarks on misadventures in dating and Les finds himself a married woman of mystery who may be married to the mob. You can see the ending coming a mile away but, the story is still entertaining.

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Kim Possible – The Secret Files

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 9th, 2003

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Follow along with Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable and Rufus the naked mole rat as they foil the plans of some seriously wacko bad guys and still make it home for dinner. We have three episodes as well as the very first episode from this popular Disney kid’s series.

Video

The transfer of this 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen format video is pretty good, it is not plagued with edge enhancements or noise. The story is a traditional cell animated cartoon and the video quality varies somewhat, at times…
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Absolutely Fabulous – Absolutely Special

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2003

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Absolutely Fabulous is a British series that aired on the BBC starting in 1992. The show stars Jennifer Saunders as Edina, who is a fashion-world publicist whom with her best friend Patsy, played by Joanna Lumley, tries to re-live their younger days by consuming large amounts of alcohol and drugs. Gotta love those crazy Brits! This formula worked well enough for 4 seasons of the show, which are now available on DVD. Apparently Rosanne Barr tried to convince the networks in the US to make an American version but they…
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Osbournes – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 8th, 2003

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Ozzy’s back! Jack, Kelly, Sharon, and of course Ozzy, have returned for a second season where they share their insane lives with all of the world; the result is a hilarious look at a functioning dysfunctional family. The shock and uniqueness of this show is waning somewhat, but it is still extremely entertaining to watch.

Video

Considering the source material, this set looks just fine. The picture quality is pretty standard “TV on DVD” fair, and the color levels and blacks are maintained…
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Leap of Faith

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 6th, 2003

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I had never heard of this movie before and when I first saw it I thought, well here’s a Steve Martin comedy that I’ve never heard of (probably because it is really bad…). However, Steve Martin plays this role straight and in doing so brings a lot of presence to the screen. Leap of faith tells the story of a con man named Reverend Jonas Nightengale who has made a career of separating the poor and uneducated from their money. He is in the midst of a tour when his tour bus breaks down in the backwater town of Rustwater,…
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