Studio

One Hour Photo

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2003

Well, the era of mass market “indie” films is upon us. In spite of its manufactured artfulness, “One Hour Photo” does have appeal: Robin Williams portrays a stereotypical damaged post-modernist psychopath with a flourish of reality that does him credit as an actor, and writer/director Mark Romanek is a fresh face on the Hollywood scene. Supporting cast Paul Kim and David Moreland step out of Wal-Mart and onto the screen – spectacular characterizations. Connie Neilsen and Michael Vartan, however, give at best stilted …
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Driving Miss Daisy

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

The Miss Daisy of the title is played by Jessica Tandy. After she wrecks her car, her son (Dan Aykroyd) hires a chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) for her. Miss Daisy is fiercely resistant to the supposed loss of independence this represents, but she eventually lets Freeman do his job. A strong friendship grradually develops between the two. In the background, we catch glimpses of the changing American South as the film moves from 1947 to 1972. Prejudice, both racial and anti-semitic, lurks just und…
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24 Hour Party People

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2003

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Synopsis

Our guide to the Manchester movement 1976-1992 is Tony Wilson (a mesmerizingly goodSteve Coogan), TV personality and would-be music impresario. Blown away by an earlyperformance by The Sex Pistols, Wilson sets about forming his own music club and record label(The Factory). Central to his enterprise’s rise and fall are Joy Division/New Order and the HappyMondays. Wilson addresses the camera constantly, as if we were watching a documentary onhis life, and the result is as fun…
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The Last Man

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2003

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I wouldn’t say The Last Man was the worst film I ever saw, but that’s only because I did see Battlefield Earth and Event Horizon. If there’s a category below B film this is a great example. The whole film has the feel of community theatre at its worst. Dan Montgomery delivers such a bad performance that it would be funny if it didn’t hurt so much to watch. The story rambles on for 93 minutes that will feel more like 3 hours.

Pursued

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2003

Synopsis

Robert Mitchum is Jeb Rand, and he keeps having memory flashes of an incident from hischildhood. Something happened to kill his family, only he doesn’t know what. He is taken in bythe Callum family, and we find out that Dean Jagger, patriarch of the Callums, has vowed to killevery last Rand on Earth. Mitchum’s estrangement with his foster brother, and his love for fostersister Teresa Wright, only serve to precipitate tragedy and gunplay. The wrap-up to all this is toopat an…
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Blow

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2003

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Not since Scarface with Al Pacino has there been a film that captured the world of the drug lord as well as Blow. The style is reminiscent of Goodfellas with its character-driven narrative and snapshot photography. Taken from the real-life story of George Jung who is still serving a 30-year sentence for drug trafficking, Blow explores the evolution of cocaine as the drug of choice for the American elite. Ted Demme manages to give us an honest portrayal of Jung that does not glorify or justify his evil deeds.
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Devil at 4 O’Clock

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 21st, 2003

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Synopsis

Father Kerwin Matthews is flown to the island of Talua (near Tahiti) to replace cynicalFather Spencer Tracy. Also on the plane are three convicts, led by Frank Sinatra. Tracy enliststhem for help in fixing up a hospital for child lepers. When a volcano erupts, forcing theevacuation of the entire island, it’s redemption all around as the convicts join with Tracy to savethose sweet little kids. Oh, and did I mention that Sinatra falls in love with a blind woman whoworks at th…
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Dreamers

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 19th, 2003

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Synopsis

Two young friends move from Tennessee (where one lives in dysfunctional household andthe other in a deeply conservative one) to Hollywood, where they dream of making films. Theolder of the two gets there first, and is making a film about people who have delusions aboutmaking films (got yer postmodern hall of mirrors thing happening here) and, of course, hisfunding dries up. There isn’t much here that hasn’t been done before, but the execution is nicelydone, and the performa…
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Dead Reckoning

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 19th, 2003

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Synopsis

Humphrey Bogart is Rip Murdock (that a manly enough moniker for ya?). His best frienddisappears, and then shows up dead. Bogart investigates and finds himself in a web of deceit andmurder, at the centre of which is Lizabeth Scott, his buddy’s former flame, and the woman forwhom he might have committed murder. There are a couple of embarrassing moments (theending scene, and a hilariously bad lip-synching exercise by Scott), but there are also more twistsand turns than you ca…
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Highlander Season One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2003

Synopsis

First there was Highlander, a with a Frenchman playing a Scot, and a Scot playing aSpaniard. The concept was as loopy as the casting, but the movie was exciting and looked damngood. Nobody went to see the sequels, but the premise was revived on TV, and met with greatersuccess, greatly elaborating the basic mythology of the race of Immortals at war with each other,whacking off each other’s heads in the quest for the great gift of The Quickening.

Audio

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Magic Christian, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2003

Synopsis

Eccentric millionaire Sellers adopts homeless Ringo Starr. They then travel about, playingnasty tricks on (primarily) the rich. Putting in appearances are John Cleese, Raquel Welch,Christopher Lee, Roman Polanski, Yul Brynner, Richard Attenborough, and so on. Extremelydisjointed, and only sporadically funny (at best).

Audio

Ugh. The case claims this DVD is in 2.0 surround. Bull. This is mono, and the sound qualityis pretty bad: it’s harsh, it’s dist…
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Harder They Fall, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2003

Synopsis

Humphrey Bogart, down-on-his-luck sports writer, is recruited by crooked boxing impresarioRod Steiger. Bogart’s assignment: build up the reputation of a gigantic but incompetent fighter.A series of fixed fights leads to the gentle Goliath’s superstardom, but you know this is all goingto end in tears. Bogart descends further and further into corruption, hating himself all the way.The boxing scenes are stunning in their brutality, and the film (barring a perhaps overlyoptimis…
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State of Grace

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 18th, 2003

You almost expect to see Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci at any time during State Of Grace. The influence of Martin Scorsese is everywhere, from the tight shots on character interactions to the slight angles during the more violent scenes. Even the clever use of source music more often than Ennio Morricone’s subtle score is reminiscent of Goodfellas. The prize of this feature is the cast. Ed Harris, Sean Penn, and Gary Oldman add much needed tension and realism to a mediocre and predictable script. Stereotypes and clichés abound.
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X-Men 1.5

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2003

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Why X-Men 1.5? This 2-Disc special edition re-release is set to coincide with the theatrical release of X2, the X-Men sequel. The 1.5 release is set up to be sort of a Director’s Cut of the original X-Men film. This new version has allowed for the film to be viewed with a number of deleted scenes to be branched into the film (not seamlessly… you have to hit enter on your remote to view the scenes). I am sure you know the premise, but here is a recap:

“Marvel’s classic comic book comes to li…
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Signs

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 17th, 2003

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Film

M. Night Shyamalan, the brilliant director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, comes through again with his latest film Signs. Buena Vista has given Shyamalan his due respect by adding Signs to their Vista Series of DVD’s.

Synopsis

One morning on their farm in Buck’s County, Pennsylvania the Hess family wake up to find a 500 foot crop circle in the corn fields in their back yard. Watching the news brings them reports of similar circles showing up …
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Shampoo

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

Synopsis

Warren Beatty plays George, who is as gifted a hairdresser as he is a ladies’ man. He needsmoney to open his own salon, and is hoping Lester (Jack Warden) will invest. That Beatty issleeping not only with Jill (Goldie Hawn) but with Lester’s wife (Lee Grant), mistress (JulieChristie) and teenage daughter (Carrie Fisher) might just complicate the issue. Especially as moreand more characters find out about each other. Very well made, but also very much a productof its times -…
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Emperor’s New Clothes, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2003

Synopsis

It is 1821. Napoleon is in exile on St. Helena, but not for long. His exact double is found,and the two men switch identities. Napoleon, now disguised as Eugene Lenormand, makeshis way back to France. The idea is that, once the real emperor is in Paris, the double will exposehimself, and the people will rally around the returned ruler. But Eugene decides he likes beingemperor. Napoleon is now stuck in the role of a poor man. Naturally, this being a romanticcomedy, there are…
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Bad Influence

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 15th, 2003

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Film

Bad Influence, while not a bad film, is certainly not a good one either. Try as I might I could not bring myself to really care about any of the characters. The film tries to portray Rob Lowe’s influence on James Spader as, well … bad. It’s not like he was a great guy to begin with. There is an incredible irony within the film when Lowe gets Spader out of a marriage he is dreading by slipping the family a copy of the groom-to-be having sex with another woman. Lowe, of course, had a real life video tape episode and Spader dealt with the same thing in Sex, Lies, and Video Tape.
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Sirocco

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

Synopsis

Eerily topical, Sirocco is set in 1925 Damascus. Syria is under French occupation. Syrianpartisans and the French army are at daggers drawn. Lee J. Cobb is the head of militaryintelligence, and he is trying to broker a truce. Humphrey Bogart is a smuggler and gun runner,interested only in making a buck. Enter Cobb’s wife (or girlfriend? the film isn’t clear on thismatter) to complicate things. If Casablanca were remade with Bogart as an amoral, cowardlyprofiteer, Ingrid Ber…
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