Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 22nd, 2007
Severin unleashes three more entries from Italy’s long-running sexploitation saga, and the result is another fascinating collection. The quality of the movies themselves up and down, but the good stuff is very good, and the collective result is something that is completely fascinating. Exploitation fans should be over the moon.
I’ve already gone on at length about Black Emmanuelle/White Emmanuelle (1976) elsewhere, so I won’t rehash everything again. Briefly, though, the set-up has Laura Gemser as Emanuelle (let’s stick to the single “m” version to avoid confusion with Sylvia Kristel), here a model instead of a journalist, arriving with SOB photographer boyfriend at the palatial home of some friends in Egypt. Much aristocratic ennui ensues, until Laure (Annie Belle) arrives to tear down everyone’s comfortable illusions. The most nicely shot and intelligently scripted of the films, there is something absolutely mesmerizing about the display of decadent self-loathing proposed here. Writer/director Brunello Rondi’s effort is emphatically a high point of the series, and invites repeated viewings.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2007
Back in 2001 shortly after the release of the first Shrek I happened to be at a convention with Anne Francis of Forbidden Planet and Honey West fame. She had just taken a young one, I believe it was her nephew, to see the animated blockbuster. To say she was unhappy is an understatement. She was incredibly offended by the toilet humor and had some rather unflattering things to say about pretty much every aspect of the film. Here we are two films later, and I’d have to tell Anne that not much has changed. By my count the film never runs more than 9 minutes without a joke based on feces, farts, or butts. And the truth is it really is a shame, because Shrek is a property too full of talent and startling good CG animation to require that sort of pedestrian humor. I love almost everything about this franchise except the humor.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
A remake of writer/director John Waters' 1988 cult hit, Hairspray is an exhuberant movie musical that builds off the smash-hit Broadway production to recreate the excitement on film for a new generation. Whether it's bigger and better than previous iterations, I can't say, because this DVD release marks my first Hairspray experience. What I can say is if Waters' original and the Broadway show are even half as good, they're definitely worth your time.
If that doesn't convince you, this Hairspray also presents John Travolta as an obese, middle-aged woman — a transformation that required plenty of make-up and, more importantly, allowed Travolta to finally reveal his true self for all to see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
A remake of writer/director John Waters' 1988 cult hit, Hairspray is an exhuberant movie musical that builds off the smash-hit Broadway production to recreate the excitement on film for a new generation. Whether it's bigger and better than previous iterations, I can't say, because this DVD release marks my first Hairspray experience. What I can say is if Waters' original and the Broadway show are even half as good, they're definitely worth your time.
If that doesn't convince you, this Hairspray also presents John Travolta as an obese, middle-aged woman — a transformation that required plenty of make-up and, more importantly, allowed Travolta to finally reveal his true self for all to see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2007
James West (Conrad) was a Union Army vet. He’s the kind of act first think about it later kind of guy. Artemus Gordon (Ross) was a typical con man. He could create the most convincing disguises and was also a master of sleight of hand. Together they worked for the Secret Service in the days of the western frontier. The two of them were the prototype of the future spy. They would use incredible inventions and Bond-like gadgets along with their own skills at trickery to investigate major Federal crimes, often plots against the
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2007
Fans of classic Christmas films need not worry that their perennial favorites are about to be displaced by this third entry into the Santa Clause franchise. In fact, throughout most of the 92 minute running time of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause I was looking for my own escape clause out of watching the film. However, in the true spirit of Christmas and with a feeling of total dedication to duty, I remained firmly affixed to my easy chair and watched every second of the film. It was all for you, my gentle reader, because I know how crunched your time can get around the holidays. I have made this sacrifice to save you an additional hour and a half to commit to your shopping or preparing cookies for the family. You don’t have to thank me. Just send a few cookies my way or raise a glass of eggnog to me this season. There are far too many truly great holiday films to waste on this tripe.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 21st, 2007
This collection of SpongeBob cartoons has a distinct musical theme, underlined by the main offering, “Atlantis SquarePantis,” a 2-part episode that just aired. SpongeBob and friends travel to Atlantis on a song-powered bus (but of course!) and witness the many marvels of the lost city. Their tour guide is Lord Royal Highness (voiced by David Bowie). The action is cheerfully episodic, and many of the song sequences are very funny (one highlight being Sandy’s ditty which occurs with the cast transported into a 1991 video game). The other shorts are pretty fun, too, with the highlight being “Sing a Song of Patrick,” wherein the starfish writes his own pop tune, with hilariously catastrophic results.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 19th, 2007
It was in the second year that the format of
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 16th, 2007
Despite its lame title, I've been excited about seeing Live Free or Die Hard since it was announced. The Bruce Willis franchise has been a favourite of mine for a long time, thanks to the original Die Hard which stands as one of the greatest action films of all time.
Willis reveals in the commentary that he and director Len Wiseman (Underworld) set out to make a Die Hard movie that surpasses the middle two in the series and is as good as the first. While Willis apparently feels they succeeded, I beg to differ. Live Free or Die Hard is certainly a good action flick, but nothing can ever surpass Die Hard in my book. Opinions of the film aside, this DVD set is sure to satisfy John McClane fans of any stripe.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 15th, 2007
You would think that after seven years, CSI would begin to show a little wear and tear around the edges. When you factor in the dilution of the two other versions of the franchise with a combined 8 years of episodes, you end up with 15 years and over 250 episodes of CSI total. Certainly even the best of shows with the most imaginative writers can’t stay fresh for that long. Still, somehow, the gang at CSI continues to crank out compelling drama, rarely repeating itself. Every year I go into a new season of CSI expecting to find it starting to show its age a bit, and every year I continue to be amazed. The fact is that season 7 just might be the best year of CSI to date. Each episode begins with The Who asking the question: Who are you? I have to say that after seven years the answer is, still a fan.
