Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 10th, 2007
Terminally naive and beautiful Noelle Page (Marie-France Pisier) is abused and conned by every man she meets. In 1939 Paris, penniless and at the end of her tether, she meets American pilot Larry Douglas (John Beck, looking more like a 70s porn star than a 40s air force pilot). A great romance begins, but then duty calls him away. He promises to find her again in three weeks, but he never shows up. Noelle discovers that she is pregnant, and then finds out Larry is a terminal womanizer. She aborts herself with a wire hanger, and then, feeling she has nothing left to lose, slaughters all the young Jedi... I mean, she sleeps her way to movie stardom, hooks up with a Greek tycoon, obsessively tracks Larry’s life, including his marriage to PR executive Catherine Alexander (Susan Sarandon), and plots a dastardly revenge, a reigniting of the romance, and a murder. Busy girl!
As you might have inferred from the above, Noelle’s transformation from abused and abandoned waif to Queen of Darkness is no more convincing than a recent whiny brat’s transmogrification into the Lord of the Sith. In point of fact, NOTHING in this three-hour soap opera is the least bit convincing (right down to careless framing that permits a skyscraper completed in 1972 to be visible over Nazi-occupied Paris). But then, anyone expecting great art to be made from a Sidney Sheldon novel needs to see a therapist, and quickly. What we have here is trash of the absolutely highest order, and hence the four-star rating. Excessive, grotesque and unfailingly hilarious in a way only the 70s could produce, this is the cinematic equivalent of chowing down on a huge bowl of 100% deep fried, trans-fat munchies. Terrible for you, but delicious. And who can fail to love that title. What in the name of all that is holy does it MEAN?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 9th, 2007
In a New York forever conscious of the shadow of 9/11, we follow the sex lives and tribulations of a group of gay and straight characters. There’s the gay couple whose relationship is hitting a rocky patch. There’s the professional dominatrix who is finding it more and more difficult to face her work. And there’s the sex therapist who’s never had an orgasm. Her quest for same brings her into contact with the other characters, and to Shortbus, an eccentric sex club.
In the making-of featurette, writer/director John Cameron Mitchell describes where the idea for the film came from. He’d noticed the spate of serious European movies that featured real sex scenes, but also that they were all very dark. He wanted to make a sex-positive film. The intent is laudable, the performances are all convincingly natural (and CBC Radio host Sook-Yin Lee is very funny as the therapist), and there’s a wonderful conceit involving a CG table-top model of NYC through which the camera flies. And yet, one might be forgiven for longing for the explosive savagery of the likes of Baise-Moi. When the characters aren’t having sex, they talk about it. And talk, and talk, and talk. Half an hour in, both the action the discussion begin to grow tiresome. Characters that are supposed to be eccentric are annoyingly flaky, and one can’t help but wonder whether all these people don’t have anything better to with their time. So the film is earnest, sweet, and worthy, but needs something more to truly hold the viewer’s attention.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2007
Season 9 was about the most exciting year South Park had. Living in Florida, I was likely more tired of the Terry Schiavo situation than most, but watching Best Friends Forever was one of the best parodies the team has come up with. What was most impressive is that it was on the air while the actual event was still ongoing. One of the benefits of doing a show like South Park. When the boys aimed their guns at Scientology they ruffled more than a few feathers. It was rumored that Tom Cruise had led a fight to attempt to stop the hilarious Trapped In The Closet episode from airing. More important to South Park fans was the outburst of Isaac Hayes who decided it was going too far to make fun of a person's sacred beliefs. Where was his indignation over eight years of piling on Christians, Jews, and pretty much every other religion ever known? Suddenly developing a conscience, Hayes vocally departed the show and South Park Elementary lost its Chef. I guess no more Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. The Losing Edge has always been one of my favorites. Any kid forced into summer activities intended to make the parents feel better about leaving their kids alone will appreciate this one.Year 9 also found Parker and Stone finished with yet another box office bomb. This time it was Team America. The film's failure meant more full time spent on South Park. The bomb likely also sharpened their bitter wit a bit. There's no question they took no prisoners in season 9.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 8th, 2007
Synopsis
This documentary follows six seasons of the Roosevelt Roughriders girls’ basketball team. Initially, the focus was going to be the work of their unorthodox coach, economics teacher Bill Resler. What he did is interesting in and of itself, turning the team into a real force to be reckoned with. But then into this middle-class, largely white setting comes Darnellia Russell, inner city girl with inner city problems, and colossal talent. The film follows her integration into the team, and when p...egnancy forces her to leave the team for a season, the story becomes her legal battle against the basketball association to be allowed to rejoin. There may be a few too many subjects here for any of them to be fully dealt with, but the result is undeniably compelling viewing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2007
To watch a good movie you must have the right equipment. A nice sound processor connected to kicking speakers are an absolute must. Add a 200 Watt 17 inch powered sub and you've increased the experience ten fold. Wrap it all up with a sweet DLP HD monitor and you now have everything you need - except of course a good movie. Trust The Man is everything but. All you need here is a good supply of insulin and an IV drip to keep you from lapsing into a sugar coma. I'm not talking peanut butter cup melts in your mouth sweet. I'm talking pure concentrated syrup makes you want to hurl sweet.
"A Fart is just as good as a burp". This is the kind of wit and wisdom you can expect from Trust The Man. The film didn't do very well in its very short theatrical run, and I expect it to fail just as miserably on DVD. The film is an obvious Woody Allen ripoff. The entire concept is the uneven relationship between two related couples and their various romantic problems. The problem is the film never goes anywhere. All we really know is that Rebecca (Moore) is a washed up actress who apparently doesn't find her husband Tom (Duchovny) exciting any longer. Tom is basically looking for action and talks way too much about his bodily functions. As a long time X-Files fan I love Duchovny, but this is pitiful stuff. To further complicate this drivel, we find that Rebecca's brother Tobey (Crudup) is having commitment troubles with his 7 year girlfriend Elaine (Gyllenhaal) That's all, folks. We suffer through endless moments of pure dialogue that never goes anywhere. The ending is the most contrived nonsense I've seen in some time. Basically this movie goes nowhere, and very slowly. Like a nagging toothache, this film is quite painful. Fortunately, relief won't require a visit to your dentist. My discomfort faded wonderfully with the end credits.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 7th, 2007
49th Parallel is a film that I had heard mentioned in passing on occasion, but never really had any practical knowledge of until now. Having now seen the film for myself, I find it to be one of those rare productions that only Criterion seems to be able to find. This is something that I would have never dreamed existed. While the idea of war films told from the Axis point of view are almost commonplace today, such a thing was practically unheard of in 1941, with the United States on the brink of entering World...War II themselves.
This is just part of what is notable about this film however. The truth is, the film stands on its own merit in any time frame. This is an epic feat of filmmaking that would qualify as a big budget project even today. The film follows the crew of a German U-boat as they make their way into Canadian waters. When they sink a Canadian tanker ship, the crew becomes the target of a massive manhunt. In an effort to evade capture, the crew take to land and move from hideout to hideout, eventually making their way to the United States.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2007
Posted in Disc Reviews by Joshua Noyes
Lady in the Water is the latest film offered from M. Night Shyamalan. In its opening weekend (21-23 July 2006), the film grossed a total of $18.2 million, placing third in the United States box office results for that weekend. It was M. Night's lowest opening for any of his five major films. Due to negative reviews and poor word-of-mouth, its second week fell sharply to $7.1 million, pushing its total to only $32.2 million. Its third weekend was no better, falling another 62.1% to $2.7 million. As of September...14, 2006, its total was $42.285 million. In addition, the film only made $30.5 million in the foreign box office, pulling its tally to approximately $72.785 million internationally. The movie had an estimated budget of $70 million for production and a further $70 million in advertising costs.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2007
The lines between news and entertainment, documentary and fiction continue to fade every day. It's a dangerous trend, as people have begun to believe the fiction, and ignore the facts. This film seems to make that line disappear altogether. The movie is based on a bestselling book of the same name, written by Eric Schlosser. The book is a fascinating investigation of the fast food and meat packing industries in the United States that has really shed some light on this often-overlooked dark secret of the dining indust...y.
While the book was a fantastic expose of the problems that exist, the movie is something else entirely. When I heard they were making a fiction film about a non-fiction book, I wondered how they were going to do it. Turns out, the writers have constructed a thinly-veiled interpretation of the author's own book research. Greg Kinnear leads an all-star cast (including Wilmer Valderrama, Luis Guzman, Bruce Willis, Patricia Arquette and others), playing an executive from a fast food chain who is sent to investigate the company's chief meat supplier and find out how feces has gotten into the meat. Meanwhile, we also get to see the story of a group of migrant workers as they work in the plant (Babel style).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 4th, 2007
On its surface, Coastlines is a modestly produced film that was written and directed by Victor Nunez (Ulee's Gold), telling the story about a guy who was just released from prison for dealing drugs, but bites the prison bullet for the favor of a friend. He comes out and is looking for the financial windfall promised him, but also tries to get back in touch with his roots. On a deeper level, Coastlines, well, doesn't go that much deeper I guess.
The ex-con in question is Sonny (Timothy Olyphant, Deadwood), who quickly reunites with the criminal element of his past in Eddie and Fred Vance (played by Josh Lucas, Hulk, and William Forsythe, The Rock, respectively), who also give him the opportunity to get back into business for himself. He finds a bit of a conflict in this, because he is close friends with Dave (Josh Brolin, Into the Blue), who happens to be a Sheriff in town. Sonny also has feelings for Dave's wife Ann (Sarah Wynter, Species II).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 4th, 2007
If you want another reason to hate George Lucas, it's that James Bond film producer Albert Broccoli decided to fast track the production of Moonraker ahead of For Your Eyes Only to capitalize on the proverbial Star Wars effect that was occurring through box offices worldwide. However in this one, written by Christopher Wood, who wrote the epic film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins and directed by Lewis Gilbert (who had just done The Spy Who Loved Me), Roger Moore rides a shuttle into space and takes the dynamic of the film with it.
In this Bond film, Moore's 4th and the franchise's 11th, James tries to find out who is terrorizing the planet using a soon to be astronaut vehicle called the space shuttle and a space station to do it. So James gets a chance to test out the means of NASA, but not before going through the spacious locales of Rio de Janiero and France, eluding the harm and capture of Jaws (Richard Kiel, Billy Madison), who reprised his role from The Spy Who Loved Me due to popular demand. The villain in this film is Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale, Munich), who may be soft-spoken, but his plans to mass murder the population are far from rational.
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