Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2006
Ever since making the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Director Peter Jackson has almost become a household name that seems to always guarantee success. Don’t get me wrong though, Jackson has not always been successful. Before making the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson had the film The Frighteners and a few smaller films where he only produced. The idea of giving this not so successful movie director hundreds of millions of dollars to remake the Lord of the Rings trilogy, made many turn their...heads simply wondering why. After the gigantic success of the trilogy, Jackson targeted another remake, a remake to a film he says was the reason he wanted to become a film director. The film in question is the 1933 classic King Kong.
When news first arrived of this remake, many fans, including myself, were very excited to see what Jackson could come up with. However, I don’t need to spell out how many remakes, including the recent Pink Panther, are extremely horrid. With the news coming out that New Line wanted Jackson to trim the film down (from the final run time of 182 minutes to 140 for a quicker turn around audience) and that the film’s budget had sky-rocketed forcing Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh to fork over their money, a lot of fans started to worry if Peter Jackson’s King Kong was going to go down in history as simply another poorly made remake. Can a one-time nobody director, now an extremely famous director turn a black and white classic into a modern age epic? Read on to find out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2006
The Shawshank Redemption is a film that didn't do much at the box office. However, home video, word of mouth and countless airings on TNT have made it an enormously popular film in the time since. Director Frank Darabont returned to prison with The Green Mile, another film based on a story by acclaimed writer Steven King. One could almost look at these two films as companion pieces. Whereas the central theme of Shawshank was the importance of never giving up hope, The Green Mile was more about the changing power of love. Granted, a 1930's prison death row cell block isn't the most obvious place to set a love story. Then again, we've all seen the obvious love stories countless times before. King has always had a knack for the original, and this film is most certainly that.
The film is a thorough examination of the guards and guests at this inn without a door. The guards are mostly cynical and worn down by the long line of murderers that have come through their walls, the inmates are deserving of their fate, and the warden benevolently looks over the whole affair, with his own demons patiently waiting for him at home. The guards and the inmates have something of a kinship, as they all spend every day together. Though there is a clear distinction between the haves and the have nots, the two sides still spend the majority of their days talking and working together.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2006
Yes I will admit that I probably was the only person who had never seen Casablanca. A movie so highly regarded by critics and fans alike, I don’t think it needs an introduction. With A List stars of its time, and seemingly endless amounts of quotable phrases it is quite a surprise I haven’t seen it yet.
Set during World War II in Casablanca (current day a city Morocco) the story’s main focus is the love affair of Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). They had met in France just before Nazi...occupation with a promise of running away together. Rick is let down upon receiving a note from Ilsa at the train station stating that she will not be joining him. Heartbroken life goes on for a now cynical and bitter Rick the owner of an upscale club in Casablanca. Until one-day fait would have it Ilsa enters the club with her husband Laszlo (Paul Henreid) a famous Czech resistance leader. Rick is furious with her and wants nothing to do with her, until later on when she tells him the story behind it all. Ilsa was under the assumption that her husband had been killed in action when she met and fell in love with Rick, when she soon found out he was alive she abandoned Rick. Whether Rick likes it on not, he believes what she has to say and wants to help her and Laszlo to get to America.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2006
Synopsis
Based on the book by Christopher Buckley, the cellular version of Thank You for Smoking may be misconceived by some as a movie about a guy who’s defending smoking, but I think it is a movie about a couple of different things. The first, more obvious things is that it’s a movie about spin. Either in the early ‘90s (when the book came out) or in the last year or so (when the film came out), even if the setting has changed, the method of dispelling one’s argument, even without possessing any co...crete facts, and how important it is in American debate is still a clear message.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2006
Synopsis
A dysfunctional family unit (single mother and infant, her sister and loutish husband, their autistic teen) are travelling through rural New Jersey when their car gets stuck. One after another, they head off to seek help, only to knock on the door of the sinister Mrs. Leeds and her homicidally retarded crew. And if that weren’t bad enough, there’s some kind of monster flapping through the woods.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 13th, 2006
Synopsis
Gregory Peck is a Nobel-laureate scientist sent to China to try to recover a new enzyme that allows one to grow any crop in any climate. The operation is being conducted jointly by the Americans, the British and the Russians (!). Peck has a transmitter implanted in his head that relays his physiological conditions and his every word back to base. What he doesn’t know is that the implant is also explosive, and trigger-happy general Arthur Hill might well blow Peck’s top, as it were.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 13th, 2006
Angel Rodriguez is a realist film that covers a 36-hour snapshot of the lives of two people: a troubled young man and his guidance counsellor.
I have to admit right off the top that this type of film is not my bag � realism to me pretty much means boring. While there may great artistic merit to writer-director Jim McKay�s little film, it�s not particularly entertaining. Interesting, maybe.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2006
(Portions of this review have been pulled from the original one-disc version of Jackass, which can also be found in the reviews portion of the site)Synopsis
One could make an attempt at witty prose by comparing Jackass to the works of Kubrick, Cassavettes, Scorsese, or what have you. But look, it’s a bunch of guys, some of whom have reputations in other circles, such as skateboarder Bam Margera and acclaimed director Spike Jonze, doing stunts that you may not have thought, dared or ...emotely considered doing, and keeping parts of the general public off guard. The gang made a huge splash on MTV, and scores of crazed teens wanted to try what these guys were doing, and maybe appear on the show. I think the quote from Millhouse on the Simpsons says it best: "All those warnings on TV make me want to do it more". The kids would get burned, broken, what have you, and parents who couldn’t crack the whip hard enough at home decided to sue anyone under the sun, despite the profuse warnings on each show, as well as a timeslot shift early on in the series’ life. So Johnny Knoxville became this decade’s Beavis, which I guess makes Steve-O Butthead. So, after judging (perhaps correctly) there wasn’t anything really left to do on TV, they decided to step things up and do a movie, and a $5 million budget led to a gross of over $60 million and a sequel that may make the same amount.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2006
(Portions of this review have been pulled from the original one-disc version of Platoon, which can also be found in the reviews portion of the site)Synopsis
There are a good number of people who have labeled Oliver Stone as a fan of conspiracy theories, out to destroy foundations of conservative ideology, while at the same time re-visiting 60’s nostalgic icons. Despite the jokes and the stereotyping, one has to admit that, as a filmmaker, he has helped bring to screen some of the most talk...d about cinematic experiences of our time, including Midnight Express, Scarface, not to mention Conan the Barbarian. As a director, his works, such as The Doors, Nixon, JFK and Natural Born Killers, have generated discussion both within and aside from the technical merits. Platoon was his most personal work, and is widely regarded as one of the defining films of the Vietnam War.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2006
Synopsis
George Segal is assigned by spymaster Alec Guinness to find the base of a group of neo-Nazis in Berlin. Head bad guy Max Von Sydow hopes to pry information out of Segal, specifically where the base of the good-guy spies (the precise organization is vague) is located. Segal’s only help is a schoolteacher (Senta Berger) with whom he begins an affair. George Sanders turns up in a couple of scenes for no particular reason.
![Casablanca [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/casablanca-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
