Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005
Old Yeller is a hard film to take if you're a child. I thought the same would be true as an adult, so needless to say, revisiting this family classic for the first time through an adult's eyes promised to be a harrowing experience. In fact, for the longest time, I hated Old Yeller and berrated its merits as a film. I realize now after years of maturity and a second visit to the Coates family ranch my belittling of this film masterpiece was a defense mechanism to build up my own sense of machismo. The re...lity is Old Yeller is a darling film with a message, and a powerful one at that. But not one of those same old tired political messages too many films try to infuse in their narratives these days. No, rather than trying to push a specific viewpoint, Old Yeller brings something valuable to the table and teaches us all how to love and cope instead of how to think.
I'm sure there aren't many who haven't themselves been out to the ranch a time or two to visit Katie, Jim, Travis, Arliss, and the Old Yeller dog, but for safety's sake, I will avoid giving away the powerful ending, or any other significant spoilers. The plot centers around the hate-to-love relationship between teenage Travis Coates (played well by Tommy Kirk) and an enormous, lovable stray dog christened Old Yeller. It's against Travis's will the dog comes into his life, but in the end, the dog will find no greater friend than this young man quickly budding into maturity. For about three months, Travis is left as man of the house, while his father heads away on business, and in this critical three-month period, Travis learns what it means to sacrifice of himself for others. Perhaps most critical of all, he discovers one of the most difficult lessons there is with love. No matter what happens, we know by the end of Old Yeller Travis Coates will be just fine... and that the world will be a better place because of him. Travis is truly an inspiring character, but we also learn what Travis becomes could never be possible without the Old Yeller dog.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005
Synopsis
On its surface, Almost You is potentially interesting. Considering the mid-‘80s production, you have Griffin Dunne, about to appear in Scorsese’s After Hours, but had already appeared in An American Werewolf in London. In this film, he is married to Brooke Adams, a.k.a. Mrs. Tony Shalhoub (Monk), but before that, had appeared in Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, and had her own experiences in horror, appearing in The Dead Zone. As husband and wife, Dunne’s ...haracter Alex feels rapidly disenchanted with their marriage, and says so just before they are about to leave on a trip to Erica’s (Adams) parents.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005
Synopsis
Dag Yngvesson sets out to the San Fenando Valley to investigate the way the porn filmmaking world works. His first contact is with veteran actor Bill Marigold, who now sees himself as a sort of den father (to coin a phrase) to other performers. With help from Marigold, our documentarist lands one contact after another, some plenty disturbing, and before he knows it, he is being asked to be cameraman on a porn feature himself. The emotional climax follows returning star Jenna Fine’s struggle ...o stay off drugs when her ex-boyfriend is released from prison.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005
Hondo is something of an oddity among John Wayne films. For starters, it was a western not directed by Howard Hawks or John Ford, but by John Farrow, a director Wayne only teamed up with one other time in his career (a WWII film called The Sea Chase). This is also a very tightly edited film, clocking in at just 83 minutes, including an intermission! Though he had certainly performed in his fair share of westerns by this time, Hondo came a couple of years before the release of the long series of w...sterns that John Wayne is most famous for.
The film, based on a short story by Louis L'Amour, tells the story of a drifter and his dog that come upon a woman and her son living alone on the plains, and becomes their protector against the Native Americans that roam in the area. When the woman's estranged husband shows up, however, trouble starts, and this basic western story becomes something that deals more with tolerance secrets and lies than with ropes and cattle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005
Synopsis
Wesley Snipes (Major League) and straight to video really provide for several comedic moments. I don’t really know that much about Snipes, aside from some anonymous reports about just how nice he was on the set of the third Blade movie, along with the “cataract problem” he has. Nevertheless, his role in this film of the strong, silent type who is some Army special forces member provides him the chance to say a small amount of dialogue for what is presumably a lot of cash.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005
Synopsis
Anchor Bay, holding all (or most) of the keys in George Romero’s zombie film trilogy, released a four disc Ultimate Edition to capitalize on the theatrical release of the remake, done in grainy, handheld, 28 Days Later style by director Zack Snyder. There isn’t too much here plotwise that you need to be aware of. 4 people decide to seek shelter at an abandoned mall, a continuation of Romero’s first film Night of the Living Dead. I don’t really know of an underlying moral tale in this...film, aside from trying to make a life for yourself again, it really is about trying to get past the zombies and find some sort of freedom, wherever that may be. Special effects whiz Tom Savini gets to show off more of his work here, though not as much as in Day, as he spends some time in front of the camera as the leader of a biker gang.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2005
Phillip Noyce's critically acclaimed Newsfront comes to DVD from Blue Underground in a quite impressive package. While not always exciting, Newsfront does manage to attract attention, and is pieced together very well. It's also a film covering unique material I am not sure has ever been covered in the realm of cinema.
The plot centers around Len, a newsreel photographer, who manages to keep audiences apprised of world events long before the nightly news ever exists. Len shoots films of any newsworthy item his employers at Cinetone can find for him. His footage is then used in theater houses throughout the country in an effort to inform, and sometimes entertain, the public. But heavy competition lurks ahead in the new invention of television. And Len is "a bit old fashioned," as colleague Amy (Wendy Hughes) refers to him, so his survival in this new world could be endangered by the competition, which includes his opportunistic brother Frank (Gerard Kennedy). Frank, also a skilled newsreel photographer, wants to change with the times to insure his survival, so he heads for America, where he finds success in television. He would like to bring his brother along for the ride, but Len is an unchanged man in a quickly changing time. As things go, Len would rather be true to himself and what he's always been, because he believes in it. And if that means he must give way, then so be it. But he's not about to let life run right over him. And he won't go down without a fight.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 2nd, 2005
Synopsis
Shannen Doherty, Holy Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano are three sisters who also happen to be witches. Very much in the vein of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, our heroines must battle supernatural monsters and evil cults, all the while dealing with love, heartbreak and other issues more connected with mere mortals. The season begins with Combs out of the picture, having eloped with Brian Krause. Their marriage is frowned upon by The Powers That Be, and this is one of the ongoing threads of t...e season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 1st, 2005
Synopsis
Peter Sellers turns in a performance that opens at high do and never looks back as a lunatic psychiatrist. He is treating Peter O’Toole, a man who wants to be faithful to his girlfriend (Romy Schneider) but cannot say no to the innumerable women who throw themselves at him. Into the mix comes Woody Allen, who, unsurprisingly, plays a sexual loser.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2005
Stargate Atlantis took a little getting used to. I wasn’t sure the characters had enough chemistry or were even dynamic enough to carry the high expectations for a Stargate series. When the show was first introduced it was likely that Atlantis would soon take over for the original series. Anderson had wanted to leave for years and it seemed the end was near for SG-1. Since that time SG-1 is about to enter a tenth season and the new format is working quite well. Now I can view Atlantis more as the companion show it really excels at being. Atlantis maintains all of the tight writing and production values that made SG-1 such a great show. I am a little weary of The Wraith already. For some reason they just don’t work for me. The Ori, SG-1’s new baddies, are far more interesting. The Wraith are just sinister. We haven’t had a chance to view them as a society yet. There were high hopes when Teyla began to connect with them, but that has become a dead end. I think Atlantis has some real growing to do, or it risks falling into the “Deep Space Nine” wormhole.
Synopsis
