Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003
Synopsis
I can’t say I’d ever heard of Michael Chekhov and George Shdanoff, but I have now. GregoryPeck narrates the lives of these two men, which play out with the 20th Century as a backdrop.There are many clips here of actors whom they taught (such as James Dean).
Audio
The sound is mono, but you don’t really need anything else for this sort of documentary,depending as it does largely on the spoken word. The sound is certainly clear enough.
Vide...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Tiger was once a fearsome fighter, but now he is a drunk. We learn, in flashback (and inflashbacks within flashbacks), that he fell from grace after being unintentionally involved in thekilling of his fiancee’s brother. Now his own treacherous brother has kidnapped the fiancee, andthat is all Tiger needs to come roaring back. This is truly awful stuff, with boringly filmed fightscenes, choppy editing, and nonsensical plot.
Audio
Bad as the film is, ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 8th, 2003
When this movie first came out in 1974 I think it probably caused a stir and was maybe even labeled “controversial”. We have the story of Claudine (played by Diahann Carroll) a struggling Harlem mother with 6 children to support; she collects welfare and works under the table on the side as a maid for a wealthy family. She meets a charming garbage man named Roop (James Earl Jones, much younger and thinner then I have ever seen him) who is struggling with his own life trials which makes him slow to respond to her invi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2003
I’ve got a confession. I just don’t get it. The Real World lays claim to being one of the first “reality” shows, dating back almost ten years. If you get off on watching a group of 7 twenty-somethings pretending to be spontaneous while basically either making out or grossing out, then this DVD is for you. This particular version is a season that was deemed too “hot” for broadcast TV so never appeared on MTV.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 4th, 2003
Synopsis
Albert is not a people person. He doesn’t enjoy his job as a travel agent, doesn’t travelhimself, and doesn’t want to go out. All he wants to do is stay at home and be left alone.Unfortunately, his childhood friend Louis, who was always good at getting him into trouble,breaks out of prison two weeks before his sentence is up, and calls up Albert, dragging himwilly-nilly into After Hours-style misadventures.
Audio
The sound (in a 2.0 mix, from all av...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
George Sand is a documentary filmmaker, and quite conceited about the fact. He comes tothe US from the UK to shoot a documentary about the 2nd Mike Wong Film Festival. Curiously,all of the competitors at the festival, each of which worked on Wong’s last movie before he died,start being murdered one by one. Sand decides to uncover the murderer. This is a cheerfully sillylow-budget film, loaded with hilarious send-ups of student films. The sense of the absurd isnicely underst...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2003
Inspector Gadget returns to take on the nefarious Dr. Claw who has just escaped from prison in small town Riverton. Throw into the mix an all new and improved G2…all-robot, all-tech and all-female gadget and we have the potential for a ton of fun. Inspector Gadget (this time around played by French Stewart and G2 (Elaine Hendrix) are set to save the world with help from Penny, her dog Brain and the tricked-out Gadgetmobile.
Video
Full bright and colorful scenes and characters the quality o...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2003
The lovable animated puppies from 1961 are back in their all new direct to video release just for the kids. The TV obsessed Patch heads of to London to find the star of his favorite TV show Thunderbolt. The star of Thunderbolt is about to be fired and he decides that the only way to save his job is to become a real life hero, so with Patches in tow he sets of for the streets on London. Creulla De Vil returns on probation for her previous bad deeds, still determined to steal the puppies and brings new henchman Lars with her after springing Horace and Jasper from jail.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
For the first twenty-five minutes, we are in 1950 Havana, where a typical noir tale of crimeand betrayal unfolds. Then we shift into colour, and discover that the hero of the first film, EricA. Leffler, is actually a writer of pulp fiction, and what we saw was the first part of his currentnovel, one that he doesn’t know how to finish. Before long, he gets caught up in a “real-life” noiradventure. This is a very, very low-budget exercise, but its ambitions are admirable, and i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Brooklyn-to-the-core thief Nick (Charlie Mattera) is betrayed by his friend Manny (PeterGreene), who is jealous of his love with Maria (Justine Miceli). Released from prison years later,Nick moves to LA, where he re-connects with Maria. Maria had married Manny (who is nowa brutal cop), but the two have since split. Nick is also taken under the wing of Harry (EdLauter), an aging gentleman bandit, who trains Nick to be a more elegant criminal than he hasbeen until now. The fi...
