Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2003
posted by Marc Atonna
Film
Goldie won the best supporting actress Academy Award as a ditsy, blonde mistress. Not bad for a debut. Goldie starts the film with her suicide attempt foiled by a neighbor (who unknowingly gives a great James Stewart impression). Matthau thinks he has the perfect love scenario. He has a stuffy secretary (Bergman) who keeps his life in order and a fling (Goldie) he keeps in check by telling her about a non-existent wife and kids.
As with all successful romantic comedies, a wrench has...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2003
Synopsis
Welcome to Oceania in 1984, the last word in totalitarian regimes. Winston Smith, a lowlevel functionary, engages in two kinds of thought crime: he falls in love, and he questions BigBrother. The film is as compellingly and utterly bleak as the novel. The vision of future isactually a vision of the past: Oceania is a worst-case version of late-40s Britain. This approach isbrilliant, because, as a result, the film does not date, and its chilling warning, in these days ofTota...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2003
Synopsis
Jia Hongsheng was a rising actor in the Chinese film scene, until drugs derailed his life. Thefilm chronicles his struggle to break his addiction to heroin, and the role his family plays in thisstruggle. What makes this film unique is that not only is the story factual, but all of the charactersare played by the actual people in question: that’s the real Jia Hongshen, those are his realparents, those are his real friends. Fascinating.
Audio
Very nic...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2003
Synopsis
A city vamp seduces a country man and convinces him to kill his wife. At the moment heis about to commit the crime, he finds he cannot go through with it. We then follow the husbandand wife through the course of their reconciliation. Put this way, the film sounds flat and boring,but the poetry of its simplicity, imagery and performances is overwhelming. (There’s a stormsequence that must be one of the greatest storms in the movies.) This is emphatically one of thegreat clas...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 26th, 2003
I doubt the makers of the current Daredevil film took one look at Glory Daze and said, "We've got to have that guy." Glory Daze is a mindless romp through the last weeks of a group of frat-like college students. If you're interested in plots, solid acting, and quality cinematography, this really isn't your film. If, however, a cheap imitation of Animal House sounds like a good way to spend an hour and a half, look no further.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2003
Synopsis
The time is 80,000 years ago. Our focus is tribespeople who value fire deeply, but do notknow how to make it. When they are attacked by a rival, far more simian, group, they lose theirfire. A trio of friends (Everett McGill, Nameer El-Kadi, and Ron Perlman, a man who doesn’tneed much make-up to look prehistoric) head off on a search for new fire. During theirquest, they encounter a cannibal tribe, and hook up with Rae Dawn Chong, a prisoner of thecannibals and member of a m...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2003
Why is there yet another DVD of Stargate? This time it really is an improvement. The Ultimate Edition contains a director’s cut which is about 16 minutes longer than the original. If you like the original better, a second disc is included which contains the original cut. This was Devlin and Emmerich’s first real blockbuster. I found Independence Day and The Patriot to be better films, but Stargate has its moments. It’s a little hard for me to accept Kurt Russell as Jack O’Neal after 7 years of Richard Dean Anderson.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2003
Synopsis
Irascible Scottish scientist James Mason discovers evidence that an explorer made thejourney of the title. Determined to do likewise, Mason sets off for Iceland (there to descend avolcanic crater that will lead to the centre of the Earth) in the company of Pat Boone (whoseaccent must be heard to be believed). Along the way, they are joined by feisty widow ArleneDahl and towering Icelander Peter Ronson. They are not alone in their journey, however, andthey must confront huma...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
A flying saucer lands in Washington, causing widespread paranoia. Emerging from thesaucer are the ominous robot Gort, and the human-looking Klaatu (Michael Rennie). Klaatucomes with a warning for Earth (get your act together or be wiped out), but he will speak only torepresentatives from all nations. This turns out to be a difficult proposition. Klaatu escapes fromthe authorities and blends in with the population as he learns about humans. The questionbecomes whether he wil...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2003
Film
Let’s at least give the filmmakers credit for getting right to the point. Unfortunately you’ll spend the next 80 minutes or so wishing they hadn’t. The film is full of enough plot holes to pilot a starship through (one of the big ones). You get the sense right away that the characters really can’t stand each other, but then you’re expected to believe that one year after pissing each other off they’re going to get together for an intimate New Year’s Eve gathering. There’s an obvious attempt at th...
