Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 26th, 2005
Four Brothers starts off as a solid drama about a group of orphans (Marky Mark, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund) who were raised by a sympathetic woman (Fionnula Flanigan) in downtown Detroit. When she is murdered, the brothers reunite and stay in their mother’s old house. They sit at the dinner table and stare at her now empty seat. They horse around with one another in her living room. And in some cases they even wear her old clothes. In scenes like these, the actors do a good job of makin... their characters feel real -- a rare feat in movies these days. Then the action starts. And that’s where Four Brothers goes downhill.
What starts as a serious toned film about coming together to bury a loved one, Four Brothers transforms into an unintentionally funny action movie. The characters don’t just shoot at one another, they make corny quips while doing it. Marky Mark, yeah I know he’s Mark Wahlberg and all, but after this performance, he’s Marky Mark again. He’s lost the right to be taken seriously. Anyway, Marky Mark actually says the line, “Grab the gun and bust some shots” to Tyrese Gibson while chasing some bad guys down a street. I don’t know... the line might sound perfectly normal to some people. I guess they are the intended audience for this film. But it made me laugh. Many lines like that one made me laugh.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 14th, 2005
The spoof film means something different to audiences today than it did in the early 80's. Anything, if done enough times over, starts to become stale. For instance, the first Scary Movie, while having a couple of really lame scenes, was actually pretty funny overall. With each sequel, however, came diminished returns. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see a film that spoofs spoof films (though I'm not sure how one would do that).
Airplane!, however, was the first of the genre. Not onl... that, but the argument could also be made that it is the best. This film, from the people responsible for the hilarious Kentucky Fried Movie, was a send-up of the popular airplane disaster films of the 60's and 70's. At the time, nobody really knew how to do a film like this, or even how to describe it. In fact, it was pitched to the studio as "Animal House on an airplane", which of course it was not. However, the studio bought in to the idea, and a comedy classic was born.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 11th, 2005
Synopsis
G.W. McLintock (John Wayne, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn) made most of his money by being a cattle baron. He made so much money in fact, the film’s fictional town was named after him. How cool is that? But all is not milk and honey in McLintock’s life. He has an estranged wife who does not live with him (Quiet Man co star Maureen O’Hara), and now wants a divorce.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 10th, 2005
Every now and then, a film comes along that I really think is something special, but for whatever reason, the movie-going public doesn't agree. For me, The Truman Show is one of those films. Maybe it was because this was Jim Carrey's first serious role. Maybe it was because it felt too gimmicky with the popularity of The Real World at the time, and being released around the same time as the similarly-themed film EdTV. Maybe it was because the premise was just a little too far outside of the norma... summer box office fare.
The fact is, the reasons that I like this movie are pretty similar to the reasons that others may not have. Jim Carrey was simply fantastic in this film, and his bold performance proved my theory that it is much more difficult to be a great comedic actor than most people believe. Carrey was handed the unenviable task of being made to carry a film that was about a lot of things at once. This is a film about big government. About secrets and lies, what it means to love someone and discovering who we are as humans. This is a film about limits, about control, and about the media. It's about knowing what to believe, what not to believe, and how to tell the two apart. It is about the importance of being the same person at work, in the home and everywhere in between.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 7th, 2005
I started my review of season four by remarking how little CSI had changed over its first four years. In its fifth year the powers that be decided to muck up the works a bit. The team is split between day and night shifts and Catherine is given the supervisor position on days. This actually leads to probably the show’s largest continuity flaw. It seems that the shifts overlap not just once in a while but almost all the time. I found myself really confused about this whole shift deal. Mostly I think the change takes away from the character interactions that I have come to love so much about this show. CSI has been able to find the perfect formula. There’s enough interaction and private life to make things interesting. Still, the relationships do not devolve into casual romances that tend to bog even quality dramas down. Season 5 created some serious challenges to that wonderful system. You’ll still find the same good quality procedural drama episodes. The look of the show remains untampered with. Perhaps the changes will appear fresh to many long-time fans. We’ll see.
I do like the use of the Greg character more as he becomes a full time member of the field team. A new team member, Sofia, also helps to make up for the changes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2005
Synopsis
This series has a clever conceit, being a sequel to the 1953 version of H.G. Wells’ novel. In the present, a terrorist group breaks into the base where the Martian corpses and war machines are being held. Turns out the Martians aren’t dead after all, and they revive to re-embark on their quest to conquer the Earth. In a budget-conscious move, part of this plan of attack consists in possessing the minds of humans, thus hugely diminishing the effects budget. So new viewers shouldn’t expect any...hing like the recent theatrical film, or even too much like the 1953 film, either. There is plenty of action, and a number of other clever ideas in the episodes (stars of the original film showing up, plays on the Orson Welles radio program), but plenty of limitations, too.
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 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 November 30th, 2005
Mad Hot Ballroom is the sort of live action family entertainment with which I can get on board. Too often, the desire for a good family film is quickly hampered by third-rate idiocy that only appeals to the youngest in the family. We the adults plod dutifully along for the good of the kids, hoping and praying it will all be over soon. And even though running times on family films are often shorter than a standard feature, it still seems like you've watched twice the length of that standard feature by the time ...he credits roll.
But not with Mad Hot Ballroom. First and foremost, I've never been a dancer nor considered myself interested in it, but with this piece from Paramount and Nickelodeon Films, that doesn't matter. Just like a love for boxing is not essential to adore the first Rocky film, Mad Hot Ballroom will thouroughly involve you in its story and characters and make its major platform of ballroom dancing seem incidental compared to the immersing quality of its narrative.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2005
Synopsis
Cedric the Entertainer is Ralph Kramden. Mike Epps is Ed Norton. They have the get-rich-quick schemes that never work. Gabrelle Union and Regina Hall are Alice and Trixie, the long-suffering and very sensible wives who are increasingly exasperated by their numbnuts husbands. The latest scheme involves things like turning a pet greyhound into a competitive racer, all in the hopes of purchasing a duplex.
