Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2005
Star Trek: First Contact is light-years ahead of any other Next Generation film. There is virtually every characteristic that makes good Star Trek present here. James Cromwell as Cochrane provides the best comedy relief on Star Trek since the tribbles. The Borg infiltration reminds us of the first Alien film with its shadows and cramped airshaft scenes. The action is ramped up several notches from previous films. The basic crew seems to have found its feature legs and is more comfortable as a unit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2005
Synopsis
The Rugrats extend their pop culture empire with this TV series, where the kids are now inearly adolescence. The central story here involves a trip to summer camp, with all the usualassortment of spooky plot elements (combined with the fact that one of our heroes is trying tomake a horror movie). There are also two other episodes. No one is going to compare the level ofwit on display with The Simpsons or The Family Guy, but I’ve seen worse. Muchworse.
Aud...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2005
Synopsis
Olivia de Havilland is recovering from a broken hip, and uses a home elevator to get to thesecond floor of her very big house. One this particular sweltering day, her smothered son drivesoff, accidentally bumping a electric pole with is car, and cutting off the power to the house justas the elevator is reaching the upper floor. De Havilland is trapped in a cage, suspended a goodfifteen feet off the floor. Then a wino discovers her predicament, and helps himself to some ofhe...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2005
This PBS documentary on the White House was made in 2001 to coincide with the Bicentennial of the mansion’s construction. I’m a student of the presidency, so I can’t say that I learned anything new here. I do believe most folks will walk away with some renewed interest in one of the icons of American government. Many celebrities, including Sam Waterson, Avery Brooks, and Robert Prosky, read actual letters from presidents and first ladies dealing with the White House. The film makes generous use of period photographs and paintings to depict the various stages of the building’s development into the modern version we are so familiar with today.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2005
Synopsis
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., chair of Harvard’s Afro-American Studies, takes the pulse of BlackAmerica as he travels the country, interviewing the famous (Colini Powell, Morgan Freeman,Maya Angelou, and so on and so forth) and the everyday. The results are interesting indeed,though the interviews might perhaps have been a little more rigorous and a little less chummy.Still, an engaging, personal work.
Audio
The 2.0 track is perfectly serviceable for the ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2005
Synopsis
Taking as its starting point a course offered by Harvard professor Dr. Armand M. Nicholi(and his book of the same name), this is a debate between belief and skepticism. A round tableled by Nicholi bounces of a series of recreations of events from the lives of C.S. Lewis andSigmund Freud, and the two historical figures make their cases for their respective sides of theargument. At 225 minutes, this is a pretty involved undertaking. It attacks its subject withadmirable ambiti...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2005
Synopsis
The focus of this documentary is on the last few years of Martin Luther King’s life, as hisactivism moved beyond the struggle for civil rights to encompass the other progressive battlesof his era. There’s a real richness here in terms of documentary footage of the man himself andinterviews new and old with those who were close to him.
Audio
The dialogue here is crisp and clean, with no distortion, sibilance, or other such issues (I amreferring here,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2005
Synopsis
Few figures in our era have managed to polarize opinion so consistently and for so long ashas Fidel Castro. This portrait of the man is a (thankfully) non-hysterical approach to the subject,and presents thoughtful views from a wide range of participants, representing all kinds ofopinions. There are plenty of fascinating clips, including some footage of Castro when he visitedthe states BEFORE that 40-plus-year squabble began.
Audio
The sound quality ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2005
At first glance when watching the MTV show Wildboyz with Steve O and the party boy Chris Pontius, one can easily say that some of the Jackass brethren found a nice little niche for themselves, with a nature appreciation show that could be described as National Geographic under the influence of Nyquil.
There is a quality to this show however that makes it worth revisiting several times, more than even Jackass would warrant. At the most basic element, MTV has given these guys a bunch of m...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2005
Dave Chappelle and I are the same. Well, he’s a year younger than me. And he’s black. But we’re both from Washington DC, but I live in the suburbs, and usually never go into the downtown area unless someone dared me. But he’s a lot funnier than me, and Comedy Central decided to give him a 12 episode commitment on their network after seeing him in such films as Half Baked, Screwed and Undercover Brother.
And quietly, Dave has put together a smart, funny show that everyone instantly dismi...
