Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2004
Unlike most spinoff series, Frasier may be one of those rare instances where the spinoff was equally if not better than the original series. Much of the writing that made Cheers a phenomenon was continued with Frasier, with the exception that there was a smaller cast of characters and as such the stories became more involved and the characters were allowed to grow. The second season adds a great amount of depth to Frasier, his equally quirky psychiatrist brother Niles, and their gruff but lovable father, Martin. ...uring the second season, Frasier annoys the entire city of Seattle by complaining about the weather, Martin’s favored bar faces the threat of a wrecking ball (which may be the fault of his own 2 sons), Roz gets a new job offer, Niles lusting after Daphne continues, and Frasier once again comes face-to-face with his ex-wife Lilith ruining his island getaway.
During its run, Frasier won several Emmys for best direction, best comedy series and best actor. Watching the second season will remind any viewer why the show was worthy of its high praise. The jokes are fast paced and work well. The writing was very clever, especially the use of Frasier and Nile’s elitist vocabulary which often was used to poke fun at them. Fans of the show quickly grew to love the characters in the first season and the second season allowed the writers the opportunity to really sink their teeth into them and truly produce one of the greatest television shows in history.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 15th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 1st, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 31st, 2003
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 25th, 2003
The Tomb Raider film franchise was based on the popular adventure video game. This second Tomb Raider film, however, owes more to Indiana Jones and James Bond than anything else. Cradle of Life does an excellent job of moving along an adventure story. With exotic locations in Africa and China, Lara Croft has plenty of opportunities to show case her Bond-like bag of gadgets. Critics didn’t like this film much, but then again most film critics don’t seem to appreciate a film as a thrill ride. Angelina Jolie keeps the pace and adrenalin pumped up for the entire 2 hours. Sure, some of it is rather silly (The CGI shark scene was downright corny) but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a lot of fun. Jolie isn’t that hard to watch, either.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 10th, 2003
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2003
Harrison Ford is the top selling actor in Hollywood these days. He owes this distinction in no small part to a couple of trilogies he did early in his career. While Star Wars might have been a chance for Ford to break out, Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels defined his abilities. Indiana Jones is the perfect hero. He’s strong, intelligent, and above all moral. Unlike the stereotypical hero Jones is also vulnerable and at times flawed. Credit Steven Spielberg for the iconic stature Indy occupies today. Left to his own devices, George Lucas would have given us Tom Selleck as the cigarette-smoking morally bankrupt Indiana Smith.
Raiders of the Lost Ark brought back the cinematic tradition of the 2-reel serials. These shorts would combine with a newsreel, a cartoon, and a feature film to provide a splendid moviegoing event in the early days of talkies. To those of us too young to remember them, the Indiana Jones saga is a time machine to a much simpler day of good guys and bad guys. While even Spielberg himself admits that Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom was inferior to the rest of the trilogy, even this weaker film provided a historic filmmaking moment. Because of its dark nature and gore elements the film did not fit neatly into the PG rating. The filmmakers did not want this “family” adventure labeled with R, so the ensuing conflict brought us PG-13, now the most widely used rating on films. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade dared to show us a much more vulnerable hero with the addition of his father. The relationship is a complicated one, but a relationship every father and son can instantly recognize and relate to. Right Dad?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2003
William Shatner refused to reprise his role of Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home without a promise to write and direct the next film in the franchise. Against their better judgment Paramount agreed, and to this day wish they had not. The story is absolutely silly and the direction very one-dimensional. The truth is, however, that there still are some very endearing Trek moments in the film. DeForest Kelly gives a superb performance as McCoy must face his past decision to allow his terminal father to die. Even the Kirk / Spock moments are often quite compelling. Unfortunately Shatner couldn’t help but show with how little regard he held his minor cast mates. Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, and Chekov are reduced to comic parodies of themselves. The f/x are some of the franchise’s weakest.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 14th, 2003
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 14th, 2003
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