Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 7th, 2005
Synopsis
The wife of a policeman shows up at the mansion of one Elizabeth Caine (or is she Erzsebet Bathory) for a lesbian tryst, but has her neck punctured by her host. Ray, the cop, investigates his wife’s disappearance, and very quickly suspects Bathory, but has difficulty assembling proof. To make matters worse, bodies of young women start piling up, and the evidence points more and more damningly toward Ray. He is in a race to prove his innocence and stop Bathory before she kills again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 3rd, 2005
Synopsis
In 1969, a group of jocks drug their dates at the homecoming dance in order to abduct them. One of them, Mary, stays sober, and is accidentally killed by her date. Thirty years later, history repeats itself when three young women are the victims of a similar revenge prank on the part of the jocks. One of the victims (Kate Mara) accidentally summons the vengeful ghost (by reciting “Bloody Mary”) and the culprits all start dying in various gruesome ways. It seems, however, that they all have s...me link to the original victimizers of 1969.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 26th, 2005
Synopsis
A pair of human smugglers accidentally take off with the baby of one of the immigrants they dropped off inside the Czech republic. They bring the baby to a pawn shop, where it is subsequently sold to a woman who is so desperate to have a child that she tries to abduct someone else’s. Her husband is soccer hooligan trying to go straight. He might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he recognizes trouble when he sees it. Meanwhile, the mother of the baby has sought help with a refugee...agency, which is run by a woman whose long-time lover has a brain tumour, and would finally like a divorce from his long-separated wife.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 19th, 2005
Synopsis
A young boy murders his mother’s abusive lover while his little sister watches the act in a mirror. Years later, the siblings are grown up. The brother is mute, and the sister (Susanna Love) is haunted by nightmares of that night. Seeking to purge the past, she revisits her old home, and sees the lover in the mirror. In terror, she smashes the mirror, thus unleashing the evil contained therein. Wherever fragments of the mirror show up, terrible deaths occur.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 10th, 2005
First there was no James. This year no Florida. Yes, the Sunshine State is alive and well even after a year full of hurricanes, but the lovable mother Evans is not a part of Good Times 5th season. I found these episodes to be the show’s least funny. There’s no doubt that the scripts are trying way too hard to cover the awkward situations. The addition of young Penny is really no compensation. It doesn’t help that after 5 years JJ’s shtick is beginning to show its wear. Still, there are some good moments here for the show’s legion of fans. The Bookman character steals several shows. The series had always been known for its willingness to touch on some real ghetto issues, and that hasn’t changed. The opening series of episodes are quite serious. Michael has matured and finds himself in several serious ethical dilemmas this year.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 7th, 2005
What's the dealio with The Deal? Well... Christian Slater's in it. Selma Blair's in it. What's it about? The Deal is a thriller set in the world of insider trading and the oil market. Sounds like a bore? Well, the film is fairly knowledgable about its information. The screenplay has a lot of "insider" gobbledegook. The characters talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?
The Deal, on a thriller level, gets lost in its own plot. Tom Hanson (Christian Slater) slogs through a maz... of narrative. Too much information, too little time. The world of Wall Street is hard to wrap your head around as it is. The strength of the film lies in its strong cast, sure handed look, and intelligent ideas.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 4th, 2005
Synopsis
Kingdome Hospital is built on the site of a former Civil War textile mill, where many children lost their lives in a tragic fire. The ground is therefore haunted, and strange things are happening in the hospital. We follow the lives of many characters here, including one particular patient, an artist who was hit by a truck (the incident is very faithful reproduction of what happened to Stephen King himself) and is haunted, in his comatose state, by visions of a supernatural anteater (I’m not...making this up).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2005
I can sum up this entire film in a single word; lame. There is nothing sadder than a comedy that is not funny, and this is certainly that. Bad acting, bad jokes and the feel of an 80's comedy makes this film the very definition of lame. Imagine Blind Date without the humor. Now add blatant rip-offs from Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction. Throw in some bad jokes and you're ready to go.
The plot has something to do with a hotel bellhop who impersonates people for entertainment, and tells ...is coworkers that he knows famous people. He poses as a man who has a date with a famous model, and then once he is on a date with her, she turns crazy and starts murdering people. Sound absurd? It is, and this is only the beginning. I can sum up my feelings on this film in four words; don't waste your time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2005
Married With Children was something of an anomaly among the pantheon of breakthrough television shows throughout history. Shows such as Archie Bunker and Roseanne broke through the stereotypes of the television family, and showed life much more as it really is in most American households. What made Married With Children especially unique is that while those other shows often-times made very real comments about society through their laughter, this program mainly focused on the American mal.... Al Bundy didn't ask for much; merely an occasional home cooked meal, a nice quiet place to rest his feet at the end of a long day, and the love and respect of his family, for which he worked such long hours. While other shows went to great lengths to show that life is not all Ozzie and Harriet, Al Bundy made an argument for the days of Ozzie and Harriet. With all the stresses and rudeness in modern society, can't we just go back to the old days, when a man could come home after a hard day and at least have some control over life in his own home?
Of course, the answer to that question is a resounding “no”, and the meeting of those two philosophies is the basis for the humor. Still, though, it is not every day that viewers come across a show that makes an argument for the simple decency and morality of times gone by through making an endless series of crude and off-color jokes. There is much more to this series than meets the eye at first glance. Underneath all that basic humor, there is a work of genius, for those that are willing to look a little deeper.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 19th, 2005
Synopsis
Charlton Heston is the title character, a Union officer who determines on his own hook to track down a group of Apache raiders. He gathers together a ragtag group of raw recruits, criminals and Confederate prisoners, and heads off to Mexico. His second-in-command is Confederate officer Richard Harris, and the two men have a long history of mutual hatred and respect. Heston forges ahead despite all obstacles, and despite the costs both to his men and to the civilians they encounter.
