Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 2nd, 2005
Synopsis
A monk is found walled up alive in an eccentric monastery, and Inspector Niemans (JeanReno) is on the case. Murders multiply around the country, connecting the cases worked on byNiemans and a young hotshot (Benoit Magimel, whose role is very similar to the one played byVincent Cassell in the original). The victims are all deeply religious, were all disciples of asurvivor who bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Jesus, and have the names andprofessions of the Disciples. They mur...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2005
Good Times is one of several shows from the 1970’s to trace its origins back to All In The Family. Florida was the maid to Maude, Edith’s cousin, who also got her own show. It wasn’t very long before Good Times became the Jimmie Walker show. His ghetto witisms and trademark “Dyn-o-Mite” exclamation took any attention from the other cast members. In the Fourth season John Amos left the show and his character, James, was killed in an accident. Esther Rolle would also depart for a time after this season. It’s no surprise that JJ’s role was beginning to increase and perhaps peaked here in Season Four.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Stella Street is a quiet, residential street in suburban England, which becomes a haven forcelebrities seeking refuge from fame. It has been so since the 60s, when the Beatles and RichardBurton roomed here. Long-term resident Michael Caine is our guide through the community,where a flood of new arrivals (Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, David Bowie, Madonna, Mick Jagger,and so forth) arrive. They think they’ve found their utopia, but their simple lives will soon bedisrupted.
...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 19th, 2005
Synopsis
All three of thiese films have previous been seen release on DVD (one quite some time ago,from the look of things), and they are of varying importance to Streisand’s career.
The most notable of the bunch is The Way We Were (1973). Directed by SydneyPollack, this charts the relationship of Streisand (fiery activist) and Robert Redford (writer in theF. Scott Fitzgerald mould) from their college days in the 1930s to their inevitable breakup in1950s Hollywood. Th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 7th, 2005
Synopsis
Two brothers, Jin-seok and Jin-tae, are drafted into the South Korean army when war eruptsin 1950. Jin-seok is bookish and has a bad heart -- there is no way he can survive the war withouthis older, stronger brother’s help. Jin-tae takes on one insanely risky mission after another,having been given the hope that if he performs sufficient acts of bravery, his brother will be senthome. He begins to lose sight of this goal, however, as he starts to like the glory of being a hero...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 1st, 2005
Synopsis
1863. After a brutal bank robbery, with plenty of civilians brutally slaughtered, a group ofConfederate deserters hole up in an abandoned farmhouse to pass the night before heading downto Mexico. There are already a few problems: the younger brother of leader Henry Thomas hasbeen injured, and two of the other gang members are thinking they should have a larger shareof the gold (i.e. all of it). But they will all soon have much bigger worries, as the house is stalkedby demon...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 26th, 2005
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 is one of the worst movies ever made. At least...that's what I keep reading. Reviews have torched this movie, and I must concur. This movie is bad. And I don't think the first one was much of a hit either. So why make this dreck?
The plot of the movie revolves around our little genius heroes saving the world from an evil TV mogul played by Jon Voight (need a paycheck?). This baddie wants to submit subliminal messges through kiddie TV and control children (and baby ta...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2005
The Ring was an almost overnight success. Based on a Japanese horror film, it was “Americanized” and captured audiences with its creepy cinematography and wickedly sinister story. It was inevitable that the formula would be tried again.
You would think that The Grudge has everything necessary to continue that successful story. The Grudge is based on not one but a well known series of haunted house films in Japan. Spider Man’s own Sam Raimi teams up with Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Ge...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2005
Films like Crimson Tide, Hunt for Red October and U-571 have tried on their own ways to take their place as the definitive modern submarine movie, but Das Boot still stands as King, over 20 years after its release. I remember hearing about this film growing up, and as a lad of 10, wasn’t into foreign films, or war films, as I am now, which may not be saying much. In seeing it when the Director’s Cut first came out in 1997, many people snapped up the 5.1 soundtrack, and Director’s Commentar...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2005
Admittedly when I first saw The Fifth Element, I wasn't too impressed by it, though Chris Tucker (Friday) did provide some good comedic moments, and it was nice to see Ian Holm (Lord of the Rings) return to major films also. I mainly thought that Bruce Willis had gone a bit silly with this one with dyed blonde head hair, in yet another action movie.
