Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Hey lookee here, in this movie called Off the Black, there are two Oscar nominees and one Oscar winner! So with this pedigree of talent, you’d expect to be a gangbusters piece of dramatic storytelling, right? Well, not exactly.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2007
Gary Lennon is a first time writer/director and it shows with .45. Milla Jovovich is the obvious centerpiece of this misguided drama. We know we’re in for a long haul from the opening shots of Kat (Jovovich). Talking about the sexual prowess of Big Al, her abusive boyfriend. Big Al is played quite single dimensionally by Angus MacFayden). It’s not that the actor’s don’t have the skills or the desire it’s that they are severely limited by the script. The only entertaining moments occur when the film heads more into ...he black comedy realm. This momentary effectiveness is soon lost with rather graphic displays of domestic violence. We are intended to feel for Kat but no matter how inclined we are to find her sympathetic I just can’t. With the help of her manipulated friends Kat sets out to rid herself of her partner in crime once and for all. When she finally does pull it off it is so senseless and anticlimactic. The trailer and box art promise a thrill ride journey of cunning and revenge. What the film delivers is boredom and no satisfaction when it’s done. The film tries to be too many things at once and ultimately succeeds at nothing. Trust me. Pass on this one. You’ll thank me for it later.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 22nd, 2007
Synopsis
Who would have thought that after an amazing performance in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain that Heath Ledger would return to his native Australia and do an independent film? Well for those who did and put long odds on it, you get the prize in the pool. I just wish that after things like Trainspotting, Half Nelson and similar films, this one would have a little more impact than it does.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 9th, 2007
In many ways, slasher films are like porno movies. Chief among them is that many times you just want to skip to the good parts. There may be a plot, but it’s so poorly constructed, the dialog is downright embarrassing and the direction leaves a lot to be desired. But the one thing they get right is all that matters. After all, there’s only one reasons we watch.
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film is a documentary which does just this. It features some of the most gruesome and fam...us scenes from slasher films, all while exploring the slasher film’s history, from inception in the late 70's, right up until what seems like a few months ago, with in-depth and fascinating interviews from the slasher film masters themselves, as well as others in the slasher film industry.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2007
Penguins are "in" right now. They March and they dance with those adorably Happy Feet. So, I guess it was only a matter of time before someone decided there was money to be made by turning in a penguin farce. Unfortunately for us, that someone turned out to be Bob Saget. I admit to knowing very little about Saget outside of his family sitcom and home movies shows. This is a side of him I wish I'd never seen. This film is absolutely unfit for the kiddies. Now let me first say that I'm certainly not one of those folks that gets easily offended. I've been a South Park fan since the beginning and would never consider myself sensitive to crude humor. With that said, I must honestly say that Farce of the Penguins is the most disgusting piece of crap I've seen in some time. It would be tolerable if it were even a little bit funny. The only chuckles you'll get out of this is a handful of throw away lines. The rest is simply not at all humorous. Even Samuel L. Jackson can't save this mess with his narration. The story is simple: Carl (Saget) is a penguin who's looking for penguin love. Jimmy (Black), his best buddy, tries to convince him that the girl of his dreams is waiting for him at the end of their 70 mile trek to mate. The entire 80 minutes is spent with poor voice over during March of the Penguins style nature footage. Nothing really matches, and perhaps that's not really the point. The film drags along at an incredibly slow and awkward pace toward the breeding grounds where Carl meets Melissa (Applegate). The two hook up and a few rather raunchy complications allow this farce to continue even longer. By the time the end credits roll, pretty much every unfunny cliché has been set to penguin footage, and you've lost nearly an hour and a half of your life.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 9th, 2007
In a New York forever conscious of the shadow of 9/11, we follow the sex lives and tribulations of a group of gay and straight characters. There’s the gay couple whose relationship is hitting a rocky patch. There’s the professional dominatrix who is finding it more and more difficult to face her work. And there’s the sex therapist who’s never had an orgasm. Her quest for same brings her into contact with the other characters, and to Shortbus, an eccentric sex club.
In the making-of featurette, writer/director John Cameron Mitchell describes where the idea for the film came from. He’d noticed the spate of serious European movies that featured real sex scenes, but also that they were all very dark. He wanted to make a sex-positive film. The intent is laudable, the performances are all convincingly natural (and CBC Radio host Sook-Yin Lee is very funny as the therapist), and there’s a wonderful conceit involving a CG table-top model of NYC through which the camera flies. And yet, one might be forgiven for longing for the explosive savagery of the likes of Baise-Moi. When the characters aren’t having sex, they talk about it. And talk, and talk, and talk. Half an hour in, both the action the discussion begin to grow tiresome. Characters that are supposed to be eccentric are annoyingly flaky, and one can’t help but wonder whether all these people don’t have anything better to with their time. So the film is earnest, sweet, and worthy, but needs something more to truly hold the viewer’s attention.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 27th, 2007
If you've seen any of Terry Gilliam's other films, you can probably guess that this one is pretty bizarre. Based on the novel of the same name by Mitch Cullen, Tideland is an eccentric, grotesque and imaginative tale of a child's resilience.
I'm going to say right off the top, I wanted to like Tideland, and for two reasons. One, Gilliam has made some incredible films in his career, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail to Twelve Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Other than the flawed Brothers Grimm, it's been seven years since a Gilliam-helmed film was released. So I wanted to like this one. I really did. Unfortunately, while I admired the creativity in Tideland, and was at times intrigued and repulsed, I ultimately found the film extremely unsatisfying.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 27th, 2006
I�m never up on the film festival scene, so it�s no surprise to me that I�ve only just discovered Tom Zuber�s Little Athens, even though it was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival back in 2005.
My three favourite things about this movie are its strong cast, solid story and the unique cinematography. Actually, make it four things, because the soundtrack is also pretty excellent.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Back when it first aired on Comedy Central in a previous incarnation as a television series, Strangers With Candy was an interesting enough premise. Take a menopausally challenged, recently released prisoner named Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris, Elf) who decides to return home for the first time in over three decades to try and get a new start and throw her into high school. Now, not knowing how good or bad the show did, it must have had some sort of following, because there’s a movie out ...ow from which said television series is inspired.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 1st, 2006
Looking For Kitty is an interesting, witty and somewhat slow-moving film. I enjoyed the understated story up until the last 20 minutes, when I lost interest because I thought the film should have been over.
The story is straightforward. A sad-sack little league baseball coach, Abe Fiannico (David Krumholtz), hires Jack Stanton (Edward Burns), a down-on-his-luck private investigator, to find his missing wife, Kitty (Ari Meyers). Working together, they look for Kitty, who has apparently run off with a moderately successful rock singer named Ron Stewart (Max Baker) – not to be confused with the more famous Rod Stewart. Slowly, a friendship develops between Fiannico and Stanton, as they realize they have more in common than they first thought, and the two end up helping each other come to terms with lost relationships.
