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Universal

Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2005

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This is a difficult review to write. The problem is approaching this miniseries and the subsequent new Sci-Fi Channel series without personal prejudice. I am a huge fan of the original Battlestar Galactica. While this incarnation has many redeeming qualities, I find it hard to consider it the same animal. The f/x are unquestionably some of the best yet seen on television. The action is ramped up many degrees from the original. The stories are, for the most part, more complex. So why do I hesitate in declaring this “reimagined” edition as superior?
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Miami Vice – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2005

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What better a place to bring a city’s resurgence than Miami? The area would arguably look different if there was a different TV show that sparked a commerical revival. With Michael Mann in the producer’s chair, along with producing partner Anthony Yerkovich (whose only other cop drama he produced was Hill Street Blues), the flashy cop drama was the reason why a lot of people decided to stay home on Friday nights.

In terms of episode content, there was a lot of formulaic cop drama things, and the usua…
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Bustin’ Loose

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 12th, 2005

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Synopsis

Incorrigible and not altogether competent small-time crook Richard Pryor has pulled one fastone too many. His exasperated parole officer threatens him with a long jail term unless he agreesto drive a group of special education students in a rickety bus from Philadelphia to Seattle, wherethey will find a new home. All sorts of misadventures await along the road trip.

There’s a vaguely gritty atmosphere, which helps defuse some of the sentimentality, and thekids are h…
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Orgazmo

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 8th, 2005

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Synopsis

Director Trey Parker plays Joe Young, a Mormon on a rather losing missionary trip toHollywood. A chance encounter lands him (reluctantly) as the lead in Orgazmo, a pornflick about the titular super-hero. The film becomes a runaway success, and Joe finds himself anunwilling porn superstar. Meanwhile, his co-star in the film has developed a real, workingversion of the hero’s Orgazmarator (or something like that), which causes orgasms at a distance.It is only a matter o…
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Ray

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 11th, 2005

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Synopsis

The film opens at the very beginning of Ray Charles’ career, as he makes his way to Seattlefor his first paying gigs with an unscrupulous band leader and manager. We see him grow inconfidence and artistry, soon becoming a force to be reckoned with. Intercutting his rise areflashbacks to his childhood, and specifically the accidental death of his little brother and his ownloss of sight. In the present, we also see his womanizing personal life and his descent into drugaddicti…
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October Sky

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 1st, 2005

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Synopsis

Coalwood, West Virgina, is a typical mining company town in 1957. For most of the malepopulation, the only future is a descent into the mines, with all the hardships and early death thatentails. Jake Gyllenhaal hopes for better, and he is inspired by the launch of Sputnik to build hisown rocket, a project which involves three of his friends, and is encouraged by teacher LauraDern. Against Gyllenhaal are the skepticism of the town, the difficulties of the project, and thetro…
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Backbeat

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 25th, 2005

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Synopsis

Stephen Dorff (adopting a most convincing accent) plays Iain Softley, bass guitarist in a banddriven by best pal John Lennon (you may have heard of the group). The lads leave Liverpool forHamburg, where they become house band for a strip club, and gradually build a following.Softley is more of a painter than a guitarist, and his commitment to the band is furtherundermined when he falls for photographer Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee).

Dorff is excellent, and Ian Hart …
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Soul Showcase Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 18th, 2005

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Synopsis

That Man Bolt is a long way from Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. It’scloser to the Shaft films, but its closest relation is the Bond series, as our man Bolt (FredWilliamson) jets from Hong Kong to Las Vegas and back again, karate-chopping his waythrough the bad guys, working to bring down the crime lord who set him up as a fall guy. Bolteven winds up with a British government liaison. The action scenes are very flat, but theproduction values are high for th…
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Wimbledon

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 16th, 2005

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Synopsis

Paul Bettany once had an almost-promising career in tennis, but he’s on his way out now,and his last hurrah is a wild-card placement he’s landed at Wimbledon. A chance encounter withrising super-alpha player Kirsten Dunst revives his passion for both life and the game, and hesuddenly starts beating all comers. Her game, however, begins to suffer as she becomesdistracted by her new relationship.

As a romantic comedy, this leaves much to be desired. Top-billed Dunst i…
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Marks Brothers Silver Screen Collection, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 7th, 2005

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Synopsis

These films represent the Marx Brothers at their most anarchic and creative. Though theymade other very strong films, these are the comedians at their peak.

The Cocoanuts (1929) is the most dated of the bunch. The pacing is pretty sluggish,but we are also at the dawn of sound movie here. Groucho runs a Florida hotel here, and thisprovides a suitable setting for varied shenanigans as well as plenty of dancing girls. The film alsohas a certain charming rawness …
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 6th, 2005

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Synopsis

Jim Carrey wakes up on Valentine’s Day in a funk. On the spur of the moment, he takes offto Montauk, where he meets Kate Winslet. Sparks fly, and a relationship seems about to be born.We suddenly flash back in time, and realize that, though they no longer remember it, these twohave previously had a relationship. When it collapsed, Winslet availed herself of the services ofLacuna, a company that erases unpleasant memories. Carrey has been removed from hermemory. Distraught, …
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W.C. Fields Comedy Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 4th, 2005

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Synopsis

Here we go, five W.C. Fields movies, and the range of the collection should be very pleasingto fans. The earliest feature here is 1933’s International House. This uses the slightpremise of a crowd of eccentric characters assembled in a Shanghai hotel to see a new invention(a television, here called a “radioscope”) to showcase a parade of comic and music stars, amongthem Fields, but also George Burns and Gracie Allen, Cab Calloway, and that supreme master ofcom…
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Door in the Floor, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 31st, 2004

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On the DVD cover of The Door in the Floor, the writing promises “surprises”, “shocks”, and “cuts like a knife”. One would think this movie would be a thriller. False advertising can get you nowhere. The Door in the Floor is far from a thriller, but more in the meditation on love, loss, and loneliness genre. Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger star as a dysfunctional married couple. Things are far from blissful. Bridges is a writer of children’s fiction; Basinger is, well, I’m not sure what she does. Bu…
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Shaun of the Dead

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 29th, 2004

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Synopsis

Shaun (co-writer Simon Pegg) is on the cusp of his thirties, and still has growing up to do.He and girlfriend Liz wind up in the Winchester pub every night, and she’s sick of it, much to thedelight of her roommates Liz and David (the latter being an insufferable twit who pines for Liz).His best friend Ed is a pig, and has crashed permanently in Shaun’s house, much to thedispleasure of his housemate, Pete. Liz dumps Shaun, who thinks his life is over. Then, hegradually becom…
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Two Brothers

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 20th, 2004

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Synopsis

We are in the 1920s. Two young tiger cubs live in what seems to be the tiger version of theGarden of Eden. Then Guy Pearce comes along to ruin everything (though he will subsequentlyrepent). He kills the cubs’ parents, and sells one cub to the circus. The other is also captured andwinds up as the beloved pet of Raoul, the colonial governor’s son. The tension resides in whetherthe brothers will eventually reunite, and will they be allowed to live their lives in peace?

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Meet the Parents

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

Ben Stiller wants to propose to sweetheart Teri Polo, but first he has to impress her dad –Robert De Niro. The weekend with the parents proceeds as one would expect a movie with BenStiller in the lead: disastrously. De Niro is an over-protective ex-CIA control freak, and Stillerinevitably finds the way to wreak the most humiliating havoc possible.

As the embarrassments mount, and yet more loom ominously over the horizon, you findyourself wishing you could look away…
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Thunderbirds

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 15th, 2004

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Synopsis

Alan is the youngest member of the Tracy family, and would dearly love to be a full memberof International Rescue, but is stuck in school and is treated as a kid by his bothers and father.But then it is up to him and his two young friends to save the day when The Hood (BenKingsley) takes over IR’s base, traps the Tracys up in space, and plans to turn the Thunderbirdvehicles to evil uses (starting with robbing the Bank of England).

What I want to know is why oil rig …
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Buck Rogers In The 25th Century – The Complete Epic Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2004

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I must admit that this show wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it. That’s not to say it isn’t great 70’s escapist science fiction, or that I am at all disappointed in seeing it again. Buck Rogers was almost a companion piece to Battlestar Galactica. They had a great deal in common. Both pilots were released in theatres with the trendy Sensurround. The concept was mostly overloaded subs to create a shake in the room during the space battles. The f/x were done by some of the same folks. Even the control sticks to the…
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Dazed & Confused (Flashback Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2004

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Slow Ride…take it easy…ah yes. Foghat. Dazed and Confused is Richard Linklater’s love letter to teenage nostalgia. And it shows up on DVD in a “flashback edition”. The film is also a love letter to the 70’s and contains a bitchin’ soundtrack. In the same vein, Dazed is like Fast Times and Ridgemont High, American Graffiti, and Almost Famous. Linklater’s approach is different. Like his previous film Slacker, Linklater is interested in the composite effect. There’s no ON…
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Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 9th, 2004

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Okay. I admit it. I’m guilty. I’m probably one of the few people on the planet Earth who has never seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Not because I’m an art film snob or anything (which I’m not…usually). I just never got around to it. I heard all the hype, heard a lot of the famous lines. But I’ve never actually seen the movie. Until now.

The Special Edition of Fast Times is now available and it’s worth picking up. For all the rest of the planet that has seen it, the movie takes plac…
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Creature from the Black Lagoon – The Legacy Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2004

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Hot on the heels of spring 2004’s Monster Legacy Collections, Universal is at it again. This time The Invisible Man, Mummy, and Creature films get the special treatment. The Creature set is the most obvious standout from the latest releases. Just in time for Halloween, The Creature walks among us again. All 3 Creature films are included along with all of the bonus materials from Universal’s release of the original film.

The synopsis of these films goes something like this…
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Dawn of the Dead

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 29th, 2004

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Synopsis

A plague is sweeping the world: the dead are rising to bite and eat the living, turning theirvictims into yet more ferocious zombies. A group of survivors (headed by Sarah Polley and VingRhames) take refuge in a mall. Tensions keep threatening to tear the group apart, not to mentionthe fact that they don’t know what their next course of action should be. Outside, the zombiesgather in ever increasing numbers.

This is the unrated version, running nine minutes longer t…
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Dream On – Seasons 1 & 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 22nd, 2004

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Synopsis

Brian Benben is a book editor. He is still madly in love with his ex-wife, but his dreams of getting back together with her are smashed by her upcoming marriage. And “dreams” is very much the operative term here, since Benben’s emotional reactions to the world around him are daydreams in the form of B&W clips from old films and TV shows. Exec-produced by John Landis, the series follows Benben’s misadventures (primarily with the opposite sex), and features plenty of Big Name guest appearances…
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Van Helsing

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 21st, 2004

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Synopsis

Gabriel (?!) Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman), 19th-Century James Bond/Batman action guy forthe Vatican, is dispatched to Transylvania, where Dracula is up to no good. Dracula wants to usethe Frankenstein Monster’s life force to bring to life his thousands of vampire offspring, littlebat-gremlin thingies that so far only live for a few moments before expiring. Should Draculasucceed, the world will be overwhelmed with vampires. Jackman is aided by Kate Beckinsale (ina wildly anach…
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War Room, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 4th, 2004

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Synopsis

This is a fly-on-the-wall documentary that follows Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign fromDemocratic primaries to the White House. This piece also made stars of sorts out of campaignmanage James Carville and communications director George Stephanopoulos, with the formerbeing an especially larger-than-life character. There is no narration, and pretty good knowledgeof how the American political system works is helpful, not to mention a sharp memory of thecon…
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