Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 27th, 2007
Ask anyone on the street about children and odds are they will respond that children are our hope and are the obvious future of the world. We strive to improve our lives and fight for every available right so our children can live the best possible life. Imagine a world where children have become such an absent feature of daily life that everyone gathers around the TV when one dies. Visionary master Alfonso Cuaron invites us to sit back and imagine a future that is drab, dull and lacking the brightness of a world we expect for our children.
The year is 2027 and the surrounding world seems to be down for the count with no real sign of getting up. Cities and countries around the world burn from fires and explosions. Infertility has resulted in no child being born in nearly 18 years, and Britain is controlled by such a repressive police force that it seems like an Orwellian world has resurfaced. Police forces round up illegal immigrants called Fugees throwing them inside cages for immediate deportation (some later sequences seem like concentration camps). We soon meet Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a man who isn�t really the ideal type of hero that we would think of. He tends to drink, smoke and curse quite a lot almost feeling as if life doesn�t have a point. His old girlfriend Julian (Julianne Moore) approaches him, causing Theo to be immediately thrown into a world he never thought possible for himself. What we, and Theo quickly learn, is that Theo must protect the first pregnant woman in over 18 years. In the blink of an eye Theo, the seemingly disillusioned character, has now become Theo, the last hope of the human race.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 24th, 2007
Children are the future. They're why we strive to make the world a better place, or at least to maintain the world we've got. But what happens when there are no more children, when there is no future?
That's the context for Children of Men, the latest film from director phenom Alfonso Cuarén (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). Based on the novel by P.D. James, Children of Men is set in 2027, our near future. There are no flying cars, or space-suit clothes. In fact, the world appears pretty rundown, and the reason for its shabby state is the most striking difference between our present and the film's - humankind is infertile.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2007
Jack Webb's empire was running strong as Emergency entered its third year. What is interesting is that the series never racked up great numbers, but it had some strong staying power. Fans who did watch the show were loyal, and it along with Webb's police shows were affecting the pop culture. It's no secret that the contributions to society were high for Emergency. The modern paramedic system owes more than a little bit to the legacy of the series. The actors are still approached by folks who credit them with their decision to go into the life-saving business. More than a few cities around the country were inspired into creating such units because of the show. What's even better is that it could create such great social change and still be one hell of an entertaining series.
The premise is the same: Roy DeSoto (Tighe) and John Gage (Mantooth) were pioneers in the paramedic field. They would be stationed out of L.A.'s real station 51. With each new episode we were treated to a standard formula that would include some kind of daring rescue. The hospital scenes usually played out more like a soap opera and, for me at least, tended to slow things down. We young boys wanted to see more high risk rescues. Season three was a very comfortable year for the show. The interplay was about as smooth as any show on the air. Gage's foils with the IRS and others provide a ton more meat this season than it had in the first 2. That makes for entertaining drama and comedy beyond the rescues.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2007
Las Vegas made its most significant changes in the third season. The full time addition of Lara Flynn Boyle as the new rich owner of the Montecito made the show somewhat lighter overall. It was probably a good idea to shake things up a bit. The cast chemistry on this show is quite good but was perhaps settling in a bit too much after two years. Boyle's Monica was a perfect foil for James Caan's Ed. Caan was able to stretch his acting muscles a lot more in this season. The overall idea hasn't really changed: The Montecito Hotel and Casino is the setting for action and play. Former CIA operative Ed Deline (Caan) and his CIA buddy Danny McCoy (Duhamel) run one of the world's most sophisticated surveillance systems. With the help of a very young and attractive staff, the crew encounters everything from cheaters to mob hit men.
Once again the package promises Uncut and Uncensored. All that really means is literally a few seconds tacked on to an episode here and there. Those few seconds are more often than not a little quick nudity shot that adds absolutely nothing to the stories. It's a shame, really, that Las Vegas seems to need such a sexy element. The ensemble cast makes this a quality show without the extra trappings. This season features some new classic moments. Monica's exit is, unfortunately, a jump the shark moment for Las Vegas. The season begins a bit slowly as Ed tries to assemble the old crew. Once the band is back together, everything starts firing on all cylinders once again. Another Crossing Jordan crossover episode includes Jill Hennessey and Jerry O'Connell. A very nice change-up is the "Everything is New" episode. All the characters fantasize about what it was like working Vegas during the 60's. The entire episode takes on a Raymond Chandler look and feel as the actors step into the shoes of their counterparts working a hotel that once stood where the Montecito now towers over the Vegas skyline. This was a brilliant change of pace. If you like the show, the third season will give you a lot more of what you come to the Montecito for. This is not a good season to begin with, however. The storylines have a bit more of an overall arc to them, unlike the two previous years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2007
There are a few early sequences in Hollywoodland that show two important aspects of the film. First these sequences show us the type of man that George Reeves was trying to become (simply trying to get noticed) and, possibly more important, the type of actor that Affleck is becoming as his career becomes more about making quality films than making sure-fire moneymakers.
Based on the true story of the Hollywood unsolved murder of TV�s George Reeves, Hollywoodland stars accomplished actors Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins and Adrien Brody. Each plays a rather pivotal role in the film either as Reeves� lover (Diane Lane), her estranged husband (Bob Hoskins), a private investigator (Adrien Brody) or the man himself George Reeves (Ben Affleck in quite possibly his finest peformance to date).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2007
Ever write off a movie based solely on the buzz? I did that with Hollywoodland before I'd ever heard the actual title - someone asked, "did you hear about Ben Affleck's new movie? I hear it stinks." Given Affleck's recent string of box office flops, that's all it took for me to avoid the film.
Of course, it's not just an Affleck movie; it also stars Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Diane Lane (Under the Tuscan Sun) and Bob Hoskins (Mrs. Henderson Presents). As expected, these actors turn in fine performances, creating characters that keep viewers' interest while the film meanders its way through one of Hollywood's unsolved mysteries. The nice surprise here, though, is that Affleck (Surviving Christmas) more than holds his own with a superb performance as George Reeves. It's easy to forget that Affleck is a talented actor, but if you think back to films like Shakespeare in Love and Good Will Hunting, his performance here is less of a surprise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2007
I�m sure I�m not the only person wondering why on Earth a studio like Universal, with so many classics in their vault, would release Half Baked so quickly onto HD DVD. One can presumably assume that the only reason they chose to release it at this particular time is to bank on the recent popularity of David Chappelle. The only unfortunate part here is that Chappelle�s performance, while sometimes funny, shows that his talent was best used elsewhere.
Thurgood Jenkins (Chappelle), Scarface (Guillermo Diaz), Kenny (Harlan Ellison), and Brian (Jim Breuer) are life-long friends who live together, talk together and obviously smoke together. Each holds a pretty decent life (Thurgood�s a janitor, Kenny is a school teacher, Scarface works at a fast-food joint and Brian works at a record store), but after a particularly good set of hits with their favorite choice of narcotic, Kenny is chosen to run out to grab some munchies. On the way out of the store, Kenny runs into a police officer�s horse. Kenny proceeds to feed the officer�s horse (not knowing it�s a diabetic) until it keels over and dies. Kenny is soon arrested with bail set at $100,000. Luckily for our buddies, Thurgood finds out that his company tests marijuana. Their ingenious plan is to steal some and sell it. Unfortunately, a local drug lord isn�t too happy when he hears of this. Add in the standard female attraction and you have a film that ultimately has a few laughs, but fails overall.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 23rd, 2007
Wow. It�s already been over a year since hearing the endless �I can�t quit you� pander that many labeled Brokeback Mountain with. Sitting down to see this one for the 3rd time, I feared that the initial power the film had over me would be diminished. Such isn�t the case here as Brokeback Mountain is still the same excellent film it was over a year ago.
Brokeback Mountain tells the story of star-crossed lovers Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Kake Gyllenhaal). Both are young men, not even twenty, working in the year of 1963. They meet and fall in love on a sheep-herding job in Signal, Wyoming. The film chronicles the next 20 years of their lives from Ennis marrying Alma Beers (Michelle Williams) to Jack marrying Laureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). The 20 years that the film takes place over show Ennis and Jack trying to lead a normal life without seeing each other, but shortly before realizing that they both have a deep connection to one another.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2007
Con movies are nothing new to Hollywood. Each has that character who thinks they�re on top of the world behind this bullet proof armor only to eventually realize that they�ve either been played or been watched the entire time. I suppose what makes con films work on the level they do is that these characters (admit it!) are all committing acts we�d love to even THINK about committing. The only problem is that we�re not even that badass of a person to even attempt it. Having never seen this film, I figured I�d get a fairly entertaining film with decent acting and an interesting enough plot. Boy was I mistaken about this one. Oscar awarded 1973 film The Sting has easily become my favorite con film.
Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) is a small-time con man from Joliet, Illinois. Hooker and his buddies Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones) and Joe Erie (Jack Kehoe) steal $11K from a victim without the victim ever knowing. After this huge success, Luther tells Johnny that he wants to retire from this gig of crime so he can move to Kansas City, Missouri. He tells Hooker to seek out his old friend named Henry Gondroff.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2007
Let me begin here by saying that I�ve never found any film based on the Vietnam War good. I assume this stems from that everything I�ve ever known or been taught about the War shows that (I apologize in advance for those who get offended) the War was not necessary (this said by my Uncle who fought in the War). Every Vietnam film I�ve tried to enjoy from Born on the Fourth of July to Platoon I just couldn�t as this little reminder always poked in the back of my mind. I should honestly scratch that last sentence as I�ve found the first Vietnam film that I absolutely found excellent.
I suppose the best way to describe a film like Deer Hunter, even though its predominately towered by the power of the events of the Vietnam War, is a film that takes place over three sections. The first section involves a wedding ceremony attended by honest hard-working fellows who want nothing but their great life to continue. Then we are met with the middle section, which is definitely the most powerful section as it takes anything I�ve known about the Vietnam War (intense horror) and basically showcases it on the screen in front of me.
![The Sting [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-sting-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![The Deer Hunter [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-deer-hunter-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
