Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2006
Get ready, all you pre-teen Emilio Estevez fans, for this new special edition of Repo Man from Focus Features. I had no idea this film had such a following, and after viewing, I can’t seem to make sense of it. Not always sure of its genre, Repo Man is a film oddity that mixes drama, comedy, and goofball science-fiction with a meandering plot and questionable performances to get one of the strangest and most forgettable B-movies this side of Bride of the Monster. I was joking about a pre-teen Este...ez, but he is still very young, and not at all convincing in the role he’s playing here. I wonder if Estevez looks back on this film with the embarrassment one has for an old yearbook photo. He probably should. The great thing about this film, however, is you get to see Harry Dean Stanton at the top of his game, and he was an actor of incredible talent, who could have brought artistic credibility to a porno film if he so desired. Unfortunately, cheesy ‘80’s effects inferior even to Alf and an all-over-the-place plot pull away from the merits Stanton brings to the production.
The story begins with a roguish teen outsider, played by Estevez, who can’t seem to get any respect, or anything good out of life, no matter how hard he tries. One day, Stanton’s character takes a liking to him and decides for no reason that makes any sense he would make a great “repo man.” Voila, instant protégé. Meanwhile, there’s a scientific madman on the loose carrying a neutron bomb in the trunk of his old Malibu, and frying any overly curious person to a crisp with it. Whether it’s a highway patrolmen or a street punk kid, no one is immune from its effects. Along the way, there are crazy conspiracy theorists, street gangs, and a rival team of repo men on the prowl just waiting to heat the pot to a confusing boil. The sad thing about this film: it’s very entertaining in its simplicity, and very frustrating and dull in its complexity. The repossession scenes are immensely entertaining, and I’m sure a good film lurks somewhere within those confines. But Cox wants to make too many films at once and, in the end, does more harm than good.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2006
The death of a celebrity usually brings sadness to many of their fans. However, whenever a celebrity does die, you can definitely expect a best of or some type of collection to find its‘ way to your video store shelves as soon as possible. After Richard Pryor died in December, Universal decided to wait one short month before releasing this four disc movie collection which features four of Pryor’s films that he either starred in or had something to do with. While the film’s contained her are not the best work of Pryor...s (other studios have rights to those particular works), the film’s Universal chose are pretty entertaining and remind us of the genius that Pryor was.
First up is the film Which Way is Up? which is re-make of the 1972 Italian comedy The Seduction of Mimi. The Italian version concerns the mob, but this version concerns Corporations and Labor Unions, where the workers at an orange-picking field want to form a union to ensure better and less-dangerous working conditions. Pryor steps up the plate when he falls off his ladder one day. Pryor is asked to leave the town by the big bosses at the orange corporation. This causes him to move to the city, fall in love with a union supporter, and funny comedy simply ensues. While the comedy presented is nothing that will have you laughing on the floor, it did have me similing many times simply because the type of comedy is something we can all relate to. The comedy is about human beings and their life lessons through family and work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 23rd, 2006
My name's trouble... and you got some of it lady.
I admit, I wasn't even a big fan of The A-Team back in the day. I mean, I was a boy, and Mr. T was cool and all, but the show itself never really grabbed my attention. Even at a young age, the whole thing just felt a little too unbelievable. I mean, if these guys are a group of deserters and felons who are wanted by the government, then how is it that everybody knows who they are? Plus, Mr. T isn't exactly inconspicuous wearing 832 gold ...hains around his neck everywhere he goes. Then, of course, there is the fact that they frequently open fire with fully-automatic weapons in public places (and nobody gets hurt). Apparently the government hasn't made finding The A-Team priority one.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 21st, 2006
David Lynch's Dune has an extremely odd past, which some might say is just how David Lynch likes it. This cult classic came out in 1984 to the joy of sci-fi fans everywhere. Some time after the film's release, the studio tried to get Lynch to take all of the extra footage that he had shot for the film, and re-cut the product into an extended TV-appropriate film. Lynch refused, but since the studio already owned the footage, they went ahead and cut it together themselves. The result is an "Alan Smithee" directe... version of Dune. (For those that may not know, "Alan Smithee" is a pseudonym often given to films that directors want to totally remove their names from, as a result of their films being re-cut by the studio against their wishes. A search for Alan Smithee on IMDB is a fascinating and often-times humorous look at what happens when the "business types" get involved in the creative process.)
Lynch further expressed his displeasure with this new cut of the film by crediting the screenwriter as "Judas Booth", a cross between the Judas from the bible who betrayed Jesus, and John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. In this way, Lynch made the statement that the studio had betrayed him and killed his film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 21st, 2006
Jack Webb built an empire out of the police drama. Dragnet laid the foundation that 50 years of cop shows would stand upon. In 1972 Webb turned his attention to the relatively recent phenomenon of the paramedic. Based on a California law, the Wedsworth-Townsend Act, which created one of the first paramedic programs, Emergency brought the exploits of these young, daring rescue workers to our living rooms every week.
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, usually high above the ground. The episode would always feature a few hospital scenes were Dr. Brackett (Fuller) would deal with Rampart Hospital’s emergency room as well as guide the paramedics via radio in the field. Off the wall cases were common as well as humorous aspects of the firefighters’ lives at station 51.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 18th, 2006
In the era we live in, the eventuality of a movie about a soldier’s experience in war was going to come, whether or not we wanted to see the film. Since the war in Iraq is such a hot button topic with a majority of people, regardless if you were for the war or against the war, Universal thought this would be the perfect moment to capture our interest in war. Enter director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) and Academy-Award winning Actor Jamie Foxx (Ray) ...nd you know you have a movie that will pique the average person’s curiousity. But was Jarhead made too soon? Would people really want to see what our soliders are going through? Read on to find out.
Jarhead is based on the 2003 memoirs of Anthony Swofford who is portrayed by Gyllenhaal. Swofford served in the first Gulf War. The film is obviously about a war, but what makes the film amazing is that it is a war film that rises way, way above the concept of a war to tell an intriguing story of exhaustion, boredom, lonliness, obession and drama.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 7th, 2006
Pity the younger generations that will forever associate the character of Inspector Clouseau with Steve Martin. Peter Sellers might not have been a “wild and crazy guy,” but he was nothing short of brilliant as a comedic actor. Sellers never relied on over the top grandstanding to make a point. You never needed to be hit over the head with the jokes. He displayed an altogether different, more subdued, flamboyance than the modern comic. You didn’t need to be told when to laugh. The problem was more often being able to stop. Teamed with Blake Edwards in the Pink Panther series, the comedy becomes iconic. While it is true that Return of the Pink Panther might not be the best of the series, it is superior to later entries that eventually ran out of steam. The series without Sellers finally resorted to the pushy humor so prevalent today. In case it isn’t obvious by now, the success of this franchise rested squarely on Sellers’ shoulders. Attempts were made to continue the series immediately after his untimely death. All of these films were resounding failures. I suspect the current film will find itself stuck in the same fate.
The largest and most valuable diamond in the world, The Pink Panther, has been stolen for a second time. All clues point to The Phantom (Plummer). His only hope of clearing his name is the man who recovered the jewel the first time it was taken: Inspector Clouseau (Sellers). Clouseau has troubles of his own. Someone wants him dead… his boss.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2006
Synopsis
For awhile, Jim Carrey looked to be taking the career path that Michael Keaton had previously established. Start off with strong, hilarious comedic performances, attempt to get into dramatic roles with some critical success, and fade into the sunset, with the occasional bad script choice. While Carrey hasn’t dipped into the Jack Frost period yet, with The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, Carrey had established the fact that he could pull off carrying a dramatic movie, and do it...fairly well, with consecutive Golden Globe awards to boot. Then, after playing a cop with multiple personalities (Me, Myself and Irene) and the Grinch and The Majestic came along, and it was hammered; no one went to see it. Enter Tom Shadyac, Carrey’s old reliable, and collaborator on Liar Liar and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. With Bruce Almighty, Carrey goes back to the goofball comedy well that helped to propel him to the $20 million paychecks you hear about now.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 1st, 2006
I will be honest and inform you that I have yet to like a video game based film since 1995’s Mortal Kombat. It seems that no matter how closely they try to follow the story based on the game, the director always fails. One of the more famous director’s in the video-game to movie based series is director Uwe Boll, who has brought us The House of the Dead and the recent Bloodrayne, These movies, as the popular consensus agrees, were extremely awful. They lacked anything redeeming, despite the orig...nal source material being pretty good. When I heard of a film being made on the game series Doom, I began to worry as I figured it would follow the typical trend of terrible video-game based movies. Can Doom reverse the horrible trend of terrible video-game based movies? Read on to find out
Doom begins with a fly in shot over the red planet Mars. We move in more and see the Olduvai Research Station, which is a remote scientific facility on Mars. And that is the last scene we see of the planet Mars. For a movie based on a game that takes place on the red planet Mars, we never fully see the planet except for the opening scene. Maybe this is me wanting what I saw in the game series. But every film director has to take a few creative liberties right? Well, I am very disappointed to report to that director Andrzej Bartkowiak and Universal seem to have taken a few too many creative liberties when making this film as the film is nothing like the game at all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2006
Last year, Warner Brothers put out a great ten-disc set of all of the Hitchcock films in their catalog. While not the ultimate Hitchcock collection, it was still an excellent representation of the Master's work, including many films that have received a well-deserved second look as a result of their inclusion in the set. It was especially rewarding to be given the opportunity to see Montgomery Clift's amazing portrayal of a Priest caught in the middle of a murder scandal in I Confess.
Not to be outdo...e, Universal has now decided to showcase its Hitchcock films as well. After all, nobody can out-Hitchcock Universal's deep catalog, and they hit back hard at Warner's with a staggering fifteen disc set of their own. While the WB set set is well worth purchasing, as the saying goes, "if you only buy one Hitchcock boxed set this year... make Universal's The Masterpiece Collection be it." These are the classics. The films that Hitch is known for. The hit list is as follows; Saboteur, Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt, Marnie, Frenzy, The Trouble With Harry, Family Plot, Torn Curtain, Topaz and The Man Who Knew Too Much. While pieces like Topaz and The Trouble With Harry may not be well known films, there is no denying the important place in cinema history that so many of the others possess. This is an instant film school in a box, and thanks to packaging multiple discs in each case, Universal has kept the cost relatively low. If you order through Amazon, this set can be picked up for about $6 per film, and that doesn't even include the book or the bonus disc.
