Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 15th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2004
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...Rogers fighters were identical to the Viper controls in Galactica. The comparison ends, however, when we get down to the scripts. Rogers was far lighter in tone. What do you expect when one of the characters is a short little robot named Tweekie who speaks with Mel Blanc’s cartoonish voice? I do remember having my first adolescent crush on Erin Gray’s Wilma. I remember mostly thinking that Gil Gerard looked a lot like Lee Majors. A highlight of the show is the appearance of the original Buck Rogers, Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon (another original Crabbe character).
The short second year was a completely reworked show with Buck and Wilma serving aboard the “Seeker,” which was searching for the lost tribes of Earth. No doubt there was once an intended tie-in with Galactica, which featured Earth’s lost tribes searching for Earth. Thom Christopher’s birdman Hawk was a nice touch, but the reworked show was not accepted by the fans. Ratings fell, and Buck Rogers was gone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2004
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... character to follow (maybe Mitch). It’s a collective work where the pieces add up to a whole. And it’s a wonderful whole.
The structure of the film is loose, and we follow the events of one day and night “in the life” of various characters. The end of school party climaxes the film. Some soon to be movie stars pop up too. Ben Affleck plays the paddle wielding baddie O’Bannion, Matthew McConaughey plays Wooderson (with his famous speech about high school girls), and Parker Posey shows her genuine talents as the “air raid” obsessed Darla Marks. But the other actors in film are just as authentic in their roles. Not a false note is heard throughout the movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2004
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... character to follow (maybe Mitch). It’s a collective work where the pieces add up to a whole. And it’s a wonderful whole.
The structure of the film is loose, and we follow the events of one day and night “in the life” of various characters. The end of school party climaxes the film. Some soon to be movie stars pop up too. Ben Affleck plays the paddle wielding baddie O’Bannion, Matthew McConaughey plays Wooderson (with his famous speech about high school girls), and Parker Posey shows her genuine talents as the “air raid” obsessed Darla Marks. But the other actors in film are just as authentic in their roles. Not a false note is heard throughout the movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 9th, 2004
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... over one school year and revolves around characters that I’m sure you all know. There’s Spicoli, Brad, Stacey, Rat, Mike Damone, Linda, and Mr. Hand. And the, then, unknown cast is now extremely famous, Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates, and (even in smaller roles) Anthony Edwards, Eric Stoltz, and Nicholas Cage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2004
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... when a strange new type of fossil is discovered deep in the jungles of the Amazon River a scientist (Carlson) and his assistant (Adams) track down a living “Gillman”. When attempts to capture the creature fail, it becomes enraged.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 29th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 22nd, 2004
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...(David Bowie, Fran Drescher, etc.). Dream On beat Ally McBeal to the punch with postmodern collage, and there is no denying that there’s some fun editing going on here. On the other hand, the clips aren’t exactly subtle or necessarily very original (tree going up at moment of sexual arousal, tree going down at interruption, har har har). There is some snap to the writing, and enough witty moments, but in the final analysis, this isn’t a whole lot more than your average sitcom. Simply replace laugh track with HBO-style language and content.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 21st, 2004
Synopsis
