Warner Bros.

West Wing – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 24th, 2005

Season Four of The West Wing was the series’ final season with the show’s creator, Aaron Sorkin. This left quite a bit of trepidation among the show’s faithful followers. What would happen with the series left in the hands of new writers, and without Rob Lowe’s portrayal of Sam Seaborn? After all, Sorkin’s original plans for the show were for it to focus on Sam, and now everything seems to be falling apart.

With one notable exception, I am proud to announce that the show is still rolling along at a s…
Read More

Dukes of Hazzard, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 21st, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Where does Dukes of Hazzard fall on the spectrum of TV show adaptations? Somewhere in the middle, which came as a surprise. I expected a stupid flick with no entertainment value, but I got a stupid flick with more than a few glimmers of amusement. The film’s plot borders on irrelevant, but I’ll recap it anyway. The flick focuses on the adventures of cousins Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville) Duke. They deliver moonshine for their Uncle Jesse (Willie Nelson), and Bo also succeeds as a local ra…
Read More

Kong: King of Atlantis

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 16th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Just in time for the mega release of Peter Jackson’s King Kong comes a slew of Kong-related merchandise determined to cash in on the hoopla. Like long lost relatives only interested in you after that big lottery win, these forgettable items are giving it one desperate shot on DVD. Among this sub-par schedule of releases is the new feature-length cartoon Kong – King of Atlantis. In this outing, Kong is a new gorilla descended from the original King Kong. He has inherited the size, but is still struggling…
Read More

Polar Express, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Written by Clayton Self

The Polar Express is a milestone in digital film making. Making use of “performance capture” (little attachments connected to the body to mimic human movement) and green screens, Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) has created a stunning visual world that is sure to find its way into homes of millions to be enjoyed during the Holiday season. Labeled by some as creepy because of the not quite real, yet not quite fake digital characters, The Polar Express is nothing more than an epic Christmas a…
Read More

King Kong

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 9th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

We all know the story, even if we haven’t seen the film. Risk-taking (and potentially criminally irresponsible) documentary maker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) charters a ship and sets off for an uncharted island. On board are first mate Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) and Ann Darrow (Fay Wray), the woman Denham has tapped for the lead in his film. They arrive at Skull Island, and before long, Ann is kidnapped and offered as a sacrifice to Kong. The giant ape falls for Ann, and a romantic trian…
Read More

Batman Begins

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 7th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Written by Clayton Self

Batman Begins is a brand new and WAY cooler take on the Dark Knight franchise than anything we’ve seen before. Most importantly, this is NOT a prequel to any of the previous four Batman films. This is a fresh start for the franchise, and it gets done the way it should have been done in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, Burton made two very dark and original films, but let’s face it; Batman Returns sent children bawling out of the theatre, and left parents with a sour taste in their mouth. That mo…
Read More

Wizard of Oz, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Frustrated by vicissitudes of Depression-era life, Dorothy wishes she were somewhere else. She gets her wish in ways she couldn’t have imagined, as a tornado drops her into the magical world of Oz. Accompanied by the brain-free Scarecrows, heartless Tin Man and cowardly Lion, she sets out on a quest to return home. In order to be granted that wish by the all-powerful Wizard, she must first defeat the Wicked Witch of the West.

And so I conclude what must surely be the most superfluo…
Read More

Girl in the Cafe, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

The Girl in the Café is an interesting idea for a movie. It’s a blend of romantic comedy with a political agenda. The film doesn’t really work, but it’s nice to see something different. The romantic pair is played by Bill Nighy and Kelly MacDonald. Both are fine actors, and they have an awkward, engaging chemistry. Nighy plays a lonely civil servant and MacDonald plays a damn sexy woman. They “meet cute” in, you guessed it, a café, and they end up going to the G8 summit in Iceland (go figure). The scri…
Read More

The Val Lewton Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 23rd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Val Lewton produced 9 horror films for RKO back in the 1940’s. His films did not rely on terrible monsters or horrific images. Lewton was a master at atmosphere. Unfortunately these films have mostly been forgotten over the years, The Cat People being perhaps the most recognizable title in the collection. Sadly, this might be more for the lackluster remake in the 1980’s. Truth be told, these films are not really horror films in the usual sense of the genre. In most cases the evil is the product of an all too human hand rather than anything supernatural or fantastic.
Read More

House of Wax

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 20th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

A group of young folk on their way to the “biggest college football game of the year” (you would do an overnight trip for THAT?) take an unfortunate detour. In groups of two, they are lured into a town run by two madmen, where the only other inhabitants are the was-coated effigies of their victims. What follows is the expected gory slaughter, and some of the deaths are gruesomely imaginative. There is, however, no terror. What does it say when practically the most likeable character in a fil…
Read More

Kung Fu – The Complete Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 24th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with Kung Fu. It is always better for a show to go out at the top of its game than to overstay its welcome, fizzle, and fade away. Season One of this show was excellent in its storytelling, as the characters and themes were firmly established. Season Two was mostly about maintaining the themes that were set forth in the first year. Season Three, however, is where the whole thing comes together. Without giving too much away, it is safe to say that this season en…
Read More

Complete James Dean Collection, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 24th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) is the landmark, because of its star, and because of its subject matter. This intense, rich portrayal of juvenile delinquency triggered a flood of largely exploitive imitators, but it remains a powerful film, not least for the sympathy with which it treats its characters, and for its understanding. It shows why the Dean, Natalie Wood and company behave the way they do, and does not demonize. This was Dean’s second film, but the first to be released, and hi…
Read More

Dallas – The Complete Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 24th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

It sometimes becomes quite challenging to write a review of a television show release in the mid-seasons. The opening season of the show has plenty to talk about, and the final season wraps things up, but what about season six, say, of an eleven season show? What is there to say then? “Well, this season involves the same characters doing the same stuff they have been doing for years.”

Lucky for me, this is a mid-season set that has something to talk about. Something big. Something the whole nation was talking…
Read More

Constantine

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 19th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

I’ll bet the script to this film read like a dream. The Exorcist meets Hellboy meets The Mummy. Surely this is the ideal vehicle for Keanu Reeves following his three picture run on The Matrix. Sound too good to be true? Unfortunately, it is. Now, there is a lot that is admirable in this film. For example, the acting, which is is far above the tired bar set by most modern action/sci-fi flicks. Furthermore, the special effects in Constantineare simply fantastic. In fact, I would go so…
Read More

Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 3rd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

There are two Lawrence Tierney vehicles here, and the first is the one that made his name, the 1945 Dillinger. Told in flashback for no visible reason, this chronicles Dillinger’s rise from naive and incompetent thief to ruthless, brutal gang leader, and his ultimate fall. There are some startlingly brutal scenes here, for the time, and if Tierney isn’t quite as scary as James Cagney in White Heat, he’s still plenty menacing.

He’s even scarier as an out-and-out psycho…
Read More

Tales from the Crypt — The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Hugely popular in the 1950s, but politically excoriated and ultimately shut down, EC Comics such as Tales from the Crypt saw their stories revived first in the theatrical Amicus anthologies of the early 70s, and then as this TV series. Here is the first season (a mere six half-hour episodes), directed by the likes of Richard Donner, Walter Hill, Robert Zemeckis and Mary Lambert, among others. The stories are very faithful to the spirit of the comics (and are taken from actual stories)…
Read More

Errol Flynn — The Signature Collection

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

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Captain Blood (1935) is the picture that made Errol Flynn a star, and paired him for the first time of many with Olivia De Havilland. There had been pirate movies before (Douglas Fairbanks was the star in them), but this became the new high watermark of the genre. Flynn plays a doctor who is unjustly accused of treason and shipped off to a life of slavery in the colonies. He fights back, eventually becoming the pirate of the title, but always remaining an honourable man, of course. Th…
Read More

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Years before she was a resident on Wisteria Lane, and even before she was a notorious Bond girl, Teri Hatcher played Lois Lane on the New Adventures of Superman. Along with Dean Cain who played Clark Kent (aka Superman), these two actors brought the traditional story (unlike the recent Smallville) of superman once again to the small screen. Although Cain has not been able to reach the recent success that Hatcher has, the pair did share good chemistry on this show – creating an enjoyable television ex…
Read More

Lost Lake

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Lost Lake is an incomprehensible mess. Think David Lynch with less sense. If that makes any. The story takes place at an isolated ski lodge. Cue the entrance of exotic hottie Kat Walker (played by Angel Boris). The movie is hard to describe. Letâ€™s just sayâ€¦the ski lodge has some really weird guests. And pee can make frozen privates thaw from metal. Didnâ€™t you know that? An avalanche also comes into play. Kat starts having â€œvisionsâ€. I dunno. The plot is convoluted and makes Mulholland D…
Read More

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 15th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

In the unnecessary sequel department comes Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. Why make this movie? Because Sandra Bullock needs a hit? It doesn’t come here. Bullock, once again (and hopefully for the last time), plays Gracie Hart. Her involvement in a well known beauty pageant has made it impossible for Gracie to maintain a low FBI profile. So she has become the PR person for the bureau. But Gracie is “called back” into the line of duty (against the FBI’s wishes) when two of her friends (played by …
Read More

Controversial Classics

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

The degree to which any of these films is or was “controversial” varies quite a bit, but the claim can certainly be made that all seven of these films dealt with pertinent social issues of their times. Some are still quite relevant today, and all are well worth watching.

I Am a Fugitive from as Chain Gang (1932) is the film that, of this group, had the most direct impact on the real world: not only did it give a huge boost to penal reform, but Robert E. Burns, on whose book …
Read More

Getaway, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Steve McQueen is Doc McCoy, master thief. Having just been denied parole, he asks wife Ali McGraw to make a bargain with political fixer Ben Johnson to get him out. This she does, but what McQueen doesn’t realize is that the deal not only involved McQueen’s participation in a bank job, but also McGraw sleeping with Johnson. In short order, the robbery goes wrong, and husband and wife are on the run.

From its punchy, jaggedly edited credit sequence on, this is Peckinpah at his most …
Read More

Space Ghost: Coast to Coast – Volume Three

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 29th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

In terms of concept, it seems kinda cool and avant-garde: take the old cartoon Space Ghost, hire some writers and voiceover guys to interview some guests as part of a talk show and see what happens. The result, being Space Ghost Coast to Coast eventually did turn into a cult following and captured an older (read: 18-30) demographic for the Cartoon Network.

Though Space Ghost is a superhero, in this series he has kidnapped a couple of his villains to be a part of his talk show. You have …
Read More

Criminal

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

Much like previous con films before it like Matchstick Men and The Grifters, Criminal tells the story of a veteran taking a young inexperienced rookie under his wing and showing him the tricks behind the money, and the con artist philosophy.

Based on the Argentinean film Nine Queens, Richard (John C. Reilly, Magnolia) spots Rodrigo (Diego Luna, The Terminal) trying to hustle drink money in a club. He hustles Rodrigo out, and discovers Rodrigo is doing this to earn m…
Read More

Aviator, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 21st, 2005

Buy at Amazon.com

There’s nothing like a big Hollywood epic. And Martin Scorsese is the man to deliver. The Aviator is a tantalizing blend of Old Hollywood and modern filmmaking panache. The movie tells the story of Howard Hughes. He rose to fame as a Hollywood producer and aviator extraordinaire. Eventually, Hughes descended into a crippling OCD affliction. The movie gives us a taste of the tragedy to come, but doesn’t dwell on it. The Aviator is a thrilling ride into the world of a complicated man.

The…
Read More

«< 27 28 29 30 31 >»