Warner Bros.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 1st, 2004

Synopsis

The story begins in summer of 1903, some seven months before the World’s Fair arrives inSt. Louis. The film is then divided up into the seasons as we follow the life of the Smith family.At the centre is Judy Garland as Esther Smith, backed up by a very young Margaret O’Brien aslittle sister “Tootie.” In terms of plot, nothing much happens: Garland falls in love, and there issome tension when it seems that the pater familias has landed a job in New York and the familywill ha…
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Friends – The Complete Seventh Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 30th, 2004

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Synopsis

Having exhausted just about every other romantic combination involving the ever-popularcast, the writers finally settled down to make a wedding actually happen. The preparations forthe wedding and all the associated complications form the backbone of the season, while variousother subplots (Rachel’s hunky new assistant, roommate musical chairs, etc) weave in and out.We are also asked to believe that a) Rachel is only turning 30 now; and b) this is a HugeDeal.

A…
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Kung Fu – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 30th, 2004

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JULES – “That’s what I’ve been sitting here contemplating. First, I’m gonna’ deliver this case to Marsellus. Then, basically, I’m gonna’ walk the earth.”

VINCENT – “What do you mean, walk the earth?”

JULES – “You know, like Caine in KUNG FU. Just walk from town to town, meet people, get in adventures.”

These words, spoken between John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Quentin Tarrantino’s amazing film Pulp Fiction, marked the first time that I ever heard of …
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Gothika

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2004

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Gothika starts out with tremendous promise. The story appears that it will be more original and rewarding than most horror/thrillers. Halle Berry certainly rises above the usual B-list acting. Even Downey, Jr. seems suspiciously at home in the film’s prison setting. The trouble begins for the audience shortly after it does for Berry. Soon the film begins to get predictable and ordinary. Only the terrific cinematography and convincing atmosphere save the film from sinking to the depths of the many who have gone before…
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Looney Tunes – Back in Action

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 17th, 2004

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Back in the day, the Looney Tunes were irreverent, violent, and created with an adult audience in mind (much like South Park is today). Somewhere along the line, however, values changed, and they became standard kids faire. Now, that’s not to say that there wasn’t still plenty in there for adults to enjoy as well, but they just didn’t carry with them the same humorous social commentaries that were prevalent in the days of old.

Well, the Tunes are back! The appropriately-titled Looney Tunes – Back …
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Big Bounce, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 11th, 2004

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Synopsis

Ryan O’Neal, in a spectacular bit of miscasting, is a drifter with an explosive temper. He isback from Vietnam, moving from job to job. After getting himself fired from a cucumberplantation, he is taken on as a handyman at a motel. He is fascinated by the plantation owner’s“secretary” (Leigh Taylor-Young), and she is just a bad, bad girl. Her quest for kicks lead togreater and greater risk and danger, and O’Neal, smitten, follows along, getting in over hishead.

Th…
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Dawg

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2004

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Synopsis

Denis Leary plays Doug Munford a wheeling dealing ego maniac skirt chaser who must get the women he has betrayed to forgive him so that he can inherit a million dollars. Elizabeth Hurley plays the lawyer who must accompany him done the road to redemption and cash to ensure that he doesn’t cheat. Along the way Doug finds out that he had a daughter with one of the women who is now dead and decides that maybe he needs to change his life. Ho hum can we throw a couple of more clichés in this one,…
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Grand Hotel

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2004

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Synopsis

We are in a magnificent art deco hotel in Berlin. Here we come to know a disparate groupof characters: the world-weary ballerina (Garbo), the gentleman thief (John Barrymore), thedying man on a last spending binge (Lionel Barrymore), the scheming stenographer (JoanCrawford), and the unsavoury tycoon (Wallace Beery). These characters’ lives intersect andcollide over the course of a momentous night.

This is not the best-written Hollywood production. The plot is implau…
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Gilligan’s Island – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 22nd, 2004

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What happens when a maladroit lackey, an entrepreneur and his wife, a polymath, a store clerk from Kansas, a motion picture starlet, and a ship captain get stranded on a desert island? The next edition of Survivor, right. Okay…I didn’t fool you. It’s Gilligan’s Island. And the first season is on DVD, all 36 episodes (including the infamous pilot)! Is this cause for celebration? Perhaps for some…

Gilligan’s Island ran for 3 seasons, and close to 100 episodes, on CBS from 1964 to 1967. Th…
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Blow-Up

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

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Synopsis

David Hemmings is a jaded photographer plying his trade in Swinging Sixties’ London. Outtaking pictures in a park, he shoots a series of pictures of a couple apparently having anargument. The woman in the pictures (Vanessa Redgrave) subsequently turns up at Hemmings’studio, wanting the pictures back. Even more mysterious is a shot Hemmings took sometimelater, after the argument. Is there a body in the picture? The more he blows up the picture,seeking the answer, the grainie…
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Great Ziegfeld, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 20th, 2004

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MGM keeps rolling out the Best Picture award winners. A few weeks ago it was Mutiny on the Bounty, this time it’s The Great Ziegfeld . I think Ziegfeld belongs in the category of those Best Picture winners that aren’t necessarily the best films for that year (Driving Miss Daisy?? C’mon). I actually prefer Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Gregory La Cava’s seminal screwball comedy My Man Godfrey (starring Ziegfeld’s own William Powell). The Great Ziegfeld al…
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Mrs. Miniver

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 18th, 2004

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Synopsis

Our story begins in 1939, just before the outbreak of WWII. The Minivers (Greer Garsonand Walter Pidgeon) enjoy an idyllic existence in a charming town where the biggest controversyis over whether the station master Henry Travers should be entering his rose against localaristocrat Dame May Witty’s in the flower competition. But then the war comes, and little bylittle, it reaches into the lives of the townspeople, wreaking ever more havoc. Through it all,Garson remains a tow…
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Thorn Birds, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2004

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Synopsis

In 1920s Australia, Father Richard Chamberlain (the king of mini-series) is lusted over byBarbara Stanwyck. He isn’t interested, but not because he is above temptation. Instead, he isfalling for Stanwyck’s niece, who grows up to be Rachel Ward. Love, lust, vengeance andVatican power politics mesh together into a pretty heady brew.

Granted, there’s nothing very subtle about any of this. Right from the get-go, every line delivered is in the servide of graphically mappi…
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I’ll Be There

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 15th, 2004

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“I’ll Be There” is different from most romantic comedies in that the main relationship is between a father and his daughter….wait a minute, that didn’t come out quite right.

The story revolves around Paul Kerr, an aging rock star who ends up in a hospital following a drunken ride on a motorcycle inside his own mansion. There is a concern that he may have thoughts of taking his own life. And then to top it off Paul learns about a daughter that he sired during a relationship that he had with a groupie 16 ye…
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Friends – The Complete Sixth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2004

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The show that just won’t die returns for it’s sixth season on DVD… and proves why it still belongs in every sitcom fan’s home collection.

Let’s be honest, if you’ve never seen this show before, you are not going to start with Season Six. People who are interested in Season Six are here because they are already loyal followers of the show. I obviously don’t have to sell seasoned fans on the outstanding quality of this sitcom, or on how great the comedy is. You’re a fan. You already know.

So the rea…
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Gaslight

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 13th, 2004

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Synopsis

Many years ago, a murder was committed in a fashionable home on a fashionable square inLondon. The murderer was looking for priceless jewels. Years later, a young woman and herdashing new husband move into the house. Bit by bit, the woman appears to be losing her mind.She forgets where she puts things, and moves paintings around without remembering she hasdone so. Or so it appears. In fact, she is being driven out of her mind by her husband. Could hebe the murderer? And wha…
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Mutiny on the Bounty

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 9th, 2004

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Synopsis

In 1787, the HMS Bounty sets sail for Tahiti. The journey is long and dangerous, but thecommander, Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) is an extremely skilled seaman. He is also abrutal, corrupt sadist. Resentment builds amongst the crew, until finally mutiny erupts, led byfirst officer Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable).

Never mind that most of the leads are Americans playing Brits. This is one of the great seaadventures. Its release on DVD is most welcome, what with th…
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Space Ghost: Coast to Coast – Volume One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 3rd, 2004

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Easily the one of the weirdest (if not the weirdest) concepts to ever grace the small screen, Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a bizarre talk show hosted by a minor 60’s cartoon hero Space Ghost. Repeated animation clips are used to have Space Ghost “interview” such luminaries of the mid 90’s (the show ran on Cartoon Network from 1993-1996) such as Slash, Hulk Hogan, Bobcat Golthwait, Michael Stipe from REM (promoting Monster), and The Jerky Boys.

The basic premise has Space Ghost asking inane questions to hi…
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Alex & Emma

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 31st, 2003

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There have always been directors that have stood out in the public consciousness. Scorsese. Spielberg. Hitchcock. Lynch. These are all directors that have a specific vision. With very few exceptions, if you came across one of their films on television on an average Saturday afternoon, it wouldn’t take too long to figure out who the director was. They each have a very unique cinematic style, usually based in dramatic films.

Oddly enough, Rob Reiner also fits into this category. His light comedies all have a …
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Bogart Collection, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 28th, 2003

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Casablanca. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The Big Sleep. TheMaltese Falcon. To Have and Have Not. All legendary titles, all among the very bestmovies Hollywood has ever made. Terrific adventures and mysteries, the fit together as acollection in fascinating ways, beyond simply having Bogart as the lead. To Have and HaveNot is structurally very much like a more upbeat version of Casablanca. TheMaltese Falcon is frequently held up as the first film no…
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Postman Always Rings Twice, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 28th, 2003

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Synopsis

Drifter John Garfield arrives at a filling station which advertises “Man Wanted” (a sign to beinterpreted in more than one sense). The proprietor is the jovial but cheap and aging CecilKellaway, and his wife is bombshell Lana Turner. Garfield and Turner fall in love, and beforelong, they’re plotting the murder of Kellaway.

To say more would be unfair — this is a film that is best experienced cold, so you can be hitby the twists and turns of the plot. I will …
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 26th, 2003

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Synopsis

The version of the story these films tell much the same, given that the 1941 Spencer Tracyeffort was a remake of the 1932 Fredric March production. Handsome Dr. Henry Jekyll,frustrated over being denied an earlier marriage to his fiancee (Rose Hobart in 1932, Lana Turnerin ‘41), quaffs a potion and becomes the monstrous Edward Hyde. Hyde’s principle victim is Ivy(Miriam Hopkins/Ingrid Bergman), the woman on whom Jekyll’s now unleashed sexuality ventsits fury.

Ben Stiller Show, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 22nd, 2003

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Synopsis

In what Stiller himself describes as a misfired precursor to the Gary Shandling Show,the central conceit here is that a fictionalized version of Stiller gives us a behind-the-scenes lookat the series between skits, an gradually reveals himself to be the Boss From Hell. The skitsthemselves are in the Mad TV/SCTV vein, parodying rockumentaries, movie trailers, and so on.There is some clever stuff, but I’ll confess that I seem have some kind of a jinx when it comes…
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Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 10th, 2003

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Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury, along with Famous Monster Forry Ackerman, have been friends since childhood. It’s no wonder that when Harryhausen was given his first chance to completely control a production that he would turn to his boyhood friend who happened to become one of the world’s best known science fiction writers. Actually, the original production team had already fashioned a script based on Bradbury’s short story without giving credit to the writer. Both Rays created an iconic creature.
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The Valley of Gwangi

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 3rd, 2003

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Willis O’Brien, the f/x magician behind King Kong and The Lost World, had always wanted to do a cowboys and dinosaurs film. It is no surprise that his prodigy Ray Harryhausen would accomplish the task. Using some of O’Brien’s design ideas, Harryhausen credibly put these two film icons together with mixed results. The script is certainly not the best Harryhausen had to work with. More Bronco Billy than Jurassic Park, this is more an entertaining film than anything to be taken seriously. James Franciscus does a fine job of playing to the f/x.

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