Warner Bros.

The Shakers

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2003

The topic for this documentary are the Shakers, more properly the “United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.” The Shakers weren’t around that long: they were celibate, which meant no offspring. However, as the film explores, that didn’t stop them from having a profound impact on American life (they were, for instance, feminist and anti-slavery well ahead of the game).

Audio

A mono soundtrack. Though it might have been nice to hear the Shaker songs in stereo, the sound is still very clean, and without distortion.
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The Congress

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2003

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A history and a meditation on the American Congress, both at the institutional and at the architectural level — there are many beautiful shots of the Capitol, and the building becomes as much a character as any of the politicians who strode the stage within its walls. A fascinating documentary, enlivened not only with Burns’ usual fine use of period paintings and photographs,but also with film clips from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Advise and Consent.

The Spirit of 76

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 4th, 2003

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In 2176, the world is a grey, sterile place. All history has been lost. Four scientists (led by David Cassidy of Partridge Family infamy) travel back in time to recover the American Constitution, and revive history. Unfortunately, their time machine malfunctions, and they windup in 1976. Cue the stupidity. Unfortunately, the laughs are very few and far between. We already know that this period had many risible qualities. Just showing them to us isn’t enough.

Giant

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 3rd, 2003

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Spanning a good thirty years, Giant tells the tale of the Benedicts, a Texas family on an immense cattle range. The patriarch is Rock Hudson, whom we first meet as a young man visiting Maryland to buy a horse. There he meets Elizabeth Taylor and falls in love. His new bride initially finds Texas difficult to adjust to, and Texas has difficulty adjusting to her, as she does not hold with the local attitudes towards women and, most especially, Mexicans. The third major player is James Dean, a rather sullen ranch hand who winds up changing everybody’s lives when he strikes oil on his small parcel of land.

Father of the Bride

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2003

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Synopsis

Spencer Tracy’s home life with wife Joan Bennet and daughter Elizabeth Taylor is disruptedwhen the latter falls in love and plans to get married. After Tracy gets over his initial suspicionsabout his prospective son-in-law, his hopes for a small, intimate, inexpensive wedding collapsethe as the event, gathering a life of its own, grows more and more monstrous in size. Enough tomake the fathers of any bride break into a cold sweat, this is good fun (though Taylor’s simpering…
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Justice League: Justice On Trial

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2003

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Synopsis

The Justice League is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern,Martian Manhunter and the Flash. The first story, “In Blackest Night,” sees Green Lanternaccused of destroying an entire planet. “The Enemy Below” introduces Aquaman (a verydifferent one from the version older viewers might remember from their youth). The animation isa slight notch above the usual Saturday morning fare, and the look of the characters isinterestingly stylized, in the vein of the Ba…
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X-Men: Evolution – Mutants Rising

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 30th, 2003

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Synopsis

Not unlike the New Mutants comic book, these are episodes which feature the heroes in thethroes of adolescence. Unlike the New Mutants, however, these are the X-Men themselves intheir youth: Jean Grey, Cyclops and so on. So in between fighting the Brotherhood of EvilMutants, they also have to worry about dating and homework and the whole bit. At least this discdoesn’t try to pretend it’s a feature film.

Audio

The sound is about par for TV cartoon tr…
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Analyze That

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2003

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Analyze This was funny for several reasons, not the least of them being that it came from out of nowhere. We always knew that Billy Crystal could be rolling-in-the-aisles funny, but Robert DeNiro really isn’t “the King Of Comedy”. The movie worked because of chemistry more than anything else. Analyze That is no different. If anything the interplay between DeNiro and Crystal has improved. While not nearly as original (and how could it be?) Analyze That is just as funny as the first film.
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Kiss Me Kate

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2003

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Synopsis

Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson are playing the leads in a musical version of The Tamingof the Shrew, and they share a fair bit in common with their characters. We move back and forthbetween the performance of the musical-within-the-musical and the backstage antics. Will oursquabbling couple get back together? And what role will the two loquacious mobsters play?Though not in the same league as Singin’ in the Rain, Kiss Me Kate is still a prime example ofits genre, with tune…
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Two Weeks Notice

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2003

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Synopsis

Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) is an anti-establishment lawyer, fighting to preserve historiclandmarks from heedless developers. One of these heedless developers is George Wade (HughGrant), a man as shallow as he is rich. Lucy confronts George just as he is desperate for a newlaywer, and he talks her into working for him despite her misgivings. He comes to depend onher for absolutely everything (clothes to wear, stationary to use, etc.), to the point that he takesover her lif…
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Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 19th, 2003

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Based one the wildly successful Harry Potter series of novels, this film is based on book two of the series. As sophomore jinx’s go this one could have been far worse, the problem here is we no longer have the wonder of a new world to explore but, we still have characters that are not fully fleshed out yet either. The plot is somewhat predictable in that we have the same villain as the previous novel, albeit in a different form. Harry Potter and the usual cast of characters return for another year of adventure at Hog…
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Adventures of Pluto Nash, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 7th, 2003

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Synopsis

Eddie Murphy is Pluto Nash, ex-smuggler, now owner of the Moon’s most successful nightclub. He refuses to sell his business to mysterious casino operator Rick Crater, with the resultthat his club is blown up, and various and sundry goons are after him. What follows is all sortsof barely motivated running around sets that appear to have waltzed off outtakes from TotalRecall. The film makes little sense, isn’t very funny, isn’t very exciting, and doesn’t have verygood special…
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White Oleander

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 4th, 2003

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Synopsis

Alison Lohman is the daughter of the chillingly beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer. Dangerouslyself-possessed, Pfeiffer murders her boyfriend when he cheats on her, and is sentenced to 35-years-to-life. Lohman then bounces from one foster home to another, and among her fostermothers are Robin Wright Penn (as a born-again ex-stripper) and Renee Zellweger (as a fragileformer actress). Tragedy and hardship are present around every bend, and as if that weren’tenough, Pfeiffer does her…
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Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 16th, 2003

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Synopsis

There is no plot, as such, here. Each of the dreams has some sort of narrative, but moreimportant are the visuals and the themes (humanity and nature, nuclear power, and so forth).Dreams is not on the same level as Kurosawa’s great masterpieces (Ran, The Seven Samurai,Throne of Blood, and so on), and is not always compelling. But it is very frequently jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Audio

The music, a curious blend of eastern and western influences, sound…
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City by the Sea

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2003

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Synopsis

De Niro is Vincent LaMarca. His father was a kidnapper and accidental murderer. Now hisson, a junkie, has also killed a man. Will LaMarca be able to stop the generational cycle ofviolence? The Long Beach settings are very effective, combining rotting former grandeur withStalinist architecture. So far, so 70s, and the hard-luck characters fit right in. FrancesMcDormand, however, is stuck with a woefully underwritten part as De Niro’s girlfriend. Theplot, as well, is strictly…
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Cardinal, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 7th, 2003

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Synopsis

Tom Tryon, better known today as a novelist (he is the author of, among other works, TheOther, a classic of modern horror), plays the title character. From humble curate in the poorestparish of Massachusetts, he rises, over twenty years, to become a cardinal. Along the way, sincethis is a three hour film, he encounters One Damn Thing After Another, from his sister’s desireto marry outside the faith, to abortion, racism, temptations of the flesh, the Nazis, and so on. Thewho…
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Driving Miss Daisy

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2003

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Synopsis

The Miss Daisy of the title is played by Jessica Tandy. After she wrecks her car, her son (Dan Aykroyd) hires a chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) for her. Miss Daisy is fiercely resistant to the supposed loss of independence this represents, but she eventually lets Freeman do his job. A strong friendship grradually develops between the two. In the background, we catch glimpses of the changing American South as the film moves from 1947 to 1972. Prejudice, both racial and anti-semitic, lurks just und…
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FearDotCom

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2003

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FearDotCom or Fear Dot Com depending on where you look is likely one of the first ghost stories of the information age. In my opinion it’s long overdue. While there will be other probably better efforts to update the classic haunting tale I found this to be a relatively solid start. The film borrows heavily from just about every sub-genre in the world of horror. The anatomical display is right out of the German film Anatomy. There are a number of Tim Burton elements present in the Elfman-like score to the dark nature of the cinematography.
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Blood Work

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 2nd, 2003

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Synopsis

While pursuing the elusive Code Killer, Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) suffers a heartattack. Two-and-a-half years later, recovering well from a heart transplant, McCaleb is visitedby the sister of the woman whose heart he now has. She would like him to investigate the sister’smurder. Some of the plot twists you can see coming, and the story takes a major credibilityhit three quarters of the way through, when Eastwood gets involved with a woman young enoughto be his grandda…
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Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 30th, 2002

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Synopsis

The son of DIA hotshot Ray Park is kidnapped by Lucy Liu. Antonio Banderas is forced backinto action with the promise of finding information about the wife he thought was dead. Hisassignment: track down Liu in order to get to bad guy Park, who is fooling around with ananotech assassin machine (which looks like a frog with a hypodermic). Now, none of this makesa whole lot of sense. The film’s real purpose is to stage huge gunfights and Really BigExplosions. Sometimes, that’s…
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 23rd, 2002

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Synopsis

Petty crook Nicholson is transferred from prison to a mental institution. Is he crazy? Hecertainly seems to be to go up against head nurse Louise Fletcher, the well-meaning tyrant of theplace. In the course of his war, he ignites the spirits of the other inmates.

Audio

The sound has been remastered into 5.1. Though the sound quality is nice (barring somedistortion due to original recording), I’m not sure the surround mix was necessary. The musicand …
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Fingers

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 13th, 2002

Synopsis

Jimmy is an aspiring concert pianist. He also has a few sexual knots that need untangling.And he’s a brutal debt collector for his bottom-of-the-ladder loanshark father. The movie tracesthe couple of days during which his life disintegrates. This is not for everyone. The pace isdeliberate, with looooong stretches of nothing much happening, punctuated by explosions ofsurprisingly brutal violence. The whole is also shaded by a pretty pronounced misogyny. But thefilm sticks wi…
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Eight Legged Freaks

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 11th, 2002

Synopsis

If you’ve ever seen a Big Bug film, you already know the plot: chemical spill leads to giantspiders attacking small desert town. Everything from monsters to broadly drawn characters tosetting is present and correct. Eight Legged Freaks doesn’t take itself seriously for a second,which is a bit of a shame. Clearly it would like to be Tremors, but doesn’t quite achieve themagical chemistry of humour and terror that film achieved. Still, this is a movie the deliversprecisely wh…
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The Exorcist – The Version You’ve Never Seen

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 11th, 2002

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Few films have had the impact of the original Exorcist. William Peter Blatty’s original book was a phenomenal hit. The film’s intense imagery and in your face brutality was all the more disturbing coming from a young teenage Linda Blair. What makes this film effective, however, is the subtle touches: The quick flash demonic faces, the eeriest backward language of the demon, and the haunting moans that culminate in one of the truly scariest films ever made. This release restores footage, long legendary, but not seen by a movie audience. I remember seeing pictures of Linda Blair’s “spider crawl” in Famous Monsters of Filmland in the 70’s. To call this film a classic would be stating the obvious.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 10th, 2002

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This is without a doubt the ultimate chick flick. Guys who find themselves subjected to the film can take heart in fact that there are a few moments that they will find interesting. Although this film will likely not give you a better understanding of your wife/girlfriend, it will most assuredly provide insight into your mother-in-law. Turns out she really is as crazy as you thought she was. There is also a subdued but pivotal performance by James Garner, who steals practically every scene he’s in with his wonderful “suffering in silence” Shep.
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