Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 29th, 2006
I'd never seen, nor heard of, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law before I received my review copy of this second volume of the series, which aired as part of Adult Swim. What a bizarre show! Not since Ren and Stimpy have I seen such a strange, adult-oriented cartoon.
Harvey Birdman was a shoddy superhero who has become a substandard Attorney. His firm handles cases for well-known animated Hanna-Barbara characters like The Jetsons, with each of the 13 episodes in this second volume presenting a new case. The episodes run about 11 minutes each, and they're all very odd and pretty darn funny. Since the episodes are so short, I'm not going to spoil any of the storylines here. If you're not familiar with the show or the adult-oriented cartoon genre, I suggest renting a disc from Harvey Birdman volume one to get a taste. If you enjoy that, you'll eat up this volume two release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 21st, 2006
What we have here are three films from Hollywood’s days before the Production Code kicked in, which show just how much the envelope was being pushed when it came to sexual subject matters. The recurring theme here is sex as a commodity, whether the situations beinig dealt with involve outright prostitution or not.
Outright prostitution is very much the issue in Waterloo Bridge (1931), director James Whale’s effort just prior to making Frankenstein. Mae Clarke (who would play Elizabeth in Frankenstein) is an out-of-work chorus girl during WWI, not a prostitute trolling for men on the titular bridge. During an air raid she runs into a young private from a good family (Kent Douglass). He falls in love with her, and she with him, and so she tries to push him away. This is a romance that is anything but glamorous, despite some scenes in the upper class household (with a young Bette Davis as Douglass’ sister), and the resolution is brutally downbeat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 19th, 2006
Nicolas Cage is a highway cop haunted by a gruesome accident. He receives a mysterious letter from his ex-fiancee, begging him to come to the remote colony where she lives and help find her daughter. Cage arrives there to find a grim matriarchy, uncooperative locals, and sinister hints of something nasty going to happen to the child.
I wrote about this film when it was in the theatres, and rather than repeat myself through paraphrase, I repeat myself verbatim. Note there are some spoilers below.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 16th, 2006
Synopsis
Not to fawn too heavily on one side in the next-generation format wars, but how cool is HD-DVD? Well, if for nothing else, the HD-A1 and HD-XA1 players from Toshiba are all region-free. And while Warner Brothers has been slipping over themselves and teasing American consumers with a release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, British customers have gotten full penetration, and can pick up the fourth Potter film now. So I went onto Amazon UK and picked up my own copy, and I�m going to presume that the disc will be the same when it comes out here, whenever that will be.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2006
Why is it that kids watch so much bad programming? When I was a child I watched a lot of Full House, even though I knew at the time that it was a poorly-crafted program. I really don't remember ever laughing during an episode, and I knew how cheesy the whole thing was, yet if I was at home changing channels, and the show came on, I would inexplicably stop and watch. At first, I think it was confusing for me that Dave Coulier was on the show, as up until that point I was used to seeing him as the host of Nickel...deon's Out of Control. I think that was the first time that it really sunk in for me that the people on TV were actors, and not real people.
Season Five catches the show's eight-season run during its "prime". The season starts off with Uncle Jessie and his wife Becky finding out that they are going to have twins. This is an event that really marks the beginning of the end of this show for me. The episodes leading up to this point put the focus on Bob Saget and his daughters, while this season starts the transition to spending much more time with the supporting characters. Subsequent seasons saw the characters growing in increasingly different directions, and the whole mess just became more and more disjointed. While this opened up new storytelling options for the writers, it also changed the show's core dynamic. The same could be said for the final couple of seasons of this show's thematic forerunner, Growing Pains. Once Mike Seaver became a responsible adult, the show had strayed too far from what made it appealing to audiences in the first place.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2006
I can't believe this show ran for seven seasons. Sure, I enjoyed it as a child, but I was a child, and didn't know any better. Seeing it today, it is shocking how bad it really is. The acting is pathetic and the storylines are lame and predictable. Every episode for seven straight seasons had the same basic skeleton. The boys are having a good time, the corrupt county commissioner does something for personal gain, the half-retarded Sheriff blames it on the innocent Duke boys, car chase, short shorts, car flies throug... the air, sheriff's face in a mud puddle, phony laughing for no reason, credits. By the time The Dukes of Hazzard finally aired its final season in the mid-80's, it had actually sank to the point of bringing on guest stars with as much believability as the time that the Harlem Globetrotters visited Gilligan's Island.
This was truly a show aimed at America's lowest common denominator. I can respect the fact that it had eye candy and it was anti-establishment. The thing is, the show just beat the viewer over the head with it. The Sheriff is not just stupid, he is clearly such a colossal moron that I am truly amazed that he can dress himself in the mornings. The government was always wrong, and the innocent citizens were always right. Trust me, if you have seen one episode of this show, you have seen them all. There is no reason to purchase an entire season's worth, and there is absolutely no sane reason to collect the whole series. Do yourself a favor and pick up a complete season of The Andy Griffith Show instead.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 13th, 2006
The 1978 Superman film set the standard for what a quality comic hero film should be. The tagline promise: “You will believe a man can fly” was kept. All future comic films would be judged by this standard. Superman II had its faults. Certainly it was not the modern classic like the first film. The plot was bogged down with a rather silly love story that broke down the barriers of the Kent/Superman identity for Lois Lane. Luthor, while played again with style by Gene Hackman, is reduced to a comedic backseat to the real villains. Plot contrivances abound, along with plenty of corny lines. Yet, even with these limitations, this has always been a rather enjoyable film, particularly when compared to the dreadful sequels that followed.
Richard Donner, who brought us the first film, was about a third away from finishing the second when he was unceremoniously fired from the project. While Richard Lester, who took over, used much of this footage ( he had little time or money to do otherwise) the heart of this film was released along the way. Lester added unnecessary jokes and diverted the story to a strong degree away from its intended flight plan. Now, finally, we are able to see at least a hint of what Donner had originally intended. I say only a hint because he was unable to film everything he intended. This version does end up using some of Lester’s stuff as well as screen tests to fill in some of the unfilmed blanks. Still, it is as close to the original concept we are ever going to see. While even this version retains many of the flaws, it is a marked improvement over the original version. Unfortunately the stories of this intended version have reached almost mythical proportions. Our expectations have likely been inflated to a point where no version could meet them. For those of you expecting something akin to the first film you must remember that at its soul this is not that film. It’s still Superman II, complete with all of the baggage that infers. The politics over this fallout are no longer important. Hollywood is overrun with similar stories. Even as we watch this film for the first time, a storm is brewing over Peter Jackson and the proposed Hobbit films. It never ends.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 12th, 2006
The Griswolds, a household name for a series of National Lampoon comedy�s beginning with Vacation and most recently Vegas Vacation. Few of us could say these iconic characters haven�t left an impression in our minds. I was happy when I heard that Christmas Vacation was going to be released on HD DVD, a true Christmas classic in high definition. With many memorable scenes associated with Christmas, is this classic worth the purchase in HD?
Clark Griswald (Chevy Chase) is a family man who always has a positive outlook on matters, as you may remember his optimism throughout the other collection of Vacation movies. He is joyous at the thought of putting up a large group of his family and in-laws for the holidays, and it all starts with the perfect tree. The opening of the movie tracks Clark, Ellen (Beverly D�Angelo), and kids (Juliette Lewis & Johhny Galecki) as they scour the countryside looking for a tree to take home. They end up uprooting the biggest tree in sight and driving home with it on the roof of their station wagon, and yes getting stuck under a semi-truck in the process. I�m sure you remember this scene, along with the numerous classic sequences spread throughout the movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Christmas, 1914. In the trenches, we see the Scots, French and Germans beginning to celebrate in their own way. Singing in one trench inspires more in the opposing one, and before long, an unauthorized truce has broken out, and the enemy combatants are marking Christmas together. The film concentrates on a handful of characters who play a pivotal role in the truce in this particular section of the trenches, in particular the local commanding officers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2006
Excalibur tells the story of King Arthur, from his simple beginnings to his noble ends. War plagues Great Britain, and many countrymen relish at the thought of peace as everyone is making claim to the Kingship. It is told that who ever removes Excalibur from the stone will be declared King. This legend might sound familiar to you as The Sword in the Stone (Excalibur being the sword). It is a mythical sword, which has been said to have magical, and only a noble and worthy man can bear it. Every noble i... the land claims they are worthy enough to remove the sword from the stone but each who tries, fails. Arthur, who has yet to realize who he really is, accidentally removes the sword one day. Being so young, the nobles are divided on whether to follow him as King. Civil war wages on and Arthur quickly defeats and unites the remaining noble leader, forming the fellowship of the Round Table. From here we are taken on the adventures that span most of Arthur’s life, including the search for the Holy Grail.
Excalibur has hit a chord with many people and has its own cult following, unfortunately I could not be completely drawn in to this film. Excalibur has all the elements to make it an enjoyable movie but misses the mark from making it truly memorable. Some scenes seemed really out of place, and overall it failed to captivate my attention with drawn on dialogue and mediocre action scenes.
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![Excalibur [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/excalibur-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
