Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 24th, 2003
Synopsis
Charlie is a hairdresser with a mob boss for a step father; Booker is his best friend and a bumbling idiot. Together they find themselves in the outback of Australia after hitting a kangaroo and loosing $50K of mob money. They need to recover the money from the kangaroo or they are dead. They meet a cast of interesting characters along the way to catching the kangaroo (who they have dubbed Jacky Legs) and manage to get themselves in and out of all kinds of funny situations.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 23rd, 2003
Converting Tom Wolfe’s classic book The Right Stuff was undoubtedly a difficult task. The original 7 Mercury astronauts were epic figures in American history. Perhaps the last of Earth’s true explorers, astronauts are the stuff that every kid’s fantasies are made of. It seems nearly impossible to capture such incredible bravery and charisma in the scope of even a 3 hour movie. Philip Kaufman somehow achieved the impossible. It starts with one of the most dynamic casts since The Godfather. Names like Jeff Goldblume, Dennis Quaid and Ed Harris were all relative unknowns at the time. Kaufman also paid great attention to detail. The crafts and locations brought the audience directly in contact with a world long gone from reality. Chuck Yeager’s technical input provided a solid foundation to the spectacular set designers and location scouts. Many members of this cast have since gone on to become acclaimed actors, a true testament to the casting job done on this film. You simply cannot be an American and not see this film at least once. It should be required viewing in every junior high school in America.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2003
In 1962 Ed Sabol purchased the rights to film the NFL and history was made. NFL films came to pioneer so many styles of filming that are still in use today like slow motion and the tight spiral football shot. The footage contained in these discs have never been seen before, it is old archived footage that was never used and it is amazing. The three discs are as follows…
Disc 1 – The Creation (1962-1965): This film looks at the beginning of what would become NFL Films. Watch as Ed Sabol and his ...on Steve pioneer the use of slow motion, multiple cameras and wireless microphones all while seeing amazing players like Jim Brown in never before seen footage.
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
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2003
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.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 4th, 2003
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.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 3rd, 2003
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.
This is a big film, with big scope, big stars, big performances, big virtues, and big flaws. It is at its best as it works out the family dynamics, with Hudson and Taylor bouncing off each other.James Dean, though he has comparatively little screen time, turns in a remarkable performance,and as the characters move into middle-age, his is the most convincing transformation. The film is at its weakest in its ham-fisted handling of the racial issues. These scenes play out in deeply predictable fashion, and the symbolism of the final scene is so obvious, yet takes itself so seriously, that the film ends on a note of high camp. But even these problems make up part of the charm, and its 201 minutes go by surprisingly quickly. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore,and nor should they, but thank God they did in 1956.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2003
Synopsis
