Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2005
Synopsis
Peter Bogdanovich may be the victim of having too much too soon, as he was well known for his work in the early 1970s, starting with The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, but experienced a string of poorly received work as well. Following the 1980 murder of his girlfriend Dorothy Stratten (at the hands of her estranged husband), he stayed out of the business (and was bankrupt) for awhile, but returned in 1985 with the excellent film Mask. In Illegally Yours, he manages t... cast Rob Lowe (The West Wing) as a lovestruck kid named Richard Dice who returns home to Florida.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 3rd, 2005
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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 2nd, 2005
By the last half of season three Lost In Space was certainly showing its wear. The stories would sink to simply camp with little or no redeeming value remaining. It’s no surprise that this once smart bit of space humor was on the way out after season 3. By now it appears the writers were fresh out of anything new and opted to recycle already tired formulas. Just how many times can Smith sell the family out for a long-shot return to Earth? Will and the Robot remain the best reason for watching the show.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 1st, 2005
Synopsis
In the 1950s, Blue (Nina Siemaszko) travels from town to town with her itinerant jazz musician father (Tom Skerritt). When Dad is killed, Blue winds up under the thumb of brothel madam Wendy Hughes, and after some initial difficulty, assumes her new identity. But she pines for the boy (Brent Fraser) she met before her life went to hell, and she eventually fights to leave the addictive world of decadence she has entered. Escape will not be easy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 30th, 2005
Synopsis
The frustrating thing in watching Gas is just how familiar it is to The Cookout, Barbershop, Beautyshop, and other films that involve groups of African-American men getting together in the neighborhood and having fun, and getting the most successful family member in touch with their roots. What’s next, Sunday Church? Or Night at Silver Diner?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2005
It’s another case of mistaken identity that gets our boys (Abbott and Costello) in trouble, this time with a couple of gangsters. I’ve always been an Abbott and Costello fan but somehow missed this 1948 film over the years. It’s possible that because it was one of only a few pictures the duo did outside of Universal it did not enjoy the wide release their other works had. A few gems from the boys’ routines can be found. Look for the “horse eating his fodder” and “I’ll bet you you’re not here”. There is none of the Big Band Era song and dance routine to slow this film’s pace. It will certainly fly by you. If you like the boys, you’ll find this a pretty routine outing.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 27th, 2005
Synopsis
Anna Sophia Robb is a little girl named Opal, who has just arrived in the small town of Naomis with her single-parent father (Jeff Daniels), a preacher. Opal finds it hard to fit in and make new friends, until she adopts a rambunctious dog she finds in the Winn-Dixie supermarket. The dog’s extroverted nature helps make connections not only between Opal and the town, but between the townspeople as well.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 26th, 2005
Synopsis
In the year 2525, humanity has been forced to seek refuge deep in the earth from robots known as “Baileys.” The title character is a stripper from our century, who went in for a breast enhancement and wound up cryogenically frozen until now. Thawed out, a stranger in a dangerously strange land, she winds up joining forces with two other female freedom fighters.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 26th, 2005
Synopsis
The premise should be familiar to anyone interested in the third season: Jerry O’Connell and friends continue sliding from one universe to another, encountering a different alternate earth in each episode, always trying to find the way back home. The range of possibilities is naturally pretty wide, so our heroes wind up in a deadly war game show (granted not the most original idea), in a world devastated by electric tornadoes, and so on. It’s all done with engaging humour and energy, though ...he FX have aged noticeably (the opening scene of the first episode, where a plane goes down, boasts process work worthy of the original Star Trek). And the presence of John Rhys-Davies is, of course, always welcome.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Guarding a treasure of what looks like a few novelty store swords and chocolate dollar coins in a cave that could almost be the fabled Bronson Caverns of many a 50s B-movie is a monster that sometimes looks like a bad CGI centipede, but most of the time is a guy in a baggy rubber suit. The treasure, we are told, was left by Viking Conquistadors, and yes, you read that correctly. Why the alien monster is guarding the treasure is never explained. Anyway, the beast slaughters a bunch of people ...ho stumble on the cave, and the authorities put together a raggedy-ass group of preposterous mercenaries (goth girl in high-heeled boots???) and unbelievable government agents to find out what’s going on. Roped in as a woman who survived the attacks, and for some reason has a psychic link to the monster now. Everything goes wrong with their plan.
