Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 13th, 2005
The Carol Burnett Show - Let's Bump Up the Lights! is the DVD re-issue of an original CBC broadcast. The content is in the form of one of Carol's famous Q & A sessions that started every show. Carol answers questions, she does her Tarzan yell. Burnett does there here too. But she asks other cast regulars (Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner) to join in. Clips from the show are interspersed to back up the answers to the questions.
The 42 minute disc is too short to make a...y real impact. Perhaps this is just a teaser for putting out "The Carol Burnett Show on DVD. But, I must confess, I have a sentimental place in my heart for the show. I used to watch it as a kid. The sketches were funny, in a broad sort of way. The cast seemed like a perfect fit. "The Carol Burnett Show" is a landmark show for its "style". The improvisational aspect kept as watching, and the characters became more endearing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 11th, 2005
Synopsis
Captain Blood (1935) is the picture that made Errol Flynn a star, and paired him for the first time of many with Olivia De Havilland. There had been pirate movies before (Douglas Fairbanks was the star in them), but this became the new high watermark of the genre. Flynn plays a doctor who is unjustly accused of treason and shipped off to a life of slavery in the colonies. He fights back, eventually becoming the pirate of the title, but always remaining an honourable man, of course. Th...s is a terrific swashbuckler, and its worthy descendant today would not be the entertaining but shallow Pirates of the Carribean, but Master and Commander.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2005
Years before she was a resident on Wisteria Lane, and even before she was a notorious Bond girl, Teri Hatcher played Lois Lane on the New Adventures of Superman. Along with Dean Cain who played Clark Kent (aka Superman), these two actors brought the traditional story (unlike the recent Smallville) of superman once again to the small screen. Although Cain has not been able to reach the recent success that Hatcher has, the pair did share good chemistry on this show – creating an enjoyable television ex...erience.
”Casting a fresh look on a timeless legend, this exciting, action-packed update of the DC Comics Superman captures the daring exploits of the mysterious visitor from another planet and brings the city of Metropolis to life. Originally aired in the 90's on ABC, this humorously romantic action/adventure hour-long series puts a modern twist on the time-honored, legendary superhero, bringing to life the comic book characters Clark Kent (Dean Cain); his superhuman alter-ego, Superman; and Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher), fiction's first lady of the press, in the most unrequited romance of all time.” – Warner Home Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 10th, 2005
Years before she was a resident on Wisteria Lane, and even before she was a notorious Bond girl, Teri Hatcher played Lois Lane on the New Adventures of Superman. Along with Dean Cain who played Clark Kent (aka Superman), these two actors brought the traditional story (unlike the recent Smallville) of superman once again to the small screen. Although Cain has not been able to reach the recent success that Hatcher has, the pair did share good chemistry on this show – creating an enjoyable television ex...erience.
”Casting a fresh look on a timeless legend, this exciting, action-packed update of the DC Comics Superman captures the daring exploits of the mysterious visitor from another planet and brings the city of Metropolis to life. Originally aired in the 90's on ABC, this humorously romantic action/adventure hour-long series puts a modern twist on the time-honored, legendary superhero, bringing to life the comic book characters Clark Kent (Dean Cain); his superhuman alter-ego, Superman; and Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher), fiction's first lady of the press, in the most unrequited romance of all time.” – Warner Home Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 9th, 2005
Synopsis
I didn’t know what quite to expect from watching D.E.B.S. for the first time. So, it looks like a group of college girls who double as CIA assassins, right? OK, I can buy that, I mean, I’m a fan of Alias, so I can dig it. You’ve got Amy (Sara Foster, The Big Bounce), D.E.B. Academy’s top notch student with her pick of anywhere she wants to go; her friend, the tough and ambitious Max (Meagan Good, The Cookout), along with the younger Janet (Jill Ritchie, Herbie Fully L...aded) and the very French Dominique (Devon Aoki, Sin Cit).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 4th, 2005
Synopsis
The thing that surprised me about this animated version of Spider-Man was not that it ran for over 60 episodes during afternoons in the early ‘90s, but that there was a decent level of voice talent on the show. Ed Asner (Elf) is the voice of J. Jonah Jameson, Roscoe Lee Browne (King) does Kingpin, and the voice of the Venom character is done by Hank Azaria (The Simpsons). And they put together a fairly decent storyline also.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 30th, 2005
Synopsis
Strong-willed Englishwoman Irene Dunne (the Anna of the title) arrives at the court of King Rex Harrison to teach his wives and 67 children. The clash of cultures is immediate, with the very British Anna refusing to bend to the more outlandish demands of her new surroundings, and Harrison himself torn between modernity and tradition.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 29th, 2005
Synopsis
Out of the blue, the Stevens family (whacky dad, brainy sister, dorky brother, and so forth) finds out they’ve won a trip to a tropical paradise. Unbeknownst to them, they have in fact been selected to participate in an over-the-top reality TV show, and their holiday turns into a series of slapstick catastrophes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 28th, 2005
Synopsis
Hilary Duff plays a good-hearted by scatterbrained teenager. Her happy existence in NYC is disrupted (how many Disney teens has this happened to?) when her stepfather starts his new job as head of a military academy, and she is enrolled, willy-nilly. She has trouble fitting in, initially having as nemesis her Captain Christy Carlson Romano, but eventually both she and the institution adapt to each other.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 27th, 2005
Synopsis
Back in the early 1980s, HBO ran this anthology series, wherein the denim-clad Page Fletcher does the Rod Serling thing, introducing and concluding each dark morality tale. Though the stories varied (in content as well as quality), certain factors remained the same: you could always count on at least one sex scene, plus some dollops of gore. This was, in sum, The Twilight Zone with extra violence and cable-friendly T&A. As far as horror goes, there is nothing very groundbreaking here,...but these are amusing enough in half-hour chunks. Some of the stars to parade through these episodes include Kirstie Alley, Harry Hamlin, Virginia Madsen, Jerry Orbach and Gene Simmons.
