Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 7th, 2004
"Long ago and far away..."
So begins the latest direct-to-video CGI-animated Barbie movie, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. Based on Mark Twain's classic tale, this video/DVD is a modern-retelling of the story. It's Barbie's first musical, and it does a fantastic job of both entertaining kids and giving them something to think about.
At the same moment, two identical baby girls were born. One, Princess Anneliese, had everything, while Erika, born to a poor village family, lived a li...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 6th, 2004
Synopsis
A young couple (Stephen Wastell and Paula Ficara) move from the East Coast to LA withdreams of writing screenplays. Their new house is on a hill that was once part of Tom Mix’sHollywood studio, and all their neighbours are in the movie business in one way or another.Ficara is recovering from a nervous breakdown, and when she begins to see ghosts, she assumes,at first, that she is having a relapse. But then Wastell not only becomes inhumanly productive,banging out a script i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 6th, 2004
Synopsis
Nick Broomfield’s first documentary about Aileen Wuornos is a mixture of media clips andinterviews Broomfield conducted with Wuornos and the major figures in her trial, notably heradoptive mother and her unbelievably sleazy and incompetent lawyer (his “Dr. Legal” ad markshim as the legal equivalent of Dr. Nick Riviera). Then there’s the issue of police corruption. Allin all, essential viewing, especially in conjunction with the later film (which shows that, at thevery least said la...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 4th, 2004
Synopsis
This is a fly-on-the-wall documentary that follows Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign fromDemocratic primaries to the White House. This piece also made stars of sorts out of campaignmanage James Carville and communications director George Stephanopoulos, with the formerbeing an especially larger-than-life character. There is no narration, and pretty good knowledgeof how the American political system works is helpful, not to mention a sharp memory of thecon...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 30th, 2004
Synopsis
Dumped on the night he was to announce his engagement, Jamie Foxx turns his pain into abestselling breakup manual. When his cousin, Morris Chestnut, thinks his girlfriend GabrielleUnion is going to break up with him, Foxx is enlisted to help, which leads to a massive chainreaction of mistaken identities and misunderstandings.
The structure is clearly and consciously that of a classical farce. Though the film neverachieves the proper frenzy requires of a farc...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 30th, 2004
Synopsis
Groucho Marx hosted this popular game show for 14 years, and this set collects 18 episodes.The way the game works is as follows: a paired set of contestants comes out, and Grouchobanters with them, having fun with whatever way these people are unusual (and they frequentlyare). Then they are asked a series of questions. If they get four right, they win a thousand dollars,and have the opportunity to return at the end of the show to risk the money for a bigger pr...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 24th, 2004
Synopsis
Season Three is the junior year for Felicity, and her initial plans to move in with twogirlfriends take a turn when, on the spur of the moment, she rents a run-down apartment for herand Ben. Other storylines revolve around Richard’s sexuality (is he gay or just very shy?) andSean’s medical condition (which reaches a climax in the episode titled, with macabre humour,“One Ball, Two Strikes”).
In retrospect, what with the flood of box sets hitting the market, a series ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 24th, 2004
Synopsis
Garfield goes about his happy existence, scarfing lasagna, tormenting the neighbourhooddog, and taking advantage of fellow cat Nermal’s stupidity. Chaos arrives when Jon (BreckinMeyer), hoping to impress vet Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) adopts Odie the dog. Garfield doesall he can to remove Odie from the home, but when Odie actually is kidnapped by an evil animalshow host, Garfield heads off to the city on a perilous rescue.
Other than Garfield’s look and an appropria...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 22nd, 2004
Synopsis
An art-museum heist leads to the discovery of a map pointing the way to a treasure hiddenby Christopher Columbus. Two groups wind up on a remote island, racing each other and aferocious storm for the treasure. One group is a collection of criminals and crooked cops, eagerto kill our heroes in the second group (Stephen Baldwin, Nicolette Sheridan, and assorted comicrelief).
The director of this dead duck is supposedly someone named “Jay Andrews,” but withinmoments it is pa...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2004
This box set has restored my faith in television. I actually don’t have cable or satellite or anything, and if you ask anyone that knows me, they’ll tell you that I’m a steadfast refusenik when it comes to watching TV. Law & Order, however, is intelligent, well-cast, and has very high production values – all the ingredients of a winning series, as its ridiculously long run (14+ years) is testament to. Each episode has a well thought-out plot, usually with some sort of twist – and generally without any glaring plot ho...
