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Dangerous Game

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 15th, 2005

Synopsis

Harvey Keitel is making a film about a relationship that disintegrates into terrible violence.His cast are James Russo and Madonna, and they have a pretty fraught relationship themselvesoff the set. Physical and mental brutality ooze from the film into real life, and Keitel descendsinto this hell, too.

Fresh off Bad Lieutenant, director Abel Ferrara, writer Nicholas St. John and Keitelplunge into the heart of darkness yet again. The shooting of the film has a…
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Firewalker

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 15th, 2005

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Synopsis

Down-on-their-luck adventurers Chuck Norris and Louis Gosset are approached by theslightly flaky Melody Anderson to help her track down a horde of Aztec gold. They proceed totraipse about Central America, experiencing one sub-Indiana Jones adventure after another,racing to reach the treasure before a villain with (yes) an eye-patch.

J. Lee Thompson’s film doesn’t take itself seriously for a moment, but that doesn’t mean it’sactually funny. It isn’t, much, and the by…
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Sacred Planet

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 13th, 2005

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Synopsis

Robert Redford narrates this documentary look at the remote human cultures that are livingin harmony with the planet, rather than conquering (or raping and pillaging, if you will) nature.Think of this as a 47-minute lite version of the Koyanisqatsi trilogy. Everything is verydreamy and beautiful, and this is hardly a rigorous work. But the images are absolutelybreathtaking. Produced for IMAX, this has all the earmarks of those features: short in runningtime and subst…
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Astro Boy (2003) – The Complete Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 4th, 2005

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I’ll start this review with a disclaimer about my Astro Boy knowledge level – for those Astro Boy fans reading this, I’m not an Astro Boy die-hard, and while I have some hazy recollections from my youth, until a few days ago, that’s about where my AB knowledge ended.

Astro Boy Backgrounder

The box set reviewed here contains 50 new episodes, released on television in their entirety overseas in, and in part in North America, in 2003. This is in fact the third incarnation of Astro Boy:

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Mad About You Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2005

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If you’re not the type who enjoys watching complete seasons of your favorite show on DVD, this set was made for you. Mad About You has already had its complete first and second seasons released on DVD, but this collection takes the best episodes from the show entire run, and slams them out in this “Best of” collection.

I for one, as a completist, prefer complete seasons over these best-of collections. I find the flow very disjointed, with each episode having very little to do with each other.

Notebook, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 31st, 2005

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Synopsis

In the present, in a nursing home, we meet two residents: James Garner and Gena Rowlands.She is afflicted with Alzheimer’s, and cannot remember her past. He reads to her from anotebook, telling the tale (which is their story) of two young people (Ryan Gosling and RacelMcAdams) who meet, fall in love, but are driven apart by class prejudice (she’s upper class, he’sworking class). He never gives up on her, and the story charts more heartbreaking reunions andtravails.

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Bob Dylan World Tours 1966-1974

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2005

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Synopsis

Director Joel Gilbert, who could charitably be said to be obsessed with Bob Dylan (he playsthe Dylan role in the Highway 61 tribute band, whose performances provide the film’ssoundtrack), travels about, visiting places and people that had something to do with this period ofDylan’s career (or at least something to do with chronicling it). The primary focus isphotographer Barry Feinstein, and plenty of his pictures are on display here. Part history, partpersonal odyssey, this…
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All Grown Up: Interview with a Campfire

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2005

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Synopsis

The Rugrats extend their pop culture empire with this TV series, where the kids are now inearly adolescence. The central story here involves a trip to summer camp, with all the usualassortment of spooky plot elements (combined with the fact that one of our heroes is trying tomake a horror movie). There are also two other episodes. No one is going to compare the level ofwit on display with The Simpsons or The Family Guy, but I’ve seen worse. Muchworse.

Aud…
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Something Short of Paradise

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2005

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Synopsis

“They keep falling in and out of love,” reads the tagline, and that quite nicely sums up thefilm. David Steinberg is the neurotic manager of an art-house cinema, and Susan Sarandon hascome to NYC to become a journalist. They are different, but there’s chemistry, BUT sometimesthe chemistry is of the wrong kind, and the movie charts the ups and downs of their relationship.“In the tradition of Annie Hall” the case boasts, and the case could be made that it is alittle to…
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The Complete Monterey Pop Festival

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 28th, 2005

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The Monterey Pop Festival has been mostly ignored by a lot of people, compared to the two other two large concerts that occurred after it, Woodstock, and Altamont. Those who do remember Monterey always mention the one incident it is most known for, Jimi Hendrix’ appearance on the U.S. stage. Jimi had been tearing it up in England, and he ended by setting his guitar on fire, which turned out to be a defining moment in music history. Criterion brings this event and others back to life in a comprehensive 3 disc set which is designed not only to showcase Jimi’s set during the show, but also breathes new life into the festival in general.
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Echoes From the White House

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2005

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This PBS documentary on the White House was made in 2001 to coincide with the Bicentennial of the mansion’s construction. I’m a student of the presidency, so I can’t say that I learned anything new here. I do believe most folks will walk away with some renewed interest in one of the icons of American government. Many celebrities, including Sam Waterson, Avery Brooks, and Robert Prosky, read actual letters from presidents and first ladies dealing with the White House. The film makes generous use of period photographs and paintings to depict the various stages of the building’s development into the modern version we are so familiar with today.

Good Times – The Complete Fourth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2005

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Good Times is one of several shows from the 1970’s to trace its origins back to All In The Family. Florida was the maid to Maude, Edith’s cousin, who also got her own show. It wasn’t very long before Good Times became the Jimmie Walker show. His ghetto witisms and trademark “Dyn-o-Mite” exclamation took any attention from the other cast members. In the Fourth season John Amos left the show and his character, James, was killed in an accident. Esther Rolle would also depart for a time after this season. It’s no surprise that JJ’s role was beginning to increase and perhaps peaked here in Season Four.

Miami Vice – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2005

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What better a place to bring a city’s resurgence than Miami? The area would arguably look different if there was a different TV show that sparked a commerical revival. With Michael Mann in the producer’s chair, along with producing partner Anthony Yerkovich (whose only other cop drama he produced was Hill Street Blues), the flashy cop drama was the reason why a lot of people decided to stay home on Friday nights.

In terms of episode content, there was a lot of formulaic cop drama things, and the usua…
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Wonder Woman — The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 23rd, 2005

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Synopsis

Lynda Carter is Wonder Woman, the Amazon from Paradise Island who dons large glassesto disguise herself as Diana Prince, secretary in the war department during WWII. Love interestis Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner), and together the two battle one Nazi plot after another.The pilot sees the arrival of Wonder Woman in the US, and thereafter we have such adventuresas the Nazis seeking Paradise Island and the mysterious element Feminum (groan) that gives ourheroine her powers…
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Barbary Coast

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 21st, 2005

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Synopsis

During the gold rush, Miriam Hopkins arrives in the lawless new city of San Francisco, onlyto discover that her fiancé has been killed. Penniless, but determined to make her way, she hastop-dog casino owner Edward G. Robinson fall in love with her, though she strategically holdshim at bay. She makes a financial killing, but the price she has paid is driven home when sheencounters poet/prospector Joel McCrea.

McCrea is an odd casting choice as a poet, and he is a poe…
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Barbra Streisand Collection, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 19th, 2005

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Synopsis

All three of thiese films have previous been seen release on DVD (one quite some time ago,from the look of things), and they are of varying importance to Streisand’s career.

The most notable of the bunch is The Way We Were (1973). Directed by SydneyPollack, this charts the relationship of Streisand (fiery activist) and Robert Redford (writer in theF. Scott Fitzgerald mould) from their college days in the 1930s to their inevitable breakup in1950s Hollywood. Th…
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Punky Brewster Season Two

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 16th, 2005

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Synopsis

If you have any interest in this series, then a synopsis is surely unnecessary. I can’t imaginenew fans flocking in droves to this soggy material. Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) is thespunky former street urchin who is now the ward of lovable curmudgeon Henry (GeorgeGaynes). We follow Punky to school and elsewhere, and see her learn all sorts of life lessonsthrough what passes for humour. This is total pap, and a reminder of just how depressingly badthe sitcom form can b…
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Easter Parade

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 15th, 2005

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Synopsis

In a fit of pique when Ann Miller dumps him as both dance partner and boyfriend, FredAstaire declares that he can find a new partner out of the first girl he sees, and he happens to pickbar singer Judy Garland. She turns out, of course, to be exactly the partner he should have had allalong, as they rise to fame.

Plot, in the case of this musical, is pretty much irrelevant — but hell, they have to squeeze 17songs into a mere 103 minutes. There are plenty of favourit…
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Phase IV

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 15th, 2005

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Phase IV isnâ€™t a sequel, and it isnâ€™t a remake of the 1974 movie about aliens brainwashing desert ants to wage war over its human desert inhabitants. Those of you looking for that film might be disappointed. Instead, you get this modern action film staring Dean Cain and the Boz, Brian Bosworth. And it ainâ€™t half bad.

Simon Tate (Dean Cain) plays a reporter trying to clear the name of his best friend. The friend is involved in a mysterious death of a scientist. This death is just one in a s…
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Band Wagon, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 14th, 2005

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Synopsis

Fred Astaire plays a song-and-dance man who has seen better days, and is past his prime asfar as Hollywood is concerned. He arrives in New York to star in a new show written by two oldfriends (Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant). The project is taken on by a pretentiousproducer/director/actor (Jack Buchanan), who brings in ballet dancer Cyd Charisse. Astaire andCharisse clash initially, and Buchanan is intent on turning the sprightly musical comedy into amodern version of Faus…
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Green Acres – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 13th, 2005

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Synopsis

The set-up for Green Acres is that we have a city couple (Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor) whohave forsaken the big city sophistication of New York for the titular verdant acres near the townof Hooterville. So there’s plenty of fish-out-of-water humour (Albert dressing in a suit in thecountry, Gabor a completely incapable housfrau), not to mention numerous slack-jawed yokels.This is pretty standard late-60s sitcom humour, so we’re not talking enormous sophisticationhere, and the…
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Chappelle’s Show – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2005

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Dave Chappelle and I are the same. Well, he’s a year younger than me. And he’s black. But we’re both from Washington DC, but I live in the suburbs, and usually never go into the downtown area unless someone dared me. But he’s a lot funnier than me, and Comedy Central decided to give him a 12 episode commitment on their network after seeing him in such films as Half Baked, Screwed and Undercover Brother.

And quietly, Dave has put together a smart, funny show that everyone instantly dismi…
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Jonny Quest – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2005

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This show the bomb diggity yo! Seriously though, Jonny Quest in a way revolutionized cartoons in the sense of realism that they tried to convey. Some of the cartoons that have come out since have done a pretty good job of it, but not too many shows were touching on topics such as laser technology, rockets and other concepts then looked at as “futuristic.” And put up against other shows of that era, the animation on Jonny Quest had an almost comic-book like feel to it, and it was a nice change of pace from the …
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South Park – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2005

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I must admit that season 5 of South Park was not one of my favorites. I didn’t mind the more permanent death of Kenny. OK, I did mind losing Kenny, but that wasn’t what really brought the series down. It appears that the crudeness found in season 5 has no other purpose than for shock value which in itself is lost on South Park fans. You just can’t shock us anymore.

An episode with a running counter for how often SHIT appears is a perfect indication of how run down things had gotten. Don’t get me wrong. The…
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Dead End

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 13th, 2005

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Synopsis

Welcome to the Lower East Side, where the high-rise apartments of the super-rich abut thetenements on the riverside. Here Joel McCrea, a poor would-be architect, is infatuated with richgirl Wendy Barrie, while poor girl Sylvia Sidney pines for him, all the while trying to save heryounger brother from a life of crime on the streets. Into the scene strides Humphrey Bogart as awanted killer, coming home to try to reconnect with his mother and an old flame. Intersectingwith the…
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