Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 31st, 2006
Synopsis
An item of secret desire for geeks like me was to get Spike Jonze’s videos on DVD. In the mid ‘90s, Jonze arguably was THE director to go to if you wanted your MTV submission to be memorable, talked about, and perhaps most importantly, spur record sales. If you remember the wacky video you saw on MTV that one time, chances are Spike directed it. Even after the critical success in Hollywood with an Oscar nomination for directing Being John Malkovich and before working on Adaptation, he...still managed to come back recently and direct a music video with a dancing Christopher Walken, proving he still has the touch.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 24th, 2006
Season 7 of South Park has all the earmarks of a successful show trying to return to its roots. With Kenny back, we are once again treated to multiple deaths, although not on a weekly basis. The very first episode of the season recalls the show’s Comedy Central pilot episode. Cartman is once again struggling with his Anal Probe incident. There are tons of homage elements to South Park’s origins. Could it be that Stone and Parker have decided to satire themselves? Season 7 revitalizes a show that quite honestly had ...escended to too many cheap shots and over the top disgust to stay fresh. South Park is back and as good as it ever was in Season 7. Some of the highlights include: Cartman sings gospel music for Jesus, Jimmy and Timmy mix it up with the “Bloods” and the “Crips”, Cartman returns to law enforcement, and Gay Pride reaches South Park.
Video
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 19th, 2006
Synopsis
The world greatest rock band’s story about the rise to power, born from Satan, and ready to rock the world, may not be as accurate as one would perceive. As Jack Black and Kyle Gass (Jables and KG to those in the know), Tenacious D received a small run of episodes during the HBO series Mr. Show in 1999 that resulted in good word of mouth for the pair. It was only until last year, when the long-awaited first album finally dropped, that the world discovered just how good they were. And the alb...m is a very good indoctrination for new fans, and for longtime fans of the D, some of what they had seen was presented on the album in a surprising, but pleasant arrangement, featuring guest appearances by the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and produced by The Dust Brothers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 19th, 2006
The genre of Thrillers and Suspense are usually categorized by types of films that the viewer watches and then wonders what they just watched. Films like Memento and The Machinist are prime examples of this. Both films, after many viewings, are excellent films solely because they require that the viewer think of each scene with careful scrutiny making note of each and everything on the screen. Both films end with the type of ending that doesn’t necessarily satisfy on the first viewing, but ultimately sa...isfies after many viewings. Add the film Stay to this list of films.
Henry Lethem (Ryan Gosling) is an art student at a university who plays to kill himself in three days, that is unless his psychiatrist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) can figure him out to stop his plan. Foster soon learns that Lethem is starting to hear voices, voices that are telling him to do things. But the enjoyment for Foster doesn’t end here as Lethem starts experiencing horrifying visions of pain. Lethem seems to be able to see the future at least as he knows everything that is going to occur a bit before it does. When Foster asks if they’ll meet again when Lethem informs him that he’ll kill himself, he declares “Yeah, there’s still three more days’. While the concept of seeing into the future before your ‘death’ is nothing new, I always find it to be interesting how every movie plays this angle out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 19th, 2006
Synopsis
Sometimes Disney will release a film that provides feelings of nostalgia to a lot of people. And other times they release shows onto DVD that make me realize just how old I am. When Disney’s Goof Troop was released onto DVD, my wife said the most horrible thing I’ve heard her say so far: “I used to watch that show growing up.” Keeping in mind that Goof Troop aired from 1992-1993, that statement probably says more about her than it does me, it still didn’t make me feel good. For God’s...sake, I was of drinking age when this aired!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 16th, 2006
Synopsis
This is a portrait of the rookie year of Yao Ming, a Chinese basketball superstar who is imported to play for the Houston Rockets. He arrives not just with the expectations associated with being a first-draft pick, but also with the hopes of (we are told) one billion countrymen on his shoulders. His debut is a disaster, but he soon establishes himself as a force to be reckoned with, as well as charming American fans with his self-effacing personality and humour.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 14th, 2006
Synopsis
In his film debut, Sidney Poitier is a newly minted doctor at a downtown hospital. Two patients arrive in the prison ward, shot in the leg by police. One is Richard Widmark, frothing racist. The other is his brother, who dies under Poitier’s care, not from the wound, but from a terminal brain tumour. Widmark blames Poitier, and sets about inflaming racial hatred in his quest to destroy Poitier.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 14th, 2006
Synopsis
Nigel has fled England and is living a loser existence in Copenhagen with a junkie girlfriend he doesn’t love anymore. Desperate for money, he takes on a job from a gangster known as the President. All he has to do is stash some stolen goods until they can be moved. But he begins an affair with Tanya, a prostitute also in the grip of the President, and, in true film noir fashion, he makes some stupid decisions and events spiral violently out of control.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 14th, 2006
In the first few years of the nineties, hip-hop singer/movie actress Queen Latifah headlined her own comedy show called Living Single. The show went on to last for five seasons. Although it never won much acclaim or any big awards, the show still had viewers. The basic premise for the show saw the day to day life of four twenty-something year old girlfriends and their two male neighbors.
In each episode, the cast sorted out its various issues with life. They also found time to find problems with eve...ything and also found time to overreact in nearly every situation. The show was might to show how normal people deal with everyday life. While I didn’t find the show to be constant laughter, I did find myself enjoying the show for what it was worth.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2006
Most of the time, I’m a pretty big fan of HBO’s documentaries, so you can imagine my disappointment when I had to sit through the overly long 76 minutes of Naked World, which follows attention-hungry tit-bag Spencer Tunick, as he embarks on a world tour to find idiots wanting to pose for him. They all have their reasons why they’re baring all for the handful of people, who watch this documentary, but the underlying reason is – much like that of Tunick himself – attention. These lunatics may have even convinced...themselves it’s not for attention, but make no mistake – it is. It doesn’t take much in way of talent to snap the shoddy photographs Tunick provides here, and his medium is nothing more than a gimmick, rather than an actual talent. He’s a sniveling, complaining, sideshow huckster demanding recognition as an artist, and there’s nothing more obnoxious to me than that. I’m not inclined towards nudist art, but I will admit, there are sculptors and painters out there with actual talent, who can carry out what Tunick is trying much more effectively.
Even more amusing than the claim that Spencer Tunick is an artist are the delusional subjects for much of his work. There is a woman dying of AIDS, who somehow feels showing her naked body in a group of over one thousand others doing the same thing will somehow make a worthwhile statement to the rest of the world regarding her plight. I’m sympathetic towards anyone dying of a vile disease such as AIDS, but the context in which this is done is a contradiction to her whole purpose. And once you have bared all – so what? What statement does it make? If nobody cares, what’s the point? If your statement is, I know no one cares, and I want them to know I don’t care either, then again – what is the point? If you really didn’t care – like you say – then why do you need to make a statement to begin with? This unfortunate lady is not the only one humiliating herself for five minutes of notoriety in this documentary, but she is one of the most memorable. The best favor you can do these participants is to avoid the film all together and not subject them to the self-deprecation they’re unwittingly committing upon themselves.
