Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 29th, 2007
Every now and then a writer gets stuck for what to write. As a reviewer it happens that I can watch a film or series, take pages of detailed notes and read everything I can get my hands on about the subject, but still when I sit down to my computer it’s just me and that flashy cursor, aptly named, for every writer has felt the curse as that incessant blinking blob continues to remind us we’ve got nothing. In the industry we have a highly technical term for this condition. We call it writer’s block. Sometimes I’ll try and get around it by telling a little story about myself and hope the reader won’t find out it’s just a stall.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 27th, 2007
I don't think any documentarian in history has been as famous as Ken Burns. His series on the Civil War is what first made him a household name, and his in depth looks at baseball, New York City and jazz are what has solidified his place in the American consciousness as the world's premiere documentary filmmaker. He is so well-respected, in fact, that his method of making still photographs interesting by zooming and panning is actually known as the Ken Burns Effect.
Burns' latest film endeavor focuses on World War II, which may be the most covered documentary subject in history. This topic should present his greatest challenge; a subject that has millions of experts and thousands of pre-existing documentaries, including the very well respected "The World At War", which is considered the gold standard. There are still many veterans of the war alive today, which could be both a blessing and a curse. While they can certainly help with insight into key events, they are also the first to criticize if the film does not accurately portray the battles as they transpired. It is a tall order, but if anyone could meet this challenge, Ken Burns is the one to do it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 25th, 2007
There are plenty of reasons to be grateful for public domain rules, as they make plenty of movies easily available that wouldn’t be otherwise. But there are pitfalls as well, and there is no clearer example of this than what has befallen George A. Romero’s classic film. The great man barely saw a dime from his work, but all and sundry can fiddle with Night of the Living Dead as they see fit, and here is a textbook case. The basic premise is intact: young woman and her brother visit cemetery, are attacked by zombies, and heroine winds up part of a besieged group. Sid Haig lends his presence to liven things up a bit, but he have any real role to play until the movie is almost half-over, by which point many viewers will be sunk in boredom. The zombie attacks are tediously realized, and this is easily the most gore-free version of the story. So what is more pointless than a flesh-eating zombie film with almost no flesh-eating? A zombie movie with a twist, that’s what. Talk about pointless. A twist is to zombie movies what bicycles are to fish, but here we are stuck with one, just to irritate us further. The 3D has novelty value, and will be discussed further below, but that’s about it.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2007
Smallville, although well shot and portrayed has never been a favorite series of mine. Growing up I was a Marvel comics fan, I hardly ever crossed into the DC market and if I did, it was for Batman, never Superman. Of course, for those of you that don't know Smallville follows the life of a young Clark Kent in the years prior to him becoming Superman. Of course it started out in season 1 with Kent in high school, very unsure of his potential but six seasons later he's very Superman esque. That's the aspect I really like about this show, the character arcs and the development of Clark Kent into Superman. We get to learn why he is the way he is, and why the people around him are the way they are.
For those of you that read the Superman comics you know that Clark Kent grew up in the fictional town of Smallville, first introduced in a Superman comic nearly 60 years ago. During the first 5 seasons of Smallville we get a taste of just about everything Superman, from the origins of Lex Luthor to The Fortress of Solitude. Without a doubt this show is a spectacular Superman spin-off for fans, but if your like me and could really care less about The Man of Steel, Smallville Season 6 isn't going to strike a chord with you unless you rewind a bit and start watching from season 1.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2007
Meet The Robinsons follows the story of young orphan Lewis. He’s quite the young inventor but ends up with more failures and near misses than anything successful. His tendency to blow things up doesn’t help his adoption chances too much either. One day his life is changed when a kid from the future arrives to give him a boost of confidence. Back in the future Lewis is temporarily trapped, and the guest of the manic family Robinson. Each family member is a zany character unto themselves. Uncle Art, cleverly voiced by Adam West, is an intergalactic pizza delivery guy, and mom has trained frogs to become big band singers. Before long Lewis finds he has more in common with family patriarch Cornelius than he suspected. The villain is the mysterious Bowler Hat Man, bent on getting his revenge on Lewis and taking credit for his inventions. Armed with a catchy slogan culled from one of Walt’s own statements, Keep Moving Forward, and a new found confidence, Lewis sets out to create the future of his dreams.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2007
Slow Burn delivers exactly what the title suggests. A whole lotta slow and a little burn. District Attorney Ford Cole (Liotta) is running for Mayor. He’s got a no nonsense reputation for fighting crime. He’s been locked in a near mortal struggle with crime lord Danny Luden, an elusive criminal who has more than once humiliated Cole in the past. His ace assistant, Nora Timmer (Blalock) has just shot a man she claims attempted to rape her. The story begins to unravel when Luther Pinks (LL Cool J) arrives with an alternate story that paints Timmer in a very bad light. The two tales are told through flashbacks and narrative, and it’s left to the audience to come up with the truth. The only problem is the pacing is erratic and often confusing. After an hour and a half of clichés and snail’s pace plot movement, you find yourself too fatigued to give a crap who is playing who anymore.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2007
The box art boasts that “You have never seen The Wonder Years’ Fred Savage like this before”. Right. And will you please all bow your heads and join me in prayer that we never see him like this again. Forget for the moment that I just can’t get the character of Kevin Arnold out of my head any time I see Savage, but watching him turn into some sex crazy maniac is like catching your sister on the toilet. The image is there forever burned into your corneas like some visage of Hell to torment you for the remainder of your natural life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 17th, 2007
Director Peter Bogdanovich has a theory that you can make almost any movie better by cutting the first 20-minutes off of it. Exposition is intended to set-up the background of the characters for the audience, but it usually just ends up slowing things down until the conflict eventually arises. After watching Bug, I would be willing to accept Bogdanovich's argument, and double it.
Bug is the story of a down-on-her-luck waitress (Ashley Judd, doing her best impression of Charlize Theron from Monster) who lives in a cheap motel and works as a waitress in a honky tonk bar in Oklahoma. Her only friend comes by one night to party, and leaves a drifter behind when she leaves for the evening. The drifter turns out to be a pretty interesting character, though clearly of mysterious origins. The two form a quick bond, and as the drifter's pre-existing mental illness starts to present itself, the waitress buys in to his delusions, with disastrous results.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2007
With season seven already underway, our favourite TV drama about young Clark Kent's journey to becoming Superman is still going strong. Back in 2001, I have to admit I wasn't all that optimistic about the show's prospects. The pilot was strong, but after viewing the first few freak-of-the-week episodes, thing weren't exactly looking up, up and away. At least not for me, anyway. Thankfully, I don't make the decisions, because Smallville grew to become an entertaining show with decent story arcs and interesting twists in the lives of its characters.
By the time this sixth season rolled around, Smallville had moved well beyond the constraints of high school drama, and added more heroes and villains than you can shake a stick at. But is bigger better? The jury's still squabbling over that one, in between bites of their free lunch. In the meantime, I'll pass judgment on this DVD set.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2007
Animal 2 is a direct to video sequel to a direct to video original film. I never saw the first film, but I suspect that you’re brought up to date in this one through some of the dialog. Because I did not see the first, it will not be possible for me to make any comparisons. Obviously the only real reason for this film is to provide a vehicle for Ving Rhames and in that respect it works OK. The story has enough originality to it to make all the street gang and prison clichés bearable, but only minimally. The box art claims this is the “unrated” version, but since there was no theatrical release I have to ask, unrated as compared to what? There are tons of F bombs and N words, but they come mostly in the horrid hip hop soundtrack and less in the dialog, although there’s plenty of “plain talk” there as well. It’s a good thing these guys don’t have to play by the same rules as people like Imus do.
![Smallville - The Complete Sixth Season [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/smallville-the-complete-sixth-sea-large.jpg)
