Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 10th, 2006
In the wake of cable television’s recent success in the horror anthology genre, TNT brings us 8 tales from the mind and pen of Stephen King. Showtime’s hugely popular Masters of Horror series set a high standard while proving that this time-honored method of storytelling could survive. Cable’s unique ability to circumvent many of the censorship problems that plague network television puts them at a distinct advantage. Here it’s easier to tell compelling stories, with limitations, for the most part, only in the imag...nation of the story teller himself. And oh, what an imagination to cultivate, that of Stephen King. In his garden some of our most frightening nightmares are tended like the fragile leaves of a new basil plant. Here our fears are planted in fertile ground indeed, as fertile as graveyard dirt. These stories are what set apart this series from the many that have come and gone before. Most of the stories carry a feel very much like the 1990’s Outer Limits episodes we saw on Showtime a decade or so ago. You can almost hear the controller’s voice delivering a sober moral as each piece fades away. There are 8 episodes, each about 45-50 minutes spread out over 3 discs.
Disc 1
“Battleground” The teleplay is by Richard Christian Matheson, son of the great Richard Matheson who brought us many Twilight Zone adventures as well as “I Am Legend”, basis for a third version starring Will Smith, coming soon. The father also wrote the teleplay for the famous “Prey” segment of Trilogy Of Terror. This story is very much an almost remake of that episode. The story is unique in several ways. The most obvious is that there is no dialogue in the entire hour. I found it slowed the story down quite a bit, particularly in the overlong setup. Here William Hurt plays an assassin who slowly breaks into the headquarters of Morris Toys, where he apparently was hired to kill Morris, the owner. He commits his dirty deed and steals a music box dancer as a souvenir. Back at his plush penthouse apartment, we see he has collected many of these trophies over the years. In Battleground, we find that payback’s a bitch. A mysterious package arrives by carrier. Inside is a chest full of plastic army men and play equipment. These guys are pretty much like the versions we all had as kids. The toy regiment comes complete with choppers and jeeps as well as a “surprise item”. Our killer’s apartment becomes the titular Battleground when the toys come to life and terrorize the man. The f/x here are simply amazing as the toys wage a war with our gunman. There are even shades of another King classic, “The Ledge” from the Cat’s Eye collection here. After that slow start, things move at a brisk pace now that the battle is on. The Zuni Doll from the original Trilogy Of Terror episode also makes a cameo in this story. It acts as a nice moment of foreshadowing. Hurt has to carry the story, at least until the real action kicks in. You’ve just got to have some patience and it will finally be paid off.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 9th, 2006
William Keane (Lewis) has apparently lost his daughter, abducted from a New York Subway station. The film opens with a frantic Keane searching for anyone who might have seen her. But did any of it really happen? At first Damian Lewis’s performance completely sells the abduction. Every nuance of his acting tugs at our heartstrings for his horrible loss. His incessant searching and constant probing of his own memory draws us deeper and deeper emotionally into the set-up. It doesn’t take us very long at all to questio... the event and Keane’s sanity. In short time the story begins to unravel along with Keane’s mind. Again, it is a superb performance by Lewis that makes it all so real. It is this compelling performance that makes any of this interesting to us at all.
Keane, both the film and the man, is a detailed character study into the mind of a seriously troubled man. His troubles run far deeper than the possible missing child. Barely surviving in a hotel room with no job, we soon learn he is on some kind of disability. We are pretty sure what that’s all about. Keane spends a great deal of his time either drunk or high on coke. While it is almost impossible to have any kind of sympathy for this man, we are hooked into caring what happens to him, and more importantly what he might do next. Perhaps it’s the same concept as watching a train wreck, because we never believe this story’s going to end well for Keane or the young mother and daughter he befriends at the hotel. With this relationship our suspicious nature is aroused. Now we’re never really sure if Kean’e state of mind is a result of the substance abuse, or rather the reverse. A meltdown in a bar and a growing paranoia starts to scare the hell out of us, yet we simply can’t look away. Again, credit Lewis and his amazing performance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 7th, 2006
I can’t imagine anyone who’s not a Kevin Smith fan renting, buying, or otherwise arranging to view this DVD. The gist of this review is simple: if you like Kevin Smith and/or his work, you’ll enjoy An Evening With Kevin Smith 2 – Evening Harder.
Since I haven’t seen the original An Evening With Kevin Smith, I can’t offer a comparison. That said, I’d be willing to guess that this release is both more of the same and a whole new experience.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 3rd, 2006
Synopsis
The murderous, cannibalistic Sawyer family is at it again, carving up yuppies and winning chili contests. Obsessed Texas Ranger Dennis Hopper is tracking them down, hoping for a final chainsaw duel. DJ Caroline Williams tries to help out, attracting the attention of the Sawyers, and, as it turns out, the puppy love of Leatherface.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 2nd, 2006
Conviction: The Complete Series ran thirteen episodes, a run of such brevity that one might ask as he looks at the tag, “From the Creator of Law and Order,” why Dick Wolf finds it necessary to add one more courtroom-based show to his laundry list of similarly themed projects. I was prepared for another simulation of the basic L&O format, and that did not excite me. And who knows? Perhaps Conviction is a needless clone of Wolf’s other more successful ventures. As someone, who has never...seen an episode of his previous material, I really couldn’t say one way or the other. What I can say is that Conviction enjoys the benefits of solid writing, a talented cast, and compelling character development.
While the series can sometimes stretch too far across that line of realism that a good courtroom drama straddles so well, the outlandish idea that all these young attorneys could exist under one roof and get involved in so many perilous physical and emotional ventures never ceases to entertain. Remember, it’s still a fictional series, realistic or not, and while the plots seem like a little much for one core group’s experiences, they have a way of baiting hooks that no unsuspecting viewer with a pulse can fail to bite. The finale goes for the throat and exemplifies this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mentality of the show, but still layers on enough suspense to quench viewers’ doubts. I wish there had been more than thirteen episodes, but after seeing all the other like-minded shows (most of which were dreamed up by the same creator) that just go on and on and on, it’s refreshing to know we have an example of courtroom drama with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 1st, 2006
There are so many sub-genres of horror these days. There is the ever-popular teen slasher flick, there is Japanese horror, gore, zombie, thrillers and even the recent popularity of the 70's throwback. This one falls into the dramatic slow-burn category. The plot here sounds like something out of one of the better Steven King short stories. Someone in the federal government discovers that the population of little Rockford Falls seems to have remained steady for over a hundred years. An official is sent to investigate this anomaly, and what he finds is a mixture of small-town life, strong religious beliefs and some eerily strange goings-on.
This is actually not a bad little film. From the cover, I was expecting yet-another week low-budget horror film full of bad jump scares and overly-predictable plot developments. Well, there are some pretty lame jump scares here, and the plot is about as transparent as a sliding glass door, but the film has a certain charm nonetheless. Plus, you get Fred Durst in a surprisingly effective role as the town Sheriff. This may not be a film that is ready for the multiplex, but it is most definitely worth a rental.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 1st, 2006
Looking For Kitty is an interesting, witty and somewhat slow-moving film. I enjoyed the understated story up until the last 20 minutes, when I lost interest because I thought the film should have been over.
The story is straightforward. A sad-sack little league baseball coach, Abe Fiannico (David Krumholtz), hires Jack Stanton (Edward Burns), a down-on-his-luck private investigator, to find his missing wife, Kitty (Ari Meyers). Working together, they look for Kitty, who has apparently run off with a moderately successful rock singer named Ron Stewart (Max Baker) – not to be confused with the more famous Rod Stewart. Slowly, a friendship develops between Fiannico and Stanton, as they realize they have more in common than they first thought, and the two end up helping each other come to terms with lost relationships.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 31st, 2006
NBC pulled the plug on The Book of Daniel after just four episodes. That explains why this 2006 mid-season replacement show came and went so fast I never even knew it existed. Now that I’ve watched all eight episodes, I’m disappointed that there won’t be more.
Apparently, the show was canceled for being too controversial. Christian organizations like Focus on the Family protested the series’ portrayal of Jesus, the church and homosexuality, and yet more groups were offended by such things as perceivednegative Catholic and Italian stereotypes (one of the supporting characters is a Catholic priest with ties to the mob). NBC had trouble selling advertising spots for the series, even after offering significant discounts, and network affiliates were bowing to pressure from special interest groups.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006
Synopsis
Bill Paxton is a polygamist. He and his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin) and their children live in three adjoined houses, and must constantly be careful not to let the secret of their lifestyle be revealed. That might be stress enough, but Paxton is having trouble keeping up on the sexual front, there is tension and competition between the wives (Tripplehorn is the alpha, Sevigny is manipulative and a shopaholic, Goodwin is insecure), and one of his fathe...s-in-law, the inimitable Harry Dean Stanton, is creating business hell for him as he opens up another hardware store.
Posted in: 1.78:1 Widescreen, Box Set, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), DVD, Paramount, Television by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006
”My name is Melinda Gordon. I just got married, just moved to a small town, just opened up an antique shop. I might be just like you…except from the time that I was a little girl I knew that I could talk to the dead. ‘Earthbound spirits’, my Grandmother called them. The ones who’ve not crossed over because they have unfinished business with the living, and they come to me for help. To tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.”
So goes the opening for each episode of this first season of Ghost Whisperer, a series that blends drama, horror and comedy to carry its audience to an emotional place. I can imagine a lot of viewers crying at some point or another during almost every episode, which is a credit to the show’s makers, but they’re aided by the fact that their show deals so much with death, life, love and grief.
