Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 11th, 2006
Synopsis
The film focuses on the life of a family of nomads in the Gobi Desert region of Mongolia. Their camels are vital to their well-being, and when a mother rejects her newborn white calf, this is a serious problem. Two sons set off to a distant village to summon a magician is summoned, who, it is to be hoped, can perform the necessary miracle to save the calf.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 11th, 2006
The Academy Awards ceremony continues to devalue itself by giving honors to films, which are mediocre at best, or films that try desperately to force a political agenda down the American people’s throats, while gems such as 2004’s Downfall linger in relative obscurity, and certainly do not receive the recognition they deserve. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s study of Hitler’s final days transcends the triviality of being considered a film and instead functions as a window into the past. And for a little more th...n two hours, it feels like we’re actually watching Hitler’s (and a country’s) downfall instead of a movie portraying the events. Part of this authenticity is due to the meticulous recreation of war-torn Berlin in the last ten days of the German dictator’s life. The filmmakers’ painstaking research, which consisted of hours-upon-hours interviewing several of the still-living participants, as well as taking a healthy dose of its story from the memoirs of Traudl Junge, Hitler’s secretary, succeeds in placing us right in the middle of the drama. But the proceedings would be nothing without the criminally overlooked performance of Bruno Ganz, who doesn’t just play Hitler; he becomes him. If Ganz cannot win a Best Actor Academy Award for what he does here, then the whole system no longer contains merit, and the little gold statue means nothing.
Of course, whenever Hitler’s involved in anything, there will always be a lot of controversy that surrounds him. It doesn’t help the film’s global acceptance that Ganz plays Hitler not as a two-dimensional dictator, but as a flesh-and-blood man with his own feelings of pride, uncertainty, and even warmth. But make no mistake. Any critic or viewer that tries to tell you Hitler is shown in a positive light did not even begin to watch the film closely enough. Thus, the only real controversy lay in the fact that Downfall de-poofs stereotypes of what a German under the Reich was… and more importantly, of what Hitler himself was. He is first and foremost a mentally unstable villain. But like all predators, he is not without his share of humanity which does invoke sympathy at times. All the while, the film never tries to justify Hitler. It just tries to understand him, and it is enormously successful in doing so.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 10th, 2006
This is the perfect time for Lion's Gate to release Made on UMD for the PSP. Not only does the film feature such trendy personalities as Faizon Love and Puff Daddy/Puffy/Sean "Puffy" Combs/P-Diddy/Diddy, but it also stars the current comedic genius of the week... Vince Vaughn. That's not to say that I don't like Vince Vaughn, it's just that he is riding such a high wave since his hilarious work in Wedding Crashers that this is the perfect time for the studio to cash in on some of his lesser known films ...s well. In fact, I have been a fan of Vaughn's ever since Swingers.
Which brings me to my point. Made is one of those all-too-rare films that aren't really sequels, but are something of a reimagining of a couple of characters. Vaughn and writer/director/co-star Jon Favreau pretty much play the same two guys they did in Swingers, which I just can't get enough of. While the topic of that film was dating in Los Angeles, this one is about the dull life of lower-level gangsters trying to make it big. These two bumbling idiots decide that the best way to make a name for themselves (and earn some cash to boot) is to act as L.A. muscle for a NYC mob operation. As you can imagine, their failures are comic gold.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 8th, 2006
Bad News Bears is not necessarily a fine film, but it is a lot better than the host of other remakes Hollywood has thrown at us as of late. Billy Bob Thorton stars in the film, and I quote, “as a drunk who makes a living killing rats to live in a trailers.” The film seems to take his character from Bad Santa and the football coach in Friday Night Lights and seems to merge the two. However, neither of his tactics in either film are used in the film. This results in the audience liking his characte... more than he probably likes himself.
The original 1976 film starred the late Walter Matthau. Thorton’s performance in the film seems to be holding a candle to Matthau’s. Thorton just seems to find more of a sad tone in his character of Morris Buttermaker than Matthau did. His team is called the Bears, which is only around due to a lawsuit that feels the Little League discriminates. The attorney Liz Whitewood (Marcia Gay Harden) demands that the league except all players. This results in the typical sport film’s cliché. His team gets ALL of the terrible players including a black kid, two Spanish speakers, an Indian, a kid who seems to be too little to even hold the bat, and one kid who is in a motorized wheelchair. As you can possible assume from this cliché, is that NONE of these players can play the game.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 3rd, 2006
Note: the following synopsis contains brief spoilers. Only read this first section if you know have happens in season four.
Nominated for 25 Golden Globes and 110 Emmys, including 7 for Outstanding Drama Series, ER has long been one of the best prime-time shows on television. Premiering in September 1994 on NBC, the hour-long hospital drama vividly illustrates the intensity and fast-paced stress endemic to hospital emergency rooms across America. Brought into being by Michael Crichton - famous Hollywoo... insider, novelist, and brains behind such films as Jurassic Park, Twister, and Timeline – ER fulfills its creator's ultimate vision (it took over a decade of pitching the show before network executives bit) for a close-to-life glimpse of the technology and the humanity omnipresent in the ER. Since its inception, many cast members have passed through the halls of ER, many of them having gone on to become big stars in Hollywood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 3rd, 2006
Synopsis
The Stiffler character from the Amercian Pie movies has, it turns out, a younger brother, who is also a loathsome creep. After sabotaging the high school band’s performance, his punishment is to attend band camp himself. He makes the best of a bad deal, planning to videotape raunchy goings on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 1st, 2006
One of the few positive side-effects of the popular era of reality TV that we live in today is that the desire for the real has also crossed over to film. This has provided an excellent opportunity for documentary filmmakers to get their product seen by a large audience that just a few short years ago would never have taken the time to watch a documentary film. In fact, documentaries have become so mainstream that Murderball is produced in association with MTV Films. While a wheelchair rugby documentary sounds...like something that is ideally suited for the typical middle-aged PBS viewer, this film is rife with themes that will strike a chord with viewers from many different backgrounds.
This is not a film about sports. This is certainly not a film about feeling sorry for those less fortunate. This is a film about drive, about living life to the fullest, and about speaking your mind no mater what the consequences. It is not pretty, it's not sexy... in fact, some parts of it will probably make viewers downright uncomfortable. That's the point of this film. To make viewers look past their limits and preconceived boundaries, and to see the world and their place in it as something more than it is.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 1st, 2006
Synopsis
Having zipped through The Emperor’s New Groove awhile back (yes, I have Disney DVDs), I was somewhat familiar with the story and the cast behind it. I was aware that the original film enjoyed some theatrical success, but I didn’t understand why the film necessitated a sequel. But here I am, trying to wrap my head around the logic for this sequel.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 24th, 2005
Season Four of The West Wing was the series' final season with the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin. This left quite a bit of trepidation among the show's faithful followers. What would happen with the series left in the hands of new writers, and without Rob Lowe's portrayal of Sam Seaborn? After all, Sorkin's original plans for the show were for it to focus on Sam, and now everything seems to be falling apart.
With one notable exception, I am proud to announce that the show is still rolling along at a s...rong pace in Season Five. It is hard to write about the show without giving away any spoilers, but I can pretty safely say that the cliffhanger from the end of Season Four is resolved within the first few episodes, some appointments are made, some decisions from the President's past come back to haunt him, and in the end, yet another White House staffer's life hangs in the balance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
In the year 2000, the United States (and much of the rest of the world, it seems) is under the dictatorial rule of Mr. President, and the masses are kept passive with the Transcontinental road race, where the competitors must not only race from the remains of New York to the remains of LA in record time, but kill as many pedestrians as possible. Chief rivals are fan favourite Frankenstein (David Carradine) and the villainous Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone).
