Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2005
Synopsis
There was a huge amount of anticipation over the American adaptation of the British sitcom hit of the same name. The original version, with Ricky Gervais as the office manager David Brent, won a series of Emmy equivalents in England and Gervais even won a Golden Globe for his work on the show. And with Steve Carell (Anchorman) appearing in the American version as Brent’s counterpart, expectations were high from more than a few people.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2005
This is not your father’s Sinbad. The emphasis is on the Bad, very bad. Seek and ye shall find no Ray Harryhausen magic to carry you away to distant lands and grand adventure. Lou Ferrigno was much better as The Hulk than as Sinbad. His much too modern use of slang coupled with a wise-guy barrage of one-liners makes this a difficult film to watch. Trust me. This film is really bad. Most disturbing is the total lack of respect the producers of this mess show for the grand traditions of previous Sinbad films. There is no majesty and mystery. You will also quickly become annoyed with the narration. A woman is telling the story to her all too inquisitive child.There is only mockery and triteness. They even try to pass off some of Lou’s Hercules footage as new stuff shot for this film. Well, the film wasn’t what needed to be shot here.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 4th, 2005
Synopsis
Kingdome Hospital is built on the site of a former Civil War textile mill, where many children lost their lives in a tragic fire. The ground is therefore haunted, and strange things are happening in the hospital. We follow the lives of many characters here, including one particular patient, an artist who was hit by a truck (the incident is very faithful reproduction of what happened to Stephen King himself) and is haunted, in his comatose state, by visions of a supernatural anteater (I’m not...making this up).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Peter Finch plays Umberto Nobile, an Italian general and explorer who is haunted by his disastrous attempt to fly over the pole in a dirigible in 1928. In the present day, sleepless, he summons the ghosts of his crew and the people affected by the disaster to sit as judge and jury, and the film then proceeds to tell the tale in flashback. When the dirigible crashes, Nobile and his men are marooned on pack ice, while rescue attempts are met with one tragic setback after another. Among those s...arching for Nobile is Roald Amundsen (Sean Connery).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 20th, 2005
Evil sells. From the time of Adam and Eve it appears that Satan makes for great storytelling. The mini-series from NBC gets its name, obviously, from Revelations, the final book in the Bible. Combine the idea of pure evil and the end of times and you get... well, The Omen. Revelations deals more with the impending Armageddon than it actually does with the Anti-Christ. The clash of science and religion is far more important in this film than past films like The Omen. Bill Pullman is a good choice here. His portrayal of a Harvard scientist caught in the middle of this epic tale contains just the right reserved element to make him completely believable. Natascha McElhone is too stereotypical. Her constant ranting of scripture gets tiresome. I’m not really sure I blame the actress more than the way the part was written. This is a long tale that would have benefited from tighter editing. Of course, NBC had to fill 6 hours of prime-time.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 12th, 2005
Season Two of Star Trek Enterprise was without a doubt the weakest of the series. It’s no mystery that the show’s demise was already being talked about by the time Year Two was finished. The stories were unoriginal and it appears budgetary concerns often meant unimaginative bottle shows. The words Star Trek were finally added to the title. Rick Berman has always tried to distance himself from Gene Roddenberry. When Enterprise was first released he felt it was time to finally cut the umbilical cord and drop the franchise tag. If that doesn’t tell you something about his level of respect for Star Trek, then the countless instances of disregarding traditional Trek continuity should. The franchise officially jumped the shark with the episode “A Night In Sickbay”. Come on, Berman, that cute puppy in a fight for its life is so... Lassie.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 31st, 2005
On the one hand, I have pretty low expectations for movies that were made for TV. On the other hand, this is an HBO film, so my expectations are just a bit higher than normal. My interest was further peaked when I saw that this was a romantic comedy. It is nice to see the network famous for drama branch out into comedy, and I was curious to see the results.
The plot of this film reminded me somewhat of the Keanu Reeves sleeper hit A Walk in the Clouds. In this case, however, the family business is not ...ine, but fireworks. The always-fantastic Stanley Tucci plays an Italian from the old country that comes to America to work for his distant cousins making fireworks. Naturally, he falls in love with a girl (Bridget Fonda) once he gets there, and both drama and hilarity ensue.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 30th, 2005
Synopsis
The frustrating thing in watching Gas is just how familiar it is to The Cookout, Barbershop, Beautyshop, and other films that involve groups of African-American men getting together in the neighborhood and having fun, and getting the most successful family member in touch with their roots. What’s next, Sunday Church? Or Night at Silver Diner?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 30th, 2005
Synopsis
Poor Tom Selleck. The guy has had to deal with the Magnum P.I. stigma for so long, whenever he tries to play darker characters in a film noir-style TV movie, people just don’t buy it, as what seems to be the case in Stone Cold.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 3rd, 2005
Synopsis
A silent pimp (the only words he speaks – a couple of brief sentences late in the film – are also the last words spoken in the film) sees a young college girl and instantly falls obsessively in love. When she humiliates him after rejecting his crude advances, he arranges events to drive her into debt and legal problems, and from there into prostitution. He watches her in the brothel every night through a two-way mirror, as she descends further and further into the degradation of this world.< ...p>
