1.78:1 Widescreen

Music and Lyrics

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2007

This just in: Hugh Grant stars in yet another formulaic romantic comedy. Having polished his shtick in such films as Nine Months, Notting Hill and Two Weeks Notice, I’m betting Grant barely had to pay attention on the set of Music and Lyrics.

Rom-com fans will find Grant’s turn with lovable Drew Barrymore (Fever Pitch) more than palatable, I’m sure. Heck, I enjoyed Music and Lyrics, in the way one appreciates the occasional handful of those tiny marshmallows in a mu…
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NCIS – The Complete Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2007

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OK, it’s difficult to talk about Season Three of NCIS without talking about what happened in Season Two of the show, so I’d suggest anyone reading this who hasn’t seen it to skip ahead to the next paragraph. OK, done. Season Two of NCIS brought in a cast change that virtually nobody saw coming, let alone the cast member who indicated they wanted to leave anyway. Agent Todd (Sasha Alexander, Mission Impossible: III) had been shot and killed by a terrorist, and her comrades made concerted attempt to avenge her death at the beginning of Season Three.
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Tsunami – The Aftermath

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2007

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Synopsis

I really wasn’t entirely sure how to digest watching a film about a natural disaster where a quarter million people have died or are presumed missing/lost. Nevertheless, Tsunami: The Aftermath is a compelling portrait of the events surrounding the 2004 event that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.

Written by Abi Morgan (Brick Lane) and directed by Bharat Nalluri (The Crow: Salvation), the film was shown on HBO as a two part miniseries and focused on severa…
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Casi Casi

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 24th, 2007

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Synopsis

Emilio is a Grade 11 student smitten with Jacklynne, the most popular girl in the school. She, of course, doesn’t even know he exists. He decides to get her attention by running for president of the Student Council, but no sooner does he declare himself as candidate then he discovers that his opponent is Jacklynne herself. Oops. He is now forced to run, but plans, with the help of his friends, to sabotage the results of the election to make sure he loses, but the is fraught with risks, most …
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Kyle XY – The Complete First Season – Declassified

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 23rd, 2007

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Kyle XY is a quirky series that began about a year ago on the ABC Family Channel. Owned by Walt Disney, you can imagine the kinds of programs one can find there. It’s pretty much a safe haven for kids and their parents to be able to watch things together. That’s why I was a little bit surprised when I watched Kyle XY for the first time on these DVD’s. Certainly the show is pretty much family friendly, but not to the squeaky clean Disney image I’ve come to expect. There are a couple teenage make-out scenes in the pi…
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Dark Corners

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 21st, 2007

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Thora Birch (remember when she was the lead and Scarlett Johansson was her support?) Is a young woman with a loving husband. She is struggling to deal with anxiety as she undergoes fertility treatments, and is having vivid nightmares in which she is living in a run-down apartment, working in a grotesque mortuary, is beset by strange visions, and is being stalked by a murderer. Or is it the other way around, as this young woman keeps dreaming she is the young married. And that murderer stalks both worlds. What’s going…
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The 4400 – Season Three

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 21st, 2007

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Synopsis

The 4400 Season Two left us on quite the cliffhanger. The returnees had been taken off the promicen inhibitor, thus enabling their abilities to return to normal strength. Ryland (played by Peter Coyote) was exposed as the one behind the cover up and went straight to trial. Isabelle (played by Megalyn Echikunwoke); infant daughter of Richard & Lily Tyler(played by Mahershalalhashbaz Ali and Laura Allen respectively), had grown up quite quickly as she was found in Shawn Farrell’s (played by Patrick Flueger) office.
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Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 18th, 2007

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Synopsis

My life has been a strange journey. Recently I found myself divorced after a three year marriage. Needless to say I’m probably need a bit of soul searching. Perhaps I need to cleanse my spirit before setting back out into the world from which I came. Now I’ve never been a religiously deep person but I do take myself on as a spiritual one. So to see a surprise title in my queue with the words The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success would bring at least a little …
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Mickey’s Great Clubhouse Hunt

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 14th, 2007

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Synopsis

Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse! (tell me you just didn’t say that) So what happens to a 31 year old adult who sits through a show alone that is geared towards children who might not even be in grade school yet? Besides binge drinking & wondering why he doesn’t have a date this weekend? Apparently some good wholesome family entertainment. I was actually a little surprised how decent this was after twenty minutes into the program.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a fairly…
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Hunt, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 8th, 2007

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OK. Everyone knows about The Blair Witch Project by now. We’re all impressed that this little independent film managed to bust out and generate enormous success. Every film student in the world is encouraged that a crude looking film can make history. So, can we all stop trying to imitate it now? The Hunt is nothing more than an obvious copy. In this case it’s a trio of deer hunters who are attempting to make a “how to” video on hunting deer with a bow. The film integrates their grainy footage with that of one of t…
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Creepshow III

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2007

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Synopsis

Five different horror stories play out in this film, though they are all loosely interconnected, in that main characters in one story put in cameos in another, and the same locations are revisited. A sullen teenage girl comes home to her fractious family to see her father struggle with a newfangled remote. It doesn’t change the TV channel, but does zap her through alternate universes. A young man living in a dilapidated building starts taking orders from his possessed radio. A serial killer …
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Lost Room, The (Mini-Series)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2007

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The Lost Room was a Sci-Fi Channel 3 part mini-series. There are actually 6 separate segments on the DVD. We are quickly introduced to a special old style motel key. Yes, before we all got those slide cards. This key is apparently quite valuable, as it is the subject of an underground meet to purchase it. The deal looks like one of those Hollywood drug buys we’re used to seeing, and like those plays, this one goes horribly awry. Enter Detective Joe Miller (Krause), assigned to deal with the aftermath of this meet. …
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Gamebox 1.0

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 28th, 2007

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Synopsis

Video game movies tend to fall into two groups; those that are based on video games (The Tomb Raiders, the Resident Evils) and those that follow video games and usually speaks on how it affects a person, driving their addiction. Often the latter pick it as a device of social commentary. Some do it in humor (Grandma’s Boy) but more often than not they manipulate it as something that will take over your brain and kill you. Enter in Gamebox 1.0. Gamebox 1.0 is the story of a video …
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Planet Earth – The Complete Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 18th, 2007

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Planet Earth – The Complete Series presents the original U.K. broadcast version with narration by David Attenborough, not the version airing on Discovery narrated by Sigourney Weaver.

Have you ever sat back and wondered about the sheer size and shape of our world, its diversity of habitats or the incredible variety of life we share it with? It’s hard to get your head around it all, especially when most of us are living out our existences in one tiny slice of the place, with the only the odd vacation …
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Wild Camp

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 13th, 2007

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Synopsis

Isild Le Besco is a teenager completely bored with the scene at the slightly ratty campsite where she and her family are spending the summer. Enter Denis Lavant, a much older man weathered by life and prison. Though he knows better than to be the moth to her flame, he can’t help but circling closer and closer. A conflagration is inevitable.

The leads are very strong. Lavant very convincingly radiates disillusion and a certain confused weariness, while Le Besco is the very portrait …
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Stargate Atlantis – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2007

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When last we saw our courageous Atlantis crew, they were in dire straights indeed. The series had just completed its first season, and not without at times relying on the mother series, SG-1, for help along the way. Would the show now find its own legs in its critical sophomore year? Would the Sci-Fi Channel continue to support it or take out its legs unrepentantly as they had done with Farscape not many years ago? Oh, and then there was that pesky Wraith problem we were left with in the season 1 ending cliffhanger…
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Mothra vs Godzilla

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 2nd, 2007

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A ferocious typhoon washes up a giant egg on Japan’s coast. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs lay claim to it, planning to exploit it as a tourist attraction. The egg in fact belongs to Mothra, now nearing the end of her life cycle, and the twin fairies from Infant Island come to Japan in the hopes of having the egg returned. No such luck, but when Godzilla returns and begins another rampage, this time it is the inhabitants of Infant Island who are turned to for help in the hopes that Mothra will come to Japan’s aid.
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IMAX: Deep Sea

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 1st, 2007

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I’ve always been fascinated by ocean life much more than space. Sure, planets and stars are cool, but growing up I was reading books about sharks, not supernovas. That interest in the wonders of the sea has never really faded, so you can imagine that I was pretty stoked to watch IMAX: Deep Sea.

Unfortunately, I missed this one in theatres when it was IMAX: Deep Sea 3D. The only thing three-dimensional about this DVD release is the sweet lenticular slipcover. If you stare at the cover while you turn it slowly, a shark appears to swim up to have you for lunch. Nice.

Conversations With God

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 14th, 2007

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Based on a true story Conversations With God tells the story of Neale Donald Walsch, an average guy who loses his job, gets into an automobile accident and breaks his neck, and finally loses his family to a divorce. It wasn’t long after this tragic chain of events, with his hospital bills rising and nobody wanting to hire a middle-aged man with health problems, that Walsch finally became homeless.

Hitting rock bottom with no prospects for improving his predicament, he begins to audibly question God. Wa…
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Dukes of Hazzard, The â€“ The Beginning (Unrated Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2007

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To tell you the truth, I think Warner Brothers is really on to something with their recent series of direct-to-DVD sequels. The studio offers a familiar story in a quality package, often at a discounted price. Some of these direct-to-DVD films are actually pretty good, such as the studio’s new Raw Feed line of horror features. Unfortunately, this title is not one of the good ones.

While The Dukes of Hazzard â€“ The Beginning is supposed to tell the story of how the Duke boys first got together, much o…
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Farce of the Penguins

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2007

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Penguins are “in” right now. They March and they dance with those adorably Happy Feet. So, I guess it was only a matter of time before someone decided there was money to be made by turning in a penguin farce. Unfortunately for us, that someone turned out to be Bob Saget. I admit to knowing very little about Saget outside of his family sitcom and home movies shows. This is a side of him I wish I’d never seen. This film is absolutely unfit for the kiddies. Now let me first say that I’m certainly not one of those folks that gets easily offended.
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Shortbus

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 9th, 2007

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In a New York forever conscious of the shadow of 9/11, we follow the sex lives and tribulations of a group of gay and straight characters. There’s the gay couple whose relationship is hitting a rocky patch. There’s the professional dominatrix who is finding it more and more difficult to face her work. And there’s the sex therapist who’s never had an orgasm. Her quest for same brings her into contact with the other characters, and to Shortbus, an eccentric sex club.

Fast Food Nation

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2007

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The lines between news and entertainment, documentary and fiction continue to fade every day. It’s a dangerous trend, as people have begun to believe the fiction, and ignore the facts. This film seems to make that line disappear altogether. The movie is based on a bestselling book of the same name, written by Eric Schlosser. The book is a fascinating investigation of the fast food and meat packing industries in the United States that has really shed some light on this often-overlooked dark secret of the dining indust…
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Nine Inch Nails – Beside You in Time

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 5th, 2007

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Synopsis

All That Could Have Been (Nine Inch Nails’ first concert dvd) when released in 2002 was recognized by many to be the ultimate concert dvd. Released in separate dts and dolby digital versions; it had an amazing sound and look. The only knock against the disc was the fact that it took two dvds to show a two hour show. Technology has improved. Cue to 2007, Nine Inch Nails fresh off their tour to promote With Teeth decides to release Beside You in Time (Halo 22). This new co…
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Walkout

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 2nd, 2007

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I don’t mean for this to be a joke, but when Paul Mooney recently said that he was glad that Hispanics got their (and I’m paraphrasing here) “African-American wake up call” in the midst of the illegal immigration debate of 2006, the problem wasn’t whether or not the Hispanics were being treated fairly or not. The problem was that this discussion has been going on in some manner or fashion for almost four decades now without a large-scale epiphany that required action. However back in 1968, there was some action (which led to the coordinated efforts of students to walk out of their classes in Los Angeles High schools as a protest of the conditions there), and Walkout helps to tell the tale.
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