1.78:1 Widescreen

Walking Tall: The Payback

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 27th, 2007

A small town is being terrorized by a gang of thugs who use extortion and violence to buy up all the businesses. The only person who tries to stand up to the gang is the sheriff, but then he meets a violent end. His son (Kevin Sorbo), who, one gathers from vague references, has military training, shucks his apathy, dons his father’s badge, and sets out to clean up the town.

The cover art is hilariously misleading, in that it shows what appears to be Sorbo leading his posse for the titular payback.
Read More

Hu$tle – Complete Season Two

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Seriously, have criminals ever been this cool or this much fun to watch? Since Ocean’s Eleven, I mean. For those that don’t know, Hu$tle is a BBC drama that follows the exploits of a team of five con artists as they “earn” their keep. For the sake of keeping the charaters interesting, the majority of the jobs they pull target people who deserve to be conned. Sort of a modern day band of Merry Men, so to speak. If you are a fan of Spooks (known as MI-5 here in the states), you will probably…
Read More

Las Vegas – Season Three (Uncut & Uncensored)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Las Vegas made its most significant changes in the third season. The full time addition of Lara Flynn Boyle as the new rich owner of the Montecito made the show somewhat lighter overall. It was probably a good idea to shake things up a bit. The cast chemistry on this show is quite good but was perhaps settling in a bit too much after two years. Boyle’s Monica was a perfect foil for James Caan’s Ed. Caan was able to stretch his acting muscles a lot more in this season. The overall idea hasn’t really changed: The Montecito Hotel and Casino is the setting for action and play.
Read More

Doctor, the Tornado, and the Kentucky Kid, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 15th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Don’t let the goofy title fool you; The Doctor, the Tornado, and the Kentucky Kid is a serious documentary. This film takes an inside look at the fast-paced world of MotoGP motorcycle racing. Specifically, the subject is the lives of three top riders as they enter the week of the race at Laguna Seca, one of the most difficult tracks in the world. While this film may be a little too in-depth for those that don’t at least casually follow the sport, fans of motorcycle racing will likely be thrilled with this, the…
Read More

The Fifa 2006 World Cup Film – The Grand Finale

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

Buy at Amazon.com

The World Cup is unquestionably the greatest sporting event in the world. No other event, sporting or otherwise, pulls nations together like the World Cup does. Once every four years, the whole of the world (save for the majority of the United States) takes a month off to focus their eyes on the efforts of a group of young men to put a white ball into a white net. This film is the story of the 1996 edition of the famed tournament.

This film does a great job of capturing the story of the tournament, while not …
Read More

Amar Te Duele

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 31st, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Romeo and Juliet is a classic tale that has been told and re-told over and over again. It is generally accepted that the definitive film version of Shakespeare’s story of lovers’ twisted fate is the 1968 version by Italian director Franco Zeffirelli. Rather than attempt to best this effort, more recent film adaptations have decided to modernize the story. Baz Luhrmann tackled it with Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio using all the original dialog, but ultra modern wardrobe, sets and music. While some critics myself included) fell in love with this fast paced adaptation, others were appalled.
Read More

Extras – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

The only thing I knew about Extras as of a couple of weeks ago was that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were behind the show, the follow-up to their cult hit The Office, which has been adapted into a Steve Carell vehicle to showcase his talent. Seeing very little on The Office and not being familiar with Gervais’ work, I downloaded the first episode of the second season of Extras from iTunes (Season Two recently resumed airing on HBO), and I found it one of the funnier things I’ve seen in recent memory, and not just because it didn’t cost me anything.
Read More

Color of the Cross

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 21st, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Back in late 2006 there was a minor to-do about a film depicting the last days of Jesus, except that Jesus was played by a black man. Written and directed by Jean-Claude La Marre, Color of the Cross tries to do what it can to tell the tale of this black Jesus, or be-jeezus if you will.

The film, like others covering the last two days of his life, follows Jesus as he performs the Last Supper, gets betrayed by Judas and the other stuff. While in town, many Jews are trying to celebrate Passover without being abused or persecuted by the Romans, so they celebrate in secret.
Read More

The Librarian – Return to King Solomon’s Mines

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 19th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

The only thing I really knew about The Librarian was that Noah Wyle, previously known for his work in ER was playing in some goofy looking film, and the making of this film was getting in the way of whatever theatrical film I was watching from August-October. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was more than just a goofy little film, that it was the second in a presumed series, and hey, it’s not all that much about a library at all!
Read More

A Dead Calling

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 18th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Alexandra Holden is a big-time TV reporter who is traumatized when an intruder breaks into her home and kills her fiancé. (Does this set-up remind anyone of The Howling?) She retreats to her old home-town, moves back with her parents (Sid Haig and Leslie Easterbrook!) and starts work at a local TV station. Her first assignment takes her to a house where murders took place years ago, and she promptly has visions of ghosts and the murders, and she feels she is being called on to provide justice for the ghosts.
Read More

Who Made the Potatoe Salad?

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 15th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Jaleel White continues to flounder about aimlessly looking for a post-Family Matters career in Who Made the Potatoe Salad?, a mindless 90-minute excursion into the offensively cliched family comedy. Looking for laughs in all the wrong places, this effort from writer-director Damon “Coke” Daniels tries to cash in on every dirty race-driven joke it can think of without once pausing for a breath of originality. White plays, of all things, a police officer, who decides the time is right to move his relati…
Read More

Wolf Creek (HD DVD)

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

Buy at Amazon.com

Wolf Creek is an Australian horror film that is based on true events; with no certain event in specific it combines a few elements from some missing peopleï¿½s cases in Australia. The actions of some of the characters mirror that of famous serial killers, most notably that of Ivan Milat who most have speculated is whom the movie is based on. According to Quentin Tarantino Wolf Creek is ï¿½ï¿½One of the great horror film heavies of the last 25 yearsï¿½ so it seems to be really promising.
Read More

Living Death

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

Buy at Amazon.com

Victor (Greg Bryk) is one piece of work: a millionaire playboy with a taste for torture and absolutely no regard for anyone but himself. Who wouldn’t want this guy dead? His wife Elizabeth (Kristy Swanson, emerging from the where-are-they-now file) and his lawyer Roman (Josh Peace) are having an affair and plan to knock him off. They poison him, but it turns out the drug only creates a death-like stasis. He is still fully conscious, even as he’s about to be dissected. Understandably, when he regains mobility, his disposition has in no way been improved.

See No Evil

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 9th, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

When you consider the huge amount of acting inherent to the WWF, you might expect acting talents to dominate this WWE horror production. OK, of course you wouldn’t. Still, acting is not where this film shines. The tired formula of teens in an isolated location who get picked off one by one is certainly nothing original, so the script doesn’t offer any real shining moments either. So where exactly does this film take on a luster of its own? Truth be told? It doesn’t. Of course, looking at the target audience, the film doesn’t really need to.
Read More

Dane Cook’s Tourgasm

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 3rd, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

I’ve gotta say, I love stand-up comedy. My first albums were George Carlin records, and I’d always listen to my Dad’s recorded tape of a Friar’s Club roast of Don Rickles, where four letter words would get dropped as often as the drinks in the room. Then it was on to Richard Pryor, then onto the R-rated genius of Sam Kinison and to a lesser extent, Andrew Dice Clay. And now, it’s Lewis Black, David Cross, Dave Attell and Robert Schimmel.
Read More

The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 3rd, 2007

Buy at Amazon.com

Two things you should know about me before reading this review: I’ll watch anything involving John Goodman, and I’ve never seen the animated classic this live-action version of The Year Without a Santa Claus is based on. So unlike when I watched the horrendous Jim Carrey-Ron Howard take on Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, in this case I hold no special place for an original.
Read More

Paul McCartney – The Space Within US

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 13th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Paul McCartney is a great example of what Darwin meant by survival of the fittest. No one in the music business has learned to adapt and thrive like Paul McCartney. The term timeless has been applied so often to so many performers that it might have lost any meaning. Still, if anyone deserves that description, it is Paul McCartney. With The Beatles he helped define the 60’s and reinvent Rock and Roll. In the 1970’s and 80’s he continued the hits with Paul McCartney and Wings. When Wings finally disappeared into the midnight sky, McCartney was still at it as a solo artist.
Read More

NCIS – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 8th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Hooray for Donald Bellisario and his decision to create prime time television shows with various branches of the armed forces! But in this case, NCIS takes advantage of the craze of all the CSI related shows that have sprouted up over the last several years. But with various jump cuts and clips of music that are interspersed with it, it’s still hard to make the distinction.

And to make things even more confusing, the show features a grouchy leader who utters the occasional g…
Read More

UKM: The Ultimate Killing Machine

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

A secret military research base (consisting of boring green-lit corridors and boasting a total staff and solider complement of about eight plus Michael Madsen) is working on a serum that boosts aggression and creates super-soldiers. Used on war heroes, it turns them into raging psychotics, so the decision is made to test it on losers, with the idea that they won’t be boosted quite as much. (Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t write the script.) A group of misfits is hauled in, but they don’t like what they’re being subjected to, and are soon running around corridors, looking for a way out.
Read More

Excalibur (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Excalibur tells the story of King Arthur, from his simple beginnings to his noble ends. War plagues Great Britain, and many countrymen relish at the thought of peace as everyone is making claim to the Kingship. It is told that who ever removes Excalibur from the stone will be declared King. This legend might sound familiar to you as The Sword in the Stone (Excalibur being the sword). It is a mythical sword, which has been said to have magical, and only a noble and worthy man can bear it. Every noble i…
Read More

Alias – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Five years seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, but Sydney Bristow and friends have gone on their final mission. The final season brought along the expected plot twists, new faces, and clever disguises just as the previous four had, but something was definitely missing by now. With J.J. Abrams moving on to other things like Lost and Start Trek XI, it seems that Alias was left to fend for itself. Now, granted, it had been a while since Abrams was involved in the day to day running of the show, but by year 5 it se…
Read More

Boston Legal – Season 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 29th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

The first full season of Kelley’s “The Practice” spin-off was somewhat abbreviated. It was also a time to introduce us to the firm and new cast of characters. As is Kelley’s trademark style, we were sure of one thing. These characters would be quirky with enough of a touch of reality to keep them interesting. So as his flagship series faded away into production problems and slipping ratings, Boston Legal erupts like a phoenix from the ashes of certain death. Now as popular or more so than The Practice, Boston Legal…
Read More

C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation – The Complete Sixth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 17th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Season 5 of CSI saw really the first shake-up of any kind on this CBS anchor series. While there weren’t any serious cast changes, the team was split up. It’s apparent that idea didn’t work out very well. Modest ratings decline and vocal dissatisfaction from the internet fans and even many of the cast members were heard loud and clear. Now Season 6 brings the team back together again. It doesn’t take long for the old team chemistry to remix, and CSI returns to th…
Read More

Sopranos, The — Season Six, Part 1

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 17th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

I’m not even going to try to summarize this, as that would mean pretending I had the faintest idea what was going on, and who was who. I know, I know, I’m revealing my cultural deprivation – I haven’t been following the series. What I will say, though, is that even with that ignorance, the quality of this chronicle of the ups and downs of a New Jersey mob’s lives, loves and deaths, is undeniable. But then, you knew that, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Do note, of course, that this is only …
Read More

The Green Mile

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

The Shawshank Redemption is a film that didn’t do much at the box office. However, home video, word of mouth and countless airings on TNT have made it an enormously popular film in the time since. Director Frank Darabont returned to prison with The Green Mile, another film based on a story by acclaimed writer Steven King. One could almost look at these two films as companion pieces. Whereas the central theme of Shawshank was the importance of never giving up hope, The Green Mile was more about the changing power of love.
Read More

«< 62 63 64 65 66 >»