Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 27th, 2005
Most film-goers could identify a Michael Bay film just by the techniques he uses -- quick edits, sun drenched color palate, and lots of action. This usually means that Bay is suited more for low-brow action movies as opposed to high concept films.
In Pearl Harbor, Bay proved that he couldn’t handle anything that didn’t explode -- resulting in a lop-sided film. The first hour was a tedious love story and the last 90 minutes were better -- including an excellent recreation of the surprise attack.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 26th, 2005
Synopsis
There was a period in Francis Ford Coppola’s (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) life where he went through a bit of a phase, where he was making films based on relatively obscure material. And he went through another smaller phase in the early ‘80s where he was making films from source material of author S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders). And Rumble Fish was one of those.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 23rd, 2005
Synopsis
It did take a little bit of intestinal fortitude to sit down and be willing watch Herbie: Fully Loaded, but I did it dammit, because I care about YOU. Fully Loaded is not a remake, but an extension of The Love Bug films with Buddy Hackett and others. In this new edition, Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan, Mean Girls) is the daughter of racing legend Ray (Michael Keaton, Batman) and brother of Ray Jr. (Breckin Meyer, Road Trip). She is going to work for ESPN now ...hat she’s just graduated college, but she’s still a racer at heart.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
Thankfully, as part of Criterion’s desire to be completists of the Akira Kurosawa collection, they have finally decided to release Ran on DVD. For the sake of time, I’ll include my thoughts of the film based on my review of the Kurosawa boxed set, which included a previous version of Ran:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
In Akira Kurosawa’s later years, it was almost criminal that a director with his resume was forced to practically beg for financing. Kurosawa was in the midst of a career drought, having made only two movies in almost 15 years with Dersu Uzala and Dodesukaden. This coming after a run of films that has proved influential to even today’s filmmakers. While Kurosawa did have to obtain foreign financing for his movies in later years, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, both of whom cite...Kurosawa as heavy career influences, agreed to finance his next film, 1980’s Kagemusha (or The Shadow Warrior).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 18th, 2005
Synopsis
I would hope that with films like The Wedding Date, that the genre of films set around weddings is over and done with. There’s nothing left to mine, the horse is very dead, and in this case, the film is rather predictable. Or to put in another way, my wife said “this film will probably be stupid, but I’ll like it”. And when I was watching parts of the film, the story was so easy to follow that I could go and make a batch of chili, come back, and be caught up to the story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2005
In the light of today's world - all the changes that are going on in Iraq, and with hostilities toward America for our involvement being the naturally derivative baggage - I fully expected a piece of anti-American propaganda with Zaman: The Man from the Reeds. However, I was pleasantly surprised upon the discovery that director Amer Alwan, regardless of his political feelings, has instead told a simple, sweet story of love and sacrifice.
Spirituality does play a part of Zaman's character, but keep in mind before any rushes to judgment that Zaman's family is very poor. He and his wife and their adopted son live in a floating village of huts deep in the marshlands of Iraq. All they have is each other, whatever the land supplies them to live on, and their beliefs. The film implies in its presentation of Zaman's family how important one's faith is, especially when it's the only source of hope. But the film does remain blissfully ambiguous in endorsing any one belief system, and opts instead for telling a general tale of faith and love that can appeal to all audiences, who consider themselves spiritual people. While it lacks depth and complexity, its simple nature is refreshing and recommends at least one viewing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 16th, 2005
Synopsis
Pooja (Kirti Reddy) dreams of being a film director, but the old boys at the ad agency she works for are constantly brushing her off. When she meets singer Kabir (Abhishek Bachchan), she thinks she could use his talent, but he is hoping for a more romantic relationship. She, meanwhile, is attracted to her boss’s son, but then things become further complicated when she has to pretend to be engaged to Kabir in order to save her job.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 14th, 2005
The spoof film means something different to audiences today than it did in the early 80's. Anything, if done enough times over, starts to become stale. For instance, the first Scary Movie, while having a couple of really lame scenes, was actually pretty funny overall. With each sequel, however, came diminished returns. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see a film that spoofs spoof films (though I'm not sure how one would do that).
Airplane!, however, was the first of the genre. Not onl... that, but the argument could also be made that it is the best. This film, from the people responsible for the hilarious Kentucky Fried Movie, was a send-up of the popular airplane disaster films of the 60's and 70's. At the time, nobody really knew how to do a film like this, or even how to describe it. In fact, it was pitched to the studio as "Animal House on an airplane", which of course it was not. However, the studio bought in to the idea, and a comedy classic was born.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2005
Synopsis
Courtney Cox is a photography instructor struggling to put her life back together. A month earlier, on November 7, her boyfriend (James Le Gros) was gunned down during a convenience store robbery. Cox is unable to move on, and is suffering from crippling headaches. One day, a mysterious slide shows up in her carousel: it is a photograph of the exterior of the store during the actual robbery. Cox brings the picture to the attention of the police, hoping they might track down the photographer....They do. And then...
