Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 25th, 2005
Written by Jason Franz
Synopsis
First Daughter is a coming of age drama/comedy about Samantha Mackenzie (Katie Holmes), the Presidents daughter, who is eager to start her college/adult life. Directed by Forest Whitaker and based on a story co-written by Jerry O'Connell, I had no idea what I was in for.
The flim starts with a quick montage of Samantha's childhood growing up with political parents. We're looped into the story as she heads towards her first year in college, and her first...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 25th, 2005
Synopsis
Stephen Dorff (adopting a most convincing accent) plays Iain Softley, bass guitarist in a banddriven by best pal John Lennon (you may have heard of the group). The lads leave Liverpool forHamburg, where they become house band for a strip club, and gradually build a following.Softley is more of a painter than a guitarist, and his commitment to the band is furtherundermined when he falls for photographer Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee).
Dorff is excellent, and Ian Hart ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Charlize Theron doesn’t play Aileen Wuornos, she incarnates her. At the end of hertether, highway prostitute Aileen meets 18-year-old Selby (Christina Ricci) when she accidentlywalks into a lesbian bar. They click, and suddenly, Aileen has a reason to live. She tries to turnher life around, but with the implacability of Greek tragedy, her attempts end in failure and shereturns to turning tricks. One date goes turns ghastly, and she kills the brutal john in self-defense...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 21st, 2005
Synopsis
Danny Morgan (Rhys Ifans), a concrete layer in Australia, is very excited about his upcomingholiday, but then his girlfriend (Justine Clarke), who thinks she’s better than he is, scraps theirgetaway so she can close a real estate deal and flirt with a local newscaster. Danny is despondent,and during his week off has too much time on his hands, which means trouble. At a barbecue, heattaches helium balloons to his deck chair, and then sails off into the big blue yonder. He come...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 21st, 2005
Synopsis
The salvage ship Mother III comes across a derelict ship that has been floating in space for50 years. The crew (oh-so-cleverly named after the main characters in Bram Stoker’s novel)board the ship, and before you know it, are up against Dracula himself. The idea is halfwayinteresting, what with a setting of eternal night in a future where no one believes in God. UdoKier even puts in an appearance as the video diary of the derelict’s deceased captain, in a niceecho of the ep...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 20th, 2005
What a find! Film footage from a landmark 1970 concert sat in a producer’s garage for almost 3 decades. So finally, after all the music rights and remastering were taken care of, we have a landmark rockumentary. Thank the maker. Festival Express is a rock concert movie about a 3 city train tour, with stops in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary (not to mention a stop in Saskatoon for booze). The performers included The Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, and Janis Joplin (among many, many others).
<p ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 18th, 2005
Synopsis
That Man Bolt is a long way from Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. It’scloser to the Shaft films, but its closest relation is the Bond series, as our man Bolt (FredWilliamson) jets from Hong Kong to Las Vegas and back again, karate-chopping his waythrough the bad guys, working to bring down the crime lord who set him up as a fall guy. Bolteven winds up with a British government liaison. The action scenes are very flat, but theproduction values are high for th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 17th, 2005
Synopsis
Centuries ago, a gargoyle is shot down by a priest and sealed in the ground. In present-dayRomania, an earthquake breaks the seal and unleashes a host of monsters on Bucharest. CIAoperative Michael Paré is investigating what at first appears to be a series of kidnappings, buteventually finds himself up against the mythical beasts.
The dialogue consists of cobbled-together clichés (and bargain-basement ones at that), andthe plot makes no sense. The Romanian setting i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2005
M. Night Shyamalan has a knack for channeling the spirit of Rod Serling each time he sits down to write and ultimately direct and produce a new film. When Serling’s spirit is unavailable, then it seems that Hitchcock will do. The Village, like each of his previous films, is carried off in rather subtle tones both in visual textures and storytelling.
The Village again begins with little or no action but somehow compels us to begin to ask questions about the deceptively simple story unfolding b...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 12th, 2005
Synopsis
Jena Malone’s life isn’t what she would like. She lives in a trailer with her mother and oldersister and brother, her boyfriend is a jerk who doesn’t want anyone to know they’re dating, andshe pines for her father, who’s in jail. She has a very idealized memory of her father, and aftermuch pleading, she manages to convince the rest of her very reluctant family to go to the annualprison picnic.
This is a comedy in the vein of The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys ...
