Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 7th, 2003
Extreme sports films come in two flavors first there are the sport specific show off films and then there are the documentary like Ultimate X that show what extreme sports are about. Keep Your Eyes Open rides the line between these two types of films, it looks at six of the wildest sports out there by looking at the athletes. We get an understanding of what motivates them, how they got into it and we also get lots of footage of them doing what they do. Starring Marc Frank Montoya and Mike and Tina Basich (snowboardin...), Sunny Garcia and Andy and Bruce Irons (surfing), Eric Koston and Steve Berra (skateboarding), Seth Morrison (Skiing), Mat Hoffman (BMX) and Travis Pastrana (motocross) this is a well done film that holds your interest as you learn what really makes these people tick is the same as any Pro athlete and that is too be the best at what they do. There are also some very sobering moments in the film when we get to the subject of injuries, watching Matt Hoffman kiss his baby and his wife just before trying to break a record by hitting a quarter pipe at 60 miles an hour and then seeing if he can get 50 feet above a 42 foot quarter pipe, watching him crash and almost die shows that these are dangerous sports involving calculated risks that like any sport can go wrong.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 29th, 2003
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore’s film Bowling for Columbine has done more then just win the Academy Award for best documentary film, it has also ruffled a lot of feathers. Moore’s extreme views, which are embraced by many, also seem to piss off a lot of people.
Moore’s extreme bias on the topic of gun control and U.S. war mongering has lead many to believe that Bowling for Columbine is more of a 2-hour speech then an award winning documentary. You may not like what he has to say, but y...u must give Moore credit for his dedication to his beliefs.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 25th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 24th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
Nick Nolte plays Bob, a former high-end thief, now a drugged-out loser living in Nice,France. He still retains the loyalty of his friends, however, and this includes Tchiky Karyo, thecop who has busted him time and time again, and who worries about Bob. He is especiallyworried that Bob will return to crime, because that would mean prison for the rest of his life.Sure enough, Bob is seduced into One More Gig, a complicated heist of valuable paintings.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 17th, 2003
If ever a movie could be negatively affected by monstrous box office numbers, it’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. When a five million dollar film rides a tsunami of critical buzz and excellent word-of-mouth past the two hundred million dollar box office gross (finally ending somewhere over $230 million), it’s impossible to see it for the first time completely free of expectation. Perhaps this was my mistake, because I went into my first viewing of the king of sleeper hits excited to a super-duper romantic comedy. ...I’m not sure exactly what I was hoping for. Was it a hearty helping of belly laughs? This film offers sparse and modest chuckles at best. Perhaps it was some sort of originality within its predictable story arc. Instead, this is a by-the-numbers romcom with by-the-numbers romcom characters. Maybe I was hoping for a film that could at least approach capturing the profundity of love, or the reality of struggles with culturally divergent family values. Whatever it was, I felt pretty unfulfilled by the time it was all over, even though I found the movie reasonably enjoyable.
Toula, as the film’s narrator, is probably the closest the film gets to a real person, thanks in large part to Nia Vardalos’s writing and performance. Vardalos plays Toula with a fantastic knack for deadpan and a real sincerity about her that makes her a likable and identifiable woman. Her insecurity post-makeover, pre-engagement is particularly noteworthy. It’s everyone around her that I found annoying and worse, poorly drawn. The relatives are all stereotypes (but no one is gay!), funny accents and idiosyncrasies, from father to annoying cousin. Her aunts are all busybodies, her uncles all drink Uzo, everyone is in everyone’s face…they stop just short of having Baklava all over their faces and wearing togas. The character who lacks the most, though, is the betrothed, poor Ian himself.
