Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2003
AIDS is at the forefront of the gay community’s consciousness, and Jeffrey (Steven Weber)is frustrated by how complicated sex has become. His solution is to swear it off, and naturally he immediately meets and falls for Steve (Michael T. Weiss). What to do, especially when you are neurotic like Jeffrey. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Jeffrey has plenty of friends and family who want to help out, including Patrick Stewart, whose line about looking like “a gay superhero”suddenly has more bite than it did in 1995.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2003
This is the story of Frida Kahlo, now recognized as one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Most particularly, the film is the story of her tempestuous love affair with fellow artist Diego Rivera --their loves, their clashes, their politics, their infidelities, their betrayals, and so on. So much attention is paid to this relationship that Kahlo’s art itself slips into the background, which is too bad. That said, this is a tremendously engaging film, with great performances all round.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2003
Eric Roberts, miles away from direct-to-video action fodder, plays Nick, a man in the terminal stages of AIDS. Over the opening credits, we see his long-term relationship with Gregory Harrison rise and disintegrate, and in the present, this relationship and its fallout will have a major role to play at Nick’s party. This party, the heart of the film, is an event he throws to say goodbye to all his friends and family. The story has added poignancy since this is based on an actual event.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Until the end of World War II, US immigration laws prevented Chinese women from movingto the States. The result was an almost exclusively male, and aging, population. The lawschanged after the war, and young Ben, much to his father’s delight, returns from China with anew bride. The entire community is interested in the couple, however, and the strain this createsthreatens the marriage.
Audio
The sound is mono, surprising for a film from 1989. A dece...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Bank teller Lee Remick returns home one night to be grabbed in her garage by a terrifying,asthmatic killer. She will do as he says, he tells her, and rob the bank, or she and her sister willdie. Remick seeks the help of the FBI, and agent Glenn Ford is soon locked in a cat-and-mousegame with the killer. Rightly seen as anticipating the films of Brian De Palma and JohnCarpenter, Experiment in Terror combines police procedural with lurking menace, andhas a sequence in ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2003
Synopsis
Jason Lee plays Paul who is engaged to Karen (Selma Blair), after his bachelor party he wakes up to one of the Tiki girls (Becky played by Julia Stiles) in bed with him, to make matters worse he discovers that she is his fiancée’s cousin. SO he does “The Guy Thing” and does everything he can to cover things up but, when Becky’s pscho ex starts stalking Paul things start to get out of hand.
Video
Presented in both a 1.85:1 anamorphic version and a 1.33:1 fullscreen ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 13th, 2003
Synopsis
An ancient artifact causes the body of the most popular girl in high school to be switched with that of a low life 30 year old male. She finds that life in a man’s body is not so easy and she needs to convince her friends that it is really her and figure out how to switch her body back. This is probably the best Rob Schneider film to date, full of cameos form the likes of Adam Sandler.
Audio
Featuring a pumped up 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track the audio on this disk...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 12th, 2003
Synopsis
A group of extreme athletes and a professional skier set out on a remote Austrian mountaintop to shoot a stunt for a commercial. Unbeknownst to them a group of terrorists is in hiding at the mountain top resort. The film makers have a habit of filming everything that goes on and they accidentally capture one of the terrorists on film, now they must fight for their lives to survive the mountain and the terrorists.
Audio
Featuring your expected mix of rap and altern...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 9th, 2003
Traffic sports an A cast and a pretty compelling story. The only real thing holding it back is that there are times the plot is too ambitious. It gets weary following the three distinct storylines. You might also find the ending a bit of a letdown. I was expecting something far more dramatic given the intense buildup over two and a half hours. Michael Douglas is the main star and gives us a fine performance, but I was more captivated by the character of Mexican cop Javier Rodriguez, played with excellent flair by Benicio Del Toro.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 7th, 2003
Sam (Chad Donella) is a down on his luck artist who has just been told by his professor that he sucks as an artist and dumped by his girlfriend. The same wind that blows his life a way also brings him Hope (Erin Bartlett) who shows him how to get his smile back. As they part ways he writes down her phone number on his hand, this disappears though as it is raining heavily. After taking up a job as a delivery man for his friend’s coffee shop he finally finds her but, she is now in need of someone to show her her smile. On the way to restore Hope’s zest for life he finds his..