diabolikdvd.com.jpg

1.85:1 Widescreen

Bubba Ho-Tep

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Welcome to Mud Creek, Texas. In a depressing nursing home, senior citizen Elvis (BruceCampbell) is sleeping away what remains of his life. Some led gets put back into his pencil,however, when he and “JFK” (Ossie Davis, who else?) realize that an ancient mummy is killingoff the residents of the home. Barely able to walk, they nonetheless decide to fight thesupernatural evil.

As you might guess from the above description, and especially from the casting, this is prett…
Read More

Monster

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 14th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

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…
Read More

Three of Hearts

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Kelly Lynch is distraught after girlfriend Sherilyn Fenn moves out, claiming she “needs somespace.” Lynch hires male escort William Baldwin (who is having troubles of his own with aviolent past acquaintance) to be her date at her sister’s wedding, and then hits upon a scheme: shewill hire Baldwin to seduce Fenn and break her heart, thus sending Fenn running back to Lynch.But matters take an unexpected turn.

That last sentence is a lie. Things play out safely and pre…
Read More

Honey

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 8th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Jessica (Dark Angel) Alba hangs up her guns to play Honey Daniels, cutting edgehip-hop dancer looking to be discovered. Soon enough, a big-shot video director spots her andshe revitalizes his videos. Before long, she’s also in charge of choreography. Meanwhile, sheis becoming involved with street kids, trying to save them from lives of crime and abuse bygetting them involved in dancing. A test of her values looms too: will she succumb to the slickdirector’s wiles, or…
Read More

Code, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Samula Le Bihan is an ex-con trying to go straight. He and his partner are trying to have anormal life, and trying to have a child. Unfortunately, the old life won’t let go. His youngerbrother is a hot-head looking to make his mark in the organized crime scene, and his best friend(Samy Naceri), the local gang leader, is a little bit TOO attached to him, and is determined to pullhim back into the life.

The scene is very gritty, and the dialogue is extremely naturalis…
Read More

Give My Regards to Broad Street

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

As a music lover, the phrase, “written by Paul McCartney” almost always signifies excellence in the performance to come. For a movie lover, this is not necessarily the case. Sure, A Hard Day’s Night is a great film, Help! is better than average, and Yellow Submarine is a fun departure from mainstream animation. Heck, even Magical Mystery Tour has a campy sort of charm to it.

Apparently, the same rule that applies to music also applies to cinema; without the rest of The Beatles, P…
Read More

Robin Hood

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 28th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

After being stripped of his title by Norman baron Jeroen Krabbe, Saxon Robert Hode(Patrick Bergin) becomes Robin Hood, outlaw. He soon leads a large band of the dispossessed,and the battles with Krabbe become more and more pointed. Robin has also tumbled for MaidMarian (Uma Thurman), but she is promised to the evil Jurgen Prochnow.

In other words, all of the familiar incidents and story elements of the Robin Hood legend arepresent and correct. The film is grittier t…
Read More

Dog Park

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 27th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Ahh, those funny little Kids from Canada. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point in the 90’s, The Kids in the Hall became North America’s answer to Monty Python. Now, that’s not to say that the Kids are as classically funny as the Pythons, but the similarities run rampant nonetheless. Both troupes had a very successful sketch comedy television series, in which many of the all-male cast dressed in drag. Following the success of their respective shows, they both explored what feature films might conta…
Read More

In America

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 26th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Still reeling from the death of their young son, Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine,along with young daughters Sarah and Emma Bolger move from Ireland to Manhattan. Life istough. Considine can’t find any acting work, the family is forced to live in a rotting apartmentbuilding in Hell’s Kitchen, Considine in particular is stuck in the grip of the past tragedy, andMorton’s new pregnancy is fraught with complications.

The above outline makes the film sound grim as all…
Read More

Cat In The Hat, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 22nd, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Universal got it right a few years ago when they adapted The Grinch who Stole Christmas. Jim Carrey was perfectly cast as the heartless Grinch, the costumes and set design were excellent and the mild deviations from Dr. Seuss’ classic were appropriate and added more heart to the story. The most important aspect that was captured was the moral of the story – that being angry and miserable leads to a unsatisfying life of loneliness and that an act of kindness can fill the world with joy.

Now take all…
Read More

Living the Life

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 20th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Film

Kata (Katrina Gibson) and Ana (Melida Prado) are best friends growing up on the streets of L.A. To pass time they steal cars, hang out with their fellow gang mates, and compete in dance contests against rival gangs. When Ana gets pregnant by a member of a rival gang, she must choose between the street life and a life where she leaves it all behind, including Kata, to raise her child.

The urban drama is a genre that may have been maxed out early on. We had amazing trendsetters in Bo…
Read More

Monster Club, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 19th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

John Carradine, playing real-life author R. Chetwynd-Hayes (on whose book the movie isvery loosely based), is ambushed by vampire Vincent Price. Price drains only a bit of his blood,and upon realizing that he has met his favourite author, invites Carradine for drinks at theMonster Club. Here Price spins a trio of tales: a young woman ill-advisedly plans to steal froma lonely “shadmock” (a creature with a fatal whistle); a family-man vampire is stalked byunpleasantly bureauc…
Read More

Big Fish

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 15th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Billy Crudup learns that father Albert Finney is dying, and returns home. He has feltalienated from his father because of the latter’s never-ending tall tales of his life. Crudup wouldlike to hear something true for once in his life, while Finney maintains that he IS telling the truth.Finney tells the tales again, mostly to Crudup’s fiancee, and his improbable life unfolds beforeus, with Ewan McGregor as his younger self. In his quest for his true love, he encounters amysti…
Read More

Bloodhounds of Broadway

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 11th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Based on stories by Damon Runyon, Bloodhounds of Broadway traces the would-bezany antics of a large group of characters in New York, on New Year’s Eve, 1928. Some of thethreads we follow are: Randy Quaid as the terminal loser who sells his body to a maddoctor, payment due by dawn, only to have his luck change radically and flapper Madonna fallfor him; Rutger Hauer as The Brain, a soft-spoken ganglord who is stabbed, and spends the restof the night being hauled fruitl…
Read More

Schindler’s List

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 9th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Liam Neeson is Oskar Schindler, ladies man with an eye for the main chance. He makes afortune in German-occupied Warsaw, staffing his factory with the cut-rate labour provided bythe Jews. As the Nazi persecution of the Jews becomes more and more murderous, Schindler’sconscience is awakened, and he eventually becomes intent not on making money through cheaplabour, but in saving the lives of his employees.

Shot in black and white, with the disturbing exception of a li…
Read More

Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 8th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Come join the Baker family (all twelve of them) for a fun, entertaining and albeit crazy ride through their life. While trying to manage twelve kids and a job Tom and Kate Baker (Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt) manage to do it all, while still staying somewhat sane.

With a great cast of Hollywood veterans and up and comers “Cheaper By the Dozen” offers something for kids and adults of all ages. The dynamic between Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt presents a real sense of family togetherness and even the idea that a…
Read More

For the Moment

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 1st, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

World War II is in full swing. A constant stream of pilots is needed in Europe, and trainingfacility in Manitoba is helping meet that demand. Men from all over the world come here to bemolded, in six weeks, into pilots. Among them is Australian Russell Crowe. Living nearby isChristianne Hirt, whose husband has been overseas for two years. She and Crowe meet at adance, and despite good intentions and an awareness of how fleeting their time together is, theyfall in love.

King of New York

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 30th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Crime kingpin Christopher Walken is released from prison, and immediately reasserts hiscontrol over the underworld. All sorts of rivals are dispatched messily. He is also at odds withthe police, who are determined to bring him down. Our ganglord isn’t all bad, though: he hasall sorts of impressive community projects in mind.

This last detail is perhaps the most telling point: we are in the realm of full-on fantasy here.Director Abel Ferrara and long-time screenwrite…
Read More

Wild Things 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 30th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Susan Ward, presumably cast because she’s a dead ringer for Denise Richards, is a sad littlerich girl at one of those beachfront high schools populated, to judge from the evidence on hand,by porn stars. In between slow-motion beach volleyball games, her life seems to be falling apart.Her mother died years go in the Louisiana swamp. Her rich stepfather is first threatened by agangster, and is then killed in a plane crash. Not only is Ward’s inheritance pitiful, but queenbitc…
Read More

Something’s Gotta Give

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Inveterate bachelor Jack Nicholson (playing, essentially, himself) arrives at a beach housewith his latest young conquest, only to run into her mother (Diane Keaton, also play, essentially,herself). Shortly thereafter, Nicholson has a heart attack, and is forced to remain in the Hamptonsunder the reluctant care of Keaton. A bond inevitably grows between them, even as she is beingromanced by the much younger Keanu Reeves.

It says something about our movie-conditioned…
Read More

100 Mile Rule

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 29th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

The 100 Mile Rule, as a corny salesman puts it, means that when you are more than 100 miles from your wife, cheating doesn’t count. It is some kind of moral loophole used by salesmen who travel frequently, allowing them to be unfaithful to their wives. While the phrase is quite original, the film is made up of parts belonging to other movies, a kind of Frankenstein if you will. Not to say that 100 Mile Rule resembles that monster, because it is actually quite enjoyable. However, you will need to get past the m…
Read More

Gothika

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 28th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Gothika starts out with tremendous promise. The story appears that it will be more original and rewarding than most horror/thrillers. Halle Berry certainly rises above the usual B-list acting. Even Downey, Jr. seems suspiciously at home in the film’s prison setting. The trouble begins for the audience shortly after it does for Berry. Soon the film begins to get predictable and ordinary. Only the terrific cinematography and convincing atmosphere save the film from sinking to the depths of the many who have gone before…
Read More

Mac

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 24th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Mac (John Turturro), a homebuilder, takes enormous pride in his work. Fed up with thecorner-cutting of his boss, he quits and, along with his two brothers, starts up his own buildingcompany. There are many problems on the way to success, and not least among them is Mac’sown tyrannical perfection, which takes its toll on everyone around him.

If the actual plot of Mac is something that we’ve all seen plenty of times before, itstexture and its tone are what make…
Read More

Deadly Little Secrets

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 22nd, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Deadly Little Secrets has a secret. Shhhhhh. It’s a direct to DVD feature. So the only way you can see it is by renting it. Should you? I dunno. It’s a B movie with a B movie plot, but with pretty good technical components.

The plot starts off with a murder, and the brother (of course) has to get to the bottom of it. Craig Sheffer plays the brother, and he’s bland in a beefcake main character sort of way. There’s a really bad doctor (Dylan Walsh) who is injecting football players with letha…
Read More

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 20th, 2004

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

In 1973, a group of Young, Beautiful People are on the way across Texas to a rock concert.They pick up a hitch-hiker: a terrified young woman who commits suicide when she thinks she isbeing driven back to the place she just fled. Seeking help in a nearby house, our heroesunfortunately come into contact with Leatherface and his clan, and the slaughter begins.

Though there are some variations, the plot, in is broad lines, is very close to the 1973original. And therein…
Read More

«< 51 52 53 54 55 >»