Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2010
Written by Dave Younger
Young Adam (2003, 98 min.), set in drab postwar Glasgow, Scotland, combines the kitchen-sink dramas of late 50s/early 60s northern England with a Hitchcockian tale – what if you discovered your girlfriend floating dead in a river? Throw in explicit full-frontal NC-17 sex (most movies, like Blue Valentine, will do anything to avoid this kiss of death, but Young Adam embraces it; they wanted to cut Ewan McGregor’s junk for the American release, but he fought to keep it in)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 9th, 2010
"Nobody thinks of it from the whale's point of you."
I think this is the very first film I've ever seen that was made in Iceland. Of course, Iceland isn't one of those movie-making meccas known throughout the world for their movie magic. The truth is, there haven't been too many films set in Iceland and even fewer shot on location there. Now that Harpoon has come along, I don't expect that is going to change any time soon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 2nd, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Vogue magazine editor Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) travels to Cairo to attend a UN function where she will meet up with her UN-official husband Mark (Tom McCamus). Mark is unavoidably delayed in Gaza, but sends a trusted friend and former UN official Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to keep Juliette company. Tareq and Juliette have known of each other for years, but this is the first time they have met face to face.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2010
The axiom in Hollywood these days is that more is better. Every year we get inundated with blockbuster films sporting $200 million budgets, groundbreaking f/x, epic journeys and casts of thousands. Enter first-time director J. Blakeson and his intimate and quite claustrophobic thriller, The Disappearance Of Alice Creed. Right from the start we know that we're in for something completely different. There are no opening credits of any kind. There isn't even a title screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2010
"Man, we'll die with you. Just don't ask us to do it twice."
Remember the old days of the action movie? Those films where someone like Stallone or Schwarzenegger would run around and take out armies of bad guys while barely breaking a sweat. You know the kind of movie I'm talking about. The ones where the hero goes up against a hail of bullets and explosions and manages to pick off the bad guys without catching a single slug himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2010
Dear Faithful Readers, Due to the nature of Sam Kinison's work on stage and off stage, this review may contain foul but funny humor, bad but heeeeelarious language, and not so politically correct (but correctly off the wall) jokes. Please be aware before you continue to read. Yours Always, Noms
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 17th, 2010
Based on the books by Jan Guillou this film is in fact the merging of two epics produced in Sweden. It also happens to be Sweden's most expensive production thus far. It tells the tale of a boy raised in a convent and trained to become a warrior by a former knight Templar. He falls in love and has a child with a young woman named Cecilia and the two are forced away from each other. Cecilia must pay penance living as a nun while Arn is sentenced to 20 years fighting in the name of God as a Knight Templar in Jerusalem.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 16th, 2010
My dad was a Vietnam veteran. He did his time and came home to his wife (and eventually me). Because of when I was born, I never knew my father before the war. Therefore, I can’t really speak on his personality changes after he went off to fight the good fight. But in the same breath, I can tell you that we really don’t talk about that time except in very broad brush strokes. War is heck and hopefully my experience with The Dry Land is one that isn’t such a painful undertaking.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2010
Lock ‘n’ Load is a hidden camera reality TV series that is based out of a gun shop in Colorado. The show is centered on the gun shop proprietor Josh T. Ryan. He interjects himself into every story and casually interviews each customer. The show attempts to personify each gun owner and provides a background for each purchase. The show is marketed as a comedy but I found myself rarely laughing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 12th, 2010
Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is basically the kid from The Sixth Sense, only with boobs, killer cheekbones, and a formerly lucrative pop career. I may not be entirely accurate about that last item, but until this 6-disc set arrived, I had not really watched the show. It always seemed a little too Touched by an Angel meets The Sixth Sense meets Jennifer Love Hewitt’s aforementioned cheekbones for my taste. Upon viewing the episodes in this set, I pretty much stand behind that assessment, and though it is still not my particular cup of tea, I can understand its appeal to its fans.