2.35:1 Widescreen

Infernal Affairs Trilogy (Region 3)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 1st, 2006

Synopsis

Hot on the heels of the success of the Martin Scorsese film The Departed, I figured why not take a look back at the Hong Kong crime film that inspired it. Better yet, why not explore the trilogy that is the Infernal Affairs crime films, and how they hold up now. And I’ll try to minimize on the redundant stuff.

Written and directed by Siu Fai Mak, the first Infernal Affairs film is where The Departed finds its roots, as Yan (Tony Leung, Hero) is the Leona…
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Naked Pursuit

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 31st, 2006

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Synopsis

A student radical, wanted for the murder of a police officer, is also being held for rape. In the interrogation room, the woman he attacked refuses to press charges. Neither speaks. The rest of the film is a flashback. Fleeing custody, the man encounters the suicidal woman on a deserted island. He assaults her repeatedly, but also falls in love with her, and she with him. It’s all very tormenting for the two of them. The end.

The entire story, such as it is, takes place virtually w…
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Four Brothers (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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With impressive urban dramas under his belt, John Singleton sets out to create another classic. Boyz n The Hood is always associated with this genre, in terms of quality it remains a classic drama. Four Brothers doesn’t attempt a serious get out of the hood type movie, but rather an action film with serious themes and tones. Well that’s not to say that there isn’t a laugh or two in here, because there sure is.

It’s a cold November night in Detroit; Evelyn Mercer enters a convenience store to …
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Black Rain

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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Synopsis

Michael Douglas is a familiar figures: The Hard-Bitten Cop Who Plays By His Own Rules. He is currently under investigation by Internal Affairs. When he and partner Andy Garcia witness a Yakuza killing and nab the killer, they are tasked with escorting him back to Japan. They have barely landed when they lose him, and are pared up with straight-arrow Osaka cop Ken Takakura in the search to track the villain down again. Douglas and Takakura, as expected, engage in considerable culture clashing.
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Glory Road

Posted in 2.35:1 Widescreen, Buena Vista, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 2.0 (French), Dolby Digital 2.0 (Spanish), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Drama, DVD by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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Synopsis

Don Haskins may not be as well-known as Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, or other historical figures that have helped integrate sports with black players, but the impact that Haskins had on college basketball is arguably more significant than any coaching strategy could have possibly introduced, and it’s those events for which Haskins was at the helm that unfold in Glory Road, which some have unfairly labeled as producer Jerry’s Bruckheimer’s basketball equivalent to Remember the Titans.

Polar Express, The (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 26th, 2006

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We’ve all been at that age where we begin to challenge the thought of how just one man could travel around the world in one night. This inevitable dilemma has been showcased nearly every year in a motion picture, so how does The Polar Express stack up against them?

Based on the 1985 short story written by Chris Van Allsburg, Robert Zemekis and Tom Hanks set out to make a memorable Christmas classic. Besides producing, Hanks voiced a numerous amount of the characters encountered throughout the film. Th…
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Thing, The (1982) (HD DVD)

Posted in 2.35:1 Widescreen, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (French), HD-DVD, Suspense / Thriller, Universal by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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Synopsis

(What can I say, I’m a lazy bastard, so I’ve liberally borrowed from my earlier review of this disc, which can also be found on the site, save for the audio and video information.)

John Carpenter can be hit or miss on some of the things he’s done in his career. Vampires may be a good case in point. In his version of The Thing, remade from Howard Hawks’ 1950’s classic, he doesn’t focus on the creature as much as the relationship between the men in the camp, and how th…
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Fast and the Furious – Tokyo Drift

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 25th, 2006

Wasn’t it just yesterday that The Fast and the Furious raced across our theatre and soon after took the checkered flag on DVD in our own living rooms? I guess not, because Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is upon us, and it’s the third and least imaginative of the franchise. Unfortunately, none of the previous films’ characters return for this third outing. I don’t count the clever little cameo that serves as the film’s coda. Gone are also the cool American muscle cars that gave the franchise its edge. The souped …
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Mission: Impossible III

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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It’s been a decade since Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible hit theatres to box office success, established a new blockbuster franchise and added ‘action hero’ to Tom Cruise’s résumé. In 2000, John Woo’s highly stylized follow-up raised the franchise to new box office heights. This year, the long-awaited third installment arrived amidst controversy about Tom Cruise’s crazy off-screen antics.

M:i:III’s U.S. box office take suffered from the public backlash to its headliner’s whacky rants and questionable actions.
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Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006

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When the idea came to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, many wondered why would this need to be done? What in the world could be accomplished that Willy hadn’t previously done? Naturally that never stops Hollywood from making a film now does it? Thankfully, Warner Brothers decided to hire a feasible director in the visionary Tim Burton to helm this remake. Having made such previous visual masterpieces including The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences knew they were in for quite the …
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Land of the Blind

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2006

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This could have been a pretty good film. I just don’t know. The advance material and the jacket suggest this is a “gripping thriller” with timely themes of terrorism and war. As soon as the film opens, it becomes immediately obvious that something entirely different is at work here. A news report suggests that a tyrant is showing his compassion and generosity when he commutes the sentence of a prisoner about to go to the guillotine. What does he commute the sentence to? Death by hanging. What a guy. I think my mood…
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Magus, The (Cinema Classics)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 18th, 2006

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Synopsis

Michael Caine plays Nicholas Urfe, a self-centred, cynical Englishman who arrives on the Greek island of Phraxos to take a teaching post. He meets Maurice Conchis (Anthony Quinn), a mysterious individual who ensnares Urfe in a complex, psychologically violent mind game, where Urfe is increasingly unable to distinguish truth from lies, reality from illusion.

John Fowles wrote the script, adapting his own novel, and while the story is recognizable, the result is not encouraging. The …
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Jigoku

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 18th, 2006

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Japanese horror films are all the rage these days, with the originals hitting DVD in the States, and the remakes showing up in the theaters. Therefore, it stands to reason that even Criterion would get in on the trend, offering up a film from famed director Nobuo Nakagawa, widely regarded as the father of the Japanese horror film.

Jigoku is both strange and fascinating. The film tells the story of two friends that are involved in a hot-and-run accident. While one of the young men is cool, calm and collected, the other is wracked with guilt over their actions.
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Batman Begins (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2006

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After numerous horrible, horrible Batman films (Batman and Robin and Batman Returns are my least favorite), the Batman film’s have finally returned to a place where someone can be proud to have seen and proud to own to this film. Director Christopher Nolan (probably mostly known for Memento) was chosen to helm this latest Batman film while actor Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Machinist) was chosen to portay Mr. Bruce Wayne.

The film mostly follows how …
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X3: X-Men – The Last Stand

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 11th, 2006

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The third entry into the X-Men franchise turned out quite a bit better than I expected. Early script turmoils were only overshadowed by cast problems. It seemed the bottom fell out when Bryan Singer decided to take on The Man of Steel instead of X3. Enter Brett Ratner, best known for the Rush Hour films. Give the man credit for overcoming a ton of problems to deliver a pretty good thrill ride film. Ratner adapted quickly to the f/x driven world of X-Men and managed to fashion a rather compelling tale. The idea of a…
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Down in the Valley

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 10th, 2006

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Synopsis

In the soulless wasteland of the San Fernando Valley, feeling-her-oats teen Evan Rachel Wood meets cowboy (or something) Edward Norton at a filling station. Despite the creepy age difference, friendship becomes romance, but Wood’s father (David Morse) is understandably less than keen about the relationship. He orders an end to it. Neither of the lovers is happy with that, and the situation is all the more explosive since Norton is far from being right in the head.

The performances …
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Waist Deep (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 10th, 2006

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Waist Deep tells the story of a man named Otis Senior (Baby Boy’s Tyrese Gibson), an ex-con who is trying to straighten out his life after being releasing from jail. Otis, known by his previous street name of ‘O2’, is working as a security guard at a place he got from part of his ex-con program. One day O2 goes to pick up his son, Otis Junior, from school when his child and his car get ‘jacked’ in a carjacking. O2 chases down these men and, despite killing two of them, doesn’t get his car back. He then …
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Fast and The Furious, The (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 3rd, 2006

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This, the first of three films in the Fast and Furious trilogy, tells the story of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his group of friends Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Jesse (Chad Lindberg), Vince (Matt Schulze), Leon (Johnny Strong) and his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster). By day Dominic and his friends seem like normal people who work in the garage on their cars, have barbeques and seem to have a good old time. Once the night comes, Dominic involves himself in the L.A. street races, something he particula…
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Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 27th, 2006

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The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift is not as solid as the previous two in the Furous series, but the addition of a totally new local does add quite a bit to the film’s strength. Anyhow, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is your typical high school character. He loves fixing his car, racing and subsequently gets into a lot of trouble. After ‘gawking’ at the girlfriend of Clay (Zachary Ty Bryan), an immediate race occurs through the backlot of a new development. Chaos ensues and the police, due to Sean’s high…
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Stay Alive

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006

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Synopsis

Boy, this haunted technology stuff is getting out of hand. Seems a body can’t touch a single appliance or toy without some evil spirit emerging in smite-mode. In this instance, the problem is a survival-horror video game called Stay Alive, which not only refuses to let you stop playing, after your character dies, you die in the same way. At the root of it all is the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who has been the subject of many a film already. Unaware of this, our usual batch of charact…
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Backdraft (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006

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Ron Howard’s Backdraft tells the story of two brothers, Brian and Steve McCaffrey (William Baldwin and Kurt Russell), who are part of Engine Company No. 17 in Chicago. The two brothers always seem to have a sense of rivalry in their blood. Ever since their father passed away, Steve has always tried to prove to Brian that he is the true firefighter in the family. Well, despite all their problems, Steve and Brian soon find out that they will have to put aside their differences rather quickly since there is an ar…
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Radioland Murders

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2006

Synopsis

While George Lucas was in the midst of his then-recent Young Indiana Jones series, he decided to try and put together a film based on the radio theater broadcasts of the 1930s and 40s. Basically, the film is based on a radio station in Chicago that is scheduled to launch its first broadcast, hoping to become the next big radio network. But when people start to get murdered during the broadcast, things become a little bit tense.

What’s surprising about this film is just how many peo…
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ATL

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2006

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Rap movies have com a long way. They have begun to evolve, from glorified music videos, to black cinema (which has come a long way in its own right), on up to a new level of art. Hustle and Flow brought the new style of black film into the limelight, and ATL follows right behind. I was really surprised how much I liked this film. In my line of work, you see a lot of bad films, and you can usually spot them from a mile away. I admit that I was fooled by this one. I was expecting to find another tired tale of a young hustla’ making it big in the hood, but instead I found a genuinely touching film about what happens to four friends when High School is over and the next stage of life has not yet begun.

Woods, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 20th, 2006

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After Heather (Agnes Bruckner) sets her parent’s tree on fire out of boredom, she is shipped off to a strange boarding school run by Ms. Traverse (Patricia Clarkson), where the woods surrounding the school seem to be slowly devouring the building itself. There’s also the standard issue legend surrounding the history of the school that involves a coven of witches who murdered the school’s head-mistress years before.

Does any of this result in an interesting film? Let’s take a step back before we delve into …
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James Stewart – The Signature Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 19th, 2006

Tom Hanks is sometimes called this generation’s Jimmy Stewart. In an odd sort of way, that is sort of a compliment to both men. Both are extraordinary actors who have secured a place in film history as the best of their time at playing the everyman. While such a role would doom other actors to being typecast as the all-time greatest supporting actor, both Hanks and Stewart have been able to pull off the role with amazing versatility.

Clearly, this is not the definitive set of Stewart’s work as an actor. For t…
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