Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 1st, 2007
Five men wake up in a middle-of-the-desert chemical warehouse. Some of them are tied, some are wounded, and all have no memory of who they are or how they came to be here. They soon discover that they are part of a kidnapping plot, but who is victim and who is kidnapper remains a mystery. What they do know is that the rest of the criminals are on their way back, and if they don’t escape the warehouse, someone is going to die.
Though the opening had me worried this was going to be Saw II with a prestige cast (Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Joe Pantoliano, etc.), it quickly developed into a tight thriller whose premise made up in niftiness what it lacked in plausibility. The paranoia is played out to the fullest, the twists come fast and furious as fragments of memory return, and frequent cuts to the police investigation of the kidnapping prevents the film from becoming a claustrophobic play. We’ve certainly seen variations on this concept before (everything from Reservoir Dogs to House of 9 is swimming in the same waters), but that doesn’t prevent this from being a very fun hour-and-a-half.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 31st, 2007
Bridget Moynahan is the new stepmother to Peter Weller’s children. 14-year-old Carly Schroeder is not at all pleased with the state of affairs, and just as displeased to be hauled off to Africa for a safari while Weller works on a dam. When their guide goes off-road, they run afoul of a pride of lions. The guide is eaten, the car is disabled, and the lions are circling. Weller mounts a hunt for his missing family, hiring a misanthropic big-game hunter to help.
There are more than a few echoes of Jaws here. If Grizzly advertised itself as “Jaws with Claws,” is this “Jaws with Paws”? Most of the elements are there, if we replace the slowly sinking Orca in the ocean with the disabled vehicle in the savannah, and the hunter is in full-on Quint mode. The finale is pretty familiar, too. So nothing much new, right down to the predictable family dynamics, but it’s all pretty entertaining, and the eating scenes are nicely gruesome.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 31st, 2007
Arriving at a small English town, backpacker Christina Ricci is promptly run over by a car. Despite the impressive impact, she seems unharmed, apart from a complete loss of memory. The woman who hit her takes her in, and Ricci promptly bonds with the children, especially the little boy, who, like her, sees scary things at night. Meanwhile, the kids’ father (Stephen Dillane) is investigating a long-buried 1st Century church nearby, whose crucifixion scene is disturbingly out of whack. Ominous hints gather.
When the mystery is revealed, it is accompanied by a twist unlikely to surprise anyone with even a passing familiarity with horror films. Fortunately, the film doesn’t stand or fall on that telegraphed twist, which furthermore sets up the climax, rather than BEING the climax. The film’s central idea, though, is an interesting one, and the execution is nicely understated. This isn’t a classic in the making, but as an atmospheric little horror tale, it acquits itself honourably.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2007
Synopsis
Of all the recent multi-film director stories that have been told in recent years, not too many have been as, well, historical, as Clint Eastwood’s two part telling of the battle at the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. The battle over a key stretch of property in World War II cost thousands of lives, but never seemed to get a proper cinematic treatment as many of the European theater battles have. Regardless, in Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers, Eastwood has given the world ...nother series of films that go beyond the normal “war is hell” mentality, and the first one has just come to DVD shelves.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2007
Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek are buddies in real life, so it makes sense for the two of them to show up in a film together. I was a little surprised to find this disc on my doorstep, however, having totally missed its existence during its theatrical release. It is a good reminder of how much a movie's success is driven by marketing. Clearly, this is one of those films that the studio wasn't happy with, so they cut their losses and quietly put the film into select theaters underneath the radar.
It's a shame, ...oo, because this is really not a bad little film. Certainly better than Wild Wild West, Salma's last western pic, which the studio threw a ton of money at. This is a western buddy picture in the vein of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, except for the obvious difference of two beautiful women in the leading roles.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2007
This could be my shortest film review ever: watch Step Up for the dancing - the rest is a formulaic bunch of "whatever".
But since you're reading, here's a little more. Like Save The Last Dance, Step Up is a teen dance/romance movie. The story follows Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum), a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, and Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan), a privileged ballet student attending a prestigious school for the arts. Tyler's your typical bad boy, stealing cars, getting into scuffles at night clubs and - of course - dancing up a hip-hop storm. Lucky for him, trouble leads him into doing community service at Nora's school. She's busy preparing for a really important dance at the senior fall showcase, which will make or break her dance career.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2007
The relationship between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor appeared to blossom when they were both on the set of Cleopatra. The epic film was famous, not for the success of the film but more for the near bankruptcy of the studio and for the romance that blossomed between the two. Warner Brothers has recently been releasing groups of films surrounding various film icons, and this set of four titles focuses on the two acting giants.
The V.I.P.s was the first film after Cleopatra for both performers, and ironically enough they play a married couple on the downside of a marriage. Taylor plays Frances and Burton plays Paul, a wealthy businessman who treats Frances as more of a business chore than anything else, until one day Frances decides to leave Paul and for the waiting arms of Marc (Louis Jourdan, Octopussy). Marc is a gigolo but seems to have reformed for Frances. Frances and Marc are about to fly to New York until fog keeps them in, along with a few other notable individuals. Les (Rod Taylor, The Birds) is a rather convincing Australian businessman who is desperate to get to America to change a business deal that will save him financially, and his secretary Miss Mead (Maggie Smith, Clash of the Titans) will help him try to accomplish that. Max (Orson Welles, Touch of Evil) is trying to get out of England for tax purposes, and will even resort to marriage to try and do it. Margaret Rutherford (Blithe Spirit) won an Oscar in her role as the elderly Duchess.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 21st, 2007
For all the talk about a film being "just as relevant now as when it was released", Oh! What a Lovely War seems to fit that bill more than a lot of movies I've seen recently. From a screenplay by Len Deighton and directed by a first-time director (but longtime actor) in Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park), the film may be a daunting endeavor for some to see, probably because it's a film that's two and a half hours long and contains a lot of songs.
It also contains a lot of dialogue, and both the songs and dialogue were from the period. The world leaders that are involved during this time of crisis include President Poincaire (Ian Holm, Lord of the Rings), Count Leopold von Berchtold (Sir John Gielgud, Arthur), Emperor Franz Josef (Jack Hawkins, Bridge on the River Kwai), to name a few.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 19th, 2007
Having previously only seen the theatrical trailer for Derailed, I was pleased to finally get a chance to watch it. The movie seemed to be filled with a lot of suspense, but the redundancy of this type of affair movie sort of detoured me. Ultimately, I went into this with expectations of an impressive thriller.
Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is a well-off advertising executive married to a school teacher. Together, they have a teenage daughter. Due to complications with diabetes the couple has to be co...stantly on alert with their daughter, causing them continuous stress and leading to what is ultimately a deteriorating marriage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 18th, 2007
Let me begin here by saying that I�ve never found any film based on the Vietnam War good. I assume this stems from that everything I�ve ever known or been taught about the War shows that (I apologize in advance for those who get offended) the War was not necessary (this said by my Uncle who fought in the War). Every Vietnam film I�ve tried to enjoy from Born on the Fourth of July to Platoon I just couldn�t as this little reminder always poked in the back of my mind. I should honestly scratch that last sentence as I�ve found the first Vietnam film that I absolutely found excellent.
I suppose the best way to describe a film like Deer Hunter, even though its predominately towered by the power of the events of the Vietnam War, is a film that takes place over three sections. The first section involves a wedding ceremony attended by honest hard-working fellows who want nothing but their great life to continue. Then we are met with the middle section, which is definitely the most powerful section as it takes anything I�ve known about the Vietnam War (intense horror) and basically showcases it on the screen in front of me.
![Derailed (Unrated) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/derailed-unrated-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![The Deer Hunter [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-deer-hunter-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
