Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 20th, 2006
One of the things that Ron Howard ( Beautiful Mind) mentioned during various little interviews and press junkets for Apollo 13 was that he was surprised that up until this film everyone seemed to forget about story. He could not have picked a better cast to boot, with recognizable names as Tom Hanks (who was coming off his back to back Oscar wins with Forrest Gump and Philadelphia), Bill Paxton (Twister) and Kevin Bacon (Where The Truth Lies), along with Oscar nominees Kathleen Quinlan (A Civil Action) and Ed Harris (A History of Violence).
Based on the book by Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell (played by Hanks) and adapted to film by William Broyles (Unfaithful), the film chronicles the story of the dramatic flight. To sum it up for those of you who haven;t contributed to it;s $350 million worldwide box office take, allow me to do so now; Lovell, Fred Haise (Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise, Ransom) are due to take off in Apollo 13. Unfortunately a member of the backup crew had the measles, and Mattingly was scrubbed and replaced by Jack Swigert (Bacon). The relatively young crew tests and retests for the big flight, and it goes off without a hitch.
Posted in: 2.35:1 Widescreen, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 2.0 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Drama, DVD, New Line by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2006
Synopsis
Virginia, 1607. English ships arrive and a colony is set up, but with considerable difficulty. Famine and disease take their toll. Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) heads off to seek help from the Powhatan. He is captured, sentenced to death, but saved by Pocahontas (Q’orianka Kilcher, whose character is never actually given that name). So begins a fateful relationship.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2006
The world of politically charged films has certainly grown in the past few years. Films like Farhenheit 911 have seen big success, while other films like Rupert Murdoch’s OutFoxed have seen more of a critical success. Both of these films had extreme media attention, one obviously more than the other, prior and after their releases. Both asked questions and demanded answers to topics and issues we, as people, wondered about but never really asked about as a simple person can’t really enact a high success...rate in terms of results. However, if you have a name like Michael Moore or Rupert Murdoch attached to the bill, people will probably pay attention. A similar note is given to the recent political thriller Syriana starring George Clooney. Even though Syriana had actors like Matt Damon and George Clooney attached to the bill, would this be enough to make the film’s questions seem important enough to make an impact?
Syriana, to sum up the film in three words, is about oil and money. The film begins with one of the Gulf States agreeing to supply the up and coming China with some of its oil. Texas based company Connex, views this deal as a huge defeat. At the exact same time as this deal is happening with Connex, another company, Killen, has signed a deal to drill for oil in Kazakhstan. Connex, obviously, announces an immediate merger with Killen, thus giving them the oil. Wait one second. This sounds pretty familiar doesn’t it? Naturally the Justice Department intervenes and the movie starts to accelerate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 16th, 2006
Are we that jaded a country when a movie like Cinderella Man can be somewhat ignored during its theatrical run, and yet when it still garners the occasional award nomination as it did last winter, people snort, "Well, it's just your usual manipulative dramatic crap". Yeah? So what? For god's sake, take a look at what plays during the summer. Did we honestly need a remake of When a Stranger Calls?
Written by Akiva Goldsman and directed by Ron Howard (both from A Beautiful Mind), Cinderella Man tells the story of James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe, also from A Beautiful Mind, heavyweight champion in the '20s and '30s. He was on top of the world, married to a beautiful wife (Renee Zellweger, Chicago), and had two kids, and lived in a nice house in New Jersey. Then the Depression hit, and it hit everyone hard. Braddock and his family were forced out of their home and lived in poverty. Braddock still fought occasionally through the years, but began to break down physically, and it got to a point where his skills had deteriorated so much, that his boxing license was taken away. He was left without the basic means to support his family, so he went to the docks to look for work. A proud man, he never asked for money or for public assistance. When he did, it's viscerally heartbreaking to see such a stoic man break down and ask for a hand.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 14th, 2006
Here's the dilemma with these kinds of movies; it's hard to successfully fit a hard R story into a PG-13 package. Usher is a big draw in the under-18 market, so the challenge is to take a strong dramatic story and mold it to hit that balance between Hard Eight and Raise Your Voice. However, I have said it before, and here we go yet again... movies that try to appeal to everybody will successfully appeal to nobody. This is a movie that is a bit too racy and violent for your average 12-year-old girl, but way too soft for adults.
The plot is the same kind of thing you have seen time and time again. Usher plays a Hip-Hop DJ trying to break into the music business on a national scale. One night at a party, he saves the life of his friend's father, who is a Mafia boss. As a result of his heroism, he is made to be the bodyguard of the boss' daughter (despite the fact that he has no experience in such a role). Naturally, he soon falls in love with the bosses' daughter, and a conflict of interest ensues.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 13th, 2006
When Ridley Scott’s latest epic Kingdom of Heaven was released for common viewing in May 2005 at 145 minutes, critics either really liked the film, or where really dissatisfied with the film. Audiences, it seemed, tended to agree with the latter critics as the film only grossed $47 Million Dollars, which was a dissapointment considering the film had a budget well over $100 Million. Rumors started to fly, as with any big epic, that Scott was forced to slash the film’s running time to not only make audiences ha...py, but more importantly make 20th Century Fox happy. Well, the rumors have been confirmed as we are now being treated to Kingdom of Heaven in Ridley Scott’s complete vision featuring a running time of 191 minutes. Similar to Scott’s other recently released Director’s Cut of his other epic film Gladiator much is added to the film’s story and characters. But just what was added and could this version make a non-believer of the film’s Theatrical 145 minute cut enjoy this new vision? Read on to find out.
Before diving into what was exactly added (if you want to jump just to that section, go down a few paragraphs), I’m going to dive into the actual film a bit. Balian (played by Orlando Bloom) is a village blacksmith in France. He discovers that he is the illegitimate son of Sir Godfrey (played by the always amazing Liam Neeson). Godfrey, you see, is a knight returning from the Middle East. Godfrey, as we learn, feels that Jerusalem is not necessarily a holy war, but a war filled with opportunity for young men. It holds numerous amounts of potential for those who are willing to reach out and grab it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 11th, 2006
Training Day stars Academy Award Winning Actor Denzel Washington in the role of Alonzo Harris. Harris, who is one of the meanest, baddest cops in the city of LA, is a person who cruises the streets in his customized Caddy. Harris, in one of the film's opening scenes, meets Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), a young cop whose dream is to be promoted to the elite narc squad. Naturally, this is Jake's first day of training and he is thrown into the arms of Harris. Alonzo tries to show him the streets so he can understand e...erything. He has Jake smoke pot just because he can. In one interesting scene, possibly Alonzo being a tough ass to Jake, doesn't arrest two rapists like Jake wants to, but, instead, proceeds to beat the living crap out of them.
For Alonzo, acting the way he does is simply because this is the way Alonzo feels he should act. As he tells Jake in one scene "If you turn down gifts on the street, you'll be dead." Jake, who has just learned his pot has been laced with PCP, has just awoken to find out that he is now involved with a raid on a drug dealer's house. Alonzo continues to take Jake on these various trips, which all seem to be teaching Jake more and more about the type of cop Alonzo truly is. It makes me wonder if all LA cops are truly this evil, not necessarily as a poke at LA and the crime, but possibly a look into the corruption of the cop field in itself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2006
Synopsis
The Who’s Who of San Francisco is gathering for the grand opening of the Glass Tower, the world’s tallest building. The architect, Paul Newman, is disturbed by what appear to be corners cut in the electrical installations by Richard Chamberlain, and sure enough, a fire starts on the 81st floor. Fire Chief Steve McQueen is soon on the scene, but the situation deteriorates rapidly, and hundreds of celebrants on the top floor are at risk of fiery death.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Game tester Allen Covert is evicted from his apartment, and winds up rooming with his grandmother (Doris Roberts) and her two friends, the stone-on-meds Shirley Knight and the sexually predatory Shirley Jones. He attempts to keep this rather humiliating set-up secret from co-workers and sexy new boss/potential love interest Linda Cardinelli.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 4th, 2006
Swordfish stars Hugh Jackman (X-Men as computer hacker Stanley. Stanley has just spent two years in jail for hacking a program used specifically by the FBI to snoop in on everybody’s email. Enter Halle Berry (also X-Men) as Ginger who has been assigned to recruit Stanley to help stop mastermind Gabriel Shear played by John Travolta (Face-Off). The initial problem here is that Stanley, obviously, doesn’t trust the government. He has been previously forbidden by the courts to come anywhere n...ar a computer. Ginger decides to use a little persuasion in the form of a lap dance and a weapon to give him exactly one-minute to hack into a government computer. It looks like Stanley still has a bit of hacker in him as he completes this task. Stanley is offered $10 Million Dollars to work for Shear as one of his main men. Why on earth Shear would trust Stanley we soon learn.
Shear wants to recruit some of the world’s best hackers, Stanley being one of them, to help him break into a DEA bank account that contains some money. Some money in this cast is being translated into $9.5 Billion Dollars. I must take a quick break here and comment on the work of John Travolta. Ever since becoming a ‘nut-case’ (in the media’s eyes) along with Tom Cruise, it seems like audiences have forgotten how great of an actor he is. Travolta has made some of the best action films in Face-Off and Broken Arrow all while making funny films like Get Shorty. Back to the program though, Shear is able to, through his cunning skill, manipulate and use many people, including us in many scenes.
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