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Felicity – Junior Year DVD Collection

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

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Synopsis

Season Three is the junior year for Felicity, and her initial plans to move in with twogirlfriends take a turn when, on the spur of the moment, she rents a run-down apartment for herand Ben. Other storylines revolve around Richard’s sexuality (is he gay or just very shy?) andSean’s medical condition (which reaches a climax in the episode titled, with macabre humour,“One Ball, Two Strikes”).

In retrospect, what with the flood of box sets hitting the market, a series …
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Garfield – The Movie

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

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Synopsis

Garfield goes about his happy existence, scarfing lasagna, tormenting the neighbourhooddog, and taking advantage of fellow cat Nermal’s stupidity. Chaos arrives when Jon (BreckinMeyer), hoping to impress vet Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) adopts Odie the dog. Garfield doesall he can to remove Odie from the home, but when Odie actually is kidnapped by an evil animalshow host, Garfield heads off to the city on a perilous rescue.

Other than Garfield’s look and an appropria…
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My Name is Modesty

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

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Synopsis

An orphan who learned to survive in the cauldron of the war-torn Balkans, Modesty Blaise(Alexandra Staden) now runs a casino in Tangiers for kingping Mr. Louche. But her boss iskilled, and armed men invade the casino, taking Modesty and fellow employees hostage.Modesty plays for time by engaging the leader of the gang (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in endlessrounds of roulette, with the prizes being the liberation of hostages versus the truth of herbackground.

This is an…
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Whacked!

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 23rd, 2004

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Synopsis

This is a tale of two adopted brothers. One (Paul Sampson) stayed home in Jersey, becominga hit man for the Mob. The other (Patrick Muldoon) tried to escape that life, and became anassassin for the CIA. When computer nerd Judge Reinhold discovers a crooked deal arrangedby a rogue CIA officer, a contract is taken out on his life, and Sampson gets the job. Reinholdruns to Muldoon for help, thus reuniting the brothers, who realize the Agency goon has beenmanipulating them. Now they fi…
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Lost Treasure

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 22nd, 2004

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Synopsis

An art-museum heist leads to the discovery of a map pointing the way to a treasure hiddenby Christopher Columbus. Two groups wind up on a remote island, racing each other and aferocious storm for the treasure. One group is a collection of criminals and crooked cops, eagerto kill our heroes in the second group (Stephen Baldwin, Nicolette Sheridan, and assorted comicrelief).

The director of this dead duck is supposedly someone named “Jay Andrews,” but withinmoments it is pa…
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Demon Within, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 21st, 2004

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Synopsis

Katie Wright is an English art student studying in San Francisco. She is a bit of an odd duck,and after being disturbed by her inability to see a first date through, she avoids the boy who askedher out. She is having problems in class too, as she keeps sculpting not the model before her, butthe faces of the man we know is her neighbour: insane actor Jeff Fahey. Things get even worsewhen Wright winds up sculpting one of Fahey’s victims.

Having the heroine unintentionally pro…
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Law & Order – The Fourteenth Year

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2004

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This box set has restored my faith in television. I actually don’t have cable or satellite or anything, and if you ask anyone that knows me, they’ll tell you that I’m a steadfast refusenik when it comes to watching TV. Law & Order, however, is intelligent, well-cast, and has very high production values – all the ingredients of a winning series, as its ridiculously long run (14+ years) is testament to. Each episode has a well thought-out plot, usually with some sort of twist – and generally without any glaring plot ho…
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Tess

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 21st, 2004

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Synopsis

The peasant father of Tess (Nastassja Kinski) discovers that their family is of noble descent,and, hoping to improve their fortunes, he sends Tess to work for a well-to-do family. Shebecomes a victim of the rakish son of the household. Abandoned, she eventually falls in lovewith parson’s son Peter Firth, but her past catches up with her.

As is typical of Thomas Hardy novels, the story is about a slow decline into misery anddeath. The intensity one associates with Po…
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Whole Ten Yards

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2004

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The Whole Nine Yards was a pretty funny film. It wasn’t outstanding. It wasn’t classic cinema. It certainly didn’t cry out for a sequel. The Whole Ten Yards goes one yard too far. Most of the original cast is back, but the film has no life. Even the laughs are forced. By now the novelty of the characters has long since worn thin. Bruce Willis seems to be acting for acting’s sake. The mood swings and unnecessary facial exaggerations seem to provide Willis with some distraction from how empty the rest of the film is. I…
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My New Gun

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

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Synopsis

Diane Lane’s jerk of a husband, always imitating his best friend, buys her a gun she does notwant. Bizarre neighbour James LeGros asks to borrow the gun. Lane turns down the request, butLeGros helps himself anyway, and a chain of events as bizarre as it is low key is sent inmotion.

Owing some of its dry, absurd humour to David Lynch, My New Gun is also morefirmly grounded in a recognizable world than is Lynch’s work. The pace might be a tad too muchon the l…
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Everwood – The Complete First Season

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

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Synopsis

Treat Williams is Dr. Andrew Brown, a high-powered NYC neurosurgeon. When his wife iskilled in a traffic accident, Williams re-evaluates his life, and the fact that he had put his familyvery much on the backburner with reference to his career, and on the spur of the moment movesthe family to Everwood, Colorado, a small town he was once told was idyllic. So begins a newlife, an effort to avoid making the same mistakes, and an effort to re-connect with his alienatedteenaged s…
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227 – The Complete First Season

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

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Synopsis

The scene is a middle-class apartment building in Washington, DC. Our characters are Mary(Marla Gibbs), hard-nosed mother; her best friend and gossip-buddy Rose (Alaina Reed); big-time flirt Sandra (Jackée Harry) and the relevant husbands and offspring. It’s the expectedcollection of wisecracks and Issues Moments in an utterly typical, and I would have thoughcompletely forgotten, sitcom.

Audio

The 2.0 sound may be stereo, but it has no surround pres…
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Love Comes Softly

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

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Synopsis

In a typically golden-hued television version of the 19th Century, Katherine Heigl is movingout to the Western frontier with husband Oliver Macready. They have barely arrived at the site oftheir future homestead when Macready gets himself killed in a horse-riding accident. Widowedand alone, Heigl accepts a proposal from widower and single father Dale Midkiff: to have aplatonic marriage with him in order that the two might help each other out until the followingspring, at wh…
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Angel – The Complete Fourth Season

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

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Many fans of the series would agree that during Angel’s five-year run, season four was it’s strongest. It was the first, and only, time that the series made a drastic change in format. Nearly all episodes, 22 in total, ran along a single continuous plot. Not that different compared to Fox’s other hit series “24.” Beginning at around the episode “The House Always Wins”, each episode essentially hangs with a major cliffhanger and immediately continues at the beginning of the next. This was much more engaging than the s…
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Heir to an Execution: A Granddaughter’s Story

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

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Synopsis

Ivy Meeropol is the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed fortreason at the height of the McCarthy era. Their case is a controversial one to this day, andMeeropol sets out to learn as much about who her grandparents were as she can, while peoplewho knew them are still alive. The series of interviews she conducts are fascinating looks backinto a dark period of American history, but there also flashes of the human comedy as well (suchas when former Ro…
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Hunting of the President, The

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

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Synopsis

This is a chronicle of battles over Bill Clinton, climaxing with his impeachment. Based onothe book by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason, the movie, narrated by Morgan Freeman, takes theapproach that this ten-year-war was not something that just happened, but was the systematicattempt by an organized group to bring down the president. One’s sympathies in the matter willlargely determine how much, if any, of this one buys, but the film does make some convincinglydisturbing charges….
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Star Trek: Generations

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2004

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With the success of Star Trek as both a television and film franchise, it made perfect sense to eventually pass the baton from the Kirk era to the Next Generation. Generations had promise, but could and should have been a far better film. The f/x were for the most part inferior to previous Trek films. The destruction of the Enterprise D is the notable exception. Perhaps it was unwise to attempt to blend the established film environment with the too recently completed television series.

The film might have …
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Dawson’s Creek – The Complete Fourth Season

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

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Synopsis

Here we go: it’s the senior year for Dawson, Joen, Pacey, Jen and Jack. Joey and Pacey haveto deal with how their new romance (which concluded the last season) is going to affect theirrelationship with Dawson. As before, we follow dreams crash or flower, and the same withrelationships. The writing is stronger than on many dramas, but sometimes is a little too pleasedwith itself — Pacey’s crack in the opening episode about “the land of poorly written melodrama”which also fo…
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Asylum of the Damned

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

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Synopsis

James Bishop arrives at S. Andrew’s Asylum for the Criminally Insane to be a new intern.He suspects things are not as they should be. His clues include obviously mistreated patients,and an asylum director who is exaggeratedly uncaring and speaks with a sinister Britishaccent.

Meanwhile, in the audience, we’re waiting for old James to catch up, as the movie showed usa satanic cult at work in the hospital in the opening five minutes, complete with an extremelycheesy…
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Hi-5 Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 18th, 2004

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Synopsis

There are three volumes under review here: “Color Craze,” “Music Magic,” and “GameTime.” Imagine a kids’ show taken over by a co-ed version of the Backstreet Boys, and you’llhave some sense of what these shows are like. A group of 5 young people sing and danceenergetically, and then, in individual segments, each host focuses on a different specialty (onedoes shapes, another movement, and so on). Other segments consists of more song, storytelling,activities, and so on. I won…
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Christine

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 18th, 2004

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Synopsis

Put-upon high-school student Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) buys a decrepit 1957Plymouth Fury named Christine, and sets about restoring her. He does a remarkable job, and asChristine becomes shiny and new again, so Arnie loses his geek image. He goes beyond beingself-confident, however, becoming more and more unpleasant as Christine exerts her hold onhim. She is a jealous lover, and will kill anyone who interferes with her and Arnie.

When you think about, it’s surp…
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Chastity

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

Chastity (Cher) is a runaway, careening from one encounter to the other in a desperate searchfor herself and an attempt to escape the nightmare of her past. Mostly this means wanderingaround in an extremely sullen mood and treating everyone around her like dirt. How verysympathetic. This 1969 effort pretty much encapsulates everything that could make a sixties filmintolerable. Precious and portentous, it achieves a certain degree of unintentional comedy. SEE!The endless ope…
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Good Times

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

When sinister businessman George Sanders offers to produce a film starring Sonny and Cher,Sonny can’t wait to get started, though Cher has severe doubts. It turns out the shooting scriptis impossibly bad, and Sonny has ten days to come up with an alternative. We see his fantasiesof various film possibilities (western, mystery, jungle adventure), each one clearly a catastrophein its own right.

This was the directorial debut of William Friedkin. Of course it was! Obvi…
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Baadasssss!

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2004

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Synopsis

Mario Van Peebles plays his father Melvin, and the film charts the making of Melvin VanPeebles’ landmark 1971 film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Obsessed withmaking a film by and about his community, and expressing all the built-up anger of his peopleand his time, Melvin will stop at nothing in the fulfilment of his dream. The economic, personaland health costs are very high.

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is arguably where Black cinema begins,…
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White Dawn, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 16th, 2004

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Synopsis

Based on true events (or at least on tales told by the Inuit), The White Dawn is setin 1896, when three whalers are stranded on Baffin Island, and are rescued by an Inuitcommunity. The three men are Timothy Bottoms (who is instantly converted to this way of life),Lou Gossett (who is skeptical) and Warren Oates (who’s just plain trouble). The meeting ofcultures is not an easy one.

The film is leisurely, but never dull, and much of the running time is spent sho…
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