Video

Omega Man, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2003

Synopsis

Charlton Heston drives around deserted Los Angeles. In the wake of a biological war, he isthe only human survivor of the plague. But he is not alone. At night, psychotic albino zombiescome out to kill him. After two years of war with the zombies (led by TV anchor turned madpreacher Anthony Zerbe), Heston discovers other human survivors. The race is on to see if hisblood can supply an antidote before these last people also perish of the plague. The first half ofthe fi…
Read More

Squirm

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 27th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

A violent storm drops power lines into the swamp area of Fly Creek, Georgia. Driven madby the electricity, hundreds of thousands of giant, biting worms rise to the surface, and are heldback only by daylight. Three young people realize that something is up, but the adults won’tlisten, just as in The Blob, one of Squirm’s models. Come nightfall, the wormsattack. Squirm takes its time getting to the main event, and most of the build-up has aHardy Bo…
Read More

Chicago

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 27th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Roxy Hart will do anything to get famous; she cheats on her husband (John C. Riley) with a furniture salesman because he tells her that he can get her a jazz act in a club. When he admits that he was lying about his contacts at the jazz club she kills him in a fit of rage. She convinces her somewhat dim husband to lie to the police and take the blame but as he is telling his story to the police he puts one and one together and figures and tells the cops the truth. She finds herself on Chicag…
Read More

Comedy of Terrors / The Raven

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 27th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Richard Matheson, one of the most important talents in the horror field (his filmed novelsinclude Hell House, The Shrinking Man and I Am Legend — the latterdone twice, as The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man), scripts this twoblack comedies. In The Comedy of Terrors, Vincent Price is the scheming owner of afuneral home. He has taken over the business from doddering and deaf Boris Karloff, and,desperate for money, forces t…
Read More

Identity

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 26th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

On a dark and stormy night, a series of strange (coincidental?) events trap a group of peopleat an isolated hotel. They are all strangers, and yet more bizarre coincidences appear to link themto each other somehow. As if that wasn’t enough, someone is killing them off, one by one. Allvery mysterious and suspenseful, and the cast is excellent. Unfortunately, there’s a twist, and notonly does the twist take a thriller that was setting itself up as something daring and ne…
Read More

Ghoul, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 26th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Egyptology professor Boris Karloff is on his deathbed. He has just spent his fortuneacquiring a jewel he believes will open up the gates of the afterlife for him, and he demands to beburied with it, threatening to come back from the grave if his wishes are denied. Naturally, thejewel is stolen, and as a group of interested parties descend on his mansion, Karloff rises. ThisBritish film, made in the wake of the huge success of the early Universal horror classics, is als…
Read More

National Lampoon’s Vacation

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 20 years since the Griswald family packed up the Family Truckster and stumbled their way halfway across the country to Wally World.Truth be told, I am not much of a Chevy Chase fan. I often find his buffoon act trying and old, but the Vacation films are a notable exception. With today’s political correctness it’s doubtful that the family dog would meet such a horribly funny end (Before you write to tell me how cruel I am, I own a Siberian husky who is loved no matter how much trouble she gets into).
Read More

Casablanca

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 26th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

ï»¿

Synopsis

Surely you know the story. It’s WWII. France has fallen. Refugees from Europe are flowing into Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart is the cynical owner of Rick’s Cafe. His life is disrupted byt he reappearance of former lover Ingrid Bergman, who is married to Resistance leader PaulÂ Henreid. They need to escape to the US. Which way will Bogart go? Will he obey the demands of his heart? His greed? His honour? The film hasn’t aged a day since its release, its grip is as powerful as …
Read More

Down With Love

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 25th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

The time is the 60’s. Renée Zellweger is Barbara Novak, freshly arrived in New York Citywith a barnstormer of a book about to be published. The book is Down With Love, and itturns into an instant bestseller, turning gender relations on their heads. Womanizing CatcherBlock (Ewan McGregor), hotshot writer at Know Magazine, is determined to bring downthe woman who has spoiled his skirt-chasing lifestyle. In disguise, he sets about seducing Novak.Neither ch…
Read More

Drop Dead Fred

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 24th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Ever had an imaginary friend as a kid? Then this movie is for you. Elizabeth (Phoebe Cates) has just split with her husband and returns home to find the imaginary friend that she lost twenty-one years before. Drop Dead Fred (Rick Mayall) is ready for mischief and mayhem after being cooped up. After Fred sinks her best friend’s boat (played by Carrie Fischer) Elizabeth decides it is time to get rid of Fred once and for all. Instead she finds herself and gets her life back.

Vide…
Read More

Guilty By Association

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 24th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

A cautionary tale about gangs and racism we have the story of Rick Brown convicted of drug offenses and now out on probation trying to get his life back together. With no where to go he gets sucked back into his own life. Lieutenant Redding (Morgan Freedman) is on the hunt for a ruthless gang killer. Things soon go bad for Rick and he finds himself in the middle as the violence erupts. Unfortunately the acting, directing and storyline is so weak that you are not really interested if the two s…orylines are ever going to come together.
Read More

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 22nd, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Y Tu Mama Tambien is just another trite love triangle movie, one that would have some catchy Sum 41 or Weezer song in all the promos. This movie is about far more than that. It’s about the nature of friendship, the consequence of action, teenage machismo, self-realization and learning what it means to enjoy life. This isn’t the Mexican version of Road Trip, either. They don’t get into wacky hijinks or the comedy of the absurd. Almost everything about Y Tu Mama T…
Read More

Day of the Dead

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 21st, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Decades before The Blair Witch Project drew attention to the small independent filmmaker, George Romero and a small band of Pittsburgh natives took the horror genre by surprise with the stunning and atmospheric Night of the Living Dead. Day of the Dead was the third and (so far) final entry into the Romero zombie trilogy. Romero admits that this is the least acclaimed film in the series while professing that it is his own favorite. There is absolutely no question that makeup magician Tom Savini did some of his greatest work in this film.
Read More

Angel – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 18th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Angel: Season Two (a spinoff from the wildly popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer) follows the continuing adventures of Angel (David Boreanz), the vampire who searches for redemption while battling otherworldly demons and spirits on behalf of man. Angel and his team of modern day Ghostbusters find ways to track down trouble before it gets out of control, giving each episode an action-packed and imaginative flair, with numerous long-term story arcs running throughout the season. The overall theme of the en…
Read More

Sinatra: The Classic Duets

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Eighteen duets, many never seen since their original broadcast. Here is Sinatra along withsuch luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Merman, Bing Crosby,Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, and so on, and so on. In between each song are laudatory commentsby Sinatra’s children Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr.

Audio

The sound is mono, which is to be expected: these are recordings from the late 50’s-early60’s. Don’t expect miracles here — t…
Read More

Forbidden Fruit

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003

Synopsis

Michael Kremko plays Adam, dashing young priest. Nadia Mansouri is a young woman whohas a crush on him. Her name is Eve. Get it? If you don’t, Jake Simons as a gay dancechoreographer helpfully points out the symbolism for us. Sure enough, Adam is tempted from thestraight and true path and begins a torrid affair with Eve. The jealous Simons starts underminingthe two characters. The dialogue is banal, even as it has pretensions to deal with Really BigIssues of faith and free …
Read More

Nuts

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand) has been charged with first-degree manslaughter. Hermother and stepfather try to have her declared incompetent to stand trial, so she will go to apsychiatric hospital rather than jail. Claudia refuses to be railroaded, punching out her lawyer incourt. Public defender Richard Dreyfuss winds up saddled with her case, and decides to fight forStreisand’s right to have her day in court. The role of Claudia is big, scenery-chewing exercisefor Str…
Read More

Main Event, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Barbra Streisand is a perfume tycoon who, due to the dishonesty of an employee, suddenlyfinds herself broke. Her only remaining asset is a contract with a washed-up boxer (RyanO’Neal). Streisand decides to turn her fortunes around by managing O’Neal. The pair take aninstant dislike to each other, and squabble all their way into romance. The Main Eventmimics the rapid-fire delivery of the classic screwball comedies, but the effect is not so muchfunny as shrill and tir…
Read More

From Justin to Kelly

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 12th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Set during that vison from Hieronymous Bosch known as spring break in Fort Lauderdale,this is a return to the Annette Funicello-Frankie Avalon beach movies of the 60’s, right down tothe PG rating. People stopped making those movies for good reasons, but that didn’t stop theproducers of this effort. Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, playing characters with their ownfirst names (groan) meet, fall in love, but have their romance undermined by Clarkson’s blondbitch of a…
Read More

Simpsons – The Complete Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 11th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Popular culture aficionados and entertainment critics alike have been saying for quite some time now that the last ten or twelve years of television has seen some of the worst shows in the medium’s history. The nineties were filled with more flashes in the pan than an Iron Chef marathon, and even the longer running shows seem to be forgettable tripe the further away they get in our collective rear view mirrors. It’s mindboggling to think a show like Mad About You ran the better part of the decade, isn…
Read More

Up the Sandbox

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 10th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Barbra Streisand is happily married and raising three children. This isn’t to say that lifedoesn’t have its pressures, of course. (Just try raising three children.) She finds out she ispregnant again, and living in a world which values her husband’s time and accomplishments farabove hers, she begins to engage in a series of elaborate and bizarre fantasies in which, one wayor another, she breaks completely with her current life. (An affair with Fidel Castro a big enoughbreak…
Read More

La Femme Nikita – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 10th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Peta Wilson takes on the role previously incarnated by Anne Parillaud and Bridget Fonda.Once a street person, Nikita is forcibly recruited by an ultra-secret government organization andtrained as an assassin. Many adventures ensue. While Wilson certainly has the requisitetoughness and sexiness demanded by the role, the character herself has been largely defanged. Inits film incarnations, the story already ran into problems in the second half, as the formerlyferocious street…
Read More

Howling, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Dee Wallace is an intrepid TV reporter who tracks down a serial killer, and is almost killedfor her troubles. Traumatized, she withdraws to a rural resort, which at first seems idyllic.Gradually, evidence mounts that she is in fact staying in the middle of a werewolf colony. Stillone of the more satisfying werewolf films yet made (though Ginger Snaps has arguablycaptured the crown for best ever), Joe Dante’s film is a delight not only for the grislytransformations, b…
Read More

Levity

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Twenty-two years ago, Billy Bob Thornton killed a cashier in a botched robbery. He hasdwelt on this crime ever since, and doesn’t want to be released from prison. He is, though, and re-enters society very much adrift. His life begins to take on a sense of direction when he meetsand strikes up relationships with an embittered preacher (Morgan Freeman), a young woman onauto-destruct (Kirsten Dunst) and the sister of the man he killed (Holly Hunter). Low key,gorgeously photogr…
Read More

Ghoulies / Ghoulies II

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2003

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

In Ghoulies, a young man inherits a run-down home, only to succumb gradually tohis warlock legacy, summoning the title creatures and turning them loose on his friends. TheGhoulies strike back in the sequel, this time finding their way into a carnival and creating no endof havoc there. Neither film takes itself seriously — how could they, with little rubbery puppetsfor monsters. There is something likeable about the enthusiastically silly cheese up there on thescreen…
Read More

«< 277 278 279 280 281 >»