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Video

Brotherhood, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 8th, 2002

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The title catches your eye. A mob film, you suspect. And you’re right. But a mob film from 1968, BEFORE The Godfather defined the genre as we know it today, and the difference is apparent.

Synopsis

Kirk Douglas is big-shot Mafioso living in retirement in Sicily. He’s old-fashioned, and believes in the old “values” of the Cosa Nostra. From the States comes his brother, who wants to make his name with the mob. His assignment, as it turns out, is to kill Douglas. Set entirely in rura…
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Memento

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2002

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WOW! This is one of the most unique and fascinating films ever made… and this DVD release is equally as amazing. If you have never been introduced to Memento, this is your chance. This film works like no other (not counting “The Following” – Christopher Nolan’s first film), running backwards rather then sequentially. And let me tell you, once you have found the Easter egg that contains the film played sequentially, this film will take on a whole new life.

“In MEMENTO, Guy Pearce (“L.A. Confidential”)…
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Atlantic City

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 5th, 2002

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This is a rather unique match-up, pairing one star in the twilight of his career (Burt Lancaster) with one entering her prime (Susan Sarandon), and both are given meaty roles.

Synopsis

Welcome to Atlantic City, the poor man’s Las Vegas. The emphasis is on “poor.” Everywhere we see buildings being torn down, and even the hustles are strictly nickle-and-dime operations. Burt Lancaster is an ageing small-time gangster. Susan Sarandon works the food counter in a casino, and is trainin…
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Best Men

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2002

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The case features Drew Barrymore front and centre, but don’t be misled. This is a 1997 effort, and Barrymore’s star was still on the (re)ascension. She has a supporting role in this crime story, yet another smart-aleck tale to come in the wake of Quentin Tarantino.

Synopsis

Luke Wilson (doing his best Nicolas Cage impression) has just been released from prison. He is picked up by his friends to be driven to the church to marry Drew Barrymore, but along the way, one of them (Patrick Flannery) decide…
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Stargate SG-1 – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 16th, 2002

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Let me start off by being very honest. I was not a huge fan of the Devlin and Emerich film version of Stargate. And because I wasn’t into the film, I did not bother to watch the Showtime original series when it first debuted. That was a major mistake on my behalf. The series is closer to Star Trek than Stargate (the movie). The cast is excellent beginning with Richard Dean Anderson taking over the Mike Douglas role of Col. O’Neal. With a refreshing blend of wit and tough guy, Anderson is everything you want in a le…
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X-Files – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 14th, 2002

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The X-Files is one of those TV shows that lends itself very well to the DVD format. Its insanely complicated mythos and attendant continuity makes it a show where extras actually make sense. (Does anyone REALLY need Ally McBeal commentary?)

Synopsis

The fifth season is the one that led up to the release of the feature film, so it functions something like an extended prologue. Among the notable stand-alone stories, however, is “Kill Switch,” scripted by William Gibson. This season also saw the Lone …
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Thief of Hearts

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 12th, 2002

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Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? Follow me back to that bygone era known as the eighties. Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were consolidating their formula for slick, commercial fluff, Harold Faltermeyer’s synthesized scores were inescapable, and Steven Bauer actually rated star billing.

Synopsis

Steven Bauer is a professional cat-burglar, aided and managed by cocaine-sniffing restaurant employee David Caruso (looking geekily young). On one particular job, Bauer finds, amid hi…
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Original Sin – Unrated

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 20th, 2002

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The second version of Cornell Woolrich’s novel “Waltz Into Darkness” (previously filmed by François Truffaut’s Mississippi Mermaid), this is a decidedly steamier version, especially here, in its unrated form.

Synopsis

Cuban plantation owner Antonio Banderas advertises for a wife, and the woman who answers his ad is, he believes, plain but pure. What shows up, however, is the beautiful but duplicitous Angelina Jolie, who has larceny rather than matrimony on her mind. Her scam runs smoothly at first,…
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Bandits

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 20th, 2002

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Intro

This film has an all-star cast, and a very funny story. This Special Edition release of Bandits is very good… and the film should entertain.

Synopsis

Loosely based on a true story, Bandits tells the tale of Joe (Bruce Willis) and Terry (Billy Bob Thornton), two convicts who break out of prison and stage a daring series of bank robberies by taking the bank manager hostage the night BEFORE the robbery, then getting him to open up the bank. Joe is the ladies man and prone to…
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Bull Durham

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 17th, 2002

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Intro

Writer/director Ron Shelton says, in his commentary, that one of the things that pushed him to make Bull Durham was the sense that nobody did sports movies right. Mission accomplished: here is a film about baseball that can be enthusiastically embraced by those of us who have no interest in, or knowledge of, baseball.

Synopsis

Devout member of the Church of Baseball, Susan Sarandon selects a player each year to coach in the arts of love and of the game. This year, her two candida…
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Spongebob Squarepants: Nautical Nonsense

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 11th, 2002

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Intro

The hero is a kitchen sponge. I think I’ve seen everything now.

Synopsis

Ten episodes of the Nickelodeon cartoon series, starring the terminally nerdy Spongebob Squarepants. He lives in the Goo Lagoon, and has a thing for Sandy, a squirrel in a diving outfit. The humour will either work for you or it won’t.

Audio

The sound is clear, but a bit thin. The surround effects are limited almost entirely to the music, and even that isn’t as rich as it might be. The big…
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Bar Girls

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 11th, 2002

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Intro

It is interesting to see a film with such a tiny budget ($500,000) on the MGM label.

Synopsis

The film is centred around a Girl Bar, and follows the trials and tribulations in love of a group of lesbians. Loretta, a TV cartoon writer, is the central figure (though this is pretty close to being an ensemble piece), and is something like a cross between Bette Midler and Bridget Jones. Bar Girls was originally a play, and a good job was done of opening the story up – the film does no…
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Wilde

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 9th, 2002

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Intro

An ambitious, intelligent, serious look at the life of Oscar Wilde, this is a first-class biopic.

Synopsis

Stephen Fry is Oscar Wilde, the role he was born to play. The film begins with Wilde’s triumphant lecture tour of the US, and we pick up his life from there, seeing his marriage, his seduction by Robbie Ross, and the flowering of his talent, even as his downfall becomes inevitable through his relationship with the callow Lord Alfred Douglas (Jude Law). Fry is surrounded by a…
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Traffic

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2002

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Starting a few years back with Out of Sight and continuing on with The Limey and Erin Brokovich, director Steven Soderbergh had been riding a remarkable streak of winning films that fulfills the blazing promise of his first film, sex, lies, and videotape. With his most complex film to date, Traffic, Soderbergh once again proved that he is one of America’s most inventive filmmakers. He doesn’t play it safe – with each and every new outing, Soderbergh proves that he’s not afraid to …
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Barabbas

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 5th, 2002

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Intro

We’re approaching the Easter season, which means it’s time for Biblical epics to hit the new release shelf (whichever ones haven’t been put on DVD yet). This one puts its emphasis on spectacle and action.

Synopsis

Anthony Quinn plays Barabbas, the thief freed in Christ’s place. Though he initially goes back to his drunken, thieving, carousing ways, he is rattled by the events surround the crucifixion. He successively discovers his faith and loses it over the course of a tumultuou…
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Barcelona

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2002

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Film

Genuinely witty comedies with an idea or two in their heads are rare enough that each one that shows up is cause for celebration. So go ahead. Celebrate.

The set-up is familiar: the romantic misadventures of two mismatched friends. The odd couple are Ted (Taylor Nichols), basically a yuppie Woody Allen, and Fred (Chris Eigeman), who cheerfully admits to being every European’s worst assumptions about Americans. The objects of their affections are Tushka Bergen and Mira Sorvino. What’s d…
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Boxcar Bertha

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 1st, 2002

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There is something rather humorous about the fact that this film, originally firmly in the exploitation genre (this is an American-International picture, produced by Roger Corman after all), should now be released under the “Avant-Garde Cinema” label. Go figure. It is important, however, as Martin Scorsese’s 1972 directorial debut.

Synopsis

Clearly inspired by the success of Bonnie and Clyde, Boxcar Bertha chronicles of the adventures of Bertha Thompson (Barbara Hershey, excellent) and her quartet …
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Terminator 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 1st, 2002

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The most basic rule in Hollywood seems to be that a sequel can never be as good as the original. If you’ve seen enough Police Academy films you know the rule by heart. This rule has been broken with Terminator 2. Not only is it better then the original, it is so much better that it has become “the” Terminator film. It’s no surprise that the DVD would have to be something special right down to a metal cover for the box. This is an ultimate edition that truly lives up to the name, and will make you forget about all previous issues of the film.

Va Savoir

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2002

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The sort of film it seems comes out of Hollywood only as a fluke, but emerges regularly out of Europe: the intellectual romantic comedy.

Synopsis

Camille, leading lady of an Italian-language theatre troupe, has returned to Paris for the first time in three years. Though her lover is the director Ugo, she seeks out her ex, Pierre, and her feelings are not exactly simple. Ugo, meanwhile, is searching for a rare play, and is attracted to the daughter of the woman who owns the manuscript. The set-up is…
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Beastie Boys Video Anthology

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2002

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Written By Kelly Stifora

Intro

The bad boys from Brooklyn dish up an audio/video career retrospective from seemingly endless angles, and raise the bar on the entire DVD format just as they’ve always done in the worlds of rap and music videos.

Synopsis

Three geeky white kids from the Brooklyn underground punk scene form a band, calling themselves the Beastie Boys. A couple of years later they release their first album, Licensed to Ill, helping to spawn both the rap and the rap/rock genres. In the ensuing two de…
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Bad News Bears in Breaking Training

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2002

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Intro

From its tissue-paper thin plot to the loss of the two main performers from the original Bad News Bears, what you see as you watch The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training, is the death of a franchise. Sure, there’s another haphazard follow-up, but the writing is on the wall.

Synopsis

This installment has The Bears traveling to Houston to play a single game against the Texas little league champs for the right to go to Japan. Why the Bears are chosen for this trip is never made c…
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Bad News Bears go to Japan

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2002

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Intro

It’s official. The franchise has been run into the ground. They’ve made a baseball movie with virtually no baseball and the little bit that you do see has no tension or comedy.

Synopsis

The Bears head to Japan at the urging of a scam artist (Tony Curtis) hoping to make big bucks in endorsement deals. Along the way they discover that love of the game is more important than competition. And in his last gasp at stardom, Jackie Earle Haley falls in love with a Japanese girl, walk…
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Bad News Bears

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 9th, 2002

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Intro

In this world of political correctness it’s a breath of fresh air to revisit this classic film from 1976. Sadly, it’s been given a completely lackluster DVD release.

Synopsis

A washed up former minor league baseball player (Walter Matthau) is given the task of taking a hapless group of kids and turning them into a team. With the help of his secret pitching weapon (Tatum O’Neal) they take a run at the pennant.

Audio

Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Mono. Gi…
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Matrix

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 7th, 2002

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What is the Matrix? That’s the question everyone’s looking to answer in this sci-fi spectacular from Wachowski brothers. One thing it was — groundbreaking both in the spectacular special effects that we’ve since taken for granted even in tv commercials and in actual ground (the tons of concrete) broken in the film itself.

Synopsis

Computer hacker extraordinaire Neo (Reeves) has this gut feeling that life isn’t all that it seems to be. Turns out he’s right in a big way. A group of revolutionaries l…
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American Rhapsody

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 3rd, 2002

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Intro

Based on a true story, unfortunately, the story is just average and the DVD release is on the same par.

Synopsis

American Rhapsody tells the story of a Hungarian families (Nastassja Kinski, Tony Goldwyn) escape from their country during Communist rule. Because of the danger they must leave their baby behind and circumstances prevent her from coming to America for another six years. Once she becomes a teenager (Scarlett Johansson), the young girl knows something is missing from h…
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