Video

Since the dawn of The Animal Planet we’ve seen an entire genre created around using real animal footage and providing a human story to go with it. In Meerkat Manor we are provided with a dramatic narration substituting human motivations for the actual activities captured by the film crew. In other instances voice over techniques are used to make the animals appear to talk. Movies like the Buddies series utilize this technique. With the help of a little CG, the animals appear to be speaking. In the case of Elephant Tales, however, there isn’t any effort to match the dialog to lip movement;

To me, the Power Rangers phenomenon was always a hard one to figure. Here we have a kids’ show featuring heroes and villains that look like they’ve escaped from a Ninja S&M Bar. Much like Ninja movies I have reviewed in the past – see my review for Ninja Collection Volume One: 10 Feature Film Set – these six episodes of Power Rangers Jungle Fury: Way of the Master share identical plotlines with subtle variations thrown in here and there for good measure.

What ever happened to Shawn Mullins?

I often mull over this question whenever I hear him sing, “Ev-e-ry thing’s gonna be all right… Rockabye! Rockabye!” on the radio. The dude lands in the late nineties with this song that has maybe the most unimaginative chorus in the history of pop music, and then he bolts on us, leaving that small remnant to get stuck in our collective heads for the rest of our humdrum lives.

The Longshots is one of those sports films that in many ways you see coming from miles away. It certainly feeds upon that against all odds sports cliché that you’ve likely seen a hundred times if you’ve seen it once. But in so many other ways, this is a story with more than a champion’s heart and courage. In many ways it’s about family and redemption. While the film is based loosely on the story of Jasmine Plummer,

<>An-a-mor-pho-sis n. pl. An image distorted so that it can only be viewed without distortion from a certain angle or using specific instrumentation. 

In the case of this direct to video thriller, our serial killer is using the aforementioned technique in his murders. He dismembers bodies and reassembles them so that they appear differently depending on how you view them.

This is the second half of the third season of Rawhide. Among the better episodes found in this collection are: Incident On The Road Back. Favor is accused of horse rustling. That means hangin’ in those days. In Incident Of The Boomerang, some cattle are off to the Land Down Under, but one of the men may not be who he says he is. Rowdy is arrested for murder… again.

The setting for Gunsmoke was the by now famous Dodge City, circa 1870’s. Phrases like “get out of Dodge” would enter the popular lexicon as a result of this resilient series. Marshall Dillon (Arness) was charged with keeping the peace in Dodge City. The only other character to see the entire 20 year run was kindly Doc Adams (Stone). Star Trek’s own Doc, Leonard McCoy, took many of his traits from Doc Adams.

Comedy movies can often bring together two or more separate groups of people. This can be groups among the races, culture, and even nations that have been feuding for years. It brings these groups a chance to laugh together, a chance to perhaps look over stereotypes and realize that people aren’t so different at all. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan while not meant to be taken seriously does bring together Israelis and Arabs into one picture. A picture where they can have a good time and hopefully everybody regardless of their race or creed can laugh right along with them.

When I was young I used to love to eat oranges, but it wasn’t only the taste or the benefits of some good old fashioned vitamin C I was necessarily after. I would cut the fruit in half and then carefully peel the rind, attempting to keep the halves in one piece. I’d cut one of those pieces in half again. I would then place them around my mouth and there you’d have it… instant Apes makeup. Then I would twitch my face muscles to imitate Roddy McDowall’s clever facial movements intended to make the foam prosthetic pieces come alive.

For 4 years now, Lost has taken us through mystery after mystery. I’m beginning to think that the show’s title is more a mission statement for where they want to take the viewers. Each time Abrams appears to answer a question and move on, closer examination proves that nothing has actually been revealed. The series has become the poster child for misdirection and script sleight of hand. When I examine the 13 episodes from season 4 I’m left with the inescapable, pun intended, feeling that nothing significant has really happened here at all.