Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 23rd, 2007
Synopsis
I started watching cartoons in the 80's growing up and remembering most fondly cartoons like Transformers, Batman, Thundercats, TMNT and so forth. Oh I've had my fill of Looney Tunes and appreciate them greatly. But once you go past Looney Tunes a lot of the older cartoons escape me (with the exception of Droopy and Scooby Doo). Good examples are the Flintstones and almost anything out of the Hanna-Barbara lineup like Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. So imagine my ...confusion when I received Batfink - The Complete Series across my reviewer table. Batfink was a cartoon series that originally ran in the late 1960's with influences like the Green Hornet and Batman which also ran at this time. The series was created by Hal Seeger and basically featured three main characters; Batfink, Karate and the Chief.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2007
Shooter is based upon the Stephen Hunter novel Point of Impact, and although there are multiple similarities, readers of the book can look forward to a modern rehash of the Hunter story. Since the release of the trailer I have been looking forward to this one, especially now that its being released on HD DVD, how does it turn out?
Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg, The Italian Job) is an elite Marine sniper and patriot. But that all changes when his commanding officer abandons him behind en...my lines, his best friend and spotter dies and Swagger narrowly escapes. Naturally Swagger turns to a life of solitude in the minuteness wilderness of Wyoming, where he shares a log cabin with his dog.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 22nd, 2007
George Dolenz is the Montreal scientist working on an atomic something-or-other. Foreign spies (could they be.... Communists??!!) hire exiled American gangster George Raft to get Dolenz and his secret into their clutches. His secret weapon for this project is the seductive power of Audrey Totter. Working for the angels is RCMP detective Edward G. Robinson. The expected race against time ensues.The Montreal setting is unusual, as is the idea of Robinson as a Mountie, so that's fun. Rraft is very much the aging gangster by this point, but still rasps it out with the best, and the film is really about his redemption. Not only is Dolenz' research a pure McGuffin, so is he, his character nothing more than the means to have Robinson and Raft play cat and mouse. This isn't in the top rank of films noir, but it is still a lesson in how to pack a lot of entertainment into an economical 87 minutes.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 21st, 2007
Synopsis
Honestly, the only thing that I remembered from watching For Your Eyes Only was that Sheena Easton sang the title song (qualifying her as probably the most attractive Scotsperson out there) and that there was a sprawling chase scene involving Roger Moore on skis that was cool. But that’s it. And now that I’m wrapping up this long winding once over for all the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVDs and I get a chance to see everything again, it turns out that this film is a pretty good one.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2007
Jim Carrey is an animal control officer whose wife (Virginia Madsen) gives him an odd crime novel for his birthday. The book is narrated by a police detective who becomes violently obsessed with the recurrence of the number 23 in all aspects of life. The book has plenty of strange similarities with Carrey's life, and he becomes consumed with finding the author and knowing what it's all about, not to mention descending into the 23 obsession himself.As with so many Joel Schumacher films, there is less here than meets the eye. The film is pretty, slick, and superficially interesting, but ultimately rather empty. The whole 23 thing has been kicking around in popular culture for a while, and there is something neat that could be done with it, but most of the notions of mystery or conspiracy evaporate as the film reaches its climax, and everything disintegrates into a muddle of endless expository voice-over and platitudinous moralizing. The unrated version of the film runs three minutes longer than the theatrical version (also present).
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2007
While expecting her husband home from a business trip, Sandra Bullock receives word that he has died. But the next morning, when she wakes up, he is still alive, and hasn't even left yet on the trip. Next morning, he's dead again, and it's the day of the funeral. Understandably, our poor heroine is a might discombobluated as she deals with having become unmoored in time, struggling to save her sanity, her husband, and her marriage.This film was thoroughly trashed at the time of its theatrical release, and there are, it must be said, plenty of things wrong with it. Some temporal elements are inconsistent as the days move around (why, for instance, does Bullock's older daughter not show, on the day the news of the husband's death is received, the facial injuries that she received a few days prior?), the pace flags after a fairly taut first half-hour, a theme of incarceration mysteriously disappears, and the explanation for why this is all happening is weak, not to mention that the purpose for it all is rather pointless. So yeah, all of that is wrong. As a supernatural thriller, the film doesn't work. But as an old fashioned weepy melodrama, it has a certain daffy power. Bullock gets to chew up the scenery in some wonderfully OTT moments of Grand Guignol soap opera. The film also stays true to the weepie form with its heroic/tragic conclusion. As a piece of whacked entertainment, engaging in no small part because of all the things it does wrong, but also because it takes itself so seriously and plays the emotional heartstings for all they're worth, this isn't on part with such classic weepies as Now, Voyager, Stella Dallas or Mildred Pierce, but it could hold its head up alongside the likes of The Other Side of Midnight.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 18th, 2007
Synopsis
Danny Kaye plays Jack Martin, entertainer in a Riviera nightclub, as well as Henri Duran, philandering aviator. Duran is being driven to the edge of bankruptcy by a man with which he is forced to do business. Desperate to raise cash, he leaves town, but then his rival is invited to a dinner party. If Duran is not present at the party he is supposed to be hosting, disaster will ensue. So his partners conscript Martin, who has done a pitch-perfect impersonation of Duran at the club, to act as ...im for the evening. Cue all sorts of mistaken identities and romantic entanglements, particularly involving Duran’s neglected wife (Gene Tierney).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 17th, 2007
Mars has always held a certain fascination with us mostly earthbound humans. What child has never looked to the heavens at night, mind filled with more questions than they could ever hope to find answers for? If you are one of these star crossed dreamers, Roving Mars be a thrilling journey indeed. I’m sorry to say that I missed the Roving Mars IMAX experience. I’m sure it was available at one of the several IMAX facilities here in Tampa. Life, as usual, is often too busy to get to everything I want to see. As I wat...hed this DVD I found myself wishing I’d taken the time to see it at our local domed IMAX at MOSI.
We begin our exploration in a familiar enough place, here on Earth. The environs, however, are not so commonplace. The people and the facilities at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab have a decidedly science fiction appearance to them. Here in clean rooms gather scientists in garb intended to keep them from contaminating the delicate equipment that is assembled here. Here over 4,000 people dream, design, and assemble. The result is a culmination of decades of technological work and over a millennium of imagination. We are treated to an intimate look behind the scenes as these incredible rovers are created. Interviews with crucial team members give us the failures as well as the success stories. Through trial and error every minute facet of this machine had to be built, tested, and more often than not, redesigned. Then the cycle begins anew. The time spent here might test our patience a tad. Still, it is important to understand the rover itself before we can appreciate the mission that we’re waiting to witness.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 17th, 2007
Style over substance. Why is it so rare that we find quality in both at the same time? I suppose I might be showing my own age here, but Renaissance is an extremely hard film to watch. The high keyed image offers no middle tones at all. The result is a stark black and white that offers a strain on my eyes. I understand the idea was to recreate the experience of reading a graphic novel (that’s comic book to my generation). Still, I wasn’t reading a comic, was I? It took the French film crew 7 years to create this film. I wouldn't have minded waiting longer. The concept isn’t even an original one at all. Sin City and the more recent 300 both utilized a graphic novel style. In those films there was a balance between the style and being careful to allow for a cinematic experience as well. Both of those films carried it off perfectly. Not so with Renaissance. There were no compromises made to make the film work as a film.
The story is also quite convoluted. This was a mistake, particularly when the images themselves would be such a distraction. The tale actually feels like a science fictional James Bond. That idea is further enhanced by casting the voice of Daniel Craig in the lead. The character of Karas even looks, likely intentionally, like an early Sean Connery. It seems that a kidnapped geneticist holds the key to immortality. Officer Karas becomes obsessed with finding her with little apparent support from his superiors. In the end he must make a rather difficult moral decision. Throughout the film we are treated to bizarre characters that often have little to do with the plot. Again, it’s style supplanting substance. Too much “see what we can do” with very little good ever getting done. I will admit that some of the locations are drawn brilliantly and often work better than the live action later animated work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 17th, 2007
Synopsis
Famed for his obsessive love of petroleum jelly as a medium for sculpture, Matthew Barney uses 45 000 pounds of the stuff in the creation of Drawing Restraint 9. This film documents the making of that piece, which is both sculpture and film, done aboard a Japanese whaling vessel. Intimately involved in the production is Barney’s collaborator and partner Björk.
![Shooter [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/shooter-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
