Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 12th, 2007
KISS fans will likely feel like they're in heaven with this quasi-intimate look at the long-tongued demon of rock. All others might be tempted to stay away, and yet, that might be a mistake. Let me first admit that I'm no fan of reality television or KISS. With that said, you might be expecting me to trash this particular program. Wrong! Honestly, as an outsider I have the unique ability to judge the show without all of the trappings of the band's fame and history.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 12th, 2007
It's really hard for me to review films such as this one. On the one hand, I firmly believe in film preservation, and the importance of not shying away from history, no matter how painful it may be. On the other hand, it's difficult for me to enjoy a film that so casually deals with the trade of humans. Band of Angels tells the story of the daughter of a plantation owner who is sent away to school. Her father is a good and kind man, for he has never beaten his slaves. When he falls deathly ill, she rushes back...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 12th, 2007
The Arrangement is a film that I had always heard the name of, but never really heard anything about. It's rare for a film to be directed by the author of the book that it is based on. In fact, I can't recall ever seeing that before. Upon watching the film, it is obvious to me how important it is for a director to have a clear understanding of the story he is trying to tell. Kazan knows this story inside and out, and even the slightest nuance of the least-important scene contributes to the story being told.
The arrangement tells the story of Eddie, a high-powered advertising executive who has a very unexpected midlife crisis within the first few minutes of the film. As viewers, we spend the rest of the movie examining his life, and slowly discovering what led him to this tumultuous point in his life. The film actually reminded me a lot of The Graduate, if Dustin Hoffman had been in this 40's. Here, Kirk Douglas plays the Benjamin Braddock role, with just a bit of Sybil thrown in for good measure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 11th, 2007
Well, after the worldwide success of Dr. No, producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman went back to figure out what to do about a sequel, and following a nod to the series by then-President Kennedy, From Russia With Love was the next candidate in line to be given the Bond treatment from the library of Ian Fleming novels.
In this film, Bond (the returning Sean Connery) has recently vanquished Dr. No, and the organization that he worked for, SPECTRE, decides to try to eliminate Bond, using two things that will lure any well-respecting secret agent, a decoding machine that the Russian government currently is in possession of, and a Russian defector that wants to turn it over to James specifically.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 11th, 2007
Portions of this review were lifted from the previous Criterion Collection edition review. Now on to the review...
After making such internationally renowned samurai period films such as Rashomon and The Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa did make another film, Yojimbo, with a decidedly different tone, bordering on dark comedy. The opening shot is of Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune, Throne of Blood), a samurai without a master, who look at a mountain, and suddenly scratches his head, as if his hair is on too tight.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2007
Let me get this out of the way right up front; I really enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha. Now, I am certainly smart enough to understand that the film was not entirely realistic, and there were some plot developments that pushed suspension of disbelief pretty far, but I wound it charming and entertaining. It was so charming, in fact, that it was often times easy to forget that you were essentially watching a movie about whores. You can romance it all you want, but at the end of the day a Geisha is really nothing mo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2007
The Departed, a basic remake of the Hong Kong film Internal Affairs, tells the story of Boston mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and his ruling ways of the streets. An early scene in the film shows Costello recruiting a young boy inside a convenience store (where he naturally picks up his commission promising to keep his men out of the neighborhood). The film soon flashes forward to a semi-present day where we meet a man named Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon). Turns out that this is the child Frank recruited in the previous scene.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2007
There are a few early sequences in Hollywoodland that show two important aspects of the film. First these sequences show us the type of man that George Reeves was trying to become (simply trying to get noticed) and, possibly more important, the type of actor that Affleck is becoming as his career becomes more about making quality films than making sure-fire moneymakers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2007
Ever write off a movie based solely on the buzz? I did that with Hollywoodland before I'd ever heard the actual title - someone asked, "did you hear about Ben Affleck's new movie? I hear it stinks." Given Affleck's recent string of box office flops, that's all it took for me to avoid the film.
Of course, it's not just an Affleck movie; it also stars Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Diane Lane (Under the Tuscan Sun) and Bob Hoskins (Mrs. Henderson Presents).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 7th, 2007
Boy, this title really came out of left field. I am one of those DVD collectors who picks out their favorite television shows and collects all the full DVD season sets. I did this with Wonder Woman, with Kung Fu and with The West Wing. I also started collecting full season sets of Mad About You just a couple of months after I started with Friends. I finished all ten seasons of Friends in late 2005, yet I was only two seasons in to Mad About You's seven season run. What...
![The Departed (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-departed-combo-hd-dvd-and-stan-large.jpg)
