Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2007
Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek are buddies in real life, so it makes sense for the two of them to show up in a film together. I was a little surprised to find this disc on my doorstep, however, having totally missed its existence during its theatrical release. It is a good reminder of how much a movie's success is driven by marketing. Clearly, this is one of those films that the studio wasn't happy with, so they cut their losses and quietly put the film into select theaters underneath the radar.
It's a shame, ...oo, because this is really not a bad little film. Certainly better than Wild Wild West, Salma's last western pic, which the studio threw a ton of money at. This is a western buddy picture in the vein of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, except for the obvious difference of two beautiful women in the leading roles.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2007
This could be my shortest film review ever: watch Step Up for the dancing - the rest is a formulaic bunch of "whatever".
But since you're reading, here's a little more. Like Save The Last Dance, Step Up is a teen dance/romance movie. The story follows Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum), a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, and Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan), a privileged ballet student attending a prestigious school for the arts. Tyler's your typical bad boy, stealing cars, getting into scuffles at night clubs and - of course - dancing up a hip-hop storm. Lucky for him, trouble leads him into doing community service at Nora's school. She's busy preparing for a really important dance at the senior fall showcase, which will make or break her dance career.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 29th, 2007
Based on Augusten Burroughs� popular biographical memoir of the same name, Running With Scissors is a dark, comedic tale of surviving a bizarre and painful childhood.
The film covers Augusten�s life mostly from about age 12 to 16. Part of what makes this film intriguing is that it�s so outlandish that viewers can hardly anticipate events before they happen, so I will attempt to avoid spoiling it all in this review. With that in mind, here�s my very high-level plot summary: Augusten�s parents� relatio...ship is at best antagonistic. His mother, Deirdre (Annette Bening), is bipolar and becomes worse as the film progresses. His father, Norman (Alec Baldwin), is an alcoholic. The marriage crumbles very early in the film, which leads to Augusten becoming intimately acquainted with his mother�s therapist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), and Finch�s family.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 29th, 2007
Amber Tamblyn, playing Sarah Michelle Gellar’s sister, comes to Tokyo to help Gellar, currently in a hospital and considered insane. The help is too little too late, and soon Tamblyn is contending with the same evil ghosts. Two other storylines intertwine with this one: a young American student goes into the evil house on a dare, and she and her two friends attract the unwelcome attentions of the spectral mother and son. And back in the States, a blended family moving into a new apartment is gradually torn apart by the influence of the malevolent duo.
When Takashi Shimizu revisited Ju-On as The Grudge for Western audience, he did so with a script that, while streamlining the original and making it more comprehensible, still stuck close to the story, and the resulting film was arguably superior to its predecessor. The Grudge 2, on the other hand, jettisons the story of Ju-On 2. That sequel had a pretty convoluted plot, but it built a quite the horrific charge, and was a great spook story. The new film’s storyline starts from a false premise (that the ghosts were previously confined to the house, when they manifestly were not) and proceeds from there to work diligently at creating a result that is nonsensical, repetitive, and dull.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 29th, 2007
John Cena is The Marine. Though, as matters develop, The Maroon might be a better handle. At any rate, after being discharged for having Disobeyed a Direct Order in Iraq (where, in a scene distinctly reminiscent of the opening of The Naked Gun, our boy shoots up one of those elusive Al-Qaeda training camps that nobody else seems to be able to find). Readjustment to civilian life is difficult, but then, while heading out for a little holiday with his wife (Kelly Carlson), an unfortunate stop at a gas station results in Carlson being abducted by a violent gang of jewel thieves headed up by Robert Patrick (who comes across, as was pointed out to me, like the love child of Martin Sheen and Chandler Bing). Cue the pursuit through the swamps.
So as we’re watching this, my girlfriend turns to me and says that there’s a problem with a movie when the hero could be removed from the picture to little discernible effect. And she’s right. In fact, Cena disappears completely once the action gets going (!!?!), leaving the field for Patrick to camp it up. What role he does play could have, for the most part, easily been filled by one of the alligators we are shown (but who are never seen again). Perhaps Gustave could have been imported from Primeval to take care of business. And while I love a good explosion as much as the next guy, the ones on display here are so over the top (my favourite is the coop car raised into the air on a pillow of fire) that they are hilarious. And trust me, we’re laughing AT the movie and the steroid freaks in it, not with it (or them).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2007
The only thing I knew about Extras as of a couple of weeks ago was that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were behind the show, the follow-up to their cult hit The Office, which has been adapted into a Steve Carell vehicle to showcase his talent. Seeing very little on The Office and not being familiar with Gervais' work, I downloaded the first episode of the second season of Extras from iTunes (Season Two recently resumed airing on HBO), and I found it one of the funnier things I've seen in recent memory, and not just because it didn't cost me anything.
Gervais plays Andy, a background artist who has appeared in numerous films through the years, and with the company of his friend Maggie (Ashley Jensen, Ugly Betty) and his truly unprofessional agent (played by Merchant), who seems to always stay out of touch with Andy and gives his roles to other people.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2007
The relationship between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor appeared to blossom when they were both on the set of Cleopatra. The epic film was famous, not for the success of the film but more for the near bankruptcy of the studio and for the romance that blossomed between the two. Warner Brothers has recently been releasing groups of films surrounding various film icons, and this set of four titles focuses on the two acting giants.
The V.I.P.s was the first film after Cleopatra for both performers, and ironically enough they play a married couple on the downside of a marriage. Taylor plays Frances and Burton plays Paul, a wealthy businessman who treats Frances as more of a business chore than anything else, until one day Frances decides to leave Paul and for the waiting arms of Marc (Louis Jourdan, Octopussy). Marc is a gigolo but seems to have reformed for Frances. Frances and Marc are about to fly to New York until fog keeps them in, along with a few other notable individuals. Les (Rod Taylor, The Birds) is a rather convincing Australian businessman who is desperate to get to America to change a business deal that will save him financially, and his secretary Miss Mead (Maggie Smith, Clash of the Titans) will help him try to accomplish that. Max (Orson Welles, Touch of Evil) is trying to get out of England for tax purposes, and will even resort to marriage to try and do it. Margaret Rutherford (Blithe Spirit) won an Oscar in her role as the elderly Duchess.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 25th, 2007
The Rock � sorry, Dwayne Johnson � sure has come a long way from his melodramatic days as a WWE superstar. His first major film role, as the Scorpion King in 2001�s The Mummy Returns was more about his physical presence than any acting ability. Two years later, he proved he could handle action comedy with The Rundown. Now, with Gridiron Giants, Johnson has added the drama notch to his genre belt.
The film, based on a true story and following a 1993 TV documentary of the same name, tells...the story of a group of juvenile criminals who learn how to turn their lives around through participation in a football team, coached by their detention center supervisor (Johnson).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 23rd, 2007
Wow. It�s already been over a year since hearing the endless �I can�t quit you� pander that many labeled Brokeback Mountain with. Sitting down to see this one for the 3rd time, I feared that the initial power the film had over me would be diminished. Such isn�t the case here as Brokeback Mountain is still the same excellent film it was over a year ago.
Brokeback Mountain tells the story of star-crossed lovers Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Kake Gyllenhaal). Both are young men, not even twenty, working in the year of 1963. They meet and fall in love on a sheep-herding job in Signal, Wyoming. The film chronicles the next 20 years of their lives from Ennis marrying Alma Beers (Michelle Williams) to Jack marrying Laureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). The 20 years that the film takes place over show Ennis and Jack trying to lead a normal life without seeing each other, but shortly before realizing that they both have a deep connection to one another.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 23rd, 2007
It�s hard to believe, but after six years and three movies, this fourth film proves the Scary Movie franchise is still good for a cheap laugh.
For those of you that have lived under a rock and aren�t familiar with the Scary Movie series, I will enlighten you. Some of the horror movies coming out these days are just begging to be parodied, and the comic brains of the Wayans brothers did so in 2000 with first instalment simply titled Scary Movie. This movie poked fun of then-recent movie... like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream, and as the movies went on they continued to make jokes of both new and old horrors alike. Scary Movie 4 doesn�t seem to add anything new to the mix in comparison to the previous three titles, but that�s just part of its charm � senseless humour poking fun at other movies. Finally, I must add that apart from re-rolling previous characters, none of the Wayans brothers had anything to do with the screenplay for Scary Movie 4, which ultimately left me unsure going into this movie.
![Scary Movie 4 [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/scary-movie-4-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
