Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2003
Originally released in 1988 this film received 4 Academy awards (Best film editing, best sound effects editing, best visual effects, special achievement in animation direction) and was the first film to feature a combination of live action and traditional cell drawn animation. Before any of the other big budget animation films of the 90’s (think the Little Mermaid, The Lion King, etc.) there was Roger Rabbit. This film spawned the animation revolution of the 90’s and there still to this day is nothing like it. One pa...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Nick Cannon plays Devon Miles, brilliant drummer with attitude to burn, who arrives at acampus with one of the most prestigious marching bands in the US. What follows is essentially atraining film, the kind of thing you see in To the Shores of Tripoli and GI Jane, only this timemusic, rather than war, is the goal. The usual ups and downs and character conflicts are present(you can set your watch by the predictability of the script), but the performances are engaging,and the...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
A wealthy Phylis Nefler (Shelly Long) has everything money can buy, except a husband. Freddy (Craig T. Nelson) is leaving her for good unless she can prove to him that she is still the dynamic and energetic person he married. She becomes the leader of her daughters Wilderness Girls troop and heads off into the wild blue yonder.
Video
Remeastered in High Definition like a lot of the Columbia Tri-star re-releases have been lately the video quality is better then ave...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
When Pierce Brosnan’s wife up and leaves him, decamping with another man for Australia,his attempts to be a single parent are quickly derailed by the government. Since he is currentlywithout work, his children (including the title daughter Evelyn) are placed in group homes runby nuns (where Evelyn goes) and monks (where the two boys go). Once he is back on his feetfinancially, he still isn’t granted custody, as the children will not be released without the consentof both pa...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 1st, 2003
Synopsis
Kiddie-show host Rainbow Randloph (Robin Williams), up to his armpits in graft, is nailedby the FBI and turfed from his slot. Replacing him is Smoochy the Rhino (Edward Norton), arelentlessly nice and upstanding individual. Being so nice makes the target not just of theobsessive and psychotic Randolph, but also of the mob (headed, in a brilliant piece of casting, byHarvey Fierstein). Almost everyone in the film is a nasty piece of work, which makes the blackhumour all the m...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 30th, 2003
Synopsis
A rare glimpse inside a world rarely seen by outsiders we have the story of a young, brash captain (played by Matthew Modine) on a quest to reclaim the America’s Cup (that he lost) to an arrogant Australian (played by Jack Thompson). Entangled in the battle of wits on the water we also have a classic love story of two people separated by their own personal ambition and reunited by a shared dream.
Audio
I suspect that the original audio for this film was a simple ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Daniel Stern stars as bumbling package delivery man “Mad Max” Grabelski who finds himself on the wrong side of the law after a get rich quick scheme makes him a murder suspect. He heads for the hills and is mistaken for a world famous scout leader and things just go down hill from there. Your pretty low end stab at slap stick kids comedy this film falls short and really disappoints on all fronts
Audio
This disc has a simple Dolby stereo audio track so there is not...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003
Steven Bochco is no stranger to innovative television. Hill Street Blues is arguably the best cop show ever made. Even his failures are praised for their innovativeness and freshness. Remember Cop Rock? NYPD Blue didn’t just push the prime time envelope. It tore the envelope to pieces and blew it away with hurricane force winds. George Carlin made a career out of his “7 words you can’t say on television”. Along comes NYPD Blue and Carlin just might need a new act. Language and nudity made this the first R-Rated primetime program.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 27th, 2003
Synopsis
Greg Kinnear, in the role he was born to play, is Bob Crane. Rising to fame as ColonelHogan, Crane falls in with the slimy John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe). The two are obsessed withsex and photography, and the invention of home video is their ticket to ride. The obsessionultimately ruins both lives. Very funny in the early goings, the film gets, as you can well imagine,very dark by the end. The message, one could argue, is as puritanical as the sex=death lesson ofthe 80s slas...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003
Synopsis
Earl Crest (Joshua Jackson) and his (extremely feisty) girlfriend Baby (Jamie King) aregetting ready to up sticks from Texas for LA. Unfortunately, Earl’s deeply moronic cousin hasstolen a lot of money from the wrong (and dangerous people). All sorts of comical troubleensues.
Audio
A full 5.1 mix, and pretty good stuff. The music has some particularly nice echo effects,sounding as big as the state of the title. The sound effects are good too, with s...
