Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Dana Carvey returns to the big screen with the tale of Pistachio Disguise. He plays a waiter at his father’s Italian restaurant who can’t figure out why he compulsively mimics his customers and is always changing his appearance. What he soon learners’ is that these are all traits of the Disguisey family, harnessing the great power of Energico they are able to transform themselves and have used their powers to fight evil for centuries. When his parents are kidnapped Pistachio must learn to us...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2003
This set contains all episodes of season 3 from M*A*S*H in broadcast order. This season of M*A*S*H from a critical standpoint was probably one of the best of the 11 seasons, this was the year that the show won the Peabody award, the highest award you can receive in television, and co-producer gene Reynolds won an Emmy award for directing the episode, "O.R." which is seen here uncut and unedited. Also on this disc are the episodes The General Flipped at Dawn, Officer of the Day, Check-up, and Rainbow Bridge, Iron gut...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 6th, 2003
Synopsis
By this time, you either like this guy or you don’t. There is a lot of fun goofiness here, butthere are also some ill-advised live-action additions (such as in “House Party” and “I Had anAccident”), which are just plain painful.
Audio
The 2.0 sound is crisp, clear, distortion-free and fun. The surround effect is pretty muchlimited to the music, but it’s pretty constant.
Video
As with the other SpongeBob DVDs, the picture is ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Jean Reno, playing a Hard-Boiled Cop Who Plays By His Own Rules, is put on forcedvacation, having punched out one person too many. During this break, he finds out that thewoman he loved in Japan 19 years ago has died. Travelling to Japan for the funeral, he discoversa daughter he never knew he had. She happens to be worth $200,000,000, and bad guys are outfor the money. Something like The Professional Lite, Wasabi plays its action strictly for laughs,and it is pretty funny....
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 5th, 2003
Synopsis
A multi-character tale of working class families, All or Nothing’s emotional centre isTimothy Spall’s Phil (a taxi driver) and Lesley Manville’s Penny (a Safeway cashier). They, theirchildren and their friends live lives of quiet desperation and plenty of bleakness, but a certainwry humour lurks just under the surface.
Audio
This is a very quiet film, by and large, so there isn’t a lot by way of sound effects. The musicis very important, however, an...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 5th, 2003
Synopsis
On a luxury ocean liner, playboy Cary Grant meets singer Deborah Kerr. Each is involvedwith someone else, but they fall deeply in love with each other. Upon arriving in New York, theydecide to part and, if all goes well, reunite in six months at the top of the Empire State Building,by which time their lives should be in order. If you’ve seen Sleepless in Seattle, you know whathappens next. Though this is one the most celebrated weepies ever, I found it curiouslyuninvolving....
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 5th, 2003
Synopsis
Covering the years of the Napoleonic Wars in Russia, War and Peace follows the lives ofNatasha (Audrey Hepburn), Pierre (Henry Fonda) and his best friend Andrei (Mel Ferrer). Thiscombination of stars, not to mention Anita Ekberg as a gold-digger and Herbert Lom asNapoleon, takes a bit of getting used to, but you do find yourself caught up in their lives andloves. The battle scenes, particularly at the end, are quite impressive, and if the cheese factor ispretty high, so is ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 2nd, 2003
Film
“In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders …” Law and Order is an example of a bygone day in network television. In the 1990-1991 season this first year program ranked 62nd of all television programs. In addition to its poor performance, NBC lost revenue from countless sponsors pulling their advertisements because of the controversial nature of t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Goldie Hawn plays Suzette, aging groupie. Fired from her bartending job, she decamps fromLA for Phoenix, there to track down old pal Vinnie (Susan Sarandon), who has, of course,morphed from party girl to Mrs. Establishment. Along the way, Hawn picks up neurotic writerGeoffrey Rush. (A screwed up writer who is sexually devoured by a hot babe? Could this be thecreation of a male writer?) Hawn proceeds to cure everybody of uptightness. Gosh, aren’t theBoomers fascinating? They...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Nick Nolte, hulking and brutal, is a top NYC cop. The first thing we see him do isassassinate an unarmed man, then plant evidence to cover up his guilt. Timothy Hutton, a newassistant to the district attorney, is given the job of closing what is supposed to be a simple caseof self-defence. Naturally, he finds all sorts of loose ends and hints of top-level corruption. Whilethe romantic subplot is pointless, the investigation is gripping, and Nolte, Hutton, ArmandAssante (as ...
