Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 8th, 2009
The main plot of the film is that of a young woman from Brazil named Priscilla, whose student Visa expires and is lead into working as an exotic dancer. The title of the film comes from the ad posted by the pimps and promoters of exotic dancers “Waitresses Wanted.” The film is bookended by the profiles of all the dancers featured in the film, all of whom are from a different nation, all beautiful, and all arrived in Canada with different careers in mind than to get involved with Columbian pimps or Russian mob lords.
Priscilla is taken under the wing of Milagro, a fellow stripper who is known for recruiting new girls and the two start up a romance that leads them away from their shady work. I don't exactly buy the immediate seduction of Priscilla by Milagro. It seems to occur simply because the writer wants it to occur. Priscilla is not as strong as she claims to be and cannot get into or out of the stripper life without someone leading her, and she is very easily lead. There is a recurrence of memories and images of Brazil, obviously meant to be Priscilla's. These find a way of attaching themselves to Milagro as she continuously brings up her desire to escape to Brazil, which may explain her attachment and excitement for Priscilla. To Milagro, Priscilla is a part of what she really wants in the end, and as the twists start arriving at the climax of the film, we find out just how significant all of these ties really are.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2009
Recipe for Ramen Girl (serves 4)
Take one American girl, preferably in her early 20’s, and place her in Japan.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 5th, 2009
In Tranzit is one of these odd films that you can never quite get a handle on. Even now I’m not exactly sure what kind of a film it was intended to be. While it takes place at the end of World War II and involves some Nazi officers in a Russian POW camp, I’m not sure that the film has all that much to do with the war, or POW camps for that matter. The film remains a kind of abstract art form with a rather loosely told story.
A group of German World War II prisoners arrive in an isolated Russian POW camp that is run by women. At first they are quite harsh in their treatment to their charges. It’s obvious that most, if not all of them, have lost family to the Nazi brutalities of the war. As the prisoners begin to spend more time at the camp the hostilities between the groups begin to soften. The first step is taken by the camp doctor, Natalia (Farmiga) who is married, but her husband has suffered severe head traumas that have made him a mute shell of a man. She falls in love with one of the camp prisoners. Eventually some of the other women form attachments to the men. The camp is often visited by Pavlov (Malkovich) who also begins by appearing quite inhumane but eventually softens as the film progresses. The prisoners are not to be quartered here permanently. The camp is a “Tranzit” camp as the film’s title suggests.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 5th, 2009
Forever Strong is a classic example of sports melodrama. The only wrinkle to this film is the sport. The sport in question, is not typical at all (i.e. Football, Basketball or Hockey) it is Rugby. The film revolves around a rambunctious youth, Rick Penning (Sean Faris) who runs into trouble with the law and is shipped out to a juvenile detention centre. He is introduced to Marcus (Sean Astin) who is an administrator and acts as Rick’s sponsor. After the initial introduction, Marcus uncovers Rick’s passion for Rugby and encourages him to play for his old team. Rick decides to play and the emotional journey begins from there.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 4th, 2009
In a village where there is a great deal of time (there are months whose days are numbered in the 40s), the local witch gives birth to the title character. Twenty years later, Babine is the Village Idiot. Though he is a thoroughly gentle soul, he also becomes the scapegoat for every ill, real or imagined, that befalls the villagers. Fortunately, he has some champions, including Toussaint Brodeur (played by director Luc Picard), the local fly-raiser. But then the church burns down, and terrible trouble looms for Babine in the person of the new, fanatical village priest.
Obviously, as the above synopsis suggests, we are in the realm of the utterly fantastic here. Narrated by storyteller Fred Pellerin, whose tales form the basis of the script, Babine is endlessly inventive, at the cost of being a bit too episodic for its own good (something that Picard, during his commentary track, admits he struggled with) and giving short shrift to some of its striking characters. There is no denying, however, that its world-creation is very successful. The film is a visual feast, one very much on par with the likes of Tim Burton, and this achieved with a fraction of the budget of its Hollywood equivalent.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2009
It seems that every studio with a Nazi war film is scrambling to get it released about now. The Tom Cruise film Valkyrie has caused about as much Nazi fever as I’ve seen in recent years. Unfortunately, that means we’re going to see a lot of films that wouldn’t otherwise see the light of day, most for good reason. Fortunately, it also means that some truly classic titles that got hidden away for decades because there is a perceived lack of interest suddenly surface like a German U-Boat about to pounce on an unsuspecting battleship. Man Hunt is absolutely one of the latter. If you haven’t ever seen this Fritz Lang masterpiece or have only experienced it through a bad late night television print, this is one of those rare opportunities that simply must not be missed. Valkyrie might be the reason that Fox has released this movie now on DVD, but it is a far superior movie that deserved a good print back in the early days of the DVD format. Whatever the reason, there is cause to celebrate that Man Hunt is finally here.
The story was originally published as a serial novel called Rogue Male written by Geoffrey Household. Alan Thorndike (Pidgeon) is a world renowned hunter. It’s the peak of Nazi Germany, and Thorndike is on what he describes as a sporting stalk. He wants to see if he could get close enough to Adolph Hitler to bring him down with a shot. He gets into position and dry fires his rifle. A second thought has him loading the weapon, but he is caught before he can bring down his prey. Caught, he is mistreated and asked to sign a full confession that he was sent by England to assassinate Hitler. The statement isn’t true, so Thorndike refuses to sign it. He withstands all manner of torture and persuasion. Finally the Gestapo gives up and tosses him from a cliff, intending to “discover” his body the next day while on a convenient hunt. But Thorndike survives the fall and makes his way back to England, protected by a young boy (McDowall) on a Danish freighter. All is not safe for him back in England. The Gestapo has followed him home, and now the great hunter is the hunted. He befriends a naïve young girl, Jerry (Bennett) but eventually finds himself in a confrontation with his old Gestapo nemesis.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 3rd, 2009
Sword and Sandal films have been around since the early 1900’s and under the broad definition, Ben Hur was the first way back in 1907. However, under the more accepted narrow definition, this referred to Italian films that were based on loose plots around Greek mythology with giant muscle men and low budgets. The popular Sword and Sandal era was a period of roughly 10 years from 1957-1964 and started with the world-wide release of Hercules in 1957.. It kinda died out once the spaghetti westerns came around (giving Italian directors something else to do). Muscle Madness provides us with five films representative of the era including the likes of Steve Reeves, Alan Steel and Mark Forest. Let the cheesefest begin!
Giant of Marathon was made in 1959 under the Italian name: La battaglia di Maratona. The setting is 490 B.C. at the times of the Medic Wars. Philippides (played by Steve Reeves) has brought home to Athens the Olympic laurel crown and joins as commander of the Sacred Guard. Philippides is truly in love with Andromeda (played by Mylene Demongeot), daughter of Creuso who rejects him at first. However, there is a conspiracy afoot who try to influence Philippides with a seductive servant as well as brute force.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2009
Robert Calestino hasn’t had a lot of experience as either a writer or director, and it shows in Yonkers Joe. When he’s writing about the things he obviously knows and understands, the film is quite good and extremely engaging. Unfortunately, Calestino felt compelled to bring some heart into his picture in the person of Joe, Jr. While he thinks he’s adding a necessary emotional element to the story, he’s really delivering a distraction that makes the film somewhat less than it ought to be. This is a clear case of more being less. I’m not sure why Calestino the writer or the director felt the need to bog down his brilliantly crafted world of these con artists and attempt to make it about the emotional turmoil between father and son. It only serves to take us out of the movie with each predictable development. My advice for Calestino? Next time, stick with what you know.
Yonkers Joe (Palminteri) is a card and dice mechanic; that’s to say that he’s skilled in manipulating these items for the purposes of cheating. He can deal from almost anywhere in the deck or even switch the deck entirely with flawless precision. Even when you know it’s coming, you just can’t see it. He can do the same with dice. He can switch dice in a game with everyone watching, including a casino’s camera system. He has a dream of taking his skills to the big time. He wants to take down an Atlantic City, or even better, a Vegas casino with his dice skills. His personal life is intruding upon the dream. His son has Down’s Syndrome and has been living in a facility most of his life. Joe’s rarely seen his kid. Now the boy’s about to turn 21 and can no longer live in the juvenile facility. The staff has tried to convince Joe, Jr. (Guiry) that he would be better in a group home where he can get a job and function somewhat normally. Jr. loves where he’s at and is not very good with change. Joe decides to take him home for three weeks and try and convince him to move to the group home. Joe’s partner/lover, Janice (Lahti) develops a soft spot for the boy and thinks the three of them can become a somewhat normal family. Circumstances remind her that none of them can be considered normal. Meanwhile Joe is developing his plan to take down a Vegas casino. He can switch the dice just fine, but the casinos mark their bones with a special dye that shows up on the security cameras. That way they instantly know when a loaded pair show up in the game no matter how clean the switch. Predictably, Jr. becomes an important link in the plan, and eventually he discovers himself in the process.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2009
William “D-Fens” Foster (Douglas) is caught in a typical L.A. traffic jam. The annoyances about him are beginning to mount up: a buzzing insect, tremendous heat, a child screaming. All of these things are becoming a perfect storm that is about to ignite a powder keg that’s been gathering here for some time. He abandons his car in the middle of the street and begins an apparently aimless walk across L.A. He first encounters a Korean convience store clerk, who he critizes for his accent and exorbitant prices. He thinks 85 cents is highway robbery. I guess he’s never been to a ball game. He picks up the clerk’s baseball bat and begins to “roll back prices”, smashing items he considers too high as he plays a twisted game of The Price Is Right with the clerk. After smashing up the store he gladly pays 50 cents for the Coke and walks out as if he’s just conducted a routine transaction. Next he meets up with a Latino gang, whose territory he unwittingly stumbled into. After an escalated fight with them he leaves a few dead, and now he has a gym bag filled with automatic weapons. Next stop is a burger joint that doesn’t subscribe to the “Have it your way” philosophy. Out come the guns, and his destructive trek across the city continues. Through phone calls we learn that Foster has a family. Or, more accurately, had a family. His wife has a restraining order against him to protect her and their young daughter who happens to be celebrating her birthday today. Now Foster has a destination in mind.
Enter Detective Prendergast (Duvall). It’s is last day on the job. He’s about to retire because his wife is a bit loony tunes. His colleagues think he’s a coward because he’s avoided dangerous jobs, and now he’s taking an early retirement. At one point he’s leaving his retirement party just when the stripper arrives eliciting a comment: “Are you afraid of girls, too?” He’d rather they all think that than learn the truth about his wife. His partner, Detective Sandra Torres (Ticotin) knows the truth and is the only one willing to work with him. He’s been following the seemingly unrelated reports of Foster’s antics. He’s pieced together the real story but no one takes him seriously, so he spends his last day tracking down Foster and attempting to stop him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2009
“A short time ago in a galaxy not so far, far away…
The year is 1998 and it is a period of galactic civil war. Scratch that. There is no civil war. That would be crazy! However, the past 15 years have been a dark time for Star Wars fans. But there is hope. A new Star Wars film is on the horizon. In 199 days, 34 hours, 33 minutes and 28 seconds the most anticipated movie of all time will be released. In the remote state of Ohio, two best friends and lifelong Star Wars fans have drifted apart. Little do they know that on Halloween Night, their paths will cross again.”
