Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2007
Animal 2 is a direct to video sequel to a direct to video original film. I never saw the first film, but I suspect that you’re brought up to date in this one through some of the dialog. Because I did not see the first, it will not be possible for me to make any comparisons. Obviously the only real reason for this film is to provide a vehicle for Ving Rhames and in that respect it works OK. The story has enough originality to it to make all the street gang and prison clichés bearable, but only minimally. The box art claims this is the “unrated” version, but since there was no theatrical release I have to ask, unrated as compared to what? There are tons of F bombs and N words, but they come mostly in the horrid hip hop soundtrack and less in the dialog, although there’s plenty of “plain talk” there as well. It’s a good thing these guys don’t have to play by the same rules as people like Imus do.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 13th, 2007
"Spidey's back, and better than ever." Good thing, too, because in this third installment in the highly successful comic book-to-film franchise, Spider-Man faces off against a trio of villains: Sandman, the new Goblin and, of course, Venom. Each is a handful on his own. Together, they're Spidey's toughest challenge yet. But he's up to it, so long as he can first overcome his own internal conflict.
Spider-Man 3 hits store shelves October 30, on DVD in both a single-disc widescreen edition and a two-disc special edition, and on a two-disc Blu-ray release. I got my hands on the single disc and put it through its paces. Does the bare-bones DVD hold its own? Read on to find out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 12th, 2007
So here we have another double feature of episodes from Movie Macabre, with Elvira this time taking on Maneater of Hydra (1966) and The House That Screamed (1969). The former has the disconcerting spectacle of Cameron Mitchell appearing not only as a baron (ookaaayyy) but being dubbed. He’s experimenting with plants on his remote Greek island, and a group of tourists run afoul of one of his results. Given how long it takes for the titular plant to show up and relieve the dullness, one starts to wonder if the title doesn’t refer instead to one of the hot-to-trot tourists.
The House That Screamed, meanwhile, is a Spanish effort that is something of a period giallo. The setting is a private girls’ school where a series of brutal murders take place. The production is handsome enough, though its concept is no less sleazy for all that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 11th, 2007
On January 23, 2002 Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and eventually killed by terrorists while working in Pakistan. A Mighty Heart is based on this true story. The narrative comes from the book of his wife Marianne Pearl. While this is certainly the tragic tale of a murdered reporter, this film is more the story of Marianne and her struggle to locate
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 11th, 2007
I grew up on a steady diet of horror hosts. In the
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 11th, 2007
Box Sets that compile older titles usually just make me cringe. Think about it. Recycled discs, tired old movies, and a fancy somewhat new box cover. In other words, I get to sleep for 4-5 hours and then wake up in a cold sweat wondering what happened. Alright; so that just sounds like my first honeymoon. Anyway, I happened to get the Partying 101 Boxset (because I am a wild and crazy guy) which featured Bio-Dome, Back to School and PCU. These are the old MGM discs from 8 to 10 years ago. Be afraid.
Bio-Dome is the story of two losers ala Bud (played by Pauly Shore) and Doyle (played by Stephen Baldwin) who are wasting away in their life and not being very eco-friendly. Their girlfriends who are more than eco-conscious try to convince them to turn over a new leaf. Soon, Bud and Doyle find themselves trapped in the new and ecological utopian Bio-Dome after one of them has to find somewhere to take a piss (I'm not making this up). For the next year they are trapped in this bubble with other scientists studying the effects. Well actually Bud and Doyle just cause mayhem and the scientists pick up after them. Of course they have a moment and a happy ending. Of course, I also have a gag reflex.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 11th, 2007
Apparently, someone out there really wanted to see another entry in the Species franchise, surely one of the most poorly conceived series ever. But here we go: Miranda (Helen Mattsson) is a college professor (yeah, right) who suddenly experiences a mysterious blackout, during which she transforms into monster in a rubber suit and slaughters the hospital staff. Her uncle, Ben Cross (no doubt dreaming sadly of the days when he starred in the likes of Chariots of Fire), reveals to her that the is in fact an alien/human hybrid, and the two set off to Mexico to find an ex-colleague of Cross’ who might be able to help. This unsavory sort has been making even more hybrids, which leads, in a roundabout way, to all kinds of trouble.
I say “roundabout” because this flick has one of the most infuriatingly meandering plots I’ve encountered in a quite some time. If you’re going to be a DTV B-picture, the least you could do is get to the point and stick with it, seeing things out in 90 minutes or less. But Species: The Awakening plods along for 103, first appearing to go in one direction, then another, but never mounting anything that resembles a head of steam. The inherent misogyny of the concept hasn’t been improved on, either. Colour this effort dismal, dated, depressing and dull.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 10th, 2007
For decades it was the doomsday scenario. Cold War Americans lived in almost constant fear that the Soviets might drop a nuke on us and begin Armageddon. It was unthinkable that a conventional invasion could reach our shores instead. Red Dawn stirred its own mushroom cloud of controversy when it reached theaters in August of 1984. While the Cold War was actually closer to its end than any of us might have suspected, Red Dawn entered our collective consciousness as a shock to a system that had for some time moved beyond the culture of fear those older than myself knew growing up. By the 1970’s the air raid sirens and classroom drills were no longer commonplace in American cities. Growing up in Eastern Pennsylvania, it was
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 10th, 2007
Medium was based on a real person with alleged psychic powers who apparently has helped out various law enforcement agencies in some actual cases. If you’ve seen the series, you might find that hard to believe, and the episodes are obviously fictional adventures and not based on the real Alison Dubois’s experiences. At first glance it might be easy to lump Medium in with Ghost Whisperer or The Dead Zone. Actually there are almost no similarities to any of those shows. Allison does not gain any understanding through touching and while she does see ghosts at times, that aspect of the show has been made to play in only a small percentage of the episodes. Allison accesses her powers through dreams. These nightmares are usually vague and often provide additional clues with each recurring dream. The formula for the show is that she must interpret these images and signs in time to do whatever it is she needs to do.She works as an assistant for the Phoenix District Attorney’s Office, but only the DA and one cop know how she comes across her tips.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 9th, 2007
Steve Carell is Evan Baxter in this “sort of” sequel to Bruce Almighty. He is a freshman member of the United States Congress about to start his first day. His campaign promise was to “change the world”. In the “be careful what you wish for” department, God (Morgan Freeman) gives him the chance to do just that. There’s just one catch, however. Evan has to build an ark…. You know the rest of that story. Suddenly animals begin arriving in pairs, and Evan makes a physical transformation into the traditional long bearded Noah. As you might imagine, this causes some troubles in his life as a Congressman. Try as he might, this modern-day Noah can’t escape his divine destiny. You’re probably thinking: “this sounds like funny stuff”. Wrong. This film meanders through a one-joke plot for most of its hour and a half. Steve Carell is no Jim Carrey and simply doesn’t have the chops to carry this off. The film resorts to mostly physical gags that are more gross-out than funny.
