Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 16th, 2007
Every time I long for the free and easy days of my youth, something like Disney Princess Enchanted Tales comes along to remind me why it's good to be done with childhood. If I was a kid, I'd be entertained by this stuff. Since I can no longer appreciate kid-friendly, sitcom-like productions, I will imagine I'm a seven-year-old girl for the remainder of this review. In order to keep things nice and coherent, though, I'll write like I'm not.
All you need to know about this original release from Disney is that it's Disney-lite, with lower production values and more heavy-handed stories. However, I'm sure it will please children, especially those who love all things princess.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2007
There have certainly been more interesting family business shows on television over the years, so the premise for Brothers & Sisters is anything but original. Both
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2007
One of the handful of films deemed extra special in 2006, Babel had lofty intentions, a lot of hype and plenty of Oscar nominations. And yet, while the film was well directed and very well acted, it falls well short of its reputation. In fact, Babel fails to create a real impact, unless you count the utter depression one experiences while watching it.
Still, the film has lots of fans willing to call it one of the best of 2006. Those folks will be happy to add Babel: 2-disc Collector's Edition to their own collections. That is, unless they already picked up the single-disc version released back in February. Is this double-dip good enough to say, "out with the old, in with the new?" Read on to find out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 13th, 2007
The film that arguably more than any other put director Alfonso Cuarón and actor Gael García Bernal on the map, Y Tu Mamá También is a smart, funny, extremely erotic tale of two young friends travelling across Mexico in the company of an older, sexually experienced woman. It’s a great film. But this isn’t the DVD you should watch to appreciate it. In this day and age of a veritable deluge of discs boasting unrated versions of their theatrical release, what, pray tell, is the point of an R rated DVD butchering of a unrated theatrical release? Fully six minutes are missing. The 100 that remain are, of course, excellent, but what is here is not the director’s vision. There is terrible irony in box boasting a blurb that exults in how “unafraid of sexuality” the movie is, when the DVD is clearly terrified. As punishment, I’m cutting the film’s star rating in half, not to reflect on Cuarón’s work, but on what has been done to it. The unrated version is out there, released at the same time as this. Track it down instead.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2007
"Remember when I promised I'd kill you last? I lied."
Time to relieve the glory days. Arguably the finest of Schwarzenegger's over-the-top, muscle-bound 80s action flicks, Commando is finally getting the respect it deserves. This is the perfect example of a movie so bad it's good. Really bad, and really good. Commando has it all: copious one-liners, a ridiculously huge Ah-nold physique, and a body count so high you'll run out of fingers and toes in no time flat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 12th, 2007
Writer note: Apologies to Brendan who did the fine HD-DVD review for this flic. Some hack had to pick up the slack for the regular DVD and present a slightly alternate view. (and a different interpretation of english grammar)
Ever see Shaun of the Dead? No? Don't worry, not too many people did either. This fine film directed by Edgar Wright was a parody and homeage to the George Romero Dead films. Full of comedy and nods to the genre, it was a very good but mostly forgotten flic. Fast forward to 2007 and Edgar Wright along with Simon Pegg (who would also play the character of Nicholas Angel) decide to write the homeage to action movies: Hot Fuzz.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2007
At long last, we've received the two greatest films of the 80's on DVD. Finally. Ok, maybe not the greatest films - they're ok at best - but this is the first time they've been released on DVD. Wait, that's not true either. Desperately Seeking Susan, Madonna's sixth best movie, hit the streets on DVD in 2000. And Something Wild, one of the answers to "what was Johnathan Demme doing before Silence of the Lambs?" has been available since 2001.
So what's special about this Totally Awesome 80s Double Feature? Shelf space. You can fit two films in one spot, thanks to MGM's efficient packaging.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2007
I love horror movies, but lately Hollywood hasn’t done it for me, and Wrong Turn wasn’t an exception. So I wonder how a low budget sequel is going to manage to be better than its phony prequel. But I won’t judge this one until I’ve seen, lets just hope its nothing like The Hills Have Eyes 2, or The Grudge 2, etc.
Wrong Turn 2 takes off shortly after the events of the first film. Right away I’ll let you know that other than the mutant freaks of the first film, this movie has no other links to the first installment, i.e. characters. Slightly off topic, I’ve always thought a movie about a group of reality contestants fooled into thinking they were in a post apocalyptic world could be interesting. This is probably as close as my vision will get to being realized, as it’s about a group of people in a simulated post apocalyptic world who are competing for $100,000. Instead things start getting messed up at the cannibalistic mutants start to show up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 11th, 2007
It’s good taste time once again, as we follow the unfortunate Amber (Grace Johnston) as she falls into the clutches of your usual gang of inbred hillbillies. These psychos have kidnapped a number of women. They then force them to fight to the death, with the idea that the winner will get to carry on the clan’s bloodline. Charming.
Lord knows the backwoods horror film is not, nor should it be expected to be, a bastion of quiet restraint, but we’ve got a pretty unequivocally misogynist premise here, and the execution does little to mitigate it, despite Johnston’s best efforts. The filmmaking is pedestrian, though not incompetent, but this is a cynical, exploitive work that is also derivative and dull.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 10th, 2007
Would you believe me if I told you a nature documentary was responsible for the advent of the summer blockbuster? Common film lore says Steven Spielberg's Jaws was the first of the now familiar summer smashes. Jaws was based Peter Benchley's book of the same name. Benchley was inspired by Blue Water, White Death, a groundbreaking documentary film about divers on a nine-month expedition to seek out, film and swim with a Great White Shark.
That's one reason you should watch Blue Water, White Death. There are easily a hundred more.
