Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2007
I have to say right off the get go, these are two movies I’ve never heard of and I’m guessing it would have probably been better kept that way. Still I’m going into this review completely unbiased but rather just with the expectations of horrendously typical 80’s comedy. At least there are a few recognizable actors including Rob Lowe, John Cusack, and Virginia Madsen in Class and Kelly Preston, Lori Loughlin, and Fred Ward in Secret Admirer. At any rate lets see how these dubbed 80’s classics turn out.
I’ll start off with Class which has a better cast and was easily the better of the two, which isn’t saying much for either. Jonathon (Andrew McCarthy, Pretty in Pink) is a country boy who gets a scholarship to a posh school where he’s roomed up with his Skip (Rob Lowe, Tommy Boy), who pretty much his opposite. But despite their different backgrounds Skip takes it upon him to see that naïve Jonathon looses his virginity. He sends him off to Chicago where Jonathon meets an older woman with whom he shares an affair, only ending once she realizes he’s underage. But things get complicated one day when Skip takes Jonathon home and finds out the woman from Chicago is Skip’s mom, and Skip finds out about the affair and that’s when things get messy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2007
Although I was never really motivated to check this movie out on my own, I had just recently heard of it and thought it could be fun. It doesn’t have any A list stars in it, but rather has a nice collection of well enough known actors and actresses including Zooey Deschanel, Michael Rappaport, Aaron Stanford, and Paul Schneider. Already I’ve heard this film to be a cross between Bottle Rocket and Fargo, well I don’t know if those statements have any warrant, I can only hope they do and Live Free or Die turns out to be a hit. Writers Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin did some writing on Seinfeld so I can only hope a bit of that can rub off on this one.
Simply put John “Rugged†Rudgate (Aaron Stanford, The Hills Have Eyes) is a wankster, a small time crook who has aspirations of being a gangster. He spends most of his day selling speakers on the street that is until his old buddy Jeff Lagrand (Paul Schneider, The Family Stone) comes back to town. Jeff and his sister Cheryl (Zooey Deschanel, Elf) have inherited a storage facility from their deceased father, but John sees this as an opportunity for criminal endeavors. But close on his tail is the emotionally unstable cop Putney (Michael Rappaport, The War at Home), who is very determined to bring John down.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2007
With a cast that includes several well known actors, I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard of this movie prior to reviewing it. This really didn't worry me however, because in the past I’ve always enjoyed low budget Indy films. So how does Played stack up?
Played dissects the lives of players in the London underground ring of crime, from the hustlers to the crooked cops. After an elaborate heist goes all wrong small time thief Ray Burns takes the fall and is sentenced to eight years in prison. He keeps his mouth shut and does his time with only one thing on his mind, revenge. As he hits the streets he finds out that the scam goes above and beyond what he expected and the true players become revealed. At certain points it seems like everyone is playing everyone and it really keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2007
Some of you may know John Grisham as a politician or an attorney but that’s not very likely. Like me you probably know him as an author of some of the best legal/crime fiction novels. His works have made their way to the big screen several times including; The Firm, Runaway Jury, A Time To Kill, The Client, and of course The Rainmaker. Although it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen any of the aforementioned films I do remember them all being rather good, I just hope The Rainmaker can live up to what I remember.
Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon, The Bourne Identity) has recently graduated from the University of Memphis Law School, but can’t nail a well paying job. Eventually he resorts to something that goes against his principles and becomes an associate to J. Lyman “Bruiser†Stone (Mickey Rourke, Sin City), a cutthroat and successful ambulance chaser. On the brink of bankruptcy things aren’t looking very promising for Rudy, especially once his employer’s office is raided by the FBI. Nonetheless Rudy decides to stay on a case he had just accepted and enlists the help of associate Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito, Twins). Although Deck has failed his bar exam multiple times he has experience working with insurance companies and excels at information gathering.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2007
The second season of Weeds follows much the same formula as the first, and incase you haven’t seen the first season I suggest you do so beforehand. But for your benefit I’ll quickly run over what you’ve missed. Nancy (Mary Louise Parker) has recently lost her husband and the only way she sees to raise her children in the affluent neighborhood they’ve become accustom too is by dealing weed. Most of her customers are parents, most notably the town councilman Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon, Saturday Night Live). While dealing with problems at home and on the streets Nancy goes through life the best way she can, which is rather comedic for the rest of us.
Season 2 picks up with Nancy getting in over her head with the narcotics business as she begins growing her own product. But with the help of several members of the community things seem to be playing out rather nicely, even with Nancy dating a DEA agent. Her son’s eventually find out just how their mother keeps paying the bills, and both deal with it in their own ways. But even that’s not the last of Nancy’s problems as Celia heads up an anti drug committee in the community, promising to make Agrestic a drug free community.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 26th, 2007
Written by Evan Braun
I don't particularly like boxing, or wrestling for that matter. Martial arts don't usually turn my crank either, so it's a little inexplicable for me to be such a UFC fan. And yet, I am. Very much so.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 24th, 2007
The latest in Lionsgate's line of movies about nice black people (see Daddy's Little Girls and Akeelah and the Bee), Pride presents a well-tread story with a few tweaks.
Its formula is the sports team underdog winning against all odds. The sport is swimming, which I don't think we've seen much of in the past. All of the usual players are here, though: the frustrated coach inspired to lead, the unlikely athletes who are too poor and too black to succeed, the rival team too rich and too white to be beaten, the crusty old guy who helps out and the token love interest for our protagonist coach.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 23rd, 2007
I did a couple of high school musicals growing up. South Pacific and Oklahoma. South Pacific I remembered much more fondly as sometimes I wanted to wash that man right outta my hair. Wait...umm...*taps fingers* *pause*. Oh, right, musicals. High School Musical was a low-budget Disney tv movie that would end up becoming one of Disney's best successes in recent memory. It was only natural that due to its musical nature and teen fanbase that it would expand into a national tour that would encompass 51 dates over 6 months. The DVD is kinda cool in the sense that the show they used is footage from the December 18th performance in Houston, Tx at the Toyota Center since I happen to live in the Metro area. For those living here, it's easy to tell that it is the Toyota Center from it's sky boxes (and also the fact they mention it about half a dozen times). No I did not go. Let's just make that perfectly clear. I think I had to wash my hair that night. *more taping*
I could sit here and pan the dvd for being hokey and being nauseating. However, in all reality; it's not that bad if you go in expecting something that will appeal only to it's fan base. I mean if I am a fan of High School Musical, this concert dvd is going to be great; first of all I get a whole 57 minutes of material. All the familiar songs are here from the movie and wait, 57 minutes? The shows usually ran 2 1/2 hours. Sure there is an intermission or two and you have to count the opening act, but the edits are obvious and it feels like a best of. High School Musical can not do a best of until they get at least two cds worth of material. Like Hilary Duff or Brittany Spears. The good thing about the concert is that they do have most of the original cast minus Zac Efron who went to go work on Hairspray (he liked standing in the shadows of a very big and scary John Travolta). It just feels like they rushed the dvd a bit in the editing process so that they could sell a few hundred thousand copies to the fanbase and say cha-ching.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 23rd, 2007
Video games (especially those with platformer elements) were easy fits for syndicated cartoons. I spent a lot of time watching the Super Mario Super Show despite the show's silliness and use of Captain Lou Albano. Another show I naturally watched in the same vain was the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Featuring Sonic, the speedy blue hedgehog and his sidekick Tails (something resembling a fox but with two tails) would face off against Dr. Robotnik and a legion of robots that wanted to take over the planet Mobius. These robots included Scratch (a chicken), Grounder (the gadgets robot) and a less used Coconuts (monkey bot regulated to sanitation duty). The original series would run 65 episodes and a special before spinning off into a somewhat darker show dubbed just Sonic the Hedgehog.
The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog worked in a lot of areas. It was entertaining, using its slapstick humor to keep the plot moving for the entire 22 minutes. Sonic might have been an ego-maniac but it wasn't so overbearing that it took away from the cartoon (except the phrase "I'm waiting"). The villains were extremely entertaining as Dr. Robotnik came to life better than expected since the video game series was fairly new and it didn't really have much to draw from. Even the main robots were fun to watch, well with the exception of Scratch who to be honest was just plain annoying. The show also served to create many sub-villains and sub-heroes that held interest and were sometimes multi-dimensional. In fact, they even created a few characters that switched sides and did so in a way that made sense.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 23rd, 2007
Synopsis
I started watching cartoons in the 80's growing up and remembering most fondly cartoons like Transformers, Batman, Thundercats, TMNT and so forth. Oh I've had my fill of Looney Tunes and appreciate them greatly. But once you go past Looney Tunes a lot of the older cartoons escape me (with the exception of Droopy and Scooby Doo). Good examples are the Flintstones and almost anything out of the Hanna-Barbara lineup like Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. So imagine my ...confusion when I received Batfink - The Complete Series across my reviewer table. Batfink was a cartoon series that originally ran in the late 1960's with influences like the Green Hornet and Batman which also ran at this time. The series was created by Hal Seeger and basically featured three main characters; Batfink, Karate and the Chief.
