Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 16th, 2007
Synopsis
Ever know that feeling when you've seen a movie about twenty times and vow never to see it again until it comes out in a new collector's edition dvd? Coming to America is exactly like that. Coming to America is the tale of Prince Akeem (played by Eddie Murphy) who isn't quite happy with his country's arranged marriage practice. (but apparently pretty happy with the country's bathing procedure) He decides that with his friend Semmi (played by Arsenio Hall) he should travel to New Yo...k to find his bride. So with the King's blessing (played by James Earl Jones), the boys set off to New York to live the dream. (to live in an awful apartment, eat knockoff McDonalds food and go to a New York club full of really scary women) There he finds his true love Lisa (played by Shari Headley). Hence, the fairy tale story of a prince finding and marrying his princess commences.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2007
Synopsis
Is it wrong that I kinda sorta liked The Powerpuff Girls? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll join the scores of those older male online reviewers who feel a bit of guilt in that statement, and wonder when Chris Hanson and the Dateline NBC crew will come barreling down my door, but God help me, I found it charming.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2007
Synopsis
I’ve gotta say that when the first Die Hard was released, I was in a position where I hated, absolutely despised Bruce Willis. In my opinion, the world honestly didn’t need another loudmouthed movie star who was from New Jersey and didn’t hesitate to say so, and that whole schtick about him and the Bruno persona would allow him to release music albums reeking of self-promotion and another money grab. And when he hooked up with Demi Moore, my initial reaction was “good, they’ll have mongoloid...babies and divorce after a couple years”. And since 1985 or so, there’s only one part of my opinion that held true for the most part.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2007
Synopsis
It’s no big secret that I enjoy Extras, and found my way to it through the first episode of the second season, which included a guest appearance by Orlando Bloom (of Pirates of the Caribbean lore). And now that I’ve seen the first season, and rabidly followed the second season on HBO, while it’s a bummer to see Extras fade away after a dozen episodes, and just like The Office, it’s not going to soon forgotten.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2007
Synopsis
Try to wrap your mind around this one. Take the guy who was the center of attention and played the role in Being John Malkovich, and have him play a role as a guy who impersonates the film auteur Stanley Kubrick, of 2001 fame in a story that may or may not be true.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 8th, 2007
Synopsis
Stephen King wrote, in Danse Macabre, back in 1981, something to the effect that horror on TV ranged in quality from the ridiculous to the workmanlike. This was, of course, before he became rather too involved with the medium himself. Things have improved since the, of course, but horror has yet to achieve the truly sublime on television, and this series certainly wasn’t that. It was, however, on the upmarket end of workmanlike, and some of these 15 episodes are pretty neat little eff...rts. The standout is, arguably, “You, Murderer.” Directed by Robert Zemeckis, its opening intro is a parody of the director’s Forrest Gump, and it then has the gall to cast Humphrey Bogart in the lead of a humorous murder tale. The whole thing is done in first-person perspective, à la Lady in the Lake, and co-stars John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and Sherilynn Fenn. Everybody has fun with the piece, including the audience, and, from beyond the grave, Bogart himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 8th, 2007
Synopsis
Whoah. MGM if really digging into the vaults to bring us these. Xaviera Hollander is not much more than the answer to a trivia question today, but for a while in the 70s, she had enough profile to warrant three films based first on her book, then more generally on her persona. Lynn Redgrave (!) plays her in The Happy Hooker (1975), which follows her arrival in the States and cheerful discovery of the life she was born, it seems, to lead. Mysteriously rated R, this is a film that could...have played without cuts on prime time TV twenty years ago. A film all about sex with no sex in it. Makes you long for Joe D’Amato and Laura Gemser to arrive and save the day.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Robin of Locksley returns to England from the Crusades to find the home he had left behind has taken a drastic turn for the worse under the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham. He is forced to take up an outlaw life, fighting for justice for the common man. Marian, fending off the advances of Guy of Gisborne, is his mole in the houses of power.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2007
It’s no secret that horror films these days severely lack originality and overuse violence and gore instead of actually scaring the audience. Sometimes this works and when coinciding with an actual story can make for a good movie. The Hills Have Eyes remake from 2006 wasn’t half bad because there was a tiny amount of depth in the story, combined with the violence that audiences have come to love. But ultimately for me, it didn’t hit the mark, it was just another typical horror movie. I really don’t think the s...quel will offer anything beyond it, but here’s hoping it will.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 takes place two years after the 2006 film, and offers no closure on the events left open at the end of the original. There is now military presence in the area, and I can only assume that means the surviving family members of the first film informed the government of the mutants. Regardless, in the opening scenes of the film some research scientists are brutally murdered and it’s obvious that the mutants are still around and still pissed off. Meanwhile a group of soldiers is dispatched to the location of the scientists to deliver equipment, but upon arriving it’s discovered that the camp is abandoned. It now becomes a search and rescue mission, where the cannibalistic mutants begin picking off the soldiers one by one, hoping to capture the females for breading purposes. The group must now band together to overcome the threat of the mutants and ensure their very survival.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 3rd, 2007
Be afraid. Be very afraid, if you are even thinking about picking up this rather lame title. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this film. The only way that Kill House has any chance of giving you nightmares is by putting you to sleep. If only I had been so lucky. Beth Dewey was the “mastermind” behind the whole thing. She wrote, directed, and acted as the killer in this piece of crap. Dewey ought to be arrested for grand larceny if even one person paid any real money for this picture. I would tell you som...thing about the plot, but there isn’t one. If anyone can tell me what in the heck this film was about, please let me know. Near as I can figure Sunny (Dewey) is some sociopath realtor. There is no rythme or reason for anything that happens anywhere in the film. It almost looks like they were pretty much making it up as they went along. I give Dewey an F as a director, an F as a writer, and an F- as an actress. At least Dewey appears to understand the low budget concept of: if you have nothing of value to say with your film, show lots of boobs and someone will watch it.
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