Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2005
Synopsis
Gregory Peck is having trouble making ends meet in his current job. A more lucrative one opens up, but with it comes many more demands that create more stress in his family. There is also a secret from his past that is coming back to haunt him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2005
Synopsis
Hugely popular in the 1950s, but politically excoriated and ultimately shut down, EC Comics such as Tales from the Crypt saw their stories revived first in the theatrical Amicus anthologies of the early 70s, and then as this TV series. Here is the first season (a mere six half-hour episodes), directed by the likes of Richard Donner, Walter Hill, Robert Zemeckis and Mary Lambert, among others. The stories are very faithful to the spirit of the comics (and are taken from actual stories)... and play out as simple, gory morality tales. A husband, driven mad by his wife’s love of animals, takes up taxidermy, only to wind up stuffed himself. A newlywed couple takes refuge in a spooky old house, where the husband plans to do away with his rich wife, only to have the tables unexpectedly turned on him. And so on. Lots of blood, over-the-top performances, and nary a moment that takes itself seriously. Good family fun, in other words.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2005
Synopsis
Shot in 1974, this is one peculiar piece of work. Springing from director’s John Aes-Nihil’s not altogether healy obsession with the Manson murders, this takes the rumour that the Family filmed their activities and tries to make it flesh. What you see is a series of very convincing-looking Super 8 mm reels of the Family doing their thing, culminating in re-enactments of the Tate-La Bianca murders. Frankly, I’m somewhat at a loss for how to rate this. The home movies look very real, right dow... to every bit of grain and scratched emulsion, not to mention the flat approach to filming (exactly how someone untrained in the use of a camera would shoot this footage). But the point of the exercise, beyond the working out of an obsession (the film is shot in the actual locations), escapes me. However, this is definitely a fine example of something.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2005
Synopsis
Mother O’Leary and her brood arrive in Chicago just as it is beginning to transform into a metropolis. Her sons grow up to become the amoral Dion (Tyrone Power), who never misses a bet and hooks up with the similarly canny cabaret performer Belle (Alice Faye), and the idealistic lawyer Jack (Don Ameche). Betraying political boss Brian Donlevy, Power arranges for his brother to become mayor, but then finds himself in the targeting sights of Ameche’s reforms. The family feud builds to the nigh... when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow makes that fateful kick.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 15th, 2005
Synopsis
Grand Hotel (1932) was the model: a large cast of known faces with soap opera problems. The High and the Mighty takes this set-up and puts the characters in a plane flying from Hawaii to San Francisco, then blows out an engine and has the fuel leak away. John Wayne is the Co-Pilot With The Tragic Past, Robert Stack is the Pilot Losing His Nerve, and they are surrounded by a collection of other very recognizable types: the Cute Kid, the Charming Dying Man, the Loud Couple From N...w Jersey, the Selfish Coward, the Guilt-Ridden Atomic Scientist, and so on. The crisis brings out the best and worst of everybody.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2005
Synopsis
John Woo did not just direct Tom Cruise from a big rock in Mission Impossible:2, nor EVERY recent action movie with featuring either Nicolas Cage or John Travolta. He was only a name you heard about whenever the hot director of the moment (Quentin Tarantino comes to mind) talked about their film influences. Woo was recognized as a top directing talent before his move to the West, and is the one name people consistently mention when talking about the Hong Kong crime/action film genre. This fi...m was his last before coming to the US, his American debut was Hard Target, and following that were several other action films. His creativity and action sequences seemed to resuscitate the American action film, which, until that point, had stagnated for a few years. One can only subject oneself to so many Chuck Norris 80’s action films without losing sanity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2005
Synopsis
Well, I’m unsure how many people would see a romantic comedy involving a 59 year old man and a 26 year old woman (unless you saw Autumn in New York awhile ago), but the romance between Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind) and Sophia Loren (El Cid) in It Started in Naples is just a little creepy for me. Especially when you consider Gable seemed to always appear in his mid-60’s.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2005
"Here's the story...of a lovely lady...". We all know the beginning of this familiar ditty. It's the Brady Bunch. And they're back in The Brady Bunch - The Complete Second Season. All 24 episodes are classic Brady Bunch fare. Oh to live in a world of ice cream contests, science projects, and slumber parties; and the worst thing you could do was "smoke" *sigh*. Alice, the housekeeper, is along for this harmless ride. The astroturf front yard is still there. The Brady Bunch is a trip back to the "garden"...
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 14th, 2005
Synopsis
Expropriated from his castle by the Romanian government (the place is going to be turned into a training facility for Olympic athletes), Count Dracula (George Hamilton) and Renfield (Arte Johnson, mimicking Dwight Frye’s laugh from the 1931 Dracula) make their way to New York. Dracula has fallen for a fashion model (Susan Saint James), convinced that she is the reincarnation of a woman he has loved before. Though something of a fish out of water, Dracula does his best to adapt to his ...ew surroundings and romance Saint James, while being opposed by Richard Benjamin, his rival for Saint James’ affections.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 13th, 2005
The Carol Burnett Show - Let's Bump Up the Lights! is the DVD re-issue of an original CBC broadcast. The content is in the form of one of Carol's famous Q & A sessions that started every show. Carol answers questions, she does her Tarzan yell. Burnett does there here too. But she asks other cast regulars (Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner) to join in. Clips from the show are interspersed to back up the answers to the questions.
The 42 minute disc is too short to make a...y real impact. Perhaps this is just a teaser for putting out "The Carol Burnett Show on DVD. But, I must confess, I have a sentimental place in my heart for the show. I used to watch it as a kid. The sketches were funny, in a broad sort of way. The cast seemed like a perfect fit. "The Carol Burnett Show" is a landmark show for its "style". The improvisational aspect kept as watching, and the characters became more endearing.
