Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Jason Schwartzman is a young man in despair. His brand of environmental activism (whichinvolves reciting a lot of bad poetry and planting trees in the middle of parking lots) isn’t gettinghim far, and then he is on the verge of being ousted from his own organization when Jude Law,executive at the Wal-Mart-like Huckabees, becomes a sponsor and takes the whole thing over.Schwartzman turns for help with his life to existential detectives Dustin Hoffman and LilyTomlin, but he t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2005
I’m always a sucker for con men movies, movies about the grift, or general films about robbers who are smart and get money from dumb people. If they’re too stupid to know what to do with the cash, send it over here, Daddy needs it. Sometimes there are new and interesting wrinkles that usually crash and burn, but sometimes work out quite well in the end.
Matchstick Men tells the story of Roy (Nicolas Cage, Adaptation) and Frank (Sam Rockwell, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), two men wh...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2005
In the midst of Hollywood rehashing old TV shows from the 70s and 80s, they’ve been working on a big screen version of The Dukes of Hazzard. I will repeat that because I think that it bears repeating. Somebody in Hollywood greenlit a movie with Stifler and Johnny Knoxville as Bo and Luke Duke, and Jessica Simpson as their cousin Daisy, as they taunt and evade Boss Hogg played by, wait for it….Burt Reynolds. Someone should be brought up on charges for this, because that sound you’re hearing is Hollywood scrapin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2005
Every now and again a show comes along that on the surface probably isn’t that great. Still, something about it endears itself to you, and you might never completely understand it yourself. The Greatest American Hero is one of those shows. Created by the same man who created James Rockford, Stephen Cannell, The Greatest American Hero was a welcome change to the run of hero shows that preceded it. Robert Culp is pure genius as “by the book” FBI agent Bill Maxwell. Connie Sellecca delivers a little more than scenery or...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2005
There’s gotta be some reason why Charmed has stuck around for as long as it has. What started as a show created by Aaron Spelling, starring Shannon Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210) and goddess to internet pervs everywhere in Alyssa Milano (Embrace of the Vampire) has been a staple in the WB lineup for its 7th season now. Even though the show did have to change out Doherty several seasons ago, replacing her with Rose McGowan, the adventures of the Halliwell sisters are still going strong.
T...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 25th, 2005
Synopsis
The saint of the title (Bradford Dillman) begins as a very secular young man, eager to sign upfor the war in which the Pope is engaged. But it is during this conflict that he receives a visionfrom God, and renounces violence. This is perceived as cowardice by some (such as the father ofhis sweetheart) but as inspiring principle by others (such as said sweetheart, Dolores Hart). Thehumble holy man eventually runs up against politics within the Church.
Michael Curtiz ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 24th, 2005
Synopsis
Director Werner Herzog is off to Scotland to shoot a documentary entitled The Enigmaof Loch Ness. This is coinciding with the shoot of a documentary about his life calledWerner in Wonderland. So what we have here is a documentary about the making of adocumentary. Or, more accurately, of a failed doc, since things start going wrong right away,mostly due to producer Zak Penn, who clearly wants something more exciting and sexy than aphilosophical essay on why peo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2005
Synopsis
In 1949, Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård), lapsed of faith and now an archaeologist for hire,heads off to Kenya, where Byzantine church has just been uncovered in a location it doesn’tbelong. The opening of the church unleashes the evil contained therein, which, not content withpossessing a little boy, gradually puts the locals and the British military force at each other’sthroats. Merrin must regain his faith and confront the demon (cue the exorcism of the title).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Feeling deathly ill, an illegal immigrant leaves a poker game, only to be ambushed andmurdered by three of the other players (the most notable of whom are Zero Mostel and a youngand scary Jack Palance, here appearing as Walter Jack Palance). When his body is found the nextmorning, the victim is discovered to have been sick with pneumonic plague. Doctor RichardWidmark, in charge of public health, takes over, and is initially at loggerheads with DetectivePaul Douglas, who is ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2005
Synopsis
Charlton Heston is Michelangelo, busy at work on the monumental sculptures he proposesfor the tomb of Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison). Julius has other ideas, however, and ordersMichelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which is the last thing the sculptor wantsto do. The film then follows his struggles with the monumental task, as well as the clash ofpersonalities.
There’s more than a whiff of Heston as Michelangelo as Moses, and Harrison as Julius as...
