Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 16th, 2005
The barometer for those interested in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts is usually whether or not they liked Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. Hell, it’s the question I posed to my fiancée when we were trying to figure out what to watch over the Thanksgiving holiday. The comparisons are pretty conventional; both are large ensemble films with intertwined plotlines set in California, both have a 3 hour runtime. Both even have Julianne Moore in predominant roles.
Based on short stories by Raymond Carver...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2005
Synopsis
Hilary Duff is the small-town girl who aspires to attend a summer music camp in LosAngeles. Keith David is the gruff father who stands in her way, but only because he loves her somuch. Poignancy is added by the car-accident death of her supportive older brother in the earlygoings. Anyway, off goes Duff, thanks to mother Rita Wilson and cool aunt Rebecca De Mornay,and she has to struggle against the evil sophisticates and snobs to prove herself, but she has helpfrom new frie...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 15th, 2005
Synopsis
Cult Epics has done a real service by assembling this boxed set. While I would hesitate torecommend each disc on its own, as a collection, this is a valuable historical document, andBettie Page fans should be in heaven.
Bettie Page Bondage Queen is probably the strongest collection, assembling some 25bondage shorts by Irving Klaw (complete with voice-over introduction). Klaw contributes somemore shorts (of Bettie dancing) to Bettie Page Pin Up Queen, b...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 15th, 2005
Synopsis
Passed over for promotion to manager, SpongeBob SquarePants is ticked at Mr. Krabbs, butnot to the point of wishing him dead. That is the fate that awaits his employer, after he is framedby Plankton for the theft of King Neptune’s crown. SpongeBob and Patrick must brave no endof dangers on their long journey to Shell City to recover the crown. On the way, they encountereverything from a hit man named Dennis (voiced by Alec Baldwin) to monsters, to DavidHasselhoff (as himsel...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 15th, 2005
Kwai Chang Caine is back for another season of mayhem and mistaken-accusations on the second season of Kung Fu. How is it that trouble never ceases to track this guy down? It seems that every episode begins with Caine walking along, minding his own business, and the next thing you know, he is accused of murder. It would be ridiculous, if it wasn’t so fun to watch!
The themes of these episodes have evolved from the basics covered in season one. In the first season, racism was a dominant theme of the s...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2005
The Ring was an almost overnight success. Based on a Japanese horror film, it was “Americanized” and captured audiences with its creepy cinematography and wickedly sinister story. It was inevitable that the formula would be tried again.
You would think that The Grudge has everything necessary to continue that successful story. The Grudge is based on not one but a well known series of haunted house films in Japan. Spider Man’s own Sam Raimi teams up with Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Ge...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2005
I may have been late to the rapidly growing bandwagon of admirers of the TV comedy Arrested Development, though it was kinda cool to see David Cross (Mr. Show) get onto a network show that would have appeared to been lucky to stay around for a whole season, in a sitcom where the main character was played by Jason Bateman. I mean, Jason Bateman! A guy who was known as Justine’s brother who bounced around from sitcom to sitcom and was virtually off the radar, playing bit parts in other harmless comedies. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 12th, 2005
Uma Thurman (Gattaca) plays the Bride, whose bloody and battered face we see at the beginning of the movie. She is pregnant, but is shot in the head and left for dead. She actually is comatose, and stays that way for four years, before waking up one night from a mosquito buzzing in her ear. The Bride’s name is inconsequential, as any mention of her name draws a loud beeping sound during the movie, and her rehabilitation is also fairly hard to believe also, as she “focuses” in order to use her legs again. Then ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 12th, 2005
Arguably the last funny member of Saturday Night Live has picked some strange movies to be in since leaving the sketch comedy show. Appearing first as a co-star in Old School and then later in the kid-friendly (but cute) Elf, Will Ferrell took his time in getting to what fans wanted, a good PG-13 or better comedy for him to stretch his comedic talent.
By and large, Anchorman does deliver on that, though occasionally Ferrell himself isn’t the one causing the laughs. As 1970s San ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 12th, 2005
After the Quentin Tarantino ode to kung fu chophouse films in Kill Bill Volume 1, Volume 2 shows us the substance behind the style. You see why a Hattori Hanzo sword is as prestigious as it is, you see how and why Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) lost her right eye, you even find out what the Bride’s (Uma Thurman) name is. But at the end of the day, this movie is about killing Bill, so you see Bill (David Carradine), in all his splendor and glory, and you see the relationship that the Bride and Bill share, both befo...
