Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 7th, 2004
Synopsis
John Mellencamp plays a darker, fictionalized (one hopes) version of himself as a rock starwho returns to his home town in Indiana. He is accompanied by his wife (Mariel Hemingway),and his journey stirs up a veritable hornet’s nest of resentments in his family and friends. KayLenz is married to his brother, but still resents Mellencamp for not choosing her, and the twobegin a very prickly flirtation and affair. As he begins to fall from grace, the question is whetherour her...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 6th, 2004
Synopsis
As a young man, Mike Blueberry (Vincent Cassel) falls in love with a prostitute, but theirtryst is rudely interrupted by the black-hearted Michael Madsen. The woman is killed, andBlueberry is badly wounded. He is taken in and nursed back to health by Native Americans, andthus taps into a bunch of mystical hugger-mugger as well. Years later, he is the town marshal,and who should ride into town but Madsen again, now possessed of supernatural power andintent on capturing the s...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 5th, 2004
Synopsis
Jane Austen’s tale concerns the Dashwood sisters. Elinor (Emma Thompson) is sensible tothe point of excessive caution in matters of the heart. Marianne (Kate Winslett) is the opposite,so passionate that she might follow her heart into trouble. Their lives (and those of their littlesister and their mother) are made difficult by their loss of fortune. They are at the mercy ofselfish in-laws, though the brother of the gorgon-in-chief is the extremely likeable Hugh Grant(with w...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 5th, 2004
Synopsis
For the audience this film is aimed at, a synopsis should be superfluous. At any rate, this isthe tale of March family, consiting of mother Marmee (Susan Sarandon) and her four daughters:protagonist Jo (Winona Ryder), proper Meg (Trini Alvarado), delicate Beth (Claire Danes) andyoungest Amy (first Kirsten Dunst, cute as a button, then Samantha Mathis). We begin during theCivil War, with the father absent, and the family dealing with the privations of that time, andthen move...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 4th, 2004
Synopsis
An organization claiming to be working for children’s aid builds a Godzilla theme park,complete with bigger-than-life replica of the big guy, here serving as headquarters. In fact, thesenice people are alien invaders, as a cartoonist and his friends discover. When their plans arethreatened, the aliens summon King Ghidorah and Gigan (he of the beak and vaguely disturbingbuzz saw stomach) to their aid. But Godzilla and good friend Anguirus charge in to fight the eviland save ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2004
This really was “The Big One”. Season 5 was probably my favorite year of Sanford and Son. Episodes like the Dickens-inspired Ebenezer Sanford, The classic Sanford and Rising Son and The Oddfather leave me laughing just to think about them. I can’t look at George C. Scott as Patton and not be reminded of the intrepid Sergeant Gork. George Foreman took a break from his fight schedule to appear as himself. Even the clip-loaded Camping Trip is a constant riot. In Season 5 the Sanfords discover NBC is making a TV show abo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2004
Hot on the heels of spring 2004’s Monster Legacy Collections, Universal is at it again. This time The Invisible Man, Mummy, and Creature films get the special treatment. The Creature set is the most obvious standout from the latest releases. Just in time for Halloween, The Creature walks among us again. All 3 Creature films are included along with all of the bonus materials from Universal’s release of the original film.
The synopsis of these films goes something like this...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 3rd, 2004
For four seasons, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, along with a group of writers and comedians, served up comedy skits, parodies, and more, in the underrated but hilarious HBO late-night sketch comedy series Mr. Show.
Mr. Show is a smart comedy show, at least from what I can gather from the fourth season. The first thing to point out is every skit is somehow related to the next one by way of introducing a certain product, idea, or interstitial video. It's as if each skit is part of one big narra...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 3rd, 2004
Synopsis
This is the tale of three young American women in Rome, and the men who romance them.The recently arrived Maggie McNamara sets her cap for aristocrat-with-a-reputation LouisJourdan. Jean Peters, who is supposed to be heading back to the States soon, is drawn againsther better judgment into a relationship with kindly translator Rossano Brazzi (they work at thesame office, and the rules are strict about such things). And Dorothy McGuire is secretary toprickly writer Clifton W...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 3rd, 2004
Synopsis
Writing a synopsis for Gone with the Wind must be as silly an exercise as doing onefor King Kong or Casablanca. But for what it’s worth, this is the tumultuous sagaof Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), spoiled southern belle at Tara, whose life is turned upsidedown by two things: Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and the Civil War. Her love affair(s) with Rhettare almost as fiery as the chaos of war, and in that crucible she is forced into becoming a self-suffici...
