Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 6th, 2004
Synopsis
Walter Matthau is Joseph P. Kotcher, a doting grandfather who is rapidly wearing out hiswelcome at the home of his son and daughter-in-law. Increasingly unwanted, Matthau finallyrebels when life in a retirement home looms. He winds up hitting the road with a pregnantteenager, and once again he is needed.
Jack Lemmon made his directorial debut with this piece that simultaneous goes all-out andtakes the easy way in its determined effort to be heartwarming. Matthau, ra...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 6th, 2004
South Park had peaked with Season 3. The film was a huge hit and some of the best stuff came out that year. Season 4 would become a more up and down year. It’s obvious that the Stone and Parker team decided to push the envelope a bit further. This is also the year we got wheelchair bound Timmy. I liked Timmy at first, but he just gets old fast. One of the highlights of this season is the last episode. Another Mr. Hanky Christmas episode has the boys creating a special computer Christmas card called “The Spirit of Chr...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2004
Synopsis
John Wayne Gacy (Mark Holton) is a typical, if rather slobbish, middle-class family man. Heis the local organizer for the Democrats. He also has a bad stench emanating from the crawlspace beneath his house, and the neighbours keep complaining. Gacy has his work cut out forhim dealing with the stench, since it is caused by the rotting bodies of the young men he hasmurdered.
The lurid qualities of Gacy’s crimes mean that this film could have been an unwatchableexercise in b...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2004
Synopsis
Megan Gallagher and family move into a new house, and very soon things start to go wrong.It seems that there is a race of little creatures, the “Huldre,” living under the earth, and they playincreasingly nasty pranks. Their central target is Gallagher’s young daughter, who at first isdelighted to befriend the creatures. Malcolm McDowell, slumming for another paycheck, plays apsychiatrist who sees the child’s case as his ticket to glory.
The plotting is sloppy, the character...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2004
Synopsis
Mousy scienties Rosetta Stone (Tilda Swinton) creates three Self Replecating Automatons(SRAs): the glamorous Ruby, Marinne and Olive (all played by Swinton). The SRAs need themale Y chromosome to survive, so Ruby ventures forth from their home periodically for someanonymous sex. She saves the condoms, which are subsequently used as tea bags. The SRAs pinefor independent life, and Ruby oversteps her bounds, thus risking discovery for them all.
Though some of the elements mig...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 3rd, 2004
What we have here is a messy British independent film that takes most of its cues from the Agatha Christy 10 Little Indians formula. The film fails to provide enough setup or character development to ensure we give a crap about any of these people or what happens to them. As the dull actors and their equally dull counterparts disappear, I found myself looking forward to losing another one. Most of these chaps are complete unknowns. Only Paris Hilton’s name rang any bells. The producers were quite aware of this dilemm...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 2nd, 2004
I usually meet discs that contain a movie that I have never previously heard of with a groan. I figure the chances are that if I missed it in theaters, and I have never seen a preview for it, or seen it mentioned on a chat board, there’s probably a good reason. These were my exact feelings on the day that 3-Way arrived on my doorstep. These feelings were further confirmed upon insertion of the disc, when I was greeted by trailers for such classic films as Cruel intentions 2 and 3, and Wild Thi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
Dean Cain arrives at a secret base in California to take over as head of security from hisRussian predecessor. (Why is the other guy Russian? Because the movie was shot in EasternEurope.) He arrives in time for a DNA cloning experiment conducted by the chief scientist/chiefweasel (whose accent sounds more like Moscow than the Chicago of which he supposedly anative). The experiment results in the Jurassic Park-style resurrection of a fire-breathingdragon.
What follo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 30th, 2004
Synopsis
Season Three finds our earnest characters dealing with the usual assortment of relationshipand other problems. As the season opens, Dawson and Joey have broken up, and Dawson meets arather sexually forward young woman on a bus. By the end of the season, Joey is involved withPacey. The headline-grabber from these episodes was Jack’s gay kiss.
As I believe I mentioned when reviewing the series finale, I am at a distinct disadvantagewhen it comes to talking about this ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 30th, 2004
Synopsis
Meryl Streep is Nora Ephron and Jack Nicholson is Carl Bernstein. Well, the names aredifferent, but Ephron’s script is based on her novel, which in turn is based on her fractiousmarriage to the Watergate journalist. He is the inveterate womanizer, while she is one of thosefemale protagonists so beloved of romantic comedies that are supposed, I think, to be“charmingly insecure” but read instead as “high-maintenance neurotic.” They get married, andvery swiftly things begin to...
