Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 3rd, 2004
Synopsis
Robert Mitchum is veteran pilot Major Cleve (Iceman) Saville. Beyond cool under pressure,he takes charge of a squadron during the Korean War. He has two difficulties to deal with. Onoeis Robert Wagner, who is too undisciplined for his, or anyone else’s, own good, despite hisprowess in shooting down MiGs. Lee Phillips can’t hit an enemy jet to save his life, but he doeshave a pretty, ignored wife (May Britt) with whom Mitchum falls in love.
The soap opera elements pl...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
Here are 20 animated shorts, in styles that range from the stick-figure drawings of DonHertzfeldt (“Billy’s Balloon” and the three pieces the introduce and conclude the collection), tocomputer animation (“The Cathedral”) to claymation (“The Adventures of Ricardo”) to paintings(“La Course à l’Abime”). Three are Oscar nominees (one of which, “Das Rad” [The Rocks”], isnothing short of brilliant). The tone is a sampling of everything, from the hilarious (“FiftyPercent Grey”) to...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
It might have seemed like it was never going to happen, but SCTV is finally getting the DVDtreatment. According to the accompanying booklet, legal rights involving the music is what heldthings up for so long. At any rate, this first release is not Season 1 -- it represents a fairly lateperiod in the ensemble’s history. Here are the 90-minute NBC episodes that began broadcastingin 1981. A lot of the material is repackaged older fare, but that’s just fine. All your favouritec...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
Tupac Shakur narrates his own life (almost, it would seem, from beyond the grave), taking usfrom his birth (and even before -- he discusses his gestation inside his imprisoned activistmother) to his childhood, and then through the ups and downs (emotional, legal and otherwise)of his career. Personal beliefs, politics, and the whole nine yards are laid out for us.
The editing is very clever, and one notes this particularly in the opening. Immediately afterthe sound o...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
Tony Danza packs up daughter Alyssa Milano and leaves New York to become thehousekeeper in the suburban home of executive Judith Light. Living with her are smart-alec kidDanny Pintauro and sexually aggressive mother Katherine Helmond. Sparks (or something)ensue between Danza and Light.
Oh, the humanity! Did ever a series more perfectly embody the American sitcom at its mostmind-destroyingly mediocre? The jokes are only recognizable as such because of the strainedl...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 1st, 2004
Star Trek Voyager came into its own during season two. This was the first full season of the Star Trek spin-off. Superior to its sister show Deep Space Nine, Voyager once again brought the concept of exploration to the Star Trek universe.
The season was very uneven. There is the absolutely terrible and contrived episode “The 37’s” which start off with an old pickup truck floating in space. For the first time a starship lands, and I think that was an unwise development. This is the episode where the crew fi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 1st, 2004
In season 2, The West Wing was still superior to almost anything on television at the time. The problems began to surface, however. Season 2 concentrated far too much time on the whole MS deal. I missed the powerful insider political stories. Still, there is little question that the writing and production style of the show continued to shine. Up to this point only Hill Street Blues had more Emmy nominations in one season.
Audio
Dialogue is everything in this show. A Dolby Digital 2....
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 31st, 2004
Synopsis
Con man Alex McArthur joins up with brutal thug Coolio and computer genius DanielBaldwin in one of those “can’t miss” schemes: kidnap actress Jenya Lano and force her to havesex in a pay-per-view Internet session. The kidnapping goes well, but frictions between the triothreaten the alliance, and all is not as it appears.
Easily one of the more tasteless premises for a thriller in recent years, and the film showslittle awareness of its own sleaziness. But then, the p...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 31st, 2004
Synopsis
Marlon Brando plays a German pacifist who fled his country at the outbreak of the WWII,and is living in comfortable seclusion in India. The British authorities blackmail him into takinga mission. Assuming the identity of an SS officer, he must board a blockade runner (captainedby Yul Brynner) and disarm its scuttling charges so it can be captured by the Allies. Needlessto say, nothing works out quite as it should.
Even running over two hours, this is a taut thriller...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 31st, 2004
“In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders …” Season 2 has been called “The Lost Season” by Dick Wolf fans. These episodes were not included in some of the many syndication packages so have been seen less often in reruns. The show maintains its trademark tight storytelling. The addition of Paul Sorvino is both a good and a bad thing here. Sorvino is certainly a very f...
