Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 26th, 2004
For years different TV shows and movies have speculated not as too whether there is life on other planets but, what are they doing on earth. Some shows like the X-files play out that the powers that be have sold us down the river to ensure their survival with a hostile alien race, or like in ID-4 and the Alien series are here to kill everyone and use the planet for their own will.
Director Steven Spielberg has looked at aliens and their involvement with the human race in a number of his films and with the...help of 1 writer and 10 directors brings us Taken. We follow 3 different families through three generations as they search for the existence of alien life on earth or try to understand why they are being abducted. The story is told through 10 different 80-90 minute episodes the best of which is “Acid Tests”. To give away much more of the story line then this would be an injustice, I recommend that you owe it to yourself to see this.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2004
Homicide: Life On The Street began when Baltimore reporter David Simon spent an entire year with the day shift of Baltimore’s Homicide Squad. His subsequent book was a New York Times Best Seller and drew tremendous critical acclaim. Barry Levinson, Paul Attansio and Tom Fontana took the spirit of that book and created the NBC series. The first two seasons were spotty and featured only a handful of episodes each year. Season 3 marks the first full season of this remarkable show. Simon’s book detailed the psychology of...the detectives as much as the killers, and the series drew heavily from that work. Unlike most cop shows, Homicide didn’t contain car chases and the typical action sequences. Instead, this show counted on smart writing. The City of Baltimore is wisely used as a character on the program. Richard Beltzer’s Munch now appears on Law and Order’s SVU.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2004
Billy Bob Thornton is a strange ranger, even by Hollywood standards. He is a self-made man, resulting from his breakthrough role as writer/director/star of Sling Blade. With Daddy & Them, Thornton returns to his role as a triple threat, and the result is a film that is not only funny, but features more stars than a stint in rehab. The list of notables includes Thornton, Laura Dern, Dianne Ladd, Kelly Preston, Jim Varney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Affleck, Brenda Blethyn, musician John Prine and even America... legend Andy Griffith.
The film follows Thornton and Dern, an insanely jealous married couple, as they travel to visit his family in Little Rock, AR, as his uncle (Varney) has been incarcerated while awaiting trial for attempted murder. This is not just a story about white trash family, but they are unbelievably dysfunctional as well. The comedy comes quickly and masterfully from all directions, resulting on one of the best independent films that I have seen in quite some time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2004
Billy Bob Thornton is a strange ranger, even by Hollywood standards. He is a self-made man, resulting from his breakthrough role as writer/director/star of Sling Blade. With Daddy & Them, Thornton returns to his role as a triple threat, and the result is a film that is not only funny, but features more stars than a stint in rehab. The list of notables includes Thornton, Laura Dern, Dianne Ladd, Kelly Preston, Jim Varney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Affleck, Brenda Blethyn, musician John Prine and even America... legend Andy Griffith.
The film follows Thornton and Dern, an insanely jealous married couple, as they travel to visit his family in Little Rock, AR, as his uncle (Varney) has been incarcerated while awaiting trial for attempted murder. This is not just a story about white trash family, but they are unbelievably dysfunctional as well. The comedy comes quickly and masterfully from all directions, resulting on one of the best independent films that I have seen in quite some time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 24th, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 23rd, 2004
Sightings: Heartland Ghost is based, apparently, on a true story. One is reminded of that other “true story” haunted house movie, The Amityville Horror. But both films have the same hokey quality in common. (no blood in the toilet in Sightings, however). Sightings starts with the “new couple moving to the neighborhood”. They slowly learn that there is something “not quite right” about their new house. Enter paranormal debunker (Beau Bridges) and his T.V crew. Bridges’ character host... a quasi-reality show about ghosts and other worldly behavior. Like the couple, Bridges comes face to face with the history of sin and murder that took place in this house. He is forced to deal with his cynicism about the paranormal and becomes changed by the whole experience. Sounds good, huh. It’s not.
Beau Bridges is a fine actor. Why is he in such a cheesy movie? Times must be tough. Beau, like his brother Jeff, always brings a sense of humanity to his roles. The case is still true here. The movie is laughably bad at times (see spoiler notes). But Bridges grounds the movie and gives it a depth it doesn’t deserve.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2004
Synopsis
