Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Drifter John Garfield arrives at a filling station which advertises “Man Wanted” (a sign to beinterpreted in more than one sense). The proprietor is the jovial but cheap and aging CecilKellaway, and his wife is bombshell Lana Turner. Garfield and Turner fall in love, and beforelong, they’re plotting the murder of Kellaway.
To say more would be unfair -- this is a film that is best experienced cold, so you can be hitby the twists and turns of the plot. I will ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 27th, 2003
Synopsis
The film is “based on true events” (an opening announcement the director wasn’t too happyabout) and tells the story of Christian Rayne (Brian White). He dreams of a career in acting, andignores the advice of his best friend, deciding against going to university. He doesn’t want to usehis family connections, however (having a rather conflicted relationship with his father), and thechoices he makes, and the people he meets, set him down a path to drugs and despair.
...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 26th, 2003
Synopsis
The version of the story these films tell much the same, given that the 1941 Spencer Tracyeffort was a remake of the 1932 Fredric March production. Handsome Dr. Henry Jekyll,frustrated over being denied an earlier marriage to his fiancee (Rose Hobart in 1932, Lana Turnerin ‘41), quaffs a potion and becomes the monstrous Edward Hyde. Hyde’s principle victim is Ivy(Miriam Hopkins/Ingrid Bergman), the woman on whom Jekyll’s now unleashed sexuality ventsits fury.
...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
We begin is the 1930s, as the forces of Fascism are rising on the European continent.Convinced that Communism is the hope of justice for the future, Cambridge University gradsKim Philby (Toby Stevens), Anthony Blunt (Samuel West), Guy Burgess (Tom Hollander) andDonald Maclean (Rupert Pehry-Jones) become Soviet agents. We follow their lives over thecourse of twenty years, as they rise (in no small part due to the British class system) to everymore important positions ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 23rd, 2003
I have never really seen a movie like Gang Tapes, a sort-of urban mockumentary told in the first-person through a digital camcorder. The Blair Witch Project is all that really comes close, and even that is not exactly the same thing. The film begins with home video footage of a family on vacation in Hollywood, but once they are carjacked, the family video camera falls into the hands of a 14 year old kid in urban Los Angeles. With this camera, he chronicles his adventures with the other boys and young me...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
Brittany Murphy is the orphaned daughter of rock star parents. She has been living a fairy-tale existence in Manhattan, and hasn’t had the slightest need to grow up. When her lawyerabsconds with her 100 million bucks, however, she is forced to find work, and becomes the newnanny for the uptight, precociously mature Dakota Fanning. Murphy will learn to grow up, andFanning will learn to be a kid. There will be a little bit of tragedy tossed in along the way.
Ut...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 22nd, 2003
Tapped Out is an independent film starring Georgio. It is also produced, written and directed by Georgio. The film is adapted from a story by Georgio. Oh, and the music supervisor is this guy named Georgio; maybe you've heard of him?
Honestly, it doesn’t really mater if you have heard of him or not (though you probably haven’t), my point has already been made. In previous reviews, I have stated my distrust of independent films that put too much power in the hands of one man, especially when that one ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 22nd, 2003
Synopsis
In what Stiller himself describes as a misfired precursor to the Gary Shandling Show,the central conceit here is that a fictionalized version of Stiller gives us a behind-the-scenes lookat the series between skits, an gradually reveals himself to be the Boss From Hell. The skitsthemselves are in the Mad TV/SCTV vein, parodying rockumentaries, movie trailers, and so on.There is some clever stuff, but I’ll confess that I seem have some kind of a jinx when it comes...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 22nd, 2003
Synopsis
Our quartet continue to get laid, or not, depending on the ups and downs of decreed by thefates. There is a baby among them now (whose baptism or not is a point of contention), andCarrie gets a book deal. As the appeal of this series remains utterly mystifying to me, I shallrefrain from further comment.
Audio
The audio is in 5.1 and 2.0, but hardly strains the capabilities of either format. The music getnice treatment, but it is virtually the...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 21st, 2003
Synopsis
Jamie Lee Curtis is the harried big-name therapist with the bestselling book. Lindsay Lohanis her teenage daughter going through the meat-grinder of high school. They are at each otherhammer and tongs, neither understanding the stresses of the other’s life. Then, of course, theywake up one Friday in each other’s bodies, and the fun begins. Not only must each survive inthe other’s environment, but two major events loom: Curtis’ marriage and Lohan’s band’saudition. Pos...
