Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 8th, 2003
Synopsis
In an unnamed Latin American country, an elderly doctor decides to leave the city to visitseven former students. He had trained them for work in the countryside, with the idea of bringingmodern medicine to the underdeveloped regions. His journey becomes one of disillusionment, aseach student he seeks turns out to have been killed by "men with guns" (the army). As he movesfurther and further into the countryside, he witnesses more and more evidence of barbaritysanctio...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Returning to California after some years in Spain, Don Diego de Vega (Tyrone Power) finds that hisfather has been deposed and that the region is ruled by a venal, corrupt governer under the thumbof tyrannical lieutenant Basil Rathbone. Pretending to be a useless fop by day, Diego dons maskand sword by night as Zorro, fighting for the liberation of the poor and the downtrodden. Powerspends surprisingly little time in the Zorro get-up, and the climactic duel comes earlier than ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 7th, 2003
Synopsis
Parminder Nagra is at odds with her family, who want her to follow the traditional path foran Indian woman. She wants none of that, and dreams instead of becoming a professional soccerplayer. Kiera Knightley is already playing on a female team, but has her own familial issues, witha mother (Juiet Stevenson) who despairs of what she perceives as her daughter’s lack offemininity. Knightley sees Nagra playing soccer in a park, and recruits her for the team. Thoughthis i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 7th, 2003
Synopsis
The setting is an unnamed country in Latin America. The time is the recent past. Amysterious terrorist organization, led by someone called “Presidente Ezequiel,” launches a seriesof baffling and increasingly deadly attacks. The government responds with more and moredraconian measures. Caught between the terrorists and a corrupt regime is honest cop JavierBardem, desperate to salvage what democracy his country still has. As he tracks Ezequiel, hisinvestigation...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 6th, 2003
Synopsis
As a child, Nancy (Linda Blair, who played “Regan” in the original -- get it?) was possessedby the devil, but was saved by Father Leslie Nielsen. But now she has been repossessed, and thebattle begins anew. Repossessed adopts the approach of the Airplane andNaked Gun films, but has none of their skill. There are a couple of okay chuckles, butmost of this plays like a bad high school sketch show. Writer/director Bob Logan forgot thatwhat made Niel...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Jenny Wright is Virginia. She works at a used bookstore by day, and by night freaks herselfout with the frightening books of Malcolm Brand. Her life becomes a nightmare when themonstrous protagonist of Brand’s I, Madman appears to her in the real world, and startsre-enacting his crimes. Appearing well before the postmodern exercises of the Screamseries, In the Mouth of Madness and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, this littlefilm anticipates tha...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Carrie White (Angela Bettis) is going through the last word in high school hell. She has nofriends, she is tormented on all sides, and she has no comfort at home, thanks to her religiousfanatic mother. Carrie also has a powerful psychokinetic talent, one that will inevitably beunleashed once the pressure builds too high. Cut down from a 180-minute mini-series to 132minutes, this version will disappoint those who wanted to see the whole thing, but at the samet...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 4th, 2003
Synopsis
Glenda Jackson is a job placement consultant who wants to resign. Peter Finch is a doctorwho has more than his fair share of neurotic patients. Both Finch and Jackson are in love withMurray Head, a young artist who really loves himself more than either of his two lovers. Jacksonand Finch know about each other, and try to reconcile themselves with having to share Head. Asensitive character study, Sunday Bloody Sunday rivets with its superlative performancesand ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Made at the height of Roger Corman’s successful Edgar Allan Poe series (with his perennialstar Vincent Price), these two pictures, while similar in tone to the Poe films, adapt two differentwriters. Tower of London, a remake of the Basil Rathbone/Boris Karloff film from 1935,is a version of Shakespeare’s Richard III, with Price taking on the role of the villainoushunchback, plotting and killing his way to the throne of England. The Haunted Palace,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Get this: Chinese nuclear tests have jolted the Pacific tectonic plate into accelerated motion,causing terrible volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and massive venting of gasses that will soonheat the Earth to unlivable conditions. The only way to set things right is to set off acounteractive nuclear blast. In downtown LA. Now, I have a very soft spot in my... er... head fordisaster movies, but Scorcher tested even my patience. The FX consist largely of footageli...
