Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 7th, 2003
To be completely fair, Dude, Where's My Car? was neither the worst movie of last year, nor the worst movie of its kind during the year. Heck, at times, it even showed signs of comedic inspiration. However, before I seem too kind, Dude, Where's My Car? is as dumb and crass as its title implies.
Taking obvious cues from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure from years gone by, Danny Leiner’s Dude, Where’s My Car? follows in those same footsteps of the past in an almost slavish manne.... Here, we substitute Bill and Ted for Jesse (Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Seann William Scott), who employ pretty much the same speech patterns and slack-jawed surprise in circumstances. It seems that the main reason for Dude, Where’s My Car? is to simply update the genre with two new brain-dead dweebs to chuckle at – however, it’s questionable whether these two stars will ever hit the heights that Keanu Reeves has.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 7th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 7th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2003
I could sit here and type away for hours, deconstructing the finer points (using the term loosely) of the latest Ice Cube project, All About the Benjamins, were I so inclined. I could tell you about Bucum the bounty hunter (Cube), his target-turned-partner Reggie (Mike Epps, otherwise known as “Hey, that isn’t Chris Tucker!”) losing a sixty million-dollar lottery ticket and accidentally learning about a diamond heist while being relentlessly pursued. I could tell you about Bucum’s complicated motivation for ...anting to solve the diamond heist and ensuing murders before the Miami PD (after all, it’s all about the Benjamins!). I could tell you all about the chase scenes featuring several bazookas, a ridiculous dog track sequence, or a scene lifted right out of Scarface, the last surprising no one. I believe that when a rapper hits it big, a poster of Scarface comes in the “Opulence for Beginners” kit that the producers of MTV Cribs provides, so I suppose some of them must have actually seen the movie. I could try all of that, or I could save us both the time, and boil it down to this: All About the Benjamins is basically 48 hrs + Miami Vice. If you’ve seen one buddy comedy with a tough guy and a funnyman, you’ve seen them all. To that end, you’ve seen All About The Benjamins.
Of course, it would be irresponsible of me to simply assert that “this movie sucked,” and move on. Besides the lukewarm jokes, predictably bad action sequences and some extremely annoying characters (cough MIKE EPPS cough), one aspect of the Benjamins juts out as jarringly bad: Mr. Bray’s direction of this boat wreck. Bray’s directorial roots are in music videos, and if no one ever told you, you’d STILL know it beyond a reasonable doubt. One can recognize the frenetic fast cut style from a mile off. Certain sequences are repeated several times over, even though they only actually occur once (i.e., someone throws the diamonds in the air three times), a technique that becomes annoying the second time it’s used. Of course, there are plenty of girls in bikinis, fancy cars, camera angles right out of Batman: The TV show, and finally, every single action sequence seems to be in slow motion. Ice Cube running toward the camera? Slow motion. Gun flying through the air? Slow motion. Bad guy exiting car? Slow motion. Boat speeding across the Biscayne Bay? Slow motion. Mike Epps looking in the refrigerator? You guessed it: slow motion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2003
When one thinks of the “Golden Age” of rock, the middle sixties to the middle seventies, a cornucopia of big name, big time acts usually surfaces in discussion. The big three, of course: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. Some impressive but undoubtedly second tier acts follow: The Who, Cream, Black Sabbath. Solo acts like Bowie, Elton John, Marvin Gaye and Jimi Hendrix stand out. One musical act that seems to get lost in the glare of these musical supernovas was a pair of soft-spoken, poetic friends ...rom Long Island, New York: Simon and Garfunkel. Though their light didn’t burn as brilliantly as The Beatles, or as long as The Stones, Simon and Garfunkel belong in the stratosphere of singer/songwriters, right alongside Lennon / McCartney and Paige / Plant. In their relatively short time together, they authored three of the top fifty songs in the history of recorded music: Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Sound of Silence, and America. That’s leaving OUT big time songs like The Boxer and Mrs. Robinson, both of which are probably in the top 100.
They were the band for the Greenwich Village crowd, the new beatniks, smoking pot in tiny jazz bars, listening to poetry and playing bongos, not quite hippies but not exactly all-Americans, either. Simon and Garfunkel had an intimate, intelligent brand of music, whose gentle melodies and striking lyrics really struck a chord with the bohemian set, and spread, grass-roots style, to liberal arts college crowds, radio stations, eventually enjoying low-key but widespread popularity. For a myriad of reasons, though, the pair decided to part ways, much to the disappointment of their fans. Paul Simon went on to a highly successful solo career for more than two decades…Garfunkel basically turned into a punchline. Ten years after they split, Simon and Garfunkel gave their fans exactly what they wanted: a reunion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 4th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 4th, 2003
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Nick Tellis (Jason Patrick) is an undercover narcotics officer who is placed on suspension after a shootout with a dealer gone very wrong. He is brought back to active duty to shadow another officer who might have had something to do with the death of his partner.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 3rd, 2003
A Ranger training exercise goes horribly wrong. The instructor (Samuel L. Jackson) and halfthe cadets are missing. There are two survivors. One is injured, and the other was seen engagedin a firefight with one of the other cadets. Investigating are Connie Nielsen and John Travolta,who bounce back and forth between the two survivors as the stories they tell keep changing,Rashomon-style. The twists pile upon twists, and so few are motivated by anything in the storythat audience good will is soon exhausted, despite the decent atmosphere and performances. Bythe end, one final twist makes total nonsense of the plot, and I was hard-pressed to avoid hurlingthe remote into the TV screen.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 2nd, 2003
Film
To film fans, the clause “Directed by Alfred Hitchcock” has almost become an adjective in and of itself. It has come to mean suspense created by using the viewer’s imagination and mind as a part of the film, first and foremost. These films didn’t have the freedom of CG, and consequently had to invent ways to achieve visual effects (Watch the documentary on Birds or Rear Window for example). Besides the lack of freedom of creation that digital filmmaking now provides, the filmmak...rs had to tip toe around the Hays code, not only restrictive on sex and sexual undertones, but also on content (as we learn in the featurettes here) and gore. The phrase, and the adjective that bears the director’s name, has grown to include a certain quality of characters and meticulous film crafting in every phase of the production. Rebecca, therefore, can rightfully be called “classic Hitchcock.”
