Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 30th, 2002
Synopsis
Joan, who will inherit the throne of Castille, is sent to Flanders to marry the Archduke Philip.She falls madly and passionately in love with her husband. He is not faithful, however, and hersanity teeters because of this. Ambitious politicians jockey for power in the background, and seethe Queen’s possible madness as their ticket to ride. The film looks great, and the performancesare excellent. We aren’t shown much of the relationship before it begins to fall apart, however,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 30th, 2002
Synopsis
The son of DIA hotshot Ray Park is kidnapped by Lucy Liu. Antonio Banderas is forced backinto action with the promise of finding information about the wife he thought was dead. Hisassignment: track down Liu in order to get to bad guy Park, who is fooling around with ananotech assassin machine (which looks like a frog with a hypodermic). Now, none of this makesa whole lot of sense. The film’s real purpose is to stage huge gunfights and Really BigExplosions. Sometimes, that’s...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 28th, 2002
There isn't really a plot, as such. In collaboration with director/photographer/scripter/editor Nico B, co-director/composer/writer Rozz Williams works out his serial killer fantasies through the images of a pig-faced man torturing another. The big influences here are equal parts Eraserhead-era David Lynch, the surrealist films of the late-20s-early-30s (especially Un ChienAndalou) and the contemporary piercing/SM scene. In fact, there are moments where this plays like an artsy infomercial for the latter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 23rd, 2002
Synopsis
Petty crook Nicholson is transferred from prison to a mental institution. Is he crazy? Hecertainly seems to be to go up against head nurse Louise Fletcher, the well-meaning tyrant of theplace. In the course of his war, he ignites the spirits of the other inmates.
Audio
The sound has been remastered into 5.1. Though the sound quality is nice (barring somedistortion due to original recording), I’m not sure the surround mix was necessary. The musicand ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 22nd, 2002
Synopsis
Likely the best version of the tale of a beautiful young woman and the beast who loves hersince Jean Cocteau’s 1945 film, this one has all the strengths of Disney’s best features: top-notchanimation, lively songs, humorous characters but some solidly gothic scares as well.
Audio
Fabulous on all counts. The reproduction is flawless and distortion free. The effects arestrong in both rear speaker presence and left-right separation. The music dominates, h...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 21st, 2002
Al Pacino started his career with The Godfather, but Serpico went a long way to introducing filmgoers to the raw talent he still possesses. Based on the true story of an officer’s lone fight against corruption in the New York City PD, Serpico is gritty and almost documentary-like in style. Sydney Lumet’s stylized direction would create a template that countless future cop films continue to emulate. A credit to Lumet’s ability to spot talent rests in the fact that this was considered largely a cast of unknowns.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 20th, 2002
Synopsis
Kevin Bacon is a high-rolling stock trader. When he screws up and loses it all, he becomes(naturally) a gifted bicycle messenger, and so rebuilds his confidence. Many bike tricks and GiorgioMoroder songs ensue. Dire.
Audio
The 2.0 mix gets off to a strong start, with a truly impressive street environment simulatedduring the opening credits. Thereafter, however, the FX are pretty minimal, and take a back seatto the endless, horrible 80's soundtrack. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 18th, 2002
Synopsis
On an unnamed planet hundreds of years in the future, two cities -- Brecca and Obsidian --have been at war for almost a century. They are but shattered remnants of their former selves,and the war carries on pointlessly. The governing general of Brecca leads a small expedition toObsidian on a quest that might finally bring the war to an end. The film has some of the post-apocalypse-on-a-budget feel of Albert Pyun epics (the Nemesis series) or stuff like CircuitryMan. This b...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 18th, 2002
Synopsis
Drew Barrymore returns to Los Angeles after stabbing her conniving mother to death in ahilariously operatic sequence. But is Barrymore really guilty? Was the crime committed by herdoppelganger? Is she crazy? Possessed? Or is something else afoot? George Newbern plays hernew roommate, a shy, aspiring screenwriter, and he gets tangled up in her mystery. A tangledmystery it is too, and the film gets so carried away that it doesn’t really tie up all the loose ends.The ending, t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 17th, 2002
Synopsis
A couple and their young son are driving to their vacation home in the Catskills. They hita deer on the highway, accidentally ticking off one of the hunters, whose elevator doesn’t go allthe way to the penthouse, if you know what I mean. The boy, already on edge from the death ofthe deer and the lurking menace of the hunter, also begins to have visions of the hungry spiritWendigo. Whether the supernatural events are real or imagined is left ambiguous, as in The Turnof the S...
