Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 2nd, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Vogue magazine editor Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) travels to Cairo to attend a UN function where she will meet up with her UN-official husband Mark (Tom McCamus). Mark is unavoidably delayed in Gaza, but sends a trusted friend and former UN official Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to keep Juliette company. Tareq and Juliette have known of each other for years, but this is the first time they have met face to face. They travel together exploring the wonders of the city, the daily life of native Egyptians, and the culture of Cairo. Their days are filled with more wonder than Juliette has experienced in years. Juliette is a woman with a sensitive, soft, and nurturing nature who blossoms like a desert rose while in Cairo. Tareq is a mysterious, gentle, but experienced man who learns how to love again. Their friendship deepens into an undeniable attraction of love and trust. However, their flourishing love will end when Mark finally arrives in Cairo. They had only days together, but Tareq and Juliette will remember those days forever.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2010
As a kid who grew up in the 1960's I remember Cher mostly for her musical career and the music and variety show she shared with then-husband Sonny Bono. When they split, it was a big deal in the time. We didn't quite follow celebrities’, lives near as obsessively as is done today, but these guys were a power couple that had gained fame pretty much as a package deal. When they split Sonny wasn't very successful at maintaing the same level as Cher was able to do. It turned out that we took sides in the split. We kept buying Cher's records, and we sent Sonny to Congress. Not sure which was the better idea there.
Cher eventually turned her singing career into a pretty good acting career. Her years in television had given her a lot of experience in front of the camera, so it wasn't as much of a stretch as you might think. The movies she's appeared in have been a bit of a mixed bag of stuff. The same can be said for this collection. There are gems like Moonstruck and Tea With Mussolini, and there are odd tidbits like Chastity and Mermaids.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 30th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
One hundred writers gathered together at the PEN World Voices Festival in New York to discuss faith and reason. PEN is a literary and humanitarian organization that is composed of poets, essayists, and novelists. Its chief concern at the festival was the threat to freedom of speech and conscience from religious extremism. Writers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives came together in an open forum to discuss their experiences with faith and reason. Bill Moyers: on Faith & Religion is a collection of interviews with twelve renowned authors who were among the speakers at the PEN World Voices Festival. Bill Moyers interviewed them on their background, literary works, how they related to faith and religion, and what they hoped to see for the future.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2010
When I first put this dvd into my player, I had no idea of how much information and research the Library of Congress was responsible for. I, like most people, assumed that it’s a big building where members of Congress go to conduct research. This may be so, but there is so much more to the Library that it practically boggles the mind, which is the ultimate goal of The Real National Treasure.
The Real National Treasure is actually an episode of History Channel’s series, Modern Marvels. It focuses on every aspect of the Library of Congress, from its layout to the services it provides. There are some fascinating items showcased in the episode, including original texts handwritten by the founding fathers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 25th, 2010
A surgeon named Michael Foster, played by Peter Gallagher, has his world turned upside down when his wife disappears one morning without a trace. Initially he suspected she was having an affair and ran away with another man, but as strange evidence gathers he soon realizes that she has been a part of a strange coven of witches and her disappearance might not have been her choice.
Originally airing on the Lifetime network, this film retains being separated into two parts on this DVD. Each part clocking in around the 90-minute mark, the first part can be a touch tedious as so little time was spent establishing the relationship between Foster and his missing wife that we have no reason to emotionally connect with the situation, aside from our hero's despair as he searches. As all the supporting characters, along with our desperate protagonist, come to accept the supernatural truth driving the plot, by the second part, the story finds a better pace and can hold your attention with more action and moments of tension.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 24th, 2010
The Winners are anything but, being an undistinguished rock band playing to tiny, apathetic audiences in nowhere bars. Their time has not only passed, it never arrived. But just as they seem headed for the scrapheap, their bass player (Jessica Paré) is bitten by a vampire. Though her newly acquired taste for blood is a bit of an inconvenience, leading to some extremely messy murders to clean up, she now mesmerizes audiences, and the band catches fire. Leader Rob Stefaniuk is so desperate to catch a break that he is willing to turn a blind eye to just about anything. But complications loom, not least of which is Malcolm McDowell in full Van Helsing mode, heavily armed and sporting an eye patch.
“Suck has the potential to become a cult classic,” reads the blurb from Rolling Stone, and that might well turn out to be the case. But Suck also rather desperately wants to be a cult classic, and that desire can stand in the way of its becoming the genuine article. It pulls all the right moves – black humour, full musical numbers, rock star cameos, outrageous gore, Malcolm McDowell – but those moves feel just a bit too self-conscious. The songs are rather bland, and the humour is hit and miss – though to its credit, when the film is funny, it is very funny (Iggy Pop's deadpan turn is one highlight). The flashback scenes of McDowell's traumatic first vampire encounter are very well done, cleverly incorporating repurposed footage of a young McDowell. In the end, while not everything works here, what does work, works well enough to make this worth a rental.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2010
I don’t like referring to myself as a “fan” of anything. The word leaves a bad taste in my mouth; it suggests a kind of mindless devotion that doesn’t leave room for noticing any shortcomings in the subject of one’s devotion - The legions of Twilight fans immediately spring to mind. However, if being a fan means to regularly watch, re-watch, and enjoy a show for a period of years, then I can call myself a fan of How I Met Your Mother. The show has had its high and low points, and I must admit that during season 5 I was among the critics of the show who said it’s losing momentum and maybe it’s time to wrap this thing up already. Upon re-viewing the season for this review, my position, though unchanged for the most part, has softened a bit.
For those unfamiliar with the show, How I Met Your Mother is a hold-out sitcom of a bygone era in a way; it’s among the last of the old three-camera, laugh-track sitcoms, yet it manages to inject fresh ideas and some edge into the old horse now and again. It has consistently found original ways to tell its stories and continues to utilize its greatest strength, a superb comedy ensemble.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2010
“Things never happen the same way twice.”
C.S. Lewis created an incredibly imaginative world when he wrote his Chronicles Of Narnia. The stories were an escape, of sorts, from a war-torn Europe. They integrated elements of Christianity in an effort to provide a semblance of hope in the form of a children’s fairy tale. And like all such tales, the world of Narnia was first and foremost a place of magic and bewilderment. It was a place where fantastic creatures of both good and evil thrived, living out epic lives of adventure. It was also a world where only children could enter. The stories became hugely popular, first in England, and eventually around the globe. Since that time we live in a different planet than the one Lewis was attempting to offer a respite from. Still, the images and ideals are remarkably relevant today. With such sweeping grand adventures and marvelous creatures, it’s no surprise that the franchise has found its way into films. The only real mystery is why it took so long. Perhaps it was necessary for the technology to finally catch up, providing a far more realistic and captivating experience. Some credit must also go to the enormous success of the Harry Potter and even the Lord Of The Rings films. With the investment of time and money required to bring such a world into existence on celluloid, there must be some reasonable assurance that, if done correctly, there was a large enough profit to be found. These earlier, and continuing, franchises have overwhelmingly proven that point. It was only a matter of time before the studio that practically invented movie magic would find such a place as Narnia and claim it for their own. When you combine these extraordinary histories together, can there be any question as to the results?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 22nd, 2010
I can't help it. Whenever I see David Boreanaz I can't stop seeing the brooding vampire Angel. It's not really his fault. This character couldn't be farther from the Angel character, but that's what I see. It's also true that Bones, now entering its sixth season has been around longer than Angel. It's also very likely that he now has fans that aren't even aware of that previous character. It has been quite a few years. I'm usually better at letting go of a character once the show has ended and the actor has moved on. But there it is. Agent Booth ends up doing something silly, and it throws me for a bit of a loop. It's probably a testament to how good of an actor Boreanaz actually is, that he's ingrained himself so fully in my brain. And, I haven't watched near as many episodes of Bones, to transfer that identification. But it's Bones that's here now, and based on its current popularity, it's likely to be here for a while longer yet.
Dr. Temperance Brennan, or Bones (Deschanel) is the world's leading bone specialist. She works in Washington, D.C. for the famous Jeffersonian (I assume it's intended to be the Smithsonian). Her talents have proven themselves very helpful in solving crimes where skeletal remains are all that there is to go on from the victim. Her FBI agent/liaison is Seeley Booth (Boreanaz). Together they have an uneasy relationship that grows into a kind of friendship. The problem is that Bones doesn't have a ton of social skills. She relies on Booth to guide their social interactions. More on that later. The lab is run by Dr. Camille Saroyan (Taylor) who has become a bit of a guiding mother to the team. Dr. Hodges (Thyne) is the trace-elements expert and tries very hard to be cool and hip. He's generally the opposite of Bones. He says pretty much what comes into his head and is a bit of a science-fiction geek. Angela (Conlin) is an artist who uses her skills to reconstruct facial details from the skulls. She also works on enhancing images and restructuring evidence. She's a bit of a romantic and has probably slept with every male in the lab. Dr. Sweets (Daley) is a young FBI agent and psychologist. He profiles victims and suspects as well as serves as a counselor to the team. He's a bit over-eager at times, looking up to Booth as a mentor, of sorts. The lab also has a few interns that show up from week to week, likely depending on actor availability.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2010
Dear Faithful Readers, Due to the nature of Sam Kinison's work on stage and off stage, this review may contain foul but funny humor, bad but heeeeelarious language, and not so politically correct (but correctly off the wall) jokes. Please be aware before you continue to read. Yours Always, Noms
*Yells into a microphone* NOW LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! Oooooooo owwww owww owwwwwwww! For those of you who don't know, Sam used to be a preacher. No, I am not a liar dangit, look it up! But after his divorce with his first lousy skeeze who broke his heart into a billion pieces, I mean *cough* wife... he left that behind and became a comedian. And not just any comedian, an effin legendary comedian. It is just sad that his life was cut short, and not because of drugs or alcohol that HE used (which everyone and their mothers swore was gonna be the cause some day) but due to a drunk driving, 17 year old, kid. The world works in mysterious ways.
