Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 10th, 2007
So in a summer where a film directed by Judd Apatow and starring Seth Rogen made a truckload of money, another film released a couple months later where Apatow produced and Rogen co-wrote made almost the same truckload of money, yet both films were funny for different reasons.
Posted in Game Reviews by Michael Durr on December 9th, 2007
Wrestling games are near and dear to my heart. From the first time I played Pro Wrestling for Nintendo or WWF Wrestlefest at the arcade, I knew I would be playing wrestling games as long as my fingers could mash the buttons. I’ve played some of the greatest wrestling games (Smackdown 2, Touken Retsuden 3) and some of the worst (WCW Nitro, ECW Hardcore Revolution). The Fire Pro series I’ve had a long relationship with. It’s been love/hate mostly. I want to love it but I find myself more often than not hating the interface and struggling to play it. I’ve bought all three import games for the Turbo Graphix 16 system and the Fire Pro (6 man scramble) game that was released for Sega Saturn. However, when Agetec announced that they would be releasing it for the stateside Playstation 2, I was very interested. Maybe since I didn’t have to import it, I would finally be able to see the menus in English and figure out the difficult interface. Every wrestling fanboy would tell me that it was the greatest thing ever. But what would I think?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 7th, 2007
Dr. Mark Sloan first appeared in The It Never Entered My Mind episode of Jake And The Fat Man. In that episode Sloan was accused of a murder, and it was up to Jake and Jason to prove his innocence. The character had a certain charm that appeared to carry with audiences, and two years later Sloan had his own show, Diagnosis Murder. Dick Van Dyke did for doctors what his good friend Andy Griffith did for lawyers as Matlock. Both traded on their earlier careers in trademark comedies to reimagine dramatic roles in their twilight years.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2007
Olivier Smolders is a Belgian filmmaker with a sensibility as distinctive and challenging as his artistry is developed. Cult Epics has done North American audiences a huge service by bringing his films to Region 1 DVD release. This disc has ten short films. Each piece has its own distinct identity, yet they are all very clearly the work of a singular creative talent. The frequently disturbing shorts range from a tale of murder and cannibalism in “Adoration” (previously available on the Cinema of Death collection), to the heartbreaking “Mort à Vignole” (where Smolders narrates a family tragedy filtered through home movies made by his and his wife’s parents, along with his own family footage), to an extended yet elegantly filmed practical joke (“Point de Fuite”) to a most unusual adaptation of Sade with “La Philosophie dans le Boudoir.” The films are invariably gorgeous and clinical in the precision of their observations. The blurbs on the case invoke Lynch, Greenaway and Bergman, and the comparisons are apt, though Smolders is also very much his own man.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 6th, 2007
Come with me, gentle viewer, back to the state of horror on TV, Anno Domini 1973. After her long-absent mother dies in mysterious circumstances, Belinda Montgomery attends the funeral where she meets Shelley Winters, an old friend of the family, or so she claims. Winters takes Montgomery into her home, and there our young heroine meets all sorts of strange people, and gradually realizes she is in the clutches of a Satanic cult who believe she is Satan’s daughter.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 6th, 2007
Malcolm McDowell’s second collaboration with director Lindsay Anderson, after their triumph with If…, sees McDowell as an enthusiastic new coffee salesmen sent off to make his company’s fortune in an ever widening area of the Britain. In true picaresque style, he has one strange adventure and encounter after another, each more bizarre than the last, and the whole is intercut with studio performances of Alan Price’s songs that comment on the whole enterprise.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 5th, 2007
The movie of Hudson Hawk was often panned by critics who thought the movie was the worst thing since George Bush Sr moved into office. Look where that has got us! Remember kids, bad presidents only birth worse presidents. Anyhow, Hudson Hawk which was billed as an action comedy and was thought of by many as sloppy, over-inflated movie making that took the cream of bad movie making. Was it a turd that sank like the Titanic?(both the movie and the ship) Was it a lemon like XXX? (both the movie and the scent of Vin Diesel’s Mr. Clean head)
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2007
The fat lady has sung, taken her bows and waddled off to the after-party. Gilmore Girls, a show loved by many — and abhorred by some — was canceled in May, leaving fans without a true series finale. Here, in this DVD set, lie the final episodes, created without input from series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, who left the show after season six.
This is not a fitting end for our Gilmore Girls, but unless a rumored movie becomes reality, it’s all we’re going to get. So if you’re looking for closure, this ain’t the place.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 5th, 2007
Avast ye mates, Jack’s back, and did ye ever doubt the return of Cap’n Jack Sparrow? Johnny Depp once again transforms himself like no other actor in
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2007
A friend that I work with said that if Hollywood ever ran out of creative and original ideas, and that if a studio managed to make a sequel about pirate zombies that lasted three hours long, it would clean up at the box office. But the fact of the matter is that if we survived a nuclear winter, we would be well prepared about what to do when zombies took over the land, because of the prep we had from guys like George Romero. So even though Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later might have presumably sealed the deal when it came to this particular interpretation, someone decided to dredge it up for whatever reason.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 2nd, 2007
What we have here is an average film based on what I’m told is a great little bestseller, The Nanny Diaries. There’s a lot of talent at work in this romantic dramedy, with stars like Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), Laura Linney (Kinsey) and Paul Giamatti (Sideways), and the directing talents of husband-and-wife team Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor), so I expected more.
But are there any disappointments lurking on this widescreen DVD? Read on to find out.
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 1st, 2007
Who says horror can’t be the cinema of personal expression? Director Tim Sullivan follows up his comic horror 2001 Maniacs with this heartfelt ghost story. Raviv Ullman plays David, a teenager whose depression and death-fixation following the demise of his older brother prompts his desperate parents to ship him off to an “Attitude Adjustment Camp.” Basically a brutal cross between boot camp and prison, this is a private institution (inspired by actual places) designed to transform any insipient Columbine-copycats. Once there, David must contend not only with the sadistic Captain Kennedy (Diamond Dallas Page) who runs the place, but also with visions of a ghost who clearly wants a buried truth revealed.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 30th, 2007
I love some Adult Swim. There are some real standouts shown that have fun plots, edgy animation, and a whole lot of outlandish humor. Venture Bros, Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force immediately come to mind. Heck, I’ve even gave smaller shows like The Boondocks and Metalocalypse a try and liked them on some level. So needless to say, I was interested when I received Squidbillies Volume 1. Twenty episodes staring a Georgia-based hick squid family. How bad could it be?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 28th, 2007
Have you ever watched a recent Robin Williams film and yearned for the days when the actor wasn’t so full of himself and stealing every scene he was in? Well, you’re out of luck, because there was never such a time for Williams; however, you can journey to a time when at least he was hungry and wasn’t so over the top. OK. Even in the days of Mork and Mindy Williams was never capable of reining himself in. Still, I thought I would look back on these episodes with that warm nostalgic feeling I tend to get and just remember the good times.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 26th, 2007
In 1988 the original Land Before Time animated feature enjoyed moderate success at the box office. This is the 12th direct to video sequel in what Universal describes as a billion dollar franchise. A lot has changed since the original film. None of the voice actors from the feature remain. The animation is really Saturday morning cartoon quality and has none of the detail work that Don Bluth gave to the first film. It seems these little gems have been coming out about once a year since around 1994.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 26th, 2007
Remember Aquaman? You know, that guy who lived underwater and fought people who would dump hazardous waste in the ocean or people with big helmets named the Black Manta. No, not Charlie the Tuna. Let’s try this description. He’s King of Atlantis and has giant muscles and was a very popular super hero. Namor, the Sub-Mariner? *sigh* He’s the one who sat behind the desk feeding the Justice League information cause simply he had nothing else better to do. Oh Aquaman, quite right.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 24th, 2007
In the vein of Underworld, here is another tale of warring supernatural societies. In this case, both sides are werewolves (the “skinwalkers” of the title). The good guys seek to protect a 13-year-old boy who represents a cure for lycanthropy. The bad guys, who like turning into monsters, want to kill him to protect themselves. The weapons of choice in this battle? Fangs, you guess. Nuh-uh. Guns.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 22nd, 2007
Severin unleashes three more entries from Italy’s long-running sexploitation saga, and the result is another fascinating collection. The quality of the movies themselves up and down, but the good stuff is very good, and the collective result is something that is completely fascinating. Exploitation fans should be over the moon.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2007
Back in 2001 shortly after the release of the first Shrek I happened to be at a convention with Anne Francis of Forbidden Planet and Honey West fame. She had just taken a young one, I believe it was her nephew, to see the animated blockbuster. To say she was unhappy is an understatement. She was incredibly offended by the toilet humor and had some rather unflattering things to say about pretty much every aspect of the film. Here we are two films later, and I’d have to tell Anne that not much has changed. By my count the film never runs more than 9 minutes without a joke based on feces, farts, or butts.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
Prepare to take a journey behind the curtain, with the all-access pass that is Show Business: The Road to Broadway, a documentary chronicling the fates of four musicals that beat the odds to reach theatre’s “big show.”
That’s the premise for Show Business, and it certainly does get behind the scenes with Wicked, Avenue Q, Taboo and Caroline, Or Change, showing how they made it to Broadway, and then how they vied for the big prize: the Tony Award for Best Musical. Hardcore musical fans may not learn anything new here, but the average viewer will likely be enlighted considerably. At the same time, theatre buffs will likely be much more excited than most viewers about seeing stuff like rehearsal footage and interviews with show creators.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
A remake of writer/director John Waters’ 1988 cult hit, Hairspray is an exhuberant movie musical that builds off the smash-hit Broadway production to recreate the excitement on film for a new generation. Whether it’s bigger and better than previous iterations, I can’t say, because this DVD release marks my first Hairspray experience. What I can say is if Waters’ original and the Broadway show are even half as good, they’re definitely worth your time.
If that doesn’t convince you, this Hairspray also presents John Travolta as an obese, middle-aged woman — a transformation that required plenty of make-up and, more importantly, allowed Travolta to finally reveal his true self for all to see.
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2007
James West (Conrad) was a Union Army vet. He’s the kind of act first think about it later kind of guy. Artemus Gordon (Ross) was a typical con man. He could create the most convincing disguises and was also a master of sleight of hand. Together they worked for the Secret Service in the days of the western frontier. The two of them were the prototype of the future spy. They would use incredible inventions and Bond-like gadgets along with their own skills at trickery to investigate major Federal crimes, often plots against the
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Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 21st, 2007
This collection of SpongeBob cartoons has a distinct musical theme, underlined by the main offering, “Atlantis SquarePantis,” a 2-part episode that just aired. SpongeBob and friends travel to Atlantis on a song-powered bus (but of course!) and witness the many marvels of the lost city. Their tour guide is Lord Royal Highness (voiced by David Bowie). The action is cheerfully episodic, and many of the song sequences are very funny (one highlight being Sandy’s ditty which occurs with the cast transported into a 1991 video game). The other shorts are pretty fun, too, with the highlight being “Sing a Song of Patrick,” wherein the starfish writes his own pop tune, with hilariously catastrophic results.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 19th, 2007
It was in the second year that the format of
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 16th, 2007
Despite its lame title, I’ve been excited about seeing Live Free or Die Hard since it was announced. The Bruce Willis franchise has been a favourite of mine for a long time, thanks to the original Die Hard which stands as one of the greatest action films of all time.
Willis reveals in the commentary that he and director Len Wiseman (Underworld) set out to make a Die Hard movie that surpasses the middle two in the series and is as good as the first. While Willis apparently feels they succeeded, I beg to differ. Live Free or Die Hard is certainly a good action flick, but nothing can ever surpass Die Hard in my book. Opinions of the film aside, this DVD set is sure to satisfy John McClane fans of any stripe.
