DVD

Ice Age: The Meltdown

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 31st, 2006

Ice Age – The Meltdown is a short, funny, well-animated sequel that offers up a new adventure for the memorable characters from the original Ice Age film. As a great bonus, it’s nicely balanced for audiences young and old.

20th Century Fox Animation is still a poor second cousin to Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios, but for sheer entertainment value, Ice Age – The Meltdown doesn’t get knocked completely out of the water by top-shelf blockbusters like The Incredibles. Sure, the animation is weaker
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Naked Pursuit

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 31st, 2006

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Synopsis

A student radical, wanted for the murder of a police officer, is also being held for rape. In the interrogation room, the woman he attacked refuses to press charges. Neither speaks. The rest of the film is a flashback. Fleeing custody, the man encounters the suicidal woman on a deserted island. He assaults her repeatedly, but also falls in love with her, and she with him. It’s all very tormenting for the two of them. The end.

The entire story, such as it is, takes place virtually w…
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Comeback – The Complete Only Season, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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I have to be honest. An HBO series about a fake reality series starring Lisa Kudrow hot-off-the-heels of Friends did not appeal to me as a worthy expenditure of time. And it does take a bit for the show to get started. However, as with other HBO comedies that deal in quirkiness and irritability (see Curb Your Enthusiasm), The Comeback – The Complete Only Season manages to press just the right amount of buttons to keep you watching. Now on DVD, and featuring all thirteen episodes, this show’s …
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Big Love – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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Synopsis

Bill Paxton is a polygamist. He and his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin) and their children live in three adjoined houses, and must constantly be careful not to let the secret of their lifestyle be revealed. That might be stress enough, but Paxton is having trouble keeping up on the sexual front, there is tension and competition between the wives (Tripplehorn is the alpha, Sevigny is manipulative and a shopaholic, Goodwin is insecure), and one of his fathe…
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Black Rain

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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Synopsis

Michael Douglas is a familiar figures: The Hard-Bitten Cop Who Plays By His Own Rules. He is currently under investigation by Internal Affairs. When he and partner Andy Garcia witness a Yakuza killing and nab the killer, they are tasked with escorting him back to Japan. They have barely landed when they lose him, and are pared up with straight-arrow Osaka cop Ken Takakura in the search to track the villain down again. Douglas and Takakura, as expected, engage in considerable culture clashing.
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Goldfinger (Region 2)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2006

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Synopsis

Of all the Bond films and the various images and gadgets that have come from it through 20 films, the one that probably crystallized most of these images is Goldfinger. You have the awesome Aston Martin car with the ejector seat, machine guns, and the like. You had the female who could kick ass and had a really cool name in Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman, Bridget Jones’s Diary). And you had Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton, Ten Little Indians) experiencing the most creative death to…
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Phat Girlz

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2006

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Phat Girlz is one rotten piece of crap. I hate to say it that way, but some movies don’t deserve the flowery lambasting some more deserving bad films get from their critics. They should simply be called what they are. That’s why I equate this film with the “c” word. Mo’Nique stars as a plus-sized hypocrite, who seems to have the same prejudgments about “skinny bitches” as they seem to have about her – in the confines of the film, that is. Overweight people are given a saintly presence, while most everyone…
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Hellbent

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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OK, let’s just get this out of the way at the start. Hellbent is a film from a cable network called Here!, which is America’s foremost gay and lesbian television network. Consequently, this made-for-TV film is based solely around homosexual couples, as is all of the programming on the network. They make all manner of programming, including feature films, that deal primarily with homosexuality.

Now, here is my complaint. If you want to make programming that has homosexuals in it, I’m fine with that.
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Glory Road

Posted in 2.35:1 Widescreen, Buena Vista, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 2.0 (French), Dolby Digital 2.0 (Spanish), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Drama, DVD by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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Synopsis

Don Haskins may not be as well-known as Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, or other historical figures that have helped integrate sports with black players, but the impact that Haskins had on college basketball is arguably more significant than any coaching strategy could have possibly introduced, and it’s those events for which Haskins was at the helm that unfold in Glory Road, which some have unfairly labeled as producer Jerry’s Bruckheimer’s basketball equivalent to Remember the Titans.

Ghost Whisperer – The Complete First Season

Posted in 1.78:1 Widescreen, Box Set, Disc Reviews, Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), DVD, Paramount, Television by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006

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”My name is Melinda Gordon. I just got married, just moved to a small town, just opened up an antique shop. I might be just like you…except from the time that I was a little girl I knew that I could talk to the dead. ‘Earthbound spirits’, my Grandmother called them. The ones who’ve not crossed over because they have unfinished business with the living, and they come to me for help. To tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.”

So goes the opening for each episode of this first season of Ghost Whisperer, a series that blends drama, horror and comedy to carry its audience to an emotional place.
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Starsky & Hutch – The Complete Fourth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 27th, 2006

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The networks finally achieved what drug lords, mobsters and even zombies could not. Year four meant the end of Starsky and Hutch. Unfortunately the show was running out of gas quickly, so this was not near the quality of the previous years. It looks too much like David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser were pretty much ready to move on to other things. Neither of the men would make the impact again they made with Starsky and Hutch. Huggy Bear is not to be found near as often as he had been, so a ton of the humor was mis…
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La Femme Nikita – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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Written By Jeff Mardo

I never got into La Femme Nikita, but I can certainly appreciate it. This was a breakthrough series that defined the modern spy and con genres for both television and film. The show was just a bit too 80’s for me. It sometimes took itself too seriously, like a rerun of Airwolf. When you really stop and think about what is going on in some of these episodes, the whole thing is just a bit silly.

However, there are people who love this show, and I can respect that. Season five was the show’s last, …
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Fast and the Furious – Tokyo Drift

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 25th, 2006

Wasn’t it just yesterday that The Fast and the Furious raced across our theatre and soon after took the checkered flag on DVD in our own living rooms? I guess not, because Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is upon us, and it’s the third and least imaginative of the franchise. Unfortunately, none of the previous films’ characters return for this third outing. I don’t count the clever little cameo that serves as the film’s coda. Gone are also the cool American muscle cars that gave the franchise its edge. The souped …
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Deadfall

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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Synopsis

Michael Caine is a jewel thief recruited by Eric Portman and wife Giovanna Ralli for a big job. Caine falls in love with Ralli, but that’s fine with Portman, who’s gay. There are yet more secrets that he has yet to reveal, however, and they could jeopardise the success of the partnership.

As an example of how not to make a thriller, this is hard to beat. John Barry is undoubtedly one of the great film score composers, but the music should support the film, and not the other way aro…
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Mission: Impossible III

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006

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It’s been a decade since Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible hit theatres to box office success, established a new blockbuster franchise and added ‘action hero’ to Tom Cruise’s résumé. In 2000, John Woo’s highly stylized follow-up raised the franchise to new box office heights. This year, the long-awaited third installment arrived amidst controversy about Tom Cruise’s crazy off-screen antics.

M:i:III’s U.S. box office take suffered from the public backlash to its headliner’s whacky rants and questionable actions.
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Rocky Horror PIcture Show/ Shock Treatment

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006

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Synopsis

Staid middle-class couple Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) wind up, one stormy night, at the gothic mansion of the cross-dressing Dr. Frank N. Further (Tim Curry). Many songs and sexual awakenings ensue. Seriously, people, if you are reading this and require a summary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, then the movie is probably not for you. Shock Treatment, however, is less well-known. Once again we have Brad and Janet (this time played by Cliff De Young and J…
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The Butterfly Effect 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 23rd, 2006

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The Butterfly Effect 2 is a direct-to-video release, and for good reason. While the original film was a surprise hit back in 2004, this sequel is nothing more than a quick cash-in.

At least, that’s what I thought I’d be writing for this review. I definitely had low expectations for this film, especially since while I’ve heard good things about the original, I’ve yet to see it, and I still question its somewhat-acclaimed reputation. So surely this sequel must be a piece of junk, right? But it’s not.
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Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs & Blockbusters

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2006

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Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs & Blockbusters is all about the magic of movies. It’s about doing it right and doing it wrong, and how there’s no sure thing. This HBO documentary doesn’t get very technical about making films, but it certainly does get personal with some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters.

Through a well-crafted collection of interviews and clips from some of the best and worst movies of American cinema, this documentary brings us the perspectives of folks like Steven Spielberg, George Clooney…
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Little Man (Loaded with Extra Crap Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2006

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I must admit that I fully expected to hate this film. Turns out, I didn’t. The truth is, Little Man, the latest comedy from the Wayans brothers, is too harmless for such a vehement reaction.

Sure, Little Man is not very good, but if you can manage to check your brain at the door, you’ll probably get some laughs out of it. Then again, they’re probably the same laughs you had watching the trailer. My problem with comedy like this is that it’s really much better suited to short sketches than feature films.

Xiaolin Showdown – Season One

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2006

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Synopsis

As if the urge to capitalize on the spirits and success of the Pokemon children’s franchise weren’t enough, someone decided it would be best to create an American version loosely based on the addictive game, or hobby, or whatever the hell it is that makes Pokemon so popular, and at least as of this writing, heading into it’s fourth season of episodes.

The idea is easy enough to follow. A young monk in training named Omi is the leader of a group of several other young monks. Among them are…
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Slight Case of Murder, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 21st, 2006

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Written By Jeff Mardo

TNT is slowly becoming the poor man’s HBO. Their programing quality has improved dramatically over the past couple of years, and even their original films are starting to look more like features than made-for-TV time wasters. More often than not, they provide quality programming that is a step above what you usually find on cable television.

This particular TNT original was both written and directed by William H. Macy. Predictably, Macy stars in the film as well. He pays a movie reviewer who is involved in an…
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Pet Sematary

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2006

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From the rather twisted mind of Stephen King, Pet Sematary is actually one of my favorite of his horror novels. It’s scary to think the story was never meant to be published and only offered up to finish a contract with his earlier publisher. As has been the Stephen King plague at nearly every turn, something ends up lost in the translation. In the novel, the deeper subtexts that King is so adept at take several hundred pages to set up and ultimately pay off. Unfortunately a mere couple of hours of celluloid never …
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Land of the Blind

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 20th, 2006

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This could have been a pretty good film. I just don’t know. The advance material and the jacket suggest this is a “gripping thriller” with timely themes of terrorism and war. As soon as the film opens, it becomes immediately obvious that something entirely different is at work here. A news report suggests that a tyrant is showing his compassion and generosity when he commutes the sentence of a prisoner about to go to the guillotine. What does he commute the sentence to? Death by hanging. What a guy. I think my mood…
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Nacho Libre

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2006

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Jack Black says when he’s embarrassed, he knows it’s funny. He must have been pretty confident about the success of Nacho Libre, because as Ignacio (Nacho) – the friar by day, wannabe wrestler by night – he embraced one embarrassing moment after another.

Black stars as a friar at a Mexican orphanage run by the sort of God-fearing folk who think wrestling, or Lucha Libre, is a sin. All his life, Black has longed to be a luchador (wrestler), which is a bit of a conflict. His only jobs at the orphanage are cooking duty, and dead-guy duty.
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Body Double

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 18th, 2006

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In 1984 Brian De Palma dusted off his best Alfred Hitchcock imitation in the by now infamous Body Double. We all know the story by now. In fact, if you’ve seen the far superior Vertigo and Rear Window films, you knew the story already. Claustrophobic vampire actor Jake Scully is having a hard time. He’s just been fired because he can’t lie in a coffin, and getting home early, he walks in on his girlfriend in bed with another man. Out of work and homeless, things look up when a fellow actor gets him a sweet housesit…
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