collectorz.com.jpg

DVD

Star Trek: Klingon Fan Collective

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 19th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

With the possible exception of the Vulcans no race has been given a richer history in Star Trek than the Klingons. We need to forget the drastic change in how these bad guys to allies look. In Enterprise this change is finally explained as a genetic experiment gone bad in an episode conspicuously missing from the set. I’m not sure I can criticize the episode selection, as they were voted on at Startrek.com. Still. I don’t like the over usage of repeats these collection sets are plagued with. It’s not like there are…
Read More

Battlestar Galactica – Season 2.0

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 19th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

The Sci-Fi Channel has certainly gotten its considerable amount of money’s worth from Ronald D. Moore’s reincarnation of Battlestar Galactica. The trouble, at least for me, is that it is still very hard for me to consider this Galactica at all. It might have been better if, as Jack Webb used to say, the names had been changed to protect the innocent. There isn’t much doubt that this version of Galactica is innovative science fiction in its own right. The cinematography is often mind-boggling, if a bit too dark. T…
Read More

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 16th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Marilyn Burns, Paul Partain, Allen Danziger, Teri McMinn, William Vail and Gunnar Hansen individually may not be that well known. Collectively, many people might confuse them with some group of lawyers or something. But film history has afforded them a higher place in memory past their initial endeavors. You see, back during the middle of a particularly oppressive heat wave in 1973 Texas, this group, directed by a then-fledging auteur in Tobe Hooper, combined to make what is widely regarded as one…
Read More

Love for Rent

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

The best I can gather from watching Love For Rent is that there’s only one recognizable face to speak of. The problem is that the face in question is Saturday Night Live cast member Nora Dunn, who was only moderately funny on the show, but sank her career when she boycotted the appearance of Andrew Dice Clay in the early 1990s. Now that the times have changed, have the sensibilities moved closer to Dunn’s?

Well to quote Whitney Houston, “hell to the no”. Dunn plays Helen, wi…
Read More

Wizard, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

I was never that much of a Nintendo kid growing up. I went from the Sega Genesis to the Playstation, then the PS2, before recently landing on the Xbox. I was never that accustomed to the world of Double Dragon, however I’d like to think that I was the bomb at Contra. And the only video game movie I can recall seeing when I was growing up was a film called Joysticks, which was a crude version of Animal House and Hardbodies, with Pac Man, Galaga and the like.

The Wiz…
Read More

Some Kind of Wonderful

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

While Some Kind of Wonderful may not feature the same kind of young spirit that Pretty in Pink may have had or the kind of older type of intelligence that Say Anything might have had, it’s still a cute, charming little romantic comedy with some recognizable faces penned by ‘80s icon John Hughes, responsible for such teen films as The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, to name a paltry few.

Keith (Eric Stoltz, Mask) is a bit of an underachiever, who…
Read More

10th & Wolf

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 14th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

James Marsden plays Tommy, who broke away from his mob-connected family to join the marines. Something goes wrong during the Gulf War, and he lands in the brig. He’s given a second chance by the authorities if he heads back to his old neighbourhood undercover. As he heads back to hook up with his slow brother and violent cousin (Giovanni Ribisi), we also get flashbacks to their youth in these families.

It’s hard to make a mob movie unentertaining, and this is certainly not dull. Bu…
Read More

Trilogy of Terror

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 13th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

When I was young there was an armchair in the living room that had its back to the hallway leading to my bedroom. I would frequently sneak down that hall and hide behind the chair. There I could spend hours after my bedtime watching whatever my parents were watching on television. What I saw from my secret vantage point in 1975 was the scariest thing I have ever seen. All my life I have been a horror fan. From the silent classics of Lon Chaney, through the Universal masterpieces of the 30’s and 40’s, all the way to…
Read More

ALF: Season 4

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 13th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

It’s time to say goodbye to that lovable furry alien from Melmac. After 4 years the network unceremoniously pulled the plug. Unfortunately it was in the middle of a cliffhanger. While a TV movie tried to wrap things up, I was never completely satisfied. The final season of ALF offers up pretty much more of the same. ALF’s go as a day trader is one of the better episodes. In case you haven’t noticed, all of the episode titles are song tittles. This season offers such hits and near misses as: Live and Let Die, Happy …
Read More

Lost City, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Andy Garcia plays Rick… er… I mean Fico, who runs a lavish nightclub in Batista-era Havana. The revolution is brewing, and two of his brothers are drawn to the cause. Fico is apolitical, putting family above all, but the revolution will transform his life whether he wants it or not, and then there’s the problem of falling in love with his brother’s wife.

Garcia not only starred here, he also directed, co-produced and scored the film. His elegy to pre-Castro Cuba is shooting to …
Read More

Curb Your Enthusiasm – The Complete Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Larry David plays Larry David, so thorough a narcissistic curmudgeon that he would be completely and utterly loathsome were it not for his unerring propensity to bring disaster down upon his head. Once again, we see him grump from episode to episode, never failing to make the worst possible decision at the worst possible moment in every social situation. A case in point: he dings another character’s car, gives the guy money to get the car fixed. Instead, the money goes to the man’s daughter,…
Read More

Edison Force

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Mix two parts hip-hop artists, two parts Oscar-winning actors, one part TV actor, and one part bad actor, and what do you get? The stars of Edison Force, that’s what. Now just because I specify one as a bad actor doesn’t let the others off the hook. Of course, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman are going to be tolerable. They’re phenomenal at their craft. Even the TV actor (Dylan McDermott) does a worthy job of bringing menace to his role as primary leg-breaker. But when it comes to poor performances, Cary …
Read More

Invasion – The Complete Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Hurricane Eve descends upon the Florida coast, wreaking particular havoc on the rural town of Homestead. The central characters are a park ranger, his two children, a reporter who is the ranger’s second wife, his conspiracy-nut brother (channelling Jack Black), his ex-wife and her second husband (the always suspicious-looking William Fichtner). As if the devastation weren’t enough, there are all those weird lights, and… hey… some people are acting kinda strange, like they’re might not be…
Read More

Poseidon

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 8th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Poseidon doesn’t waste any time getting to the action so I won’t waste any time with an introduction to this review. Yes, it’s a remake of the 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure. Yes, it is chock full of convenient cardboard characters (a former Navy man, a fireman, a nurse, etc…). But we don’t watch movies like Poseidon for character exposition, do we?

Poseidon is a rip-roaring 90 minutes of intensity and even delivers some gory goods. Yes, I said gory. I know Poseidon…
Read More

Good Woman, A

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 8th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Helen Hunt is horribly miscast as a 1930’s infamous seductress on the prowl for vulnerable rich husbands. There’s not a moment in the film she doesn’t look and sound completely out of character for the role. Fortunately Scarlett Johansson is better suited for her performance. Still, most of the cast seems ill-placed. The film is based on the Oscar Wilde play “Lady Windermere’s Fan” which I have never seen. Of course, things are never what they appear to be throughout the film. While the dialogue contains the tradem…
Read More

Vicki

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 8th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Jean Peters is Vicki, a top New York model, who is found murdered in the opening scene. Burnt-out cop Richard Boone comes pounding back from his vacation, rabid to take over the case. He is convinced her press agent Elliott Reid is the guilty party, and the screws are put to Reid. In flashback, we see Vicki’s rise to fame, and the effects it has on the people around her, including her sister Jeanne Crain, who might harbour feelings for Reid.

The film’s debt to Laura is obvio…
Read More

Mrs. Harris

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 7th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Jean Harris made international headlines in 1980 for killing her on again off again lover and fiancée. Of course, such crimes are rather commonplace and would hardly merit all the attention let alone a feature film. The victim, however, in this case, was the famous Dr. Herman “Hi” Tarnower, better known to you and me as the “Scarsdale Diet Doctor”. The film claims to base its script on actual testimony from the well publicized trial. While this may in principle be true, the tale is obviously intended as a satire. T…
Read More

Fourteen Hours

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 6th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

A young Richard Basehart climbs out onto the ledge of his fifteenth-floor hotel room. He could jump at any moment. Paul Douglas is the traffic cop who is first on the scene, and becomes the only person Basehart will willingly talk to. Hour after hour goes by as the authorities do everything they can to bring the troubled young man in.

The premise is so simple it’s high concept, and the film wrings every conceivable drop of suspense from the situation. Will Basehart jump? Why is he …
Read More

South Park – The Complete Eighth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

The boys are at it again in Season 8 of South Park. To say that this season provides more of the same would be a tad unfair. It appears to me that South Park optimally matures in its eighth year. No, not that kind of maturity. Cartman and the gang are as raunchy as ever, and yes, still at times over the top. The kind of maturity I refer to is more subtle. South Park no longer has to rely on the running gags epitomized by the old Kenny deaths. The show isn’t afraid to feature some of the more peripheral characters. …
Read More

Rome – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

What is it about The Roman Empire that fascinates us so? The answer is far too complicated to address in this forum, if you can pardon the pun. The influences of Rome are all around us. From the very form of government we practice to the grand arenas we watch our ballgames in, Rome can be found literally around every corner. Hollywood has recognized the allure since the early days of filmmaking. Classics like Ben Hur and Spartacus eventually gave way to the more modern epic Gladiator.

It is 52 BC and…
Read More

Elizabeth I

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Maybe it’s because of their funny accents, or maybe it’s because of the natural desire to see ancient history relived, but the British sure have a knack for their period piece dramas and making everyone want to watch. And when Elizabeth I aired on HBO over a two-part miniseries during the spring of 2006, it won a truckload of Emmy awards, not only for the production, but also for the title character, played by Helen Mirren (Excalibur) and one of the supporting actors (Jeremy Irons,
Read More

Scary Movie 4

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Anna Faris takes a job as a social worker, moving into a house with the evil presences we know and love from The Grudge. Meanwhile, next door, Craig Bierko is about to deal with The War of the Worlds. And off we go, as the movie riffs one parody of recent films after another.

At the helm is David Zucker, part of the team responsible for the Airplane! and Naked Gun films, and much the same kind of sensibility pervades this film. There’s plenty of fun, but…
Read More

Sentinel, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Something must be drawing Michael Douglas to the upper-crust “man in peril” role. He’s been stalked by a woman who likes to boil rabbits, sexually harassed by his sexy boss, and is currently being framed for the assassination of the President in The Sentinel. Douglas plays Peter Garrison, a Secret Service veteran who is also having an affair with the wife of the man he is sworn to protect, First Lady Ballentine (Kim Basinger, still looking good at 53). When Garrison is framed by the assassins (one of who…
Read More

Severed

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

Protestors and loggers are in conflict over the cutting of trees on an isolated island. Unbeknownst to both groups, the logging company has been experimenting with something dangerous, and when this substance gets into the blood of an injured logger, he becomes a flesh-eating zombie, quickly spreading the virus. The son of the chairman of the board flies in to see why contact has been lost, and is quickly caught up in the desperate battle for survival.

We have, of course, seen most…
Read More

Just My Luck

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Synopsis

This is the second film starring Lindsay Lohan that I’ve reviewed for Upcomingdiscs, the first being Herbie: Fully Loaded. So I guess you could call me a LoFAN, get it? But in doing an IMDB scan for the credits on Just My Luck, I’ve found that one of the producers is Bruce Willis. Yes, Bruce Willis from Die Hard. So I guess the bigger question is why didn’t Bruce appear in this film? Surely he could have made it a little more entertaining for me to watch.

Written by a…
Read More

«< 92 93 94 95 96 >»