Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 30th, 2005
Mad Hot Ballroom is the sort of live action family entertainment with which I can get on board. Too often, the desire for a good family film is quickly hampered by third-rate idiocy that only appeals to the youngest in the family. We the adults plod dutifully along for the good of the kids, hoping and praying it will all be over soon. And even though running times on family films are often shorter than a standard feature, it still seems like you've watched twice the length of that standard feature by the time ...
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on November 29th, 2005
New Line Home Entertainment will release the Tony Scott film Domino (starring Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Christopher Walken, Lucy Liu and Mena Suvari) on February 14th. This Platinum Series release will be presented in a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen tranfser, along with English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX & DTS-ES 6.1 audio tracks. Extras will include two audio commentaries (the first with Tony Scott and writer Richard Kelly; the second with script notes and story development from director Tony Scott, execut...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005
Synopsis
Amalia, the teenaged daughter of a hotel owner, is the victim of a creepy pass in a busy street. The creep in question is Doctor Janos, who is staying at the hotel, and he doesn’t know whom he has just molested. Very much in the grip of a new religious fervour, Amalia feels she has a calling from God to save Janos from himself.
There is a lot more going on too, as we also see Amalia’s friend Josefina deal with her budding sexuality, while Amalia’s mother is seeing things on the oth...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005
Synopsis
The film begins with the gunfight at the OK corral, making this something of a sequel to director John Sturges’ earlier film that ended with that famous battle. Here we see the aftermath, as the vengeful Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan, doing the Robert Ryan Villain thing) arranges for the shooting of the brothers of Wyatt Earp (James Garner). When legal means of redress prove fruitless, Earp progressively becomes more and more of a vigilante in his quest for vengeance, just as his best friend and ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005
Baseball, basketball, football... boat racing. While it’s not one of the premiere sports in America, the people of Madison, Indiana sure loved boat racing during the summer of 1971. As the town of Madison was dealing with layoffs and closures, the people looked to Jim McCormick (Jim Caviezel) and their boat, the Miss Madison, to be their saving grace.
Although it’s framed as a coming of age story, seen through the eyes of McCormick’s son, Mike (Jake Lloyd), Madison is a sports film through and throu...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005
"If you don't take risks, you'll have a wasted soul." - Drew Barrymore. Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Now, 20 years later and much wiser, he has one goal in mind. He hates to get a date, somehow, with Drew Barrymore. There's one small problem: She's Drew Barrymore and he's, well, Brian Herzlinger, a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey. However, this doesn't stop Mr. Herzlinger and his friends from tr...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 26th, 2005
Synopsis
The small Brazilian film City of God is a very powerful film that few have seen, but it made such an impression on critics that it was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, and with just cause, as this film makes for one of the better cinematic experiences in several years.
The story focuses on Rocket, a young boy growing up in the slums of the worldwide playground of Rio de Janeiro. Rocket and several other boys grow up in extreme poverty, and while Rocket dreams of becoming a photograp...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Satisfaction is a transitional project in so many ways. This was one of the first American films of Liam Neeson, who would go on to mildly excite the world as Henry Ducard in Batman Begins. Before Mystic Pizza came out, the world was exposed to Julia Roberts as Daryle.
And what of the main attraction of the film? Well, the film was apparently intended to be a starring vehicle for Justine Bateman, whose previous claim to fame was from Family Ties, playing the do...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2005
Synopsis
Dana Andrews is the tough cop who takes too much pleasure in roughing up the bad guys. When he hits a suspect too hard, he accidentally kills him. He covers up his crime and carries on the investigation into the murder the man was suspected of. But as if his life weren’t complicated enough, he starts to fall for his victim’s ex-wife, and then her father looks like he’s going to hang for Andrews’ crime.
This is what film noir is all about. Daylight never seems to intrude in this cit...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2005
John and Jane Smith are a seemingly happy couple. They live a pretty normal but almost mundane existence of shared meals, kissed farewells and chats about the color of their curtains. They even go to therapy together, purportedly to iron out their differences. It turns out, however, that they have a lot more in common than they both realize. You see, they both have secret lives—they are both assassins. We're not talking some street-punks you might hire in a bar, or leather coat wearing mafia hit-men, they are the bes...
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