Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 28th, 2005
Warm Springs is an HBO production based on a lesser known part of the life of Franklin Roosevelt. While most folks know about FDR’s debilitating bout with polio, few are aware of his long-term association with a rural Georgia resort. It seems the water there is high in minerals, which allows those suffering from crippling diseases a chance to stand or even walk in the super buoyant water. HBO films has a nice track record with historical films. Truman is one of the best Presidential bio films I’ve ever seen. This film limits itself perhaps too much and becomes more about polio than it is about FDR.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 27th, 2005
Synopsis
Having survived one onslaught by rebel angels, Kari Wuhrer becomes a target yet again. She is the guardian of the Lexicon, and self-writing book of prophecies, and big-shot angel Tony Todd wants that book so he can learn the identity of the Antichrist and kill the child before he can bring about Armageddon. He sends killer Jason Scott Lee after Wuhere, but Lee is stricken with a conscience attack, and helps her instead. When the straits become very dire, however, there is only one person Wuh...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 27th, 2005
Synopsis
And here we go again with some 37 stories of inspired stupidity. Among the crazed storylines we find the classic sitcom scenario of Plankton swapping lives with Mr. Krabs and discovering he can’t take the heat, Squidward being drawn willy-nilly into a plastic conch shell-worshipping club of SpongeBob and Patrick, the non-swimmer SpongeBob becoming a lifeguard with disastrous consequences, and so on. It’s all bright, cheerful, unobtrusively self-aware, and refreshingly silly in a way that har...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 26th, 2005
Synopsis
A pair of human smugglers accidentally take off with the baby of one of the immigrants they dropped off inside the Czech republic. They bring the baby to a pawn shop, where it is subsequently sold to a woman who is so desperate to have a child that she tries to abduct someone else’s. Her husband is soccer hooligan trying to go straight. He might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he recognizes trouble when he sees it. Meanwhile, the mother of the baby has sought help with a refugee...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 26th, 2005
It was inevitable that the tragic events of 9/11 would spawn television and film dramatizations. The catastrophe quickly influenced almost everything produced immediately afterwards. Homeland Security is a failed NBC pilot. Unlike most discarded pilots Paramount decided to release this one as a direct-to-video feature. I’m not sure what the thinking behind this move was, but it was well thought out. The very things that made this a poor subject for a series make it an even worse feature release. There have been, and here will continue to be, dramas based on the attacks.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2005
Synopsis
In better days, the Disney company helped shape a lot of young minds back in the day. They released a lot of short films based on established fairy tales and fables. The animation was groundbreaking in its day, long before computers ruled the land, and some of the work really is great. As part of the movement to bring some of the tales to DVD, Disney has released two titles of Timeless Tales to reacquaint fans of the old work, and to bring new fans into the fold.
The discs contain...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 24th, 2005
Synopsis
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) is the landmark, because of its star, and because of its subject matter. This intense, rich portrayal of juvenile delinquency triggered a flood of largely exploitive imitators, but it remains a powerful film, not least for the sympathy with which it treats its characters, and for its understanding. It shows why the Dean, Natalie Wood and company behave the way they do, and does not demonize. This was Dean’s second film, but the first to be released, and hi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 24th, 2005
All good things must come to an end, and so it is with Kung Fu. It is always better for a show to go out at the top of its game than to overstay its welcome, fizzle, and fade away. Season One of this show was excellent in its storytelling, as the characters and themes were firmly established. Season Two was mostly about maintaining the themes that were set forth in the first year. Season Three, however, is where the whole thing comes together. Without giving too much away, it is safe to say that this season en...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 23rd, 2005
I Love Lucy changed the fledgling television industry in the 1950’s. This was a time when network television was less than a decade old. Most folks had never heard of television just 15 years earlier. I Love Lucy defined the concept of a sitcom. The show was driven by the very strong personalities of the cast. Desi Arnaz was considered a charismatic Latin lover by American women. Lucy played the perfect foil and found a mountain of gold to mine in strong physical comedy. So many modern shows owe their roots to this classic that it would be impossible to mention them all here.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on September 22nd, 2005
Paramount Home Entertainment will release this Billy Bob Thornton remake of The Bad News Bears on December 13th. This disc will receive an anamorphic widescreen transfer, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras will include an audio commentary (with the director and writers), six deleted scenes, three outtakes, four behind-the-scenes, a making-of featurette, and more.
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