Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2005
While House of Flying Daggers may be easy to pigeonhole as a movie similar to Zhang Yimou's own Hero or even Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the only thing you could say about all three is that they have an impressive level of stuntwork that also, features the acting skills of Zhang Ziyi. But where Lee's work is more story based around three characters' feelings for one another, and Hero had some great stuntwork set against some breathtaking cinematography, House of Flying Dag...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 13th, 2005
Synopsis
Michael Redgrave is a cynical British journalist posted in 1952 Saigon, happily far awayfrom his estranged wife. He views both sides of the French and Communist war with equalindifference, and likes the comfortable arrangement he has with his Vietnamese girlfriend(Giorgia Moll), a woman whose intelligence he hardly seems to respect. Everything goes tosmash for him when a polite young American (Audie Murphy) shows up. Redgrave finds hisidealism suspicious, if not actively da...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 13th, 2005
Synopsis
The setting is Glasgow, and racial and cultural tensions are visible right from the start asTahara, daughter of Pakistani immigrants, pulls no punches about her experiences with racismpost 9-11 in a speech at school. Some of her schoolmates do not take kindly to her, aconfrontation ensues, and a chase takes place through the school. Tahara’s brother, Casim, a DJ,intervenes, and in the process meets Tahara’s music teacher, Roisin, an Irish Catholic. Sparks fly,and the stage ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 13th, 2005
Synopsis
Robert Redford narrates this documentary look at the remote human cultures that are livingin harmony with the planet, rather than conquering (or raping and pillaging, if you will) nature.Think of this as a 47-minute lite version of the Koyanisqatsi trilogy. Everything is verydreamy and beautiful, and this is hardly a rigorous work. But the images are absolutelybreathtaking. Produced for IMAX, this has all the earmarks of those features: short in runningtime and subst...
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on April 12th, 2005
We have newly updated our release calendar and our cover gallery with hundreds of upcoming titles. From here on out, these resources will remain to be keep up-to-date. Be sure to check them out!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 10th, 2005
Synopsis
Anthony Mackie, VP of a biotech company, learns the hard way that no good deed goesunpunished. When he blows the whistle on the corporation’s misdeeds, he is the one who windsup losing his job and being investigated. Given his desperate straits, he agrees to impregnate, fora price, his ex-girlfriend and her girlfriend. So begins a new business for our hero: stud-for-hireto well-heeled lesbians. The two tales intertwine, and sex and capitalism/corruption collide whenMackie i...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 10th, 2005
The who’s who of Hollywood have assembled once again in this sequel to the highly successful film Ocean’s Eleven. This time around the cast are equally great and extremely entertaining to watch, but the film seems to lack the same strong storyline that it predecessor carried with it.
This time around, the story takes place a few years after the Bellagio heist. A leading European thief known as The Nightfox, consumed with being the best thief in the world, derives a plan to take out Ocean and his te...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 9th, 2005
Synopsis
Shirley Chisholm made history in 1972 as the first black woman to run for President of theUS. This documentary chronicles her run, doing so with a mixture of archival footage and newinterviews with people who were involved with her campaign, as well as those who wereinspired by it. Presented without a narration, the film lets the interview subjects and the film clipsspeak for themselves, backed by a very 70s funk soundtrack. Chisholm herself comes across as apassionate and ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 9th, 2005
Synopsis
Michael Caine begat Christopher Walken, who begat Josh Lucas, who begat Jonah Bobo.Got that? Eccentric patriarch Caine is approaching the end of his days, and wants to bring theestranged Walken back into the family fold. After a tense family reunion at a KFC, Caine dies,but leaves behind an elaborate testament that sends the three other generations together on across-country trip. Tentatively, with many a misstep, Lucas begins to reconnect with the father hehasn’t seen sinc...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 6th, 2005
Synopsis
In 1943, medical student Aňa Geislerová is living the sophisticated life in Prague, carryingon with a doctor. She’s also working for the Czech resistance, and when her lover decamps andshe is betrayed, she is forced to seek refuge in the country. She poses as the wife of GyörgyCserhalmi, whose life she saved with a blood donation when he was in the hospital. At firstdismayed by her new surroundings, she gradually comes to love both the countryside and herersatz husband...




