Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2005
Ah, the 80's. I remember slapping on the vinyl for the new Def Leppard album, "Pyromania". And what an album it was. "Photograph", "Rock of Ages", the list of singles go on. Def Leppard seemed to be poised for superstardom. Then tragedy struck. Their drummer lost his arm in a car accident. But they still rocked on. "Hysteria" was their most popular album, but a bit too sugary for me. Now we have a movie that charts the rocky road to stardom and beyond, Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story is a heavy m...tal bio pic that meets with semi-successful results.
Hysteriahas all the band movie cliches. We have the forming of the band, the first hit single, lives change, drugs take over. But what makes this story distinct is not just the music (80's hair metal has a certain kitschy charm), but the fact the drummer lost one of his arms. The movie starts with this tragic event, thus setting up the rise and fall narrative. The low budget of this movie is quite noticeable at times (a North American left steering wheel for British driving scenes ¦ c'mon), but the story is told with conviction, cliches and all. The music performances are well done, but this is a minor "band" movie. The metal saves it from becoming a retread altogether.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2005
Films like Crimson Tide, Hunt for Red October and U-571 have tried on their own ways to take their place as the definitive modern submarine movie, but Das Boot still stands as King, over 20 years after its release. I remember hearing about this film growing up, and as a lad of 10, wasn’t into foreign films, or war films, as I am now, which may not be saying much. In seeing it when the Director’s Cut first came out in 1997, many people snapped up the 5.1 soundtrack, and Director’s Commentar... which was on the flipper disc. In my first viewing, I became enamored by the experiences of German war correspondent Werner (Herbert Gronemeyer), as he watches the transformation of the baby faced crew of the U-Boat transform into unshaved, withdrawn men and the end of their journey in the 10 foot wide by 150 foot long submarine.
Jurgen Prochnow (Air Force One) is the Captain of the sub, who has become jaded from hearing the numerous failures of the sub, and while he does follow orders, and attempts to attack an Allied shipping convoy, the mission is almost one of survival. Doing what you can to stay sane, almost civil, during the time in cramped quarters. When his (and other) boats encounter the Allied ships, the chase is sonically powerful, with loud depth charges booming in the water, rattling the metal chassis of the sub, along with the contrasting quiet of the crew, hoping to avoid the ships above them. Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) does an outstanding job of portraying the cramped quarters, the decaying morale of the crew, and all of the suspenseful elements up to, and including, their trip home.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2005
On April 19th, Sony Pictures will release the critically acclaimed film House of Flying Daggers. This disc will be presented in an anamophic widescreen transfer, along with an audio commentary, a making of featurette, a music video and a photo gallery. More details, including audio formats and confirmed extras will follow shortly.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2005
Edges of the Lord is a movie that wasn’t released theatrically, due to some distributing difficulties. We now have it on DVD. Billed as “in the tradition of Life is Beautiful”, Edges of the Lord is an edgy little coming of age story set against the backdrop of World War II. The plot is simple enough: a 12 year old Jewish boy (Haley Joel Osment) hides with a family of Catholic peasants to escape the Nazi’s. The results are resonant and often powerful.
Everyone’s favorite child actor, Osme...t, is quite good here. But the real find is Liam Tess as Tolo. Willem Dafoe also gives a good performance (when is he not good?) as Priest. The movie tries a little too hard to be remembered as a classic in the same vein as The Diary of Anne Frank or the much darker Life is Beautiful. Edges of the Lord is, simply put, a simple story well told.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 8th, 2005
Admittedly when I first saw The Fifth Element, I wasn't too impressed by it, though Chris Tucker (Friday) did provide some good comedic moments, and it was nice to see Ian Holm (Lord of the Rings) return to major films also. I mainly thought that Bruce Willis had gone a bit silly with this one with dyed blonde head hair, in yet another action movie.
Upon further inspection however, the movie contains a lot of the breathtaking action that has made Frenchman Luc Besson's films (Leon>) as unique as they are. Written by Besson, the movie focuses on the title character (object?), when connected with the other elements (fire, water, earth and air), will prevent ultimate evil from ruling Earth. And when evil rules earth, light becomes dark, life becomes death, you get the idea. Every so often evil tries to come and destroy earth, and the elements must unite together to stop it. Willis is Korben Dallas, a former elite government soldier who became a taxi driver, has a modest apartment with a cat (his wife left with his lawyer, leaving him with nothing). His mission? Well, let's be frank, it's to save the world. The Fifth Element, a.k.a. Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich (The Messenger) is played with equal parts comedy and action, combined with a brief (and somewhat unnecessary) glimpse at the end of her emotions, when she views a montage of war footage. The elements are represented as stones in the movie, and the “art dealer” Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman, Sid and Nancy) attempts to do what he can to obtain the stones. He works for a buyer who sounds a lot like Bob Guccione or Barry White, but maybe is symbolized as Evil itself?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 7th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 7th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 5th, 2005
Mike Leigh is one of England's most accomplished directors. His recent success, Vera Drake, shows that the man hasn't lost his touch. Leigh's films go back over 30 years. His famous "Mike Leigh" method (in short hand) involves actors improvising scenes for months; Leigh writes the scenes down and a screenplay is created. The films he's made include quirky character dramadies, Life is Sweet and down and dirty slices of life, Naked. But nowhere is this "Mike Leigh method" more successful tha... in his masterpiece Secrets & Lies.
Secrets & Lies has a few story lines. But the main narrative follows the character of Hortense Cumberbatch (great name) as she searches for her birth mother (played by Brenda Blethyn). But Hortense is a black woman and Cynthia (the birth mother) is a very working class white woman. Sounds like a vehicle for Beonce? Mike Leigh has more class than that. But there are hilarious moments; and the climax of the film is shattering. Secrets & Lies garnered many major Oscar nominations for its year, and rightly so. It's a damn fine film; a masterpiece of British cinema.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 5th, 2005
Mike Leigh is one of England's most accomplished directors. His recent success, Vera Drake, shows that the man hasn't lost his touch. Leigh's films go back over 30 years. His famous "Mike Leigh" method (in short hand) involves actors improvising scenes for months; Leigh writes the scenes down and a screenplay is created. The films he's made include quirky character dramadies, Life is Sweet and down and dirty slices of life, Naked. But nowhere is this "Mike Leigh method" more successful tha... in his masterpiece Secrets & Lies.
Secrets & Lies has a few story lines. But the main narrative follows the character of Hortense Cumberbatch (great name) as she searches for her birth mother (played by Brenda Blethyn). But Hortense is a black woman and Cynthia (the birth mother) is a very working class white woman. Sounds like a vehicle for Beonce? Mike Leigh has more class than that. But there are hilarious moments; and the climax of the film is shattering. Secrets & Lies garnered many major Oscar nominations for its year, and rightly so. It's a damn fine film; a masterpiece of British cinema.
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