Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 11th, 2005
Synopsis
The film opens at the very beginning of Ray Charles’ career, as he makes his way to Seattlefor his first paying gigs with an unscrupulous band leader and manager. We see him grow inconfidence and artistry, soon becoming a force to be reckoned with. Intercutting his rise areflashbacks to his childhood, and specifically the accidental death of his little brother and his ownloss of sight. In the present, we also see his womanizing personal life and his descent into drugaddicti...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 10th, 2005
Synopsis
Paul Newman is a womanizing lout of a journalist. After unknowingly seducing the wife ofhis boss, he is packed off to the Paris bureau of the newspaper (and he reacts as if this is somesort of punishment). Joanne Woodward is a fashion spy for a discount chain. She’s a toughcookie, as you can tell from the fact that her hair is short and she wears sunglasses in dark rooms.She and her boss head to Paris too on a reconnaissance mission. Woodward and Newman collide,hate each ot...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 10th, 2005
After hearing that Russell Crowe had decided to embark on a movie about an early 19th century sea captain whose character was written about in several books by an author I never heard about, there was a part of me that was intrigued. This feeling was elevated by the film receiving 10 Oscar nominations, second only to Return of the King. And perhaps in another year, Master and Commander would have won more awards than it did (just one), and perhaps may go down as one of the more underappreciated films i...
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...
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...
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...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 8th, 2005
Synopsis
In the years leading up to the 1924 Paris Olympics, Ben Cross is Harold Abrahams, who useshis speed as a runner to fight back against the quiet but persistent anti-Semitism of Britishsociety. Ian Charleson is Eric Liddell, the profoundly religious Scot who runs for God. Wefollow their lives and training, along with those of Abrahams’ college friends, up to theOlympics, with a few smallish tribulations along the way.
And that’s about it, really. There are plenty of s...
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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 7th, 2005
Synopsis
Denzel Washington plays Malcolm X, the black leader white folks DIDN’T feel comfortableabout. Beginning in the 1940s, when Malcolm is a zoot-suited cool cat with best friend Shorty(Spike Lee), the film then flashes back to just before his birth, and proceeds in properly epicfashion to trace the life of the charismatic, and extremely controversial, leader.
Questions can, and have, been asked about some aspects of the film. Time Out, for instance,raises the issue of t...
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