Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 29th, 2004
Synopsis
The most notable aspect of the evergreen series’ sixth season was the replacement of LarryLinville’s Frank Burns with David Ogden Stiers’ Winchester. The transition happens over thecourse of a double-length season opener, with Burns’ misadventures and ultimate reassignmenthappening off-screen, while Winchester arrives to be, so the poor sap thinks, a temporaryreplacement. Still plenty of strong writing, and jabs of deadly seriousness permeating through thecomedy.
...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2004
Synopsis
Justin Urich is a disaffected high school student. He is unable to stomach dissection inbiology class (despite his love of horror movies), and he is perpetually tormented by the martinetgym instructor (Thomas Haden Church). When, in a counselling course, he declares that hewants to be a serial killer, he attracts the attention of goth chick Lisa Loeb. She will help himlearn what he needs to know to become a serial killer, on the condition that she be his firstvictim. Urich’...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2004
All too often, films with an ensemble cast are a dream for the studio’s marketing department, but end up being a nightmare for the moviegoer. They are the very definition of the phrase, “too many Chiefs and not enough Indians”. There are exceptions to this rule (such as Steven Soderberg’s re-make of Ocean’s 11), but more often than not, such films fall flat, as everybody leads in their own direction, and nobody follows.
Thankfully, this is one of those rare exceptions. Each member of the cast of T...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 26th, 2004
Synopsis
Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) is now a Detective Superintendent, with 24 murder casesunder her supervision. The most recent one is that of a young Bosnian woman. Tennisonbecomes directly involved with the investigation, which reveals the presence of a protectedBosnian war criminal in London. Tennison’s obsession with the truth, as well as some mistakesof her own, threaten to derail her career, destroying her life’s work.
As with the other entries in this series, the ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 26th, 2004
Synopsis
Jeff Bridges plays the black sheep of an aristocratic Southern family. Shiftless and callow,he is involved in a shady real-estate deal headed up by Joe Spinell (ex of The Godfather,later to gain notoriety as the title character in Maniac). In order to complete the deal,Bridges has to buy out a fitness club, populated by such characters as gym instructor Sally Field,would-be Mr. Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger (now there’s casting against type) and hishappy-go-l...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 25th, 2004
Synopsis
In 1893, scientist Peter Cushing returns home with a remarkable find: a giant skeleton, whichturns out to belong to a being that was the very incarnation of evil. Where water touches thebones, flesh regenerates, and Cushing isolates the blood cells that contain evil. Obsessed withprotecting his daughter from the insanity that destroyed his wife, he attempts to inoculate her.His experiment goes horribly wrong, and also attracts the attention of half-brother and scientificriv...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 25th, 2004
Synopsis
The Company deals with a fictional season in the life of the Joffrey Ballet ofChicago. In between elaborately filmed ballet numbers, we see the behind the scenes strugglesand preparations, injuries and heartbreaks. The principle characters are Neve Cambell as a dancerwhose moment in the spotlight has finally come. She has attracted the attention of flaky artisticdirector Malcolm McDowell, and finds relief in arms of restaurant chef James Franco.
In some ways,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2004
Following what may be one of the best season finales ever (i.e. Buffy sacrifices herself for her sister Dawn) Buffy is raised from the dead by the ever increasing powers of Willow. She returns disoriented just in time to battle a horde of motorcycle riding demons hell-bent on turning Sunnyvale into their own personal property. It is during the opening two episodes that it becomes clear that secrets are going to play a major role in the sixth season.
Buffy’s friends believe that as a result of the events of...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2004
Easily the best animated series to hit the airwaves over the past decade, Gennedy Tartovsky’s Samurai Jack has developed a devoted following owing to it’s superior storytelling and cinematography (if you can call it cinematography when it’s on TV).
It follows the story of Samurai Jack – a time displaced samurai looking to restore order to the planet by destroying the demon responsible for his, and the earth’s predicament. Aku, a powerful demon attacked Jack’s village destroying his home and family. Jack sw...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello essentially play themselves. Once a teen surf idol andMouseketeer, they are now, respectively, a stressed-out car salesman and a neurotic housewife.Their son is a leather-bedecked punk who addresses the camera directly to itemize the failingsof his parents. A trip to LA revives aging pair’s youthful spirit, however, thanks also to cameosfrom everyone from Bob Denver (in Gilligan outfit) to Pee-Wee Herman.
Nostalgia is one thing, ...
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