Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004
Synopsis
Eight Pink Panther cartoons from the late 60s are offered here. See the cool cat deal with apersistent cuckoo clock, get caught in a jet fighter, drive a house painter mad, etc. Laid backcartoon fun, hardly in the same league as, say, the Looney Tunes, but appealing all the same. Thefrequently minimalist backgrounds add some visual interest to the efforts.
Audio
The sound is mono, and gets the job done. Given that the sound consists entirely of music...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 13th, 2004
Synopsis
We’re back at the open plan offices of Wernham-Hogg in Slough, which have now mergedwith the branch at Swindon. This spells disaster for manager David Brent (Ricky Gervais). His(erroneous) self-image of popular, entertaining boss is dealt a mortal blow by the arrival of theSwindon employees and their genuinely smart and funny manager, who becomes Brent’simmediate superior.
The style, as in the original series, is mockumentary, with a fly-on-the-wall handheld camera...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 11th, 2004
Everything But The Girl is a group that has always been a bit of an enigma to me. I have never heard any of their albums, but I consistently run into one of their songs on the odd movie soundtrack or occasional visit to the record store. I am always struck by how different one song sounds from the next, much like the brilliant work of Blur, and I assumed that this was because most of the songs that I have heard are B-sides, or as I stated before, tracks that were donated to compilations or soundtracks. This disc has ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 10th, 2004
Synopsis
During World War II, Walt Disney threw the resources of his studio behind the war effort.The result is what we see here: a massive collection of animated shorts serving to boost morale,educate and propagandize, plus a feature-length argument for long-range bombing. I’m assumingI know have your attention.
Disc 1 breaks its short features down into three categories: “Propaganda and EntertainmentShorts,” “Educational Shorts” and “From the Vault.” The familiar Disney ch...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 10th, 2004
In 1980, the United States was in need of something to give hope to its citizens. What it got was a miracle.
Now, hockey has never really been a major sport in the United States. While it is played feverishly in many of the Northern states, those in the rest of the country are just not as passionate about it. Basketball, baseball and football are the big three in this country. This fact just goes one step further to show just how unbelievable the Miracle on Ice really was. I am sure that most people already...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 9th, 2004
Synopsis
The crew of jaded Robert Mitchum’s destroyer is bored. Their craving to see some action,any kind of action, is answered when they encounter a U-Boat captained by the disillusioned CurtJurgens. From this point on, the entire film consists of the battle between the two brilliantcaptains, each one anticipating the other’s moves.
The fact that Jurgens, thoroughly sick of the war and the Nazis, is so sympathetic has an oddeffect on the film’s suspense. On the one hand, t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 9th, 2004
Synopsis
William H. Macy, he of the hang-dog eyes, is perfectly cast as Bernie Lootz. A terminal sadsack, Macy is a man whose luck is so bad it’s contagious. He works off a massive debt owed tocasino-manager Alec Baldwin by spreading his bad luck. He has almost finished his term ofservitude when he meets Maria Bello, and everything changes, including his luck. This luck isstill contagious, however, much to Baldwin’s displeasure.
The premise is presposterous, of course, but m...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 8th, 2004
Synopsis
Jessica (Dark Angel) Alba hangs up her guns to play Honey Daniels, cutting edgehip-hop dancer looking to be discovered. Soon enough, a big-shot video director spots her andshe revitalizes his videos. Before long, she’s also in charge of choreography. Meanwhile, sheis becoming involved with street kids, trying to save them from lives of crime and abuse bygetting them involved in dancing. A test of her values looms too: will she succumb to the slickdirector’s wiles, or...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2004
Synopsis
In 1957, the British studio Hammer, having already produced a number of classic SFthrillers, turned to gothic horror, which had been effectively dead since 1946, and brought it backwith a vengeance. Their revolutionary entry was The Curse of Frankenstein (****1/2),which introduced colour, gore and sex to the classic horror formula, and made Peter Cushing (asFrankenstein) and Christopher Lee (as the Creature) into stars. Unlike the Universal Frankensteinfilms of the 3...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2004
Synopsis
Samula Le Bihan is an ex-con trying to go straight. He and his partner are trying to have anormal life, and trying to have a child. Unfortunately, the old life won’t let go. His youngerbrother is a hot-head looking to make his mark in the organized crime scene, and his best friend(Samy Naceri), the local gang leader, is a little bit TOO attached to him, and is determined to pullhim back into the life.
The scene is very gritty, and the dialogue is extremely naturalis...
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