Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 30th, 2004
Synopsis
Theresa Russell seduces rich men by conforming to their dreams in terms of appearance andbehaviour, marries them, and then kills them. She thinks her means are undetectable. But JusticeDepartment investigator Debra Winger has noticed a pattern, and becomes obsessed withtracking Russell down. She follows her to Hawaii (where she is working on her latest target),befriends her, and the stage is set for a psychological chess game.
The idea is promising, but the executio...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 29th, 2004
Synopsis
A sinister organization called “Big O” (get it?) is plotting something to do with nuclearmissiles. The only man for the job, apparently, is Matt Helm (Dean Martin at his most greasilyrepulsive). Stella Stevens plays a woman who may be in league with the Big O, or she may begenuinely stupid, and Matt drags her along on his quest for the bad guys. The plot makes verylittle sense, the action scenes are dull, and nobody involved with this project seems to have caredvery much. M...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 29th, 2004
Synopsis
If you’re watching the third season, you presumably know where you’re at with our heroine,and you don’t need this synopsis. If you’re not a fan, then this is even more pointless. For whatit’s worth, this season’s major narrative arc concerns Gabrielle’s impending motherhood, and theterrible secrets that come to the surface along with her child, ironically named Hope.
Audio
The score is wonderfully thunderous, suitably stirring in 5.1. there are some s...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 29th, 2004
Angels and demons and monsters, oh my!
Not even the death of Buffy could stop this popular show from coming back for a third season. This time around, Angel must find melodrama in new and interesting places, and luckily for fans of the show, he succeeds admirably. In fact, I feel that the death of Buffy was a good thing, as it forced the writers to push this show into its own territory, and helped to give the whole production a voice and an identity all its own.
Newcomers to the show (like myself)...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 28th, 2004
Synopsis
Jack is supposed to accompany his chimpanzee family and human minder to Mexico, but amix-up at the airport puts him on the wrong plane, and he winds up in Colorado. There hebefriends the new kid in town, and they become snowboarding champions together. Lessons offriendship are learned by all, amid rigidly carboard performances and lackluster comedy. Theanthropomorphisation of Jack and the other chimps reaches such an extreme level that it wouldbe disturbing if the film were...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 28th, 2004
Synopsis
Ed Harris is the coach of a small-town high school football team in 1976. He takes an interestin Cuba Gooding, Jr. after the mentally challenged young man is tormented by some of thethoughtless players. Harris takes Gooding under his wing as a kind of team mascot (orsomething). A friendship grows between the two men, and Gooding gradually blooms. Thoughnot quite as gruesomely “inspirational” as the trailers implied, this still comes very close, like anafter-school TV specia...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2004
Synopsis
Wrong side of the tracks gal Julia Roberts (now there’s casting for you) is hired by leukemia-ridden Campbell Scott to be his nurse. He’s educated and rich, she ain’t. He’s dying, she ain’t.Cue every cliché in the book as the romance wends its inevitable way. Suspension of disbeliefis not helped by the fact that Scott is supposedly doing his PhD on German Impressionist art, andwhen shows Roberts a slide show of his subjects, Pre-Raphaelite Victorian Dante GabrielRossetti is...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2004
Synopsis
This documentary follows eight children as they compete in that peculiarly Americaninstitution, the National Spelling Bee. The first half of the film profiles each of the eight, andwe see them at home with their families, getting ready for the big competition. The second half isthe Bee itself, brilliantly edited to generate maximum tension in the viewer. One of the film’sremarkable achievements is that, unlike so many other documentaries which centre around acompetition, we...
Posted in: Game Reviews by Archive Authors on January 26th, 2004
Links has been the most successful golf game on the PC, now Microsoft has ported it over the X-Box with tremendous success.
Graphics
Links does everything right, from the player models, to the gorgeous courses, to even the gallery. The scenery on much of the courses is very eye catching, and i found myself looking at the scenery many times. There are some real nice touches like the waves crashing, tree swaying in the wind, and dust particels when your ball lands in the sand or in the rou...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 25th, 2004
The best sci-fi show on television keeps getting better. MGM has also shown an attempt to improve the DVD releases with each subsequent season. This was Showtime’s final year of hosting Stargate SG-1. I will be interested to see if the cinematic quality holds up with the release of season 6 which was taken over by the Sci-Fi Channel. The stories are bigger in season 5 and the f/x continue to amaze. With seasons 4 and 5 SG-1 had reached its peak.
Synopsis
Col. Jack O’ Neal (Anderson) heads the group.
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