Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 8th, 2003
Synopsis
There are three movies here: Miranda, The Key and All Ladies Do It(whose Italian title, Cosi Fan Tutti sounds much less awkward). Though taking place indifferent periods (the first two are set in Fascist Italy, while the third is more modern), all threeshare some similarities in terms of plot: a dark haired-beauty has a long series of eroticencounters, but her true love belongs to one man. Handsomely mounted, with nice attention tocolour and costume, the...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 8th, 2003
Synopsis
There are four 90-minute telefilms here: “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” “The Sign ofFour,” The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire,” and “The Royal Scandal.” They are of varyingand iffy degrees of fidelity to the Conan Doyle stories. Starring as Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson are, respectively, Matt Freuer and Kenneth Welsh, who essay British accents to varyingdegrees of success. Ex-Max Headroom Freuer puts plenty of energy into his role, but takes it soover-the-top that he co...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 7th, 2003
Extreme sports films come in two flavors first there are the sport specific show off films and then there are the documentary like Ultimate X that show what extreme sports are about. Keep Your Eyes Open rides the line between these two types of films, it looks at six of the wildest sports out there by looking at the athletes. We get an understanding of what motivates them, how they got into it and we also get lots of footage of them doing what they do. Starring Marc Frank Montoya and Mike and Tina Basich (snowboardin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2003
Synopsis
When a strange formula (cooked up in beakers and coloured a bright green) gets into thesewage system and is consumed by escaped lab rats, trouble ensues for a small group of young(and inexpensive) actors. At the climax, they have to face off against a super-rat, whose costumemakes the inside-out bear of Prophecy look like a high point of SFX technology.Extremely cheap, but not without some amusement for connoisseurs of bad film.
Audio
The sou...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2003
Synopsis
The Great Depression. Ryan O’Neal is an itinerant con man, selling bibles to newly widowedwomen. Unexpectedly, he winds up saddled with Tatum O’Neal, a sharp, cynical child who mayor may not be his daughter -- she certainly shares his gift for the fast move. The two engaged ina picaresque journey, which pulls of the neat trick of being funny but not wacky, moving but notsentimental. The last film of Bogdanovich’s golden period (following Targets, TheLast Picture S...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Misadventures aplenty are in store for our hapless duo. On offer are “Sons of the Desert”(which, at 65 minutes, counts as feature-length), “The Music Box” (which won an Oscar),“Another Fine Mess,” “Busy Bodies” and “County Hospital.” In virtually every case, a simplepremise (such as delivering a player piano or visiting a friend in the hospital) is milked formaximum chaos. A terrific introduction to two comedic geniuses.
Audio
There are two versions...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Our two heroines head out to the Dutch countryside for a holiday. They run into car trouble,and blunder into The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or so the available evidence would haveone believe. They stop at the wrong gas station, and it isn’t long before first one, then the otherare prisoners of a deranged family and their masked, hulking youngster. You’ve seen this before,and done so much better.
Audio
Both 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks are available,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2003
Let me start out and admit that I never really understood this show to begin with. The DVD can at times be mildly humorous, but never once can I say I really enjoyed this disc. I’m sure fans of the show will “get” a few inside jokes. Tom Green’s act is reminiscent of some of David Letterman’s much more clever street sketches throughout New York City. In this show, Tom Green travels through Japan begging for laughs, mostly by pretending not to understand the people around him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2003
In the late 1950’s Westerns accounted for six of the top ten programs on TV. Only Gunsmoke had a longer run than Bonanza. From 1959 to 1973 Ben Cartwright and his boys rode across the small screen. Years later in syndication the series re-emerged as Ponderosa and a handful of TV movies continued the tale into the 90’s.We never have grown tired of the genre that gave us such heroes as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. While I am far more in favor of season sets, this best-of collection is a might heapin’ helping of tall tales.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2003
Synopsis
The plot of both films is identical: a meticulous sculptor of wax figures has his life and workdestroyed in a fire set by an unscrupulous business partner. Years later, now confined to awheelchair and deprived the use of his hands, the sculptor is back in business. This time, thewaxworks are made by murdering people and dipping their bodies in wax. Lionel Atwill playsthe sculptor in 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum, while Vincent Price takes over in1953. Both films w...
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