Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 23rd, 2003
In 1939 Warsaw is invaded by Nazi Germany, Wladyslaw Szpilman is performing live on a radio station as it is dive bombed by the Luftwaffe. He continues to play until he is almost killed. This opening scene sets the tone for the story of a man so driven by his passion for music even in the face of adversary. As the film continues we watch the establishment of the Warsaw ghetto and the beginning of the reign of hate towards the Jews by Nazi Germany.
The Warsaw ghetto is full of stark contrasts we watch as people die in the streets from hunger and others prosper by bribing guards and importing goods, we see Germans helping Jews escape from the ghetto and Jews who join the ghetto police in an attempt to save themselves.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 23rd, 2003
Charlie Kaufman is a neurotic, narcissistic, self loathing writer who is hired to adapt Susan Orlean’s novel The Orchid Thief into a film. The only problem is that he is suffering from writers block, add in a twin brother who is also writing a screenplay and his inability to interact with people and hang-on for a wild ride. Charlie tries a number of different approaches to writing the script and suddenly finds himself being written into the story. What starts out as an adaptation of a book into a film turns into a completely different story all together.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Archive Authors on June 23rd, 2003
Gamers looking for a First Person Shooter on the Nintendo GameCube have never had a better game to check out than Metroid Prime--a classic FPS with some of the best visuals seen to date on the console outside of the Resident Evil series.
The story follows a brave warrior by the name of Samus Aran as she infiltrates the depths of Tallon IV in an attempt to uncover a mystery surrounding Phazon and it’s effects on life forms. Using a specially designed battle suit, which is e...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 22nd, 2003
Jared Leto plays Basil, youngest son of the tyrannical Derek Jacobi. Traumatized by the death of his mother when he was young, the exile of his brother (who dallied with a young woman beneath his station), and oppressed by a father for whom class consciousness is the be-all and end-all, Basil is barely equipped to deal with the outside world. He has no friends, and only the most naive notions of romance. Into his life comes Christian Slater, whose worldly ways inspire Leto, and ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 22nd, 2003
Set in the Pakistani community in London, this coming-of-age story follows Omar (Saeed Jaffrey), a young man who gets his start in business through his not-entirely-scrupulous uncle.Omar has ambitions of transforming a grotty laundrette into a first-class establishment. To this end, he enlists the aid of an old friend (and soon-to-be-lover) (Daniel Day-Lewis), much to the displeasure of the latter’s skinhead friends. Family, racism, Thatcherism, sexism, homosexuality,organized crime and laundromats might sound like a lot to pack into 98 minutes, but this wry, sly comedy does so with grace and agility.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 22nd, 2003
Jessica Lange is a top Chicago attorney, who finds herself called on to defend her father when he is accused of having committed war crimes in Second World War Hungary. Convinced of his innocence, she launches herself into the wrenching case, but finds that maintaining her convictions becomes harder as the case moves on. Given his later career (Basic Instinct,Showgirls, etc.), it’s rather surprising in retrospect to find that the script to this intelligent drama is by Joe Esteras. Though sometimes moving a bit too slowly, the film is always interesting, the performances are superb (especially by Lange) and the story builds to a pretty powerful climax.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 22nd, 2003
Synopsis
We are in the final days of WWII. The Allies are liberating Italy, but the Nazis and holdoutFascists haven’t quite been beaten yet. They still hold sway in the town of San Martino. Whenthe villagers are ordered to gather in the cathedral, a large group decide to flee into thecountryside, hoping to find the Americans. The film is narrated by a woman who, at the time ofthe story, is six years old, and thinks the flight is a grand adventure. There are great momentsof tendernes...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2003
Eleven-year-old Harriet wants to be a writer. Told by her nanny (Rosie O’Donnell) to write down everything she sees, Harriet takes this command to heart and becomes the neighborhood spy. The people she writes about would not be gratified by what she has to say about them, and inevitably, her notebook falls into the wrong hands, leading to some painful lessons for Harriet.The pace is brisk, the editing even faster.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2003
Made for TV (and showing it, what with that jarring fade-to-black exactly 20 minutes in),this film tells the story of a group of men trapped together in a coal mine when they suddenly strike water and their claustrophobic environments floods. We cut back and forth between their struggle to survive, the struggle to reach them, and the experience of their wives and families. At times, what, precisely, is happening in the mine is a bit hard to follow, though the realism is quite strong.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 21st, 2003
A serial arsonists is terrorizing the Los Angeles area. Investigating are veteran John Orr (Ray Liotta) and his junior partner Keith Lang (John Leguizamo). Before long, it appears that the arsonist is actually a fireman. The synopsis on the case implies that the film is a mystery: whois the arsonist, Liotta or Leguizamo? In fact, this isn’t really a mystery, since the film is based on a well-publicized case, and when was the last time Liotta didn’t play a weasel? In fact, Liotta becomes the prime suspect quite early on, and we see both his double life and the tightening net.
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