Beverly Hills, 90210 – The Complete Second Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2007
Beverly Hills 90210, although I never watched this growing up, I knew a lot of people who did. Often compared as The OC of the 90’s, the show does in fact share a lot of similarities with The OC; two popular primetime soap operas based around the posh lives of rich teens. The main difference between the two shows is the fact this 90210 lasted 9 seasons and 10 years on air, which made for a vast array of storylines and ever developing characters. Some people might not remember the show all …
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Stomp the Yard
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2007
In the past, I have not enjoyed this types of movie. Save the Last Dance, You Got Served, Step Up and even Drumline are all comparable to Stomp the Yard. So it goes without saying that this isn’t one of my more anticipated movies of the year. But I’m throwing all pre-conceived notions out the window, and am hoping that Stomp the Yard will take a turn away from the clichéd norm.
I don’t even know how I would classify this movie – romance, drama, musical? Regardless o…
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Hunt, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 8th, 2007
OK. Everyone knows about The Blair Witch Project by now. We’re all impressed that this little independent film managed to bust out and generate enormous success. Every film student in the world is encouraged that a crude looking film can make history. So, can we all stop trying to imitate it now? The Hunt is nothing more than an obvious copy. In this case it’s a trio of deer hunters who are attempting to make a “how to” video on hunting deer with a bow. The film integrates their grainy footage with that of one of t…
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Creepshow III
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2007
Synopsis
Five different horror stories play out in this film, though they are all loosely interconnected, in that main characters in one story put in cameos in another, and the same locations are revisited. A sullen teenage girl comes home to her fractious family to see her father struggle with a newfangled remote. It doesn’t change the TV channel, but does zap her through alternate universes. A young man living in a dilapidated building starts taking orders from his possessed radio. A serial killer …
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Highly Defined – The World of High Definition
Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on May 7th, 2007
And the number of Canadian teams left in the playoffs for Canada’s title is down to one.
Well what can I say, things are in their summer quietness, with very little to discuss. As this particular writer will be joining everyone else on vacation in several weeks, I can tell you it’ll be nice to go to Hawaii and tear myself away from the TV and high def players. General news doesn’t offer too much, other than Universal finally responding to their issues with Children of Men and The Good Shepherd…
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Jerk, The (HD DVD)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Posted in Disc Reviews by Joshua Noyes
The Jerk, released in 1979, is a rags-to-riches-to-rags comedy film of belated self-discovery. This was Steve Martin’s first starring role in a feature film and was also written by him.
Carl Reiner directs Steve Martin (who co-wrote the script with Carl Gottlieb) in this gag-laden comedy about an idiotic white man, raised by a poor family of black sharecroppers, who doesn’t realize he’s not black. Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin) is told the horrible truth when he finds himself instinctively tapping his f…
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Off the Black
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Hey lookee here, in this movie called Off the Black, there are two Oscar nominees and one Oscar winner! So with this pedigree of talent, you’d expect to be a gangbusters piece of dramatic storytelling, right? Well, not exactly.
Written and directed by James Ponsoldt (Junebug and Hurricane), Ray (Nick Nolte, Blue Chips is a high school umpire in his spare time, when he normally works at an auto yard. He makes a controversial call in a game and later that night, some pl…
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Night at the Museum
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Holy crap, this movie made a boat load of money for Fox when it came out around Christmas 2006, making $250 million and running second only to the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel for box office money. And to see Ben Stiller finally appear in a film that could be considered a blockbuster success was nice too. And in Night at the Museum, he gets to play Larry, night security guard in the New York Museum of Natural History.
Based on a book by Milan Trenc, the story contains man…
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Dreamgirls (HD DVD)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2007
Dreamgirls created a substantial amount of buzz when it was first released at the end of 2006, and has since won two Academy Awards. Although this movie never really struck me as being something I just had to watch, I’ve been curious to check out what all the praise was about. For those of you that don’t know, Dreamgirls is a musical, a whole whack load of singing intertwined with the ongoing plot; much like Grease or Chicago. Like most musical films, Dreamgirls is adapted from a pl…
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Tomorrow Never Dies (Region 2)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2007
Synopsis
Well in the ever ongoing series of reviews of the James Bond series, this particular installment is the last of the Pierce Brosnan collection (the others are on the site, so go find them). And in Tomorrow Never Dies, I saved it for last because well, I needed some form of drama to keep me going.
This one takes Ian Fleming’s characters and adapts them into a screenplay that was written by Bruce Feirstein (GoldenEye) and directed by Roger Spottiswoode (Under Fire). And …
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Hitcher, The (HD DVD)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2007
Grace (Sophia Bush) and Jim (Zachary Knighton) are your average college students. They love each other and with the arrival of Spring Break, they want nothing more than to spend a week down in Mexico with their friends. Leaving their campus, everything is progressing smoothly until they nearly run over a man who simply wants a ride to the nearest motel. They speed off thinking they obviously shouldn’t pick up any stranger, especially in the pouring rain. Once they arrive at the nearest gas station, they’re shocked to…
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Catch and Release
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 5th, 2007
Catch and Release is appropriately dubbed as a chick flick. Written by Susannah Grant, who also makes her directorial debut, is responsible for the screenwriting of some rather dismal movies in the past, including Ever After, Erin Brockovich, and 28 Days. Although I hint at a dislike for romantic comedies, I’ll have you know that in the past I have enjoyed several, and am going into this completely unbiased.
The movie starts off on a sad note, Grey (Jennifer Garner) a grieving a…
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.45
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2007
Gary Lennon is a first time writer/director and it shows with .45. Milla Jovovich is the obvious centerpiece of this misguided drama. We know we’re in for a long haul from the opening shots of Kat (Jovovich). Talking about the sexual prowess of Big Al, her abusive boyfriend. Big Al is played quite single dimensionally by Angus MacFayden). It’s not that the actor’s don’t have the skills or the desire it’s that they are severely limited by the script. The only entertaining moments occur when the film heads more into …
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Thr3e
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 4th, 2007
Synopsis
A serial killer who sounds just like Jigsaw (only rather less interesting) and kills exclusively using explosives (!) blows up the brother of a criminal psychologist, then turns his unwanted attentions to seminary student Marc Blucas, taking his life apart one explosion at a time. Blucas is convinced that the killer is a dark figure from his past, and turns amateur sleuth even as he is consumed by guilt. Most of his time, however, he puts his energy into being one of the whiniest protagonist…
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Black Emanuele’s Box Volume 1
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 4th, 2007
When Just Jaeckin’s glossy exercise in softcore, Emmanuelle, earned boffo box office in 1974, imitators piled on, and no imitators anywhere were as shameless as the Italians, who began the Black Emanuelle series (note the missing “m”). Laura Gemser starred, and Joe D’Amato directed many of the entries (though not the first). This set offers three.Both the double-“m” and single-“m” series were characterized by the heroine having sex in exotic locales, and the travelogue aspect is most dominant in Emanuelle in Bangkok (1977).
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Brain Blasters
Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on May 4th, 2007
Personal confession time, though I doubt I am entirely alone in experiencing the following. One of the odd side-effects of the fact that, sooner or later, EVERYTHING is making its way to DVD, is that some of that some of the more deliciously sordid mysteries of one’s youth are fading in the harsh light of day. Nowhere is this more the case than in the realm of the exploitation film.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m of an age that places me between two stools. I’m old enough to remember the grindhouses her…
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Drew Carey Show – The Complete First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 3rd, 2007
The Drew Carey Show originally aired its pilot episode in 1995, focusing on a simple group of friends living their simplistic lives. Known for its everyman characters and situations, the show enjoyed a 9-year run on ABC, getting yanked from the schedule in 2004. Drew Carey and Bruce Helford, who both continued to write for the show in the following seasons, created the show with the premise of Drew Carey’s life if he hadn’t become a comedian and pursued a different career. I wasn’t even aware that this show wa…
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Pink Panther and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection, The — Volume 5: The Ant and the Aardvark
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 3rd, 2007
Synopsis
The Ant and the Aardvark were regulars on the old Pink Panther show. They were the DePatie-Freeling equivalent of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote. Every episode would see the Aardvark deploy one strategy after another to catch that Ant, and every attempt would blow up in his face (often quite literally). The animation, the invention and the energy are a long way from being up to the level of the Warner team. What is fun, though, is that both antagonists here are very loquacious (voiced by …
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on May 2nd, 2007
Halo 3 grublings, A fine Wine, & Centipede – Welcome to the column that earns its living as a backup to the Tequila worm known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. My air conditioning busted on Saturday and my house got up to 82..83 at one point. Thank goodness it wasn’t the summer yet but it wasn’t fun either. I took quite a few cold showers so I could store up my energy. I also went out on Saturday night, by myself and spent m…
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Les Misérables
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 1st, 2007
Synopsis
After serving ten years as a galley slave for having stolen a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean returns to the outside world a bitter man. He is transformed by the saintliness of a bishop who gives him shelter and the gift of the very items he was trying to steal. Starting his life over again, he becomes Mr. Madeleine, highly respected pottery plant owner and eventually mayor. He even adopts young Cosette, whose mother is dying. But the relentless Inspector Javert feels he recognizes Madeleine as …
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Dinosaurs – The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2007
“Gotta love me!” What’s not to love about this cute Disney comedy featuring the most sophisticated puppetry ever created for a television show? Sure, the series has taken its share of hits for being a little too preachy. But even an old conservative like myself really can’t find much to fault in the issues tackled by Dinosaurs. There’s nothing wrong with message entertainment as long as it actually entertains. As a long time Star Trek fan I’m no stranger to morality tales. Truth be told, the issues are simplified e…
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Lost Room, The (Mini-Series)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2007
The Lost Room was a Sci-Fi Channel 3 part mini-series. There are actually 6 separate segments on the DVD. We are quickly introduced to a special old style motel key. Yes, before we all got those slide cards. This key is apparently quite valuable, as it is the subject of an underground meet to purchase it. The deal looks like one of those Hollywood drug buys we’re used to seeing, and like those plays, this one goes horribly awry. Enter Detective Joe Miller (Krause), assigned to deal with the aftermath of this meet. …
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Highly Defined – The World of High Definition
Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on April 30th, 2007
And how did you spend YOUR NFL Draft weekend?
This seems to be a week where things just aren’t happening news wise (granted, the $299 HD-DVD player remark was clarified to be a little vaguer this week, but that’s about it), but there’s some fun things on the disc release front, most of it for Blu-Ray fans. Sony pimps out The Patriot, Wild Things and Flatliners on 7/3. Lion’s Gate puts Season Two of Weeds out on 7/24, and Waiting comes out one week prior. Warner will be rel…
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Pure
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 29th, 2007
Synopsis
Drug addiction is scary. It can take an otherwise decent person and turn them in a messy pool of hate, disgust and worthlessness. When the drug you are addicted to is heroin; amplify that by ten. Enter Paul (played by Harry Eden(Oliver Twist)), a ten year old trying to take care of his younger brother Lee (played by Vinnie Hunter) and his heroin addicted mother Mel (played by Molly Parker(Wicker Man, Deadwood)). The father of th…
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Venture Bros – Season Two
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 29th, 2007
Synopsis
*Booming Voice*, “When we last left the Venture Bros season 1, the incredible arch-villain Monarch had been imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit and the Venture Bros were suffering from the loss of their boys Hank and Dean, Meanwhile…” *Monarch voice*, “Where the heck are my cue cards, can’t an arch-villain get some normal cue cards for once and how come there is nothing about the sweet Dr. Girlfriend anywhere in here, I mean who really cares about the f****ng V…
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