John and Mary
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 14th, 2007
Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow wake up in bed together, having just met the night before. Much cautious circling of the one another ensues in the apartment, and as they go their separate ways, more anxious debating follows regarding whether they should get together again. Is Farrow the one for Hoffman, and what about the fact that he doesn’t even know her name?
This is a film that could only have been made in 1969 (unless your name is Woody Allen), what with its incessant interrogation of character neuroses and a very self-conscious attempt to present us with How Romance Works In The New Scene.
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Conversations With God
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 14th, 2007
Based on a true story Conversations With God tells the story of Neale Donald Walsch, an average guy who loses his job, gets into an automobile accident and breaks his neck, and finally loses his family to a divorce. It wasn’t long after this tragic chain of events, with his hospital bills rising and nobody wanting to hire a middle-aged man with health problems, that Walsch finally became homeless.
Hitting rock bottom with no prospects for improving his predicament, he begins to audibly question God. Wa…
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 14th, 2007
Take Two takes a loss, Jungle Hunting and Turtle Soup 360 style – Welcome to the column that wishes it could celebrate Steak & BJ day with more than a steak known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. No, I’m not a First Sergeant in Rainbow Six…told you! I’m about three bars in though, not too bad I guess. However, I did complete the co-op terrorist hunts for a nice achievement. I am also only three missions away from the co-op st…
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Dixie Chicks – Shut Up & Sing
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2007
Back in 2003, The Dixie Chicks raised controversy when lead singer Natalie Maines announced – to a concert audience in London and in opposition to the Iraq war – that the Chicks were ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas. Her comment changed their career.
I’m not a country music fan, so I hadn’t heard of the Dixie Chicks until they enraged a significant number of red-blooded Americans, who began boycotting the group and staging demonstrations involving various forms of destroying Dixie Chicks CDs.
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Open Water 2 – Adrift
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2007
The first Open Water film was one of those underdog stories that keep the filmmaking industry alive and vibrant today. I was pleased with the simplicity of it all and the emotional effect that kind of storytelling could have. The film provided hope that an Indie film shot on weekends and vacations on an almost nonexcistant budget could have something important to say. While this sequel attempts to reproduce all of these elements, it only further demonstrates how sadly they are missing. There’s no small production feel to the process.
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Farce of the Penguins
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2007
Penguins are “in” right now. They March and they dance with those adorably Happy Feet. So, I guess it was only a matter of time before someone decided there was money to be made by turning in a penguin farce. Unfortunately for us, that someone turned out to be Bob Saget. I admit to knowing very little about Saget outside of his family sitcom and home movies shows. This is a side of him I wish I’d never seen. This film is absolutely unfit for the kiddies. Now let me first say that I’m certainly not one of those folks that gets easily offended.
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Emergency – Season Three
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 13th, 2007
Jack Webb’s empire was running strong as Emergency entered its third year. What is interesting is that the series never racked up great numbers, but it had some strong staying power. Fans who did watch the show were loyal, and it along with Webb’s police shows were affecting the pop culture. It’s no secret that the contributions to society were high for Emergency. The modern paramedic system owes more than a little bit to the legacy of the series. The actors are still approached by folks who credit them with their decision to go into the life-saving business.
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Dukes of Hazzard, The – The Beginning (Unrated Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2007
To tell you the truth, I think Warner Brothers is really on to something with their recent series of direct-to-DVD sequels. The studio offers a familiar story in a quality package, often at a discounted price. Some of these direct-to-DVD films are actually pretty good, such as the studio’s new Raw Feed line of horror features. Unfortunately, this title is not one of the good ones.
While The Dukes of Hazzard – The Beginning is supposed to tell the story of how the Duke boys first got together, much o…
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Highly Defined – The World of High Definition
Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2007
Happy March 13th (and a very special one at that)!
Well, your humble reviewer has gone through quiet a bit in the last several days. I’ll try to make it as brief as possible; work sucks ass. Let me count the ways; I came in at 1:30 in the morning once on a day I wasn’t working, I helped my boss repel some REALLY explicit propositions by one of his employees when we were in New York City on business, I get some medical attention to him when he has a stroke on ANOTHER trip to New York, and what do I get as re…
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The Best Years of Our Lives
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 11th, 2007
WWII over, three soldiers return to their home town of Boone City. Dana Andrews is the bomber officer unfit for any other kind of work, who foolishly married a party girl just before the war. Fredric March is the banker who is having trouble adjusting to the fact that his children have become adults in his absence. Harold Russell is the sailor who lost both his hands, and can’t bring himself to believe that his girlfriend still truly wants him.
Though clocking in at 168 minutes, this 1946 effort never drags, and does justice to all three characters, but Andrews is ultimately the real focus of the film.
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Borat – Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 11th, 2007
If you�ve been anywhere on the planet over the past year then there�s no doubt that you�ve at least heard the name Borat in passing, well Borat – Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has finally made its way to DVD. Although I�ve wanted to see this movie since I saw its preview before Jackass 2, this is the first time I�ll actually be watching it and I eagerly anticipate it; I�ve heard lots of things about this controversial mockumentary comedy. Adding to my anticipation of the film is the fact that Seinfeld writer Larry Charles is the director.
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Revenge of the Nerds (Panty Raid Edition)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 11th, 2007
Dubbed as the frat boy comedy that started it all, Revenge of the Nerds is a 80�s cult classic making its way to DVD as a special Panty Raid Edition – Basically you get a standard slipcover and a handful of features thrown at you. I remember seeing this movie about ten years back I found it amusing then, so I look forward to being able to watch it again, maybe this time I�ll get more of the jokes.
The movie takes place where two nerds played by Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards are off to attend the fictional Adams College.
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The Other Side of Midnight
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 10th, 2007
Terminally naive and beautiful Noelle Page (Marie-France Pisier) is abused and conned by every man she meets. In 1939 Paris, penniless and at the end of her tether, she meets American pilot Larry Douglas (John Beck, looking more like a 70s porn star than a 40s air force pilot). A great romance begins, but then duty calls him away. He promises to find her again in three weeks, but he never shows up. Noelle discovers that she is pregnant, and then finds out Larry is a terminal womanizer.
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Shortbus
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 9th, 2007
In a New York forever conscious of the shadow of 9/11, we follow the sex lives and tribulations of a group of gay and straight characters. There’s the gay couple whose relationship is hitting a rocky patch. There’s the professional dominatrix who is finding it more and more difficult to face her work. And there’s the sex therapist who’s never had an orgasm. Her quest for same brings her into contact with the other characters, and to Shortbus, an eccentric sex club.
Brain Blasters
Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on March 9th, 2007
There’s exploitation, and there’s exploitation. And then there’s nunsploitation. There are few forms more unabashedly interested in the full-on sleaze wallow, with the possible exception of the nunsploitation film’s close cousin, the Women In Prison (WIP) flick. As ever, this is less a survey (there’s an entire book on the subject out there), more some semi-random musings.
Sleazy as the form gets, its roots are relatively serious in nature (but then, the same is true of the WIP). One of the pioneering works…
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Heart of the Game, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 8th, 2007
Synopsis
This documentary follows six seasons of the Roosevelt Roughriders girls’ basketball team. Initially, the focus was going to be the work of their unorthodox coach, economics teacher Bill Resler. What he did is interesting in and of itself, turning the team into a real force to be reckoned with. But then into this middle-class, largely white setting comes Darnellia Russell, inner city girl with inner city problems, and colossal talent. The film follows her integration into the team, and when p…
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Trust the Man
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2007
To watch a good movie you must have the right equipment. A nice sound processor connected to kicking speakers are an absolute must. Add a 200 Watt 17 inch powered sub and you’ve increased the experience ten fold. Wrap it all up with a sweet DLP HD monitor and you now have everything you need – except of course a good movie. Trust The Man is everything but. All you need here is a good supply of insulin and an IV drip to keep you from lapsing into a sugar coma. I’m not talking peanut butter cup melts in your mouth sweet. I’m talking pure concentrated syrup makes you want to hurl sweet.
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South Park – The Complete Ninth Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2007
Season 9 was about the most exciting year South Park had. Living in Florida, I was likely more tired of the Terry Schiavo situation than most, but watching Best Friends Forever was one of the best parodies the team has come up with. What was most impressive is that it was on the air while the actual event was still ongoing. One of the benefits of doing a show like South Park. When the boys aimed their guns at Scientology they ruffled more than a few feathers. It was rumored that Tom Cruise had led a fight to attempt to stop the hilarious Trapped In The Closet episode from airing.
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49th Parallel
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 7th, 2007
49th Parallel is a film that I had heard mentioned in passing on occasion, but never really had any practical knowledge of until now. Having now seen the film for myself, I find it to be one of those rare productions that only Criterion seems to be able to find. This is something that I would have never dreamed existed. While the idea of war films told from the Axis point of view are almost commonplace today, such a thing was practically unheard of in 1941, with the United States on the brink of entering World…
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Dare to Play the Game
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 7th, 2007
More 360 memory, Less Taunting in Lost Planet and sitting in Time Pilot – Welcome to the column that is listed as Elite but reads like a bad issue of Mad Magazine known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Well, barely but I made it to Master Sergeant in Rainbow Six Vegas. I seriously doubt I will be a First Sergeant this week, maybe next. I’m probably going to concentrate on getting a few achievements now rather than worry abo…
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Lady in the Water (HD DVD)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2007
Posted in Disc Reviews by Joshua Noyes
Lady in the Water is the latest film offered from M. Night Shyamalan. In its opening weekend (21-23 July 2006), the film grossed a total of $18.2 million, placing third in the United States box office results for that weekend. It was M. Night’s lowest opening for any of his five major films. Due to negative reviews and poor word-of-mouth, its second week fell sharply to $7.1 million, pushing its total to only $32.2 million. Its third weekend was no better, falling another 62.1% to $2.7 million. As of September…
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Fast Food Nation
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2007
The lines between news and entertainment, documentary and fiction continue to fade every day. It’s a dangerous trend, as people have begun to believe the fiction, and ignore the facts. This film seems to make that line disappear altogether. The movie is based on a bestselling book of the same name, written by Eric Schlosser. The book is a fascinating investigation of the fast food and meat packing industries in the United States that has really shed some light on this often-overlooked dark secret of the dining indust…
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Nine Inch Nails – Beside You in Time
Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 5th, 2007
Synopsis
All That Could Have Been (Nine Inch Nails’ first concert dvd) when released in 2002 was recognized by many to be the ultimate concert dvd. Released in separate dts and dolby digital versions; it had an amazing sound and look. The only knock against the disc was the fact that it took two dvds to show a two hour show. Technology has improved. Cue to 2007, Nine Inch Nails fresh off their tour to promote With Teeth decides to release Beside You in Time (Halo 22). This new co…
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Highly Defined – The World of High Definition
Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 5th, 2007
When last I left you, the viewer, I was in the midst of frantically typing “Yo” so that I could be a participant of the chat with Warner Brothers Home Video, to ask about any coming next-gen titles from the studio. What we found out was fairly illuminating. The Warner hits L.A. Confidential, Poltergeist, Deliverance and the Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet will all appear on HD-DVD and Blu-ray this year, with Heat and The Music Man to come out in 2008. They also reconfirmed …
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A View to a Kill (Region 2)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 4th, 2007
Poor Roger Moore. He does get a bit of a bum rap when it comes to James Bond movies, but I think that in terms of the character, he actually fits the jacket, Walther PPK and shaken martinis fairly well, but the problem for his work was that it faced a lot of new technology, and thus was subjected to a lot of ridicule as a result. New things like walking in space and the computer revolution were given a tongue in cheek look, and in between this and the visual effects simply not catching up to the imaginations, then sure, some of the films look and feel a bit silly.
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