Black Hole, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
The exploration vessel Palomino discovers the gigantic, long-lost Cygnus orbiting aroundthe edge of a massive black hole. Boarding the Cygnus after the Palomino suffers some damage,the crew discovers that the only human left aboard the Cygnus is the megalomaniacal MaximilianSchell. Aided by his army of robots, he is preparing to plunge into the black hole, and he willsacrifice anything and anyone to complete his goal.
On the positive side, the production design is m…
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Village of the Damned / Children of the Damned Double Feature
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
Village of the Damned (1960) is the best of the films based on the novels of JohnWyndham (in this case the sources is The Midwich Cuckoos. At 11 o’clock onemorning, every living thing in Midwich falls asleep. Hours later, all awake, apparently none theworse. But shortly thereafter, it turns out that every woman capable of bearing children ispregnant. When the babies are born, they are all blond, eerily similar, and possessed offrightening intelligence and powe…
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Princess Diaries, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 1st, 2004
Synopsis
Anne Hathaway plays 15-year-old (yeah, right) Mia, whose life is a gawky teenagenightmare. Then her life is turned upside down by the arrival in San Francisco of hergrandmother (Julie Andrews), who is queen of the mythical country of Genovia, and she needsMia to shoulder her responsibilities as heir to the throne, or Genovia will cease to exist. Miaundergoes a radical make-over, and clumsily fumbles her way through lessons on how to be aprincess.
You have to wonde…
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Femme Musketeer, La
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2004
Synopsis
This is a tale of the next generation of Musketeers (can we hear Alexandre Dumas spinningin his grave?). France and Spain are at war, and things are not going well for the French. Youngking Louis XIV is not mature enough to take on his responsibilities, and he is being manipulatedby Cardinal Mazarin (an incomprehensible Gérard Depardieu). Valentine (Susie Amy), daughterof D’Artagnan (Michael York) takes up her father’s sword to fight for the king and Franceagainst corruptio…
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Love Object
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2004
Synopsis
Desmond Harrington plays Kenneth, a terminally shy, socially inept technical writer. Lonelybeyond words and attracted to temp Lisa (Melissa Sagemiller) but unable even to speak to her, heorders a $10,000.00 love doll. After some initial awkwardness, he develops a full-fledgedrelationship with doll Nikki, one that gives him more confidence at work and with Lisa. But evenas he begins a real-life relationship, things begin to fall apart, as he senses that the doll isbecoming j…
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Hellboy
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 31st, 2004
Comic book characters have provided a large slate of movie productions in recent years. This really isn’t anything new; both Superman and Batman have each fueled successful film franchises (It should be noted that both are soon to return). Spider-Man’s record take opened a new floodgate. Some have been quite disappointing (The Hulk and The Punisher) while a few (X-Men and Spider-Man) have provided outstanding products. Hellboy fits somewhere in the middle. The character is somewhat lesser known and considerably more …
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Godsend
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 30th, 2004
Synopsis
When Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos are emotionally devastated by the loss oftheir eight-year-old son Adam, scientist Robert De Niro approaches them with an alarmingproposition: he offers to clone Adam, so that they might have him again. While Kinnear isdoubtful, he eventually capitulates, and the operation is performed. Things go very well for thefirst eight years of the new Adam’s life. Then he begins to change, as if being taken over by ademonic presence.
Starsky & Hutch
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 29th, 2004
Synopsis
Straight-arrow, straight-laced cop Starsky (Ben Stiller) is partnered up with the laid-back,ethically bent Hutch (Owen Wilson). Despite initial matter/anti-matter friction, the two soonbond (surprise!) and will stop at nothing to bring down vicious drug dealer Vince Vaughn.
Not much more of a storyline than that, and the point here is to revel in 70s kitsch. Thoughthere are a couple of very funny moments and lines, by and large the film just sits there, too staticto…
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K Street
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 29th, 2004
Synopsis
Real political figures and fictional characters rub shoulders in this tale of a Washington-based political consulting office. James Carville and Mary Matalin play themselves (as doHoward Dean and others). The consulting firm runs into a crisis when some Saudi clients turnout to (perhaps) have terrorist links.
The concept is pretty much the last word in torn-from-the-headlines fiction. This is a seriesthat is almost concurrent with the headlines. The illusion of real…
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Reality Bites
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 29th, 2004
Synopsis
The title says it all as far as our principle characters are concerned. They are coming of age ina world so inimical to them (thank you, Baby Boomers) that their survival response is cynicismand disengagement. The leads are Winona Ryder as a would-be filmmaker in a humiliating job,Ethan Hawke as the slacker who can’t express his true feelings for Ryder, and Ben Stiller as thecareer guy who also courts Ryder. Also here are friends Janeane Garofalo and Steven Zahn asequally c…
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Peter Pan (2003)
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 28th, 2004
Synopsis
Surely we all know the story. The Darling children — Wendy, Michael and John — are visitedby the ever-young Peter Pan, and they fly off with him to Neverland. There they battle thevillainous Captain Hook, and deal with the fact that, sooner or later, everybody (with oneexception) has to grow up.
Infinitely better than the bloated Hook, this is a first-rate adaptation of the tale. Theartistic design and cinematography are glorious, and the film is constant f…
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Van Helsing: The London Assignment
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 27th, 2004
Synopsis
Young women are being murdered in London. The reference, of course, is to Jack the Ripper,but in this story, the killer is Mr. Hyde, who is collecting their souls so that Dr. Jekyll (no moremoral than his monstrous alter ego) can transform Queen Victoria (with whom he is obsessed)into a young woman. The Vatican sends Van Helsing to London to stop the monster, and theensuing adventure sets the scene for the opening Mr. Hyde battle in the feature film.
Though designed…
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Starsky & Hutch – The Complete Second Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2004
The Second Season of Starsky and Hutch is often considered its best by long time fans of the show. Even Paul Michael Glaser expressed his feelings that the show peaked in the second year. By now the characters were well honed and the stories less 70’s cliché and tighter. The show often used the 2 parter now to tell more elaborate tales. The bad guys were meaner. The guys spend time undercover a bit this year, which added a tremendous amount of variety to what was really a formula show in the first year. That all impo…
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Garfield and Friends (Volume One)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2004
Garfield has been hunting lasagna, out-witting his clueless owner Jon, and frolicking with his intellectually challenged partner in crime, Odie since 1978. While the recent big screen release failed to capture the attention of the public, the animated series from 1988 did everything that the movie failed to do. It made the viewers laugh. The animated series was cleverly written, very witty and in a way similar to the Simpsons, had the ability to make both kids and adults laugh.
Garfield first appeared on T…
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Bourne Identity, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2004
Synopsis
An wounded amnesiac (Matt Damon) is fished from the Mediterranean. He travels acrossEurope searching for his identity, only to discover that he has several, one of which is “JasonBourne.” He is, in fact, a CIA super-assassin who has slipped his leash, and the Agency isdetermined to take him down. Dodging killers, he travels to Paris in the company of Marie(Franka Potente), still searching for the key to his memory and a way to escape the implacablepursuit.
Easily …
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Zorba the Greek
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 26th, 2004
Synopsis
Repressed, timid writer Alan Bates arrives in Crete with the goal of re-opening a mine leftto him by his father. On the way to the small village where he will live, he hooks up with theexuberant Zorba (Anthony Quinn, who, as an American of Irish and Mexican extraction, is nomore Greek than Bates). Bates puts Quinn in charge of the mine, and Quinn sets himself themission of teaching Bates how to take risks in life.
The broad arc of the story — repressed Anglo-Saxon …
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Living Hell
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 25th, 2004
Synopsis
One year after the brutal murder of a family, an old woman and her silent granddaughtercome to live with some relatives. We know from the opening that these are the killers, and thatbad times lie ahead. This is especially true for the wheelchair bound Yasu. His father is gone forthe week, his siblings are likewise mostly absent, and they ignore his warnings that the newarrivals are weird. As soon as the house is empty of any who might interfere, the torture sessionsbegin. M…
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Global Effect
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
A madman with a dream of cleansing the planet steals a ferociously deadly virus and kidnapsMadchen Amick, the only scientist who potentially knows how to create a vaccine for thedisease. A multinational special forces squad is sent to find the bad guys and rescue Amick.Meanwhile, our villain begins the spread of the virus, and a trigger-happy National SecurityAdviser wants to nuke all of Africa. Erstwhile mummy Arnold Vosloo is the scientist at theWashington HQ urging calm.
All in the Family – The Complete Third Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 22nd, 2004
It’s perhaps a sad commentary on the level of political correctness that Archie Bunker could never have graced network primetime in 2004. Archie was ignorant and an incredibly vocal bigot. Archie was an equal opportunity bigot. He didn’t just hate certain minorities … he hated everybody who wasn’t white blue collar protestant. Carroll O’Connor, who brilliantly portrayed Archie, was without a doubt one of the best actors to grace a network sitcom. Just watch his eyes and you’ll understand. All in the Family holds a re…
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Detonator
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 21st, 2004
Synopsis
A powerful bomb explodes in downtown LA law office. The authorities suspect terrorism,but former FBI agent (now officer for the Bureau of Postal Investigation) Randall Batkinkoff hashis doubts. Politics interferes with his investigation, but he gradually becomes involved asanother bomb goes off. Evidence points to violent survivalist, but is he really the right man?
The rebellious investigator who’s always right. The politically-motivated chief investigatorwho hamstrings th…
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Spartan
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 20th, 2004
It seems like there have been quite a few dramatic films over the past three years or so that have fallen into this trap of bad marketing. Curiously enough, they all seem to have the same narrative feel, from Heist to Confidence to Spy Games… and now Spartan. I sometimes have a hard time figuring out why some films become hits, and some don’t. (Of course, if I were a master at that, I would be the highest paid man in Hollywood.) I don’t understand how mindless films like Men in Black II…
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Complete Gidget Collection, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 20th, 2004
Synopsis
Designed to be as nonthreatening a form of teen movie as can be imagined, the Gidget filmswere the predecessors to the Beach Party movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello,and were sunny bits of cheer not even hinting at the darker side of adolescence explored by suchcontemporaries as I Was Teenage Werewolf (1957). Sandra Dee, perkiness made flesh,was first to play the role in 1959’s Gidget. Here she meets surfer Moondoggie (JamesDarren, the only actor…
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Significant Others – The Series
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2004
Synopsis
Our main characters are Campbell (Eion Bailey), Nell (Jennifer Garner) and Henry (ScottBairstow). They are twentysomethings facing the reality that they are finally going to have togrow up. Campbell is tense, judgmental, and constantly trying to come up with the Next BigThing. Nell is a flake incapable of any kind of commitment (romantic, career or otherwise).Henry is a writer who wants to be writing better stuff than he is. All sorts of affairs of the heartensue. Created b…
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Das Boot – The Original Uncut Version
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 17th, 2004
I am sure that many consumers have noticed the disturbing trend taking place in DVD land with regard to the same movie being released in multiple versions. This practice, commonly referred to in the industry as “multiple bites at the apple”, is a cheap way for studios to persuade consumers to buy movies that they already own over and over again, since each new release offers some sort of extra upgrade from the previous versions. Even those of us in the DVD community sometimes get burned on this type of thing, as ther…
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Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 16th, 2004
The mid-nineties Fox Spider-Man was hands down the best animated series of the time. It was one of the first series to use a Japanese animation company to produce a regular Saturday morning series and the Japanese influence was immediately striking. The brightness and depth of colors as well as the consistency of the animation blew away everything else that was available on TV at the time. The stories were outstanding in that they borrowed heavily from classic comic stories and adapted them for viewers that may not b…
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