Monsieur Ibrahim
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 29th, 2004
Synopsis
In Paris of the early 60s, a young Moise (Pierre Boulanger) is coming of age. He tends housefor his sullen father, loses his virginity with the help of the local prostitutes, and shoplifts the oddtin from the store of Mr. Ibrahim (Omar Sharif). The older man befriends the boy, and throughhis kindness and wisdom, becomes, effectively, the boy’s true father.
Sharif’s turn as Ibrahim is a performance of immense warmth, one that suffuses the entirefilm. Very welcome to…
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Dreamers, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 29th, 2004
Synopsis
May 1968. Paris is about to explode. Moving at the periphery of events that made whathappened at the same time in the States look like a mild-mannered debate are our threecharacters. American student Michael Pitt is a film buff, religiously attending the screenings atthe Cinémathèque Française. When that institution is closed (an event that helps ignite thepolitical powderkeg), Pitt falls in with two fellow buffs: twin siblings Eva Green and LouisGarrel. When the twins’ parents lea…
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Perfect Score, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 28th, 2004
Synopsis
Tormented by the tyranny of SAT scores, which will determine university acceptance andfuture opportunities, six high school students band together to steal the answers to the dreadedtest. Personalities clash, but their common need unites the unlikely band (mixing basketball star,cynical rich girl, class brain, stoner, and so on). The night comes for the big heist, and by the nextmorning, everyone will have learned Valuable Life Lessons.
The Perfect Score trip…
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Dead Zone – The Complete Second Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 27th, 2004
The USA Network series The Dead Zone is based very loosely on the early Stephen King novel or the film with Martin Sheen. Johnny still goes into a coma and comes out with psychic abilities. He even meets the infamous Senate candidate destined to destroy the world. The original tale and this surprising series ends there. This show is more about Johnny using his abilities for good whenever he can. One of the best episodes of the series, “Zion”, actually shows us why this show has varied from the original story. …
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Manchurian Candidate, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 27th, 2004
Synopsis
During the Korean war, a platoon led by Laurence Harvey and Frank Sinatra is captured andsent off to Manchuria. Here the men are brainwashed into believing that Harvey saved them allin an incredible feat of heroism (which he did not) and that he’s a loveable guy (which he isn’t).The unfortunate Harvey is programmed to become a remote-control assassin. Back in the States,Sinatra is plagued by nightmare memories of the experience, and gradually comes to believe thatsomething …
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Stepford Wives, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 25th, 2004
The 1970s was a fertile time for feminist movements. This film was amazingly cited by both sides of the argument, never seeming to please either. Feminists considered the film to be a slap in the face of the “modern woman”. It was accused of undermining years of progress to the age-old stereotypes of a woman’s place. At the same time anti-feminists citied it as a mockery of what were considered wholesome American values. It’s strange that a film that was never intended to be part of these controversies couldn’t seem …
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Monk – The Complete First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2004
It is nearly impossible to escape the common comparisons between Monk and Columbo. But don’t get this show expecting it to be at all like the well-loved bumbling detective played for decades by Peter Falk. The two characters are nothing alike. The comparisons are made because we haven’t had a detective show since Columbo where the quirks and personality of the character himself were more important than the cases he solved.
Tony Shalhoub’s Adrian Monk suffers from a long list of phobias from germs to drink…
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Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2004
Well if you don’t know what is going on in this film then I am not quite sure why you are reading this review. This is the third and final installment of the Lord of the Ring’s trilogy, we finally after three long years get to discover the fate of Frodo, the ring, Sam, Gollum and all of Middle Earth. This film like The Two Towers just keeps getting better and managing to exceed our ever increasing expectations.
The multiple story lines all come together and finally conclude themselves, maybe not quite exac…
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Frasier – The Complete Third Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 18th, 2004
Everyone’s favorite television psychiatrist is back for his third go around. Frasier and his emmy award winning cast return for one of the better seasons that the series produced. The third season sees more wackiness, more Eddie jokes, and more shenanigans at the radio station. The biggest story shift this year is Niles’ (David Hyde Pierce) separation from the still unseen Maris, leaving him more free time to moon over Daphne (Jane Leeves). In a half-season arc, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) finds himself at odds with, an…
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Wizards
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 18th, 2004
Wizards is a Ralph Bakshi production that is a lot more family friendly than some of his other better known works aka Fritz the Cat and the less said about his adaptation of The Lord of The Rings, the better. Wizards does borrow a lot from the Tolkein classic however, in it’s themes of industrialism versus nature as played out in the classic good versus evil story.
The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where an ancient prophet foretells the coming of twins who will battle and the outcome of the con…
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Tokyo Godfathers
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 18th, 2004
Apparently inspired by Three Godfathers, the over-sentimental John Ford western from 1948, the “godfathers” here are three homeless Tokyo-ites — Gin, a former professional bicycle racer; Hana, a transvestite; and Miyuki, a young runaway girl — living together in Shinjuku, Tokyo. On Christmas Eve, they find a baby, and embark on a journey that takes them all across the city in order to reunite the baby with its parents, while at the same time bringing their own lives closer to their ultimate destinies. Fun, fast-pac…
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Cary Grant – The Signature Collection
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 16th, 2004
Synopsis
If ever an actor mastered the double-take, it was Cary Grant, and his hilariously flabbergastedlook gets a full workout in My Favorite Wife (1940). Seven years ago, he lost wife IreneDunne in a shipwreck. Now he has just remarried to Gail Patrick, and Dunne, who spent the lastseven years marooned on an island, suddenly shows up again. We follow the comicmisadventures that will lead Grant to reuniting with Dunne and parting with cold-fish Patrick.Grant’s flustered att…
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Tarzan Collection, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 15th, 2004
Synopsis
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) follows the safari of Jane Parker (Maureen O’Sullivan)and her father into the jungle world of Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller). Searching for the elephantgraveyard and the wealth of ivory it would contain, the safari meets all sorts of peril and climbs aforbidding escarpment before they encounter Tarzan. He makes off with Jane, who falls in lovewith him before the movie is out. This film had all the elements that would recur in the rest of theser…
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Spider-Man
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2004
With the release of Spider-Man 2 in late June, it was no surprise that Sony decided to give us an upgrade of the first film. Spider-Man was probably the best superhero film to come along since the original Superman in the late 70’s. Perhaps not as recognizable as Batman or Superman, Spidey is still quite an American icon to the millions of us who grew up during the golden age of comics.
This film is a faithful adaptation. The only real complaint I’ve heard is the tweaking of the origin story. In the comics…
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Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Maggie Smith is Miss Jean Brodie, history teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in1930’s Edinburgh. Flashy, charismatic, flamboyantly romantic and toweringly arrogant, shegathers around herself a small group of girls who, willing acolytes, follow her everywhere. TheShe is perpetually at war with headmistress Celiea Johnson, has had an affair with married artteacher Robert Stephens (who is still obsessed with her), and is currently dallying with naivemusic teacher Go…
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World of Suzie Wong, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 14th, 2004
Synopsis
William Holden is an artist in Hong Kong. After an inane meet-cute, he falls in love withSusie Wong (Nancy Kwan), who turns out to be a prostitute. After the initial romance, all sorts ofteeth-clenching and agonizing of this and that make up the rest of the film. Pure soap-operatics,in other words. Having Holden fall in love with a forbidden woman in Hong Kong is just a bittoo reminiscent of Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (which itself is prettyunintentionally funny…
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I Like It Like That
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Welcome to the Bronx, here visualized as a place of chaotic energy and noise, where anindividual can find nary a moment’s peace. Lauren Vélez’s life is turned upside down when herwell-meaning but rather air-headed and selfish husband is arrested. Vélez must fend for herselfnow and provide for her children. She winds up working for record producer Griffin Dunne, butthis job leads to its own set of misunderstandings.
The patter is non-stop and overlapping, which could…
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Park Day
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Park Day, the opening narration by Steve (Hill Harper) informs us, is a reunion day for theblack community of New Haven, Missouri. On this particular day, the lives of various charactersreach turning points. The most central player is Steve, who wants to be a writer, but meets withresistance from his father, who is pressuring him to go to college to earn a more practicaleducation. Moving through the events of the day is an old man, who may be a supernaturalbeing.
Three Blind Mice
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2004
Synopsis
When three Vietnamese men are found dead, the prime suspect is a war vet who promisedto kill them after they were acquitted of assaulting his wife. Said vet slaughtered an entire villageduring the war, and the man who got him acquitted then, Brian Dennehy, is reluctantly convincedto take on the case. Though at first it seems that the prosecution has an iron-clad case, bit by bitDennehy finds clues that point to a frame-up.
About as typical a made-for-TV mystery as o…
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Fancy Pants
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2004
Synopsis
Bob Hope plays a hopeless American actor in England during the early 1900s. Lucille Ballis the daughter of a newly rich family, and though she may be dressed in finery, she’s very mucha bull in the china shop of English society. Believing Hope to be a butler, Ball’s mother hireshim to teach Ball some etiquette, and hauls the poor soul back to the American frontier, where allmanner of indignities ensue.
The comedy hasn’t aged particularly well, though some of the sma…
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Just For You / Here Comes the Groom
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2004
Synopsis
Just For You is a Technicolor musical with Bing Crosby as a Broadway producer,and Jane Wyman as his leading lady/fiancee. Though a big financial success, Crosby has beenfalling down on the job as a father, neglecting his adolescent children. At best. He comesperilously close to losing all audience sympathy when he tears into his son’s attempts atsongwriting. He determines to turn over a new life, but his parenting skills are really put to thetest when his son falls i…
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War Zone, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2004
Synopsis
Made between 1991 and 2000, these disparate documentaries, complete with British narrator,cover different aspects of the Second World War. Their titles are largely self-explanatory:History of World War II is the big picture disc, with a special emphasis on the Europeantheatre. For those interested in the war with Japan, Pearl Harbor and Kamikaze/Warin the Pacific will address those needs. The Occult History of the Third Reich is evenmore speciali…
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Secret Window
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 12th, 2004
Synopsis
Six months after the collapse of his marriage, writer Johnny Depp is secluded in his lakecottage, completely blocked. Then his life takes a sinister turn when a menacing John Turturroarrives on his doorstep, claiming Depp plagiarised his story. Unsatisfied with Depp’s response,Turturro begins a campaign of terror and escalating violence, perpetually eluding ineffectivepolice and private investigators.
I will not indulge in the spoiler that most plagued most reviews …
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Wild Party
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2004
Synopsis
Loosely inspired by the Fatty Arbuckle case, The Wild Party tells the tale of JollyGrimm (James Coco), fading silent movie funnyman. It is 1929, and he is making one last bid fora comeback by premiering his new film at a lavish party that he hosts with his mistress (RaquelWelch). His career is over, though he refuses to admit it. At the party, frustrations, jealousies andsexual shenanigans build to a murderous climax.
I never thought I’d see a film that someh…
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Moulin Rouge (1952)
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2004
Synopsis
Jose Ferrer plays artist Heri de Toulouse-Lautrec. We first see him in full sardonic flight,sketching the denizens of the Moulin Rouge cabaret. He then meets a woman of the streets (whoemphatically does not have a heart of gold) with whom he falls in love, believing she seesbeyond his deformities. She doesn’t. The first half of the film traces this unhappy episode(spending a bit too long in getting to the obvious conclusion), and then we move on to hissuccess as a painter, …
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