Stanley & Iris
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 5th, 2004
Synopsis
Jane Fonda is recently widowed, and works at a baked good factory. Robert De Niro is thecafeteria cook. He is illiterate, and loses his job when this is discovered. He turns to Fonda,asking her to teach him to read. Slowly, tentatively, romance blossoms.
Plenty of gritty realism in the first half of the film, and the portrayal of the hard lives thesepeople face is pretty unsparing. In this bleak landscape, their relationship becomes a real beaconof hope. One can onl…
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Nell
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 3rd, 2004
Synopsis
Liam Neeson is a doctor who stumbles upon Jodie Foster, who has lived in the wildernesswithout ever coming into contact with the rest of the world. She speaks her own language, and isa society of one. Neeson wants to preserve Foster’s existence, but psychologist NatashaRichardson wants to study Foster, and believes that the world will encroach willy-nilly on thepoor woman. Though they are at loggerheads, Foster’s transformative power will bring themtogether.
True,…
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Green Acres – The Complete First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 3rd, 2004
The times, they were a-changin’ during the mid-sixties in America. The Vietnam War was heating up, the civil rights movement was making major strides, and it seemed that the whole country would soon be vastly different than it was just a few short years earlier. It was in the midst of these turbulent times that the first episode of Green Acres hit the airwaves.
The idea of metaphorically moving the average American family from the madness of the modern urban landscape and returning them to the simpli…
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Down Periscope
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
Well – this qualifies as one of the most bizarre examples of casting and scripting that I have ever seen in my life. Kelsey Grammer plays what is supposed to be a near-unemployable submarine captain whose insane antics are about to get him kicked out of the naval submarine command program. The movie chronicles his “return,” so to speak, as he overcomes insurmountable odds in a naval war game exercise to win a respectable submarine to command. His weapon – a WWII sub against the modern Americ…
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Rain Man
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2004
Fifteen years after it swept the 1989 Academy Awards show with Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman in his first win since 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer), MGM has finally released a Special Edition of Rain Man.
Synopsis
Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is a self-centered dealer of exotic cars. He imports high-end sports cars into the states and sells them to the highest bidder. Within the first 10 minutes, we learn that he is not above bribing the EP…
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Dear God
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 1st, 2004
Synopsis
Extremely small-time con Greg Kinnear is caught and sentenced to a year of employment,which turns out to be in the Dead Letter Office of the post office. Opening a letter addressed toGod, Kinnear accidentally winds up answering the letter-writer’s prayers, thus setting off a chainof events that see his reformation and many people helping other people.
The flick is supposed to be some kind of heart-warming comedy of the human spirit, but it’sreally just flat and irri…
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Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 31st, 2004
Synopsis
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (OUTM) is the third film in the conceptual trilogy of El Mariachi, Desperado, and OUTM. Its not a direct sequel, but you’ll recognize a lot of characters and imagery from the prior movies.
Plot: Without posting any spoilers, this is the story of CIA agent “Sands” (Depp) attempting to manipulate a military coup planned by a Mexican drug lord (Dafoe). El Mariachi (Banderas) gets caught up in the middle of after being hired by Sands, but as it turns out he’s…
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Home Room
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 31st, 2004
I have had the pleasure of reviewing better films than Home Room; and I’ve certainly suffered through worse. But I am not sure I’ve reviewed a more important film. I’ve been a public high school teacher for over 8 years. Ask any educator and you’ll find that Columbine changed things for everyone, so I wasn’t sure how I would find this study of that kind of violence. The subject is handled with extreme care in Home Room. In a wise decision, the shooting occurs to a black screen. We don’t really pick up the story until after the event.
Best of Mister Ed – Volume One
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 31st, 2004
I am just old enough to remember when my favorite childhood television channel, Nickelodeon, took on a new evening persona called Nick at Night. “What were they doing to my beloved cartoons?”, I pondered. I still remember those first few weeks of the new format, tuning in during the evening hours after my father had returned home from a long day at work. I was amazed to see that not only were my parents interested in what I was watching, but they actually knew what it was before I did! How was this possible!?
Vanishing Point
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 31st, 2004
Synopsis
Well, Vanishing Point is definitely a movie of the seventies. Don’t be deceived by the DVD case, which proclaims this to be “the Ultimate Car Chase Movie” – yes, there is certainly car chases, but this film is more art gallery than speed shop. To contextualize the film, it was originally released in 1971 – the Vietnam war was crawling towards defeat for the U.S., the summer of love had come and gone, and disaffection and disillusionment had become the twin staples of the America.
Our Friend, Martin
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2004
This is a great idea for a children’s video. Our Friend Martin is an animated film that follows the Dickens Christmas Carol format to tell the story of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When two boys (an underachieving African-American and his slacker white counterpart) visit the birthplace of Dr. King on a school field trip, they are magically transported back in time to experience monumental events in the civil rights movement. Along their journey, they learn of the legacy of Dr. King, and of his…
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Marci X
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 30th, 2004
Timothy Olyphant, in the movie Go, refers to the comic strip The Family Circus in this manner: “it’s always there, in the lower right hand corner, just waiting to suck.” This is one of my all-time favorite movie quotes, and it applies quite nicely when discussing Marci X. Completed in 2000, this is the film that the studio put on the shelf, all the while knowing that eventually they would have to do something with it, because there it was, looming in the corner, waiting to suck.
Finally…
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Black Widow
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 30th, 2004
Synopsis
Theresa Russell seduces rich men by conforming to their dreams in terms of appearance andbehaviour, marries them, and then kills them. She thinks her means are undetectable. But JusticeDepartment investigator Debra Winger has noticed a pattern, and becomes obsessed withtracking Russell down. She follows her to Hawaii (where she is working on her latest target),befriends her, and the stage is set for a psychological chess game.
The idea is promising, but the executio…
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Silencers, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 29th, 2004
Synopsis
A sinister organization called “Big O” (get it?) is plotting something to do with nuclearmissiles. The only man for the job, apparently, is Matt Helm (Dean Martin at his most greasilyrepulsive). Stella Stevens plays a woman who may be in league with the Big O, or she may begenuinely stupid, and Matt drags her along on his quest for the bad guys. The plot makes verylittle sense, the action scenes are dull, and nobody involved with this project seems to have caredvery much. M…
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Xena: Warrior Princess – Season Three
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 29th, 2004
Synopsis
If you’re watching the third season, you presumably know where you’re at with our heroine,and you don’t need this synopsis. If you’re not a fan, then this is even more pointless. For whatit’s worth, this season’s major narrative arc concerns Gabrielle’s impending motherhood, and theterrible secrets that come to the surface along with her child, ironically named Hope.
Audio
The score is wonderfully thunderous, suitably stirring in 5.1. there are some s…
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Angel – The Complete Third Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 29th, 2004
Angels and demons and monsters, oh my!
Not even the death of Buffy could stop this popular show from coming back for a third season. This time around, Angel must find melodrama in new and interesting places, and luckily for fans of the show, he succeeds admirably. In fact, I feel that the death of Buffy was a good thing, as it forced the writers to push this show into its own territory, and helped to give the whole production a voice and an identity all its own.
Newcomers to the show (like myself)…
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MXP – Most Xtreme Primate
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 28th, 2004
Synopsis
Jack is supposed to accompany his chimpanzee family and human minder to Mexico, but amix-up at the airport puts him on the wrong plane, and he winds up in Colorado. There hebefriends the new kid in town, and they become snowboarding champions together. Lessons offriendship are learned by all, amid rigidly carboard performances and lackluster comedy. Theanthropomorphisation of Jack and the other chimps reaches such an extreme level that it wouldbe disturbing if the film were…
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Radio
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 28th, 2004
Synopsis
Ed Harris is the coach of a small-town high school football team in 1976. He takes an interestin Cuba Gooding, Jr. after the mentally challenged young man is tormented by some of thethoughtless players. Harris takes Gooding under his wing as a kind of team mascot (orsomething). A friendship grows between the two men, and Gooding gradually blooms. Thoughnot quite as gruesomely “inspirational” as the trailers implied, this still comes very close, like anafter-school TV specia…
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Dying Young
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2004
Synopsis
Wrong side of the tracks gal Julia Roberts (now there’s casting for you) is hired by leukemia-ridden Campbell Scott to be his nurse. He’s educated and rich, she ain’t. He’s dying, she ain’t.Cue every cliché in the book as the romance wends its inevitable way. Suspension of disbeliefis not helped by the fact that Scott is supposedly doing his PhD on German Impressionist art, andwhen shows Roberts a slide show of his subjects, Pre-Raphaelite Victorian Dante GabrielRossetti is…
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Spellbound
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2004
Synopsis
This documentary follows eight children as they compete in that peculiarly Americaninstitution, the National Spelling Bee. The first half of the film profiles each of the eight, andwe see them at home with their families, getting ready for the big competition. The second half isthe Bee itself, brilliantly edited to generate maximum tension in the viewer. One of the film’sremarkable achievements is that, unlike so many other documentaries which centre around acompetition, we…
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Links 2004 (Xbox)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on January 26th, 2004
Links has been the most successful golf game on the PC, now Microsoft has ported it over the X-Box with tremendous success.
Graphics
Links does everything right, from the player models, to the gorgeous courses, to even the gallery. The scenery on much of the courses is very eye catching, and i found myself looking at the scenery many times. There are some real nice touches like the waves crashing, tree swaying in the wind, and dust particels when your ball lands in the sand or in the rou…
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Stargate SG-1 – The Complete Fifth Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 25th, 2004
The best sci-fi show on television keeps getting better. MGM has also shown an attempt to improve the DVD releases with each subsequent season. This was Showtime’s final year of hosting Stargate SG-1. I will be interested to see if the cinematic quality holds up with the release of season 6 which was taken over by the Sci-Fi Channel. The stories are bigger in season 5 and the f/x continue to amaze. With seasons 4 and 5 SG-1 had reached its peak.
Synopsis
Col. Jack O’ Neal (Anderson) heads the group.
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Dinotopia – The Complete Series
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 25th, 2004
James Gurney created a wonderful mythical land to rival Tolkien’s Middle Earth that was populated by stranded travelers and talking dinosaurs. Hallmark finally brought these settings to life on film with their popular mini-series. The ABC series that followed was unfortunately complete with several fatal flaws. The dino f/x were not really as good as we have become used to. The blurs and surreal appearance often takes one out of the experience. The actors used in the mini-series were replaced with virtual unknowns and a noticeable lack of skills. It was obviously a mistake to attempt such an ambitious project for weekly television.
Barney Miller – The First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 25th, 2004
In 1976 a New York media group conducted a survey of the NYPD detectives. The question was: “Of all the TV cop shows, which most accurately portrays life as a detective?” The overwhelming response was the comedy Barney Miller.
It seems that real cops related to the daily grind and weekly wackos of Barney Miller. Let’s not put aside that this was also one of the most consistently funny shows on television. I remember it took me a while to accept Abe Vigoda in such a light role as Fish. My first exposure to Vigoda was the ruthless mobster in The Godfather.
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Scorched
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 25th, 2004
Scorched follows in the tradition of Guy Ritchie films such as “Loch Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” from the perspective of having a group of characters that don’t have too much in common except for fate brining them all together at the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time.
Scorched follows three main characters who all work at a bank and have the same idea, although thought of independently, to rob the bank – all on the same weekend. Sheila (Alicia Silverstone) has been dating …
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