Best of Bonanza – Volume One
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 6th, 2003
In the late 1950’s Westerns accounted for six of the top ten programs on TV. Only Gunsmoke had a longer run than Bonanza. From 1959 to 1973 Ben Cartwright and his boys rode across the small screen. Years later in syndication the series re-emerged as Ponderosa and a handful of TV movies continued the tale into the 90’s.We never have grown tired of the genre that gave us such heroes as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. While I am far more in favor of season sets, this best-of collection is a might heapin’ helping of tall tales.
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House of Wax / Mystery of the Wax Museum
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2003
Synopsis
The plot of both films is identical: a meticulous sculptor of wax figures has his life and workdestroyed in a fire set by an unscrupulous business partner. Years later, now confined to awheelchair and deprived the use of his hands, the sculptor is back in business. This time, thewaxworks are made by murdering people and dipping their bodies in wax. Lionel Atwill playsthe sculptor in 1933’s Mystery of the Wax Museum, while Vincent Price takes over in1953. Both films w…
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Wait Until Dark
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2003
Synopsis
Audrey Hepburn is recently blind, and still adjusting to her new condition. Unfortunatelyfor her, three criminals are convinced that a load of heroin has been stashed in her apartment,and they want it. Most sinister of the trio is Alan Arkin, playing a complete psychopath. Thetension builds until Hepburn must defend herself against a madman in her darkened apartment.Perfect sweaty-palms material, with a very famous jolt (and believe me, you’ll know it when yousee it).
Targets
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2003
Synopsis
Boris Karloff plays aging horror film star Byron Orlok — in other words, himself. He feelsthat he has become a joke, that the type of horror movies he stars in can no longer stand up to thereal horrors in the world. He is about to find out just how right he is, as he is on a collisioncourse with an all-American boy (Tim O’Kelly), who is about to embark on a motiveless killingspree as a sniper. Chilling and relevant to this day, Targets is also a dazzlingly cleverexe…
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Titanic
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck are an estranged couple aboard the Titanic. In ahilariously caricatured Europe vs US conflict, he is elitist snob, and she is the paragon ofMidwestern values, fighting to save her children from corruption. Naturally, Webb will redeemhimself once the ship starts sinking. Though the focus on these two characters gives the storya firm centre, the result is very soap-operatic. The sinking scenes in the last 30 minutes are good,but very sanitize…
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Haunting, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) is searching for evidence of the supernatural. Heinvestigates Hill House, and his team consists of the urbane Theo (Claire Bloom), smart-aleckLuke (Russ Tamblyn) and neurotic Eleanor (Julie Harris). Little by little, the sinister house wearsthe characters down, but particularly targets the vulnerable Eleanor, pushing her closer and closerto the edge. Unlike the dreadful (though entertaining) 1999 remake, Robert Wise’s 1963 versionhews faithfull…
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Of Unknown Origin
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
The scene is New York (though obviously Montreal in reality). Peter Weller is a type Ayuppie, living in a brownstone he has renovated himself. His wife and son leave him for aholiday. His stress load, already increased by a make-or-break assignment at work, shootsthrough the roof when his home is invaded by a rat. The rat is big, but not supernaturally so. It is,however, very, very, very smart, and soon man and animal are engaged in all-out war. Everynightmare you ever had …
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Sure Thing, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
An early Rob Reiner film, The Sure Thing features a young John Cusack as a collegefreshman. Tired of having no luck with the ladies at his East Coast college, Cusack is lured onwest by the promise of hooking up with the titular sure thing (Nicolette Sheridan). Hiscomplicated road trip is further complicated by his having to share the journey with DaphneZuniga, a classmate who wants nothing to do with him. You can probably guess where this isgoing to go, but it gets t…
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Piglet’s Big Movie
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 1st, 2003
Piglet has finally moved from supporting cast of the Winnie the Pooh crew to lead in Piglet’s Big Movie. In the fashion that made the Winnie the Pooh stories so popular, Disney has created another Pooh adventure that is sure to entertain children all around the world. This film is not at the same level as Disney’s blockbuster animated features such as A Bug’s Life or Finding Nemo, but it will hold it’s own in the children’s DVD market.
”It’s Piglet’s first m…
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Last American Virgin, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2003
Synopsis
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. So there are these three friends, right? They’re allsomewhere on the geeky spectrum, but you’ve got the macho dude, the fat boy, and the sensitivetype. And they all want to get laid. And there’s also one special girl that the sensitive type hasfallen for… You’ve seen it before, you’ve seen it better. You’ve seen it as an after-school special(minus the nudity). Worth a look though, if only to see the only abortion sequence scored toU2.< ...
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Valley Girl
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2003
Synopsis
Welcome to the world of Julie (Deborah Foreman) and Randy (Nicolas Cage). Randy is apunk, and Julie is the eponymous Valley Girl, she of the instantly recognizable slang (“totally,”“grody,” “gag me,” etc.). Theirs is a light-hearted Romeo and Juliet story, as they fall in lovedespite the disapproval of peers. Don’t be expecting the outrageousness and excess of somethinglike American Pie. Rather, this is a sharply observed comedy, driven more by characterthan by slaps…
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Thing from Another World, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2003
Synopsis
Fifty miles from an Arctic research lab, and spaceship crashes into the ice. A team is sent toretrieve the vessel. They accidentally destroy it, but do bring back a block of ice containing thepilot. The ice melts, and the monster is on the loose. Cut off from help, a small band of soldiersand scientists must fight the invader. Memorably remade by John Carpenter, the originalThing remains the yardstick by which all other alien-on-the-loose films are measured.The suspe…
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Chaplin Collection Volume 1, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Chaplin’s career was a long one, and the four films here cover a good span. Chaplin is bestknown for his silent work, and that is represented by Modern Times and The GoldRush. Though the former is also technically his first talkie, it is still primarily silent. Thelatter comes in two versions: the original 1925 release, and the 1942 re-issue, which featured afew new scenes, and the intertitles replaced by Chaplin’s narration (though the film remainsbasically a…
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Futurama, Vol. 2
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 29th, 2003
Synopsis
The complete set of episodes from the second season, with our 20th-Century hero nowrelatively well adapted to life in the far-flung future. The characters by this point are wellestablished and a fairly broad ensemble. The series has never struck me as being quite as funnyas the The Simpsons in their prime, but there is still lots of choice material.
Audio
The audio is a 2.0 mix. This is pretty common for TV discs, though it is certainly notnecessary…
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Cape Fear (1991)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 29th, 2003
Once in a blue moon, though, there’s a re-make that not only takes the original to a new level of appreciation, but actually improves upon it. In musical terms, it’s Ike and Tina’s “Proud Mary.” In the cinematic forum, Martin Scorsese’s 1991 re-work of the B-movie thriller Cape Fear is another.
Max Cady (Robert DeNiro, lost the Oscar to Anthony Hopkins) is a recent parolee, fresh out of the joint after serving a fourteen year stretch for aggravated assault. During his trial, his lawyer, public…
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Bowling for Columbine
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 29th, 2003
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore’s film Bowling for Columbine has done more then just win the Academy Award for best documentary film, it has also ruffled a lot of feathers. Moore’s extreme views, which are embraced by many, also seem to piss off a lot of people.
Moore’s extreme bias on the topic of gun control and U.S. war mongering has lead many to believe that Bowling for Columbine is more of a 2-hour speech then an award winning documentary. You may not like what he has to say, but y…
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Degree of Guilt
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2003
Attorneys Chris Paget (David James Elliot) and Terri Peralta (Daphne Zuniga) are lawyers who come together to defend Chris’s ex-lover Mary Carelli (Sharon Lawrence). As they get deeper into the case they become closer; when Terri’s estranged husband is found dead and Chris is charged with the murder, things change. This film plays out like a three hour episode of Melrose places and it could have easily been two movies instead of one with two almost unrelated storylines.
Dragon Tales: We Can Work it Out
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2003
Dragon Tales is a kids television show from the Sesame Workshop and Sony Pictures Television. Kids learn important lessons from the dragon’s and kids about getting along in the following five episodes; Cassie, The Green-eyed Dragon, So Long Solo, Breaking up is Hard To Do, The Grudge won’t Budge and Remember the Pillow Fort.
Audio
Included on this disc is a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track that is not really needed. The audio rarely leaves the center channel never mind the front soundstage. Ot…
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Horror
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 25th, 2003
Synopsis
The plot unfolds with the logic of a nightmare, thereby defying linear description. Roughly,what happens is that a group of teens stage a violent escape from a rehab centre, and wind upat the house of our heroine (Lizzy Mahon). Here reality breaks down completely, as Mahon andthe others are tormented by one supernatural event after another, all of which seem to havesomething to do with the actions of Mahon’s father and grandfather. There are many strikinglybeautiful and/or …
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Chasing Papi
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 24th, 2003
Synopsis
The “Papi” of the title is Thomas “Papi” Fuentes (Eduardo Verastegui), last word in ladies’men. He is romancing high-born Patricia (Jaci Velasquez) in New York, lawyer Lorena (RoselynSanchez) in Chicago, and Charo-clone Cici (Sofia Vergara) in Miami. This is already exhausting,but when all three women decide simultaneously to surprise him at home, all hell breaks loose.Roselyn Sanchez, here reduced to eye candy, has a much meatier role in the recent releaseNightstalker>, and the jokes are as old as the Precambrian Shield, but only half as funny.Tiresome.
Audio
You’d better like Salsa and similar rhythms, because it plays almost non-stop on thesoundtrack. The music is certainly given a good mix, and if this is you’re thing, you’ll bebopping along to the disc. The music is so omnipresent that there is little to notice by way of rearspeaker sound effects or environment, but there simply don’t appear to be that many to benoticed in the first place: this is a film of dialogue and music, both of which come throughclearly.
Video
Both full frame and 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratios are available on this double-sidedDVD. The colours are very warm and vivid, and the contrasts work well as the movie jumpsfrom live action to animated transition and back again. Blacks and flesh tones are very solid too,and the image is sharp. All in all a perfectly acceptable transfer, free of grain and otherdistractions.
Special Features
Generally speaking, the extras are fluffy, promotional, or both. The commentary is bydirector Linda Mendoza, DP Xavier Perez Grobet, and the four leads, and is in a mixture ofEnglish and Spanish (subtitled). As is frequently the case with such large round-tablediscussions, much of the conversation is silly and irrelevant. The widescreen side also has apromotional featurette (a glorified trailer, really), and the fullscreen side has a bloopers montage(nothing screamingly funny here), the theatrical trailer, an ad for the soundtrack and a musicvideo by Huey Dunbar featuring Fat Joe. The menu’s main page, intro and transitions areanimated and scored.
Closing Thoughts
An old-as-the-hills farce, with a pace that’s frantic enough, but that fails to be funny.
Special Features List
- Audio Commentary
- “Making Of” Featurette
- Outtakes and Bloopers
- Theatrical Trailer
- Music Promo
- Music Video
See No Evil
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 24th, 2003
Synopsis
Blinded in a horse-riding accident, Mia Farrow comes to live with her uncle and aunt in thecountry, and manages to get around the familiar spaces quite well. Unfortunately, her uncle’s carearlier splashed the cowboy boots of a psychotic killer. He descends on the house while Farrowis out, and kills everyone there. She returns, unaware that she is surrounded by corpses, and thatthe killer may return. Though the premise (blind woman versus a killer) bears some similarityto th…
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Good Thief, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
Nick Nolte plays Bob, a former high-end thief, now a drugged-out loser living in Nice,France. He still retains the loyalty of his friends, however, and this includes Tchiky Karyo, thecop who has busted him time and time again, and who worries about Bob. He is especiallyworried that Bob will return to crime, because that would mean prison for the rest of his life.Sure enough, Bob is seduced into One More Gig, a complicated heist of valuable paintings.
There are remakes, and …
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NYPD Blue – Season 2
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2003
The second season of the gritty cop show turned out to be an important test: could the seriessurvive the departure of important cast members? In particular, could it survive the departureof David Caruso? As it turned out, it survived without him much better than he without it. This season includes such turning points as the trial of Amy Brennerman and attendant consequences(i.e. bye-bye Caruso), the wedding of Dennis Franz, and the arrival (and his gradual acceptance of) his new partner (hello Jimmy Smits).
Double Life, A
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2003
Synopsis
Ronald Colman, in an Oscar-winning performance (1948), plays an actor who takes methodacting to the extreme. He truly disappears into his roles, and this becomes a problem when hiscurrent project is Othello. Little by little he loses touch with reality, with consequences that provedeadly for waitress Shelley Winters. Filled with delicious portraits of the New York theatrescene, with top talent both behind and in front of the camera, this is a strong thriller. Highlyrecommen…
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Blood on the Sun
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 19th, 2003
Synopsis
James Cagney plays a hard-boiled newspaper editor in pre-WWII Tokyo. He gets wind ofa Japanese baron’s plans for world conquest, and risks his life (with the help of Chinese-American spy Sylvia Sidney) to expose the dastardly plot. We even get some early martial artsaction with Cagney jodo-chopping his way through men twice his (diminuitive) size. Be aware,though, that the film was made in 1945 and shows it, with all but one of the Japanese charactersportrayed as unidimensi…
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