Comancheros, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2003
Synopsis
Stuart Whitman is a gentleman gambler, on the run after having killed a man in a duel. JohnWayne is the Texas Ranger who tracks him down. But when it turns out that there is a muchworse gang of criminals on the loose (the Comancheros of the title), Wayne enlists the help of hisprisoners in defeating the real bad guys.
Audio
The sound has been remixed into 4.0 surround, and this is the only version of the Englishlangauge track provided (it is nice if…
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Sims, The (Xbox)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2003
Someone once said that 90 percent of life is maintenance and nowhere is that more true than in the new Xbox title, The Sims. For anyone who has been living in a cave for the last two and a half years, The Sims is a game that allows you to create a character and then oversee every aspect of their life–from shopping to sleep–and has been a smash hit on the PC, garnering awards and spawning add-on expansions packs galore.
People are so taken with the ability to create either little demons or an…
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Vexx (Gamecube)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 6th, 2003
Video gamers now have another platformer to try out on their Nintendo GameCube console. Vexx, from Acclaim, has just landed on the system and brings with it some interesting visuals, unique features, and unfortunately, a much maligned camera system.
The basic story behind Vexx is that of a young warrior of the same name whom lives in the peaceful village of Overwood on the planet Astara. That is, until one day when the evil Dark Yabu and his henchman showed up in town and destroy…
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Treasure Island
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2003
Synopsis
The story opens in 18th-Century England. Jim Hawkins (played by the very American BobbyDriscoll) helps his mother run a tavern. One of their guests is William Bones, a old seaman whois being hunted by a group of former comrades. He dies of a heart attack, but not before givingJim a map of Treasure Island. The local squire, excited by the map, organizes an expedition tofind the treasure. Unfortunately, as ship’s cook he unknowingly hires notorious pirate Long JohnSilver. Fal…
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People Vs. Larry Flynt, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Larry Flynt (Woody Harrelson) beefs up his strip club business by publishing an explicitnewsletter. This newsletter becomes the glossy porn mag Hustler, and Flynt becomesstaggeringly rich. He also becomes the target of a serious of obscenity trials. Harrelson is terrific,and this was the film that confirmed that Edward Norton’s film-stealing performance in PrimalFear was no fluke. Courtney Love, as Flynt’s wife Althea, acquits herself well among theseheavyweights. Though ma…
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
In 1868, ships are being sunk by what appears to be a monster. Investigating scientists PaulLukas and Peter Lorre discover that it is, in fact, a submarine, when their ship is struck. They arepicked up, along with sailor Kirk Douglas, by Captain Nemo (James Mason) of the Nautilus. IsNemo a genius or megalomaniac? Villain or hero? Both? Our heroes wrestle with these questionsover the course of their adventures. The special effects, almost 50 years old, still stand up well(wi…
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Spirited Away
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Chihiro is a ten-year-old girl moving to a new home. On the way there, her father takes awrong turn, and they find themselves in an abandoned amusement park. I really don’t want tosay too much, as this is a film whose wonders should be discovered without too muchforeknowledge. Suffice to say that Chihiro soon finds herself in a magical world of spirits,striving to free herself, her parents, and a new friend. Spirited Away is a stunning film, worthyof comparison to Alice in Wonderla…
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People From Space
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Two couples looking for something to do on the weekend decide to drive down to BeavertailLake and look for a UFO that supposedly landed there. (There’s a $100,000 reward if they findevidence.) Along the way, they squabble, meet odd characters, and get lost in the woods. Thisis another film with improvised dialogue. Improv is a tricky form to get right in films. It worksin films like Best in Show and The Blair Witch Project because a) the very forms of thosenarratives (pseud…
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Children on Their Birthdays
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Billy Bob and Preacher are two 13-year-old boys, best friends, on the verge of discoveringgirls. They both fall in love with Lily Jane Bobbit, the new girl in town, who dreams ofHollywood and speaks with extremely elaborate diction. Over the course of the summer, LilyJane will transform the entire town. You know how Michael Bay loved to sprinkle Armageddonwith slow-motion, anachronistic Norman Rockwell shots of boys in overalls running throughfields and small towns? Now ima…
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Livin’ Tha Life
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Jamal and Peanut get together to hang out and cruise Compton. At Jamal’s house, however,they interrupt a thief who has broken in. Confronted with a gun, the thief keels over from a heartattack. In a panic, our two heroes bundle the body into their car and continue on their way. Thisis one-man-show filmmaking (the director handled just about every behind-the-camera duty),and the cast is very natural. The script is entirely (and obviously) improvised, and so each scenegoes on…
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Married with Children: Most Outrageous Episodes (Vol. 2)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
If you need a synopsis, why are you reading this review? The Bundys, for the uninitiated,are long-suffering boorish dad Al (Ed O’Neill), sex-deprived wife Peg (Katey Sagal), slut airheaddaughter Kelly (Christina Applegate) and cynical loser son Bud (David Faustino). Married withChildren definitely falls into the category into the category of acquired taste, and I’ll confess, Inever acquired the taste (I’ve always thought The Simpsons hit the same satiric targets — andthen …
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Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Good Friends Forever!
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Welcome to the Tarrytown aerodrome, where Jay Jay The Jet Plane and his friends hang outand learn life lessons. These lessons (the importance of friendship, of overcoming your fears, andso forth) are presented in a clear, gentle way. The animation in these 5 stories is a bit on theeconomical side.
Audio
The audio is 2.0, but you wouldn’t know it in the first story. Here the result is effectivelymono, even when it comes to the music. The subsequent episodes …
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War Lover, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner are pilot and co-pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress. Wagneris the sensitive type. McQueen, on the other hand “walks the thin line between hero andpsychopath” according the base doctor. Both men become interested in the same woman. Thoughthe film takes forever to get its plot in gear, and the bombing missions are very predictable (thefellow who shows Wagner photos and his wife and kid might as well be signing his own deathwarrant), the utter dist…
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Deadly Species
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 29th, 2003
Synopsis
An university expedition (two profs and a handful of students) is financed by a (improbablyyoung) tycoon. Their goal is to find traces of the long-vanished Calusas in the Evergaldes. Theyfind that evidence, all right, but they themselves are found bya monster, who kills them one byone. Behind a very banal title lurks a very banal film, with dialogue that is utterly lazy (any scriptthat uses “Let’s get out of here” as its second line is in serious trouble), characters so stupi…
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Two Weeks Notice
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) is an anti-establishment lawyer, fighting to preserve historiclandmarks from heedless developers. One of these heedless developers is George Wade (HughGrant), a man as shallow as he is rich. Lucy confronts George just as he is desperate for a newlaywer, and he talks her into working for him despite her misgivings. He comes to depend onher for absolutely everything (clothes to wear, stationary to use, etc.), to the point that he takesover her lif…
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Miller’s Crossing
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 26th, 2003
Synopsis
Tom (Gabriel Byrne) is adviser to Leo (Albert Finney), top boss of the Irish mob duringProhibition. Leo isn’t listening to Tom right now, and offends Johnny (Jon Polito), who leads theItalian gang. War between the rival mobs heats up, and Tom gets caught in the middle. I havejust oversimplified an incredibly complex plot, which you really should discover for yourself.Other discoveries that await are glorious cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld, and endlesslyquotable dialogue…
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Full Contact
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 25th, 2003
Synopsis
Chow Yun-Fat is Godfrey (not “Jeff” as the case has him, though “Godfrey” is, to NorthAmerican ears, an odd name for an action hero), tough-as-nails leader of a group of friends inThailand. Godfrey’s weak cousin gets them involved in a heist masterminded by the Judge(Simon Yam), who leads a gang as flamboyant as they are nuts. Godfrey is betrayed and left fordead, but comes back a year later for revenge. Directed by Ringo Lam, Full Contact doesn’tachieve the heights of John Woo’s b…
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Murder in Greenwich
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 24th, 2003
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Synopsis
In the 1970s, a young girl is brutally murdered in the exclusive town of Greenwich,Connecticut. Among the suspects are two young members of the Kennedy clan. The murder goesunsolved, and in the 1990s, Mark Fuhrman, disgarced-cop-turned-author, re-opens the case.Though the gore is sometimes beyond prime time levels, this is still very run-of-the-mill TVfodder.
Audio
The sound (limited to 2.0) is crisp and clear, and privileges the music. The sound ef…
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Malevolent
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 24th, 2003
Malevolent is a direct to video release staring Lou Diamond-Phillips. The cast is mostly made up of film and television character actors. While not exceptional, this is not a bad film either. It’s one of those “innocent guy framed for murder” films with enough plot holes to make Swiss cheese. If you’re willing to ignore the incredible coincidences needed to pull off the crime, an ending that falls a little flat, and some rather obvious continuity flaws, this one is worth at least a look.
X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 24th, 2003
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Synopsis
Four episodes (two of which are a two-part story) make up this offering, which, what withMagneto and the X-Men joining forces and Wolverine learning about his past, will bear someresemblance, presumably, to some of the action in the new movie. This is just Saturday morningcartoon fare, however, no more, no less. So be sure you like the TV show before you pick up theDVD.
Audio
Not too much to report on the audio. The 2.0 mix is certainly clear enough…
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Biggie & Tupac
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 24th, 2003
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Synopsis
Nick Broomfield, never one to shy away from hard and prickly topics, here tackles theshooting deaths of Biggie Smalls (the Notorious B.I.G.) and Tupac Shakur. The trail opens up allsorts dangerous vistas, including crooked cops moonlighting as security for Death Row Records.Most intriguing, and more than a little alarming.
Audio
The sound quality is all over the map, but that’s to be expected: this is a documentary, folks,and you don’t expect the ev…
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8 Mile
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 24th, 2003
In this story, very loosely based on his own life, Eminem makes his acting debut. This is the story of Jimmy Smith Jr. a white boy born on the wrong side of Detroit’s 8 Mile divide. With an alcoholic white trash mother played by Kim Basinger, a dead end job and a trailer park for a home he does not have much going for him. His dreams fed by Detroit’s vibrant underground rap battle scene Jimmy tries to find himself and his voice in the world. This is a well written story about courage and not allowing one’s self to become a product of your environment.
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Black Swan
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 22nd, 2003
Synopsis
Hopeville isn’t terribly well named. The population is dwindling, and those who remainappear to have precious little hope. Chief among them is Helen (Melanie Doane), who woulddo anything to leave town. One can hardly blame her, given that her boyfriend is disagreeableloser Carl (Michael Riley), who, it seems, might well be responsible for the murder of the localgrocer. The film is loaded with quirky characters, but none of them are especially likeable, andthe plot meanders …
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Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 22nd, 2003
Synopsis
Undercover DEA agent Enrique Camarena (Steven Bauer) is kidnapped and killed inMexico. Drug lord Benicio Del Toro is responsible, but investigators Treat Williams and CraigT. Nelson discover the corruption is more widespread than they thought. The case boasts thatthis if “from the producers of The Insider, Ali and Black Hawk Down,” but a more accuratesense of this effort would be given had the tag read “from the director of Poltergeist III.” Prettystandard TV fare, and the …
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Psych-Out / The Trip
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2003
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Synopsis
Two classics from American International are what we have here, with lots of familiar namesinvovled. Psych-Out stars Susan Strasberg, Jack Nicholson, Dean Stockwell and Bruce Dern.The Trip, scripted by Nicholson, stars Strasberg, Dern, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, and isdirected by Roger Corman. You can’t do much better for pedigree. The plots of both arerudimentary (at best). In Psych-Out, Strasberg (whose character is deaf for some reason),searches for her brother (Dern…
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