Terminator 2
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 28th, 2003
This, the third DVD release of T2, reiterates the genius behind this film. With this disc, we are given the same extended edition and theatrical version as found on the Ultimate Edition release, but the new High Definition transfer found on this Extreme Edition makes this 10+ year old film look brand new.
This disc is set to play the 16-minute extended version of the film. If you prefer the theatrical version, on the main menu, go to Sensory Control, and hit the right arrow on your remote 5 times. After …
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Cheers – The Complete First Season
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 27th, 2003
Synopsis
I presume a synopsis of Cheers would be redundant, because if you’re not familiar with theshow, than this review would hold no interest. Anyway, this first season sets up the bar and thecharacters, in particular the feuding love-hate relationship between Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane(Shelley Long). In fact, in the pilot episode, we see how Diane gets hired in the first place.
Audio
The sound (in 2.0) breaks down pretty much into three categories. The mus…
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Children of Dune
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 27th, 2003
Synopsis
The revolution inspired by Paul Atreides has soured, turning into a galaxy-spanning crusadethat is not necessarily liberatory. Intrigue and conspiracy abound as various factions try toundermine Atreides, control him, or destroy him and his children. Combining the two books wasa smart move, since Dune Messiah on its own would be a rather unsatisfactory viewingexperience, and a bit of a downer. Combining the two makes for a much more completenarrative.
Audio< ...
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Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Xbox)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2003
Star Wars certainly is a mega-franchise. Not counting the films, the galaxy far, far, away has shown up in toys, lunchboxes, and other assorted paraphernalia. One thing that we didn’t have when the original trilogy made its way through the theater was a videogame based on the films.
That has changed dramatically over the last six or seven years with numerous Star Wars games coming to several different platforms. Arguably, many of those games were shoddy and fans agreed that they were not repre…
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Rescuers, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2003
Originally released in 1977 this is the first time that the original The Rescuers has been released on DVD. Follow the adventures Bernard and Miss Bianca of the mouse based Rescue Aid Society as they try and rescue orphan Penny. Penny has been kidnapped by the evil Madame Medusa and taken to the swamp of Devil’s Bayou to find a long lost pirate diamond.
Video
Disney has done a wonderful job of restoring the film for this disc. There is very little film grit visible and it is free of any ar…
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Atlantis II: Milo’s Return
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2003
Milo and company return in the follow-up to Disney’s Atlantis. In the original film Milo and company find the lost city of Atlantis and Milo stays behind to help rebuild it. Here he returns to the surface world to help with ancient creatures that are threatening that world. Follow along as they battle an ancient see monster, a coyote windstorm and an ancient Norse god and along the way discover the true power of the Heart of Atlantis.
Video
As is the case with most of the new Disney animate…
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Shaft, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 26th, 2003
Synopsis
The Millennium Building in New York has a problem: its central express elevator hasdeveloped a mind of its own, and is killing people. Even as horror movie concepts go, this ispretty preposterous, but what saves the film is its very awareness of its own preposterousness,and its willingness to go insanely over the top. So, on the debit side: the plot makes virtually nosense at all, with a great many threads left dangling; the post-synch voices are often ratherawkward, with t…
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Good Burger
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 26th, 2003
Synopsis
Good Burger has been serving the community’s fast food need for years, but now, across thestreet, comes the colossal building that houses Mondo Burger, a mega-chain set on wiping outthe little guy. To Good Burger’s doubtful rescue come its employees, led by the clumsy Dexter(Kenan Thompson) and the sublimely stupid Ed (Kel Mitchell).
Audio
The stereo mix is in both 5.1 and 2.0 surround, and is very lively, especially when it comes tothe music. Thund…
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Real Women Have Curves
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 26th, 2003
Synopsis
Ana (America Ferrera) is 18. She has just graduated from high school, and wants to go tocollege. For the summer, though, she is going to have to work in the garment factory with hermother and sister. Her mother (Lupe Ontiveros), meanwhile, is determined to make her fit thetraditional role of a Latino daughter, and Ana rebels. Body image, tradition versus youth, theLatino experience in the US, sweatshops: all these themes are skilfully braided together.
Audio< ...
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Cloak and Dagger
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2003
Synopsis
Gary Cooper, unusually cast as an atomic scientist, is sent to Europe by the OSS to rescuescientists being forced to cooperate with the Nazi atom bomb project. During his mission, hehooks up with the Italian resistance, falling in love with the feisty Lilli Palmer. Though Langoriginally shot his 1946 thriller with more emphasis on the dangers of atomic power, WarnerBros. re-edited the flick, and most of that theme is now lost, reducing the nuclear angle to a mereHitchcockian McGuff…
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Paper Chase, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2003
Synopsis
Timothy Bottoms plays Hart, a first-year law student at Harvard. His existence centresaround a class taught by Kingsfield (John Houseman), a brilliant but utterly ruthless professorwho consistently humiliates his students, yet somehow acquires their unswerving loyalty. Hartalso begins an affair with a Susan (Lindsay Wagner), who turns out to be Kingsfield’s daughter.Though the film is never less than compelling, it does lack a centre. The characters are almostall cyphers or…
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Clear and Present Danger
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2003
If Clear And Present Danger suffers from anything it is that it is overlong. As much as I like the film and its plot, there are times when I find myself checking the running time again to see how much longer the film is. There are also an incredible number of characters on both sides of the fence to keep track of: Ryan (Ford), Greer (Jones), Clark (Defoe), Ritter (Czemy) , Escobedo (Sandoval) , NSA Director Cutter (Yulin), Felix Cortez (Almeida), Ryan’s wife (Archer), Moira (Mangnuson), FBI Director Jacobs (Tammi) and the list goes on.
Analyze That
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2003
Analyze This was funny for several reasons, not the least of them being that it came from out of nowhere. We always knew that Billy Crystal could be rolling-in-the-aisles funny, but Robert DeNiro really isn’t “the King Of Comedy”. The movie worked because of chemistry more than anything else. Analyze That is no different. If anything the interplay between DeNiro and Crystal has improved. While not nearly as original (and how could it be?) Analyze That is just as funny as the first film.
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Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (Playstation 2)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 21st, 2003
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc is by all intents and purposes is a platform game, but video gamers should not just assume they have another plain-vanilla platformer on their hands. On the contrary, although Rayman 3 is another platform title, the slick graphics, neat music, and top notch voice acting make it a game worth checking out.
Most Playstation owners have undoubtedly come across Rayman at some point in their gaming lives whether it was the original Rayman on the PSOne or those e…
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Guy Thing, A
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2003
Synopsis
Jason Lee plays Paul who is engaged to Karen (Selma Blair), after his bachelor party he wakes up to one of the Tiki girls (Becky played by Julia Stiles) in bed with him, to make matters worse he discovers that she is his fiancée’s cousin. SO he does “The Guy Thing” and does everything he can to cover things up but, when Becky’s pscho ex starts stalking Paul things start to get out of hand.
Video
Presented in both a 1.85:1 anamorphic version and a 1.33:1 fullscreen …
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Patriot Games
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 18th, 2003
I am quite conflicted about this the second Jack Ryan film. There is no doubt I enjoy Harrison Ford’s Ryan more than I did Alec Baldwin’s. Of course, they really are not the same character at all. With Ford, Ryan has become more of an action hero. Sadly, I didn’t find this script as compelling as the other Ryan films. It is by far the worst adaptation of a Clancy novel to date. The complicated plot ends up being reduced to a simple game of revenge for the villain. Plot contrivances abound just to place Ryan into the heat of fire.
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25th Hour
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 18th, 2003
Synopsis
In 24 hours Monty Brogan is going to prison for seven years, with his last day of freedom he tries to set his life straight. Once a king of New York with easy access to the best clubs Monty has alienated his friends and family with his lifestyle that he must now say goodbye to. He has dinner with his father and goes out clubbing with his two best friends and his girlfriend Naturelle (who he thinks may have been the one who pinched him). With time running out Monty must do everything he can t…
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The Hunt for Red October
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 15th, 2003
In the 1980’s Tom Clancy was “the man”. One of the interviews on this disc accurately points out that if you were on an airplane in the 1980’s, for every ten people reading a book seven would be reading Tom Clancy. Hunt for Red October was by far his best work. The technical information was so accurate that Clancy was once questioned for several hours by the CIA to determine his source. The film, unlike many blockbuster efforts, does not disappoint. The script is relatively faithful to the book. There are major divergences, particularly the climax, but most serve to tighten the lengthy novel into a fast-paced film.
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Hot Chick, The
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 13th, 2003
Synopsis
An ancient artifact causes the body of the most popular girl in high school to be switched with that of a low life 30 year old male. She finds that life in a man’s body is not so easy and she needs to convince her friends that it is really her and figure out how to switch her body back. This is probably the best Rob Schneider film to date, full of cameos form the likes of Adam Sandler.
Audio
Featuring a pumped up 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track the audio on this disk…
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Extreme Ops
Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 12th, 2003
Synopsis
A group of extreme athletes and a professional skier set out on a remote Austrian mountaintop to shoot a stunt for a commercial. Unbeknownst to them a group of terrorists is in hiding at the mountain top resort. The film makers have a habit of filming everything that goes on and they accidentally capture one of the terrorists on film, now they must fight for their lives to survive the mountain and the terrorists.
Audio
Featuring your expected mix of rap and altern…
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Ikaruga (Gamecube)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 10th, 2003
Man, talk about your old school inspired shooters! Ikaruga, from Atari and for the Nintendo GameCube, is one of the coolest side-scrolling shooters to date on any of the three platforms. Placing gamers inside a spaceship up against waves of enemy fighters and mother ships, players can use several different cannons and missiles to take down the enemy swarm. Strap in, and get ready to ride!
Graphics
Originally developed for the arcade and the now ill-fated Sega DreamCast console,…
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Burnout 2: Point of Impact (Gamecube)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 10th, 2003
Looking for a fast racer that has some of the best detailed wild crash sequences? Then look no further than Burnout 2: Point of Impact, out now on the Nintendo GameCube. Anyone who is a fan of the Ridge Racer series of games on the PS2 owes it to themselves to check out Burnout 2 and see what all the talk is about. Detailed cities and tracks, well modeled vehicles, and some great in-game physics when it comes to fast cars slamming into objects and demolishing.
Graphics
Ap…
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Traffic
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 9th, 2003
Traffic sports an A cast and a pretty compelling story. The only real thing holding it back is that there are times the plot is too ambitious. It gets weary following the three distinct storylines. You might also find the ending a bit of a letdown. I was expecting something far more dramatic given the intense buildup over two and a half hours. Michael Douglas is the main star and gives us a fine performance, but I was more captivated by the character of Mexican cop Javier Rodriguez, played with excellent flair by Benicio Del Toro.
Tao Feng (Xbox)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 9th, 2003
Rumblin’ time is here for the Xbox videogame console and Tao Feng from Microsoft may have just have you whooping it up with great combos, slick graphics, and interesting game characters. New this month, Tao Feng is Microsoft’s answer to the Tekken series which calls the PS2 home.
Developed by the guys that brought you Mortal Kombat, players can select fighters from one of two factions in the game: the Pale Lotus and the Black Mantis. Each of these sects has strong …
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Red Faction II (Xbox)
Posted in Game Reviews by Archive Authors on May 8th, 2003
The first person shooter has come quite a long way from the beginning days of the genre and it has seen some interesting additions to its mode of play. Although one might argue that on the one hand that FPS games are fundamentally the same as they were back then, new titles on the market like Red Faction II introduce new and better features which keep the genre fresh and exciting.
Players can pick up Red Faction II out now for their Xbox video game console and experience some down right fun bl…
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