Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 3rd, 2007
Missing Resolution in Halo, Missing Wii's for Christmas and Microsoft soon to miss Bungie? - Welcome to the column that is missing pants and dignity (if we had any to begin with) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Okay, okay so my review of the pretty Halo Tin isn't quite done. I'd say it is about two thirds done to be exact. It is looking quite good; but I've got the replay section mainly to go over with a fine tooth come. One thing that Halo 3 has a lot of and that is game modes. So I'll have to be careful and be meticulous. At first I was rather meh about the game, but I kinda like it now. Now keep in mind, I'm not one of those gah-gah Halo is king guys but I'm having fun with it. Played three stages to completion and messed with multiplayer for a good long time. My girlfriend and I are still both addicted to Bomberman Live. We aren't really good at it (though we have our moments) but we have a great time playing it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2007
Until not very long ago this set was being billed as
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 1st, 2007
There are two very distinctive schools of thought about Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book. There are the Kipling fanatics who have never forgiven Disney for taking a story considered sacred in literary circles and creating something that honestly bears (pardon the pun) little resemblance to the original work. These folks rightfully point out that the story contains almost nothing recognizable about the story and characters from Kipling’s beloved classic. I have often condemned projects that take names like The Night Stalker and Battlestar Galactica and create a vision incompatible with the traditions I associate with them. Therefore this review might seem a bit hypocritical when I tell you I side with the other camp that considers this film to be a milestone, not only in Disney animation, but in animation history itself. The characters might be distantly removed remote ancestors to Kipling’s creatures, but they are truly classic creations in their own right. What better definition of a classic can there be than the influence that Jungle Book still has 40 years later, not only on our pop culture but on the careers and lives of today’s artists. I venture to say that more people are familiar with Disney’s renderings of these characters than Kipling’s I agree the caparison isn’t exactly fair, but it is accurate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 1st, 2007
The death of Superman was a tremendous event for comic fans and media circuits around the world. Sure, it had been teased a hundred times in the past but if they did it legitimately and made people believe that he was really gone; they would create a landmark achievement and bring comics back to a worldwide stage. With the release of Superman #75, they did just that. Newspapers, television shows; circuits that never showed a comic book in their life were showing the black bag and the tattered image on the front cover. Superman had died and the world mourned. In the months that followed, the story went in four different directions and eventually he was brought back.
Years pass and somebody at DC & Warner Bros thought this would make a great dvd feature movie. Following in the tradition of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Uncut; they also decided to make it racier by giving it a PG-13 rating. Then they found some good voice actors (Adam Baldwin & Anne Heche) and have it produced by one of the greats in Bruce Timm . They would have to change up the story a little bit too. Superman would still die while fighting Doomsday and he would still be brought back. However, certain elements would have to be dropped (e.g. the idea of four supermen) and other elements would have to be added (e.g. Lex Luthor being more of a central point to the plot of the story).
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on October 1st, 2007
Vudu is launching a $400 set top box that will let you purchase ($20) or rent ($1-4) high-def movies, which are downloaded to the Vudu box over a high-speed internet connection. It promises a big selection, easily accessible - the long-sought "blockbuster in your living room."
Posted in: Brain Blasters, Regular Columns by David Annandale on September 30th, 2007
Returning to Sinister Cinema’s roster of Drive-In Double Features this year is an offering that distinguishes itself by the rarity of the two films in the pairing, and so it is my bounden duty to bring this to your attention. The two films in question are Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959) and The Magnetic Monster (1953).
Caltiki is another blob monster movie in the vein of The Blob and X the Unknown. It isn’t in the same league as either of those films, but is not without both interest and charm. It’s an early genre effort from Italy, coming just before the onslaught of gothics that would begin in 1960, and behind the camera are the two men most responsible for those classic horrors: Riccardo Freda as director, and Mario Bava as cinematographer (who also completed the film after Freda left). The story is bizarre. Our blob in question is discovered in an ancient temple in Mexico, and turns out to be the source of a deity’s legend. The heroic scientists describe it as a unicellular creature, an appellation that certainly doesn’t help the audience’s efforts at sustaining disbelief. But never mind. Though the creature is apparently killed by fire in the tomb, a portion of it retained for study survives and breaks free. The climax takes place in the hero’s residence, with the creature, now in several pieces, oozing all over the grounds and down hallways, closing in on the heretofore neglected wife and child. It’s all rather absurd, but well paced and nicely photographed. As well, in the hero’s troubled marriage, we see an element unusual for monster films of this type and era and, despite the Mexican setting, there’s a faint whiff of Italian social malaise from the Dolce Vita days floating about.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 30th, 2007
Sometimes films sport an ensemble cast with intertwining storylines that have large aspirations. The films wind up being acclaimed on several different levels and are memorable in the long term. In previous outings, this technique is usually mastered by the late Robert Altman, but when it’s not remotely successful, it becomes self-indulgent and overly pretentious.
Take the case of Even Money. Written by Robert Tannen in his screenwriting debut and directed by Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond), the film covers the lives of several different people. Carol (Kim Basinger, L.A. Confidential) is married to Tom (Ray Liotta, Goodfellas). She’s a writer suffering through a block while Tom works as a teacher. Clyde (Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland) works hard as a plumber while his younger brother Godfrey is a star basketball player (Nick Cannon in a “one of these things is not like the other” role). Walter (Danny DeVito, Hoffa) is an aspiring magician who tries to get closer to an old mysterious businessman named Ivan, but only gets as far as a man named Victor (Tim Roth, Pulp Fiction). There’s even a doctor (Carla Gugino, Sin City) who is dating the muscle for a bookie. I give the last part of this away a little bit, as all the characters and their storylines involve gambling in one form or another.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 29th, 2007
Dirty Sanchez, the Welsh Jackass, or at least it’s something like it. Like Jackass, this little British show started on TV and has since made its way to the big screen, that of course is not where the similarities end. Dirty Sanchez, ‘They make Jackass look like the Royal Shakespeare Company.’ Well that’s what the say anyways, I disagree but they are definitely just as careless and insane as the Jackass crew. Dirty Sanchez features three buddies, Pritchard, Dainton, and Pancho as they completely disregard their health in any which way they can think. This film features several of these outrageous stunts in an uncut manner which boasts a lot of language, male nudity, and vomit. If you’re not interested in any of that you might as well stop reading here, but for those of you that can’t get enough out of watching people make an ass of themselves, please read on.
Right off the start I have to say that Dirty Sanchez contained a bit more talking than I would have liked, but some of the stunts were pretty outrageous. Well some of them like snorting wasabi, getting shot with paintballs, and Thai boxing have been done before by the likes of Steve-O, Johnny Knoxville, Ryan Dunn and crew there are a few here you wont want to miss. To start, have you ever wondered what it would look like to get liposuction without anesthetic? Well, I hope you haven’t taken the time to think about that, but you’re going to find out what it looks like anyways. How about having your good buddy drink the resulting ooze? These are just a few things that will be sure to captivate a younger audience and outrage the old timers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 27th, 2007
To the point, Criminal Minds is very compelling television. Ever since The Silence Of The Lambs and perhaps long before, we have been fascinated by serial killers and the profilers who try to get inside their heads. To see evidence of the continuing trend, one needs only look toward the success of films like Zodiac and shows like Dexter. Of course, serial killers are not the only prey this FBI team pursues, but they are certainly the marquee item on the agenda. To be sure, there are equally disturbing subjects such as arsonists, bombers, kidnappers, and rapists to give the show a touch of variety, but let’s face it, it’s the killers that keep us tuned so attentively to Criminal Minds.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 27th, 2007
This is a second release of the film already available in Severin’s fine Black Emanuelle’s Box collection. What I said about the film in that review still holds, to whit: “Emanuelle Around the World (1977) has a bit more of a storyline, though it is still very picaresque in nature. Picturesque as well. Our heroine becomes outraged by the sex traffic of women, and so travels from location to location, exposing the evildoers. D’Amato (who also directed the previous entry) here rather unconvincingly dons a pseudo-feminist stance, but there are moments actually approaching suspense. The sex scenes of both these films are, for the most part, laughable, though occasionally well shot. Any sense of eroticism is thanks to Laura Gemser, whose ethereal beauty and grace are such that she moves through the film as an almost divine presence, above and untouched by the events around her.”
This is the “XXX European Version,” which doesn’t make a whole heck of a lot of difference. The running times are essentially identical. The only scene where I noticed any real increase in explicitness is in the creepy sequence where a captured Emanuelle is forced to watch rape by snake and dog. The scene is still, I think (and devoutly hope and keep telling myself), simulated, but most unpleasant, and makes the film’s pseudo-feminist stance even harder to buy than before.
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