Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2007
Synopsis
In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Robert De Niro may have taken on some more famous roles (like The Deer Hunter and Raging Bull), but he wasn’t shy to experiment in roles with directors like Bernardo Bertolucci (1900), to name a few. And in his first film after playing Jake LaMotta, De Niro plays Des, a monsignor who runs into his brother Tom (Robert Duvall, The Apostle), a police homicide detective.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2007
Synopsis
Way back in the ‘80s, I can recall doing a fifth grade science project on a fledgling disease called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. I got a bunch of material from my Dad (who worked at the National Institute of Health) and went ahead and did it. To be honest, I really don’t remember if I did this report before or after the first recognizable name died from it (that being Rock Hudson), but in the quarter century since AIDS cases were first identified, over 25 million people have died and almos... 40 million currently live with the disease. 3 Needles is a film written and directed by Thom Fitzgerald (The Wild Dogs), and what the film may attempt to communicate (or even dispel) is that AIDS is not predominantly a disease where behavior dictates contraction, sometimes a person’s fate might be dictated before they are even aware of it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 19th, 2007
Synopsis
I’d like to think of Amanda Bynes (She’s the Man) for being part of a smaller second wave of teen female performers. Nobody’s really sure of who she is, but she appears to stay out of trouble and certainly not emulate the Lohans and Spears of the world. She had an already established name among the Nickelodeon demographic, but soon moved to grown up television, joining television veteran Jennie Garth (Beverly Hills, 90210) in What I Like About You.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 18th, 2007
Blood & Chocolate is based upon the novel of the same name by Annette Curtis Klause, which was written in 1997 and has since been in the talks of screenplay adaptation. Written by Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, Scream 3, The Ring) and directed by little known German director Katja von Garnier, Blood & Chocolate looks too impress.
It was refreshing to see a werewolf movie with a much different formula then were used to. Instead of the typical blood soaked horror we are presented with a dark an... somewhat more reasonable storyline. Vivian (Agnes Bruckner) and her family live in America, but when word spreads that they are a family of werewolves, a posse burns down their house and leaves everyone for dead. Vivian escapes and moves to Romania to be with her aunt Astrid and fellow werewolves. What interested me was the fact that these werewolves are proud. They come from a centuries old family of loup-garou’s (their fancy word for werewolves) that can shape shift on thought as opposed to the tiresome uncontrollable full moon fits of rage. They hunt only to survive and only on the full moons, and they avoid any public displays as they know if their identity is compromised they will stand no chance against the enraged humans.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on May 18th, 2007
It has been a commonplace for quite some time now to take for granted that the B-movie, as we used to know it, has died. The types of stories we used to get in those films, from, for the sake of argument, the 30s to the late 70s, have been taken over by the blockbusters. So we get the same narratives, but with budgets in excess of 100 million dollars. So not only has the B-pic lost its turf, but it has also lost its natural habitat. The drive-in is almost extinct, and anyway, it is almost impossible for such films to...achieve any kind of theatrical distribution at all.
But the form isn’t quite dead. Roger Corman, king of the Bs, saw the writing on the wall some time ago, and shifted his focus almost exclusively to producing product for home video and cable TV. That is where the B-movie now resides. And while much of that product is deservedly maligned (does anybody really deserve to be put through another Jim Wynorski film?), and equally deservedly consigned to the remainder bins of video stores, let us reconsider our instinctive bile for a moment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 18th, 2007
Synopsis
Peter O’Toole plays Maurice, an actor now reduced largely to playing corpses (or near corpses) and watching his days fade away in the company of his similarly elderly friends. Enter Jessie (Jodie Whittaker), the grand-niece of one of those cronies. Maurice is taken with her, and the story then takes a decidedly Pygmalion-esque turn as sullen young woman and ageing Lothario learn from each other.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 18th, 2007
Blood & Chocolate is based upon the novel of the same name by Annette Curtis Klause, which was written in 1997 and has since been in the talks of screenplay adaptation. Written by Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, Scream 3, The Ring) and directed by little known German director Katja von Garnier, Blood & Chocolate looks too impress.
It was refreshing to see a werewolf movie with a much different formula then were used to. Instead of the typical blood soaked horror we are presented with a dark an... somewhat more reasonable storyline. Vivian (Agnes Bruckner) and her family live in America, but when word spreads that they are a family of werewolves, a posse burns down their house and leaves everyone for dead. Vivian escapes and moves to Romania to be with her aunt Astrid and fellow werewolves. What interested me was the fact that these werewolves are proud. They come from a centuries old family of loup-garou’s (their fancy word for werewolves) that can shape shift on thought as opposed to the tiresome uncontrollable full moon fits of rage. They hunt only to survive and only on the full moons, and they avoid any public displays as they know if their identity is compromised they will stand no chance against the enraged humans.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 18th, 2007
Synopsis
My life has been a strange journey. Recently I found myself divorced after a three year marriage. Needless to say I'm probably need a bit of soul searching. Perhaps I need to cleanse my spirit before setting back out into the world from which I came. Now I've never been a religiously deep person but I do take myself on as a spiritual one. So to see a surprise title in my queue with the words The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success would bring at least a little ...bit of curiosity to my senses. In 1994, Deepak Chopra wrote a book with the above title and it granted him critical acclaim from people worldwide. Thirteen years later, this is brought to us in dvd form to enjoy. While some of the theories can be debated, a lot of its fundamental ideas make sense.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 17th, 2007
James Garner could have been a Hollywood leading man. He had surfaced in a few films and apparently was on every director’s radar at one time or another. Hit or miss, he might have made quite an impact on the film industry. Instead, he will forever be known for the two defining television roles of his career. Maverick completely reinvented the television western. Up until that time the western was a place populated by clear good guys and bad guys. Men like Marshall Dillon and Ben Cartwright were known for their wholesome ways and do unto others attitude, perhaps mixed in with the occasional frontier justice. Enter Bret Maverick, who was a morally ambiguous character who loved to gamble and often run a con, even if it was usually on the bad guys. A western Robin Hood, if you will. It’s no surprise that when Stephen Cannell was looking for a new character he would bring Bret Maverick into the current day. Instead of a horse, Rockford drove an iconic Firebird. Still, even without the western trappings, Rockford is Maverick.
James Rockford lived in a trailer on the beach. His lovable dad was a truck driver who never did understand how his “sonny” could be mixed up in the dirty world of private investigations. While Rockford always projected a tough guy exterior, it was his soft spot for a sad story that often got him deep in trouble. He could understand the world of injustice. He had spent five years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Even after a full pardon, the cops considered him a lowlife ex-con. His one buddy, Lt. Becker, usually laid low among his fellow officers, often afraid to admit to being Rockford’s friend. Rockford was also king of the con. When normal tactics didn’t work, he could bring together a group of scam artists and con men to handle the largest of productions. He traveled with his own business card printing press. Afraid of guns, Rockford usually kept his in the cookie jar.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 17th, 2007
We hear it all the time. Some kid had it rough as a child. Single parent home, gangs, poor schools and even poorer neighborhoods. What this usually describes is some three time loser who has just robbed or killed somebody and ends up in a high speed chase with police. Some folks take adversity and turn it into gold. George Lopez is the latter. He’ll be the first one to tell you that the sad stories his character tells of his youth are rooted in cold hard reality. Not only does he bare these painful memories for mil...ions to see, but he encourages us to laugh at them. Lopez doesn’t have the same kind of raw talent that most comedic actors draw from. For Lopez the talent is in the genuineness of the portrayal. He’s capable of some of the most complicated expressions that make us want to take him home. Of course, feeding him is another story. There’s nothing really complicated about the George Lopez Show, however. While it has recently been cancelled, it remains one of the true standout sitcoms of the decade. The George Lopez show doesn’t rely on sexual innuendo or exotic situations for its laughs. This is the kind of show you don’t have to be embarrassed watching with the kids.
George Lopez is George Lopez. He has a son, Max (Garcia) and a daughter Carmen (Lusha). His wife Angie (Marie) is a fiery Cuban who is a constant clash to George’s more laid back demeanor. Their family backgrounds are quite different even though both are Latino. Here the show does a great job of dispelling Latino stereotypes by accenting the cultural differences between George and Angie. Don’t get me wrong. There’s plenty of Latino generalization throughout the show, played mostly for laughs. The show is almost stolen by George’s mother, Benny (Moreno) who’s not often very apologetic about her dysfunctional mothering when George was a child. The banter provides some of the best moments in the show. There are few comedies these days that actually get me to laugh. The most many get are a random chuckle from time to time. The George Lopez Show is one of those few that elicit genuine laughter. I’m talking Sanford and Son laughs here.
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