Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 12th, 2006
Jewel Shepard is Christina Von Belle, "The Playgirl of the Western World," which means she takes her clothes off a lot and has plenty of sex. She jets around from one European location to another, engaging in the previously mentioned activities. Something of an adventure plot kicks in when she is kidnapped by guerilla lesbians, and is subjected to rather odd bondage games (what's with the toy cars and trucks being driven over her body?).The plot isn't enough to actually make the film interesting, though, and Shepard might be willing to take her clothes off, but isn't so willing to act. I've seen planks of wood deliver more passionate love scenes.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 12th, 2006
The Griswolds, a household name for a series of National Lampoon comedy�s beginning with Vacation and most recently Vegas Vacation. Few of us could say these iconic characters haven�t left an impression in our minds. I was happy when I heard that Christmas Vacation was going to be released on HD DVD, a true Christmas classic in high definition. With many memorable scenes associated with Christmas, is this classic worth the purchase in HD?
Clark Griswald (Chevy Chase) is a family man who always has a positive outlook on matters, as you may remember his optimism throughout the other collection of Vacation movies. He is joyous at the thought of putting up a large group of his family and in-laws for the holidays, and it all starts with the perfect tree. The opening of the movie tracks Clark, Ellen (Beverly D�Angelo), and kids (Juliette Lewis & Johhny Galecki) as they scour the countryside looking for a tree to take home. They end up uprooting the biggest tree in sight and driving home with it on the roof of their station wagon, and yes getting stuck under a semi-truck in the process. I�m sure you remember this scene, along with the numerous classic sequences spread throughout the movie.
![National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/national-lampoons-christmas-vacati-large.jpg)
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on December 11th, 2006
Listen to my tale, will you?
OK, so I’m in an interview last week for a job, really more to get involved in the interview process again, and giving the right answers to the questions, and I’m asked about my hobbies. So I politely tell the guy that I write online as a reviewer, and so the question is asked, “So, what about this Blu-Ray?” Too friggin’ funny, so I discuss the format war. So I guess I’ve got an offer coming to me, but I don’t know if I wanna drive that far.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on December 8th, 2006
I’ve danced around the subject a few times already, but I haven’t directly dealt with Edward D. Wood Jr. in this column yet. Frankly, to do so seems rather superfluous. If you’re reading these words, you are in all likelihood intimately familiar with the great man’s work. So I’m not going to do any kind of survey or intro here. Instead, this is something of a plea.
Cult film fans have long been used to having to view their faves under conditions that are often less than ideal. Ten or fifteen years ago, befo...e the full onslaught of the DVD, and when most people didn’t own laser disc players, awful bootleg VHS was often the only alternative. Fortunately, this was never the case with Wood. There were plenty of legit releases of his work, especially those that had fallen into the public domain.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 8th, 2006
This is an interesting package, in that the title feature could just as easily pass as an extended extra to accompany all the shorts here. At any rate, said feature is a 104-minute documentary/autobiography. Don Glut has been successively fan, amateur filmmaker, writer and pro, and most of the film consists of him sitting in front of the camera, recounting his amateur days. Interspersed are brief interview with his mother, friends, and other notable fans/historians such as Bob Burns and Bill Warren, as well as clips from the films. Glut still has a great many of the props he used as a kid, which is astonishing. The style of the doc is very simple, and this probably won’t have too much appeal beyond, well, the same kind of people as this feature is about. But for anyone who ever read an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, this will bring a nostalgic tear to your eye. It also makes an excellent companion piece to Monster Kid Memories Home Movies.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 8th, 2006
Synopsis
Hooray for Donald Bellisario and his decision to create prime time television shows with various branches of the armed forces! But in this case, NCIS takes advantage of the craze of all the CSI related shows that have sprouted up over the last several years. But with various jump cuts and clips of music that are interspersed with it, it’s still hard to make the distinction.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Archive Authors on December 8th, 2006
Well it is finally here; the Wii has been released by Nintendo and with it comes my very first review of a Wii title. As most of you surely know Wii Sports is included in the package with every system and it showcases some of the Wii Remote's impressive capabilities. Beyond its apparent simplistic look its offers more depth than originally expected. Initially thought as a mere technology demo, Wii Sports turns out to be a game in itself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 7th, 2006
They say you can't turn back the clock. Sometimes, that really sucks. Like when I pressed "play" to watch Garfield and Friends, Behind the Scenes. There was a time in my life when I lived and breathed Garfield, and everything Jim Davis touched glittered like a clear, starry night to my eyes. I'm exaggerating, but the point is I used to really like the comic.
Well, that was age seven, and this is now. My mature, adult brain just cannot compute why this comic strip still runs in the dailies, and still sells off store shelves. So you can guess that I wasn't too keen on watching nearly two hours' worth of the animated Garfield cartoon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2006
A secret military research base (consisting of boring green-lit corridors and boasting a total staff and solider complement of about eight plus Michael Madsen) is working on a serum that boosts aggression and creates super-soldiers. Used on war heroes, it turns them into raging psychotics, so the decision is made to test it on losers, with the idea that they won’t be boosted quite as much. (Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t write the script.) A group of misfits is hauled in, but they don’t like what they’re being subjected to, and are soon running around corridors, looking for a way out. One of the previous subjects is accidentally freed, and he stalks the hallways as a very economical monster.
The introduction to our losers is actually quite funny, raising hopes that this might turn out to be some kind of torqued satire. No such luck. Just another DTV exercise in hallway horror. Depressingly familiar and tedious.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 7th, 2006
In a live action sequence, Mother Goose (Hal Smith in drag) is hauled before the court to account for herself. She proceeds to inflame the passions of those present with a series of raunchy tales. These are animated, and we find out what Jack really found up on that beanstalk, how Cinderella really impressed the Prince, and what sort of, er, encounters a not-so-Little Red Riding Hood had on her way to Grandma's house.There is some wit here (see the coda to Cinderella's story, for instance), but for the most part, the film is (surprise, surprise) crude in every sense of the word. The animation is roughly on the caliber of "Rocket Robin Hood," though given the nature of the acts depicted, limited repetitive motion isn't as much of a handicap as it might be, and seeing something like this in the Hanna-Barbera style is seriously weird. The characters are for the most part engagingly drawn, and as a curiosity, this is absolutely priceless. This had theatrical dates (albeit limited) in 1976. Hard to imagine the same thing today.
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