Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 29th, 2006
The first full season of Kelley’s “The Practice” spin-off was somewhat abbreviated. It was also a time to introduce us to the firm and new cast of characters. As is Kelley’s trademark style, we were sure of one thing. These characters would be quirky with enough of a touch of reality to keep them interesting. So as his flagship series faded away into production problems and slipping ratings, Boston Legal erupts like a phoenix from the ashes of certain death. Now as popular or more so than The Practice, Boston Legal...hits our DVD shelves for season 2. This set contains a whopping 27 episodes, which includes several originally produced for season 1. There is an awkward beginning to this season, as cast changes don’t kick in for a handful of episodes. Once the season finds its legs, however, it is better than ever.
Most of the action surrounds friends Alan Shore (Spader) and senior partner Denny Crane (Shatner). From the very beginning this coupling has been character chemistry at its best and perhaps drives the entire show. I say this because even the weakest and most outrageous stories are somehow worth watching just for the Shore/Crane antics. Shatner has certainly enjoyed a rebirth of his own with this role. The supporting cast is also very strong. Fellow Trek alumnus Rene Auberjonois plays senior partner Paul Lewiston and Candice Bergen is senior partner Shirley Schmidt. Both seem to exist only as foils for Shore and Crane. Leaving the series by the 5th episode are Rhona Mitra’s Tara and Monica Potter’s Lori. Lake Bell’s Sally left earlier to pursue sea monsters in the doomed NBC series Surface. The combination of laughs and drama continue. In spite of the often over the top Democratic rhetoric and Republican demonizing, the show offers plenty of entertainment no matter what your own philosophies. Still, Kelley just can’t seem to help himself, and when the show suffers, this is often where the weak link lies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 28th, 2006
Four young women (including Lina Romay in her Candy Coster persona) arrive at beach resort. They plan to pick up plenty of men for sex, but if none are available, as they're in a Jess Franco film, they'll make do with each other. They see no one else around, except for the odd manager (Robert Foster) and the even more bizarre gardener. At first they think nothing of the town's deserted nature, but gradually they realize something is wrong, and it has to do with the nearby monastery, where undead Cathars vent their frustration with their cursed state by raping and killing our heroines.The plot is rather more confusing than I've laid out here. The inspiration for the film is pretty clearly Amando De Ossorio's Blind Dead series, though these are pretty talkative bunch of living dead. Silly sexploitation (the first half of the movie is like a depopulated sex comedy) mixes with jerky camerawork, some very nicely spooky shots in the hotel and a completely bizarre amour fou subplot involving a woman chained up in another room. This is far from Franco's best, but it is a film that still has ideas in its head, and the scene set in empty, windswept streets are quite eerie.
Audio
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 28th, 2006
Opening
Promotional games have come and gone. Typically they involve some movie or tv show, kid or blockbuster related. Once in a while, they center on food such as the M&M's game for Playstation 1 or perhaps the 2 or 3 McDonalds games. Burger King decided that their king character which was a cartoon character onto himself deserved not one video game about him but three. Better also make that for one of the top systems today. The XBOX 360. What will we charge, just $3.99 with a value me...l. I mean if Whopper Jr can sell himself for a buck then why not. A fine trio of games (Big Bumpin, Sneak King and Pocketbike Racer) deliver on a fine time of good graphics, entertaining gameplay and fresh food (well maybe not so fresh).
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on November 27th, 2006
What, you were expecting something profound from a short week?
Seriously? Well, for whatever it’s worth, the big news this week is the release of Superman to HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. The Bryan Singer film Superman Returns (which looks like a beaut on HD-DVD), along with the Richard Donner-helmed Superman and Superman II (both of which are also beauts to boot).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 27th, 2006
Alice (Lina Romay under her blonde pseudonym "Candy Coster") is haunted by erotic nightmares involving the Princess Obongo (the Amazonian Ajita Wilson). She therefore has her misgivings when she is ordered by her boss to travel to a remote island and sell some real estate to that very person. Doubts notwithstanding, off she goes (got up in an outfit I've never seen a real estate agent wear before) to play Jonathan Harker to Obongo's Dracula. On the island, she falls under the Obongo's spell, and becomes emmeshed in a web of sex, rituals and magic.Director Jess Franco here is reworking the plot from his Vampyros Lesbos, and even reuses some of that film's sun-bleached supernatural-by-daylight tricks. The zoom lens isn't quite as badly overused as in some of his other work, though it definitely makes its presence known. Some of the camera placements are decidedly odd (did he really want us to see Wilson's fillings as she writhes in orgasmic frenzy?), but there are plenty of very lovely shots, too, that manage to conjure a real sense of surreal beauty and mystery on a ridiculously small budget. The studied pace might well put off fans of either sex or horror, but then, that's typical Franco for you, but the film does have an oddly mesmeric effect.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 27th, 2006
I�m never up on the film festival scene, so it�s no surprise to me that I�ve only just discovered Tom Zuber�s Little Athens, even though it was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival back in 2005.
My three favourite things about this movie are its strong cast, solid story and the unique cinematography. Actually, make it four things, because the soundtrack is also pretty excellent.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 26th, 2006
Natalie Portman stars in V for Vendetta, cast in a role unlike what I typically expect from her, a dialogue driven action movie with a serious tone to it. This movie even got me thinking a little bit about mankind’s intolerance of other man and how far society has to go to protect itself. I enjoy movies of this nature, you know the kind taking place in a not to distance future and not so distant problems, but a drastically different way of life. Something these movies always have in common is the civil rights ...hat are stripped from society for “beneficiary” reasons and leadership is in the form of a dictatorship. Basically, mankind takes a step back and a docile society is brought forward. Curfew and the inability to freely express oneself via certain forms of art and music plague a futuristic England. The real question here being, would you rather live in a world with few forms of expression and the inability to be a non-conformist but with crime almost non-existent? Comparable to the movie Equilibrium before it, the people in this future must sacrifice these certain rights in order to live in a “safe” environment.
The movie also has obvious Nazi undertones; the most obvious would be the rise and rule of Chancellor Adam Sutler, which shares similar traits and action of Adolph Hitler. The way the speeches are conducted, and the way the personal army of the Chancellor have rule of the streets all seem to remind me of the Nazi regime. I believe this element of the film makes it much more real to the viewer, seeing as fear tactics have and still are being used by government officials today.
![V for Vendetta [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/v-for-vendetta-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2006
Synopsis
The concept of JAG is pretty simple, I mean, it’s A Few Good Men on the small screen, using sets and footage from other recent armed forces films and hopefully enough pretty people that viewers will enjoy it. However, that wasn’t the case initially, but JAG is one of those shows that helps prove how sometimes you’ve got to give enough time for people to catch onto it before it takes hold.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Back when it first aired on Comedy Central in a previous incarnation as a television series, Strangers With Candy was an interesting enough premise. Take a menopausally challenged, recently released prisoner named Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris, Elf) who decides to return home for the first time in over three decades to try and get a new start and throw her into high school. Now, not knowing how good or bad the show did, it must have had some sort of following, because there’s a movie out ...ow from which said television series is inspired.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2006
(Portions of this review have been pulled from the original one-disc version of Ronin, which can also be found in the reviews portion of the site)Synopsis
I think the only thing I remember about Ronin initially was that Robert DeNiro (Heat) was involved in some scandal involving a French "house of ill-repute" or something along those lines. But when Ronin was released, people quickly forgot about that mess, as what came from it was an action film that put a little more e...fort into the characters than other action films. But that’s not to say the action scenes were neglected; the car chase scenes that negotiate through winding French country roads, and through city sidestreets so narrow you couldn’t open either car door to get out of the car, are some of the most nail biting in recent memory. Based on J.D. Zeik’s story and rewritten by Richard Weisz, a.k.a. David Mamet, Ronin’s introduction is a title card about Japanese samurai without a master, who are mission-less assassins. As a US operative named Sam, DeNiro is introduced almost immediately to the group, who include Frenchman Vincent (Jean Reno, Leon), the Russian, Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard, Dogville) and the Brit, Spence (Sean Bean, Lord of the Rings). Their liaison between them and their employer is the Irish lass Deirdre (Natascha McElhone, Solaris), and their object is a briefcase whose contents are mysterious.
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