Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on December 15th, 2006
Old fogey time. When I first encountered Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K, don’t you know), it was an authentically viral phenomenon. This would have been circa 1993. It was still on the Comedy Network, a station that very few of us in the Great White North had access to. But the closing credits ordered, “Keep Circulating Those Tapes,” and people did. Often, this meant viewing the episodes in multi-duped EP versions so muzzy the dialogue was barely audible, but enough was discernible to know that we were w...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2006
Michael Mann, for myself, has always been an entertaining director. His commercial successes like Last of the Mohicans, Heat and Collateral are some of my favorite guilty-pleasure films that I can always enjoy. When Mann decided to make a feature film on the classic TV series Miami Vice, I immediately piqued interest in the film. I figured with Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx acting and Michael Mann directing that Miami Vice would be a home run. In the end, Vice is more of a double that has a few faults which keep it from hitting a home run.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 15th, 2006
Why is it that kids watch so much bad programming? When I was a child I watched a lot of Full House, even though I knew at the time that it was a poorly-crafted program. I really don't remember ever laughing during an episode, and I knew how cheesy the whole thing was, yet if I was at home changing channels, and the show came on, I would inexplicably stop and watch. At first, I think it was confusing for me that Dave Coulier was on the show, as up until that point I was used to seeing him as the host of Nickel...
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 13th, 2006
Plasma, Protecting Children from themselves & PS3 pipe dreams - Welcome to the column that never discloses whether or not it is rated M for Mature (just assume it) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I'm your host that made the big jump this weekend. I went and bought a 42 inch Phillips plasma from Best Buy. I don't want to get too much into it since this is good story fodder but it got delivered on tuesday and is waitin...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2006
I can't believe this show ran for seven seasons. Sure, I enjoyed it as a child, but I was a child, and didn't know any better. Seeing it today, it is shocking how bad it really is. The acting is pathetic and the storylines are lame and predictable. Every episode for seven straight seasons had the same basic skeleton. The boys are having a good time, the corrupt county commissioner does something for personal gain, the half-retarded Sheriff blames it on the innocent Duke boys, car chase, short shorts, car flies throug...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 13th, 2006
Paul McCartney is a great example of what Darwin meant by survival of the fittest. No one in the music business has learned to adapt and thrive like Paul McCartney. The term timeless has been applied so often to so many performers that it might have lost any meaning. Still, if anyone deserves that description, it is Paul McCartney. With The Beatles he helped define the 60’s and reinvent Rock and Roll. In the 1970’s and 80’s he continued the hits with Paul McCartney and Wings. When Wings finally disappeared into the midnight sky, McCartney was still at it as a solo artist.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 13th, 2006
The 1978 Superman film set the standard for what a quality comic hero film should be. The tagline promise: “You will believe a man can fly” was kept. All future comic films would be judged by this standard. Superman II had its faults. Certainly it was not the modern classic like the first film. The plot was bogged down with a rather silly love story that broke down the barriers of the Kent/Superman identity for Lois Lane. Luthor, while played again with style by Gene Hackman, is reduced to a comedic backseat to the real villains.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 13th, 2006
My Super Ex-Girlfriend certainly has a fun premise, but after 10 minutes or so, you'll quickly realize that the originality is at most skin-deep. What we have here is a formulaic romantic comedy with the usual character types and plot points.
Luke Wilson plays Matt Saunders, a nice guy who's kind of unlucky with love. He meets Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman), falls for her, realizes she's a needy psycho, and dumps her because he's really in love with his co-worker, Anna (Hannah Lewis).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 12th, 2006
Nervy enough to claim to be an updating of the classic 1950 film La Ronde, this late-night-cable-fodder does borrow that film's structure as we move from one erotic anecdote to another, with a character from one story taking us into another, and so on, creating a chain of narratives involving rich people gettin' it on. I used the word "erotic" because everybody gets nekkid, but the charge the film carries is negligible. Thinks of it as a bad Robert Altman film with worse dubbing.
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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