Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2006
What is it about The Roman Empire that fascinates us so? The answer is far too complicated to address in this forum, if you can pardon the pun. The influences of Rome are all around us. From the very form of government we practice to the grand arenas we watch our ballgames in, Rome can be found literally around every corner. Hollywood has recognized the allure since the early days of filmmaking. Classics like Ben Hur and Spartacus eventually gave way to the more modern epic Gladiator.
It is 52 BC and...Rome stands at a crossroads. Long ago established as a great Republic to rival the likes of Greece, the fledgling empire suffers from within. Senators appear to the common man as merely wealthy aristocrats who have long since lost any connection to the problems of everyday Roman life. Sound familiar? Gaius Julius Caesar (Hinds) controls an elite legion of Roman soldiers fighting for the glory of Rome in Gaul. His co-consul in Rome, Pompeius Magnus (Cranham) has grown impatient with Caesar’s many years of absence from Rome. The resulting civil war would eventually lead to collapse of a Republic and the beginning of dictatorship and empire that would drive Rome for centuries hence.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2006
The boys are at it again in Season 8 of South Park. To say that this season provides more of the same would be a tad unfair. It appears to me that South Park optimally matures in its eighth year. No, not that kind of maturity. Cartman and the gang are as raunchy as ever, and yes, still at times over the top. The kind of maturity I refer to is more subtle. South Park no longer has to rely on the running gags epitomized by the old Kenny deaths. The show isn’t afraid to feature some of the more peripheral characters. ...utters, Timmy, and Jimmy get a lot more to do, and I find them suddenly to be far more compelling characters. No longer simply foils for the usual suspects, they have come into their own. A good example can be found in “Up The Down Steroid”. While Cartman and one of his schemes are appropriately the center of the episode, the Timmy and Jimmy characters have some outstanding moments. “AWESOM-O” brings us face to face with a more endearing Butters. I must say that in this year of South Park I found myself enjoying these moments considerably. More than adding some dimension to the series, it has, I believe, given the show stronger legs leading into the years that follow.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 6th, 2006
Synopsis
A young Richard Basehart climbs out onto the ledge of his fifteenth-floor hotel room. He could jump at any moment. Paul Douglas is the traffic cop who is first on the scene, and becomes the only person Basehart will willingly talk to. Hour after hour goes by as the authorities do everything they can to bring the troubled young man in.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006
There you have it, HDMI over UWB. Time to get creative with your setups!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006
Something must be drawing Michael Douglas to the upper-crust "man in peril" role. He's been stalked by a woman who likes to boil rabbits, sexually harassed by his sexy boss, and is currently being framed for the assassination of the President in The Sentinel. Douglas plays Peter Garrison, a Secret Service veteran who is also having an affair with the wife of the man he is sworn to protect, First Lady Ballentine (Kim Basinger, still looking good at 53). When Garrison is framed by the assassins (one of who... may be another Secret Service Agent), he must stay one step ahead of former protege Agent Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland, doing Jack Bauer as a SS agent) and rookie agent Jill Marin (an underused but gorgeous Eva Longoria), who are hot on his trail, believing he really is trying to kill the President.
The plot is lifted from dozens of other films and simply injected into different surroundings. Instead of a doctor and a one-armed man, it's a Secret Service agent and a plot to kill the President. Despite the lack of plot originality, director Clark Johnson (The Shield, The Wire) and the professional cast, especially Douglas and Sutherland, always keep things moving at an economical clip. The Sentinel never lingers on anything long enough for us to question it, and it hits all the right marks in its 108 minute running time. It even takes some time to show us the daily grind of a Secret Service agent, which adds to the film's authenticity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Anna Faris takes a job as a social worker, moving into a house with the evil presences we know and love from The Grudge. Meanwhile, next door, Craig Bierko is about to deal with The War of the Worlds. And off we go, as the movie riffs one parody of recent films after another.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Maybe it’s because of their funny accents, or maybe it’s because of the natural desire to see ancient history relived, but the British sure have a knack for their period piece dramas and making everyone want to watch. And when Elizabeth I aired on HBO over a two-part miniseries during the spring of 2006, it won a truckload of Emmy awards, not only for the production, but also for the title character, played by Helen Mirren (Excalibur) and one of the supporting actors (Jeremy Irons, <b ...Reversal of Fortune).
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on September 4th, 2006
Insert silly saying here, I’ve got no energy to do so, for it’s the day of rest in America.
What can I say, I’m going to sit and watch my butt expand this go round (damn, I’m doing it now), so here we go…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 4th, 2006
Taking place in the 1950’s, Good Night and Good Luck deals with the impending threat of Communism in the world. Many feared it so much they decided to never speak of it. One Senator in particular, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy used a type of propaganda basically creating this threat of Communism as one of the single biggest threats anyone could face. Ala President Bush, many Americans who wanted to take a stand against McCarthy and his views, decided not to for fear of being called an unpatriotic American....It wasn’t until eight members of a CBS radio show, lead by Edward R. Murrow (Clooney), decided to take a stand against McCarthy. The film, instead of showcasing Murrow’s entire career (and quite the career it was indeed), focuses on this one portion of his career. I applaud Clooney for doing this film, since a character like Murrow would be eventually viewed as a hero for standing up against the power. It just goes to show that sometimes, if you try fight the good fight, the right will prevail.
What makes a film like this so powerful and necessary viewing is not the direction of George Clooney (even though it is rather good), but more the power of the message behind these eight men. In a time of fear and worry in the country, these men stood up as one and decided to take a stand against a man who used fear and his power to take advantage of his audience (sound familiar no)? Subtle little things also make this film’s message powerful. Instead of casting a McCarthy look-a-like to shoot these scenes, Clooney, in a wise move that brings more credibility to the film’s message, used archival footage of McCarthy actually speaking about Communism. After viewing these messages in the film, one can easily see where a certain man may have come up with messages of fear in hopes of winning over an audience.
![Good Night, and Good Luck (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/good-night-and-good-luck-combo-hd-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2006
The Bone Collector tells the story of a man named Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) who has been confined to his Manhattan bed after being injured on his job by a falling beam. Lincoln has since become a Quadriplegic who simply wants to kill himself, and his nurse (Queen Latifah) is planning on assisting him in his suicide. As he is planning this, Lincoln learns of a serial killer who has been abducting random people, throwing them in a taxi and proceeding to torture them in extremely gruesome manners. Lincoln...recruits detective Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie), who is one of the first officers on the scene of a horrible murder. The murder scene features a man buried in gravel only showing a hand with each finger showing a different forensic clue. This scene shows that this killer is quite a different type of killer, one who leaves little hints and clues almost painting a canvas with the person he just killed.
The serial killer genre was really brought to a new level via 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs in regards to the power of the story, direction, score, and acting. The Bone Collector doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The Bone Collector adopts what is normal about serial killer films, such as standard plot ideas, characters and situations. This does tend to make the film lose a lot of replay value, but The Bone Collector is not as bad as one may think mainly because of the actors involved. For some reason I always find myself enjoying Denzel Washington’s performances, regardless if what he’s performing in is rather weak. He always seems to bring a higher level of skill and quality to his films. Relatively unknown at this point, Angelina Jolie definitely had the makings of a star. Granted since this film she’s had some weaker roles in films like Tomb Radier, but she still manages to do what she can with a film. I found it interesting how Washington, who was a bigger star at this time, spends the entire film kind of on the sidelines with Jolie doing a majority of the acting. I wonder if Director Philip Noyce realized early on that Jolie was going to be a big star eventually. Did he want to showcase something he already knew? Enough on this though.
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