Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006
Ron Howard’s Backdraft tells the story of two brothers, Brian and Steve McCaffrey (William Baldwin and Kurt Russell), who are part of Engine Company No. 17 in Chicago. The two brothers always seem to have a sense of rivalry in their blood. Ever since their father passed away, Steve has always tried to prove to Brian that he is the true firefighter in the family. Well, despite all their problems, Steve and Brian soon find out that they will have to put aside their differences rather quickly since there is an ar...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006
Synopsis
So what we have here is Season 4, Volume 1 – i.e. the first 20 episodes of the season. I’m not sure I’m wild about this new trend to trap us into shelling out our hard-earned dollars into buying TWO box sets per season, but there you have it. None of which is to take away from the actual qualities of the show. Either I’m growing softer in the head with age (an entirely likely event) or the series just keeps growing funnier. Everything here is funny, but some are epically so, forcing you to r...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Boy, this haunted technology stuff is getting out of hand. Seems a body can’t touch a single appliance or toy without some evil spirit emerging in smite-mode. In this instance, the problem is a survival-horror video game called Stay Alive, which not only refuses to let you stop playing, after your character dies, you die in the same way. At the root of it all is the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who has been the subject of many a film already. Unaware of this, our usual batch of charact...
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on September 24th, 2006
Recently, Anchor Bay released, at long last, Cemetery Man< to DVD. In so doing, they made available one of the last gasps (for now) of truly first-rate Italian horror, and it might be worth while to spend a few minutes considering the director, Michele Soavi, a man who has been nowhere near as prolific a filmmaker as might be devoutly wished.
In my piece on Joe D’Amato a few weeks ago, I mentioned that the best film he was involved with was Soavi’s debut, StageFright (1987). One of the fascina...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2006
Fortunately, American Gun does not appear to be about the debate on owning guns. It’s a trap, and I doubt there will be much movement on either side of the issue. The film instead mostly deals with members of a community where three years earlier a Columbine-like school shooting occurred. The story slowly plods through the lives of several families, most notably the mother and brother of one of the deceased gunmen. This is where the title and its advertised premise confuse me.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 22nd, 2006
The team of Hanna and Barbara are as much a part of my childhood as Uncle Walt Disney. The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Johnny Quest, and yes…Tom and Jerry, were like faithful companions that were never farther away than our 15 inch black and white television set. Nostalgia is very in these days. Baby boomers are all facing the midlife years, and not surprisingly there is a warm longing for those buddies of our youth. It’s simple economics that studios would attempt to cash in on our bygone days. Now in our direct to ...
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2006
Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.
On paper, 2001’s Pearl Harbor must have had the studio big wigs licking their chops. Randall Wallace (Braveheart) was penning script. Action director Michael Bay (Armageddon) was going to finally direct something serious. Hot stars Ben Affleck, Josh Harnett and Kate Beckinsale were cast as a love triangle set against the back drop of the historic Japanese sneak atta...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2006
Synopsis
While George Lucas was in the midst of his then-recent Young Indiana Jones series, he decided to try and put together a film based on the radio theater broadcasts of the 1930s and 40s. Basically, the film is based on a radio station in Chicago that is scheduled to launch its first broadcast, hoping to become the next big radio network. But when people start to get murdered during the broadcast, things become a little bit tense.
What’s surprising about this film is just how many peo...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 21st, 2006
Synopsis
This is it. The finale. The many twists and turns and intricate plotlines of the series finally get wrapped up. If you haven’t been watching the series from the start, much resonance will be lost, but the last season is still comprehensible. For those in the know, this is where many of the stories come to some form of end. The battle between Schillinger and Beecher, for instance, has its final act during a performance of Macbeth, and that is precisely the kind of literate, neat, contrived, ...
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 20th, 2006
Losing a Head, Having a Heavy Barrel and WIIIIIIIIII! - Welcome to the old wooden roller coaster with a missing set of tracks known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. May you never experience what it is like to have your house half full and your heart empty. Anyhow, just fixing up the old house; painted my back door and it actually looks decent; just needs another coat. Replacing all my light bulbs with those CFL's but slowly a...
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