Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2006
Synopsis
Syd (Chris Evans) is still mourning his break-up with London (Jessica Biel), drowning his sorrow in booze and cocaine. When he hears that she is leaving New York, and there’s a going-away party for her, he decides to crash the scene, dragging along Bateman (Jason Stratham), a businessman from whom he has just scored more coke. Arriving at the party before the guest of honour (and just about everybody else), the two men retreat to the spacious bathroom where they will spend much of the film, ...nhaling vast quantities of drugs and opining about everything under the sun.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2006
I've never met anybody who doesn't like Penn and Teller. I'm not saying that those people don't exist, I'm just saying that I have never met them. Penn is loquacious and amusing, Teller is the ultimate straight man, and their magic almost always catches the viewer off guard. Many times, the understood premise of the trick itself actually turns into something different by the time the performance is over.
Unfortunately, this disc has some problems that makes it one of their worst performances. The concept is a...great one... Penn and Teller do various tricks under (and with the aid of) water. Unfortunately, thisis aprogram hat was created first and foremost for a television broadcast. The reason this is an issue is that the DVD version of the show is pulled directly from the television cut, complete with “title bugs” in the bottom corner of the screen, “next up” teases and the like. In fact, the first ten minutes of this hour and twenty-eight minute program is solely comprised of showing the viewer what they will see in the program. There are so many of these recap and teaser segments that I'd say that actual entertainment content of this disc is just a bit more than half of the discs total running time. What a waste of an opportunity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Years after the disastrous end of Kevin Bacon’s experiment with invisibility, the process has been revived with intent to create a super-soldier. Christan Slater (as Michael Griffin, the last name being a nod to the original Invisible Man) is the soldier experimented on, but he’s an uncontrollable killing machine. Denied the “buffer” – the injection that will prevent the lethal side effects of the invisibility formula, he tracks down the one person who knows how to create it: biologist Laura...Regan. Soon she and Peter Facinelli as the cop determined to protect her are on the run from both the invisible psychopath and the equally dangerous and amoral authorities.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2006
David Kelley’s hit series The Practice ran for 8 seasons. While it may have started slowly, the show was a huge hit for most of its run. This success led to other hits like Boston Public and Ally McBeal. Unfortunately, the end of this series was a rather tragic tale itself. The last year limped along with about half of the cast having been fired. There were public wars of words waged. As Warren Zevon used to say: “Ain’t that pretty at all”. That final season would have been a total failure if not for the introduction of James Spader’s Alan Shore. This unethical cold character with a heart suddenly drew attention away from the conflicts off the screen and brought the attention appropriately back to what was going on on the screen. Spader pulls it off almost through a sheer act of will. By the end of the year it was apparent to everyone that something special was going on here amid these ruins. As the final story arc played out, Shore would meet Denny Crane, played in an almost self parody style by William Shatner. Man, that cat has more lives than Morris. Here Shatner finds a character that is funny as hell. Crane, like Shatner, appears to be the shadow of the man he used to be. At times he seems to have lost all of his marbles. He’s often cruel and incredibly arrogant. Yet, somehow he’s a very lovable character. Shatner does a wonderful job of balancing these foibles with an amazing touch of vulnerability that has created perhaps one of television’s most memorable characters.
Boston Legal is a lot like The Practice in some ways. The writing is at times pure genius. The same kind of moral and social issues are explored, all using the same ensemble concept from the original series. Still, Boston Legal is very unlike The Practice in almost as many ways. Certainly the Shore/Crane relationship has taken center stage, leaving many of the supporting cast in just that, supporting roles. The show also has a wicked wit to it. It’s sarcastic as hell. The big complaint I have is that Kelly can’t seem to control his own fanatical political beliefs. If the show weren’t just that good, I’d have turned it off after one episode. Free speech is one thing, but I do get so tired of Hollywood attempting to jam their liberal superiority down my throat. Believe it or not, there are some very decent and good folks who happen to support the American President. You simply don’t win people over by trying to paint them as ignorant, or worse, evil. I assure you I am neither.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2006
I've never met anybody who doesn't like Penn and Teller. I'm not saying that those people don't exist, I'm just saying that I have never met them. Penn is loquacious and amusing, Teller is the ultimate straight man, and their magic almost always catches the viewer off guard. Many times, the understood premise of the trick itself actually turns into something different by the time the performance is over.
Unfortunately, this disc has some problems that makes it one of their worst performances. The concept is a...great one... Penn and Teller do various tricks under (and with the aid of) water. Unfortunately, thisis aprogram hat was created first and foremost for a television broadcast. The reason this is an issue is that the DVD version of the show is pulled directly from the television cut, complete with “title bugs” in the bottom corner of the screen, “next up” teases and the like. In fact, the first ten minutes of this hour and twenty-eight minute program is solely comprised of showing the viewer what they will see in the program. There are so many of these recap and teaser segments that I'd say that actual entertainment content of this disc is just a bit more than half of the discs total running time. What a waste of an opportunity.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2006
Warner Home Video will release the Complete Third Season of Nip/Tuck on August 29th. This six-disc set will present all fifteen season three episodes in anamorphic widescreen transfers, along with Dolby Digital 2.0 (English) auido tracks. Extras will include a documentary, unaired scenes, and a "revealing look" at the season finale.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2006
There really was (and still is) no justice in the world when a show like NewsRadio was perennially ignored so often during the mid and late '90s. I mean seriously, get a comic mind from Canada's The Kids in the Hall (Dave Foley), another from the States Saturday Night Live (Phil Hartman), and yet another from the dark comedy Ben Stiller Show (Andy Dick) and give them some sitcom material to work with, and the result can be nothing but laughs.
And that's what NewsRadio was about. But it didn't go for cheap laughs where the cast would either yell their lines or make exaggerated reaction shots for the folks in the crowd. There was layer upon layer of laughs. Aside from the stories, there were small character quirks that fans of the show will always remember. Lisa (Maura Tierney, ER) has a somewhat veiled propensity to get drunk and (surprise!) has a criminal background. And speaking of mysterious backgrounds, there's the station owner Jimmy James (Stephen Root, Office Space), a fairly goofy billionaire who is on an eternal "wife search" while sometimes hinting that yes, he may in fact be Deep Throat from the Watergate scandal.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2006
Dave Chappelle and I are the same. Well, he's a year younger than me. And he's black. But we're both from Washington DC, but I live in the suburbs, and usually never go into the downtown area unless someone dared me. But he's a lot funnier than me, and Comedy Central decided to give him a 12 episode commitment on their network after seeing him in such films as Half Baked, Screwed and Undercover Brother.
And quietly, Dave has put together a smart, funny show that every one instantly dismisses, and yet will watch as long as it airs. To watch a crackhead talk about drug awareness at a public school is quite possibly some of the funniest stuff on television in the last 3 or 4 years, and many of the new episodes on Comedy Central leave me in tears. Thankfully the network along with Paramount decided to put Season 1 out on DVD in a two-disc set, in all its uncensored glory. The 1st disc has eight episodes, while the 2nd has the remaining 4, plus a decent helping of bonus material that is sure to keep the laughs going long after you've turned off the TV.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 23rd, 2006
Synopsis
The setting is a recently decolonized Africa in the early 60's. The British army still has a presence here, but is trying no to interfere with domestic politics. As the unrest reaches the boiling point, however, the army is ordered to turn command over to local commanders. No sooner is this done that a coup turns everything upside down, and the African captain of the local garrison is captured by mutinous troops. He escapes and finds his way to the officers’ mess. There, Regimental Sergeant ...ajor Lauderdale (Richard Attenborough) determines to protect the man, no matter what grim odds mount outside.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 23rd, 2006
The basic plot to The Bourne Supremacy is very similar to The Bourne Identity in that Jason Bourne is still trying to evade any and all forces that seemingly will stop at nothing to kill this man. Naturally though, Bourne can’t just evade these forces in a normal manner, but he has to evade these forces using his explosive martial arts and wit. As we learned in Identity, Bourne had his memory wiped. To escape people, Bourne has traveled halfway across the world living on the beach of Goa in south...rn India. Everything is going fine for Bourne and his new girlfriend Marie until Bourne, who seems to notice every little detail, recognizes something he has never seen before driving a car he has never seen before turning up in all the wrong places at the wrong times. This prompts Bourne to realize that someone is after him again, which turns out to be definitely true.
As the movie continues onward, Bourne discovers that he is being pursued by new people named Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) and her boss Ward Abbott (Brian Cox). Both found Bourne’s fingerprints at the scene of a murder in Berlin involving a CIA agent and his high-level criminal contact. The only issue with this is that Bourne was in Goa at the time sitting on the beach. So the big question here who is trying to frame Bourne and, more importantly, why is someone trying to frame Bourne. This simple question leads Bourne through many locales while he tries to figure every little clue out.
![The Bourne Supremacy [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-bourne-supremacy-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
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