| MOVIE & VIDEO REVIEWS (May 2006) |
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| ANCHORMAN: WAKE UP RON BURGUNDY (R) DREAM WORKS (DVD) 2004 Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner & more. This movie is compiled of lots of extra footage & sub stories from the original film. They took all this stuff & made another movie from it. This film was ok, but not as funny as the orginal, that maybe why this stuff was cut. In this film the news crew is covering a group of bank robbers when they do each new robbery. As they cover the stories, they eventually become part of the story as Veronica is kid napped by the bank robbers & taken hostage. Most of the stuff in here wasn't nearly as funny as the main movie, but this was a clever way to show all the extra footage not used in the original film. If you enjoyed ANCHORMAN you might enjoy!!! |
| BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (PG) 20TH CENTURY FOX (DVD) 1973 Starring: Roddy McDowell, Claude Akins, Natalle Trundy, Severn Darden, Lew Ayres & more. This is the fifth enstallemnt of this series. In this film they start off the story of where the original film takes off. The apes are in control of the planet & the humans are the slaves. When the apes explore the uncharted burnt out city, they discover there are still humans alive there. The humans fear the apes will come after them , so they decide to attack first. The gorillas go straight into battle with them & try to take control of all the apes & kill off the humans. Battle then breaks out with the gorillas & the rest of the apes. This film was just as good as the rest of the films in this series. If you like them you'll like this one as well!!! |
| CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (PG) 20TH CENTURY FOX (DVD) 1972 Starring: Roddy McDowell, Don Murray, Natalie Trundy, Hari Rhodes, Severn Darden & more. This is the fourth installment in the series. In this sequel this is the one that shows you how the apes take over earth from the humans. The apes are used as slaves to the humans & made to do work for them & many other chores & jobs. As the apes get pushed around & abused, they start learning & rebelling to their orders. They discover the speaking ape that is the baby of the two apes that landed on eart back in ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES. He leads them to the rebellion & the start of the take over of earth from the humans. This was yet another decent installment in this series, especially for the time it was released!!! |
| DAY OF THE DEAD 2: CONTAGIUM (R) ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT (DVD) 2005 Starring: Laurie Baranyay, Steve Colosi, John Freedom, Julian Thomas, Jackeline Olivier & more. This film is supposed to take place after the original DAY OF THE DEAD movie. This film takes place in a mental hospital. When some of the patients are out on a clean up leave, one of them finds a canister that he takes back to the hospital. Once there, one of the patients opens it & releases a virus that the patients all breath in. It starts turning them into flesh eating zombies & they start attacking evryone they can get a bite into. This film was very slow & very poorly writing. The acting was pretty bad as well, some of the gore scenes were ok though. This film was not writing or had anything to do with George A Ramero. It's very sad that this film is attached to his classics, because it does the series no justice!!! Be warned!!! |
| MALEVOLENCE (R) ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT (DVD) 2004 Starring: Samantha Dark, R. Brandon Johnson, Heather Magee, Richard Glover, Courtney Bertolong & more. When four bank robbers go for a big heist to end all their problems, new problems arise. One of them gets shot & dies & another takes off in a different direction with the money. They all end up at an abandoned farm house, but not untill one of them takes some hostages in a mother & daughter. He ties them up & keeps them in the house. He goes to the barn to look for his partners & finds a killer who attacks him. The new killer goes after all the others & eventually kills them, except for the mother who fights back. She goes all out on a rampage & saves herself & her daughter. This sounded better than it was. There was poor storyline, poor acting & poor special effects, the few that there were. This is a very bad horror film, if you can call it a horror film!!! |
| MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (PG-13) COLUMBIA / SONY PICTURES (DVD) 2005 Starring: Suzuka Ohgo, Ziyi Zhang, Togo Igawa, Thomas Ikgod, Li Gong & more. A small girl is taken from her poor family to go live in a geisha house when her mother gets sick & dies. She is used as aslave to do all the hard labor & anything else the mother of the house & any of the other girls need done. She is really abused & treated very poorly. One day a man in the streets treats her very nicely & tells here someday she can become a geisha as well. She then has the mother teach her the ways, until she is sold to another geisha house. She is treated much nicer & becomes one of the best know geishas in the area. The two rival geisha houses get into heated battles, to rule the eyes of the men in town. This film was done really well, from the story, the acting & the way it was filmed. This film is worth watching if you love Asian cinema. www.sonypictures.com/movies/MEMOIRSOFAGEISHA |
| UNDEAD (R) LIONS GATE FILMS (DVD) 2003 Starring: Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins, Lisa Cunningham, Dirk Hunter & more. This is an Australian horror film that throws ina little comedy, action & sci fi. When a small Australian town is hit with a meteor shower strange things start to happen. The towns folks are turned into flesh eating zombies. They start attacking every human they can get to. A small group of people take refuge in a farm house to fend the zombies off. The owner of the farm house is the town "crazy" who was abducted by aliens. He is the one who stays calm & destroys all these zombies, while everyone else is panicing. There is a twist at the end that ties everything back to the alien abduction of the town "crazy". This was a decent film that had a lot of good gore & comedy parts all through out. This was worth the viewing. Check it out!!! www.UNDEADmovie.com |
| WAITING (R) LIONS GATE FILMS (DVD) 2005 Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Luis Guzman, Kaitlin Doubleday & more. A group of young adults & teens work in a resturaunt called Shenanigans & this film takes you on the crazy journey through one days work. They deal with tons of rude, obnoxious & disrespectful costumers. This day they give it back them & don't take any of their shit. They mess with their food, don't listen to their boss & have sex with each other & also play a "look at my penis" game all through out the day. the film looked like it was really funny when it was in the theater. It was actually pretty funny, but not as good as I thought it would be. It had some really funny moments, so it was still worth checking out!!! www.WAITINGthefilm.com |
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| CINDERELLA MAN (PG-13) UNIVERSAL PICTURES (DVD) 2005 Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Paddy Considine & more. Crowe plays an up & coming amateur boxing in the 20's He is on the path of great success, until he has a string of bad fights. The boxing committee revokes his boxing license & must find work else where. He tries to get work on the docks, but it is hard, because so many people are looking for work. He falls on hard times when the depression hits & he can't provide for his family. In the mid 30's he gets a second chance at boxing, when a boxer bails on a fight at the last minute. He puts on a great fight & gets his license back. The film was done really well, which was expected from Ron Howard. I didn't expect to like the film, but it was a well written story & really kept you interested & pulling for the lead character & his family. www.CINDERELLAMANmovie.com |
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| FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRIT WITHIN (PG-13) COLUMBIA PICTURES (DVD) 2001 Starring: Ming-Na, Alec baldwin, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, James Wood & more. This movie is a full on CGI film based on the popular video games of the same name. The movie is about a future earth world where most of life has been extinguished & what life is left is living within contained dome cities. One doctor goes on mitions to find life forms outside the domes & look for cures to help rid the world of the evil spirits that keep attacking & killing off the rest of the humans. The story was done very well & the intire special effects & CGI was amazingly done. There are times that the humans actually seemed real in looks & movement. This is a film that is very much worth checking out even if your not into CGI films!!! |
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| SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (R) EMBASY HOME ENTERTAINMENT (DVD) 1982 Starring: Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra Deliso, Andre Honroe & more. This is a classic 80's horror film & the first of the woman's horroe movement. The film was writing & directed all by woman. A teenage girl's parents are going away for the weekend & she decides to have some friends over for a slumber party. There happens to be a serial killer on the loose who decides to crash the party. Some of the girls boyfriends show up before the serial killer starts his killing spree. He uses an electric drill as his weapon of choice. He attackes the men & women & drills them full of holes.The film was very slow moving & had some really bad acting & special effects weren't that great as well. There was a few good gory parts & a few nude scenes. This is not the greatest horror film, but it is a classic 80's horror film! |
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| SPECIES III (R) MGM (DVD) 2004 Starring: Sunny Mabrey, Robin Dunne, Amelia Cooke, Robert Knepper, Natasha Henstridge & more. This is the 3rd installemnt in the SPECIES series of films. In this one a scientist steals the body of Eve ,who was gunned down in the last film. He wants the body for the unborn child inside her. He gets the baby & raises her as his own child. Once she grows up she discovers she is an alien & not a human. She needs to find a mate to help her species live on. The doctor stole her eggs so this wont happen, because they might wipe out all of the human race.This film series just keeps going down hill with each new sequel. The story was a little bit slow & the acting was a bit lame as well. The only good things was the lead actress that played Sara. She was decent as well as the other female aliens that shows up later on in the film. If you like the other films you'll probably enjoy this one. www.mgmua.com/SPECIES |
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| TALES FROM THE CRAPPER (R) TROMA ENTERTAINMENT (DVD) 2004 Starring: Julie Strain, Lloyd Kaufman, Kevin Eastman, Debbie Rochon, Ron Jeremy & more. This is a film that could only come from TROMA. This is actually two films that were in production when the director was fired, so they took the existing footage & added in new stuff. The first film is about an alien mantis bug that crashes on earth & needs to go in hidding & becomes a stripper. In the second film 2 friends try to raise money for their buddy to get him into college. The way they decide to do this is by having a stripper party. Little do they know, that the strippers they have hired are lesbians vampires. Once they get to the party they kill every person at the party. This film was very bad, but did have some good gore scens, some funny parts & tons of nudity all through out. This was pretty bad, even for TROMA. You have been warned!!! |
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| TIME BANDITS (PG) ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT (DVD) 1981 Starring: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelly Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm & more. A young boy with a big imagination sees his fantasy books come to life & he finds himself in the middle of his greatest adventure. A band of midget thiefs travel from time periods all through out history stealling as much as they can. The little boy goes with them along for the adventure. They encounter Napolean, Robin Hood, Kings & even God himself on these adventures. The film kind of reminded me of THE PRINCESS BRIDE a little, but not as fairy tale like. This was actually a decent film even though it's supposed to be a childrens film & you must remember it's cheesy for todays standards, but was really good for 1981. Give it a view!!! |
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| CONFIDENCE (R) LIONS GATE FILMS (2003) DVD Starring: Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz, Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, Andy garcia & more. This film is about a bunch of con artists who swindle people out of their money, lots of money. When they try to swindle one guy out of his money, it turns out that the money he had was his boss's money. His boss is a big time crime lord, that most people in town know & fear. The con artists go in buisness with this crime lord to get his money back & more. All kinds of things go wrong as they try to pull a huge money heist. Everyone starts crossing each other & you don't know who is loyal & who is out for themselves until the very end. This film was very good & had a lot of twists that keeps you on your toes & thinking. www.CONFIDENCEthemovie.com |
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| DOOM (R) UNIVERSAL PICTURES (2005) DVD Starring: The Rock, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Dexter Fletcher, Ben daniels & more. This film is based on the popular video game of the same name. The movie is about a group of soldiers sent to a planet to rescue any survivors left from an attack. The thing is they don't know what they were attacked by. Once on the planet they find out, very quickly. Some alien race attacks their victims & plants their seeds into them & uses them as a host. They transform the humans into the walking dead. The soldiers have to fight their way through them to get to the survivors. I liked whn they did the first person shooter type scenes a lot, which is how the game was played. There was a lot of cool special effects & make up FX's as well. This is a decent action / sci-fi film, that was much better than I thought it would be. Check it out!!! www.DOOMmovie.com |
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| HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE (PG) WARNER BROS. (2001) DVD Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman & more. I know most people have seen this film by now, but this was my first time checking it out. The kids start off at Hogwart's school of wizards & witches as they learn how to control their magical powers. They learn lots of stuff at the school & get into some mischief along the way. They find out about the sorcerer's stone which gives you eternal life. They must find out who is trying to steal it & how thay can stop them. This film is supposed to be a kids film, which it pretty much is, but there was a lot of really cool dark special effects & even some cool CGI effects too. This was a good film to check out even if you don't have any kids. www.HARRYPOTTER.net |
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| METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER (R) PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO/IFC (2004) DVD Starring: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Bob Rock, Jason Newsted & more. This is a documentary film that follows METALLICA as they start the process of recording their album "ST. ANGER". The film also delves into why Jason left the band, try outs for a new bass player. It also shows tha band with their therapists to help them work things out & get through the whole process of dealing with each other, making the album & the future of the band. It shows the band members fighting & stressed out about each other & their lives. It even covers James stint in AA rehab & the process he takes to get sobers. This documentary is really good & shows a whole different side of METALLICA then I think a lot of people have never seen before. This is worth watching even if your not a fan of the band. www.SOMEKINDOFMONSTER.com |
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| SPANGLISH (PG-13) SONY / COLUMBIA PICTURES (2004) DVD Starring: Adam Sandler, Tea leoni, Paz Vega, Cloris Leachman, Shelbie Bruce & more. A mother & daughter leave Mexico for America to make a better life for themselves. The mother tries to find a job, but has lots of trouble because she only speaks Spanish. Her sister helps her find a job cleaning house. She becomes a house keeper for a wealthy white family. The mother is Tea & Adam is the father, who is a successful chef with his own resturaunt. The woman & her daughter move in with them & become part of the family, until her daugter starts to change & becomes like everyone else. The mother starts to fall in love with Adam & things become really mixed up. This was Adam Sandler trying to b more of a serious actor & branch out with his roles. The film was ok, but not really my type of film, but worth at least one viewing!!! www.SPANGLISHmovie.com |
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| STAY (R) 20TH CENTURY FOX (2005) DVD Starring: Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling, Bob Hoskins, Janeane Garofolo, Naomi Watts & more. Ewan McGregor is a psychitrist who starts seeing a suicidal patient. He says he's going to kill himself in 3 days. Ewan does what he can to try & stop him from killing himself. he starts having these weird visions of the future about all these different people. There is a dark & weird way the film is shot that blends each scene into each other, which was really cool. There is a weird twist at the end, which was a little difficult to figure out until the very end. I liked this movie & thought it was pretty decent & kept you interested & trying to figure out what was going to happen next. This is one well worth watching!!! www.STAYthemovie.com |
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| THE CHOKE (R) VELOCITY HOME ENTERTAINMENT (2005) DVD Starring: Brooke Bailey, Sean Cook, Tom Olson, Wonder Russell, Bee Simonds & more. This film is about a popular local band that plays gigs & raves & has a strong following. When they playing a gig & the club runs out of beer the majority of the people leave. The ones who stay get locked in the club & need to find a way out. They discover the body of one of the groupies ripped to shreds. They start panicing because there is a killer inside with them. One by one they get picked off & the band it's self kids killed, each by their own equipment. The killer is revealed in the end & is no really big surprise. This film was really terrible & extremely bad, from the acting, lighting, filming, dialogue & story itself. The people who had anything to do with this should be CHOKED!!! You have been warned, don't waste your time!!! www.THECHOKE.com |
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| MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (R) PARAMOUNT PICTURES (2004) DVD Starring: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Jon Voight, Gene Hackmen & more. A group of soldiers are ambushed during the Gulf War & no one remembers what happens to them. They know that one of the officers save the whole troop, but they don't know how he did it. Later on after the war is over this soldier becomes a leading candidate for the vice president spot. He has some weird flashback dreams of the war, along with many other men from his troop. Denzel tries to talk to him & let him know what is going on & nobody wants to listen to him. They think he has Gulf War Syndrome. Some major government secrets are revealed & some major changes happen. This film was a really good movie & a scary thought that the government could be doing something like this! Another great Denzel Washington movie!!! www.MANCHURIANCANDIDATEmovie.com |
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| MILLION DOLLAR BABY (PG-13) WARNER BROS. (2004) DVD Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter & more. A small town Michigan girl wants to become the next big thing in boxing. She works as a waitress in a small cafe & spends the rest of her time training in the Hit Pit Gym. This is the gym that Clint Eastwood's character owns. She is hoping he will become her manager & train her. When he loses his top boxer to another manager, he eventually take Hilary's character on. He trains her hard & she becomes an extremely good female boxer & starts knocking out opponets in the first few rounds. She goes for a title match & everything turns for her career & life. I heard a lot of good things about this film & everything people were saying is true. This is a very good movie & has a lot more to it than boxing. I suggest everyone to see this film if they haven't already!!! http://MILLIONDOLLARBABYmovie.warnerbros.com |
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| SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2 (R) NEW CONCORDE HOME ENTERTAINMENT (1987) DVD Starring: Crystal Bernard, Kimberly McArthur, Patrick Lowe, Juliette Cumming, Heidi Kozack & more. This movie follows the young girl who lived across the street in the first film. She is now all grown up & has a band with some other girls in her school. They go to stay at the one girls fathers new condo for the weekend & practice, party & more. The one girl keeps having nightmares of a killer with a drill on the end of a guitar. Her dreams eventually come true & the killer starts attacking, mutilating & killing all of her friends. The acting was really bad, as well as the story & special effects. The killer was really lame & looked like a bad cross between Elvis & Andrew Dice Clay. This one added in some comedy with the horror, but it wasn't funny at all. The original was a little better than this sequel. You get to see Crystal Bernard (of WINGS) in one of first roles!!! |
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| VIDEODROME (R) UNIVERSAL PICTURES (DVD) 1983 Starring: James Woods, Sonja Smitts, Deborah Harry, Peter Dvorsky, Leslie Carlson & more. Woods plays a small time TV producer who is trying to get the next big show on the air. He pirates tons of videos from around the world & plays them on his show. When he gets a hold of a new tape his life changes majorly. The video has some weird mind control over the viewer & makes them hallucinate. They see & do strange things that the makers of the video command them to do. He winds up in a world of bizzare sex & violence & has no idea how to get out of it. The movie is pretty low budget for the time, but some of the special effects were pretty cool though. This is a weird film along the lines of ALTERED STATES & NAKED LUNCH. If you like those films then you'll dig this one!!! |