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08.29.02 by ScottC @ 10:49 pm   Film: Directed by: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty & Pierce Rafferty Released by: New Video Group My Advice: Rent It The first images you see in The Atomic Café are workers setting up the first atomic test. They handle a large metal ball that looks like it’s held together with duct tape and a prayer. It’s hard to believe that this crude device will change the world by making it possible to destroy said world. But that small shiver up your spine after seeing the flash and billowing mushroom cloud is a good indication that your attitude has changed. And we have had The Bomb in our power for over fifty years. Imagine the reaction of those who saw this test for the first time. I doubt they knew all the changes The Bomb would bring. Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
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08.17.02 by ScottC @ 6:15 pm  Film: Written by: Allan Moyle Features:
Released by: Wellspring My Advice: Borrow it. Opposites attract. It’s a cliché, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have some truth to it. Take the two main characters of New Waterford Girl, for instance. Mooney (Balban) is a 15-year-old sullen girl whose dreams and artistic talent are too large for her provincial small town of New Waterford, Nova Scotia. She tries to hitchhike with a sign that says ‘Mexico’...but she seems doomed to remain with her large Catholic family and the townsfolk who only seem to care about hockey scores and which girl has gotten knocked up. Even when her English teacher (McCarthy) gets her a scholarship to an arts school, her parents cannot conceive of letting their daughter go to the States. (Considering the school Mooney wants to go to is in New York during the 70’s, her parents may have valid concerns.) In the midst of her depression, Lou (Spencer-Nairn) enters the picture.  Lou and her mom (Moriarty) have left Brooklyn “until the stink goes away” and have moved in next door to Mooney’s family. Lou is self-assured, comfortable being physical (she takes up a sideline of punching out two-timing boyfriends), and actually likes New Waterford. Being opposite in almost every way, they become best friends in accordance to narrative causality. With Lou’s help, Mooney hatches a devious plot to leave town the only way girls her age can, by convincing the town she’s become a loose woman and has gotten pregnant. This causes confusion and anger from her parents and just confusion from the boys in the town trying to figure out whom Mooney actually slept with. And of course, she only discovers the true beauty of her hometown when she’s about to leave it. Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
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07.30.02 by Widge @ 6:18 am  Film: Written by Terry Gilliam & Michael Palin Features:
Released by: The Criterion Collection. My Advice: Own It. Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
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06.30.02 by ScottC @ 8:31 pm  Film: Written by: Lewis Milestone Features:
Released by: Warner Home Video My Advice: Rent It.  Danny Ocean (Sinatra) is a man with a plan. The objective is to rob five Las Vegas casinos at once on New Year’s Eve. Ocean has his old commando buddies from the 82nd Airborne to help him pull this caper. What else are friends for? But as Murphy states, no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy. Will Ocean’s? For a heist movie, the pace is very leisurely. Even during the actual crime, there is very little tension. But the plot isn’t the central purpose of the movie. Ocean’s 11 is just an excuse for the Rat Pack to goof around and have a good time. And their goofing around can be very entertaining. Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest are all top-notch performers effortlessly giving off style. And they’re all so young. When you’ve seen only seen actors Angie Dickenson, Shirley MacLaine and Norman Fell (Mr. Roper from Three’s Company) in middle age, it’s a little disconcerting to see their youthful appearance, but in a good way. Even that can’t hide the many loose threads in the plot, the non-existent acting, and the too hasty ending. Ocean’s 11 is a fun nostalgia trip, but not a very good movie.
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05.14.02 by ScottC @ 8:54 pm  Film: Written by: Jamie Bernanke Released by: Wellspring My Advice: Rent It. If squeamish, avoid it. Throughout his history, Man has employed many methods to change his appearance. From simply applying pigments on the face and uncomplicated piercing of the ears to complex tattoos and cosmetic surgeries, the methods are as various as the reasons we have to perform these acts of alteration. Body Art gives a survey of the how and why of body modification. The major focus of this piece is tattooing. Its history goes from Polynesian tribesmen to American sailors to today's mainstream. Even as tattooing has gone mainstream, there is still a sense of rebelling by getting one (Even in New York City, tattooing was just made legal in 1996). Japanese men who have received 'irezumi', a colorful, intricate, full body tattoo, can cause discrimination and loss of status. But wanting to be outside of the society is not the only reason people get tattoos. The motivations run the gambit from detailing family history to protection against evil to impressing chicks. Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
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