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Belle de Jour (1967) - DVD Review

Posted on 09.08.02 by ScottC @ 6:13 pm

Film:
DVD:

Written by: Luis Buñuel & Jean-Claude Carrière, based on the novel by Joseph Kessel
Directed by: Luis Buñuel
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Geneviève Page, Michel Piccoli

Features:

Feature Commentary by Buñuel scholar Julie Jones
Original 1967 U.S. theatrical trailer and 1995 re-release trailer

Released by: Miramax
Region: 1
Rating: R
Anamorphic: Oui

My Advice: Rent it.

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Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
Comments: None

The Atomic Café (1982) - DVD Review

Posted on 08.29.02 by ScottC @ 10:49 pm

Film:
DVD:

Directed by: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty & Pierce Rafferty

Released by: New Video Group
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: N/A; presented in its original 1.33:1 format.

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.

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Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
Comments: None

New Waterford Girl (1999) - DVD Review

Posted on 08.17.02 by ScottC @ 6:15 pm

Film:
DVD:

Written by: Allan Moyle
Directed by: Tricia Fish
Starring: Liane Balban, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Andrew McCarthy, Cathy Moriarty

Features:

Theatrical Trailer
Filmographies of cast and director
"Behind the Scenes" Featurette

Released by: Wellspring
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: No

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.

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Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
Comments: None

Time Bandits: Criterion Collection (1981) - DVD Review

Posted on 07.30.02 by Widge @ 6:18 am

Film:
DVD:

Written by Terry Gilliam & Michael Palin
Directed by Terry Gilliam
Starring Craig Warnock, Sean Connery, David Warner, David Rappaport, Jack Purvis

Features:

Running audio commentary by Gilliam, Palin, Warner and Warnock, with an appearance by John Cleese
Scrapbook of behind-the-scenes photos, press images and posters
Original theatrical trailer

Released by: The Criterion Collection.
Region: 1.
Rating: PG.
Anamorphic: No.

My Advice: Own It.

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Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
Comments: None

Ocean's 11 (1960) - DVD Review

Posted on 06.30.02 by ScottC @ 8:31 pm

Film:
DVD:

Written by: Lewis Milestone
Directed by: George Clayton Johnson & Jack Golden Russell
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Angie Dickinson

Features:

Commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr. and Angie Dickinson
Interactive "Then and Now" Las Vegas map casino vignettes
Excerpt from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson featuring guest host Frank Sinatra and guest Angie Dickinson
Theatrical Trailers

Released by: Warner Home Video
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: Yup.

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.

Nostalgia is the theme of the special features too. The vignettes featuring the five casinos in the movie, then and now, also verge into maudlin reminiscing, but also acknowledges that the clientèle of Las Vegas has changed, from a select jet set to the tourist masses. So the casinos changed with them. The commentary, done by Frank Sinatra Jr. and Angie Dickenson, talks about this bygone age where most of the locations featured in the movie are either gone or been remodeled to be unrecognizable. Another theme is how this movie, according to Sinatra Jr., never got the recognition it deserved with its underrated score and underrated actors, such and Richard Conte and Cesar Romero. While he does have a point, his constant remarks about this “injustice” begin to sound insincere. Sinatra Jr.’s commentary is interesting because unlike a director or producer, Sinatra’s own son has more personal insight into Ocean’s 11 and the actors involved, for obvious reasons. I have no clue why they included the clip of The Chairman of the Board guest hosting The Tonight Show strolling down memory lane with Angie Dickenson. It suffers from bad video quality and Sinatra’s bad interviewing skills. He’s on par with Chevy Chase. The movie does look and sound great, clear and vibrant. This is a very stylish movie. But style can never compensate completely for a lack of substance.