Posted on
10.17.02 by ScottC @ 4:41 pm   Film: Written by: Stacy Peralta and Craig Stecyk Features:
Released by: Sony Pictures My Advice: Rent it. Skateboarding was having its second growth spurt after being consigned to the fad trash pile along with hula-hoops and flagpole sitting. With the introduction of polyurethane wheels, the improved speed and performance gave the sport a much-needed shot in the arm. The peak was the Del Mar Nationals in California in 1975, the first national competition held in a decade. At the Nationals was the Zephyr Skate Team. Their skating style was aggressive, unrestrained, and unorthodox. Their attitude was in your face and sure of themselves and their skills. Their story is the focus of Dogtown and Z-Boys. Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
|
Posted on
10.15.02 by HTQ4 @ 7:43 pm  Film: Written by: Jonathan Hales, David Hayter, William Osborne & Stephen Sommers Features:
Released by: Universal Pictures My Advice: Rent it Okay, so the formula for this film is almost found on the backs of breakfast cereal boxes these days, but there's something about this movie that makes you overlook that fact and just sit back and turn off a few brain cells for about 90 minutes. The Rock is in no danger of being the next Olivier, the script isn't going to win any Pulitzer Prizes and Chuck Russell isn't going to walk away with an Oscar (at least for this film), but the movie is just fun to watch. Let me get the negative stuff out of the way first.  The writing is absolute drivel. The way they have him become The Scorpion King is about as deep and thoughtful as a puddle of fog. When you add in the fact that the plot is there just to barely hold the fight scenes together, it makes it that much worse. Now throw in that the fight scenes are shot like pretty much every other fight scene these days--you know, too many close-ups and quick edits to really see or get what is going on--and it would seemingly knock the other leg out from under the film, right? No wait--it doesn't stop there. The premise is a spinoff of The Mummy films, right? Then why doesn't the scenery even closely resemble the desert setting of those two films? It really looks like the design team wanted to throw in as much world history as they possibly could. Most of the setting either looks like a Mayan temple while each of the character's costumes seemed to be pulled from a different corner of the globe at completely different times. The Sorceress is the only one whose costume looks remotely Egyptian. (The Rock's costume really doesn't matter because he winds up ripping most of it off in the first ten minutes or so of the film.) Those seem like they would add up to a remarkably horrible movie, right? Well, not so fast there, pilgrim. Somehow my mind was tricked into forgetting about all that stuff and I just had a good time--which is what a popcorn flick is supposed to do. About halfway through the movie, I remember thinking, "If Russell can tell me how he did this in the commentary this DVD will be worth owning."  I smell a segue to the review of the DVD itself. I started out with the Alternate Version, which, to be honest, is not all that alternate. All you get is an different way to display the scenes within the film itself. It's kind of like the "Follow the White Rabbit" feature on The Matrix DVD. However, after you have watched an alternate scene, rather than picking up in the movie where it left off, you have to go back and watch the scene as it was when it was released to theaters; so the whole thing is neat, but frustrating. There are two commentary tracks, one with The Rock and one with director Chuck Russell. The one with The Rock also gives you the option to use the same "Follow the White Rabbit" style feature again--but this time, it allows you to watch little clips of The Rock sitting in the studio recording his audio commentary. Again, it's frustrating, because after you watch the clip, it takes you right back to the beginning of the scene you just watched. The Rock is funny, but he winds up watching the film more than commenting on it, so as commentary tracks go, it's not that great. The commentary track with Russell is more like your traditional commentary track: he goes into much more detail about his process of helming the film. He also provides you with some neat insights into what it took to make some of the fight scenes. By the way, he didn't reveal his secret about making me forget how bad this movie really should have been. Oh, well. The Outtakes are only moderately funny and there are not nearly enough of them. There is also an option to view the aforementioned alternate scenes without having to sit through the film again. From there we get into the typical DVD special feature fare. There is the obligatory "making of" featurette, and those involved sometimes sound like they are taking the film too seriously and sometimes sound like they were just having fun making the film. There are a couple of the features that they really should have left out. For example, there is a production design featurette that goes into detail about how they created the world of The Scorpion King. I was very unimpressed with the level of detail that the production design team seemed to be satisfied with. As a matter of fact, all they can really talk about in the featurette is what famous places in southern California where they shot the film. The featurette that deals with putting together the fight sequences is pretty well done, but it is mostly the director and cast members talking about the process of putting the fight together--but not the fight choreographer. Odd omission there. There is a really fun little featurette that shows the friendship that The Rock and Michael Clark Duncan developed behind the scenes on this movie.  There are two features that deal with the CGI cobras and killer fire ants. After seeing the reality that can be created with digital special effects in other films, it just seems silly to try to make a big deal out of putting together a couple of small scenes that use this technology and they take themselves way too seriously on this one. There is also a text-on-screen biography that deals with the history of the real Scorpion King and whether he really existed. The rest of the special features are pretty common fare: Trailers, Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakers, etc. The more I see the DVD-ROM content that Universal is putting together and continually updating, the more I like it. At first, I was not impressed with being "forced" to use their InterActual Player, but now that I have seen a couple of DVDs where you have to use them to access the content, I'm not so against it. What I am against, is having to register every DVD in order to access the information. In other words, when you register The Scorpion King with TotalAxcess, you are registering just that DVD. If you wanted to put in another TotalAxcess DVD, you would have to register it, too. It is a one time registration, but it is time consuming and kind of made me not want to go through it just to get to the stuff. At the time of this writing, there are only two behind-the-scenes video clips and a couple of still pictures, but they promise to add more every week. So, while they get full marks for putting together a DVD that is packed with special features, the film itself is going to be what keeps this one off the "buy" list and on the "rent" list.
Buy Stuff
Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
|
Posted on
10.08.02 by ScottC @ 9:28 pm  Film: Written by: Robb White Features:
Released by: Sony Pictures My Advice: Rent it. Miriam Webster (Breslin) has a good life. She owns a successful floral shop, dates the handsome pharmacist Carl (Corbett), and her beloved half-brother Warren has returned from Europe. He brings trouble in the form of a beautiful yet unstable blonde named Emily (Arless). Supposedly brought to care for Warren’s ailing former nanny Helga (Eugenie Leontovich), Emily spends her time being bitchy to Miriam, putting the moves on Miriam's boyfriend, and tearing up Miriam’s shop. And there is Emily’s fascination with sharp edged weapons and her need to shove those weapons in other people. Can Miriam avoid Emily when she goes Homicidal? Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
|
Posted on
10.01.02 by ScottC @ 9:38 pm  Film: Written by: Michael J. Murray, based on the novel by Robin Cook
Released by: Artisan My Advice: Avoid it. Welcome to a new world of possibilities with ULTRA, a drug that could as big as Viagra. Based on an unusual fungus found in the recently inherited, three-hundred-year-old house of Dr. Edward (Lowe) and Kim Welles (Rutherford), this drug increases I.Q., the senses, and libido. Edward should know, since he's dosing himself with the miracle mold. With friend Dr. Bobby Newman (Flanery), Edward has his entire research team taking ULTRA to speed up its testing and get the drug into your local Walgreens as fast as they can. Side effects include insomnia, blackouts, paranoia, violent behavior, and homicidal rages. Ask your physician about ULTRA today. Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
|
Posted on
10.01.02 by ScottC @ 6:12 pm  Film: Written and Directed by: Costa Botes & Peter Jackson Features:
Released by: Anchor Bay My Advice: Rent it. Peter Jackson, as we all know, is the famous director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Frighteners, but is also interested in film history. When an aunt told him about some old film, he had no idea what he was about to uncover. That discovery was Colin McKenzie, a New Zealand native and an artistic and technical cinematic genius from the turn of the 20th century. He developed techniques decades ahead of their time: synchronized sound, colored film, portable cameras, and many other innovations. His biblical epic, Salome, is said to rival D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. But due to bad luck, family tragedy, and an unfortunate lack of common sense, this story hasn’t been told until now in Forgotten Silver. Just one problem, it’s a fake, all of it. Categorized as: DVD and Reviews
|
|
|
