Recommended

If you were a child of the 80's then you grew up with a few staples. Saturday mornings consisted of you getting up around 8:00 AM grabbing a big bowl of Lucky Charms and parking your rump right in front of the TV. Yes, the 80's were the golden age of television for kids. Sure, I might be biased, but what else can you say about a decade that brought us Transformers, GI-Joe, He-Man, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Oh, and let us not forget Thundercats!

Every one of those shows that I just mentioned were essentially glorified commercials for the newest toy line being produced in China. The main focus was on pushing trinkets to children rather than crafting a powerful story. Because of that the quality has suffered throughout the years and the nostalgia that draws old fans back to them fades away to embarrassment. I can't tell you ...Read the entire review

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The Movie:

Chances are you don't need a movie to learn that commitment is a mighty scary concept, but a film as honest and insightful as The Last Kiss is well worth checking out. Populated with characters who are case studies in screwed-up relationships, the motion picture rings with authenticity, and its plot twists rarely feel clich d.

Zach Braff, challenging the nice-guy persona he has cultivated on "Scrubs," stars as Michael, a 29-year-old architect who launches into a premature midlife crisis when his girlfriend, Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), announces she is pregnant. Michael loves Jenna, but he is terrified by what the pregnancy means: marriage, family, responsibility. He fears that life holds no more surprises.

It doesn't help that his best friends are in various stages of relationship meltdowns. Chris (Casey Affleck) is in a marriage strained by the arrival...Read the entire review

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The Movie:

"Army of slaves, arise, arise!
The world is changing at the base ..."
-- "The Internationale"

As filmmaker Peter Miller purports in this 30-minute film, "The Internationale" might be the single most important political protest song of its time. Unfortunately, Miller's documentary is not quite as stirring as its subject matter.

The song dates back to the spring of 1871 and a French socialist movement known as the Paris Commune. Police brutally quashed the Commune, prompting one of the socialists, Eugene Pottier, to write a poem titled "L'Internationale." Seventeen years later, the six-verse poem was put to music by Pierre Degeyter.

And so was born a legend. While chiefly embraced by communist and socialist movements -- "The Internationale" became the official song of the Soviet Union following the Bolshevik revolution -- the song has been a...Read the entire review

DVD Talk Collector Series

The Film:

Like Krzysztof Kieslowski's Le Double Vie de Veronique, a film that meant so much to me growing up in Eastern Europe, Bernardo Bertolucci's saga Novecento a.k.a 1900 (1976) has a special place in my heart. I remember the first time I saw it, heavily edited, and I can still recall that uncomfortable feeling of a big lump stuck in my throat. The notorious scene where Donald Sutherland crushed the cat, his face splattered with blood...it haunted me for years.

Novecento follows the lives of two childhood friends, one of them born in the family of a peasant (Gerard Depardieu is the poor one), the other born in the family of a wealthy land-owner (Robert De Niro is the rich one). As they grow up their lives take unusual turns Olmo Dalco heads to the front while Alfredo Berlinghieri marries a sophisticated beauty.

Soo...Read the entire review

Recommended

The First Six Episodes

Crime Stories is a documentary television series that provides a close-up and behind the scenes perspective to some of the biggest crimes in Canadian history. The show airs on the History Channel and also Biography. The series was a Gold Award Winner at the 2005 Houston International Film Festival for Documentary TV Series.

This review covers Crimes Stories: The First Six Episodes. The collection, just as the title says, includes the show's first six episodes. Each episode provides a nitty-gritty look into some horrific crimes. It is similar to Australia's crime documentary series Forensic Investigators. However, the focus is more on the story, the victims, and ...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The Sixth Season

Roseanne was a popular sitcom from the late eighties and its cast has been given numerous awards for their performances. The series is about a lower class family, living in Lanford, Illinois, struggling through that odd thing we call life. The show has an intrinsic cast and they are a hard bunch not to like. Roseanne looks at some of the most common daily situations from the home and the work place. In most cases these situations turn out to be funny. However unlike some sitcoms that rely on slapstick comedy to make ordinary situations a riot, Roseanneuses witty dialogue to get laughs. For more background information about the series please refer to my reviews of season one,...Read the entire review

Skip It

I'm not a purist when it comes to taking operas or classical stage works, and updating them or transporting them to different locales or periods in history. Bizet's Carmen, one of my favorite operas, has been adapted numerous times for the cinema, most notably by Francesco Rosi, starring Placido Domingo and Julia Migenes in 1984, and by Otto Preminger in the brilliant update from 1954, starring the stunning team of Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Balefonte. Director Mark Donford-May's 2005 update of Bizet's masterpiece, U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, and quite a lot of attention from critics all over the world. I was less than impressed. Just because a film wins an award doesn't mean it's automatically good, or important, or even worthwhile (in fact, there are a couple of famous film festivals where, if a film wins there, you can almost bet tha...Read the entire review

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We're happy to report that at least one sub-genre of exploitation filmmaking was not invented in America: The sensationalistic pseudo-documentaries known as "Mondo" movies originated directly from Italy. Continental film fare became more sexually explicit after World War II when producers realized that movies purporting to expose social problems had a better chance of slipping raw themes and nudity past the censors. German producers, for instance, claimed that their films educated the public on the important subjects of prostitution and drug crimes. This allowed them to flood movie screens with sordid melodramas offering otherwise forbidden content.

The Italian producer Gualtiero Jacopetti took the equation one step further with his sensationally successful Mondo Cane (1962), which uses a cynical narration to unite a series of unrelated ...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The Movie

A fractured and fractious comedy, spiked with dark laughs and genuine affection for its dysfunctional characters, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's big-screen directorial debut Little Miss Sunshine is one of 2006's funniest and best films. Most refreshing is that Michael Arndt's subtly lacerating screenplay takes stock clich s and infuses them with quirks that approach reality, albeit an extremely heightened sense of reality; you watch Little Miss Sunshine and see a splintered, spirited family unit grow closer and approach something resembling understanding.

You might wonder why this unforced charm is cause for celebration, but then you probably don't choke down enough insufferable, high-minded independent cinema that leaches the spontaneity out of countless stories just like this one. Little Miss Sunshine gets the small moments right, naili...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to trying new Christmas movies. I can get a little Grinchy when somebody suggests adding a newer holiday entertainment to our traditional Christmas line-up (I had to be dragged to the TV to watch Elf and Home Alone). So I had zero hopes for 2002's The Christmas Shoes, based on the hit song and book (which frankly, I had never heard about before). But I was surprised by what a tender, lovely little film it turned out to be. I don't think it will become a Christmas tradition with me (more about that later), but The Christmas Shoes did pull at my heart strings (curse that three-sizes too small heart!), while impressing me with its sincerity and simplicity.

Robert Layton (Rob Lowe) is a small-town lawyer beset by family and professional problems. He works as a junior associate, so he has to take the cases he doesn't ...Read the entire review

Recommended

Not being a connoisseur of pricey Asian laserdiscs and Japanese video, the first contact I had with the films of Jackie Chan was through a friend's collection of bootlegged VHS tapes, back in the early 1990s. Although the pictures were difficult to watch and the subtitles grammatically indecipherable, the astonishing artistry of the daredevil Jackie Chan was unimpaired.

Forget American action pictures with grunting muscle boys like Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Van Damme: Jackie Chan is an amazing whirling dervish of non-stop impossible-looking action miracles. One's jaw drops upon seeing Chan's extreme stunts, which totally exclude special effects. What we see actually happens. The lightning-fast fight action is better than most circus acts. Chan and his horde of stuntmen fall, hit, punch, dive, and topple with a bone-crunching realism not seen...Read the entire review

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Mondo Macabro is a terrific label that's unearthed some of the damndest films from remote corners of the earth, occasionally plucking fascinating, sometimes indescribable genre films from the jaws of total obscurity, supplementing them with a feast of bonus material. Mondo's latest, Snake Dancer (1976), a South African production about a notorious, real-life former Sunday School teacher-turned-stripper, unfortunately falls far short of the label's standards, both in terms of the video transfer and the film itself, which doesn't come anywhere close to living up to the hyperbole of its DVD box art and text.

Bearing the onscreen title Glenda, the film purports to tell the life story of Glenda Kemp, a university graduate with a passion for exotic dance and a curious attraction to snakes. Kemp plays herself, more or less, though her character is here called "Glenda Williams," which makes li...Read the entire review

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The Movie

In today's multi-media world, it's not unusual for stories or concepts to move between mediums. Books become movies. Movies become TV shows. Movies become video games. It's a never-ending cycle. But have you ever seen something that you felt was in the wrong medium? The movie Jailbait is essentially a one-set, two-actor play, and in the long run, this story would probably work much better on stage then it does on screen.

As Jailbait opens, Randy (Michael Pitt) is brought into a prison and escorted to his cell, where he meets his cellmate, Jake (Stephen Adly Guirgis). As it's his first day in prison, Randy is understandably nervous and shy. Fortunately, Jake seems like an OK guy. Jake is friendly, talkative, and seemingly intelligent, as he likes to read. When asked why he's in prison, Jake confesses that he murdered his wife when he caught her with...Read the entire review

Recommended

The Movie:

This 1972 sequel (or, follow up film) to The Trail Of Blood more or less picks up where that film left off. Our hero, Jokichi, is angry after the events that took place earlier in his story and so when we catch up to him this time around he's hell bent on getting back at the sinister Chogoro. Unfortunately for Jokichi, he makes a few false steps, his assassination attempt fails miserably and he winds up getting caught by the local yakuza chapter.

Thankfully, Jokichi has a little bit of luck on his side, at least, and the boss, Juzaburo, decides to spare his miserable life because he knows that if he has Jokichi killed, it'll mess up some plans that his gang has for a formal commemoration ceremony. Jokichi, with no one but himself to depend on, heads back into town and soon meets up with Umezo, a different yakuza boss. Umezo knows of Jokichi's skill with a sword and ...Read the entire review

Recommended

After watching all seven volumes of ADV's robot and fan service laden series Godannar I had that sweet metallic taste in my mouth. I needed more mecha in my life and in my collection. Luckily there's plenty out there and quite the backlog of series that have come out over the years. GaoGaiGar for instance is an anime that came out nearly ten years ago and after seeing a decent chunk of the show I think it's safe to say that this show embraces the genre much like Godannar did.

Big bad monsters, dashing heroes, huge suits of armor, and lots of explosions and yelling cover this show like green on grass. The story behind this show begins eight years ago on a cold winter night. The Amami's are visited by a giant robotic lion (Galeorea) during a snowstorm commute and have a baby dropped at their feet. They named the child Mamoru and raised him as t...Read the entire review

Recommended

If all you know about soldiers' participation the Vietnam-era anti-war movement involves footage of John Kerry giving speeches and maybe a late night viewing of "Born on the Fourth of July" you caught on cable years back, it's time to check out "Sir! No Sir!," filmmaker David Zeiger's in-depth documentary regarding protests from within.

The film is quick to point out just how forgotten that (quite large) portion of the war protests have become. Zeiger is eager to discuss what it calls a rewriting of history - that mutiny trials, troops' refusal of service, and protests held at military bases by soldiers themselves have long been purposefully ignored, claims the film. Such "rewriting" arguments aren't as properly formed as they should be; the popular tale of returning soldiers being greeted at airports by hippies spitting on them is debunked as an urban myth, with interviewees adamant that such e...Read the entire review

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Picture yourself at a cocktail party where you don't know anybody, and once they start talking to you, you immediately realize you want to be somewhere else. That's "New Year's Day," a rambling, self-absorbed indie drama from Henry Jaglom, the filmmaker whose very name is synonymous with rambling and self-absorbed.

"New Year's Day" was an early hit on the art house circuit for Jaglom, the actor-turned-writer/director whose film before this one, 1988's "Someone To Love," gained notoriety as marking Orson Welles' final screen appearance. Jaglom would later find success with titles such as "Eating," "Last Summer in the Hamptons," and "Venice/Venice," the latter being made on location while he was busy showing "New Year's Day" at the 1990 Venice Film Festival.

The film crawls with that late-80s independent cinema sensibility, with a genuine energy coming from a cast and crew gathered to tell ...Read the entire review

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THE MOVIE:

Time to Leave is a lean character study from French writer/director Fran ois Ozon (5X2). It's the story of Romain (Melvil Poupaud, Le Divorce), a fashion photographer in his early '30s who has just learned he has cancer. The doctor predicts that Romain has very little time left, and though he recommends chemotherapy, since he only gives it a 5% chance of working, Romain decides against it. Part of it is vanity, he can't stand the idea of his hair falling out; the rest of him embraces the futility.

Romain has always been a selfish person, and the tendency is hereditary. His father (Daniel Duval, Cach ) can only express himself by worrying on behalf of others and reveals that he simply never learned to talk about himself. His gr...Read the entire review

Recommended

THE PROGRAM:

I'm not an aerobics kind of person. I do exercise, but I use an exercise bike. I throw on a DVD and pedal my way to the final credits four or five times a week.

So, I approached The Bollywood Dance Workout as an absolute beginner. To help me, I enlisted my friend, Jo lle Jones, an artist who I collaborated with on the graphic novel 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. She's more of a pilates person, and would classify herself as a beginner when it comes to aerobics, as well. The box for The Bollywood Dance Workout, however, indicates that it's for "ALL fitness an...Read the entire review

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The Movie

Welcome to yet another edition of "Disney Direct-to-Video Animated Sequel Theater". Here, we can freely discuss Disney's practice of releasing sequels to their theatrical animated films which go directly to video. The first example of this which I can recall was 1994's The Return of Jafar, which I often refer to as "The longest 66-minute movie ever made." Since that time, many such movies have been released, ranging from awful (the aforementioned The Return of Jafar) to the fairly decent (The Little Mermaid II and Pocahontas II). The latest entry into this genre is The Fox and the Hound 2, which has just hit DVD.

In case you're unfamiliar with the original 1981 film The Fox and the Hound, it dealt with a hound puppy, Copper, who befriended a young fox, Tod. However, as they matured, their relationship grew strained as Copper ...Read the entire review

Recommended

Yasuzo Masumura has long been acknowledged as a master of sophisticated and often disturbing satires and genre pictures unlike those of his Japanese contemporaries. If Akira Kurosawa was criticized for making films with a foreign sensibility, Masumura's shockers go beyond consideration of national styles. Several years have passed since the Fantoma DVD label released three of his more notable pictures. Giants and Toys (1958) is a scathing criticism of the Japanese consumer culture and its cutthroat business environment. Manji (1964) is a delirious soap opera of sexual manipulation and emotional blackmail. And Masumura's Moju (The Blind Beast) (1969) is a...Read the entire review

Recommended

The Film:

The fourth and last disc from the second batch of films provided by Greek dstrib New Star presents Theo Angelopoulos' politically charged drama Μερες του '36 a.k.a Days of 36 (1972).

The story of the film evolves around the fate of an unjustly imprisoned man who manages to take hostage a high-ranking Greek official. As the news of the abduction spreads around the many branches of the Greek government and consequently the media the country finds itself in a state of paralysis.

The abduction also has a tremendous effect on the future political climate in Greece. It coincided with the rise of Ethniki Organosis Neolaeas (EON), the National Youth Organization championed by Greek General Ioannis Metaxas (1871-1941) who was elected premier and shortly after dismissed ...Read the entire review

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Background: It seems that a lot of foreign movies, at least those that the art snobs try to cram down out throats as being somehow better then anything made domestically, are geared towards audiences that treat movies with actual entertainment value as beneath them. They seek out titles that are found solely in film festivals that no one has ever heard of in order to play the one upsmanship game and read hidden meanings into every obscure passage from the movies in order to feel superior. Thankfully, not all foreign movies cater to such types, some of the best from around the world finding their way onto DVD thanks to small companies like Film Movement. Their movies tell stories from around the world, shown from the perspective of directors that may never see ...Read the entire review

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Compilation DVDs are nothing new to the world and we've seen it countless times for many TV shows. When it comes to these discs the audience is usually split between those who already own the complete seasons, those who want them, or those who just don't care. As you can imagine that makes it difficult for one of these releases to find success in the marketplace. It's basically up to the consumer who isn't serious about getting the whole set to pick it up. Such is the fate of Garfield and Friends: Behind the Scenes.

When I first heard about Behind the Scenes I thought that it was another release of some of the older TV specials. It's not clearly marked on the case but the fact that it has "Garfield and Friends" and "hand-picked by creator Jim Davis" in the summary on the back is a dead give away. Garfield fans with the complete show need to read care...Read the entire review

Highly Recommended

The Product:
Some have called it the University of Roger Corman. The independent producer, always looking for fresh young talent to employ and some say, exploit for his own fiscal purposes, gave many now famous filmmakers their first big breaks behind the camera. Names like Scorsese, Copolla, Dante, Demme, and Cameron all matriculated on Corman's cinematic campus, and all went on to define themselves as true motion picture mavericks. Sometimes, these chances to direct were dictated by Corman and his sense of potential aptitude. At other times, success bred a desire to drop back behind the camera. After the amazing monetary achievement of Eat My Dust, Corman approached star Ron Howard about making another movie together. The former child actor, slogging away through the hit series Happy Days, agreed, but with a slight tweaking of demands. Instead of merely acting, he wanted t...Read the entire review