This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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Past DVD Hardware / Software News |
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Comedy
Tuesday, 19 November 2002 |
Written by
Bill Warren
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title:
Robin Williams: Live on Broadway
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studio:
Columbia Music Video
MPAA rating:
NR
starring:
Robin Williams
release year:
2002
film rating:
Four and a half stars
sound/picture:
Three and a half stars
reviewed by:
Bill Warren
Taped for HBO but released on DVD by (oddly) Columbia Music Video, this
was the big New York engagement of Robin Williams' standup comedy tour
of 2002. He wound across the country, doing his fast-paced act to huge,
enthusiastic crowds, and this DVD captures the show splendidly as it
was staged at the Broadway Theater. The sound is crystal-clear; there
must have been quite a battery of mikes – including the one on
Williams’ shirt, which he adds to the act.
Tuesday, 05 November 2002 |
Written by
Abbie Bernstein
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title:
Bean
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studio:
Polygram Video
MPAA rating:
PG
starring:
Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Pamela Reed, Harris Yulin, Burt Reynolds
release year:
1997
film rating:
Three stars
sound/picture:
Three stars
reviewed by:
Abbie Bernstein
Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean character started life as the star of a
series of short films. Created by Atkinson and writer Richard Curtis,
Bean-the man is surpassingly weird-acts so bizarre that he's compelling
to watch as, sometimes by prank and sometimes by sheer accident, he
wreaks havoc on his surroundings. In 'Bean,' the odd little klutz has a
job at a British art museum, which involves sitting and doing nothing.
Bean's employers are so desperate to get rid of their human disaster
area that, seeing an opportunity to get rid of him at least
temporarily, they pass him off as an art expert and ship him off to
America. Bean doesn't even make it out of the airport before he begins
to make his U.S. host's life utter hell.
It's ironic that ...
Friday, 11 October 2002 |
Written by
Tara O'Shea
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title:
Scooby-Doo
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studio:
Warner Home Video
MPAA rating:
PG
starring:
Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Rowan Atkinson
release year:
2002
film rating:
Three Stars
sound/picture:
Four Stars
reviewed by:
Tara O'Shea
"Scooby-Doo" is the epic story of Mystery, Inc., four teenagers and
their giant talking Great Dane, who have made a successful career of
debunking fake ghosts and ghouls. However, all is not roses in the
Mystery Machine. Fred (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) is an egocentric jerk,
Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is tired of being kidnapped by grumpy
old men in rubber masks, Velma (Linda Cardellini) is tired of Fred
taking all the credit for her plans, and Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and
best friend Scooby are tired of seeing their friends fight. The gang
splits up after an angry quarrel at a toy factory, only to be reunited
when eccentric millionaire Mr. Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson) contracts
them to discover the secret of Spooky Island, his college spring break
hotspot that seems to ...
Tuesday, 08 October 2002 |
Written by
Mel Odom
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title:
Big Trouble
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studio:
Touchstone Home Entertainment
MPAA rating:
PG-13
starring:
Tim Allen, Omar Epps, Dennis Farina, Ben Foster, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Lee, Rene Russo, Tome Sizemore, Stanley Tucci
release year:
2002
film rating:
Four Stars
sound/picture:
Three-and-a-Half Stars
reviewed by:
Mel Odom
Noted humor and satire newspaper columnist Dave Barry wrote the novel
on which “Big Trouble” was based. With the success of other Floridian
crime novel writers such as Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, Barry’s
book was a natural bestseller and a movie prospect.
“Big Trouble” is an ensemble movie, telling the whole story through the
interwoven characters’ viewpoints and personal crises. The director,
Barry Sonnenfield, also directed the movie based on Leonard’s novel
“Get Shorty.” Sonnenfield keeps a lot of the same rapid editing style
and jazzy musical score, using the sound to heighten and tighten the
scenes and plot points.
Chapter 1 opens with Puggy (Jason Lee) telling part of the story, with
orchestral music playing in the background and ...
Tuesday, 24 September 2002 |
Written by
Tara O'Shea
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title:
Swingers
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studio:
Miramax Home Entertainment
MPAA rating:
PG
starring:
Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, Alex Désert, Heather Graham
release year:
1996
film rating:
Four Stars
sound/picture:
Three Stars
reviewed by:
Tara O'Shea
"Swingers" is a hip, witty, and at times even poignant look at a group
of friends who flock to the trendy singles scene but never seem to
score -- at least, not in the ways that count. Mike Peters (Jon
Favreau) is a truly miserable transplanted New Yorker trying to eke out
a living as a comedian in Los Angeles. Having broken up with his
girlfriend six months earlier, his best friend Trent (Vince Vaughn)
decides that a trip to Vegas is just what his buddy needs to shake his
blues. This kicks off an examination of one man's lack of self-esteem
and how he "gets his groove back," so to speak.
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