| The Original Kings of Comedy Spike Lee provides a rather disappointing look at a mildly funny comedy tour with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac. Suffers from an overuse of profanity (which people should learn is not funny) and too much "black people do this, white people do that" material. For the most part, nothing you haven't seen or heard before, but some good original sequences, especially by Steve Harvey. Maybe I just don't get it, but even if I did, I have the feeling that I wouldn't be missing much. --Casey Scott Grade: $1.50/$5.00 more.... |
| Nurse Betty Renee Zellweger is Betty, a pretty waitress who witnesses her husband's murder and blacks out, re-awakening in her personal fantasy: seeking out Dr. David Revell (Greg Kinnear) from her favorite soap opera. Quirky comedy which will not please everyone due to its unorthodox nature, but features excellent performances from Zellwegger, Morgan Freeman, and Crispin Glover in a small role. --Casey Scott Grade: $3.50/$5.00 more.... |
| Meet the Parents Robert de Niro turns "funny man" in this painfully funny comedy. Ben Stiller is the potential fiancee of de Niro's daughter and on a vacation to meet her parents, undergoes a series of degrading and humiliating series of events that is almost too painful to watch! I had trouble keeping my eyes on the screen as Stiller makes mistake after mistake! De Niro makes a great straight man to Stiller's wild slapstick humor and the two work well together; Blythe Danner is excellent as de Niro's gentle wife. A great throwback to slapstick humor of the 30s and 40s and is probably the laugh-out-loud funniest video release of the year. --Casey Scott Street Date: March 6, 2001 Grade: $4.50/$5.00 |
| Almost Famous Refreshingly original rock and roll film from director Cameron Crowe. Based on his true experiences as a budding rock journalist, Crowe creates a great time capsule of the early 1970's rock scene and has an awesome cast to flesh it out. Patrick Fugit is the 15-year-old journalist who is whisked away on a tour with (fictional) rock group Stillwater for a Rolling Stone article. Billy Crudup is great as the lead guitarist Russell Hammond, Frances McDormand is excellent, as always, as Fugit's mother, and Kate Hudson shines as Penny Lane, the lead "band aid". Hudson deserves her Oscar nomination for this film and hopefully will win. Philip Seymour Hoffman also cameos as real-life critic Lester Bangs (a man I often disagree with, but is a legend). Completely entertaining and a great two-hour ride into a much better time. --Casey Scott Grade: $4.50/$5.00 more.... |
| Wonder Boys The #1 video release of the year (so far)! Many viewers missed this in the theatres and what a shame! Michael Douglas is Grady Tripp, a washed-up English professor who is trying to follow up his great novel. He is having an affair with his boss (Frances McDormand) and rents a room to a seductive student (Katie Holmes). He meets up with James Leer (Tobey Maguire), an eccentric student, and through a series of outrageous accidents, learns who he is and what he wants out of life. Brilliant screenplay filled with memorable dialogue and not one stereotypical character. Outstanding performances all around (the best ensemble cast of the year!); despite being similar to the great RUSHMORE, I much preferred this refreshingly original comedy/drama. After many delays in the video release, it finally has arrived and is the best video of the year to date! --Casey Scott Street Date: March 13, 2001 Grade: $5.00/$5.00 |
| Rugrats in Paris Believe it or not, I didn't like this film as much as the original. Yes, I saw the original! While the original featured lots of the great "running amok" by the cute little babies (all who have endearing enough personalities), this features a pretty dumb subplot of a gold-digger trying to marry dorky Chucky's single dad. Who cares? Gimme those babies doing what they do best! For some reason, Ebert preferred this film. Does he just not like kids? Does he like that Susan Sarandon provides a voice? I do, too, but that doesn't make this a good film. Even the kids I know who saw this couldn't finish watching it for sheer boredom! --Casey Scott Grade: $2.00/$5.00 |
| Girlfight A major hit at Sundance, but entirely ignored at the box office, GIRLFIGHT is another surprising independent film that will find a happy home on video. Michelle Rodriguez (who proves herself in a difficult role) is Diana Guzman, a tough inner-city teenager who decides to become a female boxer. Faced with disbelieving friends and unsupportive trainers, she proves herself beyond a doubt inside the ring. The plot is rather threadbare, considering it's the stuff of a thousand "proving yourself"-themed films of this ilk, but a powerful love subplot and the dedication of Rodriguez in a stirring performance make this a special "prove yourself" film. Diana is not the cliche inner-city youth and is a surprising character. Director Karyn Kusama's debut film will hopefully provide her with further opportunities in the business. --Casey Scott Grade: $4.00/$5.00 |
| Not So New Reviews (Videos) Look back through this archive of our past video reviews (listed in order from lowest to hightest rating) |
| The Contender Joan Allen stars as Laine Hanson, a Vice Presidential nominee after the current Vice President passes away. Because she is a woman and a Democrat, the Republican party digs up a sex scandal in her past and holds a modern McCarthy Hearings to test her moral ability to take office. This would be an excellent political drama if only it wasn't so one-sided for Democrats (I'm independent). Jeff Bridges makes a great President and Gary Oldman is the conniving head of the witch-hunt. Both were unjustly neglected for Oscar nominations; while Allen is a superb actress, I can imagine anyone playing this part and she won't win her Oscar nomination for this film. A great group of final twists to the plot make THE CONTENDER memorable, but the fact that this is a feature-long commercial for the Democratic party left me cold by the finale. Other than this device, I would recommend this film whole-heartedly. --Casey Scott Street Date: March 6, 2001 Grade: $3.00/$5.00 |
| See what's just hitting the shelves back on our regular video review page |
| Charlie's Angels You know those films that you don't know whether they're supposed to be good or bad? This is one of those. While it has intentional humor in some of the scenes, in others, it takes itself far too seriously to be intentionally humorous. Hmm. Director McG (huh?) provides enough mindless action for those who are into that kind of thing, but little else. Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu are the three female private detectives, who are given lame attempts at character development, dumbed-down dialogue that is more misogynistic than anything in the original TV series, and can't possibly take themselves seriously. While CHARLIE'S ANGELS is not a good film, it is an entertaining one and therefore is worth seeing for ridiculous thrills. Too bad none of the women are as visually stunning as any of the 6 original Angels and those looking for eye candy will be disappointed in the "unsexiness" of the film. --Casey Scott Grade: $4.00/$5.00 |
| Miss Congeniality Call me crazy, but Sandra Bullock is a great personality on-screen. Even in her worst films, she exudes a type of warmth and likability that keeps her from becoming just another flash-in-the-pan success. Here, Bullock is given her best role to date. As a homely FBI agent, she must go undercover as a beauty pageant contestant to catch a mad bomber. Not too great on story, but it's very entertaining! Bullock is excellent, but the same can't be said for the supporting cast. Only William Shatner, always a joy, is memorable. Benjamin Bratt and Candice Bergen are terrible. Want a fun, feel-good comedy? Get MISS CONGENIALITY! --Casey Scott Grade: $4.50/$5.00 |
| What Women Want Mel Gibson strikes again in one of his lightweight romantic comedies that does not deliver. As a chauvinistic advertising executive, Gibson, through an electrical accident, can now hear what women think. A great concept, but it's just an excuse to pipe out feminist ideals through sex god Mel Gibson! The supporting cast (Marisa Tomei, Helen Hunt, Delta Burke) are all great, as usual, but feel like they'd rather be somewhere else. There are some great laugh-out loud funny scenes, but not enough to keep it from becoming predictable and forgettable. --Casey Scott Grade: $2.50/$5.00 |
| Quills While this is a completely Hollywood-ized account of the infamous Marquis de Sade's stay at a mental asylum, QUILLS is still an entertaining and captivating portrayal of 18th-century politics and art. Geoffrey Rush deserved the Oscar as de Sade, who smuggles his controversial novels out of the asylum through chambermaid Madeleine (Kate Winslet in a good role for a change). Joaquin Phoenix is little more than a high school stage actor for most of his screen time as the asylum priest. Michael Caine is evil incarnate as the new doctor who acts as the authority of the asylum, his best role since the 1970's. Much of the film is fiction, but the message of artistic freedom is important and well-supported. The film never decides whether de Sade is to be a hero or a villain, but he acts as both. The Marquis is painted as one whose perversions are a form of pleasure and acts that provoke the pleasure within other human beings. He expresses himself through these works and they are appreciated by many. The Doctor derives pleasure from pain and suffering, a sadistic personality trait that makes him a villain during the entire film. Another nice surprise for film buffs is seeing Billie Whitelaw (THE OMEN) as Madeleine's mother, who delivers the best line in the film and one that sums up the entire picture: "Oh, that's too, too horrible.....go on!" --Casey Scott Grade: $3.50/$5.00 |
| Best in Show Christopher Guest and his cast of WAITING FOR GUFFMAN strike again in this hilarious peek at the people behind dog shows. Dog shows are ridiculous, of course, but it's the obsessive owners of these canines that make them so damn interesting, as evidenced in this film. While Guest usually takes center stage in his own films, here, he takes a step back and allows his popular character actors to shine bright. Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock are most memorable as the braces-wearing yuppie couple whose Weimeramer sees a psychiatrist. Guest is a fly fisherman who practices ventriloquism with his bloodhound. Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy are a mistmatched suburban couple who write songs about their terrier. Jennifer Coolidge is a gold-digging bimbo and Jane Lynch the lesbian handler of Coolidge's poodle. Michael McKean and John Michael Higgins are the gay couple with twin shitzus. This cast of characters plus Fred Willard as a comic announcer make BEST IN SHOW a brilliant comedy that is not easily forgotten. The finale leaves one longing for more or even a sequel just so we can spend more time with these ridiculous dog-lovers. But deep down inside, every viewer knows that they look just as stupid when they talk to dogs and this is a healthy addition to BEST IN SHOW's universal appeal.--Casey Scott Grade: $4.50/$5.00 |
| Dancer in the Dark The debut performance of Icelandic singer Bjork is the true highlight of this dark musical by Lars Von Trier and is the primary reason to see it. Bjork plays an immigrant factory worker who is slowly going blind from a hereditary disease. Having passed it on to her son, she works her hardest to save money for a sight-saving operation for him. But when she places her trust in a friend who betrays her, the film spirals into a tragedy of errors. Bjork deserved not only an Oscar nomination, but the golden statue for Best Actress this year and the Academy's oversight is galling and disheartening. Only Ellen Burstyn offers any competition for most heart-felt and true performance. Catherine Deneuve, as Bjork's one true friend, is very good as well and could have easily received a Supporting Actress nomination had the Academy not been so blind! Some viewers will be disillusioned by the realistic hand-held camerawork during the majority of the film and non-fans of Bjork might find her musical numbers a bit much to take, but in the long run, DANCER is a brilliant film that was criminally overlooked at the box office and hopefully will not die painfully in video stores. --Casey Scott Grade: $5.00/$5.00 |
| Pay It Forward This film is such a ridiculous attempt to warm hearts and jerk tears that I barely finished watching it! The cast should have been phenomenal: Oscar-winners Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, plus overrated Oscar-nominee Haley Joel Osment, all in one movie! Well, the publicity for this film made it look better than it really was and its poor performance at the box office was deserving. Osment is a young seventh-grader whose teacher (Spacey) inspires him to change the world by granting three large favors and then requiring the receiving ends of those favors to continue the pattern of three large favors. Hunt is Osment's alcoholic mother. Filled with long, pointless monologues, overacting up the wazoo by all three leads, saccharine scenes with Osment trying to be cute, oh, I could go on! The ending is just another attempt to drag tears out of eyes that are sorry they ever witnessed this atrocity and could have been omitted entirely. One wonders whether this will kill the careers of all three stars. Hopefully not Hunt, who is at least memorable here, but all others involved should be ashamed. --Casey Scott Grade: $1.00/$5.00 |
| Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon If there is ever a film that will finally allow mainstream viewers to appreciate foreign films, CROUCHING TIGER is it. The storyline is a trifle: a mysterious sword is stolen from a famous warrior and it must be retrieved. Throw in two love subplots (well-done, by the way) and you have CTHD. Still, director Ang Lee creates a lyrical beauty out of such a standard plotline. Whereas flying is typical of many Hong Kong films, the flying in this film is done so majestically that it becomes art. Seeing the film on video is no comparison to seeing it in the theater (I saw it three times!), and especially in pan-and-scan, but I still recommend seeking it out. Both Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang give exceptional performances. Then again, I have never been disappointed with the underrated Yeoh in anything. Highly recommended. See it --Casey Scott Grade: $4.50/$5.00 |
| O Brother! Where Art Thou? Bar none, the worst movie I have ever seen. Never before have I been so repulsed, angered, bored, and offended while watching a film. I saw this dud twice, once I walked out of the theatre, twice I finally saw the ridiculous finale. The Coen Brothers really failed on this one, relying on dated humor, stereotypical characters, hackneyed cameo appearances, and a terrible lead in George Clooney. Adapted from "The Odyssey"? The Coens haven't even read it! While the settings of the film are gorgeous and the soundtrack is brilliant bluegrass material, the film as a whole is cliched and forgettable. Only THE DOOM GENERATION is a worse film. O brother is right! --Casey Scott Grade: $.10/$5.00 |
| Snatch Read more about one of Dan's new favorite movies, the loud and proud Snatch from the brilliant and controversial Guy Ritchie. Grade: $5.00/5.00 Read more.... |
| Pollock Will meet and beat your expectations. This fantastic first feature for lead actor Ed Harris is a beautiful biography of American treasure Jackson Pollock. Focuses on the struggle and process of an artist with his work. A must see, especially for art lovers and appreciators. Grade: $4.75/$5.00 Read More... |