THE MOVIES

It's rare that a movie is known more for its special effects creator than its director or actors, but that's the way it's always been with the work of Ray Harryhausen whose stop-motion techniques not only thrilled audiences, but inspired many of today's special effects wizards.

The Ray Harryhausen Gift Set is a collection of three of the earliest theatrical movies that Harryhausen worked on: It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955); Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956): and 20 Million Miles To Earth (1957). So while this is far from the definitive Harryhausen collection, it's a good introduction to his work for interested fans who may not already own the films in this set. These are the exact same DVDs that have been released previously by Sony Pictures as individual titles so if you already own them, there's no need to upgrade to this set.Read the entire review

THE MOVIE

I should start this review by stating that I've never seen the original 8MM movie starring Nic Cage...but I'm not sure that's important, since 8MM 2 seems to have absolutely nothing in common with the first movie, other than the name and some similar sexual themes.

But it wasn't the worst idea in the world for Sony to slap the 8MM name on this direct-to-DVD release, since it's probably given the movie a little more attention than it normally would have gotten. And that's a good thing, because while 8MM 2 isn't going to set any DVD sales records, I found it to be a pretty decent flick...with a solid story, more than a healthy dose of sex and nudity (and this was the Rated version I reviewed...an Unrated one is also available)...and a neat twist ending that even this frequent movie-goer didn't see coming.

A word of warning t...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE

It's hard reviewing titles from Seduction Cinema because you can't really judge them by their storylines. Much like hardcore porn movies, you have to judge them by the women and the sexual performances even though the releases are strictly softcore (i.e. plenty of nudity, but no visible penetration). And by that standard, Lust In Space isn't a bad little flick.

This isn't a spoof of the TV show, "Lost In Space," but rather the fourth chapter in the Erotic Witch Project series. I hadn't seen any of the first three movies, but I'm guessing that's not a major prerequisite for viewing this one.

The story is set in the future, as the ladies of the previous Erotic Witch Project films (A.J. Khan, Darian Caine and Alexa Moore) must travel back in time to 1999 Earth in an attempt to cure the world of the sexual virus they apparently found the cur...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE

Witches of the Caribbean is laughably bad, but doesn't fall into the ranks of totally unwatchable, although I can't really recommend it. As you can probably guess from the title, this one involves witches whose story takes place in the Caribbean (the movie was shot in the British West Indies). Which makes me ponder about how exactly the film got green-lit...although I'm guessing the conversation went something like this:

"A movie about witches, we don't need another one of those!"

"But it doesn't matter...I've set the story in the Caribbean, so even if the film doesn't come out very good, at least the cast and crew will have fun on the beach!"

"Brilliant! Where do I sign up?!"

The story revolves around the character of Angela (Nicole Cavazos) who keeps having a recurring dream about a woman being burned at the stake on the beach of an isla...Read the entire review

"I followed all the rules. Man's and God's. And you...you followed none of them. And they all loved you more."

THE MOVIE

While movies like A River Runs Through It and Interview With A Vampire introduced the public to Brad Pitt, it was probably his performance as Tristan Ludlow in Legends Of The Fall that helped turn him into one of Hollywood's leading men. But Pitt isn't the only reason Legends works as a film. It's filled with great performances including supporting work from Anthony Hopkins and an often overlooked, but nevertheless fantastic, performance by Aidan Quinn, playing Tristan's older brother Alfred.

The movie tells the story of three brothers Tristan, Alfred and Samuel (Henry Thomas), and takes place in Montana during the early 1900's in the period during and after World War I. As the movie opens, Samuel who is the y...Read the entire review

THE EPISODES

How many bad days can one guy have? Well if it's CTU agent Jack Bauer, hopefully the answer is many more because FOX's 24 has made its mark as one of the most exciting and innovative shows of the new decade, and I'm not ready to see it end just yet!

Things looked bleak for the series after the end of Season 3. Not only had virtually the entire cast been given their pink slips, but the show was being moved to a new time slot by FOX and fans were told they would have to wait until January of 2005 for any new episodes, so the network could show the entire season without any repeats or breaks in scheduling. Even die-hard fans like myself were concerned that Season 4 could mark the year when 24 would finally "jump the shark". But what did we get instead? Quite simply the best season of 24 yet!

Beginning with a spectacular train crash and e...Read the entire review

THE DVDS

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge Oprah Winfrey fan. It's nothing personal, but I just don't worship at her shrine the way so many other Americans seem to do. That being said, this special 6-disc 20th Anniversary Collection of clips and memories of The Oprah Winfrey Show was simply a delight to watch not so much because of Oprah herself, but because of the many stories and people she has crossed paths with over the last 20 years. I went into the set thinking I would be mildly entertained, and found myself smiling, laughing, and yes even crying at some of the things I watched.

Disc 1:
Rather than one long presentation, each disc contains a number of short segments which all run anywhere from a half-hour to a little over an hour each. The first disc opens up with The Beginning, which gives viewers the story of how Oprah got h...Read the entire review

THE EPISODES

Dark Shadows: The Revival was NBC's 1991 attempt to revive the cult daytime soap opera that aired on ABC from 1966 to 1971. The show was a mid-season replacement for NBC that most likely got the green-light due to the popularity of Twin Peaks over on ABC. Although die-hard fans have complained that the show was never given a chance by the network, the fact was that, despite having their first regular Friday night show interrupted by coverage of the 1st Gulf War (actually the 4th Episode, since NBC had aired four hours including the 2-hour pilot - in a mini-series format earlier in the week), the show just wasn't pulling in enough viewers to warrant a renewal.

Watching these episodes pretty much for the first time (I did watch the first few hours back in 1991, but quickly lost interest), I feel I can safely say that while it did have some potential, th...Read the entire review

Despite what you may have heard, David Cronenberg's A History Of Violence isn't the best movie of the year but it does tell a good yarn and goes deeper into character study than most thrillers in its genre.

The movie stars Viggo Mortensen as Tom Stall, a seemingly simple man who runs a diner in a small Indiana town. He seems to be living the American Dream with a beautiful wife (Maria Bello) and two children (Ashton Holmes and Heidi Hayes). But one night a couple of drifters enter his place of business looking for a bit more than coffee. Tom is more than willing to give up his cash, but when one of the thugs starts looking for more than money in the form of one of Tom...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE

I'm probably in the minority here, but I've really enjoyed the Left Behind movies so far. They are a few of the only religious-themed movies I have seen that also hold up as solid pieces of entertainment. The movies are based upon the best-selling novels of the same name, and cover the period of the Book of Revelation known as the Tribulation where believers in Christ have already been taken up to heaven and those "Left Behind" must deal with the seven-year reign of the Antichrist. But don't worry, the movie doesn't beat you over the head with its religion, but instead picks opportune times during the story to point out how everything that is happening to the characters has been foreshadowed already in the Bible.

Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=17987 Mon, 03 Oct 2005 18:01:44 PDT Highly Recommended Someone should hire Joss Whedon to write and direct the next Star Trek movie. The man understands how to take a TV show and bring it to the big screen without alienating either the fans of the program or total newcomers. Serenity is the perfect mix of big movie thrills and in-depth characterization. It's more than followers of the show could have ever hoped for, and it turns out to be one of the best action-adventures of 2005. Fans of the TV show Firefly know the history of the characters, but the movie smartly re-introduces us to them without boring the die-hard "browncoaters" out there by opening the picture with a flashback showing how Simon (Sean Maher) r...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=17976 Sat, 01 Oct 2005 11:54:30 PDT Recommended THE MOVIE I'm a huge Star Trek fan, but taking a look at this new Special Collector's Edition of Star Trek: Nemesis marked only the third time I've seen the picture, because I've pretty much held the opinion that it's the worst Star Trek movie of the lot. After watching the movie again, I have to admit that I'm now ready to bump up Star Trek: Nemesis a slot or two ranking it just above Star Trek: Insurrection and a little below Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But it's still not a very good movie, and I think I've figured out one of the main reasons: it doesn't have a very strong villain in it. While past Star...Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=17893 Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:54:42 PDT Recommended On her recent appearance on Inside The Actor's Studio, Jodie Foster stated that most of the films she does deal with abandonment in one way or another and that's certainly the case with Flightplan. The story about a recent widower flying back to the United States with her young daughter, Foster's character must not only deal with the her child vanishing during the flight, but the possible disappearance of her very sanity as well. Most have already seen the promos for Flightplan, so you already know the basic plot. After falling asleep during the long flight, Foster awakens to find her daughter missing and nowhere to be found. Becoming more anxious as time goe...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=17183 Sun, 14 Aug 2005 19:23:38 PDT Recommended THE EPISODES Season Three of Dallas is the one that leads up to the most famous cliffhanger in television history: Who shot J.R.? But only die-hard fans remember that Season Two of Dallas (the first full season, since Season One was a 5-episode mini-series) also ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. At the conclusion of Season Two, J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen, had been rushed to the hospital after a car accident for the premature delivery of a baby that may or may not belong to J.R. The health of both Sue Ellen and little John Ross Ewing III is resolved rather quickly in Season Three's opening episode but the question of who the real father is J.R. or his arch nemesis Cliff Barnes is a story thread that runs through the majority of the season. Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=16736 Sun, 10 Jul 2005 23:45:44 PDT Recommended Okay, it may not be fantastic, but it sure is a whole lot of fun. Like many, I was pretty much unimpressed by the theatrical trailers for Fantastic Four and wasn't particularly getting my hopes up for a very good movie. My optimism shrunk even more when the national critical reviews started coming out and the "buzz" wasn't good with the most notable critic of them all (you know of whom I am speaking) giving the movie only one of his precious four stars. But you know what? Fantastic Four isn't all that bad and in a summer full of brooding darkness (see Revenge Of The Sith, Batman Begins and War Of The Worlds), this was actually a welcome change of pace. The movie pretty much follows the comic book story, with Dr. Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm getting hit with a blast of solar radiation that alters their ge...Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=16641 Sun, 03 Jul 2005 10:56:10 PDT Highly Recommended They're not from around here They're from Europe?! Steven Spielberg is undoubtedly one of our greatest living filmmakers, but in the past several years his movies seem to have taken a much more serious, less "fun" tone than those films that wowed our imaginations when we were kids. The thrills of Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. and Jurassic Park have been replaced by more somber pieces of entertainment like A.I. and Minority Report. But the "old" Spielberg is back for War Of The Worlds, a rip-roaring piece of summer entertainment that reminds us what summer "popcorn flicks" are supposed to be all about. Tom Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a divorced father of two (played by Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) living in New Jersey who is more than just an absentee dad to his kids, he's pretty much a total jerk to all ...Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=15908 Sun, 22 May 2005 23:06:33 PDT Recommended Let's get one point out of the way right off the bat. Revenge Of The Sith is the best of the prequels, but the only film from the original trilogy to which it compares favorably is Return Of The Jedi. It's also the complete antithesis of that film. Where Jedi took great efforts in wrapping everything up, Sith focuses on tearing everything apart namely the once proud Republic and the Order of Jedi Knights. And much like Jedi, George Lucas seems to be trying to cram too much information into one movie. Return of the Jedi was the longest film of the original trilogy, and Revenge of the Sith is the longest of the prequels, and both films still feel very rushed there's enough material in both to cover a handful of movies. The movie starts with one whale of a rescue mission, as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker mount a rescue mission of Chancel...Read the entire review ]]> Theatrical http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=15587 Sat, 30 Apr 2005 23:39:28 PDT Recommended The long-awaited theatrical version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy manages to maintain the droll wit of Douglas Adams' original story (including the radio play, book and TV version), yet gives fans something none of those previous incarnations had: a bit of heart. At just under two hours, much has been both added and cut from the story we are familiar with but overall the film version is a pretty pleasant ride through Adams' wacky universe. Much of the original text of the radio scripts and novel has been retained, although I'm sure I'm not the only one who will feel that much of Adams' better bits have been needlessly excised. It's understandable why some things...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=15359 Sat, 16 Apr 2005 17:21:31 PDT Rent It THE MOVIE With other actors in the parts, director Marius Balchunas' No Vacancy would be a forgettable comedy. However, one of the pleasant surprises about the film is how well-acted it is by the ensemble cast. Overall, it still isn't quite a good movie, but the actors turn a below-average script into watchable fare. The movie takes place at a hotel where an odd collection of characters are staying. Christina Ricci stars as Lillian who wakes up one morning with a stranger (Deadwood's Timothy Olyphant) sleeping next to her. Meanwhile, a few doors down, two buddies (Steven Schub and Ryan Bollman) spend there morning with two hookers whom they still owe money to, which will eventually lead them into a confrontation with their pimp (Robert Wagner, in an all-too-short cameo). Other familiar faces in No Vacancy include 24's Joachim de Almeida, as ...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=14850 Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:09:57 PST Skip It THE MOVIE Spy Kids' Alexa Vega stars as a young girl who teams up with her pals for an all-night scavenger hunt against the "popular girls" in Sleepover, a title that wants to have the appeal and charm of Mean Girls, but turns out to be another unfunny "teenie bopper" comedy. As teenage comedies go, this one has just about every clich you can get into a 90-minute film: the nice girls, the mean girls, the hot hunk, the dumb brother, the geek, the fat girl, the unsuspecting parent, the screwball policeman, the bored reviewer oh wait, that last one was just me! The film is so formulaic that it's hard to either love it or hate it it's just rather "blah" although the teen audience for which it is intended might be more forgiving than this middle-aged DVD reviewer. Vega is the most notable star in Sleepover and she's the only one worth watch...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=14248 Fri, 28 Jan 2005 09:32:39 PST Rent It THE MOVIE Jesus, Mary And DaVinci is another one of those DVDs that followed in the wake of both the book The DaVinci Code and Mel Gibson's blockbuster hit The Passion of The Christ. The presentation proves to be an interesting discussion for those who have never studied the topic before, but as someone who has a background in both the Church and religious lore, I found most of what was on this DVD to be old news. Which brings me to a slight digression in my review concerning Dan Brown's book, The DaVinci Code - which for some strange reason became a runaway hit even though the ideas in it have been around for generations. In fact, a much more interesting story was presented a few years back on this topic in Jane Jensen's third Gabriel Knight PC game entitled Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned - which Brown almost seems to rip-off i...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=14156 Fri, 21 Jan 2005 09:21:52 PST Recommended THE MOVIE The Boston Red Sox made a bold move in 2004, when they fired the manager that got them to the seventh game of the American League Championship Series in 2003 and took a chance on Terry Francona. They also went out and signed Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling who himself was no stranger to World Series victories (having captured one for the Diamondbacks in 2001. Were the pieces now in place for the Sox to overcome 86 years of disappointment? Or was the famous "Curse of the Bambino" still alive and strong? Well, in case you pay no attention to sports whatsoever, you already know the answer to this question but the Sox amazing victory wasn't their accomplishment in the 2004 World Series (they swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games rather easily), but the fact that they were down 3-0 to the juggernaut New York Yankees and mounted perhaps the greatest com...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13757 Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:16:28 PST Rent It THE MOVIE I know there have to be lots of guys like me who think that the idea of being stalked by someone as beautiful as Jenna Elfman wouldn't be such a bad thing at all. But all kidding aside, what if something like this did happen to you...and you were happily married with a family and a successful career to boot? That's the idea behind Lifetime TV's Obsessed, which stands out among most of the other Lifetime movies I have seen (okay, honestly the list isn't that long!) in that in most other made-for-TV films it would be the man doing the stalking instead of the woman. But what makes Obsessed an enjoyable watch is that the viewer is never quite sure which side is telling the truth. Elfman plays Ellena Roberts, a woman whom we see arrested for harassment during the very first scene of the movie. But as she relays her tale to her lawyer (played by Kate B...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13673 Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:50:01 PST Rent It THE MOVIE Ed Asner stars as George Calden, the father of three sons one which was lost during the Vietnam war. Missing Brendan tells the story about how George gets his two living sons one of them a successful businessman who dodged the draft (Richard Cox) and the other who went to war, but still has deep emotional scars from it (Robin Thomas) to fly him back to Vietnam where the military believes they have found the spot where Brendan's plane went down during the war. Also along for the ride is The OC's Adam Brody, who is playing a character so similar to Seth Cohen (the character he plays on The OC) that it made me wonder if this is the only type of character Brody is capable of playing. The most thankless role in Missing Brendan goes to Illeana Douglas, who plays an archeologist that helps the men search for Brendan's remains. She seems out o...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13638 Sun, 12 Dec 2004 15:00:30 PST Recommended THE EPISODES The 4400 is yet another in a long line of made-for-TV science fiction shows that begins with a great premise and ends with a lackluster revelation. The good news is that the program is pretty darn good up until its 5th and final episode and perhaps some of the answers that we get in the final show won't be so "final" after all, since USA has picked the program up for 13 more episodes in 2005. As the pilot begins (actually two episodes put together for the show's TV premiere), we see a number of people being abducted by what most viewers will probably guess are aliens. There's young Maia Rutledge (Conchita Campbell) who is abducted in the early 1940's; military man Richard Tyler (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) taken in the 1960's; businessman Orson Baily (Michael Moriarty) in 1979; and young Sean Farrell (Patrick Flueger) who is one of the final abductees. ...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13627 Fri, 10 Dec 2004 21:04:03 PST Highly Recommended THE MOVIE I can't say that I was a fan of Dale Earnhardt when he was alive (I was always a Rusty Wallace kind of guy), but I always had respect for the man and that respect has grown even more after watching ESPN's near-brilliant biopic 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story. The movie tells the story of Earnhardt (played by Barry Pepper) from his relationship with his father (Spider-Man's J.K. Simmons) early in his life, all the way up to his tragic death in the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. And while NASCAR fans out there are sure to love the attention their favorite sport gets in this made-for-TV film, at its heart, 3 is really a story about fathers and sons Dale's efforts to live up to the kind of man his father wanted him to be, and his passion to pass on those lessons to his son, Dale, Jr. I'll be honest at first glance, I wasn't impressed with Ba...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13542 Sat, 04 Dec 2004 16:46:50 PST Rent It THE MOVIE Although low budget and campy, there's little denying that The Sexy Adventures Of Van Helsing is more watchable than that other Van Helsing movie that came out this year and there's certainly more eye candy in it as well at least that of the female variety. The movie tells the story of young Wilhelmina Van Helsing (Erika Smith), who is a descendant of the original vampire hunter. At the opening of the film, Wilhelmina is deep into a dream where she is exploring her lesbian fantasies and one of the main themes of the story has Wilhelmina realizing that she is attracted to ladies more than men. The villain here is Dracula's daughter (Darian Caine), whom Wilhelmina learns (from the deceased Van Helsing, no less) she must kill in order to fulfill her destiny. When the Countess Dracula finally meets up with Wilhelmina, she tells her that she n...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13383 Mon, 22 Nov 2004 15:13:48 PST Recommended THE MOVIE It's a shame that Evenhand comes to such a foreseeable end, because it had the makings of being a great police drama. But don't let my negative reaction to the conclusion deter you it's still a very good movie and one worth picking up if you're a fan of this genre. The story centers around two police officers the hard-nosed and occasionally loose cannon Officer Morning (Bill Sage) and the more cautious, more compassionate recent transfer Officer Francis (Bill Dawes). Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen this "good cop"-"bad cop" pairing in a movie but what makes Evenhand so good is in the realistic way these characters are presented. Morning isn't really an evil guy, nor is Francis a "goody two shoes". Both are real, well-rounded characters whose personalities have developed from their experience, or lack of it, on the police beat...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13316 Wed, 17 Nov 2004 14:39:43 PST Highly Recommended THE EPISODES Young Clark Kent begins to learn more about his destiny in Season Three of Smallville, perhaps the best show on television (at least when The Sopranos and 24 are on hiatus) that nobody's watching. While many fans consider Season Three the weakest of the bunch, I found that the shows flow nicely together in a back-to-back context as opposed to watching them on a weekly basis. There's a nice arc in play here, and I enjoyed watching Season Three of Smallville on DVD a lot more than my memories of watching it on television in the 2003-2004 TV season. Season Three begins three months after the cliffhanger that ended Season Two with Clark under the influence of Red Kryptonite, which doesn't hurt him but does bring out his darker side. Clark has left Smallville because he feels responsible for his mother's miscarriage at the end of Season ...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13263 Sat, 13 Nov 2004 18:44:49 PST Recommended THE MOVIE Just in time for the theatrical release of Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason comes Miramax's Collector's Series edition of Bridget Jones's Diary, a single disc release that contains most of the extras that were on the original DVD version, plus a few more added for this new edition. I've never been a huge fan of Renee Zellweger, but Bridget Jones is by far the best work I've seen her do as an actress, giving the character just the right blend of insecurity and sexuality. The story in case you're not already familiar features Bridget as a single women in her early 30's wondering if she's missed the boat when it comes to having a meanin...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13215 Thu, 11 Nov 2004 07:36:27 PST Rent It THE DOCUMENTARY It's hard to encapsulate the life of someone like Robert Kennedy into just two hours, but this American Experience production for PBS does a pretty good job of it, breaking the almost 2-hour presentation up into two parts: what happened before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and what happened after it. The assassination of his older brother was essential to the kind of man Robert Kennedy turned out to be. In the first half of the documentary we see that RFK was often the ignored male in the Kennedy clan. He was small for his age, referred to by his father as a "runt," and wound up hanging out with his sisters more than his older brothers. But the Kennedy drive to excel affected him just as much as it affected the other members of his family, and by the time John F. Kennedy ran for the White House, Bobby had become not only his closest sibling, but his most...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=13181 Tue, 09 Nov 2004 12:37:28 PST Rent It THE MOVIE There are times when I think reviewing DVDs is a pretty cool job to have. And then I take a look at something like Snoop Dogg's Buckwild Bus Tour and realize that there are people out there having a lot more fun than I am. Sponsored by Playboy TV, hip hop rapper Snoop Dogg and Playboy TV's own Ken "Buckwild" Francis hit the road for Snoop's latest tour featuring a hot looking tour bus and even hotter looking women of color joining Snoop and Ken for the trip. The premise here, much like Ken Francis' Playboy TV show (entitled Buckwild) is to give a little love to black women who so often get left out of both Playboy's other programming and adult entertainment in general. I suppose it will be no surprise to Snoop's fans that the bus has barely pulled out onto the interstate before he has the marijuana out and is passing it around and getting everyo...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12994 Fri, 29 Oct 2004 05:20:28 PDT Recommended THE DOCUMENTARY If there's anything that I enjoy watching on The History Channel more than a good Civil War or World War II program, it's the frequent specials they do on the city of Las Vegas. Having been there several times myself (and planning to go again quite soon), there's something about the city that lures you in with its big dreams of hitting the big time. Sure, deep down you know that the chances of becoming an instant millionaire on one's visit to Vegas are absolutely astronomical but that doesn't stop almost each and every person I know who has gone there from thinking that this time might bring them their lucky break. Breaking Vegas examines a team of M.I.T. students who, in the early 1990s, had a better plan on how to win big in Sin City. Instead of taking their chances on random luck, they honed their skills at Blackjack and the method known as "coun...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12958 Wed, 27 Oct 2004 05:27:32 PDT Highly Recommended THE MOVIE Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) lives the American Dream. He's built a life for himself by starting his own car rental business and is now enjoying the benefits of what he has gained in his latter years. Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe) comes from a family of "disappointed people". He was laid-off from a good job at a company where Hayes used to work many years ago, and now makes his living as a park guide in the Pittsburgh area. One morning, on his way to work, Hayes gets a visit from Mack who kidnaps him and leads him out to a wooded area leaving Hayes' wife (Helen Mirren) behind to wonder what has happened to her husband. This is the premise for The Clearing, a movie that starts off like a typical Hollywood clich , but develops into a character study that is both fascinating to watch, and realistic in its depiction. The real drive behind this movie comes from its ca...Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12940 Tue, 26 Oct 2004 05:23:57 PDT Recommended THE MOVIE Frankenstein has always been a difficult title to capture on film mainly because the story has no true villain. Perhaps because of author Mary Shelley's use of science fiction elements in her story, or perhaps more because of the 1931 film version which has become a classic, Frankenstein has been lumped in with Dracula, The Mummy and The Wolf Man as traditional "horror" fare. But what the story really is about is human tragedy and director Kevin Connor tries to recapture some of that feeling for the 2004 made-for-TV version of Frankenstein. Connor follows the same route director Kenneth Branagh did in his 1994 theatrical version basically trying to tell the story as closely as possible to the way that Mary Shelley wrote it. The difference between Branagh's version and this new one is that Connor (perhaps because he was wo...Read the entire review ]]>