"Untraceable" DVD Review

May 14, 2008, 11:25:11 AM by James Harvey in Reviews.

Untraceable brings us the first real thriller based around internet crimes, and, to be fair, it's an interesting premise. It's a creepy idea to have a killer who get to virtually he anyone he or she wants to. However, like most thrillers, it moves along at a brisk pace until the final predictable confrontation between the main character and the deadly online nemesis. Now, I'll leave the full details of the plot for the synopsis below, but suffice it to stay, the movie does manage to keep the viewer firmly engrossed until the finale. However, that's not to say that the movie doesn't have a few flaws, but we'll get to those after the synopsis.

Within the FBI there exists a division dedicated to investigating and prosecuting criminals on the internet. Welcome to the front lines of the war on cybercrime, where special Agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) and Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks) have seen it all…until now. A tech-savvy internet predator is displaying his graphic murders on his own website and the fate of each of his tormented captives is left in the hands of the public: the more hits his site gets, the faster his victims die. When this game of cat and mouse becomes personal, Marsh and her team must race against the clock to track down this technical mastermind who is virtually untraceable.

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"Saturday Night Live: The Complete Third Season" DVD Review

May 13, 2008, 11:51:27 AM by Zach Demeter in Reviews.

While it’s only been seven months since the last release of Saturday Night Live on DVD, those hoping to fill up their DVD collection with the legendary sketch comedy show will welcome this release with open arms. The show’s third season had a lot to live up to after the tweaked and perfected second season, but the SNL cast delivered in every way they knew how. More zany characters showed up and plenty of wacky sketches made it to air, as well as the return of fan favorite characters that showed up in the past two seasons.

SNL’s third season brought the satirical sketch show to a new level with even more biting humor and political commentary thrown into the pot. Mega-host Steve Martin returns for a few more hosting sessions in this season, alongside other hosts such as Michael Palin, Hugh Hefner, Buck Henry, Robert Klein, Chevy Chase, Madeline Kahn, Richard Dreyfuss, O.J. Simpson and Miskel Spillman alongside musical guests Elvis Costello, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Leon Redbone, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Ashford & Simpson, Meat Loaf and The Blues Brothers. It’s a packed season full of hilarious sketches and entertainment—everything a season of SNL should be.

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"Cleaner" DVD Review

May 12, 2008, 11:24:17 AM by Zach Demeter in Reviews.

I’ve come across a slew of titles since reviewing DVDs that I’ve never seen or heard of before. Some either left theaters in a hurry or others, like Cleaner here, simply never made it and instead went straight to DVD. While it’s obvious why they made the jump like that for the most part, some have some incredibly entertaining bits to them that you wonder why they didn’t at least try to market it in theaters. Like the poorly advertised Resurrecting the Champ vehicle with Samuel L. Jackson, Cleaner, once again starring Jackson, will hopefully find a fair home on DVD.

Ex-cop Tom Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) got into the cleaning business when he got off the force. Except this wasn’t the usual cleaning—no, Carver cleaned up crime scenes. After the cops and crime scene investigators do their work, it’s up to the family to take care of the mess left behind. Since this is often not something they can mentally deal with, Carver is often hired to take care of these scenes with his special blend of sprays, cleansers and chemicals. Everything seems to be going well in Carver’s world until he inadvertently cleans up a crime scene that had never been inspected. Once the cops get whiff of a missing person they expect to be dead, their eyes start focusing in on Carver.

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"In the Name of the King" DVD Review

May 09, 2008, 02:17:03 PM by Zach Demeter in Reviews.

Sometimes you see a trailer for a film and think “Wow, really?” In the Name of the King generated such a response from me and made me wonder just why Jason Statham, Mr. Transporter, was doing as what appeared to be a knight. Then I watched the film and saw that no, he wasn’t a knight, he’s actually a farmer who is going after his kidnapped wife. I began to wonder just how such a film could be made and then I saw his name. I hadn’t seen it associated with this film much before, so it must have slipped my mind, but there it was, plain as day. This was a Uwe Boll film. It all made sense.

Farmer (Jason Statham) is a farmer (nope, not kidding) who has his land destroyed, his wife kidnapped and his son killed, all by the evil group known as The Krung. Farmer sets out on a quest to get his revenge and rounds up his friend Norick (Ron Perlman); the two eventually run into a few others on their way, a magician named Merick (John Rhyes-Davies), a tree nymph named Elora (Kristanna Loken) and a female warrior named Muriella (Leelee Sobieski). Together the group head to whipping out The Krung, who are now after King Konreid (Burt Reynolds). With the aid of the evil wizard Gallian (Ray Liotta), the Krung may just succeed on their quest, especially with Duke Fallow (Matthew Lillard), the King’s right hand man, secretly planning to take him down along with the Krung.

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"Drawn Together - Season Three (Uncensored)" DVD Review

May 08, 2008, 08:46:48 AM by Zach Demeter in Reviews.

If you’re like me, you didn’t realize that Drawn Together kept going on as long as it did. While it was a scant three seasons and thirty-six episodes, the series airing schedule was so erratic that the three seasons took almost exactly three years to air. While a season a year may not seem like a bad deal, considering there were only thirty-six episodes for over a thousand days, it was a heck of a stretch for fans to sit through, especially when the show enjoyed ending on cliffhangers so often.

The shows third season opens with a Greek family moving in near the Drawn Together household and it ends with Captain Hero returning their daughter, who he thought was a goat, to them at the end of the episode. It’s that type of storytelling and logic you can expect from Drawn Together which remains one of the most vile pieces of animation I’ve ever seen…and yet I can’t avert my eyes. While the DVD packaging touts a season that has even more “MORE animated blood, MORE animated vomit, and MORE animated nipples”, the season was no worse than others (and, in fact, I think it actually had LESS animated nipple, but that’s just me being a stickler), but it certainly had a nice crop of episodes that made you laugh hysterically.

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"Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda" DVD Review

May 07, 2008, 11:21:40 AM by James Harvey in Reviews.

Arguably the highest-profile and biggest Marvel animated crossover of the 1990s, Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda finally arrives on DVD! Now, I'll come right out and say it! The 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series did have a fair share of problems. Whether it was a the constant re-use of animation and music cues, the occasional rushed dialogue and heavy exposition, or the sometimes questionable designs or voice acting, this show did have a lot of problems. However, despite all of that, this series does remain a favorite for Spider-Man fans, and for obvious reasons. It's loyal to the comic series to an extent, features a host of fan-favorite characters, and can be pretty engaging at times. And Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda is no different. Now, let's get the synopsis out of the way and onto the review.

Spider-Man’s neogenic mutation is making him ill so he seeks the aid of Dr. Charles Xavier, a scientist known to help Mutants… But Xavier does not "cure" mutantcy, only helps people like the X-Men to accept themselves and control their abilities. Disappointed, Spider-Man takes off with Hank McCoy (known as The Beast) who while in pursuit suggests Spidey seek out Harold Landon, a man he once worked with who continues to look for a cure. When Beast does not return, Wolverine decides to track down Spider-Man. Meanwhile, inside his laboratory, Landon is about to dip The Beast in a strange chemical stew. Spider-Man and Wolverine crash through the lab wall in the nick of time, but the Hobgoblin attacks and Landon accidentally falls into his own vat of chemicals, metamorphosing into a monster that Wolverine, Beast and Spider-Man cannot stop.

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"P.S. I Love You" DVD Review

May 06, 2008, 12:15:20 PM by Zach Demeter in Reviews.

I tend to have a strange view towards the romantic comedy genre. While the majority of them are the same old story retold through various characters that really don’t change much, the premises are always either incredibly sappy or at the very least an enjoyable way to spend some time in front of the TV. You may laugh or cry at the relationships in the film, or you may wish you had nails being driven through your fingers because then that would distract you from the real pain of actually watching the film. But as much as I may balk at the idea of watching a romantic comedy, I find myself oddly amused by them each time and for whatever flaws it may have, P.S. I Love You did fill the screen with humorous characters for its runtime.

P.S. I Love You revolves around Holly (Hilary Swank) and Gerry (Gerard Butler) Kennedy. While the two bicker and fight, the love they have for one another is of the old fashioned variety where the ones they’re destined to marry are brought together by fate. After the sudden discovery of a brain tumor, Gerry soon departs the world and Holly is sent into weeks of depression as she mourns her lost husband. Once Holly’s 30th birthday arrived, however, Holly began receiving messages from Gerry from beyond the grave—literally. It’s from these letters Holly was able to remember the great things about her relationship with Gerry and finally move on with her life.

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"Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection" DVD Review

May 05, 2008, 11:13:50 AM by Zach Demeter in Reviews.

There are few movies from my childhood that I’d dare watch again. Every time I end up rewatching some film I loved as child it ends in tears, as I find out that my taste in movies as a kid didn’t translate to my taste in movies as an adult (i.e., I don’t like horrible films anymore). Granted, there are exceptions and there’s never been a greater exception to the rule than Indiana Jones. Young or old, watching Indiana Jones is simply one of the most entertaining ways to spend an afternoon and with the long-awaited fourth film just weeks away, what better time to review the classic Jones Trilogy?

The first three Indiana Jones films have grossed over one billion worldwide and continue to bring in revenue with the renewal of the franchise with this month’s upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull theatrical debut fast approaching. Starring Harrison Ford, the Indiana Jones series was a return to the simple things about adventure films that we love so much: action scene after action scene, plus a little romance and humor thrown in on the side. While the series could be blamed for the mindless action films that litter DVD shelves today, it’s hard to fault what came after it when the original trilogy of films was so entertaining all by itself.

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