 | Twelve Monekys: Collector's Edition Directed by Terry Gilliam
Brief Plot Summary: |
Cole(Bruce Willis) is an inmate in a futuristic prison and is sent back in time to attempt to bring back a pure sample of the virus to the future so a cure or vaccine can be made. When he journeys back to Philadelphia in the 1990s he is immediately assumed to be insane and placed in a mental institution. Cole begins to believe that he may in fact be crazy. He bounces back and fourth between his present and ours slowly losing his grip on reality while his psychiatrist (Madeline Stowe) becomes more and more convinced that he is telling the truth.
Review:
Written by the same screenwriters who adapted Phillip Dick's Bladerunner for Ridley Scott, the Peoples, this film is adapted from a French short entitled La Jetee (a fascinating short in its own right and available on Short Cinema Journal 1:2).
Although Terry Gilliam's highly stylized directing can wear on a man, it is suited for this film that questions the boundaries between sanity and insanity, reality and delusions. Surprisingly good performances are turned in by all, including Bruce Willis who was actually called upon to act in this feature.
In 1995 this film brought Brad Pitt a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination (both deserved); he would be beaten for the Oscar by Kevin Spacey for Bryan Singer's Usual Suspets.
This collector's edition also has a feature length documentary about the making of the film: The Hamster Factor. An extremely in depth piece (perhaps too in depth) this documentary was commissioned by Gilliam who was afraid he would get screwed making this film just as he had been when making Brazil (for the same studio).
He requested a documentary crew so that if anything went wrong this time, at least he would have proof. Though this film maybe special feature long, it is an interesting piece which shows how they made the film work on a low budget, fought for a specific cut, and ultimately triumphed at the box office; it is the type of feature that should be included on all DVDs.
DVD Features:
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Annie Hall
Directed by Woody Allen
A Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
Annie Hall is a classic time and has come to serve as the template for all romantic comedies, including Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally-- although few romantic comedies have even approached the high watermark set by Allen. Few romantic comedies would also approach its artistry. While many credit the alinear storyline to the film's, the romantic collage painted by each scene completely flesh out a timeline and the intricacies of the relationship, telling its story through the juxtaposition of anecdotes. Sarcastic and at times cynical, Annie Hall is nonetheless a love story whose central relationship has a quirkiness and simplicity that make it extremely genuine.
The film would go on to win 4 Academy Awards in 1977: Best Actress for Diane Keaton, Best Original Screenplay for Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman, Best Director for Woody Allen, and Best Picture. Allen was also nominated for actor, and had he been a producer of the film, he would be held in the same unwavering esteem as Warren Beatty who was nominated (twice) in all four major categories: Actor, Writer, Director, Picture(Producer).
 | Bugsy Directed by Barry Levinson
Brief Plot Summary: |
The film is also a romance story focussing on Ben's relationship with Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), a second rate actress who nearly becomes Ben's second wife but is ultimately nothing more than the source of his downfall.
Review:
Winner of the Best Picture Drama Award at the 1991 Golden Globes and nominated for a slew of Oscars in the same year (though it would lose to Silence of the Lambs), Bugsyis by far the best writing of James Toback's career. After viewing Bugsy it is hard to imagine that it was penned by the same writer of Two Girls and a Guy--working with Beatty and Levinson was clearly the highpoint of Toback's career.
Beatty carved an interesting career from himself, bouncing through roles to which he brings his charm and his politics. Ben Segal is presented as a visionary who was much more playful than harmful and who was the victim of his heart more than a gangster who eventually met a fate he deserved.
The romance between Beatty's Bugsy and Bening's Hill is palpable and was the start of their off-screen relationship with one another (that lasts in wedded bliss until this very day). The dialogue is sensational, the story is intriguing, and the characters are well played.
What is most amazing about the film is that outside of the scenes in which the gangsters are meeting with one another, characters are not talking about plot. The world of the film is happening around them while they discuss other issues which become recurring motifs and inside jokes.
Elliot Gould, Ben Kingsley and Bebe Neuwirth also lend their talent to the cast.
 | Chinatown : Special Edition Directed by Roman Polanski
Brief Plot Summary: Told in a typically noir style, Gittes finds that there is far more to Hollis Mulwray and the water department than originally met the eye. What seemed the initial mystery falls by the wayside as new clues arise and a deeper, more plotted, more disturbing story begins to reveal itself. |
Review:
Winner of the 1974 Golden Globe for Best Picture Drama, Chinatown is one of the strongest, most compelling films ever made--many consider the screenplay the best ever written. The script, by veteran screenwriter Robert Towne, was so strong that it was able to lure Roman Polanski back from Europe where he had fled after the murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the Manson Party.
Polanski and Towne, along with Nicholson's astute acting style, have taken the models of film noir to a new level. Using the template created by Raymond Chandler and his protagonist Phillip Marlowe, Towne and Polanski make their private detective ever mindful of the line between law and ethics and always cautious of their contradictions.
Chinatown is a suspenseful ride with unexpected turns and one of the best performances of Nicholson's career. His co-star, Faye Dunaway also does a remarkable job as Evelyn Mulwray; this may be her best work. Though L.A. Confidential has be interminably compared to Chinatown, Polanski's masterpiece cannot be beaten.
DVD Special Features:
 | Cruel Intentions: Special Edition Directed by Roger Kumble
Brief Plot Summary: |
Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) is the stepbrother of Catherine (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Rather than admitting their lust for one another, they enagae in a dangerous tete-a-tete wagering with each other about winning new lovers and destroying their lives. The problem, as always, is that Valmont really falls in love with Phillippe's wife in the real world, Reese Witherspoon.
Review:
Though one of the teen films that I have enjoyed more since the Clueless revolution, Cruel Intentions is more smut than anything else. In fact, as I stated in my review for The Hofstra Chronicle, this film is truly not a teen film at all, but a twenties film and it was rightly rated 'R.' I did see the film with my younger sister, but questioned doing so. In the end, I knew that she was going to see it and thought that it would be best if she saw it with me.
Roger Kumble did make the wise decision of making his film look beautiful and by filling the cast with some of the best look young actors available. Some of the performances in the film are shameful… shame on you Joshua Jackson and Louise Fletcher… and shame on you Kumble for ever having made that last phrase something one could say in earnest.
Sadly, most of the teens who attend Cruel Intentions will know nothing of Dangerous Liasons which is a wonderful epistelary novel and let alone an Academy Award Winning (1988) film.
DVD Features:
 | The Doom Generation Directed by Gregg Araki
Brief Plot Summary: Immediately, Amy, Jordan, and "X" are on the run from the law as well as some diluted men who are certain that Amy is the ex-girlfriend who broke their hearts.
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Review:
Keep and eye out for the Doom Generation / Gregg Araki Page that will be a part of Equinoxnet in the not too distant future.
The Doom Generation is the second in Gregg Araki's Teen Angst Trilogy, falling between Totally F---ed Up and Nowhere-- both of which are sadly not available on DVD.
Filled with rampant sex and violence, this film has a certain edge to it that showed Araki may have been a director with potential… after having seen Splendor I do begin to wonder.
However, The Doom Generation took the fugitive lover story --as well as the direction in which Tarantino was pushing the industry-- and brought it to its unredeemable end. None of the characters in this film has any morals with the exception of Jordan whose untimely end may be the most brutal execution I have seen on film-and I have seen American History X.
 | eXistenZ:Special Canadian Edition Directed by David Cronenberg
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
I would not say that I am the greatest Cronenberg fan. There are a number of his films that I do enjoy- The Dead Zone, The Fly- but I find some of his other work-Dead Ringers-just plain boring… I think the fact that I have not bought the Criterion Edition of that film is proof of that. And yet I love eXistenZ
eXistenZ is not what I would call a typical sci-fi film nor is it what I would call typical fare for Cronenberg. Yes, the man must feel right at home with the video games and their various pieces of equipment that plug into highly sexual "bio-ports"… but there is something very strange about eXistenZ.
The film is wise beyond its years...almost disquietingly so. There is a perfection to eXistenZ and an insight that people are going to look back to. For me, this film was similar to Bladerunner in that it used science fiction to truly constuctively criticize the world in which we are living. I believe the difference with eXistenZ is that the new world is so similar to our own and in such a near future (if not simply an alternate present) that people are having a hard time seeing the points Dr. C. is making.
In the future, my full review of this film, originally written for The Hofstra Chronicle will be available here. Should you care for a copy of that review in its original format send your address to the Equinox mail center:SebEquinox@Homtail.Com.
It is suggested that the Canadian version of this DVD be ordered through the internet or picked up on the average monthly border run. Unlike the featureless Buena Vista version released here in the States, the Royal Canadian version has three separate audio commentary tracks.
 | The Exorcist: Special Edition Directed by Billy Friedkin
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
What's so great about The Exorcist is that it is a horror film that crosses the line into the supernatural while keeping one foot firmly planted in reality. Perhaps not as realistic as Roman Polanksi's Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist is just as strong.
Coming off an Oscar for directing The French Connection, which also won best picture in 1971, the highly charged ego that is Billy Friedkin put all that he had into his follow up picture. Though Friedkin did push the envelope with his directing style--smacking one of his actors until he was shaking enough to seem legitimately scared--he was clearly an auteur on the film, demanding specific portrayals and visuals. In the end, it is the acting and not the special effects (which were superior for the time in which the film was made) that wins the audience over.
In this Warner Bros. DVD, all the scenes in the re-released re-cut are featured as deleted scenes, not included in the picture. This is a wise decision. Though many of the deleted scenes are fascinating there is a reason for their removal, and the viewer can sense that when watching the integrated cut.
DVD Features:
 | Go Directed by Doug Liman
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
I rated Go as one of the best films of last year…it is clearly one of the strongest teen films to have been released in since the Williamson/Heckerling era got things going again (yes… I will put that article up here when I get the chance).
Go is Liman's follow-up to Swingers and is similar only in that it is a highly witty and, dare I say, edgy comedy… and is not the best shot film in the world. Liman makes great use of everyday teen actors who have been bouncing around the film and television circuit, pulling them into a far grittier environment and throwing them together with some of the Gregg Araki crowd.
Because of its alinear three-part presentation, endless comparissons have been made between Go and Pulp Fiction--few if any of these comparissons are justified. All three portions of take place at the same time and though they are clearly the work of the same author, the comedic tone within each section slightly differs tuning itself to the characters involved and their respective environments.
 | The Last Days of Disco Directed by Whit Stillman
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
Whit Stillman is the kind of director who seems to be getting progressively better. Metropolitan Whit's first film earned him an Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay, when he was not given a nod foe his second two films, Barelona and Last Days of Disco many were shocked.
The film is clearly autobiographical in some respects (as is all his work), but rather than being stale or repetitive Whit Stillman is living proof that people should "write what they know."
Surprisingly well shot on it's limited budget, I was even able to convince and up and coming DP that the film was shot by Vittorio Stararo when that is obviously not true.
With a great soundtrack and a strong cast of stage and independent film actors, The Last Days of Disco in all its modesty and morality, puts films like 54 to shame.
 | The Loss of Sexual Innocence: Directed by Mike Figgis.
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
I did not see One Night Stand so I cannot say definitively what I think about the direction of Figgis' career since the film that made him most famous, Leaving Las Vegas, a film which is nothing short of wonderful, was snubbed a best picture nomination, and also should have brought the gold to Ms. Shue-no offense to you Ms. Sarandon, God knows I love you, but let's be honest… and how the hell were you nominated for The Client?
I do happen to love The Loss of Sexual Innocence, however. It is a film that I only attended because I knew that Jonathan Rhys Myers was in it and I wanted to see what he was up to after Velvet Goldmine… see, now we all know that I am being honest. But the truth of the matter is that I was really intrigued by the film.
Though I did see it with my friend who has trouble staying awake though features, I found his being passed out not the slightest disturbance. The photography is astounding… simply astounding. I loved the fact that there was more or less no narrative… and that is a huge rarity for me.
I believe what I truly loved about this film was walking into the theater knowing that it was a project Mike Figgis had been kicking around for some thirteen years. To know that he was able to make this very loose, very anti-traditional, very non-Hollywood film after all that time, was something very moving to me.
Myers' part was small, so what I came for was not necessarily on the screen, but it is an intriguing film nonetheless. It is the type of picture to be watched at the beginning of an evening, before a late dinner-there are certainly conversations that can stem from it.
 | Parallax View Directed by Alan J. Pakula
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
Prompted by the assassinations of the '60s (particularly that of Robert F. Kennedy), The Parallax View shows not only the paranoia of Americans after this tumultuous era in our history but also the possibility of such a corporations possible existence.
In many ways The Parallax View is a precursor to this year's Arlington Road. Parallax is far better shot and is so far the best Pakula film I have seen. It builds much more suspense and has a must stronger visual style than Klute.
 | Shakespeare in Love: Special Edition Directed by John Madden
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
Shakespeare in Love was the winner of seven Academy Awards at last year's Oscars, including Best Actress: Gwynneth Paltrow, Best Supporting Actress: Judi Dench, Best Original Screenplay: Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman, and Best Picture of the year.
Though many have heard me complain about the fact that I think Shakespeare's, Paltrow's, and Dench's victories were capital crimes, it does not mean that I do not love the film. There are many films that I don't think deserve the Oscar for Best Picture that I am very fond of.
In short, I find Shakespeare in Love to be one of the best scripts I have seen in years. It is romantic, tragic, comedic, and self-reflexive all at once. Messers Norman and Stoppard could not have done a better job. They ended up writing a script in keeping with a plausible take on Elizabethan England as well as one that seemed true to Shakespeare's work.
The performances in the film are incredible. Joseph Fiennes was robed of an Oscar nomination (damn you, Hanks) and Geoffrey Rush an award (damn you, Coburn-though not as damned as Hanks…you were pretty damn good, old man).
After viewing the film many times, I have begun to change my tune about the art direction and costumes of the nasty Elizabeth being better. Elizabeth has very few redeeming qualities, not the least of which are Blanchett and Rush, I was trying to be kind by throwing it some inanimate objects as consolation prizes. Upon further thought, I do have to say that the problem with Elizabeth's sets and costumes is that they never cease to be sets and costumes. The world of Shakespeare feels truly lived in.
The one good thing about the Best Picture victory is that it brought and Oscar to Edward Zwick, the co-creator of My So-Called Life and the director of Legends of the Fall.
DVD Special Features:
 | Without Limits Directed by Robert Towne
Brief Plot Summary: Not only for sport fans, Without Limits focuses more on the man (boy?) and his ever-evolving professional and father-son relationship with track coach Bill Bowerman (Donald Sutherland). |
Without Limits is also a prime example of how a well-trained writer-director can make all the difference on a film. Robert Towne brings with him the status of one of Hollywood's best writers-his screenplay for Chinatown considered by some to be the best screenplay ever written. Though Towne's shining moments were during the seventies, Without Limits proves that he has not lost his undeniable talent.
The dialogue between Bowerman and Prefontaine is wonderful-having Donald Sutherland and Billy Crudup in the roles has also given the film a great boost. Towne uses his might as a writer to build a hero that is both charming and flawed. While Prefontaine's motives and cockiness may come into question, his love for the sport never does.