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Life of David Gale, The Reviewed By Collin Souter Posted 02/23/03 04:10:47

"It does for Peace on Earth what ‘Battlefield Earth’ did for Scientology" (Total Crap)

“You have got to be kidding me. Seriously, this can’t be right. I refuse to believe it. I mean, really, what is the point?” This sentiment echoed throughout most of the running time of Alan Parker’s “The Life of David Gale.” In fact, it pains me just to write the previous sentence. How could this be an Alan Parker movie? How could the director of such brilliant, diverse fare such as “The Commitments,” “Pink Floyd: The Wall” and “Mississippi Burning” be responsible for such an incomprehensible mess as this? And how did Kevin Spacy, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney get involved? How can four—FOUR!—seemingly intelligent people read this screenplay and agree that it must be made for all the world to see?I’m guessing they felt that because it deals with the death penalty and all its flaws as a system, it must be noble. How bad is this calculation in judgment? Let me put it this way: “Battlefield Earth” is a better commercial for Scientology than this is for anti-death penalty activists. Short of showing a member of Amnesty International going deer hunting after getting an abortion, I can’t think of a worse way to try and recruit an activist than by showing them this film. For all its noble efforts, I have to say that I can’t remember that last time a movie failed so badly at what it wanted to be before “The Life of David Gale.” (SPOILER’S WARNING) The title suggests a true story, but nothing could be more fictitious, and if I told you the outcome—the last half-hour—you still wouldn’t believe that anybody would sit down and write this thing with a straight face. David Gale (Kevin Spacey) lives in Texas and has been a philosophy professor and death penalty protester for many years now. He has a loving wife and kid and a charisma that attracts co-eds who need to put forth a little extra effort in order to graduate. One girl manages to seduce him into having rough sex with her, an act which eventually leads to him being convicted of rape and having his life ruined as a result. We find this out in a series of flashbacks. Gale tells his story to a balls-to-the-wall female reporter named (are you ready for this?) Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), who has been given the assignment to interview Gale for his three remaining days on death row before his scheduled execution. Gale wants to convince her he is innocent, but I have to back up here. How did an anti-death penalty activist wind up on death row? Well, it has nothing to do with the co-ed who framed him for rape. Gale has a female best friend, a hard-core activist named Constance Harraway (Laura Linney). They have a close relationship and she often helps him out during his rough times as a convicted criminal/alcoholic/divorcee. She gets murdered somehow and we’re meant to try and figure out by whom and what for. All sorts of clues get dropped in on us. Gale has a lawyer whom we don’t trust any more than we do Charles Randolph, who write this mess. We also get a quiet shady character who follows Bitsey and her intern, Zack (Gabriel Mann), around in a pick-up truck. This man, Dusty (Matt Craven), distinguishes himself from all other Texans in pick-up trucks named Dusty by wearing a cowboy hat. He also has a reputation for being a little too hard-core of an activist. He likes to make his views known to everybody. He lives for activism, which I guess is why he lives alone in a shotgun shack in the backwoods watching taped re-runs of The Tonight Show and Hee-Haw. Again, I’m not making any of this up. (SPOILER’S END) Okay, so why the low rating? Well, it has a lot to do with how the story resolves itself and because I have a standard that I like to uphold of never giving the ending away to a murder mystery (no matter how bad), I have to sort of dance around it. I believe I made my point clear about it earlier in the review, but I feel I must stress that this movie makes anti-death penalty activists out to be nothing but complete, utter wackos. Granted, some crooked characters do exist out there in the world, but I also know for a fact that abolitionists would never want to have anything to do with the people depicted in this film. I also hate the idea that this movie has us rooting for these people throughout most of its running time. If anything, this movie might cause some to jump to the other side of the fence on the issue. Of course, that would only happen if people actually believed everything they see in the movie and surely nobody is that stupid. But then there’s that cast. Spacey’s track record as of late has been a slow downward spiral (or maybe you didn’t see “Pay It Forward,” “K-PAX,” or “The Shipping News.”) and this will no doubt be the crash landing. He gives an unintentionally hilarious performance, but one that is hard to watch simply because you know he can do better. Tim Robbins gave a much more fluent, nuanced and restrained portrait of a drunk in the last half-hour of “The Hudsucker Proxy” than Spacey does as a wandering lunatic in this movie’s second act. Winslet is equally, shockingly bad, but she hasn’t exactly been given great material in the first place. Her character transformation from thinking Gale is guilty to thinking of him as wrongly accused has no force behind it, no conviction. The screenplay simply forces everything to happen as though it never went beyond the first draft. Parker’s ham-fisted direction is no help, either. As I said before, I have always been a Parker fan, but his efforts here have never been more mis-guided. His most annoying trait here comes in the form of The Most Awkward Flashback Transition in the History of Film, with Spacey and Winslet sitting in the jail. Suddenly, the camera takes off and spirals upside down while we see flashes of words such as “MURDER!” “RAPE!” “INNOCENT!” “ALMOST!” I have met serious anti-death penalty activists, mainly through a local chapter of Amnesty International here in Palatine, Illinois. Many of them are dedicated, hard working people who never tire of campaigning for peace. I’m not sure their ceaseless efforts to convince the former governor George Ryan to overturn the death penalty had much impact on his decision to actually do it. I don’t doubt that his motives were simply political as a way of somehow cleaning up his disgraceful record. I don’t know. But I do know that these activists deserve much more for their efforts than to be depicted as martyrs, pawns and horrible decision makers.What “The Life of David Gale” does is shameless and despicable. Aside from insulting the audience with its convoluted and incompetent storyline, it also has an ugly cynicism about it. I would have no problem with a movie about the protests that took place here in Chicago last November and showing how directionless, indecipherable and unfocused it turned out to be, but to make a movie that can be described the same way about a subject as vast and frustrating as the death penalty, a subject worthy of serious protest and debate…well, I just don’t see the point.
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Fred Schepisi is not a widely known director; he’s one that’s had his share of hits (”Six Degrees Of Separation̶ and misses (”I.Q.” and “Fierce Creatures”), but he’s also one whose hits suggest a fine storyteller - at least when he’s paired up with fine material. “Last Orders” is, as far as I seen, the director’s finest hour. Not only does he command an absolutely marvelous cast with ease, but this adaptation of the Graham Swift novel is a charming, heartwarming picture that boasts fantastic characters.



Early in the film, four friends are sitting around a bar discussing a friend named Jack (Michael Caine) who has just passed on. Vic (Tom Courtenay), Lucky Ray (Bob Hoskins), Lenny (David Hemmings) and Jack’s son, Vince (Ray Winstone) pile into the car and go on a journey to where Jack wanted to retire. Along the way, the four get to share old memories about the years past and the times they’ve gotten to spend together. Other aspects are tied into the journey: Jack owed quite a bit to the wrong people to finance his shop and it’s up to Ray to make the bet that could clear his old friend’s debts. Jack’s wife (Helen Mirren), has chosen to stay with the mentally handicapped daughter that Jack essentially gave up instead of going along for the ride. Each of the men have past secrets of their own to work out, as well.



“Last Orders” reinforces what I’ve often felt about a movie’s pacing - it’s almost all about characters and performances. The film does not have much more than a journey by old friends who move backwards in their memories while driving forward. Still, I felt the movie moved quickly due to how wonderfully the characters were written. The movie allows us to learn about what made these people who they are and, as a result, I found myself greatly involved in their lives as portrayed here. Although the subject matter would suggest otherwise, the film isn’t entirely mopey, either. While there are certainly some dramatic and emotional moments, the film also manages to work in a nice amount of sly, warm humor, too. “Last Orders” is also aided by crisp, cool 2.35:1 cinematography, smooth editing and a calm score that adds to the scenes without calling attention to itself.



As for the performances, they’re all terrific, with one not better than the other. It’s great to see any of these fine actors on screen by themselves, but working altogether, they prove to really be treat. “Last Orders” dodges predictability at every turn thanks to the fact that it’s really different in tone than most of the British films (”Waking Ned Devine”, “Greenfingers”, etc.) lately, with the characters more down-to-earth and real instead of “colorful”. The film also smartly avoids becoming sappy, which could have been quite easy in a story like this one.



“Last Orders” is a small, touching movie about the power of friendship, offering wonderful performances from some of the finest British actors working today. It’s not terribly eventful, but I was still involved with each of these great characters from begining to end.




The DVD



VIDEO: “Last Orders” is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by Columbia/Tristar Home Video. The studio’s presentation isn’t entirely without concern, but at its best, this transfer really shines. Sharpness and detail vary slightly - a few scenes here and there appear somewhat softer in comparison - but the picture often boasts fine detail and nice depth to the image.



Some little problems were occasionally seen. The most noticable problem with the presentation is edge enhancement - while it wasn’t consistently visible, there were several instances in the movie where a more mild amount popped up. The print used was in excellent shape, with no noticable specks or marks. Pixelation was also absent. The film’s natural color palette was rendered quite well, looking crisp and warm, with no smearing.



SOUND: “Last Orders” is presented by Columbia/Tristar in Dolby Digital 5.1. The audio is absolutely dialogue-driven, only opening up slightly for the score and a couple of minor sound effects. Surrounds essentially go unused. A note: I didn’t mind them at all, but some may have trouble with the heavy accents.



MENUS: Very basic, sort of bland non-animated menus with film-themed images as backgrounds.



EXTRAS: The main supplement is a commentary from director Fred Schepisi. While I enjoyed the film, I found it difficult to listen to the director’s low-energy commentary for very long. While there may be some interesting comments within, what I listened to seemed to be mumbled. Rounding out the disc are trailers for “Last Orders“, “Ghandi” and “Age of Innocence”.



Final Thoughts: A really sweet, powerful little movie with award-worthy performances, “Last Orders” offers great characters and a tone that thankfully keeps from getting too heavy. Columbia/Tristar’s DVD doesn’t offer much in the way of interesting supplements, but respectable audio/video quality. Recommended.



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After I watched the film, I watched this special documentary going
behind the scenes of Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnely's first
feature film (although they did appear in Love Actually together). They
explain all the basics, e.g. cast, director, story and the little bits
and bobs that made the film and the premieres. As Ant and Dec are the
hosts of this documentary, it has elements of humour and some good
information behind a great comedy film based on a true story, it's like
watching Saturday Night Takeaway almost. With interviews from director
Jonny Campbell, Bill Pullman, Harry Dean Stanton, Omid Djalili and some
others. Good!

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DOWNLOAD MOVIE Top Secret! Just $2.99 for a complete movie! No additional software or browser plug-ins required! You can play them for unlimited number of times whenever you want. Downloaded movies will work perfectly on any PC, DVD player, PDA etc.
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Top Secret! (1984) / Comedy-Musical

MPAA Rated: PG for some sexual humor and some language Running Time: 90 min. Cast: Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, Christopher Villiers, Jeremy Kemp, Peter Cushing, Warren Clarke, Harry Ditson, Jim Carter, Eddie Tagoe, Omar Sharif, Michael Gough Director: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker Screenplay: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Martyn Burke

 

 

Top Secret! is another laugh-a-minute screwball comedy from the comic minds of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, the trio that brought you Airplane!  This time out, they skewer a variety of targets, predominantly war films (World War II, generally), musicals, and pop idols of the 50s (Elvis, mostly).  As with their previous efforts, the kitchen sink approach applies, where they throw so many jokes at you, if only one in ten actually makes you laugh, you’ll still be laughing throughout.  It’s also notable for the debut of Val Kilmer (Heat, Top Gun), and although he was a newcomer, this still ranks as one of his most memorable roles.

Please excuse me if this plotline is a bit shaky.  This is the kind of movie where you don’t really pay attention to the plot, as you’re so busy looking for the next sight gag, you tend to stop paying attention to such things.  Kilmer plays American pop sensation, Nick Rivers, who is flown into East Germany to provide a diversion, while they stealthily attempt to steal some nearby NATO submarines with some newfangled contraption they have secured from a local scientist (Gough, Batman).  Rivers falls for the scientist’s daughter (Gutteridge), who, along with the French Resistance, aim to thwart the Germans before they succeed.

Now that I have the plot out of the way (sort of), I’m ready to recommend Top Secret! as one of the most funny, and perhaps most overlooked, films of the mid-80s.  It’s a silly, but completely inspired comedy that should have most laughing from the sheer audacity of the different comedic styles, and also features a standout breakthrough performance by Val Kilmer, showing charisma and a great sense of comedic timing that he has yet to replicate in any film since.  (Trivia: Kilmer and Gough would reunite a decade later as Bruce Wayne and Alfred in Batman Forever).

Top Secret! may forever be overshadowed by its brethren, Airplane! and The Naked Gun, but in my opinion, it stacks up well right along with them.  It’s a funny, energetic, and easy-spirited comedy that makes you smile with juvenile charm, and holds up well with repeated viewings. 

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DOWNLOAD MOVIE Collateral Just $2.99 for a complete movie! No additional software or browser plug-ins required! You can play them for unlimited number of times whenever you want. Downloaded movies will work perfectly on any PC, DVD player, PDA etc.
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If it wasn’t for an accident of history, “Collateral Damage” would have come and gone without much fanfare, notable only for Arnold Schwarzenegger taking a page out of Mike Tyson’s book and biting the ear off a bad guy. But because it concerns an average citizen whose family is killed in an act of international terrorism on American soil, the Andrew Davis-directed “Damage” received a degree of celebrity as one of the films whose release was postponed after Sept. 11. Seeing it now underscores the inevitability of that decision. Even today, watching a bomb go off among unprepared civilians in what looks like Century City is more disconcerting than it would otherwise have been. ADVERTISEMENT Also unnerving, for similar reasons, are the film’s realistic opening shots of Schwarzenegger as L.A. firefighter Gordy Brewer dealing with the darkness, the smoke, the screaming chaos of a major conflagration. While much has been made out of this being what one of the producers calls “a significantly different Arnold,” that’s not really the case. The Ordinary Arnold referred to lasts for about the blink of an eye before he reemerges as such an indomitable one-man army that not sending him into Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden seems a regrettable oversight. Schwarzenegger’s Gordy would have preferred to stay that regular guy, a loving husband and involved father to a cute son with just the right number of missing teeth. But then comes that bomb blast outside the consulate of Colombia, an explosion that numbered his family among its nine victims. Even Hollywood couldn’t imagine a body count as high as that of Sept. 11. Quickly taking responsibility for the carnage is El Lobo (the wolf), the dreaded leader of Colombia’s rebel faction (played by New Zealander Cliff Curtis). “We will bring the war to you,” a video message from El Lobo eerily insists. “You will not feel safe in your own beds.” Distraught though he is about his loss, Gordy is willing to let the government, symbolized by renegade CIA agent Brandt (Elias Koteas), tackle El Lobo. At least at first. But hearing a smirking Lobo sympathizer talk about how those civilian casualties were nothing more than unfortunate collateral damage drives this even-tempered firefighter over the edge and turns him into a demon of revenge. “Your face has changed,” someone says, and indeed it has. Now more Terminator than Ordinary Arnold, Gordy gets himself to Colombia on a quest to personally dismember El Lobo. All kinds of people want him dead, and all kinds of obstacles–from trained killers to involuntary trips down enormous waterfalls–get placed in his way. It wouldn’t be accurate to say Gordy laughs at these dangers–he’s in far too sour a mood–but that’s the general idea. Gordy is even impervious to unimpressive acting from some of “Damage’s” bigger names. Here’s John Turturro as an expatriate Canadian mechanic–”a wrench for hire” is what he imaginatively calls himself–who briefly shares a cell with Gordy. And there’s John Leguizamo as a wacky cocaine manufacturer–is there any other kind?–who is connected to the rebels. You meet such interesting people when you travel. Given what he’s been through, it’s not surprising that the only thing that gives Gordy pause on his relentless quest for revenge is the plight of young mothers in the company of small sons. One that especially catches his eye is sylph-like Selena (Italian actress Francesca Neri, an object of Dr. Lecter’s affection in “Hannibal”), who crosses Gordy’s path so often it makes you think Colombia couldn’t be much bigger than Larchmont Village. As directed by Davis (who did the memorable “The Fugitive̶ and edited by Dennis Virkler and Dov Hoenig, “Collateral Damage” does a solid job with its action sequences and the David Griffiths & Peter Griffiths script takes a few random stabs at being of interest. Here’s El Lobo, for instance, talking about how revolution plays in the U.S. of A: “When an American sees a peasant with a gun on television, he changes the channel. He never asks, ‘What is a peasant doing with a gun?’” “Collateral Damage’s” heart, however, is not into radicalizing Gordy and turning him into a firefighting Che Guevara. The film’s political philosophy, as much as it has one, is of the “a plague on both your houses” variety, painting the rebels and the CIA as equally fixated on killing innocent civilians for their own nefarious ideological ends. We’ve seen it all before, and we’ll likely see it all again. “In the struggle for liberation,” El Lobo says, “there is no room for mistakes.” Hollywood, however, is a lot more forgiving. * MPAA rating: R, for violence and some language. Times guidelines: the usual action smorgasbord. ‘Collateral Damage’ Arnold Schwarzenegger…Gordy Brewer Elias Koteas…Brandt Francesca Neri…Selena Cliff Curtis…El Lobo John Leguizamo…Felix John Turturro…Armstrong In association with Bel-Air Entertainment, a David Foster production, released by Warner Bros. Director Andrew Davis. Producers Steven Reuther, David Foster. Executive producers Hawk Koch, Nicholas Meyer. Screenplay David Griffiths, Peter Griffiths, story by Ronald Roose, David Griffiths and Peter Griffiths. Cinematographer Adam Greenberg. Editors Dennis Virkler, Dov Hoenig. Music Graeme Revell. Production design Philip Rosenberg. Art directors Richard Reseigne, Mark Fisichella. Set decorator Thomas Roysden. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes. In general release.
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DOWNLOAD MOVIE Second in Command Just $2.99 for a complete movie! No additional software or browser plug-ins required! You can play them for unlimited number of times whenever you want. Downloaded movies will work perfectly on any PC, DVD player, PDA etc.
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The technical qualities are straight out of a cheese factory.   Why on earth would they not add more emphasis to the special effects during action sequences.  During the first bad guy encounter Van Dam conveys through body  language his dislike for the scene…and without any special effects to support it the scene amounts to a sloppy practice run.     Everything in this movie conveyed “Low Budget”.   The film editing is almost as bad as the movie speed 2 where a lot of garbage is left with choppy awkward shuffling.   Depressed people with close access to loaded guns should not see this movie for fear of encouraging an urge for suicide tendency.   Bottom line; this movie is a real bummer.

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About two hours into David Lynch’s “Inland Empire,” Nikki Grace (Laura Dern), or Susan Blue (Laura Dern), or possibly a third, nameless döppelganger (also Dern), runs down a pitch-dark, back-country lane, her mouth frozen in a blood-chilling, smeared-clown grimace. What has inspired this look of terror is never revealed. It could be anything. An anxious, disoriented Dern has wended from one identity to the next, one reality to the next, one country to the next with such paralyzing nightmare logic for such a long time by now that there seems nothing left to do but wait for the inevitably violent end. If you’re like me, you’ll wait for it anxiously. If you’re like the woman who sat next to me, you’ll prove your mettle and devotion by seeing it again. Shot on grainy, often blown-out and distorted consumer-grade video, scored to a feedback distortion-heavy soundtrack that will be familiar to fans and tinnitus sufferers alike, and clocking in at one merciful minute under three hours, Lynch’s much-anticipated follow-up to “Mulholland Drive” signals a hale swan-dive off the deep end, away from any pretense of narrative logic and into the purer realm of unconscious free association. I found myself pining for “The Elephant Man,” but that’s just me. ADVERTISEMENT Lynch has talked about the freedom afforded him by video — shooting 40-minute takes, writing scenes moments before they are shot, following ideas into places they couldn’t have gone had complicated lighting set-ups been required. But the lack of structure and rigor doesn’t seem to serve him here, and the film, which begins promisingly, disappears down so many rabbit holes (one of them involving actual rabbits) that eventually it just disappears for good. Dern begins the film as Nikki, a famous actress who has recently crested her celebrity summit and is anxiously awaiting news of whether she’s been cast in the new Kingsley Stewart (Jeremy Irons) movie, a Southern melodrama ludicrously titled, “On High in Blue Tomorrows.” Something’s not right about this scenario, though, starting with the upholstery at Nikki’s house. There’s the creepy front door. And the creaky butler (Ian Abercrombie). And the fact that Nikki’s stuffily macabre taste in decorating would have been outmoded back when Norma Desmond was big. So when a sinister neighbor (Grace Zabriskie) pays her an unexpected visit, informs her that today is tomorrow, she’s gotten the part and the movie is a remake — actually, a haunted remake of a Polish movie that was cursed by gypsies and never completed because the lead actors were murdered — one is intrigued, but not entirely surprised. Because, clearly, something’s not right in general. Soon the movie is moving between unrelated situations on hallucinatory transitions. Giant rabbits exchange Beckettian dialogue on a ’50s-era sitcom set against a laugh track. A Polish hooker sits on a hotel room bed as she watches a movie on TV. Nikki’s costar, a young Hollywood player named David Berk (Justin Theroux), finds himself fielding threats from Nikki’s shadowy husband’s goons. On the set, David investigates a noise that leads to the discovery of yet another alternate parallel reality — this one inhabited by an alternate parallel Nikki. At first, this reality resembles the movie they’re making, in which Nikki plays a character named Susan Blue who falls in love with David’s character, Billy Side. Eventually, Nikki disappears into Susan and it seems never comes back, while Susan slides through the grates of her own persona into ever more squalid and disconcerting scenarios that end with her collapsing among the homeless on the corner of Hollywood and Vine. A warped “Alice in Wonderland,” “Inland Empire” invites you to study it like a rune. And no doubt that repeated viewings would lead to new discoveries and hypotheses. Is this Lynch’s exegesis on why actors are the way they are? A lament for Hollywood production jobs lost to Eastern Europe? A warning about the movie- and TV-created fog in which we live? A fugue on the variations of fugues, “Inland Empire” mimics the very dissociative disorder it dramatizes, probably intentionally, in which a person forgets who she is and creates a new life elsewhere without memory of the previous life. It’s a dreamlike state of altered conscientiousness that lasts for hours. It’s a piece of music in which a theme is repeated above or below its first statement. It’s a tough movie to sit through. carina.chocano@latimes.com MPAA rating: Unrated. Running time: 2 hours, 59 minutes. Exclusively at Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood (323) 848-3500; Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena (626) 844-6500.
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Better than “Madagascar” but pales in comparison to “Shrek”. “Over the Hedge“, directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick and starring Bruce Willis (Die Hard), Gary Shandling (What Planet are you From), Steve Carell (40 Year Old Virgin), William Shatner (Miss Congeniality) and Wanda Sykes, only barely falls short of entertaining both kids and adults.

Based on the comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis, the film centers around R.J., a hungry, con-artist, fast-talking, charming racoon. When R.J. (Willis) attempts to steal a snack supply from a bear named Vincent, eventually just destroying it all together, he is given one week to get back everything that was lost, or pay the dire consequences. Deciding he needs help, he cons a comradery of woodland critters to help him when they wake from hibernation to discover that most of their forest has been replaced with a vast suburban neighborhood. Verne the turtle (Shandling) is the timid leader of the group and the only one who finds himself unable to trust R.J. Hammy the Squirrel (Carell) is a hyperactive nut-job. Stella (Sykes) is a temperamental skunk with man-issues. Ozzie (Shatner) a melodramatic possum skilled at playing dead only ever manages to embarrass his daughter Heather. And a family of porcupines round out the group. R.J must then train and guide them into navigating the territory of their human neighbors and return with a bounty of junk food. That is of course until the Verminator rolls into town.

I’ve been a fan of the comic strip for a very long time. Besides using the same characters and the BASIC concept (animals invading suburbia and making the most of it), the movie does not capture the fun and humor of the strip. It sort of goes off on it’s own tangent, reinventing the concept. The movie is obviously more action-packed (as it should be). R.J is no longer the lazy, sarcastic and guiltless lump from the comics, but rather has been replaced with a more friendly and active version. Hammy the Squirrel was also downplayed quite a bit, and on screen he is less of the screw-ball that comic readers will remember. I encourage fans of the strip to watch the film, but just don’t expect it to be as funny.

The humor is cute, and sometimes gives you a good laugh, but usually it feels too dry. Jokes are often recycled gags or just not pushed to the extreme enough. There was potential for more oddball antics and chaos, but the film holds back on the fear of losing the kids. The drama and morals about family and friends also get in the way of really enjoying yourself. There is a laugh-out-loud scene worth mentioning though: and it occurs near the end when Hammy is given caffeine for the first time.

As usual, Dreamworks has created a vividly beautiful CGI film. The time and effort to make the film shows in the level of detail (You can almost count the hairs on the animals). Overall the direction is pretty well done as well, giving plenty of breath-taking moments such as the discovery of the never ending hedge.

Bruce Willis is a decent choice for this new energized R.J. Originally it was Jim Carrey set to star, but when he dropped out, Willis moved in. This would be the first time since “Beavis and Butthead do America” that Bruce would play a cartoon character. And it suits him. Gary Shandling is probably the perfect voice for Verne, offering a whiney father-figure touch. Steve Carell gives an excellent performance as Hammy but there was room for much more energy. However in the end it is William Shatner who steals the show as the lovable Ozzie.

The film makes up for it’s lack of over-the-top humor by offering good wholesome family fun. The morals are a little overbearing at times, but that’s easily forgivable given the age-demographic of the film. Your attention drifts occasionally and suddenly is pulled back by some kooky action and all is well again. No it’s not the comic strip. But it will do.

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DOWNLOAD MOVIE FernGully: The Last Rainforest Just $2.99 for a complete movie! No additional software or browser plug-ins required! You can play them for unlimited number of times whenever you want. Downloaded movies will work perfectly on any PC, DVD player, PDA etc.
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The Movie

FernGully: The Last Rainforest is an Australia-born animted film from 1992 that features some solid, if unspectacular, animation, a rather impressive cast of voice-actors, a mildly intriguing adventure plot, and a whole lot of really earnest environmental messages.

The story is pretty simple stuff: Adorable female fairy Crysta enjoys her heavenly home deep in FernGully Rainforest. She’s got a teacher to ignore, a boyfriend to tease, and a whole lot of legends about trees and spirits to remember. But with the appearance of a thick stream of smoke far in the distance, Crysta gets a little curious and sets out to seek its source.

She comes across a bunch of “humans,” goofy and clueless creatures charged with bringing down a section of Crysta’s beloved home. So she (accidentally) shrinks one of the destructioneers down to spritely size, and takes him on a tour of FernGully’s most wonderful shopping malls forests and canopies and lagoons and whatnot. Not at all surprisingly, newcomer Zak grows a change of heart right quick, and then its up to him (and Crysta) (and lots of crazy talking animals) to save FernGully from becoming Bulldozer Central.

Plot-wise, FernGully isn’t deep. The flick wears its “omg save the rainforest!” attitude clearly on its sleeve, which makes for a somewhat over-earnest display here and there … but so what, really? So a seven-year-old kid might actually walk away from the movie with the words “rainforst” and “conservation” wedged into his ever-expanding vocabulary. Hey, if the Veggie Tales folks can sell religion in this fashion, then I say the environmental lobby deserves their fair shot as well.

But it comes down to the issue of entertainment. You can make the most well-intentioned piece of family filmmaking in the world, but if you don’t entertain those families, they probably won’t much care for your environmentally-friendly subtext.

Fortunately, FernGully works in a cute and quaint fashion, and in many ways it reminded me of Don Bluth’s B+ efforts. The hand-drawn animation certainly isn’t flawless, but the animators do a fine job of giving their colorful characters a nice dose of personality. The plot is formulaic and entirely predictable, but that won’t matter much to a giggling seven-year-old who hasn’t seen all that many movies. Plus there’s a half-dozen musical numbers, which are goofy (for the kids) and short (for the adults).

If FernGully has one strong and unexpected asset, it’d have to lie in the voice cast. As the strangely alluring Crysta, Samantha Mathis does some very lovely voicework here, and Christian Slater plays semi-jilted man-fairy “Pips” with some rascally charm. And as is often the case in any sort of animated feature, the supporting cast is a truly eclectic group of performers: Robin Williams (in his first animated gig), Tim Curry (as the enjoyably evil slimebeast known as Nexxus), Grace Zabriskie, Robert Pastorelli, Tone Loc, and Cheech & Chong. Even if you only spend FernGully’s 70-some minutes playing “name that voice,” you could have a pretty good time.

As a longtime animation buff, I can appreciate the hard work and good intentions that went into a film like FernGully, which helps me to overlook the fact that the actual plot of the movie is pretty darn flimsy.

The DVD

Video: A virtual handshake is due to Fox for releasing a “family favorite” movie in its original Widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio. True, the disc does come with a Full Frame option, but who’d want to raise their children with so little respect for animated cinema?

Anyway, the Widescreen transfer is pretty darn solid. The animation is bold and bright and comes through crystal-clear. So clear, in fact, that it might just draw attention to the intermittent glitches in the animation processing. They’re minor flaws regardless, and I’m of the opinion that a few “glitches” in hand-drawn animation only adds to the charm of the art form.

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, DD 2.0 Spanish, and French Dolby Surround are your listed options, and the English track sounds just dandy. Optional subtitles are available in English or Spanish.

Extras

A 2-disc Special Edition for … FernGully? Sure, why not? Disney does it with all their titles — several of which are pretty darn awful. So why not FernGully?

On disc 1 you’ll find a pair of special features. First is a feature-length audio commentary with director Bill Kroyer, art director Ralph Eggleston, and coordinating art director Susan Kroyer, which covers all the bases and shows a still-strong affection for the film from its creators. I can’t imagine anyone besides hardcore animation buffs giving this track a full listen, but that’s precisely the audience that’ll dig it.

Seed of the Story: Script to Story Comparison is viewable in chapters or in an eight-minute block (and with or without audio commentary by screenwriter Jim Cox). Here we get six FernGully sequences, from script to storyboard to rough animation to final product.

Moving on to the second platter, we’re greeted with three headings, so let’s break the goodies down as such:

Featurettes

From Paper to Tree (29:54) is a “making of” retrospective that features input (both new and old) from “Ferngully” author Diana Young, producer Wayne Young, director Bill Kroyer, actresses Samantha Mathis & Grace Zabriskie, animation director Tony Fucile, character animator Chrystal Klabunde, animator Steve Markowski, art director Ralph Eggleston, and several others. Fans will get insights on the movie’s ecological inspirations, pre-production art conception, peeks at the animation process, and a few looks at the actors as they record their dialogue. This is a solid little featurette, although (obviously) its appeal is limited to the hardcore Ferngully fanatics.

Behind the Voice: Toxic Love (2:29) is a multi-angle look at Tim Curry’s big musical number. Flick through the multiple angles to see early sketchwork, finished animation, Mr. Curry crooning into a microphone, or all three at once (via splitscreen).

The original featurette (5:53) is a fluffy little promo piece from 1992 that covers the concept, the cast, and the creation of the flick. Again, fans will be happy to see this piece included, but it’s not something you’ll watch more than once … if that.

Rounding out section one is a music video (4:12) for the Tone Loc song “If I’m Gonna Eat Somebody (It Might as Well Be You),” which was recorded for a kid’s movie, so stop your giggling right now. Actually, feel free to giggle away, because this might be one of the silliest music videos recorded since man first drew breath.

Set Top Games is our second section, and it’s a veritable arcade of FernGully goodness! No less than eight different clicky games are included for the kids to enjoy: “Creatures of the Rainforest,” “Sound Pools,” “Save Batty!,” “Grow a Tree,” “Capture Hexxus,” “Sounds of the Rainforest,” “Pips’ Pan Pipe,” and “Out of the Forest.” I’d review each clicky game individually, but c’mon. I have other reviews to write tonight! Joking aside, Fox has done a nice job with these little games; if your kids are into these sorts of educational clicky games, well, here’s eight of ‘em!

The last section is Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots, and it’s here you’ll find, yep, three different theatrical trailers and a trio of old TV spots.

Final Thoughts

Fox tries to go the “Disney DVD” route with this rather packed 2-disc FernGully release, and you know what? It’s actually quite a strong little package. Perhaps FernGully is one of your most fondly remembered “nostalgia movies,” and you just love the goofy little thing. (Hey, I grew up loving Robert Altman’s Popeye, and therefore I cast no stones where “nostalgia favorites” are concerned.)

So if you do have fond recollections of this environmentally-minded animated adventure, you should consider this release Highly Recommended. Newcomers might want to give the flick a rental first, just to see if the kiddies care for it.
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DOWNLOAD MOVIE Resident Evil: Apocalypse Just $2.99 for a complete movie! No additional software or browser plug-ins required! You can play them for unlimited number of times whenever you want. Downloaded movies will work perfectly on any PC, DVD player, PDA etc.
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The Movies:

Although they’ve seen fine releases on DVD before, Sony has opted to re-release the first two films in the Resident Evil series just in time for the third film’s theatrical debut. The two films are contained on the first disc, and all of the supplements (save for one but more on that later) are on the second disc.

Resident Evil:

In a small town named Raccoon City, the Umbrella Corporation holds its headquarters. The largest supplier of surgical and defense technologies in the world, Umbrella holds immense power and has access to all sorts of things that they probably shouldn’t be messing with. Their less conventional projects have been squirreled away in a secret facility way underground, codenamed ‘The Hive.’ When a biological experiment known only as the ‘T Virus’ is accidentally unleashed in the facility, a few hours later things are starting to look rather grim for the scientists and researchers trapped in ‘The Hive.’

The Umbrella Corporation sends in a crack team of military commandos to go into ‘The Hive’ and rescue any survivors they can find, but the only one left is Alice (Milla Jovavich), who’s been trying to sort out her amnesia problem while all of this has been going down. Everyone and everything else that was in ‘The Hive’ when the ‘T Virus’ hit is now a flesh eating zombie… and the virus is contagious.

Director Paul W. S. Anderson (Event Horizon and Aliens Vs. Predator took a whole lot of flack from the horror community when this movie hit theaters. A lot of people were disappointed not only because the movie isn’t a literal adaptation of the source material (the popular series of video games of the same name), but also because it seemed that the film was tailor made for George Romero to helm. Anderson didn’t deliver a Romero movie, and that seems to be what a lot of us wanted out of the film. It makes sense too, when you think about it. After all, what was the most obvious influence on the Resident Evil games? The answer is obviously ‘Romero’s dead trilogy.’ Anderson’s film is more of an action-horror hybrid than a character driven Romero-esque piece.

The movie is full of stereotypes (Michelle Rodriguez is sorely underused and not given much to work with, despite the fact that she is quite a competent actress), and is definitely a gross example of style over substance but it still works - at least on an entertainment level. Whereas Romero’s zombie films all had some sort of social commentary (be it the anti racism tones of Night Of The Living Dead or the commentary on crass American consumerism in Dawn Of The Dead) and there’s none of that here at all. This is an action-horror video game adaptation that doesn’t aspire to be anything more than a gory shoot’em up with hot chicks in the lead and a fast paced techno metal soundtrack. But hey, it moves along at a nice pace, provides a few good jump scares, and looks just as slick as slick can be.

So sure, the movie could have been a lot more than it was. There could have been a lot more character development and the competent cast could have been given better dialogue and a meatier story to work with, but that didn’t happen. Regardless, Resident Evil does entertain, and in the end that’s all we realistically should expect from it. On that level and that level alone, the film works just fine.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Alice’s voice over introduction fills us in on the events that took place in the first film, and then from there a few flashback scenes show us how chaos eventually erupted throughout Raccoon City. With the Umbrella Corporation’s control over the city as tight as a vice grip, all of the exit points leading out are blocked off by their soldiers, inspecting each individual to make sure that they’re not carrying anything contagious out of the city. Eventually, however, the zombies begin to overtake the city and the Umbrella Corporation decides to wall off the bridge and to more or less sacrifice the survivors left inside.

With the stage set, we meet the central characters - a street hustler named LJ (Mike Epps), a reporter named Terri (Sandrine Holt), and a few STARS team members like Nicholai (Zach Ward), Carlos (Oded Feher), and Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory). They meet up by chance and decide to team up and try to find a way to survive amongst the hordes of zombies roaming the streets around them. While they’re finding themselves in increasingly dire straits, Alice (Milla Jovavich) is trying to figure out exactly what happened to her. She figures out that the Umbrella Corporation used her to perform experiments on and that she’s been given a rogue strain of the virus that, rather than turn her into a zombie, has enhanced her abilities and increased her strength and stamina. Of course, Alice meets up with the group of survivors and they all team up for the best chances of survival. What they don’t know is that the Umbrella Corporation has bio-engineered a creature called Nemesis who exists only to kill off all the surviving members of the STARS team and who is currently on the loose and looking for his prey. Their only chance is to find the young daughter (Sophie Vavasseur) of Dr. Charles Ashford (Jared Harris) who just may hold the missing piece of the puzzle that Alice and her team will need to lay this plague to rest. That is, if the Umbrella Corporation doesn’t bomb the bejeezus out of Raccoon City first.

With Anderson relegated to writing and producing the film, first time director Alexander Witt is given a change to give audiences his spin on the Resident Evil universe. That said, his take doesn’t differ much from Anderson’s and the second film in the series is, like its predecessor, a very slick looking action-horror movie with fantastic visuals and a mediocre plot. Milla looks stunning here, even more so than in the first picture, and she carries things nicely proving competent in both the action scenes and in the more dramatic moments. She’s been surrounded with a reasonably good supporting cast and the film benefits from decent acting courtesy of Feher and Ward - but the film feels shallow and at times almost pieced together, more a series of set pieces than a cohesive whole. We’re definitely entertained by violence, gore, sex appeal and zombies but nothing resonates for very long and the end result is a mindless, albeit fun, time killer.

The soundtrack, again comprised of cookie cutter new-metal tracks, adds nothing to the picture and doesn’t help build suspense at all and the cut-cut-cut editing style loses its novelty quickly. That said, there’s enough here to amuse us. Milla runs down a building and attacks her enemies, zombies eat and explode, and Nemesis looks pretty neat. A few well placed jump scares provide some cheap thrills and the ending is effective even if its obviously setting us up for the third film…

The DVD

Video:

Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse get very solid transfers that are enhanced for anamorphic sets and retains the original aspect ratio of the films at 1.85.1 and 2.40.1 respectively. The image for both films is very crisp clean and only occasionally is there any minor specks of print damage. Skin tones look dead on, color definition is top notch, and this is overall a very nice presentation of the film. There is some minor edge enhancement and shimmering in a couple of scenes that is slightly noticeable but it doesn’t happen too often, thankfully. Some of the darker scenes show just a tiny bit of mpeg compression but aside from that there’s very little to complain about here, the movies look very good.

Sound:

Equally impressive are the sound mixes for the films. Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mixes are supplied in English and French. Optional subtitles are provided in English and French for the first film and in English only for the second with English closed captioning provided for both features. Both films benefit from very active and aggressive sound mixes that really do add quite a bit of atmosphere to the movies, especially during the action and zombie attack sequences. Surrounds are used nicely to fill in the soundscape and the subwoofer gives a few nice solid kicks to the proceedings, enhancing the nice jump scares during the films. Dialogue is never a problem and is always clearly comprehensible, and background music and sound effects are well balanced and mix nicely, never overshadowing what’s being said at any given point in time.

Extras:

Most of the extras from the prior releases of these two films on DVD have not been carried over and, surprisingly enough, much of the new extra content in this set is related not to the films it contains but to the (at the time of this writing) upcoming release of Resident Evil: Extinction starting with Exclusive Sneak Scene (2:06) from the film, which is the only extra on the first disc. Presented in non-anamorphic widescreen, this is a surprisingly gory clip in which Alice and a few other soldiers take on a horde of zombies out in the desert. Heads are blown open, throats are slit and there’s arterial spray galore, even if much of the effects work is CGI.

Disc two starts off with The Evolution Of Resident Evil: Bridge To Extinction (5:00) which is really little more than a recap of the events in the first two films by way of some nifty clips and Milla’s voice over work. What makes it worth watching are some clips from Extinction. While this is likely nothing we won’t see in the movie once it premieres, it’s an interesting look at where they’re going with the storyline. Twenty percent of the running time is made up by credits and this is really nothing more than an ad, but at least it’s a cool ad.

There are a few goodies in the Featurettes section starting with Diary Of An Apocalypse (27:47) which is a documentary that explores the making of the second film in the series by way of some interviews and a plethora of behind the scenes footage. Undead Bootcamp (11:47) is an interesting peek at how extras and principal actors are turned into zombies. We see them learn to shuffle and act like zombies and then we see some make up effects applied to add the finishing touches. The Stuntman Set Tour (5:49) shows how two scenes were handled - the street fight sequence and the helicopter jump. We see some raw test footage, some practice footage, and then we’re shown the final version as it appears in the movie for comparison’s sake. The Zombie Dogs POV test (1:35) is some raw footage from camera tests done to check out the speed and angle of the zombie dogs that were designed for use in the movie piggybacked on some finished footage from the film.

Rounding out the extra features are a Memory Retention Training Quiz, a series of still galleries (Art Department, Production Photos, Publicity, Set Design and Storyboards), trailers for a few other Sony DVD releases and for the upcoming Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles game, animated menus and chapter stops.

Final Thoughts:

If you own previous releases of the two movies in this set, the extras aren’t enough to warrant a double-dip. That said, if you don’t have them and loud, mindless action-horror if your thing, you can consider this Resident Evil/Resident Evil: Apocalypse two disc collection recommended. The movies aren’t deep but they are a lot of fun and this release makes for an affordable and convenient way to catch up on the films before Extinction is unleashed.

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