Web Site Has Insight Into Movies, Videos
For a movie-lover, the Web is a treasure of information. Virtually every Web browser has a file that affords access to some pretty interesting Web sites.
One site I recently discovered is rather grandly titled, The Best Video Guide (www.tbvg.com), yet it offers quite a bit of information.
In its most recently updated form (I last checked it out on Tuesday), TBVG offered a variety of features, including brief analysis of Hong Kong cinema, a look at the career of silent film star Harry Langdon and a 1995 Anne Heche film that boasts supposedly sizzling love scenes between the “Volcano” star and Joan Chen.
In addition, you can access reviews of “Ransom,” “Meet Wally Sparks” and “‘Losing Chase” (Kevin Bacon’s directorial debut) as well as interviews with the likes of Anjelica Huston, Tom Everett Scott (“That Thing You Do”) and Jennifer Tilly.
There’s more, too, including links with other movie/and video-related sites. Check it out. And if any of you know of any interesting movie Web sites, e-mail me the URL at danw@spokesman.com. I’ll be happy to pass it on.
E-mail: The First Contact
Speaking of e-mail, one reader messaged me about my review of “Star Trek: First Contact” (see capsule review below). In criticizing the film, I mentioned a scene where Lt. Cdr. Worf mysteriously repairs the tear in his spacesuit.
Seems it wasn’t mysterious at all: According to the reader, Worf sealed the tear by tying the disembodied arm of a Borg around his leg.
Well, no wonder I missed it. A lame plot device such as that would be enough to cause temporary amnesia in anyone.
The week’s releases:
Swingers ***
A group of guys cruise Los Angeles looking for some “babies” to love. But the humor in this low-budget comedy comes from the guys themselves, who often act like real losers. Still, as they move from Sunset Strip bars to parties in the Hollywood Hills, not to mention the occasional jaunt to a Las Vegas casino, the fact that they genuinely care for each other takes effect. In between the jokes and laughs and witty dialogue, delivered by some pretty funny guys, especially writer-director Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn (currently on the big screen in “The Lost World”), “Swingers” just might charm you with its unassuming sense of irony. Rated R
Star Trek: First Contact ** 1/2
This eighth installment of the “Star Trek” series is the first to feature none of the original Kirk-commanded crew. And while it works well enough as a movie, overall it is barely better than one of the television scripts. There are a couple of plot and/or continuity problems (how does Lt. Cdr. Worf, for example, repair the tear in his spacesuit?), but the special effects are impressive enough - especially as they involve the Borg. It is the Borg, that aggressive cyber-organic race, who make this story go. Their invasion reaches back to Earth’s past, causing the Enterprise crew to time-travel in pursuit. All the crew members show up, including one from “Voyager” (Robert Picardo), and James Cromwell portrays the inventor of warp drive. But there was little attempt to expand the minimalist screenplay’s scope to include them in any meaningful way. So be warned: You may forget what happened five minutes after leaving the theater. Rated PG-13
Beautiful Thing ** 1/2
An English teenager, struggling to find himself, finds more than friendship with his next-door neighbor - a schoolmate whose father and brother beat him regularly. Based on a stage play, this film by first-time moviemaker Hettie Macdonald manages to be a sensitive study of the problems facing gay teens. But it is plagued by various problems, not the least of which is English dialect that is distinctly foreign to an American ear. Rated R
One Fine Day ** 1/2
George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer portray mismatched single parents who, after meeting cute, find mutual attraction. Clooney is fine as a crusading newspaper columnist whose ambition is matched only by his post-adolescent temperament. Pfeiffer, a decent dramatic actress at times, is far less capable of playing comedy. The two kids are serviceable, though the way they’re coddled by their parents is enough to make anyone a believer in John Rosemond - and that’s a stretch, believe me. Rated PG
Daylight * 1/2
The potential was here for a stimulating disaster flick, blending the thrills of “Towering Inferno” with the theme of “The Poseidon Adventure.” But somewhere along the way, the script got waylaid. Sylvester Stallone stars as a former chief of New York’s Emergency Medical Services who, fired following a scandal, recruits himself to help out when a tunnel from Manhattan to New Jersey is damaged, and then closed, by a toxic-chemical explosion. The options of how to escape an underwater tunnel are never satisfactorily explained, one sequence is stolen right out of “Poseidon Adventure,” one main plotline involving an adulterous affair (and the ongoing theme of abandonment) is badly fumbled and someone forgot to write a credible ending. One the positive side, some of the special effects are good. Rated PG-13
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