ScreenArchive

r

 

6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temperature
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A - Multiple Viewing Possibilities
B - Deserves Another Look
C - Once Should Suffice

 

RABID
With Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver, Patricia Gage
Directed by David Cronenberg
Wonderful early Cronenberg shocker marking his fascination with medical and sexual themes, its distortion and effect. Ex-pornstar Chambers ends up with a strange medical condition after a motorcycle accident and plastic surgery. With a strong lustful drive, the epidemic spreads across the country, turning people into crazed nuts. A low budget masterpiece of likely horror with medical/biological freakouts in stead of supernatural tripe.
5 / A
- PB

RACING STRIPES
With voices of Frankie Muniz, Dustin Hoffmann, Whoopi Goldberg, Joe Pantoliano, David Spade
A baby zebra from a circus gets left behind in a storm. An ex-racehorse trainer finds him and his daughter falls head over heels. The little guy thinks he's a horse, even when the adjacent racetrack horses taunt him. With the help from a range of crazy farm animals and two flys (for added comedy relief), Stripes' owner starts riding him and eventually enters him into the big race. With the exterior shots filmed in South Africa, this is a cute kids flick with some fun and silly moments.
3 / C
- PB


RADIOHEAD - Meeting People Is Easy
Not quite a pop band; not weird enough to be avante garde; not exactly full-blown rock…
Radiohead is however one immensely creative, emotional and intense musical experience. If you're a fan, you're a well-rewarded one. This boundless documentary follows the band on their promotional blitz for their groundbreaking, award winning 1997 OK Computer album. Director Grant Gee's approach truly fits the band's unconventionality, experimental thought process and artistic integrity. Mixed media, dissolved footage, adventurous editing (by Jerry Chater) and a very busy multi-angled soundtrack of music, soundFX, natural audio and band members' voices glides the viewer through a compelling, highly charged experience that can become both euphoric as well as induce a sense of sedation through the audio-visual bombardment. Time and space is bent as straight narrative and convention is thrown out with the popstar prescription. The commercially successful song Creep (expletive included) is Radiohead's Smells Like Teen Spirit, the one everyone wants to hear at live shows and sing along to - visibly not their own personal musical triumph (but a great song nonetheless) - Thom York pointing the mic at the crowd to fill in the vocal parts. There's more to their music than a good hook. We're taken through studio and live footage (from around 80 shows!), preparations, backstage, hotels, tour busses, TV show appearances, the hob-knobbers, A&R posers, fans & haters and every type you'll find around musicians getting "exposed" in their natural environment. And these guys are hardly your posterboys for the definitive, complacent grab-it-all "stars". The media is placed in the light it usually exposes itself to - clueless - from magazine interviews and radio station spots to a huddle of Sky news chat show prats ripping off their fantastic, intense video to No Surprises. From Europe to Japan and many dates in between, the tiring schedule is relayed in its realistic, stark flesh. Radiohead is not just a bunch of tunemongers. Their songs are constructed with a lot of thought and emotion, their concerns and views on varied issues not something they keep hidden. The freedom in the construction of this film seems to reflect their approach and really gets you in there. While Meeting People Is Easy may be an imposed "privilege" due to their position in the musical world with fans across the globe (and the prerequisite express junkets), the band is an introverted, private group that can seem a bit too serious at times, but the lighter side does shine through. Still, they don't care about winning awards or popularity polls - they pretty much dissociate themselves from it (while appreciating the honour), it just doesn't take up a lot of their time. But like it or not, they do find themselves in a privileged position (making a living doing what they love), and they won't be too scornful and wreck their careers in the process. No special bonus material, chapter selection, photo galleries or extra footage - it's the movie and the sound set-up - if they had any more I would've been disappointed - what you see is what you get, no frills necessary.
6 / B
- PB


RADIOHEAD - 7 Television Commercials
The morose but brilliant Brits have collaborated with some great video directors to create several more-than-merely-memorable promo clips. This DVD contains one of my favourites, Karma Police (shot from inside a car, slowly chasing a guy down a road). No Surprises is another cool one - a single shot with the water level inside a plastic bubble helmet slowly rising until Thom Yorke's head is covered, holding his breath for a very, very long stretch. Paranoid Android, Street Spirit, High And Dry, Just, and Fake Plastic Trees make up the rest of the visually creative videos. While just around 35 minutes in length (with no extras, ala-
Radiohead), it remains a fan essential.
4 / A
- PB


RAISING HELEN
With Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack
Directed by Garry Marshall
I don't know if Kate Hudson deliberately tries to replicate her mom Goldie Hawn's cutie act from the 60's & '70s, or whether the directors require it of her. Here she's a carefree single city girl who unexpectedly "inherits" her sister's kids after a fatal accident. She's totally unprepared while the oldest of the three sisters is completely family geared and pissed that her sister let the irresponsible younger one get the kids. She has to move into a bigger place she can't afford, find them a school, and she starts neglecting her job at a top model agency. Obviously she is faced with many things she doesn't want to deal with, but ultimately learns responsibility and other little moral lessons. She also falls for the handsome pastor at the kids' school (Corbett of
Sex And City fame). The light humour is mixed evenly with the soppy and romantic bits, but ultimately leads to exactly where we knew it would. My expectations were quite negative, but Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall managed to just keep me there.
3 / C
- PB


RAMMSTEIN - Lichtspielhaus
The six-man German electronic metal machine known as
Rammstein is one of the most creatively dark frontrunners of their genre. If you haven't heard them before, Rammstein's identifiable sound contains elements of Ministry and Laibach - metal guitars with synth loops and a deep voice, often with spoken lyrics. This impressive DVD is filled with style from start to finish, packaging and 3D menus included. What you get is a dual presentation. 12 music videos and extracts from 6 live shows. While they don't show some of the more controversial live antics (like Buck Dich seen on the Family Values Tour), their prominent fire theme does get a lot of coverage. The shows were filmed over 1996 - 2001. On the video clip front, Du Richst So Gut gets two versions, its original studio shoot and the more elaborate one made in '98 with a Victorian werewolf theme (reminiscent of Neil Jordan's Company Of Wolves). The shady, black suited Reservoir Dogs styled characters they portray in three of the videos include the club scene of Engel, the warehouse interrogation session of Du Hast and the very classy and dark Ich Will, where they become celebrities in the wake of a bank robbery. The styling and camerawork fits the music so well. The song Seemann is an arty studio set-up and one of the more static promos. Their cover of Depeche Mode's Stripped (the only English song on the disc) gets a Leni Riefenstahl Olympia look. Links 2-3-4 is a digitally animated video, ants bring the lead characters - very cool. The track Rammstein, used to great effect in David Lynch's Lost Highway utilizes clips from that movie and live footage featuring vocalist Till's burning chainmale coat. Mutter is the most toned down of the bunch with Till in a rowboat and dingy cellar. Sonne gives the Snow White & the Seven Dwarves tale a morbid spin with the lead girl a nasty piece of work. Feuer Frei!, used in the Vin Diesel vehicle xXx sees their live performance from the movie's club scene with clips from the flick, again fire drenched. Even if you don't understand the German lyrics, the music still has a great impact. Lichtspielhaus is an amazing, explosive package, putting a spin on the same old stale MTV routines.
6 / A
- PB


RAMMSTEIN - Live Aus Berlin
If you don't know who these guys are by now, it's time you got updated. For one,
Rammstein is not your average German act. Secondly they are hardly commercially geared, yet have throngs of fans. They do however have the ability to create dark, powerful electronically sparked metal, combining this with a phenomenal stage show. If you've seen xXx, they are the band performing in the club scene, with the cool flame throwing mouthpieces. Flames are a big part of their imagery, both in videos and on stage. Besides explosions and flamethrowers, deep voiced frontman Till Lindeman's chain-male coat is often set on fire, the guitarists' microphone stands also prone to combustion. Besides the good lighting, their costumes are themed and often otherworldly. When it comes to the visual aspect, it is essential, but there's more to it here than the gimmick. Their music is absolutely cool, powerful and infectious, fluctuating between lyrical and intense. This 6-piece managed to find an audio-visual balance, neither outweighing the other. Originally available on video, this incredible live show performed in Berlin before the turn of the millennium is now available at a very attractive price on DVD in South Africa, featuring some of their precision pre-Mutter tracks. They include Spiel Mit Mir, Bestrafe Mich, Du Riechst So Gut, Sehnsucht, Du Hast, Engel, Heirate Mich and that splendid tune, Rammstein (used very effectively in David Lynch's stunning film Lost Highway). They close the show with the pensive Seemann. One needn't understand German to get the message (which makes the theatrical aspect speak on other levels as well). Till's fake phallus used on the Family Values Tour with Korn doesn't feature here. Silly Mexican sombreros do, however - the only low point (but while it does prove they have a sense of humour, it detracts from the dark, severe and serious mood). Extra features include an interview with the band (which will prove to those who only know them via rumours that they are hardly demons) and three songs to be viewed in multi-camera mode. If you want to catch up on your German, view the lyric subtitles. The new 5.1 mix adds to the stadium size live experience - and what an experience it is!
6 / A
- PB


RAT RACE
With Jon Lovitz, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Green, John Cleese
Directed by Jerry Zucker
This silly comedy takes a bunch of idiots on the road from Vegas where a rich casino owner uses them as a betting game for his high rolling customers out for an original bet. A random selection of unwitting participants are roped in. The first one who gets to a locker in New Mexico 700 miles away, keeps the $2 million cash inside. There's a single responsible guy, two scheming brothers, an Italian narcoleptic, a black mother-daughter team, a Jewish family and so on - thus as wide a spectrum as possible to make the gags and situations as varied as possible. Slapstick is all over the place, but the singular highlight is the Jewish family led by Lovitz, who, en route to the cash, stop over at the Barbie museum. But not the doll like the little girl thought. Barbie the Nazi! The trail of events with them stealing Hitler's car parked outside the museum and crashing a WWII vets meeting is so stupid it's hilarious. The cheap publicity claim that this is 'Rowan "Mr. Bean" Atkinson's funniest role yet' is a pure shameless marketing scam. And again the band
Smashmouth get roped into doing a musical bit. A far cry from the crazy comedies of director Zucker's past.
2 / B
- PB


THE RAGE - Carrie 2 (in Afrikaans)
Met Emily Bergl, Jason London, Dylan Bruno, Amy Irving
Regisseur: Katt Shea
Nadat Scream weer die ou "slasher"-flieks van die jare tagtig herleef het met 'n magdom geldgieriges wat weer op die wa spring, wonder 'n mens ernstig presies hoe noodsaaklik hierdie rolprente is. Brian DePalma se oorspronklike Carrie was 'n wonderlike delf in die sielkundige angs van die tiener wat "anders is". Carrie se telekinetiese mag ontplof in 'n gewelddadige nag van angswekkende vrees en dood na die hele skool se spottery met haar breekpunt bereik. Dit kan amper as 'n klassieke riller van die 80's beskou word. Nou vra ek Hollywood die vraag: Dink julle nou werklik dat 'n vergesogte gryp in die donker na 'n manier om die storie amper 'n paar dekades later weer op te delf en voort te sit, enigeen sal beindruk? Dis omtrent so simpel as om Danny van The Shining 20 jaar later weer paaie met Jack Nicholson laat kruis (en die TV mini-reeks van The Shining, wat glo meer getrou is aan Stephen King se boek as Kubrick se atmosferiese rolprent, was maar vrot). Met 'n goor teks, cliche' karakters, lagwekkende dialoog en geweld wat slegs dien as goedkoop skoktaktiek, is The Rage 'n belediging vir die onvergeetlike oomblikke wat die oorspronklike Carrie in almal se geheue gelaat het. As "Carrie" glad nie in die titel verskyn het nie, sou dit nie 'n klap in die gesig vir DePalma, Sissy Spacek en John Travolta gewees het nie. Die rolprent sou dan ook geen uitgangspunt, of bloot 'n punt gehad het nie. Amy Irving het seker ook heelwat rekeninge om te betaal deur haarself so te verneder en haar karakter uit die oorspronklike weer op te grawe. Die hele (flou) idee van Carrie 2, waar die huidige meisie wat geteister word deur spesiale magte en ook verneder word, dieselfde pa as Carrie het (gaap-gaap!), moes nes Irving se doellose karakter, maar liewer in vrede laat rus het. Behalwe tonele van grusame, noodlottige dooie tieners, is daar wel een stukkie wat so amper indrukwekkend was - dit is waar ons hel-din se tatueermerk van 'n roos se steel oor haar hele liggaam versprei wanneer haar humeur breekpunt bereik - die gevol: dooie tieners, vlamme en bloed. The Rage is een van die mees belaglike onlangse pogings om vinnig geld te maak en moet slegs gaan kyk word as jy tot die dood toe verveeld is, of as jy wil sien presies hoe Hollywood 'n goeie rolprent liederlik kan beledig.
1 / C
- PB

RAISING ARIZONA
With Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, William Forsyth
Directed by Joel Coen
Magnificent comedy about a petty criminal who marries the cop who always takes his picture when he’s arrested. They try to start a family but she can’t have children. A rich furniture chain store owner has quintuplets and they reckon if they steal one it won’t matter much. To add to the lunacy two ex-partners break out of jail and shack up with them, conning him into doing a job with them. A bounty hunter from hell is hired to get the baby back. All thrown together you get a cracker of a comedy that’s unforgettable.
6 / A
- PB

RAMMSTEIN - Live Aus Berlin
With Rammstein
This German sextet started a new revolution in hard music. Combining simplistic, chugging metal riffs with industrialized electronica and a spectacular visual image, one cannot help but to take note. With a packed Berlin stadium, pelting the audience with one powerful song after the other, the amazing lighting, stage sets and added gimmicks is one hell of a cherry on top. With gimmicks such as costumes, make-up, wild pyrotechnics, burning equipment & outfits, spark FX, rockets, blood, phallic accessories, crowd surfing on a dingy and more, they make the most of the live environment, turning it into a real show. The audience seems surprisingly “normal” for Rammstein’s outrageousness, but they know every single song, joining in with the lyrics like an orchestrated choir. Some people might fear this as some Nationalistic Socialist uprising, but to the uninitiated, lyrics in German with powerful music behind it could easily provoke such narrow-minded thoughts. Still, the throbbing, hypnotic music speaks for itself, even if you do understand German. One amazing show you have to see, lining up behind Kiss and Gwar for all round audio-visual experiences.
5 / A
- PB
...2nd opinion...
If you don't know who these guys are by now, it's time you got updated. For one,
Rammstein is not your average German act. Secondly they are hardly commercially geared, yet have throngs of fans. They do however have the ability to create dark, powerful electronically sparked metal, combining this with a phenomenal stage show. If you've seen xXx, they are the band performing in the club scene, with the cool flame throwing mouthpieces. Flames are a big part of their imagery, both in videos and on stage. Besides explosions and flamethrowers, deep voiced frontman Till Lindeman's chain-male coat is often set on fire, the guitarists' microphone stands also prone to combustion. Besides the good lighting, their costumes are themed and often otherworldly. When it comes to the visual aspect, it is essential, but there's more to it here than the gimmick. Their music is absolutely cool, powerful and infectious, fluctuating between lyrical and intense. This 6-piece managed to find an audio-visual balance, neither outweighing the other. Originally available on video, this incredible live show performed in Berlin before the turn of the millennium is now available at a very attractive price on DVD in South Africa, featuring some of their precision pre-Mutter tracks. They include Spiel Mit Mir, Bestrafe Mich, Du Riechst So Gut, Sehnsucht, Du Hast, Engel, Heirate Mich and that splendid tune, Rammstein (used very effectively in David Lynch's stunning film Lost Highway). They close the show with the pensive Seemann. One needn't understand German to get the message (which makes the theatrical aspect speak on other levels as well). Till's fake phallus used on the Family Values Tour with Korn doesn't feature here. Silly Mexican sombreros do, however - the only low point (but while it does prove they have a sense of humour, it detracts from the dark, severe and serious mood). Extra features include an interview with the band (which will prove to those who only know them via rumours that they are hardly demons) and three songs to be viewed in multi-camera mode. If you want to catch up on your German, view the lyric subtitles. The new 5.1 mix adds to the stadium size live experience - and what an experience it is!
6 / A
- PB

RAVENOUS
With Robert Carlyle, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette
Directed by Antonia Bird
It’s about time mainstream cinema got a bit of a cannibal fix. This interesting angle on the subject of human flesh and the lust for it (no, not sexual), places our protagonist, Boyd in a desolate military outpost in the mountainous wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas after a dishonourable discharge. The motley crew of characters stationed at the out-post, have certain clichéd elements to them, but are enjoyable, fulfilling a function none the less. One night, a man arrives, terrified and disoriented. After cleaning him up, he unfolds a tale of his party being trapped in a cave by the weather and the lack of food eventually leading to cannibalism. The leader of the party got obsessed, relishing the human flesh, turning to killing in stead of waiting for natural death before it’s supper time again. The frightened man fled, leaving the last female survivor with the blood lusting loon. As their duty a search party is put together to see if she is still alive. Soon everything falls apart when they get to the cave, discovering something they didn’t expect. Boyd is placed at the center of a conflict between life, death, courage, cowardice and the will to survive no matter what, and still have justice prevail under such isolated, insane conditions. It gets a little bit supernatural, but, like most films, it’s all fantasy. Subdued dark humour and not as gory as it could’ve been, but a fresh approach to a genre that has been lying dormant for a while.
4 / B
- PB

RAY
With Jamie Foxx
Directed by Taylor Hackford
The rise to fame and fortune by a black man without sight seems like the subject for a feel-good TV movie. Yet, this is the tale of one of America's musical legends and Hackford doesn't lay it on too thick. Ray Charles had a few relationships - one with his family, one with drugs, one with infidelity and the most important, with his music. These are studied and exposed in a moving and entertaining way with Foxx walked off with an Oscar for his troubles, and deservedly so. Ray's great music is all over the place as we get a better glimpse of how this guy beat the odds and became an award winning, wealthy musician, despite his disability. Unfortunately Ray passed away in the last year, but his music and legend lives on.
5 / C
- PB

A REASONABLE MAN
With Gavin Hood, Ian Roberts, Janine Eser, Loyiso Gxwala, Nigel Hawthorne
Directed by Gavin Hood
Noble directorial debut of South African Hood who takes traditional African culture and placing it in a modern western context. An African herd boy in the rural Kwa-Zulu Natal region on SA’s Eastern coast, is accused of murdering a baby. He believed it was a tokolosh - a small evil spirit. He is accused of doing this to use body parts in witchcraft rituals. Hood (who also stars and wrote the story) plays the attorney who is convinced that the boy truly believed it was an evil spirit. Evidence is slowly uncovered while at the same time he gets a grasp of a culture he knows very little. Skeletons in his closet also get exorcised while his obsession with the case lead to tension with his wife as well as the judge (played by veteran English actor Nigel Hawthorne). A good example of what South African film makers are capable of and it’s getting even better.
4 / B
- PB

THE RECRUIT
With Al Pacino, Colin Farrell
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Before even seeing the trailer to this one I got a Training Day feeling lurking inside. To a certain extent I was correct. Farrell is a promising young student with a great software programme to sell. In stead of getting roped in by a big computer company, he also gets approached by the CIA. At first he's not interested (obviously), but the suspicion that his father may have been an undercover agent up until his disappearance in a plane crash a decade before, tickles his curiosity. Passing the test he is shipped off to The Farm where new recruits are trained. The head trainer guy who also recruited him is Pacino, taking them through many interesting scenarios, tests and situations. Then there is the romantic interest, which is a distant, tense one, but essential for the second half of the story. After training, our new recruit goes undercover where a whole lot of double crossing, misinformation and danger puts our new guy's head in a spin. A touch too predictable in a sense, but still strong enough not to have you pass out - mainly due to the lead duo's presence, even though it's one of those throwaway Pacino performances. Just one thing though, with all the money he makes, can't Al sort out that nail problem?
2 / C
- PB


RED DRAGON
With Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Harvey Keitel, Mary-Louise Parker, Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by Brett Ratner
If you've seen
Manhunter over a decade ago (Michael Mann's adaptation of Harris's Red Dragon), a lot of this will be of little surprise. Red Dragon is of course Harris's first book introducing Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins). The retired & cracked agent (Norton) that put him away gets called back in to confront him with interviews in order to stop a killer from striking again. His run-in with Lecter before his incarceration was everything but pleasant. Where Manhunter focussed more on the agent and his psychological embroilment into the character of the murderers he profiles, Red Dragon obviously shifts the relationship to that of him and the now cult figure Lecter - in order to extract clues to finding the killer whose parallel story gives the viewer little chance of falling into boredom. Brett Ratner (whose previous directorial stints include Rush Hour with Jackie Chan!) crafts a fine film that balances the suspense and horror elements very discretely but effectively. Fiennes makes a good turn as the psychotic title character, adding another level to his range. While this prequel makes the trilogy complete (with The Silence Of The Lambs & Hannibal), apparently another one is in production. [Let's hope it doesn't turn into a Lethal Weapon series - or, God forbid a TV series!]. If you haven't seen Manhunter, it's worth renting - even if only for the extended stalking sequence utilising almost the entire Iron Butterfly song In-A-Gada-Da-Vida.
4 / B
- PB


RED EYE
With Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox
Directed by Wes Craven
What looks like an interesting thriller situation simply becomes a race against time to save lives. A young hotel manager meets a man at the airport where they're catching a late delayed flight - he turns out not being a mere friendly co-traveler. In stead he involves her in a murder plot holding her dad's life over her head. Regardless of the box office success of his
Scream series, Wes Craven's movies aren't all top notch (like Hills Have Eyes 2, Vampire In Brooklyn and Cursed). The first Hills Have Eyes and A Nightmare On Elm Street are classics still to be enjoyed today. I never saw one of Craven's rare mainstream movies, Music Of The Heart, but here with Red Eye he again diverts from the horror theme, this time in exchange for the more basic suspense thriller with the drama built into a confined space without escape. This is not a bad film at all, but doesn't get creative enough with the in-flight possibilities and could easily have been a TV movie script. Thriller fans and Craven devotees will love it though.
Extras: a commentary track from director Craven, a short docy on this more conventional thriller as opposed to his horror forte, Wes Craven: A New Kind Of Terror. There's also a Making Of, featurette and gag reel.
3 / B
- PB


RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - What Hits!?
Many video collection releases before the DVD era tend to get shifted straight onto the new format. In a case like this you get exactly what you did when it got its initial video release - the year in question here, 1992. That leaves a full decade unaccounted for. This captures the early heyday of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers with videos varying in quality, artistry, humour and tackiness. Re-mastered for 5.1 Surround sound, that fact is a good one on its own. Extra stuff would've been great though. Behind The Sun, Under The Bridge, Show Me Your Soul, Higher Ground, Fight Like A Brave, Catholic School Girls Rule, Fire and Subway To Venus are some of the dozen or so funked-up rock tunes that also include 3 live numbers. Psychedelic with a punching groove, the quartet led by visual vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea sliced an image and identity all their own amid hair-metal and bad pop. The videos just stop short of the big time rise to even bigger heights in the wake of their Blood Sex Sugar Magic album, trademark tunes like Give It Away (and beyond) not seeing light here - Under The Bridge being the only track featured from there. Wild, colourful and suredamnfunky, RHCP may have seemed like clowns at times, but what unforgettable ones they made!
4 / A
- PB

RED PLANET
With Val Kilmer, Carrie-Ann Moss, Tom Sizemore, Terence Stamp, Benjamin Bratt
Directed by Antony Hoffman
Disappointing big budget sci-fi Mars flick with a group heading out there to study it. Why would anyone make a Mars movie unless something’s bound to go wrong? Well, what do you know! The ship malfunctions near the planet and they evacuate, the captain….(from Matrix) staying behind to try and save it. With their air running out, tey find the base destroyed. On top of it a droid malfunctions and is in military in stead of navigation mode, stalking them. But, a strange, almost impossible phenomenon on the red planet leads to a fw interesting developments, a bit of action, tension and FX but with such cardboard characters (even Kilmer), it’s hardly a classic. And yes, even the likelihood of romantic tension is present.
2 / C
- PB

REIGN OF FIRE
With Matthew McConnaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler
Directed by Rob Bowman
The world has been laid to waste by dragons awakened from their ancient slumber. It is the UK and the few people left over have to hide from the flame spewing beasts. Then a crack team of military Yanks arrives, with a plan to defeat the monsters. Power struggle here, moral dilemma there. Our two head butting leaders of each group has to work together to nail the dragons. As you enter this celluloid landscape, you'll either surrender to its fantasy elements or dismiss it as ludicrous - by avoiding the latter you'll get far more entertainment out of it. An interesting premise with elements of humanity and well placed action that prevents it from becoming a mere dark, morbid struggle for survival.
3 / C
- PB

THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS
With Chow Yun-Fat, Mira Sorvino
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
John Woo regular and Hong Kong action hero, Chow Yun-Fat makes his Hollywood debut with style and flair. Where so many films (even TV shows) immitate and desecrate the Woo action style, director Fuqua impresses with a similar, yet individual style. Marvellous action sequences and tense moments has reluctant ex-contract killer Chow and the delectable passport forger Mira Sorvino on the run from our leading man's boss and his assassins (who includes real life ex-con and hardman, Danny Trejo). Beautiful scenes and unsoppy sentiment makes this one to remember. Even the amazing choice of ceilings for some scenes are staggering.
5 / B
- PB

THE REPLACEMENTS
With Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Rhys Ifans, Orlando Jones
Directed by Howard Deutch
Yes, the sighs come rolling in - another underdogs-make-good American football movie. This time round the Washington Sentinels are on strike - the owner calls out an old coach buddy (Hackman) to assemble a replacement team. He rounds up the ludicrous motley crew of a deaf guy, an ex-sumo wrestler, a maniacal ex-swatman turned cop, a convict, a shop attendant, a Welsh soccer player (Ifans) and an ex-pro player who messed up (Reeves). Phew! I mean, really. But, Deutch manages (through all the cliché ups & downs & love interest) to keep your attention there, mainly because of the comedic aspect as well as tension created on the field. Animosity between the still striking players also add a bit of spice as our mixed bag of nuts prove they have heart and can kick ass on the field - heading for the championships. Though there are many an eye-rolling session to be had here, love of the game, glory and nothing to lose get stirred in sweetly.
3 / C
- PB

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM
With Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Let's talk about pretense. Let's talk about laboured. Let's talk about stealing so much from films like
Snatch and Trainspotting and Fight Club that your movie eventually looks like a filmschool end-of-first-year project. Even the title is irritatingly pretentious. We've had enough drug movies thanks. People are cool, they dabble in naughty chemicals and then they fuck out. We've seen it all before, only this time it's a nonstop exercise in "what kind of trick can we use next to make it look cool and appeal to the drugfucj\ks who's gonna whatch this shit". Editing techniques are used ad nauseum and Jared Leto is sometimes so bad I wanted to cringe into a fucking raisin. Ellen Burstyn's brilliant performance as a diet pill junkie is the only saving grace in this 'so what?' movie. Maybe if the whole thing played off in 'the dude who likes broads' apartment it could have been entertaining! Undoubtedly we'll see more losers getting into shooting junk after they saw this tripe, as was the case with Trainspotting. If I want to see a junkie fuck out I'll just watch The Wall again, it's got all the same elements and more and at least it's got class!
2 / C
- Uncle Vinnie
...the 2nd opinion...
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM
While some people have had enough of the "drugs screw you up" theme, there are still so many tales to be told under this dark subject. Based on Hubert Selby Jr.'s novel (the man who brought us the shocking Last Exit To Brooklyn), we're given a glimpse of a related group who fall into a range of addiction. From heroin to diet pills and sex for money to feed a habit. Intense, shocking, scary and uneasy, it wasn't meant to be a glamour trip, even though the photography is amazing at times. It'll blow you away or you'll think it sucks.
5 / B
- PB

RESIDENT EVIL
With Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy
Directed by Paul Anderson
The Killer Game
Capcom's
Resident Evil games (developed for PlayStation) are one hell of an enjoyable (and creepy) ride of bloody action, clue solving and mission completion via a huge mapped area, collecting weapons, ammo and a range of tools and health supplements necessary to complete the entire exhilarating experience. The game (in 3 volumes so far) takes you into the heart of Raccoon City where a deadly virus developed by the controversial Umbrella Corporation has run riot, turning those infected into zombies or genetic monsters.
The Cinema Girls
For this plausible cinematic conversion Jovovich is a great choice, not only because she looks like a computer game heroin, but also because she has that American-Mainstream-Euro-Arthouse duality, crossing over wonderfully. The male characters are all unknowns and are adequate while, at times, the tough girl act by the other supporting female lead (Rodriguez from
Girlfight) gets a bit tired, but the caricature was probably a necessity.
The Nightmare Begins
Waking up in the shower of a large house with a bad case of amnesia, our sexy protagonist is taken captive by what seems like a swat team. They take her to an underground train which leads to The Hive - the Umbrella underground research facility where the mother computer detected the freed virus, sealing up the entire place and exterminating all in its several dozen levels. The team is there to override the highly sophisticated computer that communicates with them via a voice & hologram of a little girl. The intensity of this virus caused the deceased employees to rise as flesh eating zombies! It's about time we got another big screen zombie flick! The fight for survival is on, as the team not only has to deal with the deadly computer and zombies (who infect with a single bite or scratch). Other horrific genetic experiments (conducted by Umbrella) are on the loose and a timeframe before they are sealed in, adds to the race. Amid this grisly carnage our heroin's memory slowly returns, revealing more than even she expected.
The Look & Conversion
Anderson has created a new narrative, but stayed true to many of the game's essential elements. While most of the film is set in the underground facility (in a large chunk of the games you roam the desolate & decimated zombie infested Raccoon City streets, buildings & sewers), the interiors and set design relates the flavour of the game with other elements well in tact like the train, virus serum, the genetic "licker" monster, skinless doberman zombie dogs and even a hint of the
Nemesis project inserted.
While I feel that George A. Romero, the king of Zombie flicks, should have directed this movie, Anderson managed to encapsulate an atmosphere closely replicating that of the game as well as make it stand on its own for those who have no idea that the game exists. Then again, imagine what David Cronenberg could've made of it!
4 / B
- PB

RESIDENT EVIL: Apocalypse
With Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann, Jared Harris, Mike Epps
Directed by Alexander Witt
The first cinematic installment of this PlayStation game hit was an admirable adaptation. The ruthless Umbrella Corporation's viral warfare experiment disaster has leaked into Raccoon City. Flowing directly from the end of the first film, our heroine Alice finds herself in the middle of this chaos where humans are turned into flesh eating zombies. The corporation cannot contain the situation and the city has been sealed off, scheduled to be wiped off the face off the earth, regardless of uninfected humans still trapped inside. A high level doctor's daughter also still dwells in the infested city, and he contacts Alice and an assorted group of survivors, offering to help them escape if they find his girl. The Nemesis project beast gets introduced to further stir the pot, and is a truthful replication of the game's original. The fast action is invigorating and while there are some inevitable gung-ho bits and characters related to it, it's not a bad sequel at all. Written by Paul W.S. Anderson, director of the first film. The first hand gaming experience still remains the most engrossing, though.
4 / B
- PB

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
With Clu Galagar, James Karen, Thom Mathews, Don Calfa, Linney Quigley
Directed by Dan O'Bannon
Written and directed by
Alien creator Dan O'Bannon, this hilarious twist on the more serious zombie themes of George A. Romero successfully twists the classic series in a new unexpected direction. Here the zombie infiltration results from government experiments with undead bodies locked into pressurized containers for military purposes. A young guy starts working at a medical supply warehouse where one such container is in storage. This is accidentally opened and the spewing gas seeps into the soil of the adjacent cemetery, not to mention the ghoulish zombie crawling from the can! With his punk pals hanging out in the graveyard, the living dead start to rise with a lust for fresh brains! Almost every scene contains several laughs topped of with gory specialFX, and the double team of James Karen and Thom Mathews is a winner. The cool soundtrack includes songs by The Cramps.
5 / A
- PB


RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II
With James Karen, Thom Mathews, Dana Ashbrook, Marsha Dietlein, Philip Bruns, Michael Kenworthy
Directed by Ken Wiederhorn
Usually when they throw a kid into the mix, things start to fall apart. Not so in this fun follow-up. The only connection (besides James Karen and Thom Mathews hilarious reteaming) is the canned zombie drums - one of which falls off a military truck, landing in a sewer pipe. A comicbook fan boy discovers it, but it is pried open by the black sheep of the neighbourhood, the gas infecting him. Slowly the suburb becomes zombie infested as the kid and his sister try to survive. James Karen and Thom Mathews' return is one of the highlights, this time as two grave robbers who get trapped in the middle of a cemetery infested with zombies. The humour gets even more cheesy in this chapter as our gang of survivors try to hatch a plan to foil the brain lusting zombies. Great fun.
4 / A
- PB


RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 3
With J. Trevor Edmond, Mindy Clark, Sarah Douglas, Kent McCord
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Entering the '90s, the
Return franchise won't die. Economical horror vet Yuzna constructs a cool new direction with this installment, discarding the slapstick of the first two Return flicks. An army brat's hot, rebellious girlfriend dies in a motorcycle crash after they witnessed a gory corpse resurrection and attack in the top-secret military facility run by his dad. Distraught, he exposes her to the zombie gas from the pressurized containers introduced in the first Return Of The Living Dead. She rises as one of the sexiest zombies to date with a serious sado-masochistic slant (in order to fight the craving for human flesh) - giving new meaning to body piecing. On top of this, a small gang of Hispanic hoods pursues them. Not one of the best, but a cool divergent addition. The series is far from deceased with parts 4 & 5 shot back to back around 2004/2005.
3 / B
- PB

RETURN TO ME
With David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Carol O’Connor, Robert Loggia, Molly Hunt, James Belushi
Directed by Molly Hunt
Return To Me is an absolute heartwarming romantic film that isn’t a full blown comedy, nor a full-on bawl fest. A seemingly perfect marriage is ripped apart by the death of a spouse in a car wreck. Getting back on track seems impossible, until the man meets a woman he seems to know from somewhere. She happens to be the recipient of his wife’s heart. Absolutely marvelous. Just go see it, it’ll make you feel all fuzzy inside.
4 / B
- PB

RIDE WITH THE DEVIL
With Toby McGuire, Skeet Ulrich, Jewel
Directed by Wayne Wang
During the American Civil War, many Southerners found themselves somewhere in the middle, not pledging allegiance to any of the armies, but going rouge in guerilla battalions to fight for their land and way of life. Bushwackers &
4 / C
- PB

THE RING
With Noami Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox
Directed by Gore Verbinski
What seems at first to be another victim of the nu-slasher genre blooms into a highly innovative, intriguing and scary film. There is a rumour about a VHS video tape - once you watch its freaky imagery, the phone rings and a voice notifies you that you have 7 days left. The hoax becomes gripping reality when a journalist's niece and three of her friends die at the exact same time, seven days after they watched the tape together. She decides to investigate the possibility and tracks the tape down. From there onwards her seven-day countdown is an absorbing meandering of clues and horrendous discoveries.
With amazing imagery, techniques, narrative and performances, director Gore Verbinski manages to create a hybrid of classic horror and technology that sends the viewer far beyond their expectations. Here are neither masked men with knives, nor detectable hit songs to go with the soundtrack release and has nothing to do with Hobbits. The Ring is as surprising as it is original (its title unfolding deep into the film and not exactly what you're expecting). The great casting includes a kid, an intense, serious young lad that looks as if he has an ancient soul. Naomi Watts seems to have developed a taste for the strange and the near-inexplicable after her tremendous stint with David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. Writer Ehren Kruger managed to come up with a great script which Verbinski translates to the screen in a vividly striking style that sets this spine chiller far apart from your usual romping blood & guts crap.
[Did you know - apparently the movie's based on an Eastern film! The little girl from this Western version won the 2003 MTV Best Villain award]
5 / B
- PB

THE RING 2
With Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Simon Baker
Directed by Hideo Nakata
As if this was at all necessary! The first remake of the Japanese classic was actually pretty cool. But like
The Exorcist, Blair Witch Project and countless others, an extra buck taints a classic. At least our original mom-kid team of Watts and Dorfman returns (the only redeeming factor besides the original Ringu director Hideo Nakata'ss involvement here), but it was probably in their contracts for the first one, obligating them to do a sequel - because I cannot for the life of me see how they could've agreed this was a good idea. Even if it was based on the sequel, redirected by the director who started the original Japanese franchise, whenever something gets Hollywoodized from its original essence it merely becomes a slice of bastardization. "Ingenious" titles such as this one pretty much speaks for itself…
The FX are cool with some interestig moments, but as a whole, no thanks.
2 / C
- PB


RINGO - Live The Greatest Hits
Sindile Mandligozi, better known as Ringo gives his fans a live show in the Pretoria State Theatre with a bunch of guests. They include Busi Mhlongo, Avante, Mandoza and McCoy Mrubata. His session band flawlessly backs his dozen songs & medleys, and they include Fana Zulu (bass), Floydd Manana (guitar) and Bernice Boikanyo (drums). The show is a real production, back-up singers & dancers also included to make his soothing and energetic African pop performance (with gospel touches) an experience. Ringo's songs include the Thula Medley, Mr. & Mrs. Adonis, Ithemba, Jerusalem, Byisa, Moshe and Ndiyagodola. In the live environment they expand his songs into more extended vibes. Extras include interviews, a commentary track and a piece on the guests plus Ringo's fans. You also get Things You Never Knew About Ringo. Well-loved, Ringo gets praise from his fellow artists and fans, and this DVD will please them even more.
4 / B
- PB


THE ROAD HOME
With Zhang Ziyi, Sun Honglei
Directed by Zhang Jimou
This absolutely touching love story should carry a hanky restriction as many viewers will choke up for this simple but amazing tale. A man’s father dies and he goes back to his childhood village. His mother wants them to carry his father’s body and coffin from the city hospital to their town so he won’t forget the way home. Most of the film is in fact a flashback on how his parents met. In stead of the flashback being shot in black and white, the director reverses this cliché by shooting the sad present in monochrome and the past in colour. As a young man, his father came to the village from the city to teach, where his mother fell in love instantly. The slow, sweet process of their courtship is a beautiful thing, especially since most of it happens without them even kissing or touching. A pure, amazing film that gives hope to those who lost all faith in true love destined to last a lifetime.
5 / C
- PB

THE ROAD TO EL DORADO
With voices by Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Rosy Perez
Directed by Eric "Bibo" Bergeron
Animated adventure about two chancer chums who get hold of a map to the lost city of gold, El Dorado. It leads to many adventurous scrapes and joys with the good balanced by the evil. Entertaining family fair with dreadful cliché Elton John songs. Some marvellous animated sequences based on Inka-style design and culture does make it worth the while between the Reginald Dwight vocal strains.
3 / B
- PB

THE ROAD TO PERDITION
With Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Directed by Sam Mendes
After his Oscar winning turn with
American Beauty, everyone was hanging for the next film by Sam Mendes. He had the pick of every script in Hollywood. And what a great choice he made - unexpected and invigourating in its simplicity of vengeance, morality and the role model theme. This dark, moving film about a man with a deadly job during the prohibition era in 1931 unfolds as a redemptive father-son tale. Hanks finally takes a role where he ain't a nice guy. But, he was chosen because he has that likeable quality, something the viewer has to find within this man who has killed many people. Seen through the eyes of his 12-year old son, he sets out to correct the wrong that was done unto him, regardless of the repercussions or consequences. The Road To Perdition is a lyrical film of great intensity with just the right balanced doses of sentiment, suspense and violence.
5 / B
- PB

ROAD TRIP
With Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart, Amy Smart, Rachel Blanchard, Fred Ward, Tom Green
Directed by Todd Phillips
I thought this would be one of those new millennial resurrected teen flicks. It’s actually one hell of a scream. Green usually annoys me on his MTV rip-offs but here he cracked me up completely as the narrator of this tale. A bunch of college students (obvious motley crew) who travel to another state where the guy who has a long distance relationship have to rectify a grave mistake. A beautiful girl at his college is totally into him, though. The road trip delivers some majorly funny situations of the well known as well as original kind. Childish, silly but an absolute scream.
4 / C
- PB

ROBBIE WILLIAMS - Live At The Albert
Mr Williams is quite a flamboyant little fop. But, to a certain extent he's earned the right. Selling millions of albums worldwide and increasing in popularity each time, this ex-
Take That boy seems the only one from that now defunct boy group to actually get somewhere as a solo artist. His last album Swing When You're Winning (as opposed to his previous Sing When You're Winning record), takes a nostalgic trip back to the cool-daddy swingin' tunes of the likes of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.). It proves just how timeless these songs are, and it helps that Robbie is really into it as opposed to using it as a marketing attention-getter (as it could flop or lead a resurgence in the appreciation of these classics). This DVD contains a Robbie photo gallery, footage from the studio recording (where most of these cool cats recorded theirs). Behind the scenes footage is all over the place with little interview snippets thrown in. Then of course there is the elaborate show, complete with full orchestra, dancers, guest singers & more. This impressive single sold out performance could easily have the Robbie-hater gain more respect for him (whether you like his sense of humour or not). A fine production with lovely packaging.
4 / B
- PB


ROBBIE WILLIAMS - The Robbie Williams Show
With a record breaking multi-million dollar contract behind him and a new album,
Robbie decided to make his first live performance in a year a spectacular one. With the 007 soundstage at Pinewood Studios as the locale, giant sets were erected, immaculate lighting rigged, the full band, orchestra & dancers rehearsed and a few hundred lucky fans invited to witness the entertainer strutting his stuff (a mere 450). The show includes a bunch of songs from his old stuff, his Swing covers and new ones. Angels, Rock DJ, Mr. Bo Jangles and Feel just some of the tunes. In this slick show Robbie connects far more with his audience than before, the more intimate centre stage bringing him face to face with his audience as he's chatting away, joking, letting his wit shine through. He actually started playing guitar and does so live. Mr. Robert Williams is in fact a flamboyant entertainer with real talent and an obnoxious streak, his boyband roots still back on the horizon, but almost forgotten as he cut himself a new image, life and lucrative career - all without (seemingly) giving up too much of who he really is. Besides the immaculate digital sound, the DVD extras include: a Photo Gallery with pics by Hamish Brown; 4 unseen tracks from the show; follow-the-lights game giving you extra footage (which is a little lean around the waste). Like his Albert Hall show, this DVD is snazzily packaged, without being too elaborate.
5 / B
- PB


ROBBIE WILLIAMS - What We Did Last Summer
This spectacular three night open-air performance at Knebworth added up to 375 000 screaming
RW fans getting exactly what they came for - a damn good time. Becoming his own man and one of Britain's biggest stars over several albums, Robbie has made his mark, thoroughly leaving the Take That memories behind him, growing up and coming to terms with many things in his life. With the well-crafted pop & roll and ballad favourites (from Let Me Entertain You to Angels) co-written by Guy Chambers, Robbie and his band set the stage alight (which boasts an incredible sectional motion operated screen set-up with striking visuals). His in between banter covers being generally silly to awestruck at the turnout. Extra features on the 2nd disc include a documentary, fan video diaries, time-lapse set-up & breakdown of the stage, photo galleries, a conscientious short film about child trafficking narrated by Williams and a game to unlock extra footage (which includes a punked-up live version of a Take That hit with ex co-member Mark Owen as guest artist).
5 / B
- PB


ROBERT PALMER- Addictions: The DVD
Sadly no longer with us, the suave
Robert Palmer had grooved & schmoozed since the '70s. Songs like Sneakin' Sally Thru The Alley, Which One Of Us Is The Fool, Bad Case Of Loving You and Johnny & Mary reflect the early music video days, but where the videos are lacking, the songs are still great. Before his stint with the Duran Duran guys in Powerstation (with the infectious Some Like It Hot, Riptide and Get It On cover), he had success with songs like Looking For Clues, Pride and Some Guys Have All The Luck. His classic clip is of course Addicted To Love (with the girls miming instruments behind him) - it was revisited with clips for Simply Irresistible and I Didn't Mean To Turn You On, and has since then been ripped off as much as the "king of the world" shot from Titanic. Sweet Lies and Every Kinda People adds up to 18 songs from a man who will be missed. The DVD contains no extras but has the same (sometimes silly) introductions and interjections by Palmer as it was on its first release on video about ten years ago.
5 / A
- PB


ROBOCOP TRILOGY BOX-SET
The pristine widescreen presentation of this action trilogy on this classy fold-out DVD boxset is the only way in which it ought to be viewed. Although the quality of the movies takes a steady decline from the first to the third, it remains a blast. This fine triple disc set contains some cool extras from documentaries, interviews and featurettes, to deleted scenes, photo galleries, storyboard comparisons, trailers and commentary tracks - the whole package totals over 5 hours of viewing.
Also includes a 12-page booklet with production info, notes, pics and trivia.

ROBOCOP
With Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Daniel O'Herlihy, Miguel Ferrer, Ronny Cox, Ray Wise
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Created by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, this classic modern sci-fi action flick took the genre to the next level. A good cop killed on the job becomes the first cyborg peace officer to rid the streets of old Detroit, to pave a new era for the planned Delta City. But, he becomes a pawn in a corporate yuppie war to get the contract for mechanized cops. The big corporate company OCP (Omni Consumer Products) pretty much runs everything from car manufacturing to the cops. With the ED-209 police robot malfunctioning dramatically, the new young upstart and his team fast-tracks their Robocop project. Amid this the man once known as Alex Murphy not only starts to get flashes of the life he once had (with a family), but also of his killers, men used by one of the rival corporate suits for a variety of dirty deeds. Dutch director Verhoeven's
Flesh And Blood didn't make much waves, but after Robocop he was catapulted to the A-list. Yet, not without controversy, as there was a huge outcry over the film's violent scenes. Some pretty intense moments had to be shortened but in this DVD box set you can choose the director's cut with all of the hectic bits originally omitted. Rob Bottin, the man behind The Thing's incredible scenes, designed the amazing make-up FX and Robocop suit. Kurtwood Smith gives one of the best bad-guy performances ever and Weller does an amazing job as the man-machine. Damn fine soundtrack from Basil Polidouris on top of it all.
6 / A
- PB


ROBOCOP 2
With Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Tom Noonan, Belinda Bauer, Gabriel Damon
Directed by Irvin Kershner
This not-too-shabby sequel was directed by the man behind
The Empire Strikes Back. This time round our metal lawman is faced with a possible replacement. The suits are still as corrupt as ever. For their prototype Robocop 2, they use the brain of an insane drug dealer / cult leader Cain, who is behind the Nuke drug scourge. Needless to say things go beyond pear-shaped and it's up to our hero to sort things out, an intense showdown between him and the new maniacal robot. The style and look was well replicated from the first classic and the animation is still so much better than digital. A cool angle places a pre-teen in the violent criminal role of one of a Cain's lead henchman. Also retained the comic book humour of the first, but lost a bit of the original's intensity.
4 / B
- PB


ROBOCOP 3
With Robert John Burke, Nancy Allen, Rip Torn, John Castle, Jill Hennessy, CCH Pounder, Mako
Directed by Fred Dekker
Whenever a kid gets thrown into the mix, you should expect a slip in the quality. On top of this, original
Robocop Peter Weller didn't return, replaced by Burke. Anyone but Christopher Reeve as Superman just doesn't work. You get attached to these characters, and changing it to such an extent smashes the myth with which we've come to identify the spirit of the character. Here the series' ever-present OCP exercise their oppressive force by evicting people from their homes. This fascist state doesn't lie well with Robocop who is not only compelled to do what's right, but also has to see justice for his killed partner. The more kiddy feel of the movie is evident and made the transition easier to the appalling TV series. This time he also has to face a new foe in the shape of a super-robot built in the East. Robocop also makes the full transition into superhero status by taking to the sky. Not too bad, but like the third Mad Max, a film which is badly flawed in the shadow of its predecessors - as a freestanding entity unattached to the series it can be seen as having more merit.
3 / B
- PB


ROCK HEROES
Here I did expect a little more when it comes to big names and memorable songs. Sure,
Deep Purple is present, but without Ian Gillan it's not exactly Deep Purple. Living In A Box and Talking Heads get squeezed on (as they did on the New Wave Greatest DVD Music Collection discs, so which are they?). EMF is not exactly what I'd term "rock" although their song Unbelievable is a classic. Broken English with their military-Ghostbusters set-up is a cringeworthy exercise in a carp idea that seemed good at the time. Queensryche is great, except for the bad hairspray - a department where Saxon competes for the trophy. Pat Benatar's Love Is A Battlefield has a cool "runaway" themed video but with some group dance routines thrown in - very unexpected and impressive. Big Country does their thing while Great White try to be much cooler than they actually are. Gary Moore is included around the time he still had the blues. Poison and Thunder are far less lethal than they sound, doing that California rock thang with Mike Oldfield seeming a bit out of place. Even though not too many of these artists would classify as many of my ultimate Rock heroes, it's a fun collection albeit sparse on the real good stuff.
3 / B
- PB


ROCKSTAR
With Mark Wahlberg, Jenifer Aniston
Directed by Stephen Herek
While a release date isn't set yet, hopefully this highly entertaining rock music movie will not go straight to video. A young man is the lead singer for a tribute band whose repertoire consist solely of songs by their heroes, Steel Dragon. He gets the boot when the rest of the guys decide to start focussing on original material. Then, the unimaginable happens. The real Steel Dragon's vocalist leaves the band and they call our disappointed band-less singer up to replace him, having seen a video of one of their tribute shows! Beyond a dream! With his girlfriend they embark on a world of stardom and excess on all levels, inevitably spiraling out of control. And, the party can only last that long, their relationship jeopardized by the disintegrating moral code, their souls and humanity corrupted in the process. Unfortunately I feel that they didn't go far enough, just scraping the surface of how things can get out of hand with sex & drugs & rock & roll. Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde portrays one of the band members while the superb soundtrack includes old 80s flavoured rock hits by bands like Kiss, Def Lepard, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi. Long hair, leather, hard rock music, big staged shows with light & pyrotechnics and a near non-stop party! What a jol, regardless of the penalties.
5 / A
- PB

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
25th ANNIVERSARY
With Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O' Brien, Meat Loaf, Patricia Quinn, "Little" Nell Campbell
Directed by Jim Sharman
What a fantastic package! This 25th anniversary double disc DVD release of the classic naughty & decadent pseudo-Frankenstein musical with transvestite sci-fi overtones containing a wealth of extras to make the
Rocky Horror experience one of complete and utter, full bodied pleasure. From a tiny play to a timeless cinematic cult classic, every single person involved contributed to its irresistibly sumptuous appeal. But none more so than the songs and story by creator O'Brien and impeccable character performance by Curry as the flamboyant Dr. Frank-N-Furter. For those still unaware of this fabulous experience, the film takes us on a "nightmare" evening ride with a nerdy, innocent and inexperienced engaged couple, Brad & Janet. They end up with a flat tyre on a rainy night - fate bringing them to the doorstep of Dr. Frank-N-Furter's castle, where he's about to create a perfect hunk for himself with the help of his creepy sidekicks - resulting in the corruption of the couple and their conservative views on life, sex and everything else. The DVD interactive menus are wonderfully crafted, maintaining the humour and saucy nature of the film itself. The in-depth delving into the Rocky Horror universe comes in many shapes. Part of the Rocky Horror experience is to get into the cinematic participation mood. This disc makes it possible like never before. Besides the glossy booklet with a detailed prop list and other tit-bits, the disc has a Theatrical Experience mode whereby the RHPS fan club president Sal Piro introduces the show and audience reactions & front of screen performers pop up in front of the screen as they would if you attended a true Rocky Horror midnight fan screening. Then there is the Partcipation Prompter indicating when you should do what (from the newspaper rain sequence to the rubber glove snap). There's no way you'll only watch this once, so the commentary track option by Richard O'Brien & Patricia Quinn will aggrandize the depth of the film with revealing comments, fond memories, keen observations and interesting anecdotes. The second disc contains a deleted scene, 11 minutes of outtakes and alternate credit ending. There is a 37 minute documentary and several VH-1 inserts, including interviews with Meatloaf, Sarandon and O'Brien, while the latter also re-visits the castle, chatting about the experience and doing on the spot acoustic versions of some of the classic tunes from the show. A Pop-Up Video of Hot Patootie with Meatloaf adds to the festivities while Sing-A-Long versions of Sweet Transvestite and Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me is sure to become a party favourite (as if you don't know the words by heart already!). With its full original widescreen presentation undoubtedly the only way to view this ball of a movie, its gorgeous gatefold packaging and quality is as irresistible as the contents within. Like I said, "What a fantastic package!"
6 / A
- PB


ROGER WATERS THE WALL - Live In Berlin Special Edition
While this is pretty much the same DVD released in 2003, the only real difference is the new packaging, new animated menus, an altered art gallery and the option to listen to isolated audio extracts. The same documentary is used while this new edition excludes unused footage shot for projections. If you already own the original DVD release, getting this one will be a double buy (unless you're a big fan who wants all the bits & pieces.
Below follows the original review.
During the fall of the Berlin Wall, the ever conscientious
Roger Waters saw the opportunity to set up his classic Pink Floyd rock opera with enormous scale and impact on this significant location before hundreds of thousands spectators (and broadcast to 300 million viewers worldwide!). Mid-1990, a year after the wall's demise, the intense production planning and calling in of a string of high profile guest artists and musicians, Postdamer Platz (the notorious stretch between the divided city) came to life in unity, with one of the most spectacular shows you're likely to see (even a decade later). Some of the guest artists include German rockers Scorpions, Ute Lemper, Sinead O'Connor, Cyndi Lauper, The Band, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Adams, Paul Carrack, Van Morrison and Thomas Dolby, with actors Tim Curry, Albert Finney plus many more. A documentary on the monstrous production points out some interesting bits like the conflict with Sinead O'Connor, the marching band and the cold war history itself. One of the many triumphs includes the systematic building of a gigantic wall, which has the incredible animation and artwork of Gerald Scarfe projected onto the huge canvas, dwarfing the musicians. Enormous inflatable crane operated character figures are also incorporated to staggering effect. In a mind-blowing finale the erected wall is torn down - a jaw dropping vision. Additional material includes set- and character design, animations, previously unseen footage plus a 12-page booklet with notes by executive producer Tony Hollingsworth. A truly historic show coupled with a significant globe-altering historic event.
6 / A
- PB

ROLLERBALL
With James Caan, Maud Adams, John Houseman, John Beck, Ralph Richardson
Directed by Norman Jewison
Even with its dated '70s look, this still kicks the unfortunate remake's ass. In this energetic futuristic look at sports and entertainment driven by ratings (surely inspiration for the likes of Prize Of Peril and Running Man), Caan plays the equivalent of a David Beckham or Michael Jordan. While a ball is still involved, here it is a steel one, and it is shot around a slanted ring where teams compete on roller-skates with motorcycle boost assistance. Heavily padded and decked out with studded gloves, forceful competition (or, violence) does not necessarily warrant a penalty. But, when things get deadly, our hero starts to question not only the nature of the game and humanity, but also the intentions of the corporates running the show. A blast.
5 / B
- PB


ROLLERBALL
With Chris Klein, Jean Reno, LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
Directed by John McTiernan
If you've seen, know & love the original film version of the short story, then catching this remake will be a superb disappointment. Rollerball is a high speed, high action arena game on roller skates and motorcycles - the object to bang a steel ball that gets shot around the circuit into the goal. A super-extreme Gladiator-Basketball hybrid, if you will. The original was a look at the future and how huge corporations run the world. They pacify the sheepish population with this violent game, pushing one up as a superstar. With this remake, the corruption in game management (causing violence for ratings) overpowers the first outing's balance of impact and message. But, not having read the short story, I cannot say to what degree these elements and many others were present in its first incarnation on paper. The new version also emphasizes the modern sport angle far more and unlike the great 70s original, is not exactly set too far in the future and teams are multi-national as opposed to the strict country oriented battles in the ring. Our leading man has the presence of an eggplant, not even close to the shadow of original leading man, James Caan. It seems as if his stiff Keanu Reeves qualities were sought - was Mr. Matrix on tour with his band
Dogstar or too busy with the new Matrix movies? LL Cool J does his best to live up to his middle name while the female inserted team-mate-love-interest is sure hot, but hardly effective in the overall scheme of things. Luc Besson favourite, Jean Reno is enjoyable as the ruthless team owner, but becomes a stereotypical caricature. It feels as though somebody paged through the new version of the script and removed chunks to shorten the whole affair, which still feels a bit long. Then there are sporadic moments like an extensive night chase shot with a grainy green night vision look - fine for a few minutes, but the entire scene? McTiernan has made some great action movies like the Die Hard series, but needn't have bothered with this. At least now the first movie got a renewed interest widescreen, digital DVD release as a result, so do yourself a favour and get that in stead. The highlight of this muddled flashy joke is the brief moment that masked mayhem band Slipknot performs live!
1 / C
- PB

ROMEO MUST DIE
With Jet Li, Aaliyah, Isaiah Washington, Delroy Lindo, Russell Wong, DMX
Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak
This might well be Jet Li’s long anticipated Hollywood breakthrough - Lethal Weapon 4 not utilizing his skill and Eastern stardom to its full potential. Li escapes from Hong Kong prison when his brother gets killed amid a deal between Chinese & Black underworld characters and the NFL for harbour land. The Chinese boss is his dad while the Black one is Aaliyah’s. Their paths cross and many a spark starts to fly. Bodies drop left and right as they try to get to the bottom of it all (her brother also a casualty in the whole affair). Sticking together may not be adequate as the heat gets hotter - but they do, regardless, no other option open to them. They not only team up mentally, but also physically - one of the wonderfully orchestrated fighting sequences has him use her as his arms & legs when he refuses to fight a tough cookie female hood out to get them. In fighting, back stabbing and honour plays a big role while the sumptuous Aaliyah need only stand there and not act to draw an audience - yet, she does her job well. With an R&B drenched soundtrack, it doesn’t exactly diminish the impact as when it had, say, for instance a Matrix / Spawn approach. One hell of an enjoyable surprise flick .
4 / B
- PB

ROSEMARY'S BABY
With Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy
Directed by Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski took Ira Levin's shocker and turned it into one hell of a controversial movie. With the fragile, skinny Farrow in the lead of the woman chosen to carry the devil's child without her knowledge, Polanski takes us into this seemingly normal world where friendly apartment block neighbours get along swimmingly. With Rosemary's husband in on the deal, she starts to suspect something is far from well, all the players involved messing with her head to try and make her believe she's just paranoid. An intriguing and enthralling film with a hectic finale, and who can forget that great theme track.
PS. Apparently Church of Satan leader Anton LaVey played a cameo as the devil.
5 / B
- PB

ROUNDERS
With Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, Martin Landau, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol
Directed by John Dahl
Cool, slick poker hustler film with Damon the law student who gave up his card skills when he lost tens of thousands to Malkovich’s Russian gambling room boss. Money he wanted to use to go hit it big time at the Vegas poker championships. When his buddy (Norton) is released from jail after a couple years, he gets sucked back into it all. He promised his girl he’d stop, but with his old pal still having an outstanding debt to be paid (building up interest), the trouble starts boiling as the parties involved start to collect. Needles to say Damon’s relationship and studies suffer, but with the no way out situation, he has to back up his buddy, even though he constantly worsens it all. Highly enjoyable with a popping pace.
5 / B
- PB

ROXETTE - All Videos Ever Made & More
One doesn't realize just how long
Roxette has actually been around (either applauding their efforts as a result or getting depressed when you realize how old you've become since first hearing them on radio or seeing them on Pop Shop or Fast Forward!). But, these Swedes have been at it (even as individual solo artists) before the big time sent them around the world. After decades their brand of happy radio pop and ballads have appealed to generations around the world (even bringing them to South African shores for live dates mid-90s). This DVD contains dozens of videos as well as rare first time TV appearances. There is The Look, Dressed For Success, It Must Have Been Love, Joyride, How Do You Do!, Sleeping In My Car and loads more. The old TV performances & clips include Neverending Love, I Call Your Name and Silver Blue. An additional 2 documentaries include The Making Of Joyride & Really Roxette (a 1hr "road movie"). Behind the scenes, pre-production, in the studio, sound checking, video shoots, talking about & with fans, promo appearances, live performances, intimate chats etc. are all included here, a perfect package for the true Roxette fan.
3 / B
- PB


ROXETTE - Ballad & Pop Hits
This jam packed DVD contains 37
Roxette tunes. Where this release is very much similar to the previous DVD collection, the difference here is the splitting up of their Ballad and Pop hits, 14 a piece. It is quite interesting how many people will enjoy their passionate ballads but frown upon their pop releases. So for the former fans there are videos to songs like It Must Have Been Love, Listen To your Heart, Fading Like A Flower, Crash! Boom! Bang!, Vulnerable, Milk And Toast And Honey, Anyone and Salvation - the up-tempo half of their personalities delivering tunes like The Look, Dressed For Success, Joyride, Dangerous, How Do You Do!, Sleeping In My Car, Stars and Real Sugar. It also includes the 2003 song Opportunity Nox. There are also 9 extra videos (Soul Deep, Fireworks, Chances and the Spanish version of Spending My Time, Un Dia Sin Ti amoung them) and the same two documentaries from the previous DVD, the making of their album Joyride and the road movie Really Roxette. One would often just catch a sideways listen and not realise how huge this duo is across the globe, filling up stadiums, crushed people fainting in the crowd and screaming fans crying uncontrollably outside their hotel. Of the half dozen or so directors they've used over the years, two of them include Mark Isham (who has worked with the likes of Pantera!) and Anton Corbijn (Depeche Mode regular). Equaling, if not surpassing the Swedish meatball in the popularity stakes, Roxette is certainly a huge export for their country, their accessible music finding listeners everywhere.
3 / C
- PB


THE RULES OF ATTRACTION
With James Van Der Beek, Shannon Sossaman
Directed by James Avary
Based on the controversial novel by Brett Easton Ellis (Less Than Zero, American Psycho), this satirical social commentary on the soulless lives of rich college kids does so in a graphic and classy way. Pulp Fiction co-writer James Avary's
Killing Zoe was a good introduction to the man's directorial talents. Here he takes a difficult novel and turns it into a great piece of modern cinema as we follow the selected group of students along their corrupted, immoral trails on campus, with only selfish regard for their own gains, usually sexual in nature. Some visceral scenes will shock many viewers amid the dark humour. A great, brave turn for wholesome Dawson's Creek star Van Der Beek (playing the younger brother of American Psycho Patric Bateman). Amid the damaged narratives, one seemingly insignificant scene is a classic, with a bit player delivering a brilliant performance as he wrecks a hung-over dinner engagement with his roommate and their pill popping rich moms.
The DVD contains interviews with the key players as well as an analysis of the incredible split screen scene where Van Der Beek and Sossamon heads for the same location, which links the two up into one shot at the end. Incredible.
5 / A
- PB

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
With Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Blair Underwood
Directed by William Friedkin
The director of the classic shocker, The Exorcist, is still cruising along smoothly. With this little military tale of duty and morality, Jackson is court marshaled for evidently firing on and killing dozens of Islamic protesters outside the American embassy where he was in charge of airlifting US citizens out of the country. He believed the crowd was armed and after losing several men, he chose to open fire. No weapons were found. He approaches his retired Vietnam buddy to defend him against hectic odds, including the destruction by a US government official of evidence that might prove his innocence - asses being covered, he being a scapegoat to avoid a possible crisis. Luckily the court case scenes are not drawn out as the focus is on the dramatic struggle by the two protagonists to try to avoid him going to jail for doing his job. Islamic outcry might be another factor as it was with The Siege.
3 / C
- PB

RUNAWAY JURY
With John Cusack, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Rachel Weisz
This is a typical involved John Grisham courtroom thriller with a twist some sharp viewers may decipher (unless you've already read the book) - but where's the fun in trying to guess the outcome? This time round it's New Orleans and a jury is selected on a high profile case (of a shooting victim's family suing a gun manufacturer). One of the jurors and his partner is out to scam the jury he's on for a price, playing both defense and prosecution for the highest bid in which way to sway the decision. Hackman is the corrupt defense team co-ordinator and Hoffman the more moral prosecutor. Suspense and tension are intertwined as the case heads for a verdict and the heat is on.
Enjoyable.
3 / C
- PB


RUSH HOUR 2
With Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Zhang Ziyi, John Lone
Directed by Bret Ratner
Every single Jackie Chan movie has merit - if only for the fight sequences. His humourous angle had always been present. In this, the second of his biggest Hollywood breakthroughs to date, his sidekick, the loud-mouthed Chris Tucker gets too much, dwarfing Chan even more than his already vertically challenged stature (but I would want to bear the brunt of his eagle fist!). The fight sequences are not as memorable as Chan's past triumphs of re-viewable choreographic mastery. (For what it's worth from a narrative standpoint) Chan & Tucker find themselves in Hong Kong where the former keeps getting involved in cases while the latter just wants to have his fun-filled holiday. A particular case they end up pursuing with vigour is that of Chan's dad's ex-police partner turned big time underworld boss. While Tucker gets too much, there are some stellar sequences like him doing a Michael Jackson in a Hong Kong Karaoke bar or their silly childish bickering. Zhang Ziyi is smoldering as always, this time in the shape of a high kicking suit wearing bad bitch. Good to see John Lone again, albeit in a small (but pivotal) role. While it's all flash and fast big budget action, that gritty, realistic & crazy Hong Kong style is still so much better, the outtakes not as funny as before, either, probably because the safety regulations to protect the investment are far more stringent - less risks allowed…Who knows.
3 / B
- PB

© 2006 Flamedrop Productions