DVD Review

Texas Chainsaw Massacre : The Next Generation stars Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellwegger and is a straightforward rehash of number one with added comedy, and it has divided critics as to its value. The DVD is bare-bones (sic) and you might also see it under a slightly different title, as it’s been released more than once. Apparently this isn’t high on Renee’s CV, but I say there’s no Zellwegger movie that wouldn’t be improved by the introduction of a chainsaw-wielding maniac. Mild Peril Rating:

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Blade II brings back Wesley Snipes as the ass-kicking leather-clad hero, and also manages to bring back Kris Kristofferson as his mentor Whistler, don’t ask me how. As in the first movie, there’s a striking start and a neat set of special effects, and there’s also some additional exposition and a whole new set of baddies, including Luke Goss, but there’s not a single frightening scene in the whole movie. Guillermo Del Toro directs like his namesake in a china shop, but slows down enough at the end to give us one of the more memorable images in recent...

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Don’t Say A Word got a R1 release almost simultaneously with its UK cinema release. Michael Douglas plays a rare straightforward hero, a psychiatrist whose daughter is kidnapped by released convict Sean Bean and pals. Needless to say there’s the odd twist and turn and car chase before the end. There’s also a clever plot and elegant direction from the underrated Gary Fleder, who also contributes an intelligent and informative commentary track. It’s not the most exciting movie ever but it is smarter than the average thriller and keeps you guessing almost up to the end, and Fleder almost...

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Sleepless was made by Dario Argento in 2001, long after his peak. For a pleasant change the R2 release is a better release than the overseas DVD (where it goes under the original title Nohosonno, although I’ve seen it under a few different titles). Never one to depart from a tried and tested formula, Dario gives us a story of a black-gloved killer stalking assorted women and poorly dubbed actors to the backing of a deafening soundtrack. The only original touch is that there’s a sincere and completely misplaced performance from Max Von Sydow as a retired detective. Oh,...

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Unlikely to get a UK release at all is What’s the Worst that Could Happen? This has a stellar cast including Danny De Vito and Martin Lawrence, and is a feeble comedy thriller (as if there were any other type) involving competing thieves. The only thing making it memorable is a jaw-dropping performance from tough-guy actor William Fichtner, appearing here as a Quentin Crisp-style detective with accompanying poodles, and not only stealing the movie but rendering the rest of it completely forgettable by comparison. Armageddon will never seem the same again. Mild Peril Rating:

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If you’re after nostalgia, then check out Almost Famous. This is made by Cameron Crowe , based on his experiences as a teenage journalist working for Rolling Stone in the seventies. It’s an extremely romanticised (or rather sanitised) version, as you’d expect from the maker of Jerry Maguire, but contains enough good scenes to make it enjoyable, especially if you’re my age and enjoy spotting who the fictional rock stars are based on. The disk contains copies of Crowe’s original articles, some of which are completely irrelevant, and the DTS soundtrack must have taken as much time to put...

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Coming off  L.A. Confidential, and with the world at his feet, for some reason Curtis Hanson decided to make Wonder Boys. Frances McDormand stars alongside Michael Douglas, who plays a drunken professor trying to make sense of his life. It’s written by the great Steve Kloves and photographed by Michael Mann’s regular d.p. Dante Spinotti, but it’s not clever enough or good-looking enough to justify its smugness. It also varies wildly in tone and there are only two or three good jokes. Still, a lot of people liked it, even if they are wrong. Mild Peril Rating:

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The One was apparently written as a vehicle for that fine thespian The Rock, and that makes a lot of sense, being ideally matched to his range in the same way that The Terminator was to Schwarzenegger’s. But as he dropped out it now stars Jet Li. The premise is daft but ingenious, in that our universe is just one element of a ‘multiverse’, and versions of Jet Li are killing each other off, aggregating their strength to become ‘The One’ and run the whole shop. Li is fine and there are short appearances by Delroy Lindo and Jason...

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