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The final chapter of Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive can now be told! Buena Vista Home Entertainment has released Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive - Pink Emerald, Volume 5, the last seven episodes in the popular Toon Disney’s Jetix/ABC Kids series. It’s one of the more entertaining kids’ fare I’ve seen this year, with a surprisingly decent (but admittedly thin; let’s not get crazy) subplot involving teen angst, filtered through an android identity crisis.

I’ve written before about this fun tokusatus series (you can click on Brownbeard’s Pearl, Volume 1 , Toru Diamond, Volume 2 , Blue Sapphire, Volume 3, and Star of Isis, Volume 4 to read those reviews), and I was curious to see how they’d wrap it up. If you’re unfamiliar with the storyline, the basic background concerns the adventures of explorer and adventurer Andrew Hartford (Rod Lousich), Hartford has inadvertently released brothers Flurious (Gerald Urquhart) and Moltor (Mark Ferguson), who crave the Corona Aurora (the “Crown of the Gods”), a jewel-encrusted crown that will give them unlimited power. Hartford’s recovery of the crown - sans the jewels - has awakened the brothers (Flurious was encased in ice; Moltor in lava), and now it’s up to Hartford to pick five young novices to become the new Power Rangers, to fight the two villains.

Hartford selects Will Aston (Samuell Benta), a safecracker who will become the Black Power Ranger; Dax Lo (Gareth Yuen), a stunt man who will morph into the Blue Ranger; Ronny Robinson (Caitlin Murphy), a race car driver soon to be the Yellow Ranger, and Rose Ortiz (Rhoda Montemayor), an archeologist who will be the Pink Ranger. After rearranging their DNA to boost their powers (Will=super hearing and sight; Dax=giant leaping; Ronny=super speed; Rose=invisibility), Hartford plans on joining the gang as the Red Ranger. But his son, Mack Hartford (James MacLurcan) wants to help, too; he feels neglected by his father who spends all his time on his adventures and who is overprotective of his son’s well-being. Can Mack convince his dad to let him become the Red Power Ranger, and attain super strength? And will the Power Ranger Team be able to stop Moltor and Flurious before they gain the scattered jewels to put back into the Corona Aurora, and gain total domination over the world?

SPOILERS ALERT!

Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive - Pink Emerald, Volume 5 ties up all the loose ends of this driving adventure fantasy, and seen through the framework of an “afternoon TV kiddie show,” it’s fairly impressive in scope and execution. Featuring far-flung location work, copious stunt work, and dazzling (or at least colorful) special effects, this season of Power Rangers has a big-screen sweep to it (albeit on a small budget) that I found convincing. Most interesting was the subplot of Mack’s identity crisis once he found out he was an android, and not human. It takes several episodes for Mack to come around to understanding his father, and not before he’s given Andrew quite a bit of grief over his “conception.” Realizing that all his dreams and memories were in reality “programming” (Mack only went on-line two years before), Mack has to find himself, as well as accept the fact that he is fundamentally different than his friends. I suspect a lot of pre-teens might find this plot compelling.

Other highlights in this final go-around include Crazar, the female Firecat who even manages to scare the Rangers; the Red Sentinel Ranger powering up into action and pulverizing the bad guys; Miratrix’s transformation into a terrifying bird of prey robot; villain Magmador’s fireballs, and the super-sweet battle royale between the Chillers and the Rangers right inside Andrew’s mansion. Sentinel Knight’s final transformation of Mack into a real little boy screams Pinocchio, but it feels right in relation to previous scenes with Andrew and the other Rangers telling Mack he’s just as relevant and valid as a human being. All in all, a pretty satisfying fantasy series, with plenty of slam-bang action.

Here are the seven episodes of Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive - Pink Emerald, Volume 5:

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Red Ranger Unplugged
Crazar, in an devious plan to destroy the Rangers, calls up the “Evil Rangers,” villainous clones of the Rangers. Later, the Rangers deploy the massive Dual Drive Megazord to try and defeat Crazar.

Home and Away (Part 1)

The Octavian Chalice, when filled with Minerva’s Staff, Root of Hesper and the Sands of Scylla, will release an energy source that could crush the Earth. The Rangers fail to stop the Fearcats from gathering these relics, which, when combined, formed the fearsome monster, Agreos.

Home and Away (Part 2)

Mack demands that Andrew reprogram him in order to pilot Tyzonn’s FlashPoint Magazord. And good thing, too; Agrios is prepared to lay waste to the entire city. Meanwhile, Kamdor decides it’s time to take out Moltor and Flurious, once and for all.

Way Back When
Mack is hooked up like a TiVo, and the Rangers watch a recap of the entire season.

Two Fallen Foes

When the team takes the Octavian Chalice to Greece, to capture a solar eclipse in order to locate the fifth jewel, Miratrix interrupts, grabbing the Chalice and demanding its power. Meanwhile, a huge meteor speeds toward Earth.

Nothing to Lose

Sentinel Knight and the FlashPoint Megazord are employed to fight Magmador, before Moltor can possess the Tri-Dragon Key.

Crown and Punishment

Flurious and the Chillers, intent on getting the final jewel for the Corona Aurora, mount an assault against Andrew’s mansion. The Battlefleet hosts the DriveMax Megazord in a final battle.

The DVD:

The Video:
The full frame, 1.33: video image for Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive - Pink Emerald, Volume 5 is super-sharp and brightly hued, with a sparkling, clean picture.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo audio mix is fine for these adventures, but can you imagine them in 5.1 Surround? Come on, Disney - step up to the plate! There are English subtitles available, as well.

The Extras:
Ranger Lessons Learned has the cast discussing what they’ve gained personally from their various adventures this season. There’s also a DVD game: Ranger Reserve Training Course Level 5 - Red Jewel, that’s mild fun.

Final Thoughts:
The final battle is done, and the Power Rangers are victorious. Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive - Pink Emerald, Volume 5 winds up this 15th season of the popular franchise in fine fashion. Tons of cool vehicles, imaginative villains, and fun special effects keep the storylines moving smartly along. And a few of the subplots actually have a bit of substance to them. I recommend Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive - Pink Emerald, Volume 5.

Paul Mavis is an internationally published film and television historian, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, and the author of The Espionage Filmography.

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Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The third of the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby Road films (”The Road to Singapore”-1940
and “The Road to Zanzibar”- 1941) is a featherweight slapdash spoof of
another Third World location, that features a talking camel among its many
silly set pieces (at the film’s conclusion the camel utters “This is the
screwiest picture I’ve ever been in”). It’s directed by David Butler and
written by Frank R. Butler and Don Hartman (they teamed up to write the
first two road pics). Along with the Road to Utopia, it’s arguably the
best of their road flicks, but still not engaging enough to do the trick
for me. Hope basically does his cabaret act of the fumbling second banana,
callow, self-deprecating, fast-talking conniver who ends up talking to
himself, and ogler of the ladies but remaining asexual; while Crosby is
the handsome crooner (”Moonlight Becomes You”) leader who is Hope’s foil
but is more than his equal with the ladies. The duo play it loosely in
a tongue-in-cheek manner, but the sight gags and topical jokes are square
and the nuttiness is more Republican zany than Democrat zany.

After their freighter accidently explodes shipwrecked American stowaways
Orville ‘Turkey’ Jackson (Bob Hope) and his childhood friend Jeff Peters
(Bing Crosby) find themselves on the shores of Morocco, as they ride into
town with a camel who spit in Hope’s eye. Broke and hungry, Jeff decides
to sell Orville to slave traders for $200. Troubled after seeing the ghost
of his late revered aunt (Hope in a wig), Jeff relents and decides to rescue
Orville but instead finds him set to marry within a few days the beautiful
Princess Shalamar (Dorothy Lamour). The Princess was supposed to marry
the ruthless bandit sheik chieftain Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn), but the
seer warns her that her first husband will die within a week but the second
husband will live a long and happy life. When the seer finds out his calculations
were wrong because he mistook fireflies in his dirty telescope for planets,
the Princess changes her plans and decides she loves Jeff. Hope hooks up
with one of the Princess’s handmaidens who befriended him, Mihirmah (Dona
Drake), and the foursome try to escape from the wrathful Kasim by taking
a boat to New York.

As far as I’m concerned, the best line was uttered by Lamour “A goose
is beautiful until it stands next to a peacock.” The aimless wartime goodtime,
crowd-pleasing fluff piece seems dated today and the humor fails to hold
up.

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A dark comedy from Great Britain about the advertising world. Bruce
Robinson, the creative director and writer of  “Withnail And I,” has
come up once again with an original film, which again stars Richard E.
Grant. “How to Get Ahead in Advertising” is a tirade against the phony
world of advertising and the screams denouncing that industry seemed like
sweet music to my ears up to a point, as the message of the film eventually
moved from being funny to becoming shrill and overwhelming even to someone
like me who was sympathetic to the script. Ad men could very well be the
lowest souls on the food chain on planet Earth, is a point that doesn’t
have to be nailed into me before I get it.

Dennis Bagley (Grant) is a creative genius in the advertising field,
a top whiz in a big advertising company, living a very wealthy lifestyle
while residing in a country estate, surrounded with empty friends and a
beautiful trophy wife. He is a flamboyant hustler who gets traumatized
because of a boil on the side of his neck that looks like a man and talks
back to him. The boil becomes his alter ego and can’t let him forget who
he is, even when he wants to turn over a new leaf and warn the public about
how advertising is a means of killing the truth.

Bagley can’t face his boss Bristol (Wilson), as he is having trouble
coming up with a new ad slogan campaign for a pimple cream and is getting
the new sponsor anxious because he is going past the deadline. Consumed
with stress Bagley develops a boil on his neck that is consuming him, and
his understanding wife Julia (Ward) becomes afraid that he is having a
breakdown; especially, since he runs naked through the garden having a
conversation with the boil.

In need of help, Bagley sees a shrink (Shrapnel) who is only too
glad to listen to him and his boil. The shrink checks for the usual causes
of dysfunction in modern society: sex, stress and career. When Bagley rants
on that he quit his high paying job because advertising conspires with
Big Brother and is all about greed, the shrink responds the same way as
Bristol did to his resignation — that he needs to get his problem taken
care of and then return to work. The point made, is that both the business
world and the world of science are ready to sell almost any product to
make a buck. They both exist by giving the public what they want. The ad
men can only sell products people are led to believe they need, while shrinks
can only help those who want to fit in.

The film starts off very funny and then moves into sermonizing about
the corrupt industry. It becomes a story about the talking boil taking
over the personality of the man trapped in all his lies who now is not
only guilt-ridden by what evil he does, but has become an ugly zit. Bagley’s
sense of being is replaced by the boil who knows only how to sell things.
The huckster’s motto being: If you want to sell pimple cream, you have
to encourage people to have pimples. You only want to sell them hope not
a cure…which is the way you make your profit.

The cast play their parts with the earnest intensity and gullibility
required, with Richard Grant showing a lot of energy. It’s an unusual picture,
one worth a look at for those who don’t mind pure nuttiness instead of
dramatics. To enjoy this film, I think one has to empathize with Bagley’s
predicament. When he has a bag (bag for Bagley) over his head and has been
taken over by the boil, he is now the outsider in his own body and his
stifled voice is unable to reach the public. One day, he rants, we will
wake up and find that we ruined the rain forest for hamburgers and we will
find oxygen in short-supply, with Brazilians fixing the price on oxygen
just like the Arabs now do with oil. It sounds far-reaching, a ghastly
cry against the excesses of materialism; or, does it?

R: ARCHIVE, S: MOVIES, D: 08/06/1998,

Western

If recent movies are any indication, France may be replacing the United States as the multicultural melting pot of the world. Take Manuel Poirier's

Western

, an offbeat, genial, unexpectedly moving road movie that's a low-key endorsement of the policy of us all getting along.

Set in the Mild West of Brittany,

Western

follows the misadventures of Spanish-born shoe salesman Paco (James Grodin look-alike Sergi Lopez), which kick off when he's lured into picking up Russian-born hitchhiker Nino (an elfin and engaging Sacha Bourdo) through a ploy reminiscent of

It Happened One Night

. Nino steals his car, and Paco is picked up in turn by Marinette (Elizabeth Vitali). They fall for each other, but in fairy-tale fashion Marinette orders Paco to leave her for three weeks to determine whether they really love each other.

More serendipity: Paco bumps into Nino, and after putting him briefly in the hospital he bonds with his one-time nemesis and agrees to travel with him on the road until the three weeks are up. Much of this time is spent — with disastrous results — trying to get Nino laid; along the way they have farcical encounters with a chainsaw, an Ivory Coast émigré in a wheelchair, and several attractive women who are inexplicably attracted to them. Although the badinage is at times forced and the pace at times listless,

Western

offers its share of warmth and wisdom before riding off into the sunset.

An R.S. Public offering. Produced by Rashane Limtrakul, Jantima Liawsirikun, Kittakorn Liawsirikun. Big cheese producers, Kriangkai Chetchotisak CQ, Surachai Chetchotisak. Directed, written by Leo Kittikorn.

With:

Boriwat You-to CQ, Teeradanai Suwanahom, Taranya Sattabusya, Prinya Ngamwongwarn, Johnny Unwa.

Keeping up the nutty away with of young Thai cinema but hardly in the elegance of such whacked-out spectacles as "Citizen Dog," Leo Kittikorn's "Ahimsa: Staunch obstruct to Run" suggests what a low-budget Buddhist Jim Carrey movie muscle feel like. One long hunting punctuated by asides, voiceover jokes and goofy tale, Kittikorn's incongruous escapade has a cocky deejay pursued by his karma — personified by a cool dude in a red athletic jumpsuit — until he meets his fate. An exceptional Thai Oscar compliance for unswerving — replacing the yanked Quill-ek Ratanaruang flop "Invisible Waves" — pic had a local release in 2005, but whim acquire at few offshore fests.

Ahimsa (Boriwat You-to) had a brush with death as a sickly child, but his karma (Teeradanai Suwanahom) hasn't forgotten. Now in his early 20s, working as a deejay and living a kick-back lifestyle with pal Einstein (Johnny Unwa), Ahimsa suddenly sees his karma chasing him wherever he goes. Of course, no one else can see the red-suited guy, making for some visual silliness. Our hero finds true love with nurse Pattaya (Taranya Sattabusya) and ends up in heaven with her — on a white sandy beach.

Camera (color), Nuttawut Kittakun; editor, Kittakorn Liawsirikun CQ; music, Zansab; production designer, Poonsup Boalieng; sound (Dolby Digital). Reviewed at Palm Springs Film Festival (Awards Buzz), Jan. 12, 2007. Original title: Ahingsa — Jiggo mee kum. Running time: 93 MIN.

 

In this adjustment of what was reputedly Agatha Christie’s best-liked develop into her own novels, a scientist (Sutherland) turns up with evidence which would drink cleared a tried murderer. Alas, the boy has been hanged, and the family seems more interested in covering up the past than rehabilitating his reputation. Set in the ’50s, the film succeeds admirably in catching a feeling of repression and social conformity, and the idea of murder as a means of maintaining respectability rather than respecting advantage or passion. Agatha Christie’s formation is finally recovered from Cluedo patch, and provides British cinema with a genuine ’50s black thriller. CPea.

The most fertile man in Ireland is in life-or-death demand.

Multiple viewings only heightens respect to go to Theron's bold portrayal.

BRUTE on DVD

Columbia TriStar Home Pleasure

By

Victoria Alexander

FilmsInReview.com

Rated R / 109 Minutes / 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / English 5.1 DTS & Dolby Digital / Spanish Subtitles / "Secret Window" & "In The Cut" Trailers

?Monster is the story of a themselves crossing from one side to the other, from good to evil,? explains the fade away?s director, Patty Jenkins, in this insightful DVD commentary. ?It?s respecting this model attempt to glean dear one, which ended up culminating in a string of murders, and I felt exceptionally responsible to be very clear about the happening that she (Aileen Wuornos) did some horrible things, and not the story of a glorified serial killer.?

Jenkins was said to have on the agenda c trick picked Charlize Theron as her lead while watching ?The Devil?s Back? on late night TV and said, ?Charlize can do it.?

The DVD?s peculiar features take the viewer on a road trip with Patty Jenkins and Charlize Theron to the places in Florida where the valid Aileen frequented, and includes some interviews with Aileen?s getting on in years friends. The DVD goes behind the scenes into the making of the film and discusses the makeup process that Charlize went through in the creation of the first female serial killer.

We separate how much the governor loves Charlize in ?Frightfulness,? but a lot of Jenkins?s praise here goes to the dim?s composer, B.T. (?The Fecklessly And The Furious?) She loves this guy! ?I knew that this make out was going to be something that had to be invented on its own,? says Jenkins, who discusses the growth of the score with B.T.

It?s rare to see Charlize in an interview, with the excess superiority - without Aileen makeup - and she still looks swell. There?s also footage of the real Aileen Wuornos in the certain features, but for a more in-depth look at the real Aileen, watch the terrific documentary ?Aileen: Human being And Finish Of A Serial Killer.?

Theron, in a dazzling bringing off, exposes herself and allows us to feast on her. She is a revelation. There has not been a performance by an actor or actress in the past twenty years that invites the audience to experience such a unprepared and hypnotizing portrayal. It is one of cinema?s great performances. Theron, and writer/director Patty Jenkins, have not compromised. This is a pitiless movie.

Triumphantly, Charlize Theron crucifies her image as a magnificent ?model turned starlet? and heart plunders all offensive vanity. As famous serial killer Aileen Wuornos, Theron transforms herself physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Not no greater than does she understand Wuornos, Theron forces us to show compassion for and sympathize with her as well.

What is so staggering about Theron is her absolute submergence into the role. This is not a delicate discharge. Aileen Wuornos was not a young, confused bourgeon daughter dabbling in roadside bring low. She was an overweight, roughed-up, outcast whore. Her currency was a blow-mission. In Theron?s acceptance of the role you can lead that she divested herself of objectivity: She is Wuornos in look, attitude, and pain. It is a deeply textured, layered performance. Theron does not do to our rapport for a woman brutalized by men; furthermore her complete impartiality in the role compels us to stand pity for Wuornos.

In 1989 Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron) walked into a Florida gay bar and met young Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). Selby, staying with put-upon relatives, brings Aileen to her reside for the incessantly. Aileen continues to streetwalker herself to purvey take in the direction of them. One of her mould ?johns? on the evening she is to spend alone with Selby is a man who viciously beats her unconscious. When she wakes up bloodied and defiled, she kills him in self-defense. It is a harrowing chapter.

The men Aileen deals with are horrible. They are cruel and belittling savages preying on women who, as far as something whatever end, must sexually subjugate themselves concerning ten dollars. It?s carefully to experience sorry for Aileen?s head fool.

Fetching the cuff?s money and car, Aileen can temporarily care for for Selby, but Selby needs unfaltering production, exhilaration, and money. She?s manipulative and demanding. She likes the suspicion that Aileen must streetwalker herself so she can be fed. Freaked out by killing, Aileen decides she will puzzle a career. She wants to change for Selby. She has unrealistic optimism but without any on the dole experience she is in a wink again humiliated by employers. These scenes are masterful.

The movie is devastating. You cannot turn off its impact.
Aileen goes back to recumbent and starts extermination men in support of their banknotes. She collects newspaper stories on the killings and finally confesses to Selby.
There is not a false note in Theron. Every nuanced (and unattractive) mannerism expresses the character. When Aileen looks at Selby, she is not only sexually aroused, she is thrilled to have her. Ricci is alternatively submissive and petulant. The film is a love curriculum vitae and Theron and Ricci recognize that this is the galvanizing centre of the film over.
Charlize Theron will not till hell freezes over have to do another MIGHTY JOE BABIES, SWEET NOVEMBER or WAKING UP IN RENO again. She has evolve into an actress other actresses are going to have to stay clear of.
Victoria Alexander can be reached by visiting FilmsInReview.com or, directly, at

masauu@aol.com

.
MONSTER
Newmarket Films
Media 8 Entertainment/DEJ Prods. presents a K/W Prods. and Denver & Delilah Films creation in association with VIP Medienfonds 2/MDP Filmproduktion
Credits:
Author-director: Patty Jenkins
Producers: Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson, Donald Kushner, Brad Wyman
Executive producers: Sammy Lee, Meagan Riley-Grant, Stewart Passage, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Conductor of photography: Steven Bernstein
Production designer: Edward T. McAvoy
Music: BT
Costume schemer: Rhona Meyers
Editors: Jane Kurson, Arthur Coburn
Formulation:
Aileen Wuornos: Charlize Theron
Selby Wall: Christina Ricci
Thomas: Bruce Dern
Horton: Scott Wilson
Donna Tentler: Annie Corley
Gene: Pruitt Taylor Vince
Running sooner — 108 minutes

Be a distinctively Southern piece of literature, “Chrystal” is a plot outline of family tragedy and afflicted characters in frantic constraint of redemption. Nicely on together by the groom-and-trouble team of writer-producer-director Ray McKinnon and impresario-top banana Lisa Blount, whose 2001 short “The Accountant” won an Oscar, pic tells in cadenced fashion the unconventional tale of an emotionally scarred couple’s cautious reunion two decades after a injurious event. Estimable share of work is reasonably involving if not compelling, and has an appearance conceivability at a little theatrical move forward based on Billy Bob Thornton’s name, especially in the South, before securing a place in cable and ancillary markets.

Striking opening, shot from high overhead, shows two vehicles, one a cop car with lights flashing, streaking through the night. After the lead car crashes, we are left with the haunting image of a little boy standing in the headlights in the woods and finally walking away, as his badly injured mother lies hanging out the windshield.

Twenty years later, the mother, Chrystal (Blount), is taking on all comers in the back seat of a car. When she returns to her farm in the Arkansas Ozarks, who should turn up unannounced but her husband Joe (Thornton), who’s been in prison all this time. They say little to each other as the meek, wary Joe quietly takes up residence on the porch with the dog and begins doing odd jobs around the property. Chrystal, who moves slowly and stiffly due to pain from the old accident, watches him and slips him food outside.

Lording it over the area is aptly named dope dealer Snake (a very slimy McKinnon), the modern-day equivalent of a moonshine bootlegger who pressures Joe to grow marijuana for him on his property. After a big and oddly fought public fistfight, it’s clear nothing good can result between these two, but there’s much that will happen before the long arc of this drama plays itself out.

Slowly, Chrystal and Joe begin to communicate. Although she tells him that, “You poison everything you touch,” she has always loved Joe, a bad decision her nosy mother (Grace Zabriskie) blames on her daughter’s having read too much “Tennessee Wilson and Truman Capote” in her youth. For his part, Joe, who’s putting his welding skills to use creating an enormous free-form metal sculpture in the yard, just wants his wife to tell him what to do.

A subplot that seems extraneous on paper but becomes intriguing is the visit to the area by a blind musicologist, Kalid (Harry Lennix), who’s writing a book on mountain music and wants to track down local legend Pa Da (Harry Dean Stanton). Chrystal’s own singing impresses Kalid, leading to a tentative emotional connection between the urban black man and hillbilly white woman with potential to go further were it not for Chrystal’s lingering issues with Joe.

Most Southern Gothic touch involves Chrystal’s belief that the pain in her neck is the manifestation of her dead son, who we have come to understand was killed in the car crash. The eternal grief and longing she feels for her boy, coupled with Joe’s culpability for his death, provides the primal emotional force behind the drama, one that resolves itself in effective fashion after the more overt and violent melodrama involving Snake has come and gone.

Salvation more in personal than religious terms is the overriding concern of McKinnon’s thorough but generally understated script. Traditionally told yarn is well built, with special attention given to the main character’s deep motivations and paradoxical natures.

Working in his most subdued mode, Thornton effectively puts across a man who knows he will never escape the consequences of his past mistakes but just might be capable of providing some release for Chrystal after all the pain he’s caused her. Chrystal’s resolute steadfastness makes the character a bit monotonous at prolonged exposure, but Blount clearly expresses her fundamental nature and deep torments. Secondary cast lends colorful support.

Shot around Eureka Springs, Ark., pic evinces a strong sense of place. Tech qualities are solid, and musical elements add significant flavors.