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John Tucker Must Die (2006) --> John Tucker... is a perfect teen date movie to teach both girls and guys to treat each other with a bit more respect and dignity. In other words, unless you are 17 years old and female, or 17 years old and male who wishes to keep his girlfriend when she says she wants to see this movie, you have no reason to waste your money on it by attending your local theatre.


Full Spectrum Staff

Eight Below (2006) --> At first, knowing this was a Disney movie (which is synonymous with boring for those over the age of 12) and that it starred Paul Walker who is a pretty boy with little acting talent, I thought I would be subject to an hour and half of tedious boredom as I had with Snow Dogs. I was pleasantly surprised when I was totally off base.

The dogs and their story (left to survive on their own in a brutal Antarctic winter) is gripping enough to forget the average performance of Walker and Jason Biggs. The only human that puts in a decent acting performance is Bruce Greenwood. The dogs steal the show and even if they act un-canine like on certain occasions so to add that feel good element that Disney loves, they still perform their roles astutely; hands together for the dog trainer of this movie.


Full Spectrum Staff

Jesus Camp (2006) --> I can't decide whether I should be fearful or bored with this film. Do Christian evangelicals pose any serious risk to Canada, or even the United States where they live for that matter? Or is this just a documentary bashing another group for not having liberal views. Christians, evangelical or not, have been living in North America since the first immigrants hit the shores of the new world.

The basis of their faith is what built Canada and the US since there was a Canada and the US. Why now is there such uproar about faith in politics? If the Christian right gain seats in the two houses of government in the United States then they have done it through democratic means just as the liberals do. So if you fear a control of the country by a religious right then campaign and get all the left of center voters out to the poles on Election Day. If the right still wins it means there are more of them than you (unless you are George W. Bush of course) and you then might realize you don't have a monopoly on where the country should go.

The film ends up coming off as scare propaganda. If it mobilizes the left into action then it is great but will I fear my neighbour just because he is Christian, I don't think so.


Full Spectrum Staff

Escape From New York (1981) --> John Carpenter and Kurt Russell have worked on many films together including The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from L.A., the sequel to the movie we are reviewing presently. Although the box office might not reflect the success of the two, you are usually not disappointed with the collaboration.

Escape from New York is a cult favourite from the early 80s. Russell stars as Snake Plissken, an eye-patched anti-hero, who is recruited by the Police Commissioner Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) to fly into the city prison of Manhattan to rescue the President of the United States (Donald Pleasance).

Snake is given two incentives to complete the mission. First, he will be pardoned (what anti-hero is not a disgruntled criminal wrongly convicted of crimes against the state?) and second, he will live as the poison he was injected with will kill him if he doesn't return for the antidote with the President in time for and important speech he will make.

Snake flies in on a glider landing atop of the World Trade Center. From this point on he must face cannibals and arch criminals who are bent on using the President as means of escaping their Manhattan prison. Leading the bad guys is singing great Isaac Hayes as The Duke of New York. Snake takes on the Duke with the help of Cabbie (Ernest Borgnine), Brain (Harold Dean Stanton) and Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau). Will Snake be successful?

Carpenter has created a great fantasy film of the future. Why build an enumerable number of prisons when you can just put a big wall around an island and knock out the bridges (except for one which is heavily mined and walled) and then put centuries around the wall. There is no need for guards, you just dump the criminals in and let them attempt to survive the best they can.

With a reputation for criminality world-wide the Big Apple earned in the 70s and early 80s, it's no wonder Carpenter created a film such as this. Carpenter let his imagination go wild thinking about how the city would look and how the societal structure would develop. He even goes so far as hinting at a really dark side to letting anarchy reign in a city full of deviants without turning it into a rape and snuff film.


Scott D. Brown

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