Nicholas Nickleby (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I can honestly say that "Nicholas Nickleby" is my favorite of Dickens' works. His sinister villain, his earnest, upright, innocent hero, and the beautiful Kate and their plight for financial independence from their evil uncle Ralph have the foundation of a classic. I've seen several adaptations, including the more faithful Bravo version, but I like this one the best. I believe Douglas McGrath, who tastefully brought "Emma" to the silver screen, has taken an already impressive work and improved on it. The movie moves at a nice pace without becoming drenched in melodrama or lingering over the "darker" side of the story; but neither does it shy away from the meaner aspects of Dickens' characters. Uncle Ralph, if possible, is even more wicked than Dickens wrote him. It does this in a perfectly tasteful and intelligent manner and also incorporates much if the sardonic humor found in the books, something I've found the Bravo adaptation lacks.
In case you're unfamiliar with the story, the film revolves around the life of young Nicholas Nickleby and his sister Kate. Their father has died, leaving them in the hands of his older and much more financially-minded brother Ralph. Desiring to be rid of Nicholas, Ralph seeks him employment with Wackford Squeers, the owner of a boys' school in the north country. The institution puts on a good public face but is in reality a squalor where the boys are mistreated and abused while Squeers and his wife pocket what little income they can provide. While attempting to teach at this "school," Nicholas meets the crippled Smike, an orphan whom the Squeers keep on out of "the goodness of their hearts." Eventually his friendship with Smike will have a vast impact on not only his life, but that of his uncle Ralph as well.
The casting for this film is nothing short of exquisite. Douglas McGrath isn't afraid to cast British actor but American-unknown Charlie Hunnam in the lead. The young actor has a fluid intelligence in his performance and looks ideal in a period setting. Anne Hathaway ("The Princess Diaries") plays his love interest, and "Daniel Deronda's" Romola Garai is a beautiful and sweet Kate Nickleby. Throw in Christopher Plummer (whose snarling Uncle Ralph should have won an Oscar), Nicholas Rowe, Edward Fox, Jamie Bell, Nathan Lane, and Alan Cumming, and you have a well-rounded, top-notch cast. The roles are all performed with intelligence and insight, the costuming is lovely, and the script never lags.
From a family -- and indeed a Christian perspective -- I'm happy to report that McGrath's screenplay maintains the height of decency. Even when dealing with tedious and "offensive" elements, such as Sir Mulberry Hawke's pursuit of Kate, the film does its best to present the scenario in a way which won't offend mainstream audiences. There are some intense scenes at the Squeers' school, where children are flogged, but these scenes are kept to a minimum and never overly graphic. I particularly enjoyed seeing Nicholas defend the honor of Smike, Madeline, and his sister Kate. For those who haven't read the novel, the story ends with a surprising twist with little clues planted along the way to point you toward the truth. For those who do know the ending, it's handled beautifully and has great screen impact.
I was fortunate enough to see this on the big screen in a little theatre in the heart of the city while others were flocking to much bigger and less enthusiastic releases. I've looked forward to owning the DVD for a long time.

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I love Nicholas Nickleby! exclaims Roger Ebert of this vibrant tale of intrigue, passion and revenge. And what's not to love?Brisk, sparkling(Entertainment Weekly),marvelously acted(Time) and featuringas terrific an ensemble as we ve seen(The San Francisco Examiner), this Golden Globe-nominated* adaptation of Dickensmasterpiece is a timeless romantic adventure you'll treasure for years!When the Nickleby family is betrayed in their hour of need, young Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam) must save the day. Join him on a remarkable journey that critics unanimously praise as a joy to watch(Leonard Maltin)!

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Get Over it (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)The intro of the movie was pretty average - boy befriends girl... girl moves away... girl comes back and has a hot romance with boy in high school... girl dumps boy...
Then the movie becomes interesting... as Berke (Ben Foster), leaves his ex-girlfriend's, Allison (Melissa Sagemiller), front lawn, the music of "Love Will Keep Us Together" plays and Vitamin C comes out of the garage with her band singing to the tune following Berke down the street. Pretty soon we see people joining in from a newly wed couple, to the UPS delivery woman, to two garbage men doing cartwheels, and more dancing to the tune of "Love Will Keep Us Together". It's really hilarious. To top it off, a marching band joins in and it can't get any funnier than that. From that moment on, I knew this movie was going to be a winner. It was funny all throughout the movie with Martin Short playing Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates, a flamboyant drama/music teacher, to two of Berke's best friends Dennis (Sisqo) and Felix (Colin Hanks), to Bentley "Striker" Lawrence (Shane West), a Backstreet Boys wan-na-be, who becomes Allison's new main squeeze, to his eccentric liberal parents. Then you have Kelly (Kirsten Dunst) helping Berke out in a Shakespeare play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", in which she is also a part of, as a scheme to get Allison back. The movie evolves around the Shakespeare play and in it has funny moments and amusing musical numbers excluding "Dream Of Me" which I thought wasn't funny at all but a beautiful song sang by Kirsen Dunst. The movie also has cameo appearances by Carmen Electra and Coolio. The movie was great, but the end made it even more special. Just when I thought it was over, Sisqo does a special performance of "September", with Vitamin C, which made me want to buy this movie. I still can't get this song out of mind, not that I want to. It's that good. Too bad "September" is not in the soundtrack album. I think getting this movie just for the music alone is worth it, but the movie overall is a winner.

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Kirsten Dunst (BRING IT ON), Sisqo, and Ben Foster (TV's FREAKS AND GEEKS) shine in this hilariously hip comedy! After Berke (Foster) gets dumped by Allison, the hottest girl in school, he'll do anything to get her back! Against the advice of his buddies Dennis (Sisqo) and Felix (Colin Hanks -- THAT THING YOU DO!), Berke desperately follows Allison into the high school play! But when he's inept onstage, Berke gets bailed out by his friend's little sister (Dunst) ... who just might be the one to help him get over Allison! Also featuring Martin Short (FATHER OF THE BRIDE) and Shane West (DRACULA 2000) -- nothing goes as planned in this entertaining treat!

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Rifftrax: Night of the Living Dead - from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I somehow stumbled across this at my local Best Buy on May 11, 2009. To the best of my knowledge, it wasn't supposed to be released outside of rifftrax.com for another month. Naturally, I grabbed it quickly.
The comedy of Mike, Kevin, and Bill is solid as expected. Some of the jokes are the word-for-word exact same as in the earlier version from Legend Films, featuring only Mike Nelson's comedy track. In this version, however, the delivery of those lines is shared by Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. Luckily, there is some new material mixed in that offsets the repeats. If you've never seen the previous version, you won't even notice.
I only had two real technical issues with this DVD. Firstly, the menu screen ran once and then stopped instead of looping back to the start. This meant that I had to start the entire DVD all over again. Secondly, the video was choppy in parts. The audio ran without issue, but some parts of the film seemed to be skipping video frames. I am not certain if this was an issue with all copies of this DVD or if it's specific to my player.
All in all, it's enjoyable and funny, a good buy for any fan of Rifftrax, Mystery Science Theater 3000, or Cinematic Titanic.

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The classic zombie thriller that started it all - made new with a hilarious, rapid-fire commentary by Mike Nelson and the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yes, the dead are walking, and hunger for human flesh. A group of panicked survivors hole up in a deserted farmhouse while an army of zombies encircles them - can they last the night?! Terror turns to laughter as Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett live through The Night of the Living Dead!

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My Boy Jack (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)2007's "My Boy Jack" is an extraordinarily good drama for television, featuring an excellent cast and a compelling story about the First World War, based on a play and a screenplay by David Haig.
When Britain goes to war with Imperial Germany in 1914, young men sign up in droves for the military. John "Jack" Kipling, son of famous writer and British Empire advocate Rudyard Kipling, is anxious to serve in uniform but rejected due to poor eyesight. Overruling the concerns of his wife and daughter, Kipling Senior pulls some strings to get Jack a commission in the Irish Guards. Jack works hard to overcome the challenge of his eyesight, in the process becoming a competent lieutenant and earning the respect of his platoon. All too quickly, Jack ships out for the Western Front, where he goes missing in action in his first mission "over the top" from the trenches at Loos in 1915. The family will spend agonizing months trying to learn his whereabouts. A shell-shocked member of Jack's platoon will finally bring word of Jack's fate.
David Haig is uncanny as Rudyard Kipling, Jack's father, a superbly talented storyteller and novelist, now a government propagandist trying to make sense of hideous casualties. His efforts to enable his son to "do his part" will be a source of immense guilt when Jack goes missing. Kim Cattrell is astonishingly good as Carrie, Jack's American mother. Haunted by the loss of another child, Carrie advocates for a position of less danger for her son, whom she fears will be at additional risk due to his poor eyesight. When Jack goes missing, Carrie is relentless in tracking down clues to his possible fate. Carey Mulligan is very effective as Elsie "Bird" Kipling, Jack's sympathetic older sister, who shares with him the stifling burden of living in the shadow of a very prominent father. Daniel Radcliff is absolutely credible as Jack, whether braving the challenge of military training or sneaking cigarettes with his sister.
At the core of the drama is the haunting question of whether Jack should have gone into service in the first place. The family argues over Kipling Senior's efforts to get Jack preferential treatment, but the story makes clear that Jack is very much a volunteer. Moreover, it is apparent that Jack, out from under his father's shadow, is transformed by his few months in uniform from boy to man, performing with exemplary bravery and with compassion for his soldiers.
Production values are exceptionally good for a television movie. At least some filming was done at Kipling's home of Bateman in Southern England. Period costumes and manners are spot-on. The recreation of the Western Front is appropriately wet, muddy, and terrifying. The closing scene, in which Rudyard Kipling comforts King George V for the unexpected loss of his own child by reciting a moving poem, is a perfect ending for the movie.
This movie is very highly recommended as compelling period family drama.

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Its 1915 and World War I has been declared. Aged only 17, Kiplings son, like most of his generation, is swept up in the enthusiasm to fight the Germans, a mood stoked vigorously by his father. Jack is cripplingly short sighted and the army has rejected him twice, rendering him too myopic even for an army suffering thousands of casualties a week and desperate for recruits. Yet Rudyard is undeterred, determined that his son should go to the front, like countless other sons, and fight for the values that he, Kipling, espouses so publicly. Using his fame and influence, Kipling persuades Lord Roberts, on his death bed, to get Jack a commission in the Irish guards. This intervention is barely tolerated by Carrie and daughter Elise (Carey Mulligan), as they disagree that Jack is fit to fight and fear for his safety on the front line. Jack is instantly popular with his troop he is a great leader and trains tirelessly to overcome the disability that is his eyesight. Six months later Jack sails to France as a lieutenant. Jack went missing in action during the Battle of Loos and his mother and father carried out an increasingly desperate search for him, spanning many years and many miles.DVD Features:Deleted ScenesInterviews

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The Duchess of Duke Street - Series 1 (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)Shame that my favorite all-time BBC dramatic series wasn't (apparently) worthy of BBC video doing it up proper.
Although I'm really pleased to finally get this wonderful series on DVD (so far...only Series 1), Acorn Video's transfer quality is patchy to be sure. Episode 6 "For Love Or Money" is very burry.
When you put in a disc, you do not have the "play all" option, either.
You have to view each episode one at a time. That's a bad menu choice.
All in all, I'm happy to have the series, but the quality is not much better than the offical BBC VHS tapes.


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DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET SERIES 1 - DVD Movie

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Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Angels Revenge Review

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(More customer reviews)This is one of the funniest MST3K episodes of all time. I hardly even know where to begin on this one. Here's the background: a teacher is so disgusted with bad guys selling drugs to kids that she decides to blow up the drug lab outside of town (where she seems to think all of the world's drugs are centrally processed). She recruits a supposedly famous singer best known for shining, shining, shining, shining, shining her love, then shining it some more; a stunt woman; a cop; a model; and a female martial arts expert to help her carry out the job. It's a whole lot like Charlie's Angels, only these angels are much less attractive and more annoying.
The most amazing thing about Angels Revenge is the cast. Never have so many familiar names humiliated themselves so thoroughly in the same film. First we have Arthur Godfrey playing himself; watching him engage in excited antics at a Vegas concert is pretty pitiful, really. Then we have Alan Hale (aka Skipper) who plays--once she finally stops shining her love--our singer's manager; the Skipper has just one little scene and luckily escapes without too much damage. The same cannot be said for his fellow castaway Jim Backus. Backus plays the incompetent leader of a ragtag band of right-wing revolutionaries calling themselves the American Right; his performance is truly painful to watch--really; I'm not just saying it for effect. Then we have Pat Buttram, Mr. Haney from Green Acres, selling used cars--his scene can be watched without too much discomfort. Another notable player is Peter Lawford; I didn't like the guy in his prime, and I certainly don't like to see him going around without a shirt on in his later years. Lawford apparently survived this acting ordeal by staying completely drunk throughout shooting, slurring his lines rather obviously. Rounding out the list of notable actors is Jack Palance, who plays the middleman in between the pushers on the streets and Mr. Big; he's actually not half bad, but the movie is so awful it's hard to notice. Perhaps my favorite thing is Crow's impersonation of Palance singing the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song each time we see Palance driving a car.
Mike and the Bots had me laughing from start to finish on this one. Crow is especially biting in his comments, referring to the film as The T&A Team. When we watch a woman climb a ladder, he complains that the movie is giving away the plot, then he quickly gives in and announces his intention to just look at the breasts--that's really what this movie is about, when you get right down to it. The sexploitation factor here exceeds even the blaxploitation factor to be found in the script for Crow's new film project titled Chocolate Jones and the Temple of Funk.
Thrill to the intense drama of the protagonist searching frantically for the very important map she keeps in a safe place in her pocketbook; she's knows it's in there; oooh; it's very important; ooooooh; she knows she put it in there; oooooooh; there it is. Watch thrusting women kidnap, torture, and kill men without losing their happy-go-lucky demeanors or even breaking a nail. Watch manly men like Jack Palance stand around immobile so that a group of naturally endowed women can easily subdue them. Watch a school teacher share moments of torture treatment with one of her young students while another woman teaches the youngster how to shoot a gun. Yes, Angels Revenge is all of this and more. Oddly, I have to admit that I rather liked the movie itself; sure it's incredibly silly, shallow, degrading, and sometimes downright painful to watch, but at least the story keeps moving along at a good pace from start to finish, unlike many of the awful movies taken from the vaults of Deep Thirteen. This movie actually makes fun of itself; when you add in Mike, Tom, and Crow performing at the top of their game, you get 90 minutes of utter hilarity. You'll laugh; you'll cry; you'll ask why this awful movie was ever made--then you'll look up and remember 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, even 12 reasons..

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Unthinkable (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)As stated by many reviewers, this movie is a 5 star "under the radar" supernnova! Samuel Jackson portrays a "non-existent" terrorist interrogator, who is brought out to save the country from a nuclear Muslim terrorist, Arthur Younger played beautifully by Michael Sheen. Younger is frighteningly convincing with a mysterious conviction, a personal and religious agenda involving at least 3 hidden nuclear bombs of mass destruction, hidden in unknown metropolitan America.
Jackson's character is magnificent, simply known as "H," the silver bullet weapon who is the only chance to extract key information and save millions from an impending holocaust. The movie races under a pressure cooker of time, obstacles of authority, and confusion on how far to go in this unbelievable quandry of intensity and horror. What does "H" need to do to uncover and neutralize this madman's design to kill millions of innocents? The military and intelligence teams are portrayed with sublime perfection, especially the supporting actress, Carrie Ann Moss. She is utterly convincing as an icon of righteousness in being Helen Brody, FBI supervisor. Helen is on a rollercoaster of confliction, bound by integrity, ethics, and procedure who undergoes a shattering metamorphasis as the plot unfolds into one of narrowing, "unthinkable" choices.
This movie is more than thought provoking...it erupts off the Richter scale with aftershocks of repercussion that stay with the viewer for days! Shameful, painful, but somehow justifiable degradation of civilized behaviors under the duress of mass annihilation. What exactly will we do to protect our own and how will we justify it after the fact? "All virtue is summed up in dealing justly." ~Aristotle~ The premise remains as to "What is justice in certain circumstances...or does it cease to exist?" How far can we go before we individually and collectively blur the lines of our ethics and morality and revert back to primitive survival instincts? Is survival a matter of virtue or justice? Are basic instincts wrong?
This movie is impossible to watch without churning up inevitable questions of what lies beneath our civilized behaviors. Physical and mental torture are dancing on the razor's edge, the director (Gregor Jordan) is masterful at capturing the hidden, delicate and sledge hammer effects of this incredible and poignant battle. A masterpiece that will haunt our thoughts into analyzing each and every facet in this prescient film. Absolutely unthinkable to miss this one...

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The most suspenseful thriller of the year explores just how far we will go to protect ourselves and our country. When a nuclear expert-turned-extremist (Michael Sheen, Underworld) plants devices in three separate cities, the country's counter-terrorism force springs into action and captures him. But the location of his bombs remains a mystery. With time running out, FBI agent Helen Brody (Carrie-Anne Moss, Disturbia) agrees to work alongside a mysterious interrogator known only as "H" (Samuel L. Jackson, Lakeview Terrace), whose ruthless methods get results. But a power struggle develops between Brody, "H', and the terrorist, and what happens next is unbelievable and -ultimately-Unthinkable!

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Les Miserables: The 10th Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall (1995) Review

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(More customer reviews)This new edition of the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert (taped in 1995 at the Royal Albert Hall in London) is a welcome new edition for any person who found the original concert enjoyable and thrilling. The 2-DVD set comes in a good quality hard case with new artwork. The performances continue to be mostly excellent and one really does not miss the staging too much. There are several new positive additions to this edition. First is the wide-screen presentation of the concert. It was painfully obvious at certain points during the original release (especially the bigger numbers) that you were missing some of the singers on the sides. The new wide-screen presentation opens up the experience so you can watch the concert as it was originally taped. The second positive aspect of this issue is that the whole concert is on one side of one disk, which makes it much more convenient to watch. The third is the inclusion of the "Stage By Stage" Documentary from the late 80s tracking the recording of the Complete Symphonic Recording as a supplement on the second disk. Finally, for those who want to, you can follow along with new (optional) on-screen lyrics.
However, this edition is not without its disappointments. The first and by far the biggest disappointment is how it's only presented in stereo and not Dolby Digital 5.1 or better. Not having a digital audio option in 2008 is ridiculous and I would have greatly put up with changing disks if it meant having a better quality performance. The second disappointment is the deletion of parts of the concert previously available, which include part of "Little People" and the speeches by the creative talent behind the show at the end of the concert before the encore. Even if space was limited on the first disk, these deletions could have easily been put on the second disk as supplementary material.
So, while the concert itself continues to be quite enjoyable and there are some new additions that makes it a must have for any Les Miserable fan, there are some basic disappointments that keep this edition from being perfect.



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A performance of Les Miserables by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, for a 10th Anniversary Concert celebration.

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Cinema Paradiso - The New Version (1990) Review

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(More customer reviews)Cinema Paradiso is one of my favorite movies.I finally found the new version available for rent through Netflix when I couldn't find it in any Blockbuster.
For those who have already seen Cinema Paradiso it needs no introduction. For everybody else, it won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film in 1989 and features one of the most nostalgic treatments of the role of movies in people's lives. Ennio Morricone's theme song has also been recycled in countless commercials and movie montages and trailers.
What's good about the Director's Cut or "New Version" DVD is that one can view the director's cut with added scenes on one DVD side and the originally released version on the other.
For those of us who wanted some kind of closure to Toto and Elena's relationship, the Director's Cut has it-- there's about an hour more of footage of their relationship. The new version also more footage of Toto's military service and his adulthood. The added scenes somewhat mute the focus of the movie, so I could see why they were originally cut out. But, at the same time, the added scenes fill in the blanks that originally made a lot of us think, "Hey-- What about...?" And although Toto's childhood scenes are, as far as I can tell, unchanged from the original version, we also find out more about Alfredo.
After finishing the New Version I appreciated the original version better. I highly recommend the new version not because it makes Cinema Paradiso more of a masterpiece, but because it adds more characterization to what, arguably, is a masterpiece. The added scenes can be a bit superfluous, but they show how important editorial decisions are to shaping the structure and momentum of a movie.

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This Miramax Classics presentation of CINEMA PARADISO: THE NEW VERSION brings you the critically acclaimed triumph as never seen before! A famous Italian filmmaker, haunted by the memories of his first love, returns to his hometown after an absence of 30 years. Upon his return, he reconnects with the community and remembers the highlights and tragedies that shaped his life and inspired him to follow his dream of becoming a filmmaker. For those who have never seen it -- and those who have never forgotten it -- director Giuseppe Tornatore's (MALENA, THE STAR MAKER) cherished Academy Award(R)-winning motion picture (1990, Best Foreign Language Film) is now fully restored, digitally remastered, and includes 51 minutes of never-before-seen footage!

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Great Performances: King Lear Review

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(More customer reviews)Ian McKellan totters into a circle of light and raises his palsied hands to command his court into prostrate submission. McKellan's Lear has a despot's easy authority that effortlessly requires obedience. Aged, infirm and bright-eyed, Lear enjoys humiliating those who doubtless wish him dead so that they may inherit. McKellan's Lear is a sly-suave tyrant - reminiscent of Olivier. There are other fine Lears - the brutally hostile Ian Holm (the boss from hell), James Earl Jones' as a cranky African tribal chief, or Orson Welles' nightmare fury. All are excellent. Welles, Olivier, and McKellan are more cinematic whereas Jones and Holm are filmed versions of stage productions. Welles and Holm provide a strong dose of Sturm und Drang melodrama - the volume is turned up so high, it is hard to tell when catharsis hits. Olivier and McKellan are beautifully acted and nuanced. Jones has an amazing voice and his presence overwhelms the cast - except perhaps Raul Julia's wonderful plotting, evil Edmund.
Of the directors, Trevor Nunn is the best and most experienced interpreter of Shakespeare to cinema. He is faithful to the text, (cuts are logical and keep the action moving) but with contemporary Hollywood fit and finish. It helps that Nunn takes care of details that Shakespeare neglects. For example, he shows us exactly how Goneril poisons Regan. When Lear complains that "my poor fool is hang'd," - it refers to an earlier scene where the Fool is actually strung up.
The part of Lear demands a strong actor who can easily dominate a production. Only Olivier and Nunn balance the King with a strong supporting cast. Appearing opposite Olivier are John Hurt as the brilliantly sarcastic Fool, Leo McKern (Rumpole of the Bailey) as a pompously lecherous Glouster, and Diana Rigg as the blindingly beautiful Regan.
Trevor Nunn's outstanding cast boasts Romola Gerai as a sensual Cordelia - upswept hair, wearing a strapless, white satin, wedding gown, and a simple gold chain necklace, that accents her flawless profile, neck, shoulders, and decolletage. Nunn's inspiration for Cordelia is a mystery, but to me she looks like Sargent's sensational painting of Madame X, with the black dress changed to white. She speaks from the heart, clear-eyed, like a child, rejecting Lear's incestuous demand that his daughters love only him - and pays a price for her honesty. Sylvester McCoy's amazing performance as the bitter fool -who alone speaks truth to power without punishment - rivals John Hurt's. Where Hurt practices wicked satire as a sport, McCoy is a disappointed romantic, his cynicism mixed with sadness.
Once again, Trevor Nunn has created an excellent film version of Shakespeare. If only more of his works were available for north american viewers.

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Studio: Public Media DistributionRelease Date: 04/21/2009Run time: 150 minutes

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The Playboys (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)THE PLAYBOYS stars Albert Finney, Aiden Quinn and Robin Wright. I saw the film in the theatre several years ago and have been waiting to buy the DVD. I don't remember the characters names, but the gist of the story is this: Robin Wright plays a young woman living in a small village in Ireland. She is the mother of an adorable out-of-wedlock baby. She will not divulge the identity of the baby's father. Albert Finney plays the village constable. He wants to marry Wright, but she refuses to marry him or to identify her child's father. Many folks in the village feel Wright ought to marry the good cop.
One day, a very small traveling carnival arrives in the village. The carnival is so small all the members of the troupe perform multiple tasks. One of the troupe is played by Aiden Quinn. Quinn has a nifty motorcycle which he spins round and round the village green to impress Wright. Finney disapproves of Quinn's interest in Wright. When the carnival leaves the village, Quinn asks Wright to ride aways with him on his motorbike. Will she, should she? You'll have to watch the film to find out whether she chooses the good cop or the dashing young man, and you will discover the identity of the baby's father by the end of the film.

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Bursting with all the fiery elements that make great love stories memorable, The Playboys is "a beautiful, moving and gripping film" (The Hollywood Reporter). Boasting "excellent performances"(Variety) by Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn and Robin Wright this "lovely and enveloping film weaves magic" (The New York Times)!Tara (Wright), the most irresistible woman in a small Irish village, is also the most scorned when she refuses to reveal the identity of her baby's father. Under pressure by Constable Hegarty (Finney) to accept his hand in marriage, Tara rejects his proposaland falls instead for a dashing actor (Quinn). But as their affair heats up, a jealous Hegarty threatens to expose Tara's secret and destroy the only happiness she's ever known.

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Cats - The Musical (Ultimate Edition) (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)The `Cats' DVD is a cinematic record of the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical as performed on the London stage in, I believe, 1998 starring Elaine Paige in the `lead' role of Grizabella, although the only aspect of her role which warrants calling it the starring role is the fact that this character sings the `show-stopper' song, `Memory' which, if you are to believe writer / director Kevin Smith's bit in `Jersey Girl', has become a real Broadway cliché. The show is the most truly `ensemble' performance I can think of. Few characters stand out for more than the length of a single piece, yet practically all characters are on stage for over 50% of the two-hour performance. Aside from Paige, the only character / actor who is remotely familiar to me is John Mills who is on for but two scenes and who is more of a prop than a character.
I make a strong point of the fact that this is a recording of a stage performance rather than a conversion of the play to a more realistic environment. This conversion is done for most Broadway plays turned into movies, especially for big musicals such as `Oklahoma', `The Sound of Music', `My Fair Lady', and `Chicago'. But this conversion is not always successful. That is, the very big realistic setting is not always an enhancement. My best evidence for this is the film done of `The Fantasticks' with a cast including such high powered talent as Joel Gray and others. As someone how has seen the play done on the live stage three times with three different interpretations, including a performance by the New York City cast, I can say that the movie failed to breath any life into the classic minimalist staging it gets in intimate little theaters. The movie was simply not as good as the live performance. This is clearly not the case with this DVD record. It gives us the stage fantasy that needs practically no embellishment with a real ally or cinematic whiz-bang.
Like `The Fantasticks', I have seen `Cats' on the New York stage sitting in a mezzanine seat about 4 rows from the back of the Winter Garden theatre. And, while there is something about a live performance that simply cannot be recorded, I will say that this DVD (and VCR) recording is quite as good a record as you can get.
My most important criteria for evaluating a movie on DVD or VCR is whether or not the work wears well after the second or third or fourth viewing. For example, `Chicago' was fun to watch once, but I have no burning desire to watch it again. On the other hand, `Singin' in the Rain' I can watch about once a year and still find the time well spent. I will say with great conviction that I can watch this recording of `Cats' once a year and enjoy every minute spend with the experience, because I have done so over the last few years. The performance and its record are so durable that my second most important criteria for a DVD, a good commentary track, becomes unnecessary. And, the commentary track is basically a waste of time for a musical anyway, especially a musical based on famous poems written 65 years ago by the most notable poet, T. S. Eliot in `Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'.
The play has the thinnest of plots based on a once a year selection of one Jellicle cat to ascend into some state of grace, presumably at the conclusion of their legendary nine (9) lives. The only other plot twist involves the kidnapping of the head cat, Old Deuteronomy, thereby preventing this feline apotheosis from being carried out.
This accounts for four or five out of the nineteen numbers. All the rest are based directly on fourteen out of the fifteen poems in Eliot's little book.
One may think that this work has but a single hit song and, therefore, the remaining musical numbers are second rate. This is certainly not the case. I find myself tapping my toe to all numbers, with especial pleasure coming from `Jellicle Cats', `Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser', and `The Pekes and the Pollicles'. These are much more like stories in song than a simple ballad with easily remembered refrain.
Very highly recommended for anyone with a taste for musicals and worth a try for anyone who likes fantasy.


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All About My Mother (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Todo Sobre Mi Madre," or "All About My Mother," revolves around the life of an organ transplant coordinator, Manuela, who was briefly shown in one of Almodovar's most recent movie "The Flower of My Secret". After the death of her only child, Manuela sets off from Madrid to Barcelona to find both his father and the traveling troupe who performs "A Streetcar Named Desire," throughout Spain.
Argentinian actress Cecilia Roth is both excellent and convincing as Manuela. Her performance for an actress not from Spain is original, since most of Almodovar's leading startlets are Spaniards. Marisa Paredes as Huma, a fading starlet, reminded me of her performance in "High Heels," wher she played a similar character. However the two emerging standouts in this film are Antonia San Juan as Manuela's drag-queen friend (fact: although she looks like a man, San Juan is actually a woman) and the beautiful Penelope Cruz, who plays a HIV-positive pregnant nun (only Almodovar can bring us such characters). Cruz, who radiates natural beauty and style has become Spain hottest export to Hollywood since Antonio Banderas. Keep an eye out for her in the near future.
The visual arrangement of colors, patterns, and clothes brings the film so much beauty it is unbearable not to watch and adore it. Almodovar's camera illusions, especially watching a grieving Manuela run to her injured son, Esteban, after he is struck by a car (the camera looks like if the victim is watching his mother run in the rain) and the trick of watching Esteban write in his journal (we see his pencil move through a glass that is supposed to be his pad) is amazing. Only the pure genius that Almodovar is could have thought of this.
This happens to be Almdovar's best film in the past 10 years. Truly, if you are an artist, an admirer of Spanish culture, or just love art films, then this film will fascinate you. A true gem in the evolution of Spanish cinema.

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A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, also a transvestite; through him she meets Rosa, a young nun bound for El Salvador, and by happenstance becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo, the actress her son admired. She helps Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's lover, and she becomes Rosa's caretaker during a dicey pregnancy. With echoes of Lorca, All About Eve, and A Streetcar Named Desire, the mothers (and fathers and actors) live out grief, love, and friendship.

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Poopie: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Official Outtakes Reel (1988) Review

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(More customer reviews)Oh Poopie. This video of Mystery Science Theater 3000 outtakes is just so funny. This tape features outtakes from season 2 up to 6, even outtakes from the begining theme song. You'll see outtakes from just about everyone. Joel, Mike, Frank, Trace, Jim, Kevin, everyone.... Some of my favorite outtakes are the one where Crow's head is on fire and they just keep on laughing, and the one where Joel screws up his line and says "pancakes" instead of "waffels". You get to see some real funny stuff in this video, I just wish this video could have been longer than just 30 minutes. It will leave you wanting for more and will leave you laughing until you can't stop laughing anymore. It's a great video for any MST3K to enjoy for hours, months, years, and so on... I think you will enjoy it.

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Mystery Science Theater 3000: Bloodlust (1988) Review

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(More customer reviews)This episode of MST3K was done at the peak of "the Mike times". As good as MST3K is, I think it's safe to say that this episode is one of the best for sale right now. Believe me. If you're a fan of the show. Bloodlust will not let you down. As for the movie itself. It's a beautifuly over-acted film about a rich psycho who hunts people on his own private island (one of whom is Robert "Mr. Brady" Reed).

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Theater of Blood (1973) Review

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(More customer reviews)As incredibly good as this movie is, one must give pause before attempting to review it; after all, Vincent Price plays an actor who murders the critics who panned his performances and cost him the acting award he felt he deserved. I find it something of a relief to have nothing at all negative to say about this unusual, almost brilliant movie. This is essentially a slasher film, but it differs markedly from its modern counterparts by injecting the story with intelligence, culture, and actual feeling. Vincent Price plays Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor who deigns to perform no dramas not penned by the Bard. There is no better actor, he truly believes, than himself, and thus he is slowly crushed by the stream of bad reviews the local critics hurl down upon his performance in one play after another. After facing humiliation at an annual awards banquet, he takes his own life-or at least so everyone thought at the time, despite the fact that his body was never found. Two years later, a literary critic dies mysteriously on the ides of March of multiple stab wounds. Then a second critic is killed and his body dragged through the streets behind a horse. As more critics die, it begins to become clear, even to the rather ineffectual police, that the murders are all patterned on the death scenes of Shakespearean dramas. After the fourth murder, where the culprit deviates from the script of The Merchant of Venice by literally taking a pound of flesh from the victim, the de facto leader of the critics knows that Lionheart is the murderer because "only he would have the temerity to rewrite Shakespeare." The deaths here range from the somewhat comical to the ludicrously horrid to the deliciously gruesome, with a few nice touches of 1973-style blood thrown in for good measure. Each murder is of course accentuated by a vainglorious dramatic performance by Lionheart. This imbues the movie with both maudlin comedy as well as academic pretentiousness. At the very end, even more unexpected emotions bubble up in the viewer, a phenomenon manifesting itself through a combination of Price's perfectly over-the-top acting and a wonderfully evocative soundtrack.
One actually gets something of a lesson in Shakespeare in this film. Lionheart doesn't base his revenge killings on Shakespeare's most famous plays-instead, he draws on several that I and probably many others are not intimately familiar with-yet the magic he breathes into each scene makes one anxious to delve into the Bard's original plays themselves. In total, the following Shakespearean plays serve as the basis of the murders: Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, Cymbeline, The Merchant of Venice, Richard the Third, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Henry the Sixth, part 1, Titus Andronicus, and King Lear. A little Hamlet is also thrown in for good measure. I must say that the cast is a great complement to the storyline, although even the lovely Diana Rigg of Avengers fame pales in the shadow of Price's mesmerizing aura as he brings to life a character seemingly written especially for him. Who else could have played such a convincing Shakespearean actor and ingeniously mad killer simultaneously? I must admit it is somewhat strange to watch Rigg play the role of Lionheart's fiercely loyal daughter, though, and I daresay that many Rigg devotees such as myself may not even recognize her when she first appears.
Theater of Blood is truly one of Vincent Price's most memorable performances. His ability to morph into and truly become different Shakespearean characters is superb, and the range of emotions he is able to express is pretty powerful, especially in the closing moments of the film. A couple of the killings are somewhat farcical, but most of them are rather ingenious and fascinating. Just wait until you see Price playing the role of a bushy-headed hairdresser. The best killing, without a doubt, involves a surgical gown, a scalpel, and a handsaw-I'll let you figure out what Lionheart does with these items. The idea for this movie may not be wholly original, but Theater of Blood works magnificently, and the combined talents of Price and Rigg make this a classic that really should find a home in the collection of all horror movie buffs.

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Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope (1977 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition) (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am one of those geeks who was ten years old when Star Wars came out (note: it was not originally called "Episode IV.") I watched it in the theater perhaps a dozen times. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.
This release contains two DVDs: the version that Lucas has been tinkering with, and on a bonus disc, the original movie in 4:3 letterbox, taken from the best-available videodisc masters.
About that "tinkering." The 2004 version of Episode 4 looks, for the most part, quite gorgeous. The _restoration_ that Lucasfilm did is impressive: the blacks are blacker, the whites whiter, the color richer, the contrast improved all around, and the soundtrack is great. The dirt and scratches are gone, the shaky color very solid.
However, at some point Lucas crossed over from "restoration" into making a new movie. That's fine; he has the right to do so. But for him to say that the original Star Wars is not really what he had in mind, when it was one of the most famous and popular movies in history and became entrenched in the culture -- well, I find that weirdly arrogant. And when he says, in effect, that his altered version _is_ "Star Wars" and the original _isn't_ -- well, hmmm. A movie is a historical artifact. There's a difference between preservation and tinkering. Mainly, that tinkering mostly is there to gratify the artist, while preservation serves the art -- and the fans of the art. Artistic creation is a fragile and uncertain process. For Lucas to assume that he knew exactly what made Star Wars great and presume to make it better misstates the amount of control that artists actually have over how their creations are received by the public.
Where you draw this line is slightly unclear. I think the cleanup of the backgrounds is fine. The improvement of the soundtrack to use the latest technology available is wonderful. I'm not sure why Kenobi's weird cry that drives away the sandpeople was replaced with a slightly different weird cry. He's redone some of the explosions twice now. I'm not sure why they all became pink in 2004. Why did he feel that Alderaan and the Death Star needed to explode in giant rings? Why do the lightsabers now give off blinding green flashes when they collide? Most of these changes are not improvements; they are just distractions. They tend to stick out like a sore thumb to fans who have seen the movie many times.
But there are more than just the small arbitrary changes, I'm not really happy with the addition of dinosaur-like creatures in Mos Eisley, and I'm really not happy with giving these little bits and pieces cartoonish _sound_ that sounds like it came from Episode 1. Star Wars, the original, had a different tone, a different mood, than Empire and Jedi and the whole prequel trilogy. It's a little darker. It's a world where rebels and stormtroopers are violently killed and Han Solo shoots first. Lucas is free to make that world happier and more cartoonish in his later films, but altering, and in some cases censoring violence from the original, is a very strange thing to do.
So, although I really admire the improvements to the image and sound in the 2004 edition, I generally prefer watching the original 1977 cut. For that, I'm sorry to report that the digital transfer, from the videodisc master, is only adequate. Many fans are griping that it is 4:3 instead of anamorphic 19:9. This means it isn't full-width on a widescreen TV. That doesn't particularly bother me, but I'm viewing it on an old TV, not a widescreen TV. It looks like a very good analog videotape, but we've recently -- and rather abruptly, in terms of years -- gotten used to DVDs of films that were transferred to the digital realm and mastered there. It's actually taken from the master for the analog videodisc. The audio is good, but again we now tend to compare it to all-digital productions. Negative comments on Amazon about the black level are on the mark; some of the space scenes make black outer space look brown, or gray. This is particularly evident when we see Vader's helmet in his tie fighter; his helmet is blacker than the black background of space. But that is true in the original film; it was noticeable in the theater on opening day. A number of the desert scenes have poor contrast and faded color; some of this is film deterioration, and some is because the contrast and color in some of the outdoor Tatooine scenes were never that good to begin with. There are noticeable scratches. The color is shaky in some scenes, particularly outdoor scenes, and flickers a bit. It looks like a film that is considerably older than it is. I've seen restored films from considerably earlier that look a lot better than this one does.
Here's the thing: it didn't have to be this way. We would have considered it to be a fairly good video rendering at one point in time. But our expectations have been raised considerably -- and, in fact, Lucas himself is largely responsible for raising those expectations, because of his constant embrace of new technology for delivering films to audiences. The 2004 DVD release has all those black level problems fixed. There aren't any visible scratches. The contrast is excellent. The colors are vivid. The missing dialog is restored.
So which version do I want to watch? Well, the answer is neither. I want to watch a version that doesn't exist: call it "Star Wars: the Nostalgia Edition." That version would be fully _restored_, but not _altered_. And it would have things like Han Solo's scene with Jabba available as a "deleted scene" special feature, along with all the other so-called lost footage such as the scene at Anchorhead, which introduces (and makes sense of) Luke's relationship with Biggs. It would have been presented with respect for the original work, not as a bonus disc given no special treatment. Instead, Lucas has disowned that picture.
And here's the thing: I'd be shocked if Lucas didn't have every scene, unaltered, from the first film in beautifully restored digital form. After all, wouldn't a restored original film have been the starting point for this whole process of remastering that led to the 1997 and 2004 versions?
So, I'm not actually advocating that we give up the advances in restoration that are evident in the 2004 release. But don't bother with the tinkering. The fans don't care about it. Keep the original death star cell block footage. Sure, the tunnel behind the actors is obviously a matte painting, and the perspective is off kilter when the camera angle changes. But you know what? I saw Star Wars at least ten times in the theater and I never noticed the problem -- because it isn't a "problem," it's an artifact of the budget and technology that existed in 1977. You notice it if you are looking at the frame cynically, not when you are immersed in the story. It might be an irritant to Lucas now, but it is the effect we grew up with. For the "Nostalgia Edition," let Star Wars be Star Wars.
Then Lucas can go on with his director's cuts, turning Star Wars into a 3-D cartoon until the sun explodes, for all I care. Just don't make me watch Greedo shoot first!

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For the first time ever and for a limited time only, the enhanced versions of the Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi will be available individually on DVD. Plus, these 2-Disc DVD's will feature a bonus disc that includes, for the first time ever on DVD, the original films as seen in theaters in 1977, 1980 and 1983.

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