title: The High And The Mighty function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Warner Bros distributor: Paramount MPAA rating: NR starring: John Wayne, Robert Stack, Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Jan Sterling, Phil Harris, Robert Newton, David Brian, Paul Kelly, Sidney Blackmer, Julia Bishop, William Campbell, Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales director: William A. Wellman film release year: 1954 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Three and a Half Stars sound/picture rating: Four and a Half Stars reviewed by: Bill Warren The biggest hit of 1954, “The High and the Mighty” was tremendously influential—all aviation-disaster movies that followed owe it a lot. Because the copyright was owned by John Wayne and he was reluctant to release it to video (as well as a lot of other movies he produced, such as “Hondo” and “Track of the Cat”), it’s been inaccessible for years. A great demand grew for this movie’s video release; it’s often been described as the most-wanted of all movies not on video.

title: Hostage function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Miramax distributor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment MPAA rating: R starring: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jimmy Bennett, Michelle Horn, Ben Foster, Jonathan Tucker, Marshall Allman, Serena Scott Thomas, Rumer Willis director: Florent Siri film release year: 2005 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Two Stars sound/picture rating: Four Stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Robert Crais went from writing television to writing novels and achieved critical and commercial success with a series of novels about a cop named Elvis. It was clear that he wanted to sell a book to the movies—and with the prices producers are willing to pay, who can blame him? So he began writing movies that were, unfortunately, all too clearly intended to be sold as movies. They involved stark, melodramatic situations, very clearly delineated good guys (even if troubled) and bad guys (even if charismatic). And sure enough, his novel “Hostage” sold.

title: National Treasure function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); <br> studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment MPAA rating: PG starring: Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha, Christopher Plummer film release year: 2004 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Two-and-a-Half Stars sound/picture: Three Stars reviewed by: Paul Lingas “National Treasure” is a brisk, fun, not too taxing intellectually in any way but nonetheless satisfactory adventure/caper film from director Jon Turtletaub and seems-to-be-everywhere-doing-everything producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Starring Nicolas Cage, the film and its producers keep things fun at every step.

title: Blade: Trinity function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: New Line Home Entertainment MPAA rating: R starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, Parker Posey, Dominic Purcell film release year: 2004 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Three Stars sound/picture rating: Three-and-a-Half Stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan, the “Blade” movies have always been more action than horror-oriented (director Guillermo Del Toro came the closest to making a scary one with “Blade 2”). The series chronicles the adventures of vampire-hating, half-vampire Blade (Wesley Snipes), a “Daywalker” with the ability to do what the title suggests. Rather than run-ins with individual vamps, the films focus on Blade’s confrontations with various aspects of the fairly intricate vampire establishment. This time, writer David S. Goyer, who also scripted the previous two editions, is at the reins. He brings in something that is reasonably entertaining yet doesn’t do much to deepen either the main character or the overall mythology. In the ...

title: Die Hard 2: Die Harder function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment MPAA rating: R starring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton, William Sadler release year: 1990 film rating: Three stars sound/picture: Three-and-a-Half stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein Poor John McClane (Bruce Willis). He’s won back his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), he’s successfully transferred from the NYPD to the LAPD -- but come Christmas, sure enough, he’s amazed to find himself in "another basement, another elevator -- how can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?"