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This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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Past DVD Hardware / Software News |
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Action-Adventure
Tuesday, 10 October 2000 |
Written by
Bill Warren
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title:
Jurassic Park (DTS)
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studio:
Universal Home Video
MPAA rating:
PG-13
starring:
Sam
Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Joseph
Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Martin
Ferrero
release year:
1993
film rating:
Four and a Half stars
reviewed by:
Bill Warren
Whatever you think of Steven Spielberg as a director, there's no doubt
that he generally has his finger right on the pulse of the public. For
better or worse, he's responsible for more audience-jazzing
blockbusters than any other director in movie history, and few have
busted blocks more thrillingly than his 1993 smash hit, "Jurassic
Park." It led to the Spielberg-directed sequel, "The Lost World:
Jurassic Park II," as well as to the merely Spielberg-produced
"Jurassic Park III," romping through your local theaters in the summer
of 2001.
Tuesday, 08 August 2000 |
Written by
Bill Warren
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title:
Supergirl
studio:
Anchor Bay Home Entertainment
MPAA rating:
PG
starring:
Helen Slater, Faye Dunaway, Peter O'Toole, Peter Cook, Brenda Vaccaro, Maureen Teefy, Hart Bochner, Simon Ward, Mia Farrow
release year:
1984
film rating:
One-and-a-half stars
reviewed by:
Bill Warren
This two-disc set is one of Anchor Bay's most elaborate productions to
date, and doesn't even include the American cut of the film. One disc
has the 124-minute "international version," with commentary by director
Jeannot Szwarc; the other has the original director's cut, running 138
minutes, which has never before been released to the public. There are
also extensive storyboards, stills, production sketches, trailers and
other material.
All of this in service of a terrible movie.
Tuesday, 06 June 2000 |
Written by
Abbie Bernstein
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title:
Lethal Weapon (Director's Cut)
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document.open();
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document.close();<br>
studio:
Warner Home Video
MPAA rating:
Unrated
starring:
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey
release year:
1987
reviewed by:
Abbie Bernstein
For those who can’t remember, the title of ‘Lethal Weapon’ does not
refer to a gun, a bomb or a motor vehicle. It also didn’t – at the time
of its 1987 original theatrical release - refer to the three official
sequels that followed, let alone the copycat buddy-action genre flicks
that sprang up in its wake.
Tuesday, 30 May 2000 |
Written by
Bill Warren
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title:
Conan The Barbarian
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document.open();
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studio:
Universal Home Video
MPAA rating:
R
starring:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Sandahl Bergman, Gerry Lopez, Max von Sydow, Mako, Ben Davidson, Valerie Quennessen
release year:
1982
film rating:
Four stars
reviewed by:
Bill Warren
'Conan the Barbarian' rouses all kinds of contradictory responses and
comments. At once irritating and entertaining, it's also sophisticated
and childish, imaginative and prosaic, exciting and ponderous, stunning
and forgettable. It's hard to resist the idea that it would have been
better if the Robert E. Howard's ideas had been adhered to more
faithfully -- but then would the film have been the hit it was? Would
John Milius have agreed to direct it?
Tuesday, 25 April 2000 |
Written by
Bill Warren
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title:
The Great Locomotive Chase
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:
Anchor Bay Entertainment
MPAA rating:
NR
starring:
Fess Parker, Jeffrey Hunter, John Lupton, Jeff York, Eddie Firestone, Kenneth Tobey, Don Megowan, Harry Carey, Jr., Slim Pickens
release year:
1956
film rating:
Three-and-a-half stars
reviewed by:
Bill Warren
The first Medals of Honor, granted by Congress, were given on March 25,
1863 to the six military survivors of what became known as "Andrews'
Raid." 'The Great Locomotive Chase' is a handsomely-produced,
essentially authentic retelling of that Civil War adventure.
Embellishments have been kept to a minimum so that this is, overall,
one of the most historically accurate movies ever made in Hollywood.
It's a satisfying, engrossing movie; it's not a classic, but it's a
solid example of craftsmanship. This DVD has almost no extras, but does
the film in both the letterboxed and pan-and-scanned versions. Since it
was very ably filmed by Charles Boyle in CinemaScope, the letterboxed
version is definitely to be preferred.
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