title: Eolomea 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: DEFA distributor: Ice Storm/First Run Features MPAA rating: Unrated starring: Cox Habbema, Ivan Andonov, Rolfe Hoppe, Vsevolod Sanayev, Peter Slabakov, Wolfgang Greese, Holger Mahlich director: Hermann Zschoche film release year: 1972 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Two and a Half Stars sound/picture rating: Three Stars reviewed by: Bill Warren During the Cold War, movie companies behind the Iron Curtain went ahead and made movies without much hope of selling them to the West. East Germany’s DEFA studios was especially busy, and occasionally made reasonably elaborate science fiction movies. One of these, a Polish coproduction entitled “Der Schweigende Stern” (1960; The Silent Star), was cut a little, redubbed and released in the U.S. as “First Spaceship on Venus.”

title: H.G. Wells' War Of The Worlds 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: The Asylum Home Entertainment MPAA rating: NR starring: C. Thomas Howell, Andy Lauer, Rhett Giles, Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots, Dashiell Howell, Jake Busey, Kim Little. director: David Michael Latt DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Two Stars sound/picture rating: Two Stars reviewed by: Bill Warren With this, Audio Revolution reviews all three of movies based on H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel The War of the Worlds released in 2005. The big-scale Spielberg/Cruise War of the Worlds was a substantial hit theatrically (and is still playing here and there). The version entitled “H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds,” a three-hour effort set in 1890s England (but shot in Seattle) went to DVD earlier, and is available mostly at Wal-Mart. The 1953 version will be reissued on DVD in November. This low-budget, earnest outing has a slightly different title: “H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds” and a contemporary setting, but it, too, is based reasonably closely on ...

title: H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds 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: Pendragon Pictures distributor: Sterling MPAA rating: NR director Timothy Hines DVD release year: 2005 (straight to video) film rating: One star sound/picture rating: One star reviewed by: Bill Warren Now that H.G. Wells’ famous 1898 novel The War of the Worlds has entered public domain, and there’s a heavily-publicized, very expensive new movie version from Steven Spielberg, there are now several movie versions to choose from. In addition to the Spielberg version, titled “War of the Worlds,” there is, of course, the 1953 version, “The War of the Worlds,” already out on DVD, but due to be reissued in a extras-laden DVD in November. Then there’s a minor movie called “Invasion” while in production, but which hastily became “H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds” just before its release on DVD. A CGI-animated feature based on Jeff Wayne’s 1975 musical version—heretofore only a recording (but featuring Richard Burton)—is due for release in 2006 or 2007. (Note that the ...

title: Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of The Clones 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: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment MPAA rating: PG starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz release year: 2002 film rating: Three Stars sound/picture: Five Stars reviewed by: Mel Odom “Star Wars” is arguably the largest science fiction franchise in the history of filmmaking. The initial three offerings ignited a whole world of dreamers who went to sleep at night reaching out for lightsabers and longing to be one with the Force. Back in 1977, most viewers had lost touch with the Joseph Campbell views of the quintessential hero in his marvelous book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” and the 12-step outline of a world myth. Today’s audiences are more jaundiced, more in step with how such stories are presented.

title: Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace 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: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment MPAA rating: PG starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd release year: 1999 film rating: Four Stars sound/picture: Four-and-a-Half Stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein Digital special effects seem to advance with the speed of spaceships in hyperdrive. No sooner have we marveled at one breathtaking technological achievement than another whooshes past, taking the lead. This thought may occur to viewers of "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace," now on DVD two-and-a-half years after its theatrical release.