title: Swamp Thing   studio: MGM Home Video MPAA rating: PG starring: Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, David Hess, Nicolas Worth, Ray Wise, Dick Durock, Don Knight, Reggie Batts, Nannette Brown release year: 1982 film rating: Three stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Poor Swamp Thing; ever since he was created for DC comics by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, he's been hounded by the government, mad scientist Arcane, miscellaneous monsters -- and finally by the movies, but that turned out better for him. Prompted no doubt by the smash success of 'Superman' in 1979, producer Benjamin Melniker partnered with comic book-loving Michael Uslan to make this film, written and directed by Wes Craven -- who was determined to do Swamp Thing justice.

title: Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Kahn 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: Paramount Home Video MPAA rating: PG-13 starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Ricardo Montalban, Kirstie Alley release year: 1982 film rating: Three stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein Paramount Pictures, its licensing and merchandising departments and, of course, ‘Star Trek’ fandom all have cause to offer thanks to ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.’ As that ‘II’ in the title indicates, this wasn’t the first time the original ‘Star Trek’ series – you know, the one that ran on TV for three seasons, 1966-1969, yanked due to perceived lack of interest – had been brought to the big screen with all of its major cast members. However, 1979’s ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ was so reverent and heavy that it felt slow as a walk on the moon, but making enough at the box office to justify giving the enterprise (pun intended) one more shot. ‘II’ was the movie that ...

title: ID4: Independence Day 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: 20th Century Fox Home Video MPAA rating: PG-13 starring: Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, Vivica Fox, Margaret Colin, Judd Hirsch, Mary McDonnell, Brent Spiner, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Harve Fierstein, Harry Connick, Jr release year: 1996 film rating: Three and a half stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein INDEPENDENCE DAY is all the fireworks of the 4th of July in one movie, as well as all of the patriotism, and all of the corn. Especially all of the corn. The movie, about the invasion of Earth by very well-armed aliens, borrows heavily from movies of the past, particularly WAR OF THE WORLDS and EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, while adopting the disaster-movie format. And why not? Those too were huge, cornball epics, stuffed to the gills with special effects; there wasn't a deep thought in any of them, but audiences had a grand time with the best.

title: Quatermass 2 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: Anchor Bay Entertainment MPAA rating: NR starring: Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sid James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn, Tom Chatto, John Van Eyssen, Percy Herbert, Vera Day release year: 1957 film rating: Four and a half stars reviewed by: Bill Warren In the early 1950s, BBC television writer Nigel Kneale wrote a six-part, three-hour serial called "The Quatermass Experiment" -- which became the most popular show aired on British TV until that time. Hammer Films bought the rights, and turned it into a movie, THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (yes, spelled that way), which was released in the U.S. as THE CREEPING UNKNOWN, directed by Val Guest. Tough-guy American actor Brian Donlevy played rocketry expert Bernard Quatermass, who has to deal, firmly, with an alien presence in London. Are you getting bored with this history lesson yet?

title: 4D Man 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: Image Entertainment starring: Robert Lansing, Lee Meriwether, James Congdon, Robert Strauss, Edgar Stehli, Patty Duke release year: 1959 film rating: Three and a Half Stars reviewed by: Bill Warren When the original THE BLOB made a ton of money, producer Jack H. Harris saw the handwriting on the wall, and made another inexpensive but imaginative science fiction film the next year. Much of the same creative team worked on 4D MAN, and like THE BLOB, it was filmed far from Hollywood, in Pennsylvania. And like THE BLOB, it's well above average for this kind of movie. Screenwriters Theodore Simonson and Cy Chermak created solid characters, and added a few mildly surprising turns of plot. The movie is hampered a little by its budget; the special effects almost always give themselves away (though there is at least one stunning shot involving a mailbox that defies analysis), and art director William Jersey seems to have made a ...