Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
In 1868, ships are being sunk by what appears to be a monster. Investigating scientists PaulLukas and Peter Lorre discover that it is, in fact, a submarine, when their ship is struck. They arepicked up, along with sailor Kirk Douglas, by Captain Nemo (James Mason) of the Nautilus. IsNemo a genius or megalomaniac? Villain or hero? Both? Our heroes wrestle with these questionsover the course of their adventures. The special effects, almost 50 years old, still stand up well(wi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 3rd, 2003
Inspector Gadget returns to take on the nefarious Dr. Claw who has just escaped from prison in small town Riverton. Throw into the mix an all new and improved G2…all-robot, all-tech and all-female gadget and we have the potential for a ton of fun. Inspector Gadget (this time around played by French Stewart and G2 (Elaine Hendrix) are set to save the world with help from Penny, her dog Brain and the tricked-out Gadgetmobile.
Video
Full bright and colorful scenes and characters the quality o...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
A flying saucer lands in Washington, causing widespread paranoia. Emerging from thesaucer are the ominous robot Gort, and the human-looking Klaatu (Michael Rennie). Klaatucomes with a warning for Earth (get your act together or be wiped out), but he will speak only torepresentatives from all nations. This turns out to be a difficult proposition. Klaatu escapes fromthe authorities and blends in with the population as he learns about humans. The questionbecomes whether he wil...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 17th, 2003
Film
M. Night Shyamalan, the brilliant director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, comes through again with his latest film Signs. Buena Vista has given Shyamalan his due respect by adding Signs to their Vista Series of DVD’s.
Synopsis
One morning on their farm in Buck’s County, Pennsylvania the Hess family wake up to find a 500 foot crop circle in the corn fields in their back yard. Watching the news brings them reports of similar circles showing up ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 30th, 2002
Synopsis
Jennifer (Camille Keaton) leaves New York for a summer in the country. Four low-lifes rapeher, beat her, and leave her for dead. She strikes back most violently. This is the nec plus ultraof rape-revenge films, the yardstick against which all others are measured. The gang rape isharrowingly brutal, and goes on for almost half an hour. The film is cheap and raw, and has itsflaws, but is also searingly powerful in the unflinching realism of its violence. For this, and forits ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 17th, 2002
Synopsis
Beary Barrington (voice of Haley Joel Osment) runs away from his (human) adoptive familyto seek out Country Bear Hall. When it turns out that the evil Christopher Walken hasdevelopment plans that include the Hall’s demolition, Beary is determined to re-unite theCountry Bears for a benefit concert that will save the Hall.
Audio
The big star of the soundtrack is the music -- arena-style country rock that will either haveyou stomping your feet or slitt...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2002
Synopsis
It is World War II, and Wendy's daughter Jane, living in a constantly bombed London, has given up on childhood dreams. Her disillusion ends when she is kidnapped by Captain Hook and brought to Never Land. The animation is in no way up to Disney's current theatrical standard, but is leaps and bounds beyond other direct-to-video fare. The problem is, this WAS released theatrically. Anyway, the London sequences are nicely atmospheric, but things go rather flat and ordinary once we reach Never L...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 25th, 2002
Aliens was one of those rare sequels that must include T2 where everything gets taken up a notch without spoiling the elements that made the first successful. This is not to say Aliens is better than the original, but very different yet somehow very much the same. Sigourney Weaver acts with a confidence made possible by the first film. It’s hard to believe but Ripley just gets stronger. The story is much more complex but still retains the chilling simplicity of a horrible creature stalking its prey. There are more cr...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 18th, 2002
“In space no one can hear you scream” was the slogan that drew a conglomerate of horror and science fiction fans to theatres in 1979. Was it horror or sci-fi? Alien turned out to be a rare cross-genre film that managed to satisfy both audiences. Ridley Scott started out by bringing the “space ship” film away from the glamorous bright future and depicted a world startlingly very much like our own. In Scott’s gritty future companies are quasi-government agencies and these astronauts are not explorers out for glory and...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2002
This film has been met with mixed but mostly rave reviews (Maltin only gives it 2.5 stars) since it was released. I loved it. It wasn’t just the spaceships and groundbreaking effects but the well-rounded cast that makes this film a future classic for me. Goldblume’s quirky nerd works perfectly here (more than it did in Jurassic Park), Quaid is a simple joy, Will Smith showed that he has grown out of the “Fresh Prince” stereotype, and anyone who thought Judd Hirsh wasn’t anything more than Taxi’s Alex must have been awed by his performance.
![Alien: 20th Anniversary Edition [Award Series] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/alien-20th-anniversary-edition-award-series-large.jpg)
