DVD

Average customer rating:

A true classic!!!
I <3 Lestat! I <3 this movie!
The Movie That Introduced The World to the Modern Vampire
A Masterpiece
An erotic vampire tale!

Interview with the Vampire
Starring: Tom Cruise , Brad Pitt , Kirsten Dunst , Stephen Rea , and Antonio Banderas
Director: Neil Jordan
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B00004RFFS
Release Date: 2000-06-06

Amazon.com essential video

When it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the vampire Lestat in this adaptation of Anne Rice's bestselling novel, even Rice chimed in with a highly publicized objection. The author wisely and justifiably recanted her negative opinion when she saw Cruise's excellent performance, which perceptively addresses the pain and chronic melancholy that plagues anyone cursed with immortal bloodlust. Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst are equally good at maintaining the dark and brooding tone of Rice's novel. And in this rare mainstream project for a major studio, director Neil Jordan compensates for a lumbering plot by honoring the literate, Romantic qualities of Rice's screenplay. Considered a disappointment while being embraced by Rice's loyal followers, the movie is too slow to be a satisfying thriller, but it is definitely one of the most lavish, intelligent horror films ever made. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

A true classic!!!.......2007-06-04

I just want to go on record and say, this is my favorite movie of all time! (Based on movies I have seen.) I saw this movie when it was first released back in 1994, and being as young as I was, I didn't understand it.

Flash foward to now. After buying and reading all of the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, I was instantly heel-bent on getting my hands on a copy of this movie! I was able to watch it again, and I must say I believe this movie is a true work of art, and an instant classic.

The adaptation from the novel to the on-screen story is changed ever so slightly (omitting some parts as most book-to-movies often do) but keeps the whole thing flowing seemlessly together, while also maintaining the substance the viewer needs to fully appreciate the film.

The acting is beyond amazing. Many people called into question Tom Cruise playing the character of Lestat (I am not a huge Tom Cruise fan either) but I can honestly say he did an amazing job with such an important role. Having Brad Pitt play alongside Cruise as the character of Louie only caused Cruise to step his game up as well. Pitt was still fairly young in this movie and he shows a dark energy about him that gelled naturally with the movie.

Who can forget the young Kirsten Dunst, as the loveable and innocent Claudia! A break-out role for the (at the time) young star that propelled her to future A-list status. (What if Leelee Sobieski had gotten the part?) Dunst plays her role so well, you do actually forget that she is just a child in the movie! Add the incredible acting by Antonio Banderas, and you do have a young all-star cast!

The story itself remains true to the novel. A tale of lonliness, friendship, immortality, loss, grief, and acceptance. This movie never over-does the story to make it more "Hollywood," they just seem to let the movie take a course of its own and let the characters do the story-telling. This movie will leave you with many questions, as well as a feeling that everything is settled and the end course has been set.

This movie is well worth every penny you spend to rent or buy it. I whole-heartedly recommend this movie for any and all movie fans! A true 5-star classic.

I <3 Lestat! I <3 this movie!.......2007-06-01

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt dont suck in this movie so dont let them scre you off. Stays true to the book and characters. I really love Lestat but Rice is a ***** that sues her fans.

The Movie That Introduced The World to the Modern Vampire.......2007-05-20

Anne Rice created the modern vampire with her novel, and the movie did it justice. Brad Pitt is definitely what makes the movie, he plays the role of the depressed vampire Louis perfectly. This the movie also has the very young Kirsten Dunst playing the role of Claudia, and she is an amazing actress for one her age at the time. The overall film is just perfect, from location to wardrobe, it feels like a trip through time. It's just a shame that the second movie wasn't as good as this movie. The movie "Interview With the Vampire" will go down in movie history as a classic and won't be forgotten any time soon if ever.

A Masterpiece.......2007-04-10

"Interview with the Vampire" is bar none, one of the best vampire films ever made. Based on the first novel in The Vampire Chronicles, by Anne Rice...Interview is directed by Oscar winner Neil Jordan ('The Crying Game') and scripted by Rice herself. I remember the first time I saw this movie, 6 years ago, and immediately reading the first book. Not only is it a great vampire film, but it's also a terrific literary adaptation. Rice only removed things from the novel that weren't completely necessary and, in doing so, created a brilliant, passionate script. The film stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas, and Christian Slater. Seeing these names doesn't really shout "masterpiece." Incredibly, every actor is suited very well for their role.
The film opens in modern day New Orleans, where a vampire named Louis (Pitt) has agreed to give a reporter (Slater) an interview. The story then jumps back to the late 1700's, where Louis was a 24-year-old, suicidal plantation owner who had recently lost his wife and child in childbirth. His invitation to death is open to anyone, but it is Lestat (Cruise) who accepts his offer. Lestat kills Louis and, before he dies, offers him the chance to live forever. Louis accepts. This offer means that Louis will live forever and stay eternally youthful, but must stay away from sunlight and must feast on the blood of others. Unable to take the lives of humans (something Lestat does with ease), Louis begins feasting on rats and other animals; When Louis ends up taking the life of a young girl, Lestat turns her into a vampire and she becomes Claudia (Dunst), the daughter/lover of Louis and Lestat. Louis and Claudia become a kind of Romeo & Juliet type, but they remain complete opposites. Claudia is more like Lestat, deadly and cruel...Odd, since she hates Lestat. Jumping ahead a bit, Louis and Claudia eventually end up in Europe where they meet Armand (Banderas), the self-proclaimed "oldest living vampire" and head of a theatre troupe called The Theatre de Vampyre. I don't want to say much more about the plot to avoid spoilers. When Cruise was cast as Lestat, Rice publicly critisized the decision but later recanted her comments when she saw the film. On the DVD, in the bonus features, she rants about how good Cruise was. And he is incredible, this is one of his best performances. I've only read the first book (I'm currently reading "The Vampire Lestat"), but Cruise captures this character so well. He's charismatic, good-looking, but capable of being cruel and evil as well. Pitt delivers one of his best performances too as Louis. Louis is a complex character, who needs to a complex performance to really capture him. Pitt handled that completely; Watch his eyes throughout the film and watch how they go from young and youthful to world weary and sad. Dunst, who was thirteen when she made the film (I think), also delivers a spectacular performance. Since the character begins as a child and, by the end of the film, is still a child but with an adult mind; Dunst showed incredibly maturity in the role. Few child actors could have captured the emotion she did. I can not rave enough about this movie. Vampire/Dracula movies are the most cliched and overly used stories out there, but "Interview with the Vampire" is bursting with originality. It's not a horror film, despite it's subject matter. It's really a drama and much of Louis's story is heartbreaking. The gothic look that Jordan gave the film works very well to set the tone and atmosphere of the film. Even if you're a person who despises horror films or movies about vampires, I highly recommend this movie.

GRADE: A

An erotic vampire tale!.......2007-04-07

This is one of my all-time favorite vampire movies. The cast led by Tom Cruise as the vampire Lestat, and Brad Pitt as the vampire Louis does an excellent job of bringing to life Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. The costumes and sets are evocative of the respective eras the vampires live through, and the cinematography is lush and sensual, evoking the decadent lifestyle that Lestat leads...even Kirsten Dunst has a role here as a child vampire, and her famous line "I want some more" has been rendered immortal in movie history. The chemistry between Lestat [Cruise] & Louis [Pitt] is believable and in fact, they give one of their best dramatic performances in this movie. All in all, a cinematic treat.

Average customer rating:

Fascinating in car footage, otherwise it's 1960s kitsch.
Spectacular footage
It will never be surpassed. The best race movie ever.
The best auto racing movie ever.
Simply the best racing movie I have ever seen

Grand Prix (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Starring: James Garner , Eva Marie Saint , Yves Montand , Toshirô Mifune , and Brian Bedford
Director: John Frankenheimer
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000FFJYCU
Release Date: 2006-07-11

Amazon.com essential video

Light on story, this 1966 spectacle directed by John Frankenheimer was shot in 70 millimeter, with a cinematically enthralling emphasis on unique, visceral new ways of capturing the sensations of a car race. James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, and Toshiro Mifune are part of the stellar, international cast whose characters plod through assorted relationship and business conflicts. But the film's real hook is the thrilling and inventive means by which Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) brings an urgency to the drama happening on the racetrack. A true master of the plastic techniques of obtaining and cutting kinetic footage, Frankenheimer offers more than a joyride to viewers: he makes action part of the compelling language of stories. Cameras are strapped to vehicles as they round the track, shots are taken from a helicopter, the screen is split between angles for maximum impact--even if Grand Prix doesn't rank among the director's best character-driven stories, it is certainly driven on its own terms. --Tom Keogh

On the DVD
The much-anticipated release on DVD does not disappoint, with a pristine restored print and upgraded 5.1 Dolby sound. Of course, the Cinerama film can only be fully appreciated if you sit very close to your screen. The absence of a commentary track is forgivable, since director John Frankenheimer died in 2002. "Pushing the Limit" is your standard 30-minute retrospective with many new interviews with the stars and drivers. The universal opinion is that the film caught Formula One at the exact right time when the beauty of the sport was about to be changed in favor of safety and commercialism. There are some fascinating stories on how they were able to use real race footage so seamlessly. "Flat Out" continues the vibe of what racing was like in the '60s with more interviews from the real racers. "The Style and Sound of Speed" talks about designer Saul Bass and how he created the film's different approaches to each race and the cutting-edge use of montages and multiple screens. The vintage doc is kitschy but allows us to see the filming in action (the footage is used extensively in the new featurettes). --Doug Thomas

Description

Nine races. One champion. James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford and Antonio Sabato portray Formula I drivers competing to be the best in this slam-you-into-the-driver's seat tale of speed, spectacle and intertwined personal lives. Eva Marie Saint and Toshiro Mifune also star. John Frankenheimer (who 32 years later would again stomp the pedal to the metal for the car chases of Ronin) directs this winner of 3 Academy Awards?,* crafting split-screen images to capture the overlapping drama and orchestrating you-are-there POV camerawork to intensify the hard-driving thrills. Nearly 30 top drivers take part in the excitement, so buckle up, movie fans. Race with the best to the head of the pack.

DVD Features:
Theatrical Trailer
Documentaries
Featurette

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating in car footage, otherwise it's 1960s kitsch........2007-06-26

Being an afficiando of vintage racing I was intrigued to finally see this film on DVD. It started off well, with views of mid 1960s Monaco, and in car footage that will have race fans glued to the screen. The next HOUR or so was frankly a chore to sit through. After half an hour I was thinking "Come on, get on with a story" and glancing at my watch. But it seemed to be composed largely of poor soap opera love interest stories done 1960s style. The acting is generally poor, replete with painfully forced laughter and smiling. And although it was good to see some real drivers mingling with the actors- well, they're drivers not actors.Some of the scenes have dated very badly too (especially the "groovy" party scene with young people shaking their heads to some 60s pop song-that was hilarious) delegating a large chunk of the movie firmly into the realms of kitsch. My patience was rewarded after an hour with footage of Spa.

It also has the worst soundtrack to a major film that I ever heard. The 5 minute "Overture" prior to the films commencement is one of the most hilariously poor mismatches between visuals and audio that I've encountered.

I don't mind a bit of retro nostalgia, but I wasn't expecting, or wanting it in a film like Grand Prix.

Spectacular footage.......2007-05-17

In hollywood today, this movie would have been made with big-budget visual effects, computer generated racing cars, fake scenery, etc. Watching this movie, I couldn't help but be in total awe of the racing footage captured. It's all real...no computer graphics. This is one amazing picture. I wish more movies were made this way rather than entirely in the computer.

It will never be surpassed. The best race movie ever........2007-05-16

This is one of those mysteries in the history of filmaking... However talented John Frankenheimer and the actors involved were / are, how could someone have imagined that a racing car movie made in 1966, I REPEAT, 1966, would still be, in 2007, head and shoulders bette than all the race movies ever made, before or after!!

Because "Grand Prix" is a master-piece. I will not talk about the amzaing camera angles, the perfect edition, the fact that the actor themselves drive the cars (F3 cars, it's true...), makin a montage with the actual race, the fact that the plot, altough simple, is engaging and makes you cheer for each one of the drivers.

No. I'll talk about the "feel" of the movie. It flows effortlessly, with class, energy, everything.

The best auto racing movie ever........2007-05-12

I first saw this movie in original release on the BIG screen. Since the invention of the DVD I have been waiting for Grand Prix.
The wait is finally over, and it was worth it.
Beautiful cinematography, a great score, and the cars, oh the cars.

Simply the best racing movie I have ever seen.......2007-04-30

A great balance between story line and racing footage, and the extra material is compelling

Average customer rating:

Fun for the whole family
A favorite
this movie is great!!!
Good movie for age appropiate children
Great kids movie

Spy Kids
Starring: Antonio Banderas , Louis Black , Dick Clark , George Clooney , and Alan Cumming
Manufacturer: Dimension/Walt Disney Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00003CXWJ
Release Date: 2001-09-18

Amazon.com

Carmen and Juni Cortez will soon find out that their favorite bedtime story, "The Spies Who Fell in Love," is really the story of their parents. So begins this affable fantasy, a James Bond adventure for wee ones with all the trimmings. When Dad and Mom (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) mess up their first mission after coming out of retirement, their kids must come to the rescue, equipped with some cool gadgets. The Cortez family gets involved in a bizarre plot hatched by a Pee-wee Herman-type entertainer named Fegan Floop (a wonderfully hammy Alan Cumming) that's as giddy as it is ridiculous. Needless to say there is plenty of derring-do concerning long-lost uncles, goofy monsters, double agents, evil robots, look-alikes, and energized chases. Did we mention the gadgets? Although Banderas and Gugino make terrific impressions, the movie is carried (as it should be) by the younger Cortezes, winningly played by Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara. Who would have thought an action/horror studio (Dimension) and writer-director Robert Rodriguez had this pleasing family film up their sleeves? Rodriquez (who produced with his wife Elizabeth Avellán) seemed to be mired in cheesy horror films but here breaks out by capitalizing on the talent that gave him instant status with his debut, El Mariachi (1992). Spy Kids has plenty of verve but never swerves into potty humor (OK, there is one good potty joke) or wicked gunplay. All 7-year-olds should have a film as fun as this in their movie-going lives. --Doug Thomas

Description

Bursting with an awesome array of ultracool, high-tech gadgetry, SPY KIDS delivers enough thrilling entertainment to satisfy the entire family! Nine years ago, top international spies Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) traded the excitement of espionage for the adventure of parenthood! But when they're called out on a secret mission, the Cortezes are separated from their family and kidnapped by the evil Fegan Floop. Fortunately, there are two people who possess the skills and know-how to reunite the family: Carmen and Juni Cortez, their kids! Your family will love every fun-filled second as Carmen and Juni bravely crisscross the globe in a thrilling quest to save their parents. All the while, they discover that keeping the family together is the most important mission in the world for kids and parents alike!

Customer Reviews:

Fun for the whole family.......2007-05-25

Clean, thrilling fun for everyone, from the little kids to the teens (well, the teens will watch it once or twice). My elementary kids watch this over and over!

A favorite .......2007-05-08

movie for us. A family comes together when the going gets tough. Brings family values in a bright light!

this movie is great!!!.......2005-11-25

but why did everyone else copy it? there's been like 3 movies that copied it! like:
1.agent cody banks
2.catch that kid
3.incredibles
yes the incredibles copied it. the WHOLE story!! i don't know why they did that? can't they leave movies alone? like shrek was copied with monsters inc. and ice age! i'm getting tired of that at least madagascar is original.

Good movie for age appropiate children.......2005-09-29

Action packed and fun to watch. My kids loved it.

Great kids movie.......2005-09-25

This movie is full of action, adventure and creative characters without being violent and scary. My two boys loved it. It was loads of fun for my husband and I as well as there is plenty of comedy that transends generations. We have seen Spy Kids 2 as well but can't reccomend it as it contains more violence and the characters were pretty scary.

Average customer rating:

The Colossus of Rhodes
Starring: Rory Calhoun , Lea Massari , Georges Marchal , Conrado San Martín , and Ángel Aranda
Director: Sergio Leone
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B000OHZJGE
Release Date: 2007-06-26

Average customer rating:

uggg! terrible movie!
Cheyenne Autumn
Uneven, disjointed, but worth watching...
John Ford's Epic Tribute to the American Indian
Ford Trying to Milk a Dead Cow

Cheyenne Autumn
Starring: Richard Widmark , Carroll Baker , Karl Malden , Sal Mineo , and Dolores del Rio
Director: John Ford
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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The Naked Spur

ASIN: B000G6N0HI
Release Date: 2007-02-13

Product Description

Release Date: June 6th, 2006.

Amazon.com

Cheyenne Autumn is a beautiful title to grace John Ford's final Western, an earnest attempt at long last to "tell the story from the Indians' point of view." The film has moments of grandeur, thanks especially to William H. Clothier's majestic Technicolor compositions--restored to their proper Panavision dimensions on the DVD release--and moments of graceful action thanks to that peerless horseman, Ben Johnson. In other respects, the film falls short of the occasion. Ford is unambiguously supportive of the Cheyennes' resolve to bolt their assigned reservation in the desert Southwest and trek north to their ancestral lands. By emphatic contrast, most of white society, the military, the bureaucracy, and the sensationalist press are portrayed as insensitive, foolish, or downright hateful. Unfortunately, the Cheyenne are nobly wooden and, apart from some Navajo extras, played by non-Indians: Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland, Sal Mineo, Victor Jory (who's pretty magnificent, actually), and Dolores Del Rio (who's breathtakingly beautiful as ever). As for point of view, it's sympathetic cavalry officer Richard Widmark and Quaker missionary Carroll Baker through whose eyes most of the epic narrative unfolds. A scabrous Dodge City interlude in midfilm, featuring James Stewart as a thoroughly disreputable Wyatt Earp (as opposed to the noble figure Henry Fonda played in My Darling Clementine), was chopped in half after the New York roadshow opening in 1964; it's all there on the DVD. Add to the list of sympathetic whites U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz, played by Edward G. Robinson, who replaced an ailing Spencer Tracy. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

uggg! terrible movie!.......2007-05-21

historically inacurate. about only thing correct are the names of the 2 chiefs and also they had horses. not much else is correct. they bolted from the reservation area in Oklahoma, near fort reno, not the desert sw?? also contained unneeded silliness with James Stewart's segment as the marshall of dodge city ks.

Cheyenne Autumn.......2007-05-12

This is a different kind of western. A film that was very brave at the time it was made, as it was a pro indian movie. It has the story of a proud race of people who are native indian who lost their lands to the White man and were double crossed on every peace treaty made .It has the story of white people seeing injustice and betrayal of the indian people and treid to do the right thing for the indians.
Against the backdrop of the magnificent desert scenery and a proud race forced to fight to survive and to get justice.
A truly great epic of a western.

Uneven, disjointed, but worth watching..........2007-02-10

This is John Ford's last Western, and a film in which he tries to make amends for (in some films) his rather shabby treatment of Native Americans. It is not a typical Ford Western, though. Yes, it's filmed in Monumental Valley, and it boasts some of the greatest cinemtography ever in a Ford film. Yet, it seems rambling, even disjointed at times. It is Ford's longest work (clocking in at, for Ford at least, a long 158 minutes), and it feels like it could have used a little editing. There isn't much humour in it, except for the Dodge City episode, which is awkwardly inserted into the middle of the film. It really seems out of place because the rest of the film is very serious with very little comic relief included. But the episode itself is actually one of Ford's funniest scenes EVER. The banter between James Stewart, Burt Kennedy, John Carradine, and Elizabeth Allen is hilarious. The scene was originally cut out of the initial theatrical version, but then later restored for VHS/DVD releases. Ford seems to be trying something new here, but just not getting it right. This film is missing the poetry that is in many of his other Westerns. The film comes across as rather preachy, ponderous, and lumbering (even though the subject matter is definitely important). Tag Gallagher's book on Ford, he states that Ford wanted to cast actual Native Americans in the roles of Montalban, Mineo, and Roland, treating them like a Greek Chorus unable to communicate with the whites. This idea was rejected by the producers of the film. He reportedly didn't care for Alex North's score, either. Ford films always had a more traditional, folk tinged score that was used sparingly throughout his films. North's score underscores almost every scene, here. It is nice, however, to see this film widescreen. Before, it was only available in wretched, pan and scan versions, which absolutely butchered Ford's compositions. Here we get to see the spectacular photography by William Clothier, who shot this film in 70mm. Ford only completed one more feature film after this (the underrated Seven Women), and this ended up being his final Western. It's worth watching, for sure (especially if you're a Ford admirer), but it is not one of his better films.

John Ford's Epic Tribute to the American Indian.......2007-02-09

I always liked this film even though the press reviews and its viewer acceptance were mixed. John Ford uses familiar locations to tell his story. The cast is solid even though Richard Widmark does not have the presence or charisma of John Wayne, Ford's usual leading man. This is a well intentioned film just the same.

To the contrary of critical opinion, I enjoyed the Dodge City sequence with Arthur Kennedy as Doc Holliday and James Stewart as Wyatt Earp. Some say it does not fit the serious and solemn tone of the rest of the film. That is true to some extent, but the juxtaposition of cinematic styles acts to bring attention to the Indian's plight. The outrageous and bawdy nature of the Dodge City sequence shows that the imported eastern notions of a superior and sophisticated transplanted European civilization are not sophisticated at all. They bring chaos rather than harmony to the land on their Westward expansion.

In another scene, Karl Malden's performance as Capt. Oskar Wessels is over the top, yet his foreign accent and the fort he commands stand as a metaphor for the Nazi concentration camps of WWII. Sean McClory as Dr. O'Carberry brings stability and compassion to this awkward scene.

It was good to Patrick Wayne on hand and many of Ford's troupe of actors including Ken Curtis, John Carradine, Danny Borzage, Chuck Hayward, Mae Marsh, Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.

Mike Mazurki's soliloquy to Richard Widmark on the insignificance and effectives of his role as Sr. First Sergeant in the infantry is memorable and touching.

William H. Clothier's cinematography is beautiful leaving one with an impressionistic idea of the Indians' eternal tie to the land.

I read where Ford was not pleases with Alex North's score but perhaps North's score ushered in the deathknell of the American Western as CHEYENNE AUTUMN was certainly one of the last great films of the genre.

Ford Trying to Milk a Dead Cow.......2007-01-19

Ford goes to the well with all his familiar tools (Monument Valley, U.S. Calvary, Indian Wars, etc.) and comes back dry, to put it nicely.

Great cast- Widmark, Mauldin, Stewart, Robinson, etc labor through an abominable script with the intellectual depth of a deodorant commercial.

At its best, it is flat, contrived and silly and at it worst it is unnecessarily stupid- Latinos and Italians with five o'clock shadow playing Native Americans. Give me a break.

Average customer rating:

A classic adventure story
Gypped with Glee
"I'll Be A Castaway. . no more. . "
worst film I have ever seen
In Search of the Castaways

In Search of the Castaways
Starring: Maurice Chevalier , Hayley Mills , George Sanders , Wilfrid Hyde-White , and Michael Anderson Jr.
Director: Robert Stevenson
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
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ASIN: B00005JLJC
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Amazon.com

In Search of the Castaways was Hayley Mills's third feature for Disney, an agreeable adventure--loosely based on a Jules Verne story--with enough derring-do to make kids happy and with the right touch of self-conscious silliness to keep adults smiling. Mills plays Mary Grant, a missing freighter captain's daughter convinced her father is still alive somewhere in Earth's southern hemisphere. With the help of her brother (Keith Hamshire) and a veteran seaman (an extremely unlikely if charming Maurice Chevalier), Mary convinces a shipping magnate, Lord Glenarvan (Wilfrid Hyde-White), to set sail and find the missing Captain Grant. The team survives freezing weather, avalanches, a menacing condor, an active volcano, Maori captors, and a plot by a slick George Sanders to steal a ship. Meanwhile, Mary and Glenarvan's rakish son, John (Michael Anderson Jr.), engage in flirtatious feuding. The many memorable action sequences are wildly improbable (all the more so watching the nonchalant Chevalier have a go at Indiana Jones-like heroics) and liberally employ old-fashioned process shots, mattes, paintings, and other pre-digital special effects. The incomparable Hyde-White looks as if he's having fun alternately harrumphing and encouraging good old British resolve, while Sanders effortlessly portrays, for the umpteenth time, his brand of enchanting villainy. Directed by Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins). In Search of the Castaways is presented here in its original, full-screen format. --Tom Keogh

Description

Embark on an amazing adventure awash with intrigue over land and sea, now on Disney DVD for the first time! Hayley Mills stars as fearless Mary Grant, whose only clue to her missing father -- a sea captain -- is a mysterious message in a bottle. One clue leads to a thousand thrills when Mary, her brother, and their fellow searchers must brave earthquakes, fire, flood, and even a giant condor on their perilous rescue mission. Maurice Chevalier, George Sanders, and Wilfrid Hyde-White also star in this spectacular fantasy-adventure based on celebrated novelist Jules Verne's popular book. Brimming with special effects, this is your passport to surefire family fun!

Customer Reviews:

A classic adventure story.......2007-03-26

This film is not the greatest of the Disney live action, but it does stand out in it's own way. It is also the movie where Disney realized that Haley Mills was beginning to grow up. Based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, In Search of the Castaways is full of comedy, giant birds, crazed seaman, and Maurice Chevalier.

Gypped with Glee.......2007-01-03

They very happily sold me a DVD that would not work in our "region." I see that I am not the first to be cheated either.
They would not even consider trading the item for one that would work in the U.S. What jerks. I will never buy from them again.

"I'll Be A Castaway. . no more. . ".......2006-11-12

Fairly decent Disney flick that for the most part I have found no bad feelings for other than the fact I think this movie on a whole should be remade with todays newest special effects technology. That wintery snowy descent from the side of the mountain on loosened cliff cries for a breezier special effect showcase. OK, so some of the effects in this movie appear adlibbed and trifle, but I've by far seen worse in other movies that didn't sink into the sea. I could follow the story quite well and it certainly amused me from beginning to end, so it couldn't have as bad as one reviewer claims. I can not stand stupid insipid movies myself without giving them the heave ho or channel check.
The sum of this action adventure movie garnered a higher mark than a one star, and I'm glad that other reviewers appreciated it, as I.

worst film I have ever seen.......2006-08-06

The only reason to rent this film is so that you can laugh at the stupidity of it. The writing was terrible, the plot so unrealistic, and the "special effects" horrible. This is by far the cheesiest and dumbest film ever made. Why Haley Mills agreed to star in it is beyond me.

In Search of the Castaways.......2006-07-21

If you're a Hayley Mills fan and a child of the 60s and 70s, then you will love this movie. It has great action, comedy, and sweet romance.

Average customer rating:

Very good filmmaking
Please Wake Me Up - This Movie Put Me in a DEEP Sleep
Typical De Palma
A De Palma lightning rod
The Prelude to the 2005 Butterfly Affect

Femme Fatale
Starring: Rebecca Romijn , Antonio Banderas , Peter Coyote , Eriq Ebouaney , and Edouard Montoute
Director: Brian De Palma
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Uncovered

ASIN: B0000897EA
Release Date: 2003-03-25

Amazon.com

The sheer pleasure of watching movies is celebrated in Brian De Palma's dazzling Femme Fatale. Working from his own intricate screenplay, De Palma indulges all of his trademark obsessions, upping the ante on Hitchcock (again) with a Vertigo-like plot that begins with an audacious heist at the Cannes film festival (another sexy, violent tour de force for De Palma). From there, the stunning thief Laure (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) assumes a new identity, marries a U.S. senator (Peter Coyote), and returns to Paris where a tenacious paparazzo (Antonio Banderas) becomes a patsy in her multilayered scheme. De Palma's weaving a web of nonsense, but his plotting is so exuberantly absurd--and his frame so full of visual clues and relevant detail--that Femme Fatale becomes a joyous thrill ride at first encounter, and a crazily logical (and grandly rewarding) movie on subsequent viewings. In her best role to date, Romijn-Stamos is everything you'd want a femme fatale to be, in a thriller that constantly challenges you to question what you're seeing. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Femme Fatale is a contemporary film noir about an alluring seductress (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) suddenly exposed to the world -- and her enemies -- by a voyeuristic photographer (Antonio Banderas) who becomes ensnared in her surreal quest for revenge.

Customer Reviews:

Very good filmmaking.......2007-04-24

(3.5/5 stars) With a Brian DePalma film, one can usually expect a good deal more than simply an involving story. He is a talented craftsman, who delights in making his films into an experience. In "Femme Fatale," which DePalma both wrote and directed, he draws us in from the onset by refusing to show the face of our heroine. Then, a prolonged scene to set up the story, in which Ravel's "Bolero" is used to good effect. Set against the backdrop of a film premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, this scene is a wonder to behold. The plot of the film is rather implausible and requires some suspension of disbelief in order to appreciate it. If one does invest the time and effort, however, the film provides enough action and plot to hold one's interest. Ultimately, DePalma gives his audience credit for recognizing the difference between fact and fiction, so he has fun with the plot twists and turns. I won't go into the story here because I don't want to give away anything. Fans of Antonio Banderas might be disappointed because he doesn't show up for the first forty-five minutes or so. This is really Rebecca Romijn's movie, and she does a very decent job. It is worth watching at least once and might be worth owning if you are a DePalma or Romijn fan.

Please Wake Me Up - This Movie Put Me in a DEEP Sleep.......2007-02-26

I had very high expectations for this movie, especially given a great Director, Robecca Romijn, and Antonio Banderas.

Way wrong! The movie has a bit of a european flair due to much of it being filmed in Paris - however - the movie plot is very difficult to follow, and takes too much effort to try and understand whats going on.

Please let me save you the money - select another movie.

Typical De Palma.......2006-09-15

My title says it all. This is a director who has a groove, has his audience, and has his story-lines, each and every production. He is one of my all time favorite directors of all time, perhaps second only to Alfred Hitchcock.

The story, yes, is a bit confusing at times, but who cares? The mesmerizing story-line and wonderful soundtrack are what makes this movie so wonderful!

I give it two high hard thumbs up! WAY UP!!!

MC White said: Check it out!!!

A De Palma lightning rod.......2006-09-06

Femme Fatale is probably De Palma's most controversial film. It is truly a love-it or hate-it film. Critics were almost totally split on the film. A lot thought it was a total piece of trash, others thought it was a masterpiece of neo-noir filmmaking. Heck, this movie even somewhat split De Palma's most loyal fans down the middle. One thing is for sure: Femme Fatale proved to me once and for all that Brian De Palma is one of the most fearless and talented directors that Hollywood ever has seen or ever will see.

The film's opening is definitely is strongest point. It opens with a 20-minute diamond heist at the Cannes Film Festival in France. This sequence is low on dialogue and high on style. De Palma does an amazing job of keeping the viewer's absolute attention to every detail (even though we still get some surprises at the end). Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays one of the thiefs, Laure Ash. The heist goes wrong (don't they always?) and Laure gets away with the diamonds. Thanks to a convenient case of mistaken identity, Laure is able to switch identities with a French woman, but not before a spying paparazzo (Antonio Banderas) takes her picture from his balcony. The film then jumps ahead seven years, and Laure is back in Paris, but this time as a completely different person, the wife of the American Ambassador to France. The trouble is, the photog is still there, too. Once a photo of Laure is released, the demons from her past come to the forefront, and the movie takes us on its twisting, downhill track to a crazy, mind-blowing final 20 minutes that will either make you flip off the TV or scream, "I love Brian De Palma!" For me, it was the latter.

I think this film is absolutely De Palma's most daring film, and one of his most interesting screenplays. As with all De Palma's, you will either love or hate this movie, but one this is for sure: it will definitely evoke a reaction from all its viewers, and De Palma is one of the few guys who can be relied on for that these days.

The Prelude to the 2005 Butterfly Affect.......2006-06-28

This is not for the underaged due to the same sex scenes in the beginning scenes, otherwise it is an excellent drama. It is about a ruthless thief who finds redemtion after she and her partner betray their gang. Excllent twists and turns with a curious and amazing ending!

Average customer rating:

Great Sci-Fi
There is a hole in this "Sphere"
This movie sucks ass
Not Too Bad A Film, But--
Inexplicably bad. What happened??

Sphere
Starring: Dustin Hoffman , Sharon Stone , Samuel L. Jackson , Peter Coyote , and Liev Schreiber
Director: Barry Levinson
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Event Horizon (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)
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Congo

ASIN: 079073639X
Release Date: 1998-07-14

Amazon.com

From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes this equally derivative and flaccid movie, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension and excitement out of material that doesn't match their talents. You're supposed to find awe and mystery in Crichton's story about a team of scientists and scholars who discover a 300-year-old alien spacecraft deep on the ocean floor, but mostly you feel that this is all much ado about nothing. The exploration team consists of a psychologist (Dustin Hoffman), mathematician (Samuel L. Jackson), biochemist (Sharon Stone), and an astrophysicist (Liev Schreiber), and when they enter the alien ship they discover a mysterious sphere inside. What they don't know is that the sphere has the power to manipulate their thoughts and perceptions, and before long the scientists' undersea habitat is a veritable haunted house of frightening visions and creeping paranoia. Who can be trusted? What is the sphere's purpose, and why is it on the ocean floor? Sphere makes some attempt to answer these questions, but the film is a mess, and it leads to one of the most anticlimactic endings of any science fiction film ever made. There are moments of high intensity and psychological suspense, and the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But it's clear that this was a hurried production (Hoffman and director Barry Levinson made Wag the Dog during an extended production delay), and as a result Sphere looks and feels like a film that wasn't quite ready for the cameras. Though it's by no means a waste of time, it's undeniably disappointing. The special edition DVD includes audio commentary by Hoffman and Jackson and a behind-the-scenes featurette, Shaping the Sphere: The Art of the Special Effects Supervisor, exploring the alien ship's design and creation by special effects technicians. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Great Sci-Fi.......2007-05-20

NORMAN "I hate to be the one non-scientist who
picks this up, guys..."

There is a hole in this "Sphere".......2007-04-02

One wonders what happened to this movie that could have turned it into such a shaggy dog. The cast is first rate(Dustin Hoffman , Samuel L. Jackson , Sharon Stone) and a first rate director in Barry Levinson, but the sum doesn't equal the whole in this mess.
A recently found spaceship in the ocean is found to be 300 years old and still working it appears. So a group is sent to check it out. They find smoke and mirrors but very little substance as this movie unfolds , and it takes 2 & 1/2 HOURS to get to the weakest ending of a movie in a long time!!!!!!
This shows signs of production problems and even post filming cuts and still it comes down to great talent wasted on a movie that wouldn't pass muster as a Saturday morning cartoon much less a major motion picture.

This movie sucks ass.......2006-12-31

I just finished watching it. I have to agree with the negative reviews here. It's a confusing, boring and stupid movie.

Not Too Bad A Film, But--.......2006-12-28

When a movie starts with almost five minutes of slow, dull, opening credits, you know that is not a good sign of things to come. While the original book by Michael Crichton is not the best science fiction that he has written, it is a story told by a competent author, however, the movie version is not nearly as competent as it has some plot holes an eighteen-wheel truck can roar through. But putting aside the plot, the directing and the acting by its stars, Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson-- makes the movie fairly watchable.

Critics complain about the ending, though, and rightfully so. But the fault lies not with anybody associated with the movie, but with Michael Crichton himself who seems to have written himself into a corner and didn't know how to get out of it in a better way. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it's sometthing of a disappointment. But right up til the end, the movie is enjoyable enough so for that reason I give it three stars .

As an added feature we get, among other things, some less than thrilling look at the production designer's job, which can be forgotten about, but also Samuel L. Jackson's commentary on the film which is both really nteresting and enjoyable to hear.

Inexplicably bad. What happened??.......2006-12-03

This movie is bad and it's the kind of bad that makes movie fans ask, "What in the world went wrong?" You start with a Michael Crichton novel, add Barry Levinson, a cast featuring Sam Jackson, Sharon Stone, Peter Coyote and, yes, Dustin Hoffman...and you end up with an inexplicably bad product. The special effect look expensive...and bad. The plot starts off ok, if somewhat formulaic and then just falls apart. Dustin Hoffman's performance, even, is laughable...something that just is never said of Dustin Hoffman. There just HAS to be a fascinating backstory to what went wrong and if someone would film the backstory, THAT would be a good movie, I'd bet.

Average customer rating:

"Could Have Been Better"
RIGHT ON! SWEET SISTAH!
She Isn't Some Lame Wonder Woman
Dreaming Big
Cleopatra Jones

Cleopatra Jones
Starring: Tamara Dobson , Bernie Casey , Brenda Sykes , Antonio Fargas , and Dan Frazer
Director: Jack Starrett
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305308799
Release Date: 1999-03-30

Product Description

A buxom beauty, undercover narcotics agent Cleo Jones is the principal operative in a covert scheme to eradicate an international drug trade. But she is pulled away from important business when a phony raid on her boyfriends ghetto halfway house puts the rehabilitation center in jeopardy. Cleo will soon discover the source of her domestic troubles: Mommy, a raunchy underworld eccentric with a collection of Amazonian women as sexual slaves. Former model Tamara Dobson made her feature film debut in this 1970s Blaxploitation cult classic. Title theme song by Joe Simon. Additional music by Carl Brandt and Brad Shapiro

System Requirements:
Starring: Tamara Dobson, et al. Edition Details: Region 1 encoding (for use in US and Canada only) Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Special Edition Number of discs: 1

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Special agent Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson), six feet two inches of sinewy fighting fury clad in layers of runway chic fashions in bright rainbow colors, strolls up a sand dune and orders the destruction of a Turkish poppy field. Thousands of miles away, an L.A. drug lord named Mommy (Shelley Winters hamming it up with garish wigs and lecherous leers) screeches as her life blood burns away and lures Cleopatra stateside to plot her demise. A product of the "blaxploitation" explosion of low-budget thrillers featuring black heroes in the 1970s, Cleopatra Jones may not be the best of the batch but revels in the most outrageous fashion sense. Cleo looks great in furs, pantsuits, ponchos, turbans--a new outfit every scene--and drives a sleek black Corvette with a personalized license plate: "CLEO." It's a shame that the producers dropped the exotic potential of a globetrotting super-agent for an L.A.-bound gangster film, which is entertaining in a comic-book way but rarely reaches the energetic levels of the gritty Pam Grier action pictures Coffy and Foxy Brown. Bernie Casey is a role model of dignity and action as a neighborhood activist, and a garishly overdressed Antonio Fargas delivers a suitably flamboyant performance as Mommy's pusher Doodlebug. The glamorous super-agent flew off to Hong Kong for the 1975 sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

"Could Have Been Better".......2007-03-28

The movie was okay. If you like movies from the 70's, then this is another flick to add to your collection. Tamara Dobson is definitly
one tough sista.

RIGHT ON! SWEET SISTAH!.......2007-03-05

Simply one of the best, fun and campy, cult films of the 1970's. Even today 2007, this movie is alot of fun. Rest in peace Tamara Dobson, you were and always will be "a whole lotta woman!"

She Isn't Some Lame Wonder Woman.......2007-02-19

As bad as a man as Shaft is, he wouldn't play with Cleopatra Jones if he thought for one minute she was on her last nerve, and it was shredding fast.

Tamara Dobson portrays a special agent who is busting up a drug pipeline from Turkey to the United States that is operated by Mommy (Shelley Winters). I hope I don't ruin the ending for you, but keep in mind the movie isn't titled, Mommy.

I always found the film a parody of James Bond and the other tough white heroes back in the day who would gently set the lady aside before punching out the villains, with the hero capturing her heart in the end. Cleopatra Jones disarms the bad guys with her charm, but is also cooking up some knuckle sandwiches to take them out with when the time is right.

Dobson does a great job in a role that may have been nearly impossible to pull off well. Such over-the-top characters have to be difficult to portray - there is a fine line between acting well or making the character the buffoonish Rambo - but Dobson does a great job.

The DVD cover is a pretty poor updated version to the original artwork. The movie is from 1973, not 2003 and the artwork should make that point.

If you are looking for a movie that packs a punch, run quickly away from the usual suspects and get Cleopatra Jones.

Dreaming Big.......2007-01-12

This film brought back a lot of great memories for me. I enjoyed seeing Tamara Dobson on the screen playing the heroine that all teenage girls of the time enjoyed watching. She was smart, pretty with her own sense of style.

Cleopatra Jones.......2006-12-22

This DVD is awesome!!!

I recommend this DVD to anyone who likes action and 1970s blacksplotation movies. Eventhough this movie came out a few years before I was born, I enjoyed watching every moment of this DVD.

Average customer rating:

It never gets old.
MAMBO KINGS
Beautiful Maria of My Soul
Loosely Based On The Hijuelos Novel
Cool film!

The Mambo Kings
Starring: Armand Assante , Antonio Banderas , Cathy Moriarty , Maruschka Detmers , and Pablo Calogero
Director: Arne Glimcher
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B0009S4IGU
Release Date: 2005-08-16

Amazon.com

This period drama is hot, hot, hot. Stylish and sexy, it is adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, by Oscar Hijuelos, the story of two brothers who flee from Cuba in the early 1950s, heading for New York. Hoping to make a name for themselves as famous musicians, the duo face hardships and painful discoveries along the way. Armand Assante is the older of the two, with a smoldering Antonio Banderas as his younger, more impetuous brother. (In his first English-speaking role, Banderas delivered all of his lines phonetically.) The pulsating, sweaty energy of the first half of the film is not sustained throughout. Partly this is because a movie about the rise and fall of minor celebrities has been done to death. Even when the action slows down, however, the story does not bore. There is too much sensuality and vitality exuded by both Assante and Banderas. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Description

In the 1950s, two Cuban brothers come to America to seek fame and fortune as musicians.

Customer Reviews:

It never gets old........2007-01-05

I recently purchased "Mambo Kings" on DVD. I've watched it many times on VHS and it was time to update and use my surround sound system so that I get the full effect of the music. If your into good looking men with a passion for latin music and women, you need to see this one. Makes me wish I was born earlier to participate in the dancing too.

MAMBO KINGS.......2006-07-03

I found this movie just average, but then I might have expected more from this film because of all the hype it had been given.

Beautiful Maria of My Soul.......2006-06-04

I rate this movie 3 stars and a half (or 7 out of 10), and I definetely recommend it to everyone. It is entertaining, the music is great, and the actors are good. I think this is the first movie Banderas did in America, and he was learning English while shooting the movie. He is a great actor, that caught the directors' eye for his roles in Almodývar's movies, and he did great. Jeremmy Irons did a screen test for that role, but Antonio got the job instead. The night club scenes are really good, and the best is the relationship between the two brothers, who leave Cuba behind searching for the American Dream (and trying to save Nýstor's life).
It is very interesting to follow the director's commentary after you watched the movie, because he tells you a lot of interesting things. I know the movie should speak by itself, but once you watch the movie, if you have time, give that extra a try. It is really worth it, and one of the reasons we should be thankful of the DVD format.
The best in the movie is the music (we get to see Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, both already passed away now), and the worst may be the plot, with some "holes" that in my opinion make the movie weaker. For example, the relationship between Dolores and Cýsar could have been developed deeper (I did not read the book, so I do not know if the movie is 100% loyal to the book). The DVD comes with a "Behind the Scenes" documentary, which is nice to see, but it is too short (sometimes they are too long, but this is too short) and you get to hear all maine actors and the director sepaking about the movie.

Loosely Based On The Hijuelos Novel.......2005-10-24

Oscar Hijuelos' great novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love forms the basis for this film although the movie version stops about halfway through Hijuelos' story largely ignoring the tragic second half of Cesar Castillo's life without his brother.

The brothers are played by Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas and both are extraordinarily well cast. Assante conveys the more hedonistic Cesar with greaat intensity and Banderas actually steals the film with a remarkable performance as the more sensitve brother Nestor.

Fine casting, including a fairly strong performance by the late Celia Cruz makes this movie a pleasure to watch. Marusckha Detmers plays Nestor's wife Dolores and while she looks great she poses more effectively than she acts.

Overall this is a fine entertaining film and while the plot is derived from the novel in order to translate it to the screen some obvious liberties were taken with the story that frankly do not detract much from the enjoyment of a film that stands on it's own merit.

The backdrop of 1950's Mambo-crazed NYC is also very cool and well done.

Cool film!.......2005-03-12

Reportedly,this is Antonio Banderas' first English-speaking film. This film is set in the late 1940's to early 1950's Here,we hear the great sound of Mambo,probably based on the concept of TV's I Love Lucy.

DVD: