Reviews (8)

blood sport
very nicely done mystery, with action, good characters, abit of humor.

Not really Francis but still enjoyable.
I bought the boxset thinking I would be watching stories by Dick Francis... well, beside some superficial similarities there is not much DF here.

Still, these are relatively enjoyable episodes, made for TV mysteries. If you have your heart set on capturing the spirit of the novels you will be disappointed. However, if you just want some nice TV mysteries to watch you will enjoy these very much.

Nice set of rainy day movies!!
These were show on PBS in US, are Canada-Ireland joint effort and are filmed in both countries. My sister thinks McShane is the cat's meow...just does not give the same thrill for this long legged New Orleans lad!! Still the mysteries are nifty, well acted and lots of lovely ladies for the males! McShane is his usual strong self!

Nice package of all three David Cleveland films. Dick Francis buffs forget it - just watch for McShane and forget they are based on Francis' character.

very enjoyable
For fans of Dick Francis, ignore his books and just take the videos for what they are. McShane is simply gorgeous, and he does well in this horsie romp and David Cleveland, an investigator/security expert with Patrick McNee as his boss. They are in Canada, and McNee introduces Cleveland to a man and his daughter. He is the owner of a priced racing stud that mysteriously disappeared. No attempt at ransom, the horse never found alive or dead. After an attempt is made on the man's life, Cleveland steps in to track down what happened to the horse. There is the femme fatal, new wife that resented the time and money spent on the horses, a competitor stud that was failing and might possibly benefited in some manner by the horses disappearance.

It is a good mystery, well acted. Film quality suffers since this is a Irish-Canadian made for telly effort, but they are still very enjoyable....and McShane is so easy on the eyes!! A definite for his fans (however you might check out the DVD choice you can get this movie and 2 other David Clevelands in the same package.

Great stories, but sound and color just AWFUL!
Unfortunately, the originals were this bad, I remember their original airings on PBS. I bought this set and then returned them, that's how bad they are. (Also, Ian McShane is just WRONG for a Dick Francis hero, but that's a personal opinion.) ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Forgettable.
What do you get when you have John Woo direct a movie in which bloodshed is not allowed, the actors are all terrible Canadian nobodies, and the general feel is that of a TV-show pilot?

That's right, you get Blackjack.

Well, you also get this weak little remake of his 1989 Hong Kong film, but without Chow Yun-Fat and Jacky Cheung.

When will they release the whole series on DVD?
They SO need to release the whole TV series on DVD. Hurry up John Woo some of us were disappointed that the series got cancelled!

Warring: this film [is bad]
Warring this is not a good film. The screenplay is bad, the acting is bad, and about every thing about this film is bad. John Woo is a good director; this is not a good film. Woo's Hollywood success with BROKEN ARROW and FACE/OFF emboldened FOX TV to remake Woo's Hong Kong action comedy hit ONCE A THIEF (1992) for TV. Wath we got was nothing more then a movie that rips off Woo's (good) Hong Kong films (a little bit of HARD BOILED can be seen in the film) with a no name TV movie stars (like Nicholas Lea) who wood bee better off acting in plays or something like that. This film was also to be a pilot for a TV program it looks like they got the ratings in this film [is bad] (you may know that by now, but I hate this film). The story (if there is one) is set in Hong Kong and then in Vancouver but that is all I wath to put to words, the rest is too dumb (or has been used before in the 92 film). Look for the 1992 film. The video is a "Never before Seen R-rated Director's cut", but there is no blood or nothing in it. A much better Woo U.S.A. made film is HARD TARGET.

1997. TV Film. ??? MINS.

Rated R For Violence.

Fun start to an even better series
While I won't call this movie high art, it was a lot of fun to watch. And ignore the...comment. While the show has not yet aired in the States (but will be on many ABC stations next fall), it was turned into a series that was much better, including episodes that satirized everything from Waiting for Godot and the Maltese Falcon to James Bond and X-Files.

Disappointing
Ok let me say that I saw this movie on TV a few years ago and I was intrigued when it was called "John Woo's Once a Thief" because the original (Chinese version, 1990)with Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun Fat is one of my favorite movies. This movie had none of the slapstick laughs and rapport that Cheung, Chow, and Chung had in the original. The acting quality was also very poor. So for all of you seeing this washed out and weak version, do yourselves a favor and see the Chinese version. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Low rent, aggressively bad.
Are you kidding me? "TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER" is an aggressively bad entry into the serial killer sweepstakes. The movie is technically incompetent, and the use of cheesy identikit elements make it unintentionally laughable. Note the three in the morning locales and empty streets. (NO STARS out of FOUR) See my review at IMDB ... Read more

Amazon.com

John Woo directed this surprisingly lighthearted caper tale for TV as a pilot for a series that never materialized. The forgettable leads--Ivan Sergei, Sandrine Holt, and Michael Wong--play adoptive siblings who have been trained by their father, a Hong Kong crime lord, to be master thieves. Then circumstances pit Holt and Sergei against Wong; the two of them have been co-opted as undercover cops, tracking his big score. The movie doesn't amount to much, but Woo comes through with a couple of terrific, imaginative (and funny) action sequences, including one particularly inventive one that has them literally hanging from the chandeliers. Even Woo diehards may have a hard time swallowing the smirky, callow Sergei as a romantic action lead. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Forgettable.
What do you get when you have John Woo direct a movie in which bloodshed is not allowed, the actors are all terrible Canadian nobodies, and the general feel is that of a TV-show pilot?

That's right, you get Blackjack.

Well, you also get this weak little remake of his 1989 Hong Kong film, but without Chow Yun-Fat and Jacky Cheung.

When will they release the whole series on DVD?
They SO need to release the whole TV series on DVD. Hurry up John Woo some of us were disappointed that the series got cancelled!

Warring: this film [is bad]
Warring this is not a good film. The screenplay is bad, the acting is bad, and about every thing about this film is bad. John Woo is a good director; this is not a good film. Woo's Hollywood success with BROKEN ARROW and FACE/OFF emboldened FOX TV to remake Woo's Hong Kong action comedy hit ONCE A THIEF (1992) for TV. Wath we got was nothing more then a movie that rips off Woo's (good) Hong Kong films (a little bit of HARD BOILED can be seen in the film) with a no name TV movie stars (like Nicholas Lea) who wood bee better off acting in plays or something like that. This film was also to be a pilot for a TV program it looks like they got the ratings in this film [is bad] (you may know that by now, but I hate this film). The story (if there is one) is set in Hong Kong and then in Vancouver but that is all I wath to put to words, the rest is too dumb (or has been used before in the 92 film). Look for the 1992 film. The video is a "Never before Seen R-rated Director's cut", but there is no blood or nothing in it. A much better Woo U.S.A. made film is HARD TARGET.

1997. TV Film. ??? MINS.

Rated R For Violence.

Fun start to an even better series
While I won't call this movie high art, it was a lot of fun to watch. And ignore the...comment. While the show has not yet aired in the States (but will be on many ABC stations next fall), it was turned into a series that was much better, including episodes that satirized everything from Waiting for Godot and the Maltese Falcon to James Bond and X-Files.

Disappointing
Ok let me say that I saw this movie on TV a few years ago and I was intrigued when it was called "John Woo's Once a Thief" because the original (Chinese version, 1990)with Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun Fat is one of my favorite movies. This movie had none of the slapstick laughs and rapport that Cheung, Chow, and Chung had in the original. The acting quality was also very poor. So for all of you seeing this washed out and weak version, do yourselves a favor and see the Chinese version. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Cadillac Girls
This film is actually much better than the cheesy cover indicates. As a fan of Adam Beach (Native American actor)I decided to give it a try...mostly revolving around the central mother-daughter relationship which is tense and sad, the film slowly moves toward reconciliation and discovery for both. However, the film does not have the hollywood ending you would expect (thank God): It is real and sweet but with a bitterness that will make you think about the characters long afterwards. The cast does a great job, the location (once out of innercity California) is beautiful...I only wish the relationship with Will on the daughter's side was played out in full instead of relying so heavily on the mother-daughter traumas. Still, the scene where Page (Mia Kirshner)meets Will (Beach) in the Indian burial ground was perfect. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Insurance adjuster Noah (Elias Koteas) works with people who have sufferedthe loss of their homes and other disasters. He gets a little tooinvolved with his clients, taking advantage of their vulnerability tocontrol their lives--while only having the most glancing interactions withhis own wife, Hera (Arsinee Khanjian), who secretly videotapes the pornfilms she watches for a government censor board. When another couple(Maury Chaykin and Gabrielle Rose) poses as part of a film crew who wantto use Noah and Hera's house, Noah moves his family into the motel wherehe houses his displaced clients, bringing his separate worlds too closetogether. Though initially mysterious and distanced, The Adjusterbuilds carefully to a striking sense of loss and sorrow. As in his earlierfilms, Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan explores how people evade andcontain the traumas in their lives. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A Great Modern Drama about Sexual Obsession
Surreal as it may "The Adjuster" is still streaks and bounds ahead of most other sexual dramas. The story basically revolves around an insurance claims advisor (Elias Koteas) who helps people come to terms with the lose of their homes and possessions to some form of accident. He wife Hera (Arsinee Khanjian) works as a film censor who secretly films the pornography that she is viewing. There are various other characters who come into contact with the pair and sexual fantasies are the main theme that drives the story forward.

In many ways it is hard to describe without actually seeing it. There is very little plot but the movie does have some very memorable characters and it does have a good climax. It is sort of like a tone-downed version of a David Lynch movie and film director Atom Egoyan does wonders with the cinematography. The film looks visually wonderful and is very pleasing to the eye.

All in all this is a great drama but do not try and find too much of a plot here. It is more about the characters and their sexual dysfunctions. Some very memorable scenes throughout.

Well worth seeing.

Egoyan's most complex,funny and reflective
After sitting through multiple viewings of both a Pan & scan, censored vhs and a dim, murky widescreen PAL transfer, what a JOY to finally get to see this splendid film in a clean widescreen transfer. The soundtrack is possibly the best I've heard since "The Conversation" -a curious layering of soundtracks to films which are being censored, which you'd never want to see. Sometimes the film is funny, sometimes thoughtful, always it gives me time to think my own thoughts about its' troubling implications regarding our inability to see the whole picture. I LOVE this movie. I Love owning it. This is what DVD is really great for: being able to own great looking and sounding copies of your favorite films at reasonable prices.

mal-adjusted cinema
Of all of the early Egoyan's this is the one most like Sweet Hereafter as both are centered around a character whose job it is to assist victims of a tragedy but it doesn't hit as many notes as Sweet Herafter in fact mostly its just dark and occasionally darkly comic. Perhaps too dark in places and in other places just too bizarre to be taken seriously. I like Egoyans cast of actors many of whom appear over and over again in his films. Egoyan is sort of like Altman in his use of tangled narratives and ensemble casts but unlike Altman he doesn't give us much variety. Everyone in the Adjuster is wounded beyond repair and after awhile one longs for at least one character who is not emotionally crippled but its a vain hope. Sweet Herafter had its share of bizarre characters and moments but many of those characters had moments of self realization and found their way toward some form of redemption and though the film focused on human vulnerability and weaknesses and imperfections the film also offered glimpses of human strengths and will and capacity to endure. The Adjuster focuses on the weaknesses and imperfections exclusively. The Adjuster himself played by Elias Koteas is a complex character who has collected the victims of various tragedies around him. Its his job to help these vitims collect on their insurance claims but his interest in the job has him doing more than that. Apparently others tragedies arouse him in some way and he ends up sleeping with many of the people he is supposed to be helping. No one seems to notice what hes doing, in fact all the victims inexplicably see him as some kind of angel there to help them through their suffering(perhaps they see him in this light because they need something to give them strength)but of course the Adjuster is no angel. Since most of the victims have been burned out of their homes they all live in the same hotel and this makes for one of the more inspired dark comic scenarios in memory. A few of the characters are interesting but some of the story lines are so outrageous that they dwarf everything else in the movie. At points the film feels like overkill. For instance the adjuster's wife is a censor who watches porn flicks all day and then along with other censors casts her vote as to which bits need censoring. However she actually really enjoys watching the stuff and shes strikingly beautiful so its not a scenario without considerable appeal. But the scenario gets out of hand when Egoyan makes the censors offices (as well as the people working there) look and act like something out of Kafka or Orwell. Egoyan seems to be trying too hard to be clever and so the point he is making about humans fascination with forbidden or dark subjects gets lost or misplaced. And then the nymphomaniac/exhibitionist seemed like a character from a very adult version of Saturday Night Live. The ending of the film reveals how Elias Koteas met his wife but reveals very little as to why Elias Koteas is so turned on by the victims that seek his services. Tragedies induce strange maladies is all we know. Koteas deserves credit for finding something human in his character. The film itself seems to be a study of the various ways we become dehumanized but the study seems superficial. Unlike Sweet Hereafter the film never digs deep enough into its characters to give us a chance at knowing them as sufferers of one bizarre affliction or another. Koteas does an excellent acting job with what hes given but even he seems a frustratingly incomplete sketch.

A CLASSIC OF CEREBRAL CINEMA
What little hope I held for the future of mankind retaining any intellect, capacity for introspection, or sense of humor is now gone due to the asinine, stupid, brain-dead comments below that this film is slow and stupid.

THE ADJUSTER is a great film. Wicked, funny as all get out, darkly comic, sexy as hell, and perhaps the most chilling and dead-on critique of '666' and consumer-society ever filmed. Mychael Danna's score is Byzantine-perfect; Elias Koteas is at his peak as an enigmatic, lost soul.

What's it about? Well, it's about us. Modern people in a listless, overindulged, sensate-conscious lifestyle flailing about in a Northern American state of emotional repression doing anything they can to give meaning to their lives, or rather, just accumulate more stimulation. And in such a society, who becomes a 'Christ' figure to people who can't afford one due to their lukewarmness? Well, an Insurance Adjuster, pal. Who else? The guy who evaluates your 'lifestyle' and returns a semblance of it to you. I mean, it is ALL 'lifestyle' now, isn't it? You don't need a Diety, do you? No, all you want is an insurance adjuster. He will even sleep with you.

The ending quotes from "The Sound of Music" in a comic/horrific finale. One of the main characters - unable to 'play house' anymore in the landscape of modern time and space - decides to burn down the Insurance Adjuster's house he has rented - starts singing "My Favorite Things" as he proceeds to extinguish them all. Filmmaking doesn't get much more sly than that.

5 STARS for the ... Fantasy Play ALONE!
True this movie is SSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWWWW.
That does not negate, however, some fantastic scenes and dialogue. Terrific ... Role Play situations!!! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Low rent, aggressively bad.
Are you kidding me? "TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER" is an aggressively bad entry into the serial killer sweepstakes. The movie is technically incompetent, and the use of cheesy identikit elements make it unintentionally laughable. Note the three in the morning locales and empty streets. (NO STARS out of FOUR) See my review at IMDB ... Read more

Reviews (11)

LOVED IT!
BEING A PETER WELLER FAN, NOTWITHSTANDING, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS FILM. HOWEVER, I DID NOT SEE IT AS A "HORROR" FILM. TO ME, IT WAS MORE COMEDY-SUSPENSE, ESPECIALLY WHEN MR. FASTIDIOUS TRASHED HIS HOUSE DURING THE WAR WITH THE RAT. GREAT STUFF!!

"Ben" got nothin' on this one!!
Worst movie!? Please!! Great Movie all the way through.It's not just a horror but it is a Psychological one as well.Watch as Peter Weller slowly detiorates into Jason,hockey mask and all.And you will learn a few things as well,like DO NOT leave the cover down on your toilet bowl.Let's just say Great Title and Great Movie.

The all time king of rat movies?
I saw this on video back in the 80's, mostly because Peter Weller was in it, and he was (and still is) one of my favorite actors. He plays an NYC businessman who becomes obsessed with a really big and mean rat that's invaded the dreamhouse/brownstone he's personally restored. The filmmakers definitely had aspirations beyond just making a rat movie (at one point, Weller pounds on the ceiling with a copy of "Moby Dick"), but just as a rat movie, it succeeds beautifully: Increasingly scary and gory rat action, something the new version of "Willard" pretty much forgot to include. There's also a rat expert onhand, without which no good rat movie can do without - really two, if you count Weller's character, who starts spewing rat facts at inappropriate times at the movie goes on. (One of the great bits of dialogue goes something like this: "You're thinking of [the rat] maybe 10% of the time...but he's thinking of you 100% of the time..." Because he's a RAT, and rats is rats.) What really puts the movie over, aside from some pretty effective direction, is Weller's great performance as the businessman, who slowly starts to lose his grip the more he becomes obsessed with evicting the rat from his home. I'd rank it as one of the best performances in a horror film, up there with Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly." So, if you're into rat movies, it'd be hard to top this one for your viewing pleasure.

Wow! Nice little surprise!
I'm a big horror buff. Now i have known about this one since it's theatrical release, but this little gem has managed to evade me for a viewing all these years! Thanks to DVD. I finally got to peep it out. I wasn't expecting much. But when the credits rolled I felt all warm and fuzzy for laying out the dough on this title!

Most the other reviewers here applaud Weller's performance. And I must say it's maybe even the strongest one I've seen from him.

He plays the family guy, whose wife (Shannon Tweed in her screen debut) takes the kid and goes off to vacation at her parent's. Weller's character can not go because he's trying to get a deal through at work that could give him a big promotion. Soon after his wife and kid leave, a pretty big damned rat infiltrates Weller's brownstone abode which he has obsessively renovated painstakingly by hand. Basically Weller is a neat freak! And when the rat begins to vandalize the house as rodent's do... He begins to go nutty and obsessive on how to get rid of it... And soon it's a battle of life and death over which one will be king of the castle!

While others associate this film to the likes of Ben and mayhaps even Food of the Gods. I found this film to be rather original! Probably mostly in part to superior characterizations which make the tale work damn good.

The ladies will most likely freak out on this one though. Let's just say the big rat get's quite brazen at times trying to take over the house as his territory! If you think you get it bad enough to keep the seat down! Well then... Don't let 'em see this one!

I think it's a pretty safe bet that well rounded horror afficandos will be pleased with purchasing this one. All others should try to give it the ole' rental first.

TALK ABOUT BEING " RATTED OUT" !!!
I AM A TRUE FAN OF HORROR MOVIES. THIS MOVIE TAKES AN UNWANTED PEST TO A NEW LEVEL. EVERYONE WHO HAS WATCH THIS MOVIE WITH ME REALLY ENJOYED IT. NO ONE COULD SIT WITH THEIR FEET ON THE FLOOR!! THERE WAS YELLING AND SCREAMING THROUGH OUT THE MOVIE. THIS IS A FILM THAT SHOULD BE IN ANYONE'S COLLECTION THAT IS SERIOUS ABOUT BEING REAL HORROR MOVIES.GET IT AND " SCARE " IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Big Deborah Fan
Misunderstood... your not crazy. I loved that movie, it was well worth my time, I'm getting ready to watch it again. I guess others just missed the point....but you HAVE to watch from beginning to end to understand the movie, but it's worth it.

Misunderstood
This is actually one of my favorite movies and either people are missing the point or i'm just weird but i love it. The movies switches from scene to scene in what seems like random order but after awhile you can organize it into larenz's life and his struggle with drugs, the present story line, and their family's past. I feel like it's an excellent film and very underrated.

Not as good as I thought
Well I saw this movie and I really didn't like it too much. It was just too much and just too little in it. Would I ever watch this again, NO!

A waste of valuable time!!!
I am a huge fan of Mr. Tate and Ms. Cox, but what in the world were they thinking? I heard from a friend that this was a pretty decent movie so I ran to the video store like a mad woman to rent it. I should have known better, it took me three tries before I could confine myself to a chair to watch it. The acting was not bad and certainly not great. The plot was dry and what in the world was the point? I had a better time watching Blair Witch. Don't waste your hard earned money and your precious time left on earth with this one.

It was pretty good
Larenz Tate was the executive producer of Love Come Down. At first I wasn't interested in seeing the film when it first came out but then I thought it might be good later on. It didn't bore me and it kept my attention. Overall, it was a good movie. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Big Deborah Fan
Misunderstood... your not crazy. I loved that movie, it was well worth my time, I'm getting ready to watch it again. I guess others just missed the point....but you HAVE to watch from beginning to end to understand the movie, but it's worth it.

Misunderstood
This is actually one of my favorite movies and either people are missing the point or i'm just weird but i love it. The movies switches from scene to scene in what seems like random order but after awhile you can organize it into larenz's life and his struggle with drugs, the present story line, and their family's past. I feel like it's an excellent film and very underrated.

Not as good as I thought
Well I saw this movie and I really didn't like it too much. It was just too much and just too little in it. Would I ever watch this again, NO!

A waste of valuable time!!!
I am a huge fan of Mr. Tate and Ms. Cox, but what in the world were they thinking? I heard from a friend that this was a pretty decent movie so I ran to the video store like a mad woman to rent it. I should have known better, it took me three tries before I could confine myself to a chair to watch it. The acting was not bad and certainly not great. The plot was dry and what in the world was the point? I had a better time watching Blair Witch. Don't waste your hard earned money and your precious time left on earth with this one.

It was pretty good
Larenz Tate was the executive producer of Love Come Down. At first I wasn't interested in seeing the film when it first came out but then I thought it might be good later on. It didn't bore me and it kept my attention. Overall, it was a good movie. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Cadillac Girls
This film is actually much better than the cheesy cover indicates. As a fan of Adam Beach (Native American actor)I decided to give it a try...mostly revolving around the central mother-daughter relationship which is tense and sad, the film slowly moves toward reconciliation and discovery for both. However, the film does not have the hollywood ending you would expect (thank God): It is real and sweet but with a bitterness that will make you think about the characters long afterwards. The cast does a great job, the location (once out of innercity California) is beautiful...I only wish the relationship with Will on the daughter's side was played out in full instead of relying so heavily on the mother-daughter traumas. Still, the scene where Page (Mia Kirshner)meets Will (Beach) in the Indian burial ground was perfect. ... Read more