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| 1. Howard the Duck Director: Willard Huyck | |
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Amazon.com Reviews (96)
The special effects are up to par with the technology at the time, and the comedy is right on the nose. I mean c'mon those Dark Overlords were pretty cool looking. Anyone who claims to hate this movie is obviously an 80's hater. (...) This film defines great 80's cinema and I could never understand the backlash. Many great movies have bombed at the theaters only to become favorite classics (the original Blues Brothers and It's a Wonderful Life come to mind). (...)I will defend this movie until my dying day. Howard the Duck is a great movie from the greatest decade of the 20th Century. Hail Howard!!!
HOWARD THE DUCK tells the story of a duck named Howard (voiced by Chip Zein, and played by a bunch of little people in a duck suit) who lives on a planet much like earth, except Duck's are the top of the food chain. He's a failed rock musician who's finally given up that dream and has settled into the mundane life of an advertising copywriter. On one particular day, he's just gets home from another day of the daily grind, when he's sucked into a giant laser beam and transported to Cleveland, Ohio on our earth. Let the comic hijinks begin...well okay let the less than stellar puns begin. Howard meets Beverly (Lean Thompson) a struggling rock musician and takes up "roost" in her apartment. After a day or so they fall in love. There's also a young Lab Assistant named Phil (Tim Robbins in a star-making performance) and Dr. Jennings (Jefferey Jones) whom want to help Howard get home, via the giant laser beam that brought him to earth in the first place. I stop there because the second half of the movie has to do with this wild alien and I'm not quite sure I can do that part of the story any real justice. Suffice to say there's an alien threat and Howard is here to stop it. Actually he kind of runs away from it as the alien menace and the cops try to stop him. HOWARD THE DUCK is based on a far more interesting and inventive comic book series created by Steve Gerber. This movie and that series have absolutely nothing in common but the name. In fact the movie ruined the comic book series that poor Steve Gerber sued Universal and George Lucas, and then killed off his Duck for a long time. How's that for fair. Wait a second you say, go back just a minute, did you just say George Lucas? Yes ladies and gentlemen. George Lucas was the executive producer of this film and it shows. His fingerprint is on everything and more importantly Industrial, Lights, and Magic have designed this film as their audition reel. They throw everything into the pot, creature effects, stop motion, animation effects, makeup effects, an elaborate chase sequence (that I'm convinced was shot for shot re-created for the freeway chase in the MATRIX RELOADED, well not really but It's nice to speculate.) involving a small personal aircraft, and all of it is breath taking. But why? Why did ILM and George Lucas waste all that time and energy? The only thing I can think is that they were doing tests for Lucas's next big project WILLOW. You're probably now asking why doesn't the film work? The biggest problem is there is absoulty no screenplay. The first 20 minutes of the film fly by, barely allowing the viewer to breathe. The characters have time to meet, time to fight, time to get back together, all before the story begins to take shape. By the time it does it shifts radically into a completely different movie involving giant space creatures. They started out with a promising idea; it's ET in the city. How does this duck adapt to his surroundings? That should have been the movie. But there's no room for special effects that way. So on comes Act 2, and so many effects shots you shake your head. I was also a little disgusted by the Human/Duck love scene of course you see nothing, but the implied relationship makes even less sense then the rest of the movie and is really there just to make a silly joke anyway. This is the key to why this film fails. It doesn't set its tone properly. Every other line is some comic zinger that falls flat because the movie doesn't know whether it's a comedy, or an action picture. There satire, and drama all thrown out there but it goes nowhere. This effects all the acting as well. The human characters are robbed of any humanity because the script is so disjointed. They overreact to everything and poor Tim Robbins is forced to mug for laughs when the audience already knows that there are none. The script by director Huyck and his writing partner Gloria Katz is so bad you forget that these are the people who hit just the right beats in their more successful film AMERICAN GRAFFITTI. The films biggest flaw is that it has no audience. It a tad bit vulgar for little kids, and if you reach the age of 8 you'll be far smarter than this movie is. As for adults there is nothing of substance in the movie for people to grab onto. But I guess in the end could HOWARD THE DUCK been a good picture? Maybe! There were definitely moments of light in the picture. Moments that seemed unforced. I especially loved the early scenes involving Howard and Beverly. An interesting story could have unfolded. But the films exciting visuals were more important to the bottom line. In fact the bulk of the film contains this huge chase scene involving airplanes, cars, 18-Wheelers and lots of destruction. Sure the scene is cool to look at but it's not worth the Journey. Stay away from Howard the Duck. ** Out of 5
The funny thing about movies that are ambitious and And I know alot of people will think I am crazy. But this is my I know there are alot of people who can't stand this movie,
Coming in 1986, at a time when Gerber's dispute with Marvel had exploded into a full-blown legal battle (and the comic publisher had practically destroyed Howard with numerous changes in appearance and origin), the Howard the Duck movie was heavly hyped and awarded a huge budget-largely due to the involvement of one George Lucas. What emerged was the worst movie of 1986, and one of the 1980s many candidates for "worst movie ever". For those ignorant of the original comic book, the reputation is well-earned, with an unlikeable lead and an incredibly stupid plot. For those of us familiar with Steve Gerber's work, this film is nothing short of an abomination. However, years of repeated (and downright excessive) reruns on cable have created a number of apologists for this drivel. Do yourself a favor and avoid this wreck (and pray that George Lucas is able to keep it from appearing on DVD), while tracking down the Howard the Duck comics written by Steve Gerber, which are superior to this travesty in every way. ... Read more | |
| 2. Alice Through the Looking Glass Director: Harry Harris | |
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Amazon.com Reviews (43)
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| 3. The African Queen Director: John Huston | |
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Amazon.com essential video Reviews (52)
The movie begins in German East Africa, September 1914 with the Germans invading and destroying a small town that missionaries Samuel and Rose (brother and sister) are living in. After the Germans take all the natives away Samuel falls ill and dies. Mr. Alnutt (sailor of the African Queen), the man who delivers their mail, comes around and Rose goes with him for safety reasons. They hide (Mr. Alnutt feels the Germans will want his boat) and discuss what to do next. With the war all around them, they need to figure a way out of there. With much pushing on Rose's part they decide to go down a very difficult river and torpedo a German ship to help their country. The scenery and the wild animals are amazing to behold. I love when Rose calls Charlie "a coward". This very different pair has many adventures. This is why the movie is considered so good!
Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for his role, while Katherine Hepburn chalked up another one of her 12 career nominations. This film is pure cinema-candy. How can anyone NOT love this movie??? Highly recommended.*****
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| 4. Ray Director: Taylor Hackford | |
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Amazon.com Reviews (276)
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| 5. The War of the Worlds Director: Byron Haskin | |
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Reviews (99)
The incident isn't given much thought, until one night, everything in town turns off. No electricity, no phones, watches stop. Gene Barry, the resident scientist from Pacific Tech, is trying to find out what's going on, as masters' student Ann Robinson tries to help.....predictably, they fall in love while chaos ensues all over the planet. The aliens are not friendly. Their technology outdoes anything on earth. Not even atomic energy seems to stop them. So, what does? You'll have to watch this and see. The movie is somewhere between a really great B movie and an actual heavy duty motion picture event. The story is entertaining, and the writing is not as corny and stilted as a lot of sci fi movies made in the 50's. And whoa, those special effects! Not bad for an old classic!
Gene Barry plays the central character of the movie, Dr. Clayton Forrester, a scientist from Cal Tech. He and two buddies are fishing nearby when the initial Martian invasion ship lands (crashes) nearby. By the way, that must have been a heckuva landing the Martians had to endure when their 'meteors' touched down. The movie details humanity's efforts to halt the apparently unstoppable murderous Martian invasion force. No pretenses about peaceful coexistence or some sort of misunderstanding here, folks. The Martians want our planet and are willing to kill every man, woman, and child on it to get it. As such, the military is portrayed in a pretty good light in this film (unlike many others). After all, when the alien's first club out of the bag is lethal force, then you pretty much have to go with the flow. In the end, with atomic weapons having failed to stop the invaders, mankind appears doomed. Saving the day, however, is the most unlikely of allies (and, no, I ain't talking Russia). Overall, a well-paced sci-fi/thriller with a basic premise that never fails to entertain when it is well done--as it is here.
And as President of the Widescreen Watchers Association, I should know. Here is the release date of the first movie shot in widescreen, which happened to star Marilyn Monroe: How To Marry A Millionaire - November 5, 1953. And here is the release date of the standard movie in question starring Gene Barry: War Of The Worlds - August 26, 1953. As you can see, War Of The Worlds could hardly have been presented in late August - almost 3 months before the process was first tried in early November! In addition, although many films started being shot in widescreen in 1954, several studios were slow on the uptake and did not make their films mainly in widescreen until late 1955 or early 1956. From Here To Eternity (1955), shot in standard screen, is a prime example of that. What all of the above means in regard to this particular film is that nothing was cut off of the picture, so to paraphrase Flip Wilson, "what you get is all there was to see." It's a beautiful film (although perhaps corny by today's computerized Matrix standards) and the use of color is rich and vibrant. Once you've seen it you'll never forget it. It's Pal and Haskin at their best. I also recommend other such color sci-fi classics as Forbidden Planet, When Worlds Collide, and The Time Machine. ... Read more | |
| 6. White Nights Director: Taylor Hackford | |
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Amazon.com Reviews (29)
Great and convincing acting by Isabella Rossellini, Helen Mirren and Gregory Hines don't save this from being what seems in this day and time to be a ridiculous story. It's easy to forget what a threat the Soviet Union was at the time... and how scary the thought of being trapped in communist Russia really was... neighbor spying on neighbor, eavesdropping equipment everywhere and just cold, dreary days one after another. This is a film best enjoyed by folks who can remember what it was like be around in the 80s w/ the fear of nuclear war. This is hardly a "timeless" piece, but still enjoyable.
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| 7. Sesame Street - Learning About Letters Director: Bob Schwarz, Jon Stone, Eva Saks, Jim Henson, Randall Balsmeyer, Stan Lathan | |
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Amazon.com Reviews (14)
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| 8. Rebecca Director: Alfred Hitchcock | |
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Amazon.com essential video Reviews (115)
The opening scenes convince you that this is going to be quite a forbidding story. A meandering path overgrown with foliage and a ghostly manor (Manderley) appears out of the Cornwall, England mist. The gothic quality is only the stage for a love story haunted by the memory of Rebecca. While this is mostly filled with suspense and mystery, there are a few moments of humor. While a young woman (Joan Fontaine) is vacationing in the South of France as a ladies companion, she meets a wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Lawrence Olivier). His wife, Rebecca is said to have died in a boating accident. They fall in love, marry and then he takes her home to Manderley. She is ill prepared for such a position in society and stumbles through her days trying to adapt as best she can. "Rebecca" is the theme of this movie, yet the heroine is the second rather timid Mrs. de Winter when she rises to the occasion and takes on this ghost who haunts her husband. Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) manages the manor and seeks to keep the first Mrs. de Winter's memory alive in an almost obsessive way. She is cold and has no regard for Maxim's new wife's feelings. Judith Anderson is just magnificent in her role and her character is in a way is Rebecca's ghost personified. The conclusion is surprising as we find out how Maxim really feels and the story unfolds one detail at a time to finish with a satisfying conclusion. You will never once think these characters are actors, they are their characters from start to finish. You must watch this movie in complete darkness with just a few candles burning for it to be just slightly scary. One of my all-time favorite movies. Definitely worth owning!
Alfred Hitchcock had made a career in London making films with complete autonomy. He basically called all the shots. When he got to America, he signed a four movie deal with Selznick. Rebecca is the first and best of the three. (no, not a mistake, I'll explain later) Rebecca was the only film by Hitchcock to win best picture from the Academy, although Hitch did not win best director. The film was basically a tug of war between producer and director. Selznick wanted the book followed religiously, Hitch wanted to take the basic idea of the book and add his own touches. Selznick wouldn't allow it, so Hitch was forced to make the film exactly by the book. The film stars Fontaine as an unnamed young woman who while working as a paid companion for the unbearable Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates), she meets and falls in love with the brooding Maxim de Winter (Lawrence Olivier). They marry after a quick courtship and go "home" to Manderley, Olivier's mammoth estate. Fontaine is very young and has no idea what she is getting into, especially when it dawns on her that Olivier's late first wife, Rebecca, still dominates the house. Her stationery, napkins, and rituals are still present, and Fontaine feels she has no chance against this woman. The other problem in the house is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson),who creeps around the house, showing up at any time to frighten Fontaine. She is still obsessed with Rebecca, still keeps Rebecca's old room the same way, hairbrush at the correct angle on the vanity. She makes Fontaine feel she will never measure up, will never be a great lady of Manderley, something that Mrs. Van Hopper tried to tell her as well. Everyone and everything in the house revolves around this dead Rebecca, so much so that Fontaine almost can't live through it. Rebecca never appears in the film, yet it is amazing how much of a character she is. When Fontaine tries to dress up for a ball, Danvers suggests a portrait on the wall which is supposed to be a long dead relative of Maxims. Of course, when Fontaine wears the dress, she realizes from Maxim's reaction that the woman and the dress were Rebecca and that she just reminded him of her. Eventually the film goes into Rebecca's death in some detail. We never know for sure that we know all the details of the death, but it doesn't really matter. By the end of the movie, all the major characters in the film will have been changed. Some will have been destroyed forever. Criterion has done a great job with this film, giving us a great transfer, as always, along with a superb commentary. The second disc features trailers, interviews with Fontaine and Anderson, making of featurettes, examples of Selznick's letters and his attention to detail, and how maddening it got for the master. By the way, Selznick got three films out of Hitchcock. They were Rebecca, Spellbound, and The Paradine Case. Well, he really got four, but he gave one of them to RKO studios because he was unhappy with the story and he thought it would interest no one. What was the film Selznick gave away? It was Hitch's best film of all time in my opinion--Notorious. What a waste it would have been had Selznick been allowed to ruin Hitch's masterpiece. ... Read more | |
| 9. 101 Dalmatians Director: Stephen Herek | |
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Amazon.com essential video Reviews (48)
The film follows closely the original story and tells the tale of London couple Roger and Anita who meet through a Dalmatian dog mixup in a London Park and fall in love, marry and find themselves the happy "parents" of 15 beautiful Dalmatian puppies when their Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita begin a family of their own. Their happiness is short lived however when Anita's boss the dastardly Cruella De Vil spots the puppies and immediately makes plans to have the puppies kidnapped so that she can turn their pelts into the extravagant spotted fur coat she has always dreamed of having. What ensures is a comical tale full of laughs, great stunts and hilarious situations of the "boo the villian, cheer the dogs" variety. The Dalmatian parents, with the aid of many assorted members of the animal kingdom from woodpeckers, squirrels, and assorted sheep pigs, and dogs not only succeed in tracking down the missing puppies in their hideout but also outwit Cruella and her incompetent accomplices at every turn. The animals revenge on Cruella and her accomplices makes for most of the humour as they find themselves being dumped through falling roofs, landing in tubs of gooey molasses and being smelled out by skunks! No expense was spared on this production and indeed all the live action characters bare an amazing resemblance to their cartoon counterparts. Gleen Close towers over the whole production in her performance as Disney Studios most famous villianess the totally over the top Cruella De Vil. Her makeup, hair styles and clothing is everything you would imagine Cruella to be. It is to the credit of Glenn Close that she succeeds totally in bringing to life such a well known and "loved" cartoon villianess. A supremely talented actress as seen in such diverse roles as those in "Fatal Attraction", "Dangerous Liaisons", "Meeting Venus", and "Paradise Road" among others, she is a total riot as the bizzare fashion designer with an extreme fur fetish. It is she who makes "101 Dalmatians" such memorable viewing and her encounters with the animals in the second half of the film will have you laughing for ages. The sight of Cruella rising out of the tub of molasses where she has been unceremoniously dumped by the animal brigade will bring fits of laughter to the viewer. The film also boasts the great talents of Jeff Daniels and the lovely Joely Richardson as Roger and Anita the loving couple drawn to each other by their fondness for Dalmatians, and the gifted Joan Plowright as Anita's former Nanny who finds herself performing the role again but this time for the 15 puppies in the house. Much of the comedy stems from the great playing by Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams as the wacky Jasper and Horace employed by Cruella who's job it is to steal the puppies for Cruella. They receive the main brunt of the animals "revenge" to great comic effect as does John Shrapnel in the role of the sinister scarred Skinner who is employed to turn the puppies coats into Cruella's new coat. The animal stunts performed in this film will have you gasping as the animals seem top take on human personalities of their own to brilliant effect. The location photography around London and in the snow scenes at Cruella's hideaway also create a very pleasing look to the film. I never fail to watch "101 Dalmatians" without finding a smile appearing on my face. It is a totally delightful film that is just as much for adults as it is children which is a real credit to the Disney Studios. Glenn Close really makes the film a viewing experience with her over the top playing here but if you are in anyway a dog lover you can't help but be totally captivated by these delightful 101 spotted creatures charming the audience in "101 Dalmatians". Enjoy!
Cruella De Vil sees the 15 puppies of Pongo and Perdita and decides that she needs to make a polka dot Dalmatian coat with their fur. Her henchmen kidnap 86 puppies from around London and with these 15 she has 101. Pongo and Perdita call upon their doggie friend to search for the lost pups in hopes of engineering a rescue. | |
| 10. Sesame Street - Learning to Share Director: Bob Schwarz, Jon Stone, Eva Saks, Jim Henson, Randall Balsmeyer, Stan Lathan | |
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Reviews (8)
Firstly the "sharing" message is delivered in a heavy way with very few songs to liven it up. Then the newsreader/interviewer format used doesn't work at all - it is just incredibly boring. Even the introduction of familiar characters like Jack and Jill and the Three Little Pigs cannot save this dud. I think it may even teach children to be more selfish and "MINE" oriented than they were before they watched it. Elmo constantly talks about Elmo's train, and it's clear that he absolutely hates to share. At the end he only agrees to share due to purely selfish reasons (otherwise Zoe won't play with him anymore), and he tries to share as little as possible (as little as Zoe will let him get away with). This DVD portrays sharing as a strict case of quid pro quo - I'll give you a cookie, but ONLY IF you give me half your glass of milk. Never mind that I have lots of cookies (more than I can eat). I think sharing should be portrayed as motivated by friendship, affection and caring, not only selfish "what's in it for me?" thinking.
Katie Couric (who is not an actress - bear with her) cuts in occasionally as a newscaster for "Cooperation Today" solving conundrums like how Jack & Jill can get up the hill, and how the 3 little pigs can keep themselves safe by helping them work together. A few vintage clips "What is Friend?" with Cookie Monster, and "Two Heads are Better than One" are included. Unfortunately, the rest of the music on this tape is not up to Sesame Street standards. Joe Raposo's "Share" by Elmo, Zoe, and Big Bird isn't too bad - but the Elmo's Train song is annoying, and the Cooperation Song is unpleasantly saccharin. That being said, my 3 year old preschooler was riveted to his seat, and cried for me to rewind it when it was over. He just started school, and is struggling with this issue - the video seemed to help him collect his thoughts. Again, as in "Big Bird Gets Lost," we had a great discussion afterwards. I'd definitely recommend this to parents whose kids are having a tough time learning to play.
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| 11. A Beautiful Mind (The Awards Edition) Director: Ron Howard | |
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Setting aside the fact that Ron Howard's work is not true to the nominal subject of the movie, however, this film comes laudably close to a good clinical depiction of the desperate vividness of the auditory and visual hallucinations suffered by patients with schizophrenia, including the sort of elaborate structures of delusion which the more intelligent individual has been known to develop. I would wish that Howard and his associates had managed to portray something more of the adverse effects of the drugs available to treat schizophrenia in the '50s and '60s. Indeed, I would've liked to have seen Russell Crowe add to his superb performance some intimation of these harrowing elements so that the audience could better understand the pharmacotherapeutic factors that drove Nash to discontinue his neuroleptic medications and undertake what is essentially self-directed cognitive therapy in order to address his thought disorder. Even the more recently-developed "atypical" antipsychotic medicine | |