Game Night Collection

Love all the movies!!
I ordered this set because I love all the movies included. A great value package of great movies. All worked as expected


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Terms of Endearment [Blu-ray]

One Of The Greatest Films Ever
The title of this review says it all. Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson...the entire cast was spot-on. This is a superbly-written script with outstanding acting from everyone involved. The movie deserved to win Best Picture, and will remain one of my all-time favorites.
One of my favorite 80's movies...
Fantastic characters, dialog, performances, story - extremely funny and moving. Nicholson, Daniels, Lithgow, MacLaine and Winger are all on top of their game, and even smaller roles like the kids and DeVito's are memorable. And this team?!: Director: James L. Brooks, Writers: Larry McMurtry (based on the novel by), James L. Brooks (screenplay)... Wow! A classic.
Classic dramedy
Great performances, great writing....what more can you ask for? This is a classic that stands the test of time. Deserves all the kudos it has received.
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Jennifer Eight [Blu-ray]

SIMPLY AN ENTERTAINING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER.
This film speaks for itself. Superb acting and well directed. A tense tightly scripted psychological thriller. Ex-LA cop Andy Garcia now living in a small town tries to solve a pair of local murders. His only hope is a blind woman who seems to be the key to the serial killer's activities. What is more she may be 'Jennifer Eight' the murderer's codeword for the next victim. This 2 hour film keeps you on the edge of your seat. Fantastic movie, entertaining not to dull although the ending could have been longer. The film finishes very quickly otherwise well worth watching.
First Of The Genre
True enough, movies about serial killers are just too many around, and the theme is simply overdone. Now, J8 has been shot in 1992, and if you make abstraction of all the dullest things done ever since, it IS a damn good movie.

First, Garcia's character John Berlin is no body-built, trigger-happy superman. He's merely a lab-tech, a forensic-oriented cop who stumbles upon what he thinks is the work of a serial. No shots fired, no wild car chases. The whole story is very plausible : from the cars they drive (a regular unmarked brown Police pack Caprice,and an 10-year old, battered 380SEC Mercedes as Berlin's personal car), to the clothes they wear, or the guns they carry. No fancy suits (although Garcia's short coat is really cool), and no 5-pound cannons (plain, California police regular issue Beretta 92). Creative police work, brainstorming and trial by error. Sounds a lot like your next door homicide cop daily bread and butter. And last but not least, the movie is shot in rural...
Breathless, Sightless, Dead
Writer/Director Bruce Robinson, best known for his cult hit "Withnail & I", has crafted a creditable little thriller in "Jennifer 8". It gets all the technical elements right, features some fine work from its actors, and does its best to screw around with the genre. But it rarely adds up to anything more than the sum of its parts.

One of the strengths of Robinson's script is the stylish and effective dialogue he gives to his police officers. Most of the best bits come from the mouth of Sergeant Ross, like when he tells his wife he can't stay for dinner because it's "Friday night at City Hall... I've got a chance to frighten the fat." He's talking about securing a confession from a suspect, but it hardly matters, doesn't it? "Where are the ladies?" asks Sergeant Berlin, before a party. "Putting on the warpaint," comes Ross' reply. My favourite line, and probably the film's most ostentatious, is this little nugget which falls from the mouth of a visiting FBI investigator:...
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Snake Eyes [Blu-ray]

A Somewhat Underrated Movie
I find that people don't really give Snake Eyes enough credit. There are claims that Cage's character can't really be related to. Well, how many movies can you find where you can actually relate to what the character is going through? I don't know about you, but I have a very hard time relating to Bruce Willis' part in "Die Hard" and I also have a tough time relating to Nicolas Cage's character in "Gone In 60 Seconds". Why? Because I've never been a One-man army against terrorists and I've never been a car thief. The point is, that you don't have to relate to the character to enjoy the movie.

I find this movie enjoyable because the camera work is superb, the plot keeps you interested, and Cage plays his role as a weak, corrupted cop very well. Cage's character really comes across as being a flashy sleezeball, and yet some people are attributing that to poor acting on his part. There is a fine line between bad acting and a bad character. Unfortunately, many people...
A very complex film -- much more than it's given credit.
The editorial review here by the Amazon guy (Keough?) is totally off the mark. He missed out on the entire point of Sinise purposefully plotting the crime where he did and not "coincidentally" with his friend. Forget all the dazzling camera work and just focus on the two main characters. Sinise's motivation is one of the more compelling that I have seen in ANY movie villain, and not easy to dismiss. To the film's credit it never marginalizes him, and winds up making some pretty serious statements about how we view loyalty. Cage's character and his relationship with Sinise really brings this out. Quite simply, a brilliant script. The only thing I would say is a bit hokey is the outfits of the ladies. But really, that just kind of makes it fun. Gorgeous Ryuiki Sakamoto score. This movie is not about DePalma flexing his technical muscles. It's one of the best American films in decades.
Hitchcock ending with a hitch
Snake Eyes is a better movie than some have concluded; noteworthy is how in the first half of the movie it shows you the view points of the witnesses which is how it is in real life when trying to construct what rreally happened in a complex event. DePalma employs some OUTSTANDING camera work; particularly the camera view replicating from the prize fighter's eyes that then turns into the mirror and you see the fighter, shadow boxing, and the scene in the upper hotel rooms where the camera looks down and glides over several adjacent rooms to show how people really behave behind closed doors. On a tactical note when the Gary Sinese character shoots THROUGH the adjacent material to hit the alleged assasin that is very well done since in real gunfights you shoot through to the enemy (if your bullets will penetrate) not waltz into a line-of-sight like a Hollywood gunfight. The movie's failure is that it revealed that Gary Sinese's character is the mastermind/villain in the movie middle,...
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Trekkies

Are You A Trekkie?
You might want to watch this documentary before you answer that question. Before I saw this film, I classified myself as a Trekkie. Boy was I wrong. The Trekkies in this movie are extreme. I don't even own one uniform, let alone two or three, and I've never been to a convention. This did not prevent me from enjoying this film. Denise Crosby, who "stars" in the documentary, visits several Trekkies, mostly at a convention in Pasadena, CA, and talks with many of the cast members of the various shows. The interviews with Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, James Doohan and DeForest Kelley about the first Trek conventions are great fun, as are the interviews with later cast members about the endurance of the franchise's popularity. The best interview is perhaps the one with Brent Spiner, who makes some rather amusing comments about fan artwork. Never does the film present the fans as objects of ridicule; rather, it is an attempt to...
An Interesting Subculture
Although I've watched many of the countless episodes of the original Star Trek and all of its spin-offs, as well as viewed most of the films, I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of Star Trek. Outside of the major characters and a few of the ships, I don't remember many names of planets, alien races, etc. As a matter of fact I really didn't have much interest in watching this film until I happened upon it one day on cable.

It honestly amazed me at how serious some people take this juggernaut that is "Star Trek." Some of the folks documented here seemed to be pretty normal, excepting the fact that they carry a phaser around with them. Others were just a little bit too serious for my taste, such as the lady who is addressed by her rank of "commander" at work and the man who has flirted with the idea of getting Vulcan ear implants.

With that stated, however, there are plenty of people out there who obsess over other things a little too much as well. For...
the point is made
This documentary really shows how ST has ingrained itself in all levels of the culture. At some point during this DVD, I was a little concerned for some of the individuals involved, but gradually by the end of the film reminded myself that the point of the ST universe is acceptance of all.

These people's passion drives them to be better people, and thats something no one should criticize. While bizarre at times, the people in the film follow Roddenberry's guidelines for life - were the world to do so, I doubt we would face most of the problems we now deal with globally.

The need to belong manifests itself in different ways for different people. ST is clearly an outlet for a rather large group to be a part of something larger than themselves. They don't hurt anyone doing it. They embrace different cultures and ways of life. They support each other with a common belief.

Who can argue with that?
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Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter

A rather progressive undertaking...
Having already swam in rather innovative waters with DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, the team of Brian Clemens and producer Albert Fennell (of TV's The Avengers fame) were again recruited by Hammer Films for a rather progressive undertaking. Clemens' creation of the character Captain Kronos was hoping to revitalize the company's vampire genre and at the same time generate a new series of films (rumors of a TV series also surfaced). But nothing could prevent the decline of Hammer, and CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER was box office doom due to poor distribution in the U.K. and lack of attention on its U.S. double-billing with FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL. It didn't help that the film sat on the shelf for a full two years after it was made.

Captain Kronos (played smoothly by German actor Horst Janson) is a 19th century war hero traveling across Europe with his brainy hunchback sidekick Professor Grost (John Cater from the "Dr. Phibes" films). Self-proclaimed vampire...
Begs for a sequel
This is certainly one of the most unorthodox and best of the Hammer films. While the title screams "cheese," it is in fact a well-plotted, confidently-directed film that was well ahead of its time (in light of the subsequent appearance of such films as "Vampire Hunter D" and "Blade"). It is also refreshingly low-key, making the most of atmosphere and an unusual premise, rather than cheap shocks. It may not be gory, and some of the effects certainly expose its low budget origins, but the sheer inventiveness of the film makes it worth seeking out. It's the little touches that make the film great, from the inspired score to the novel twists on vampire lore. And of course the unmistakable colors and sights of Hammer films. "Kronos" also stands up nicely to repeat viewings, something that can't be said for a lot of horror films. I suspect that the solidness of the character-- part Sabatini hero, part Peckinpah anti-hero-- has something to do...
The Only Man Alive Feared by the Walking Dead!
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) aka Kronos is one of the better films to come from Hammer Studios in the 70's. It's basically a horror movie with a heaping helping of adventure thrown in and just a whole lot of fun.

Written and directed by Brian Clemens, the film stars German actor Horst Janson as Captain Kronos, a master of the sword and ex-solider, a freelance vampire killer, accompanied by the hunchbacked Professor Hieronymos Grost (John Cater), an authority on vampirism and good friend to Kronos. The film also stars the lovely and infinitely easy on the eyes Caroline Munro who appeared in others films like Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

The film wastes no time on the horror aspect as we witness a young, comely woman in the woods attacked by a mysterious, cloaked stranger. The once young woman is now old and withered, due to having her youth literally drained from her person. A couple...
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Losing Isaiah

AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
Isaiah is known as one of the greatest prophets of Israel. Such is the case with this little African- American boy who was abandoned in the trash by his crack crazed mother. Three years later his mother, now clean, decides to reclaim her child. All of this sounds easy but little Isaiah has been adopted by a white social worker and her family and she is determined to keep him at all costs. The drama which unfolds before us is heart breaking as we attempt to decide what is in the best interest of this child.

Halle Berry, Jessica Lange And Samuel Jackson give outstanding performances in enacting the rivalry and possessive claims that both women have on this young toddler. Poverty versus Affluence, the feasibility of inter-racial adoptions, marital/parental stability (and responsibility) and the do gooder mentality are themes that run their course throughout the drama. All of these elements are dealt with in the drama and pulls the viewer from one woman's claim to the...
What's best for Isaiah?
Perhaps the biggest complaint I have with custody battles is that they are ultimately based around the selfishness of the adults involved, whether it be a battle between the child's mother and father, or between the biological parent(s) and the foster parent(s). "Losing Isaiah" is an example of a movie that uses this sad truth to tell a compelling story.

Normally, I'd be quick to write off someone like Halle Berry's character (a former crack addict who abandoned her baby in an alley) as someone unfit to raise this child. I'd also be uneasy about tearing Isaiah away from the only home he's ever known. Thankfully, this film does not end there.

After the courtroom decision is rendered, we see a much different Isaiah than the playful, cheerful child we first encountered. Did anyone bother to stop and ask him what he wanted? In an ideal world, someone would have. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world, but at least we have people who (albeit a little slowly)...
Halle's best performance. She deserved an Oscar for this.
Losing Isaiah is Halle Berry's best movie. I wish she had gotten the Oscar for this film because She gives a breakthrough performance here as a black drug addict who abandons her baby and struggles to get him back from the white mother (Jessica Lange) who adopted him. Other Noteworthy performances here are Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is great, not playing race as an issue, but showing us people as human beings letting the events play and showing us the outcome. I highly recommend this film.
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Bang the Drum Slowly

PERFECT TITLE FOR A GREAT FILM
In the Mark Harris novel (which I suggest you read before watching the movie) Henry Wiggen, the narrator, often says to himself "Lay it on thin, boys." He fears that Bruce, the terminally ill catcher, may suspect false sentiment if his teammates treat him too well, as he has been the butt of their jokes in the past. Bang the drum "slowly" suggests only a modicum of fanfare, and that is exactly what makes this film great.

Against the backdrop of Big League baseball, the viewer is given only small glimpses of DeNiro's character's pain. Too many films dealing with death as the major theme pour it on heavy. Who wants to sit and cry for an hour and a half, for God's sake? What's the point in that? It's as much what you DON'T see that gives the film its depth, and that is, in itself, a breath of rarefied cinematic air.

Excellent performances abound here. The young DeNiro is nearly perfect as the slow - witted yet big - hearted country boy. Moriarty shines as...
From here on in, I rag nobody.......
"Plain old mother talk aint no ways strong enough to describe such a terrible mixup is life, Arthur. But I swear, my son's been handed one s**t deal!"

One of the finer movies of its era, Bang the Drum Slowly is the story of a big-league pitcher, superbly played by Michael Moriarty, and his roommate, a catcher dieing from Hodgkin's disease played by a young Robert DeNiro in a wonderful performance that will come as a surprise to many used to the, by now familiar, DeNiro persona. Here he is a dumb-as-dirt, but amiable Georgia farm boy and he is absolutely believable in the role.

A touching story told with great humor, I think it one of the best baseball movies made, though it really isn't about baseball. This is the 70's, before super star salaries and temperaments have forever changed the game, when Managers were still King and the top salary of an ace pitcher was 100K. The film is told at a leisurely pace, 70's style, somewhat episodically, which will put some off...
Unforgettable Movie!
This is the film that you will not forget.This is a story of two roommates attempting to get through one final season. Michael plays the role of a pitcher who is the roommate of Robert DeNiro who plays the role of the catcher.DeNiro is
diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. Michael as his roommate and
intimate friend helps DeNiro cope with Hodgkins as well as
make the season to the end. This is one of the more touching
films that I have watched.It would compare to "Brian's Song"
as far as being emotional.DeNiro,in this movie definitely showed
signs of great things to come for him.And,who could ever forget
the haunting song that accompanied the movie.A definite must see.
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Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life [Blu-ray]

Lara Croft in Raiderette of the Lost Pandora's Box
It would be easy to dismiss "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" as being a cross being "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and a James Bond movie except for two things. The first is that there is nothing inherently wrong with combining those two elements, even if the genesis of your character is a series of video games. The second is that despite the overwhelming plot similarities between this second Lara Croft film and the first and third Indiana Jones movies, there are actually things going to with the titular character. We are not talking profound psychological development here, but for an action film there is actually something else going on as well.

The main thing, of course, is the action, which is why the James Bond comparisons are so obvious. An earthquake shakes the Greek island of Santorini and the next thing we know Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) is on the trail of Pandora's Box. Apparently it was what brought life to Earth and inside it there is one...
A fun & fitting encore
If you liked the first film in the Tomb Raider series, "Cradle of Life" will deliver just as much fun. The sequel begins with artistocratic archeological adventuress Lady Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) diving off the coast of Greece, where a volcanic eruption has uncovered the fabled Lunar Temple. Within the underwater temple, Lara discovers a mysterious orb. As with many of her tomb raids, however, things soon go awry, and the orb falls into enemy hands.

Representatives of the British intelligence agency MI-5 recruit Lara to retrieve the orb, which Alexander the Great created as a map to Pandora's Box. MI-5 fears that a scientist known for creating biological agents will use a plague contained in Pandora's Box to create weapons of terror. Lara scoffs at MI-5's offer to send agents to assist her, and insists on an assistant of her own choosing--a possibly untrustworthy mercenary (Gerard Butler) who is her former lover. And thus the quest for the orb begins anew.

Once again, Jolie...
LCTR The Cradle of Life - An enormously entertaining film!
While most seem to be either a real big fan of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movies or someone who despises them, I'll take up the role of a big fan. Just as in the first movie, Angelina Jolie's rendition of Lara Croft is absolutely wonderful. This second film, in what is undoubtedly going to be many, is another great action flick that is enjoyable entertainment from the beginning to the end.

While I only have a vague, passing familiarity with the video games, I can say, without a doubt, that this and the first movie make an enormously enjoyable leap from the pc screen to the silver screen.

Angelina Jolie's performance as Lara Croft, to include her impeccable British accent, is nothing less than stunning. I find it absolutely wonderful to see such a beautiful and agile actress take on the "James Bond" type role and handle it with such seeming ease. While these films won't win her any Oscars, they will indelibly mark her among the tops in action film stars. Gerard...
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Stalag 17 [Blu-ray]

William Holden's finest performance......
Quite easily a front runner for the title of best POW movie ever made, "Stalag 17" is expertly directed by Billy Wilder to provide humour, drama, satire and sadness....and William Holden in his Oscar winning performance as the cynical POW sergeant, Sefton, makes this movie a class act from start to finish !

American POW's under the watchful eye of camp commander Von Scherbach (Otto Preminger at his sinister best) are suspicious of a traitor in their ranks...escape plans are going horribly wrong...lives are being lost....and the finger of guilt point's to the crafty, opportunistic Sefton. William Holden was well deserving of the 1953 Best Actor Oscar as the somewhat unlikeable and moody Sefton. Taking advantage of his fellow POW's and filling his footlocker with contrband purchased from the income off his "racetrack", "moonshine" and "telescope" rackets, Sefton then suddenly finding himself the victim of circumstance and his own cynical nature. Holden took on a particularly...
Great POW story
This is not your typical WWII war movie. Great acting by William Holden. He won the Oscar for best actor. Robert Strauss and Harry Lembeck are blazingly funny as 2 other POW's along with Holden. The movie is set in a German prison camp during WWII a week before Christmas. Holden is suspected of being a nazi spy living with the POW's. He's not, but he's going to find out who is. The other prisoner's have already beaten him and and taken some of his possessions. Definitely the best POW movie ever. The DVD has no "special" features such as behind the scenes or information about the cast. It does have scene selection, Dolby Digital, and English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impared. This DVD is the "Standard version" aspect ratio. The movie came out in 1953 when the movie studios were going to "Widescreen" but I think it was shot before they adapted. So this DVD is basically how it looked in the theatre. The transfer to DVD is great. It looks...
A Memorable Comedy-Drama Comes To DVD
Although the play by Edmund Trzcinski and Donald Bevan had been a smash hit on Broadway, most insiders did not expect STALAG 17 to succeed as a film. The story concerned WWII American POWs held in a Nazi camp--but it combined serious drama with broad farce and offered one of the first anti-heroes in American film in the leading role. And with the war still very fresh in every one's mind, the combination seemed more likely to offend than appeal. Every one concerned held their breath when the film debuted: would audiences get it? They did indeed, and STALAG 17 became one of the most critically-lauded and commercially popular films of the early 1950s, picking up an Academy Award nomination for director Billy Wilder and a Best Actor Oscar for William Holden in the process.

The story concerns American prisoners of war held in the German "Stalag 17" in 1944, and it begins grimly: after much planning, the Americans have devised an escape for two of their number, but the next...
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