Amazon.com

The main draw of these low-budget horror pictures is their unabashed affection for the great horror movies of the past. In Waxwork, Zach Galligan and his teen friends investigate a wax museum, where they are menaced by the re-animated tableaux. It's about as energetic as a wax dummy. The sequel is livelier, with Galligan now passing through a time portal that transports him to various classic film scenarios:Frankenstein, Dawn of the Dead, Alien, and, briefly and amusingly, Nosferatu (that's Drew Barrymore as one of the virgins cowering in bed). But why no parody of Vincent Price in House of Wax? It goes on too long, but there are weird celebrity guest stars aplenty (Bruce Campbell, David Carradine, Martin Kemp). Director Anthony Hickox helmed both offerings, without quite deciding how much humor was too much humor. In short, genre cultists are pretty much the exclusive audience here. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (52)

One of the most underrated movies in the world
A group of teenage boys learn discipline, courage, and what it's like to stick together as a unit as they aboard the Albatross and ride it out into the great wide open in the Caribbean. Whether they're there because their parents want them to grow up and learn responsibility, or whether they're there because they want to be, they will all learn the comraderie, the hardships, and everything else that goes along with traveling to sea. All of the good and the bad must come together when the Albatross runs into a white squall, a MAJOR storm at sea.

How could anybody not love "White Squall"? There are a lot of great movies about going out to sea, and "White Squall" is up there with the best of them. It's not like "Crimson Tide", "U-571", and those; it's a spectacular coming of age film that has nothing to do with war. Scott Wolf, Ryan Phillippe, and the rest of the crew do a good job of acting, and Jeff Bridges does the best of all in portraying the sternness, yet warm-hearted character that is the Skipper.

If you're a fan of coming of age movies like "Stand By Me", and if you like very entertaining movies that explore the hardships of life to a tee, get "White Squall" right NOW! It's one of the best movies you've never heard of. Example line from the movie: "I don't want it to end. I don't want to go back to what I was before I came here: anonymous".

One of the best films ever! Action packed!
I think that White Squall is one of the best movies ever. Ryan Phillipe and Scott Wolf were the perfect picks to play the main roles. It tells the story of a group of boys who go on an adventure on an older ship for the summer. They travel the world. The great thing I think about this movie is it is a true example of what friendship really is. These boys come on the ship as total strangers, and end up as friends that would risk there lives for eachother. Belive me if there was ore than a five star rating, White Squall would surley get it! I think anyone who could direct such a wonderful film is a maraculus person with a heart of gold. Thank you, Ridley Scott, for showing the world what a real movie should be!

1 of the most stupid films ever
First of all, the characters all look alike and the names aint mentioned often so u dunno which guy is which. Since i gotta do a report on dis movie it aint much help. Its unrealistic in sum parts- like y aint any1 wearin life jackets when da ship is sinking??!?!?! Also. it aint very original

Squall scores
Bridges is a captain of a ship and he is on the highseas with his shipmates. other actors include Caroline Goodall, John Savage, Scott Wolf, Ryan Phillippe, Jason Marsden and Jeremy Sisto. an exceptional cast makes this one special and Bridges cares for his mates. a powerful movie

So Cool- It'll Blow you away!!
This movie was excellent- i couldn't think of anything better to say. We watched tha movie at school and we thought it would be really crappy but it turned out to be excellent. I still think that they could have designed the ending with the tornado a bit better i mean Life Jackets woud have been great even though none of the survivors drowned. I felt really sympathetic towards Alice because she was locked in an airtight room and she sunk to the bottom of the ocean with the ship, she didn't drown she would have died a grueosome death from starvation and dehydration. But overall i thought it was great, you could feel everything they did. ... Read more

Description

In TOP GUN, Tom Cruise stars as Maverick, a talented training pilot in an elite U.S. school for fighter pilots. When he stumbles upon some MiG's over the Persian Gulf, and his wingman panics, Maverick cleverly talks him through the situation to safety. Consequently, he is moved up in rank and sent to the Top Gun Naval Flying School. There he has several conflicts with other students while trying to live up to his deceased father's reputation.Unable to cope with the death of his best friend, and fellow pilot, Goose, Maverick contemplates dropping out, but follows through with his dream and ultimately becomes one of the "best of the best." ... Read more

Reviews (209)

Fun, but not realistic.
"Top Gun" is not the movie to watch if you are looking for authentic military activities. It is, however, a showcase for Tom Cruise to show how hot he and his band of young stud actors are. Cruise plays Maverick, a crack Navy pilot who get the chance to go to the elite Top Gun Avaiation School. There he is placed in competition with other excellent pilots, but his cheif rival is Iceman (Val Kilmer). This is your standard story of a boy wonder trying to prove himself to a father figure. The romance with his instructor is also sort of superficial. It is, however, very funny to watch all the bloated egos trying to function, resulting in very funny lines of dialog. Also the dog fights are very cool and exciting. Good job Tony Scott. I have met a lot of pilots who act just like these guys, but it didn't seem as funny at the time, though.

Top Gun
This movie is an awesome hit from director Tony Scott (also directed Beverly Hills Cop, Enemy of the State,and much more) dense with fun and excitement that will keep you FLYING for as long as you like. Tom Cruise (Days of Thunder, Jerry Maguire, etc.) stars as hotshot fighter jet pilot "Maverick" Pete Mitchell, who is elected with his partner "Goose" (Anthony Edwards) to enter the Navy's very competitive "Top Gun" program, where many comparible opponents challenge him to win the top rank, including "Iceman" Tom Kusansky (Val Kilmer) and "Slider" (Russ Rossovich). Stars Kelly McGillis as Mitchell's girlfriend, with appearances by Michael Ironside, Clarence Gilyard Jr., Meg Ryan (as Goose's wife), and Tim Robbins. A great action film.

Top Gun baby!
TOPGUN..wat can i say. i grew up watchin this film ,its fun, exciting,thrilling and above all SEXY..tom cruise has never looked soo hott...this movie has given a new meaning to the song 'Youve lost that loving feeling' youd be surprised how many pilots, footballers sing this to girls in bars...it has an amazing soundtrack. 'take my breath away' performed by berlin is a wonderful emotional lovesong that truly melts your heart. so if your a fan of a little romance then this will be a movie top of your list. i know a lot of my boy friends have enjoyed this film so its not just a sloppy romance for girls. the boys get a kick out of 'Maverick' the stud played by Cruise who is 'one hell of an instinctive pilot' who learns never to leave his wing man. His best friend 'Goose' is the coolest character hes so entertaining. there are really fun sexy catchprases, such as 'goose ya big stud take me to bed and loose me forever' and 'son your ego is writing checks your body cant cash'
Top gun is a great movie to just chill out with some popcorn on the sofa and watch with your best friends. ill guarantee you will definately enjoy it.
"there are no points for second place in Topgun." (girls checkout the volleyball scene...mmm)

Awesome Movie!
This movie is a definate classic. The story line is interesting and not mindless like many of hollywoods other movies. Plus we have a beautiful guy with a smile that will make you melt playing the sensitive yet daring main charecter; need I say more? Be careful about chosing when to watch this though, you may have trouble focusing your brain on anything other than Tom Cruises amazing smile.

Top Gun Favourite.
Absolute cheese on a stick, but Top Gun proves that that's not always a bad thing. This movie's got everything - an arrogant prodigy who'd be out on his ass if he wasn't so good, a sensible, more down to earth best friend, a love interest, an arch nemesis and his dumb sidekick, a few cool high fives and catchphrases, the emotional death scene, a euphoric victory act and of course, some unforgettable action sequences. What more could any red-blooded child of the eighties ask for?

Anyone born around 1980 will remember how everyone was doing that double high five and saying 'talk to me Goose' to the kid next to them in class. Certainly one of my all time favourites - entertaining stuff. ... Read more

Description

How do two of the straightest undercover cops in L.A. find themselves on a sex fantasy island where the secret of keeping their cover is to uncover more than the truth? The answer lies in the naughtiest comedy since director Marshall?s ' 'Pretty Woman.' ' ... Read more

Reviews (40)

Great Erotic Comedy
Loosely based on Anne Rice's same-named book (which I haven't read yet, so I can't compare the two), "Exit to Eden" is a humorous and erotic movie about an Australian photojournalist, Elliot Slater (Paul Mercurio), living in California, who goes to a S&M fantasy island resort for some sexual experimentation. There he becomes a citizen (a slave) and tries to win the guarded heart of the head dominatrix, Mistress Lisa (Dana Delany).

Meanwhile, Detectives Sheila Kingston (Rosie O'Donnell) and Fred Lavery (Dan Aykroyd) are trying to nab a couple of South American diamond smugglers: Nina (Iman) and Omar (Stuart Wilson). When the latter two head for Eden in order to steal the pictures Elliot took of them at the airport, Sheila and Fred follow in pursuit, but undercover: she as a guest, and he as the maintenance man. It's a wild goose chase after that, with Elliot chasing Lisa, the cops chasing the crooks and Elliot, and the crooks chasing Elliot--everybody basically in their undies all the while.

"Exit to Eden" is a mishmash of genres--involving detective work, romance, and erotica--but mostly it's a comedy, which lightens the load on a dark topic such as BDSM. Sheila is the main comedic relief, as well as the narrator, but I felt the movie was more about the relationship between Elliot and Lisa, a pairing I thought was believable and enjoyable--one most viewers will be cheering for from the beginning. I was also pleased that Sheila got her own chance at romance with her private citizen, Tommy (Sean O'Bryan), since she was, at times, reduced to just being the chubby jokester. Even so, her one-liners are part of what made this movie memorable for me, e.g. "We're the only two people on this island without handcuffs," as well as in the same scene where she's making fun of Nina's accent.

"Exit to Eden" is yet another favorite guilty pleasure of mine. If you like sex comedies, then you'll probably enjoy this movie. It's all in good fun. Good soundtrack, too. Rated R for--well, I'm sure you can guess.

Not the book, but wonderful on its own
First, a caveat: if you liked the Anne Rice novel this film is loosely based on, you probably won't like the film.

Exit to Eden is a wonderful, lighthearted introduction to the world of BDSM. Unlike Rice's novel, the BDSM in the film is realistic, and the viewer is introduced to elements of real-life BDSM like safewords, mutual consent, and commitment to safety, that most BDSM fiction sorely lacks.

The casting was inspired, particularly of Dana Delany, Rosie O'Donnell, and Paul Mercurio, who like the people i play with are real people behind the leather facade.

Those who are seriously into the scene might find this movie a little tame, with only a couple of real scenes and "bondage" that can easily be escaped from. But the curious will find it a safe and unthreatening introduction to a very real and viable lifestyle. The scene with Lisa, Elliot, and the hairbrush rang very true on an emotional level--and i don't care what anyone says, the scene with Elliot in Mistress Lisa's bath was HOT.

There are only a few complaints i would make. Unlike the real BDSM community (or the novel), there's no hint of homoeroticism in the film. The real-life scene is very pansexual, with people of all orientations sharing space. And the casting of Richard was terrible. Most of all, i wish a lot more screen time had been devoted to Lisa's relationship with Diana, whose heady mix of intimacy and formal role has been an inspiration for my own relationship.

But those are very minor complaints. Overall it's a delightful film, one i've watched again and again over the years. If i were ever to come out to my family about being into BDSM, i would start with having them watch this movie.

Flirty, Funny, Sexy, and Sensual
Great movie!!!! Perfect for those manly men, and dainty women. It's really the best of both worlds. The guys get the action they crave in movies. And the women, well they get the romance, sexual suspence, and desires. Definitly guarenteed to keep you busy all night! Fun for both the sexually daring but also for the timid. Opens ones eyes to both worlds. The comedy is fun and flirty. Rosie and Dan are perfect for these roles. Suprisingly it DOES HAVE A PLOT. Definitly a wonderful snuggle up by the fire type of movie.....NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!!!......by the way this was written by a woman... :)
Everyone enjoy!

Wimped Out
A pity that the movie wasn't filmed as it should have been. Someone said it's a slap in the face to Anne Rice, who's novel was made into a joke with this movie. I strongly agree.

However, it's worth watching--though I roll my eyes through a lot of it thanks to the comedic parts. The book was not written as a comedy, and it shows in this film. A pity the director didn't have the guts to do this film the way the book was written.

I strongly suggest to those who enjoy the theme of this movie to go buy the book. Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty series (written as A. N. Roquelaure) is an incredible read--better then Exit to Eden.

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE
This is a complete slap in the face of Anne Rice's work. I heard that they initially shot the version of the film that closely parallels the book. However it did so poorly in audience testing, that they brought in Dan Adroyd and Rosie O'Donnel for post-production, AND MADE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MOVIE!! You can tell because the four principals are together only in the end scene. But this effort only confuses and destroys whatever had existed of the original themes. I would be interested to see the original version that followed Anne Rice's book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Since audiences are inclined to F/X spectacle, it was easy to understand the 1998 box-office battle between Armageddon and Deep Impact, which shared almost exactly the same premise. But two films about the now-obscure long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine? Without Limits and Prefontaine were in production at the same time, with the cheaper Prefontaine rushed into theaters in 1997 while Without Limits was held back until the fall of '98. As it turned out, neither movie scored a deep impact at the box office, but Without Limits is much more satisfying as a competent, heartfelt slice of sports history. Billy Crudup (a rising star who strongly resembles the film's producer, Tom Cruise, in both looks and intensity) plays Prefontaine, or "Pre," the mustachioed runner who blazed out of Coos Bay, Oregon, in the late 1960s. The movie grazes across the major events of Pre's career at the University of Oregon, where he blew away the competition and positioned himself as the leading American runner (and a charismatic hunk) going into the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich--that star-crossed competition at which Arab terrorists kidnapped and killed members of the Israeli team. Though the film suffers from some of the built-in problems of the true-life biopic, director Robert Towne (who earlier made a remarkable track-and-field picture, Personal Best) captures the texture of the athletes' world. Acting honors go to Donald Sutherland, turning in an emotional performance as coach Bill Bowerman; while tutoring Pre, Bowerman was tinkering with some waffle-soled running shoes, a hobby that later became a little company called Nike. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (75)

I wished this had better Box Office

It's a shame this movie didn't have wider exposure. It didn't even come to a theatre close to us...I think it played in Dallas, but that's 120 miles one way.

I am a fan of middle distance running...and I'm from the 60's so I remember the impact Steve Prefontaine had on the sport...and I mourned his passing like many others.

This movie is worth watching even if you're not really into track and field...it's a story about a man with a gift. He was talented, difficult, and most of all, true to himself at all times. I wish I had know Pre...I know I would have liked him a lot!

Hat off to Tom Cruise, who produced this tribute to the elusive "Pre."

I am going to purchase this movie and put it up there with my copy of "Running Brave." It's that good. Enjoy!

Take two, a little smoother
I give this movie four stars for general moviegoers, most of whom did not bother to see either this version or the earlier "Prefontaine" the first time in theaters -- probably for reasons sufficient to them.

People who run long distance, who love Steve Prefontaine and/or what he stood for, are throwing stars at both of these movies for those reasons, I suspect, not for the movies as artifacts in themselves. Since I attended Prefontaine's high school a number of years later, I met him my first week of school, I ran long distance and even posted faster two-mile times then Pre as a freshman and sophomore, and I was in the Marshfield stadium when his running colleagues carried the coffin onto the field for a memorial service before the body was taken to its final resting place south of town, I fight to retain some objectivity myself.

"Without Limits" is coach Bill Bowerman's, fellow runner Kenny Moore's, and a particular Pre girlfriend's version of the story, gussied up by screenwriter Robert Towne. Towne has done incredible work in the past ("Chinatown," for instance), but I thought his other Eugene, Oregon/distance running story, "Personal Best," stunk. This one is better.

Crudup does a good job of playing Pre; I think "Prefontaine"'s Leto barely edges him for looks. "Without Limits" does a slicker, big screen presentation compared to the earlier film's home movie/documentary style, which is why I think it might appeal more to the average moviegoer who doesn't know anything about Pre or doesn't care about distance running. They're just different approaches to the same basic story ... and probably equally wrong in many of the details. (Prefontaine's parents were in on the earlier film, and supplied the makers with actual home movie footage of Pre as a child.)

I'm delighted that any film got made about this man, let alone two; I'm gratified if either movie has served to inspire younger runners; but I think it's ridiculous to argue that one or the other "really" captures the man. Just enjoy them for what they are, and cherish the memory of an incredible athlete.

Stupendous movie, uninspired DVD
"Without Limits" does indeed go beyond a typical sports movie by being both an inspirational story and a character study. All of the acting is superb, especially Crudup and Sutherland. The scene in which Pre blatantly ignores Bowerman's mandate to sit back during most of the race and let the front runner wear himself out is especially good. It's funny, revealing of both characters, and just has that right level of inspiration (you can ignore the rules and win out of sheer guts) without being sappy.

I've seen "Prefontaine," the other movie about Pre's life, and I can't say that I was impressed. Some reviewers claim that it is more factual. Perhaps that is the case, but "Prefontaine" is not a well made movie. It also takes on extra baggage that distracts from the story. For example, in one scene they show Pre making snide comments about anti-war protesters. Was Pre a hawk? Did he ever express an opinion about war? I have no idea. But as a college athlete it would have been exceptionally hypocritical to have such an opinion when his status as an athlete allowed him to stay out of the military.

"Without LImits" doesn't get bogged down in these unimportant side issues. Instead, it focuses on Pre's fight against the AAU, the governing track and field organization which was so obviously taking advantage of athletes at the time.

Prefontaine once said, "Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." That about sums up the spirit of this movie.

While the movie is great, the DVD is nothing special. I can't figure out why movie studios make great movies like this and then slap them on a DVD with "extras" that include sub-titles at that's it. If there was ever a DVD that should have had extras this one was it - short documentaries on the real Prefontaine, how the movie was filmed, interviews with people who knew Pre, those who were fans at the time, archival footage. This could have been a stupendous DVD with lots of entertaining, educational and inspirational extras. Maybe they'll release an updated version - because this movie deserves it.

THIS IS THE GREATEST MOVIES EVER
I think that is the greatest movies ever the actor looks almost the same as Pre i would have never became such a big Pre fan as i am now i watch this movie before all of my running races and it really motvates me to do my best and because of this movie i ran my hardest and my team on the Championship and i got fourth nothing compared to Pre but it is a start i have to say he is my biggest role model and I give this movies millions of thumbs up

Sean McClory
#1 Steve Prefontaine fan

Without Limits
This is a must-have movie for all middle and long-distance runners. It's history of a legend that every runner should know about. Absolutely and sublimely awe-inspiring.
After the ordinary person has seen this film it WILL make then want to go out and and start running!
And after a runner has seen this movie they will want to be like 'Pre' and win the Olympics!!!
It also shows us the origins of the sports brand Nike and the superb knowledge and class of a legendary coach in Bill Bowerman.

BUY IT! ... Read more

Description

Kid 'n Play (Class Act) return, this time to blow the roof off college life--and Harris University will never be the same! ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Another case of a disappointing sequel
This movie was disappointing, although not a total washout. Martin Lawrence as Bilal still made me laugh, but some of the scenes had recycled jokes and even preachy tones. The scenes where Kamron (of Young Black Teenagers) as Jamal, a white kid who talks black, shows up were so gimmicky it was scary. But one funny scene was when the party was hopping from apartment to apartment while Boyz II Men's "Motownphilly" was playing in the background. Still, all of the best jokes were given away in the trailers, and they weren't even all that funny. The following two sequels are even worse, so just stick with the first House Party.

A anytime movie when you just want to kick back and chill.
This movie is funny and relaxing. It really puts you bcak in the day when everything was just alright. Watch this movie and "roll" with Kid 'n' Play! And if you love Martin Lawrence then you will love this movie. House Party 1 and 3 are also recommended.

Boom,Shaka-laka-laka!!!
This is one of the most funniest films that would really want to make you laugh harder and harder and completely HARDER!!!No other comedy film is as good as House Party 2!Peace,everybody!!!

THIS SEQUEL IS A BIT TOO MORALISTIC AT TIMES
IN THE 1ST SEQUEL, KID GOES TO COLLEGE BUT, REALIZES THAT HE LEFT HIS COLLEGE MONEY WITH PLAY WHO'S GIVEN THE MONEY AWAY TO A CON ARTIST CLAIMING TO BE A RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE. MOST OF THE FUNNIEST MOMENTS COME FROM MARTIN LAWRENCE, WHO RETURNS AS BILAL. THIS SEQUEL IS A LITTLE BIT MORALISTIC AT TIMES, WHICH IS NOT WHAT THE HOUSE PARTY TRADITION IS ABOUT. ESCAPES A TWO STAR RATING ONLY BECAUSE IT IS THAT MUCH BETTER THAN THE NEXT TWO HOUSE PARTIES THAT WOULD FOLLOW.

JUST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST!!!
House Party 2 proved to be just as good as the first. The characters were better and the dialouge and plot made more sense but the lack of his foul mouthed father really crippled it's rating.

This movie delivers a better message than the first but the lack of Robin Harris really sucks (he died shortly after the House Party movie) However Jamal can be funny yet utterly offensive (he is a white guy who thinks he is black).

Lots of messages and innuendos in this movie to convince the viewers to stay in school. Recoomended to troubled youths. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Based on the riveting bestseller by Richard Price, this 1995 crime drama was directed by Spike Lee with such authority and authenticity that it has the hyper-real quality of a stylized documentary. Fully capturing the thoroughly researched detail of Price's novel, the film focuses on Strike (newcomer Mekhi Phifer), a young, ambitious "clocker"--or drug dealer--who works the streets of his New York housing project, selling drugs for a local supplier named Rodney (played with ferocious charisma by Delroy Lindo). Just as Strike is struggling to get away from his dead-end life of crime, another dealer is murdered in a fast-food restaurant and local detectives (Harvey Keitel, John Turturro) consider Strike the primary suspect. In cowriting the script with novelist Price, Lee uses this murder mystery to explore the plague of guns and black-on-black crime in America's inner cities, in which drugs and death are familiar routines of daily life. The film doesn't pretend to offer solutions, nor does it dwell on the problem with numbing insistence. Rather, this taut, well-acted film takes the viewer into a world often hidden in plain sight--a world where options seem nonexistent for youth conditioned to have little or no expectation beyond a probable early death. Lee and Price are deadly serious in handling this volatile subject (which incorporates racism, powerless law enforcement, and political indifference), but Clockers is also blessed with humor, insight, and humanity. It's one of Lee's most confidently directed films, signaling a creative maturity that Lee continued to develop throughout the 1990s. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (25)

An Average Joint
This crime drama about a troubled, confused teen boy has some well-done elements but the overall result isn`t too exciting or innovative. Strike is a young dealer living in a dangerous and claustrophobic neighborhood, and as he becomes more involved with some bad influences his problems start to increase and leaving him in a difficult situation.
Director Spike Lee uses a typical murder mystery to offer some insight into this NY community, showcasing their connections and relations. There are some stylish and edgy camera angles, the acting is generally convincent and the characters complex enough (even if a bit stereotyped), but the movie is ultimately too long, the pacing slow, the plot unsurprising, the score melodramatic and the ending a bit weak and forced.
So, despite some good moments, "Clockers" could have been more developed and edgier, since most of the picture offers nothing that hasn`t been shown in some TV series out there. Passable entertainment.

ALEXS CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
Highlights: Harvey Keitel's, Mekhi Phifer's and Delroy Lindo's amazing performances; the tightest script ever written by Spike Lee; philosophical themes well-developed; candidly brutal depictions of the projects, with all their crack dealers and lack of aspiration.

Lowpoints: The musical score at times gets a little too overwhelming; Clockers' pace falters, but that's to be expected from a Spike Lee joint, and Clockers is the most successful venue on his resume yet.

Conclusion: A fine, powerful drama that deals with the life of a young man, born in the projects and trying to make a living from dealing crack cocaine. The acting is exceptional, particularly Harvey Keitel's, who always mesmerizes and here delivers a performance that, in terms of intensity, could only be compared to his work in Abel Ferrarra's Bad Lieutenant. The characters are spot-on, the script sizzles, and there are scnes that will make viewers choke on tears of compassion.

SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED: Do the Right Thing, Menace II Society, Baby Boy.
DON'T SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED: O, Save the Last Dance, Monkey Trouble.

Classic Gangsta Cinema from the hardest of hardcore Spike
Yo, you gotta buy this yo. This is where it all comes from. This is the movie that in the future will be viewed as the end all be all of gangsta movies. It chronicles the trials and tribulations of a smart teenage drug dealer as he grows up in Brooklyn and tries to gain a lucrative spot in the drug game off the benches. It shows with flashbacks and good storytelling how black on black crime is created and perpetuated in the hood: too many men dealing crack son. This teenage hardcore is called Strike and he must choose his path in life and one thing the movie makes abundantly clear: Strike can stop dealing anytime he wants. Strike has money and trains. Strike has people in the community including two understanding cops and a mother and a brother and a sister in law who would like to see him change his ways and the script shows that he can chance anytime. He can go into witness protection. He can just up and move and take his money elsewhere. He's smart. he can do alot of things, but he chooses to stay and be a dealer. Why? because the most father-like influence on him is a hard-boiled dealer played by Delroy Lindo who permeates the film with rationale evil and avarice that make bad leutenant look like good family fun. So in short, Spike is showing through Strike how all the black youth just need a good father figure to set them straight, stop dealing and raise a family like Strikes brother who is honorable and sympathetic to the extreme. The soundtrack is brilliantly wrought to effect sympathy and compassion from the audience while the shocking visual elements cause us to question our own society.

Fair to middlin'
I'd probably like this movie a lot better if I didn't feel it was such a disservice to the novel it's based on.

Delroy Lindo does give a standout performance as Rodney, but I just wasn't that impressed with Keitel. I guess it's a testament to Price when I say that the Rocco Klein of his novel felt more lifelike, more deeply conflicted, and more rounded than Keitel's Klein seemed on screen.

I found it irritating that there were certain surreal elements added to the script which seemed to compromise the grittiness of the story. The additions didn't make the movie funnier, they just made it strange.

As a side note, less than ten years old, the soundtrack already seems incredibly dated.

Don't even rent this one, go read it. If you're dead set on spending your loot, buy two copies of "Do the Right Thing."

VERY NOSTALGIC
This film is probably the most emotionally compelling film I've ever seen. I feel like the ghosts of my past are reaching into me as I watch this. ... Read more

Reviews (69)

My Favorite Movie!
Terry Gilliam's mostly-ignored fantasy-adventure is without a doubt my favorite film to watch. The highly imaginative production (infamous for blasting past its budget limit, and for being underdistributed by Columbia) is an incredible film, a treat to watch again and again. A host of major British actors (including John Neville) team up with a menagerie of character players (Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce) to create the exaggerated, fantastic adventures of the 18th-century cavalry officer Karl Heironymous Friedrich Baron von Munchausen as he flies to the moon in a hot air balloon, falls back to earth into an active volcano, and then gets swallowed by a giant sea monster, all in an attempt to defeat The Sultan. Families: some immoral innuendos, brief female nudity, and a frightening incarnation of Death may make this one unsuitable for some.

Not MY favorite of the trilogy
I seem to be definitely in the minority in these reviews, but I found THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN the worst of Terry Gilliam's trilogy (the other two films being TIME BANDITS and BRAZIL which I love). It wasn't a bad movie; just not a great one. It seemed to drag in parts. The first half hour of the film especially takes far too long to get into the story. Still, even Gilliam at his worst is often a lot more fun than most of the fantasy-based films out there.

The visuals are spectacular and you can definitely see where the money went (I read that this was one of the most expensive films made at that time). Terry Gilliam has an incredible imagination and is able to translate his vision to the screen. I was convinced the Baron could fly holding a cannonball!

The actors seemed to have a good time making it. John Neville uses the proper restraint in his roll to make his character believable while in unbelievable situations. Uma Thurman is incredibly beautiful as Venus. Robin Williams and Eric Idle have a lot of fun in their roles.

Aside from the slow pace in parts, I also am disappointed in the lack of features on this DVD. Where's the onscreen commentary or the behind-the-scenes features? Terry Gilliam did such a great job on the TIME BANDITS and especially the Criterion Collection BRAZIL, I'm surprised that a film that he spent so much time and money into lacks these extras. Perhaps even Terry Gilliam doesn't like this film as much as his others?

The Baron Lives on
Anyone who can sit there and say thay never spun a tale or two in their lives has no imagination. The Baron is a man who has cheated life and death by being both hero and con man but still retaining a sense of "je ne sais quois" Robin Williams steals his cameo and plays it in his usual frantic way. Sarah Polly is wonderful as the child of innocence who looks up to the Baron and the rest of the cast is wonderful as well. Not a movie that should be missed especially by those who enjoy the mania that is Monty Python

Baron Munchausen
See the lovely Uma Thurman years before this "kill bill" nonsense!

Darn Good Movie
check it out. a great fantasy tale. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

INTRICATELY CRAFTED POLITICAL THRILLER
If only the ending could be just a tad different, this would be twice as popular as it ever got. The topnotch, passionately made film largely goes unsung, a bit like "The Siege," only because it threw away all the riveting plot twists when it reached its ho-hum finale (some may call it a great final twist).

Quibbles aside, this fast paced nail-biter may be one of the quickest 2 hours of cinema ever filmed. Costner plays a Navy commander assigned to a high level post in the DOD, where he, and the Secretary of Defense become embroiled in a murder/scandal. The bulk of the film chronicles the Departments Under Secretary's attempts to quash the problem. A high level Russian mole in the U.S. government is being pursued throughout the film. The chase keeps narrowing down more and more drawing the government officials closer and closer to the culprit. The tension became almost unbearable as the mole was about to be trapped.

Costner, for a change, is really convincing in his role, the tight dialog helping him immeasurably. Sean Young actually smiles in this movie and looks twice as good as all her other newer movies put together. Gene Hackman has the usual commanding screen presence.

All in all, a fabulous politically charged thriller you ought not to miss!

Good suspense, excellent on first viewing
An early Kevin Costner film which many argue is one of his best. Filmed in 1987, "No Way Out" focusses on a cover up where Kevin Costner is assigned to frame the wrong person. The problem is, he is the wrong person. He then has to find a way to identify the true killer while saving his own butt in the process.
Sean Young stars as an unconvincing lover of both Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. As one reviewer said, she does not pull off enough charm to convince the viewer that she is worthy of such attention from these men.

How does "No Way Out" fare 15 years on? I admit, I loved this film when it first came out, but now it just reeks of the 80's. Bad music, bad costumes, and quite poor acting from Sean Young and Kevin Costner. Kevin comes across as if he is in a daze the entire movie. Still, for those who have not seen it before, there are some definite suspenseful moments.

DVD SUMMARY: An early DVD release by MGM, and despite it being labelled as "16:9 enhanced", it is not. Nevertheless, the picture is surprisingly clear for a film of its age. The sound quality is just average.

A well-made political thriller with some pleasant twists...
Having lived around the outskirts of Washington, D.C. myself, it's always a nice treat to watch a film that literally takes place right where I have stood, at one time or another. It's just very fun to know that a famous movie was shot where you once walked. (Although I now regret visiting the set of "101 Dalmations" in London--that's one story I don't often tell people with a smile on my face.)

At the beginning of "No Way Out," we get to see Washington from above as the camera glides through the air, swerving and going around in circles, until we land inside a small interrogation room housing a convicted murderer (Kevin Costner), who is in fact innocent and has been framed. "When's he coming out?" he asks as he walks over to a one-way mirror and looks through the glass. Right as we start to think, "Whom is he talking to?" (Or "Does he mean Hackman?" if you've read anything about the film), we fall backwards in time and land in the same place some number of months earlier.

"No Way Out" is a government thriller about an officer wrongly accused of murder--when the Secretary of State himself is the culprit trying to avoid a scandal by launching a top-secret cover-up. Costner is the officer, and Gene Hackman is the Secretary of State. After meeting a beautiful young woman (Sean Young) at a party, Costner takes her into a limo and they have a quickie--before they even know each other's names.

What's this got to do with anything? Why is my review so choppy and linear-challenged? We'll get there.

The relationship between the two turns into a big romance until Costner is sent out to sea, where he saves a sailor from falling overboard and is praised in all the papers--where his girlfriend back home sees his face and is reminded of him. (Now she's the mistress of Hackman, by the way--that complicates matters quite a bit.)

When he arrives back home, they go on a romantic getaway--but Hackman finds out and accidentally murders the girl while trying to get her to tell him the name of her lover. Ready to turn himself in, Hackman is persuaded by his gay friend to cover everything up and blame someone else. The gay man even goes and gets rid of the evidence himself--with pride, I might add. (It's like Mr. Burns and Smithers from "The Simpsons"--the latter loves the former, but the former is too powerful and naive to ever notice.)

The clever twist in "No Way Out" is that Costner knows Hackman killed Young, but Hackman doesn't know that he knows that. (Get it?) As he runs around the Pentagon and other government establishments, the evidence starts to pile up against him--the negative off the back of a Polaroid camera, a few eyewitnesses who claim they saw a man outside Young's apartment the night of her murder, etc.

The great thing about "No Way Out," and another factor that separates it from the rest of its kind, is something that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't seen the film. Essentially, no one knows who killed the girl--and Costner isn't placed under arrest straight away because no one has uncovered any evidence pointing towards him. As the negative off the back of the Polaroid is scanned through a computer and painstakingly altered to reveal the man's face on the photo, Costner runs around trying to eliminate evidence before anyone finds out. The photo will eventually reveal his own face, yes, but he has a number of hours until then to find the true evidence that convicts Hackman.

This is a smart thriller with a few pleasant twists, particularly the very end. It's not a great movie by any means, but it's well-acted and solidly directed by Roger Donaldson, who also made last year's "The Recruit" with Al Pacino and Colin Farrell. The guy obviously likes government thrillers. This one is a lot more plausible than "The Recruit," too.

A really good politcal thriller. Good suspense film.
Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, and supporting cast all turn in excellent performances in this underrated but very effective political thriller. This is a very good and effective movie dealing with inside Washington politics and intrigue, and international espionage. The plot moves at a breakneck pace, there are few draggy lulls of the type that plague so many movies these days, and the film never fails to capture and retain the viewer's interest. This is a great "beer and chips" film for a Friday evening.

No spoilers here, but just let it be said that as one watches the film, it twists and turns and continues to surprise the viewer. Costner is very effective here, Gene Hackman has his usual presence, and overall, this film solidly succeeds in its goal, which is to entertain. Recommended.

Gold-Standard of Political Thrillers now on DVD
Often, a film is compared to "No Way Out"--it's a gold standard of political thrillers. Made in the 80's, it holds up well in its genre. Now it's on DVD (without many "extras"--just the release trailers) and that's worthwhile if you are a political thriller fan.

Gene Hackman does his usual excellent job as a power-monger Secretary of Defense. He plays it subdued with restrained violence; you know this is a man capable of nearly anything. Will Patton is stunning as the bootlicking lackey, and Costner is reasonably good as the hapless pawn (?) of the Secretary's machinations. Sean Young plays a nervy, Washington bimbo. She's annoying, but actually, that seems to be part of the character and I thought she was superbly cast. The horror of the 80's overly-ornate costuming and gaudy makeup are the only hint of the age of this film.

The story is laden with clues dropped in a seemingly meaningless way and the tension builds superbly, racheting suddenly with a surprise in the action. At the end, another surprise is delicious, especially if you picked up all the red herrings (I didn't. Maybe you will.) If you love political or espionage thrillers, this one has a great payoff. ... Read more

Reviews (42)

I love it to death.
This has to be one of the best action, western and gangster movies I've ever seen. Willis was perfect for the part of John Smith (his voice-over has some of the best dialogue ever and if you don't believe me check out the opening scene), a gun for hire without a conscience. All elements of each genre are highly spoken for.

The editing, dialogue, cinematography, music, direction and acting are all top class. Everything is fantastically overblown but never preposterous.

As for the film itself, it is very empty but the mood and tone are so very distant and weird, and I totally love it. Walter Hills direction is a well balanced cross between Sam Peckinpah and John Woo. And Cooder's score will transport you right into the movie even on it's own. This wall always be one of my fave movies and it is very much worthy of 5 stars.

The 2.50:1 anamorphic picture is stunning and there are rumors that Hill originally wanted to make it in B/W but New Line Cinema would not let him. To test this out turn your color right down and see how much the film's atmosphere is enhanced from already gloomy to undeniably depressing, BUT IT IS SO COOL.

The DD 5.1 sound quality on this DVD during the gunfights is absolutely amazing. It will bug the hell out of your neighbors, but who cares? Every now and again Walter Hill injects a sudden burst of ferocious, furious and brutal violence that takes your breath away. When people are killed they don't just fall down, they FLY across the room and thru windows.

Extras are brief and not very good (Cast Bios say that Die Hard 4 was released in 1998!) and there is a cool clip of Loaded Weapon 1 hidden in there too.

A letdown -- could've been much better
I actually would give this film 2.5 stars. I opted for 3 (instead of 2) because it's leaning more toward 3, as it is not boring and didn't cause me any feeling of pain.

As you probably have discovered by now, this is a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, or, as more of you know, Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, starring the great Clint Eastwood. It's a pretty interesting story and concept, but in Last Man Standing the execution is not there.

For one, the characters are just plain bad. I like Bruce Willis, and here he gives a decent (at best) performance. But Clint Eastwood he's not. They try to go for character development with him (and only him) and it more or less fails. I've seen worse, but this is hardly memorable. The other characters are not even worth discussing, other than the fact that the dialogue is particularly wretched.

And then there's the action. It's simply not that good. This movie could have possibly redemeed itself had the action been remarkable. The director Walter Hill goes for the Peckinpah-Woo style of gunplay (which I happen to love), but unfortunately does not succeed. The result is a second-rate job. It's not terrible, but Rodriguez did a better job in Desperado for sure. Hill unwisely does not use enough slow motion, which is too bad. That would've helped a lot. You would think there would be a western in the past 30 years that could top The Wild Bunch's quality of action, but nope.

Not only is the action not that impressive, but there's not nearly enough of it. Leonard Maltin wrote in his review that this movie is "rife" with gunplay. In actuality, it's not. You don't get a whole lot. There should have been much more.

Visuals are uninteresting. There's not much to see. The DVD picture quality is good, though, I'll give it that.

There are no special features on this DVD worth mentioning, just so you know. A director's commentary would have added, so we could hear Hill defend this film.

The one thing I'll give this film is that it isn't boring. Fans of The Wild Bunch and John Woo will be diappointed. It passes the time fairly quickly, but in the final analysis, Last Man Standing is a forgettable movie.

a good story... poorly done
I wish to keep this short, so I'll only say this: I liked this movie better the first time-- when it was called 'A Fistfull of Dollars'.

Awful!
One of the silliest pretexts for a movie, ever! This film has all the substance of an AT&T commercial, and the "story" is nothing more than one establishing shot after another. After about an hour and a half, we get to see Christopher Walken and Bruce Willis eyeball each other and act macho... That's if we haven't fallen asleep or otherwise lost interest by that time.

At this time, you can buy a used VHS edition of this movie for $.49 on amazon, but at less than a half a buck, it's still not worth it...

A novel take on a classic movie
Akira Kurosawa's film "Yojimbo" is a cinematic masterpiece, and in the time it came out, Westerns and Samurai movies were practically one in the same. Consider "Seven Samurai" and "The Magnificent Seven" both excellent films in their own right. Similary, "Yojimbo" was remade into the classic Spaghetti western, "A Fistful of Dollars" with Clint Eastwood. It's with this remarkable history that "Last Man Standing" was made.

If you know the story fo Fistful of Dollars or Yojimbo, it becomes clear that this is a role that Willis is well-suited for. He plays a man passing through a town in the middle of nowhere, and the town's split between two rival crime families. As a man skilled with guns, he plays the families off of each other to make a buck, but can't help getting pulled into the dilemmas of this little town.

If you loved Yojimbo or Fistful, and don't want to see this movie out of fear that it will ruin the story, I would put those fears to bed. This movie takes a novel and more modern approach to the story, and Willis adds his own flavor to the 'man with no name.'

Of course, I liked Yojimbo more. But Last Man Standing is a good film in its own right, with a good performance by Willis and excellent performances by Chris Walken, Bruce Dern, and William Sanderson. The gunfights in this movie are enjoyable, but unrealistic in a sort of John Woo/Killer/Hard-Boiled style.

So, if you're interested in seeing a reworking of a classic movie, or if you just want to see a good shoot-em-up, this movie fits the bill. ... Read more

Reviews (425)

Delicious Zellweger, Delectable Grant, and Hysterical Moment
What a wonderful surprise this movie was to me. I resisted it I admit, thinking I wouldn't relate to the plump heroine coping with loveless sex, dueling suitors and haughty English folk. Yet, not only does the movie sparkle in unexpected, laugh-riot moments, Renee Zellweger proves yet again what a stunning actress she's become. In the title role, she's silly and coy, at once vapid and brilliant, a heroine for our generation. Hugh Grant is slimy-sleazy as her boss, a real departure from his "Four Weddings and a Funeral" Jimmy STewart-ish character. And, Colin Firth excels as an unlikable suitor who in the end hooks Bridget with intelligence, heroism and a deep warmth that is rarely allowed to shine (ultimately it's Bridget who brings him out of his shell, while exchanging her own for a newer model!)

Ever since "Jerry MaGuire" made her a star, Zellweger was dazzled in on screen roles like "Nurse Betty" and "One True Thing." This is an actress who is able to fully expose her character - warts and all. Where other actresses might shy away from brash, bold characters, Zellweger embraces them, and in the process, the audience falls in love. She has the sort of face that tells stories with small, seemingly unimportant facial expressions. A raised eyebrow here, a pursed lip there, she's able to convey layers of emotional context and depth that very few of her contemporaries can ever hope to achieve. Her spellbinding work opposite Meryl Streep in "One True Thing" is proof positive this star is here to stay - and deserves attention as quite possibly the best actress of today;s generation. Very few actresses could ever hope to shine opposite the legendary Streep, but Zellweger does that and more. In that film, and this one, she delivers a fully realized character, infusing Bridget with wit, charm, charisma, and more than anything - REALNESS. Ultimately, that's the best thing about this movie - the multiple levels Zellweger manages to pull off will allow even men to see parts of themselves through Bridget's eyes. Warm, lighthearted, but filled with detail and myriad emotions, "Bridget Jones' Diary" is a winner! Let's hope Zellweger finally cops an Oscar nomination (which she's deserved for other roles in "McGuire", "One True Thing" and "Betty"). At least her fellow actors know a brilliant performer when they see one - as she's been nominated for a Best Actress SAG Award (over Nicole Kidman who was thought of as a shoo in for "Moulin Rouge.")

In a nutshell, this is a fun, entertaining movie, with great music, endearing moments of comedy, and another SHINING performance by Zellweger!

A Feel Good Movie Wonderfully Cast
This is a wonderful gem of a movie. Based on excellent material in the first place - Bridget Jones' Diary (the book), which in turn is loosely based on Pride and Prejudice to some degree - its near perfect casting ensures its place as a romantic comedy classic. From the leads to the bit players, even the seemingly unbelievable, such as Bridget's mother, are entirely plausible. The main characters are rendered with somewhat more depth than is the case for most romantic comedies; for example, raffish though Hugh Grant's character is, he is not such a stereotypical rogue that he does not feel badly about hurting Bridget, even before realizing how much he cares for her. Colin Firth is a particular triumph and plays off Zellweger remarkably well - they're an unlikely enough combination to add just the right amount of interest and tension, yet not unlikely enough to make the outcome unbelievable. Mark Darcy's transformation is one of the more interesting elements of the movie. It's puzzling that Firth hasn't risen to leading role status more prominently, though this may be due more to his own choice of parts than anything else. Few actors are more artful at innuendo and the use of facial expression and body language than Firth; no jabbering on is required to understand his characters' struggles and true feelings. When playing smoldering (i.e., masculine) repressed roles he's at his finest. This is a "feel-good" movie with the happy ending so many long for during challenging times and the holiday season. With so many engaging and quirky characters, it pulls its happy result off in a way that makes it far more interesting than is usual for its genre.

It's a gem, a keeper, a library addition
Bridget Jones's Diary was an unexpected surprise for me. I suppose I expected a sappy Renee and Hugh love story. It's not. Substitute sticky for sappy and lust for love and your getting in the right neighborhood.

I didn't have to identify with Bridget's (Renee Zellweger) biological clock to get the squirmy wormies during her multiple awkward situations or to feel triumphant when she overcame in spite of her embarrassment.

Hugh Grant plays the lovable rogue and the object of Bridget's heart. Even though the role of the scoundrel is a departure for Grant he plays it much as he does when he's the victim of love. If anything his good guy history adds to the allure of twists in the movie.

I am a Renee Z fan anyway but her portrayal of an undesirable, overweight, out of the game English spinster was amazing. None of these terms come to mind when I think of Ms Zellweger yet she was completely believable.

Oh yeah, I forgot the most important thing; I laughed out loud a lot. This is a very funny movie.

The story is great. The cast is great. Buy the movie.

Delightful romantic comedy
What sets this movie apart from other romantic comedies is that its heroine is a witty, self-deprecating, socially clumsy woman who isn't stick-thin, who doesn't look polished, and who will not have to undergo a makeover or any other kind of enormous transformation just to steal the hero's heart. He likes her just as she is. And so do we, even if we think her a bit daft for taking so long to realize that he's the right man for her.

But before Bridget even allows herself to admit that the proud and reserved Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) is not as bad as she thought, she's first swept away by her boss, Daniel Cleaver, played in a delightfully rakish way by Hugh Grant. And not only does she have to sort out her feelings for Darcy and Cleaver, she also has a host of other difficulties to deal with - her parents' troubled marriage, her fondness for fatty foods, her love of drink, and her tendency to speak without thinking.

Highlights of the movie include Bridget dressing up as a Playboy Bunny for what she thought was a tarts and vicars party. Another funny scene is her in the kitchen, ineptly making blue soup and swampy-looking gravy for her birthday dinner. Sometimes the movie did go too over the top, as in the fight scene between Cleaver and Darcy. Also, in the DVD outtakes, I didn't see any additional scenes with Colin Firth (a pity, because he's so well-suited for such a role and so easy on the eyes...). But on the whole, the movie was delightful, fun and full of warmth.

"Bridget used to run around naked in my paddling pool"
BRAVO Bridget Jones!
This movie is truly and amazingly unique and hilarious! Rene Zellweger is charming and funny as a slightly overweight publisher. Colin Firth is very fresh as a top notch lawyer, and Hugh Grant is amazing as a head publisher(...)
This story tells of Bridget Jones, who is an alcoholic and slightly overweight, but very lovely British woman who wants to change her ways and get a boyfriend. She finds her man in no time, Daniel Cleaver, who is her boss, but shortly finds out that he is NOT the man she's been looking for. In a strange turn of events, Bridget quits her job and finds another as a TV personality. After more events, mad depresssion, getting hung over, a (REAL) fight, and a divorce in the family, she finds the truth about jerky Mark and Daniel, and finds true love. But it wasn't easy for her after she finds out of his engagement to a dull, boring woman who is also his patrner in law, Natasha.
YOu'll love this movie and find it charming and frickin' funny! ... Read more

Description

Whoopi Goldberg (SISTER ACT I & II, EDDIE) handles business her own way in this outrageous comedy hit! Whoopi plays a fast-track executive who starts her own company after a back-stabbing co-worker (Tim Daly, TV's WINGS) nabs her promotion. But when she's locked out of the stuffy corporate world, she invents a dazzling male business partner to sell her ideas! Her wacky plan soon spins wildly out of control, however, when her bogus "associate" becomes Wall Street's hottest financial whiz -- and Whoopi herself must impersonate him! With Dianne Wiest (THE BIRDCAGE) in a hilarious supporting cast, THE ASSOCIATE is a comedy treat you're sure to love! ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Great Movie
Whoopi Goldberg stars in THE ASSOCIATE, a humorous movie about the stock market and a woman finding her way. She plays Laurel Ayers, a stock broker who is promised a promotion. When her co worker takes her promotion right from under her, she is determined to make it on her own. She quits and starts her own company. To her dismay she finds out that it's not easy making it in the world as a woman, doors are constantly slammed in her face because of her gender, so she sets out to take the world over by storm, by creating a fictional person, Robert Cutty. Yes she creates a man and even dresses up as one. Cutty takes the world by storm, but Laurel has to keep up with her charade. Eventually she realizes that Cutty has been nothing but trouble for her, no one cares about what SHE has been doing, and a man is still getting all the credit for her ideas. So she sets out to kill a fictional man that doesn't exist! She realizes she is no better than she was, because Cutty is getting credit for all her work and ideas. ...Overall a really humorous and well acted film, worth seeing many times.

Very Entertaining!
I truly love this movie! I have been trying to get it on DVD eversince I first watched it in March 1997 on my way to the UK. Whoopi Goldberg's acting is convincing but I liked Dianne Wiest's supporting role. A very entertainingly funny plot will keep you laughing most of the time through the whole movie.

He Look-a-Like-A-Man!
I must have seen this movie about twenty times or more! Each time I viewed it, I discovered something new in the movie!I loved
when Whoopi finally got a break-through and was given an account to prove her worth as a business woman! Women are still looked down in 2002 in many fields!The White Male is still given every thing over the Black woman and the white woman! Opray was the frist African American woman given close to a billion in revenue, we're cousins by the way Opray and I! No, really!!

viewing the movie helped me to make many successful deals without feeling like a helpless female!

Anyway Whoopi plays a guy as well as she does a girl! Five stars for you Whoopi!

Not a Great Comedy but Sometimes genuine humor film.
Wall street analyst (Oscar-Winner:Whoopi Goldberg) cannot survived in the World Business Men. So, she sets up with a Phony Fictitious business male partner and she decide to dress herself as a Man!

This Comedy is a Remake from a French 1982 film. Goldberg is Quite Good in the lead. Great suppoting cast:Including-Two Time Oscar Winner:Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Timothy Daly, Bebe Neuworth, Austin Pendleton and Lainie kazan. Directed by Donald Pertie (Grumpier old men) has made a good comedy but he has made funnier films that this one. Grade:B.

Badly acted; not very entertaining
Any one who has the faintest inkling of how Wall St works will find this movie a joke. I can't believe the other reviews giving four or five stars. I was very disappointed with the whole thing. Whoopi seems very uninvolved in her acting. The movie just drags and drags. Many of the so called comic scenes are very contrived. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

An amazing film
Joseph Losey's early masterpiece, The Boy With Green Hair, deserves a first-class DVD treatment. This is not it. The DVD quality is very, very bad.
Other Losey films, such as his version of M and Secret Ceremony need to be released on DVD also.

AWFUL DVD PICTURE FOR A FIRST-RATE FILM
This movie has been a favorite of mine since childhood. It covers an important time in American history -- World War II, Macarthyism, xenophobia ... and love. Fine acting, superb screenplay by a talented writer ... and it deserves a first-rate recording. The picture is almost impossible to see, the colors are dull, the sound is dull ... One must strain to see and hear this delightful film. Give us a Re-Mastered Version and I'll pay anything for this heartbreaking, life-affirming piece of art that has become a (cult) classic!

Everybody Has Green Hair
This DVD is one of the worst transfers in my collection. The picture has an overall greenish tint to it and it seems to be "fuzzy" or out of focus. Little care seems to have been taken in producing this DVD. Printing on the case looks unprofessional. Stockwell's acting is first-rate, but the supporting cast does a walk-on, at best. I recommend this movie only for the most avid, diehard Dean Stockwell fan.

The little movie that caused a lot of trouble
Joseph Losey's radical film, "The Boy with Green Hair" (BWGH) (RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 24 November 1948) never got a fair shake. World events of the time haunted it, and powerful men argued about it. It was an expensive production for RKO and a showcase for cutting edge Technicolor film. I believe the film should be seen again and appreciated, if only in the context of it's time.

The film would hardly stir a ripple today but not in 1948. Like the film, "The Search", it centered on the plight of war orphans in postwar Europe. After World War II, the United States began to disarm, seeking the halcyon isolationist peace it knew before. However, by 1949, the political reaction in the US to international Communism led to the jingoistic Red Scare. It became an example of the kind of film some in and out of government didn't like: (1) it was made by Communists in Hollywood, (2) its theme was pacifist, and (3) it expressed racial and ethnic tolerance.

When Howard Hughes, the armaments manufacturer, purchased RKO in May 1948, half the staff quit (including BWGH's producer and studio VP, Dore Schary) and others were fired. Hughes tried to change BWGH in several ways, including screaming at 12 year old Dean Stockwell to change his lines to a call for a stronger military. But Stockwell, though terrified of Hughes, believed in the film's message and refused. Allegedly, Hughes was unable to re-edit or change the film to his liking. So, he likely sabotaged it in other ways. The film was banned in some places, and Hughes soon pulled it from distribution and shelved it. Its box office is difficult to determine, though Variety reported it did respectable to fair business but not "socko". If critics understood it was a parable, then they were okay with it. If they thought it was literal, then they didn't understand it at all. Generally, they thought the story tepid and uneven. Both the director and a co author, Ben Barzman (who'd adopted a war orphan), were blacklisted. Other careers were hurt over this film, and even Stockwell stated in a 1990 interview that he's surprised he wasn't blacklisted, too, because of the fury over BWGH.

It opens in the period following the war. Twelve year old Peter Frye (Stockwell) is telling his story to a psychiatrist. Peter has a bald, white head. He is a sad, lonely boy whose parents were killed in the war and has been shuttled among relatives. Finally, he goes to live with a distant relative he calls Gramp (Pat O'Brien), a retired entertainer. Peter displays an active imagination and a tendency to exaggerate. But Gramp's Irish tall tales, gentle wisdom, and magic tricks are a fair match for Peter's little fibs. There is genuine affection between them. Then, while bathing one morning, Peter discovers his hair has turned emerald green. Peter first thinks it's one of Gramp's magic tricks, but it seems that the transformation is inexplicable and Peter hates it. So does almost everyone else. Eventually, Peter learns that the green hair is a mark that there must never be another war, and he delivers this message to the town. The town doctor tells Gramp that "Peter will discover it's a dangerous thing for a man to have green hair." Peter becomes an enemy of the people and hunted as an outcast.

It's quite rich in subtext. The story follows the pattern of the mythic Hero's Journey, during which Peter, like the postwar US, loses his illusions and innocence. He accepts the necessity of his parents' mission to save children from war and their deaths. He is complete now and happy in Gramp's love Further, I see the green hair as an image of the Green Man, the ancient Celtic icon of spring and rebirth after winter. The Green Man appears as a face adorned with green leaves and sometimes wearing a cap of stag antlers. This is forecast with Peter's baseball cap, which has a design like two horns on it, and when he is playing with his green hair in the bathroom mirror he forms two antler-like spires out it. Peter, in the spring of his life, is a symbol of the promise of new life, peace, and tolerance.

There are also plausible clues about Peter's green hair and his peace message. Peter may be an unreliable narrator, considering his imagination, history of exaggeration, and belief in Gramp's magic tricks. We also recall he washed his hair with a bar of green soap that morning. At the denouement, we may wonder, like the psychiatrist, whether Peter's hair turned green. Was it imagined, magic, a miracle, or an accident? Still, Peter has his message to sustain him.

Despite its troubled past, the film is a cult classic. It has been released again on vhs, when I would've preferred a dvd. The transfer might've been better. The new release from Terra Entertainment also has an acceptable image, probably on par with an internet version I've seen. Though I'm certain Losey sometimes shot in subdued light to fit the mood. Perhaps Stockwell might've offered commentary for a dvd. He's almost the last survivor of the principal cast. Though he viscerally hated acting as a child, he gave a very mature, thoughtful performance. Variety's review commented on Stockwell's "absorbing and sensitive" performance, as did others. Few juvenile performers today can match him. His home studio, MGM, now aware they had a standout juvenile star after "Genleman's Agreement" (he'd won a Golden Globe award) and BWGH (he'd won the Parent's Magazine award), exploited his talent. His famous roles in "Down to the Sea in Ships", "The Secret Garden", "The Happy Years", and "Kim" followed immediately. I believe it should be restored. It was the little film that caused a lot of trouble.

A classic, mostly unknown....and unnappreciated.
I first saw this movie when I was a child, and was immediately fascinated by it. I have seen it many times since, and enjoy it each time. It is a war story, (WWII) about a little boy, Dean Stockwell, (Peter) who loses both his parents and goes to live with his grandfather, Gramps, wonderfully played by Pat O'Brien. Gramps is a magician by nature and a waiter by trade, and he must work nights, consequently leaving young Peter home alone. The boy is terrified at first, but Gramps reassures him with the sentence: "There's nothing in the dark that wasn't there when the lights were on." He amuses the boy with magic tricks, and eventually wins his trust and love. One day at school there is a paper drive for war orphans, and it is then, from a classmate, (with the typical cruelty of children) tells him he resembles a boy in one of the war posters, and Peter responds: "I do not look like him; anyway, he's a war orphan." And the classmate says, "So are you." And that's how he finds out his parents are never coming back, and he really is a war orphan, and feeling betrayed, mistrusts Gramps and his teacher, and everyone else. Then he wakes up one morning and finds his hair has turned green. He is astonished, as is Gramps, who finds the color is permanent and will not wash out. When he goes to school that day, he attracts a great deal of attention, and at first, it's interesting; then people start to panic: "It's the milk, it's the school," etc. and fear spreads. So finally, the milkman complains and everyone shuns Peter and Gramps takes him to the barbershop where he has his head shaved completely bald. He wears a cap, but still the kids at school plague him, and one day, on the way home from school they chase him into the woods. They go away, he loses them, and finds himself in a glade, and flings himself down on the ground, crying...he looks up suddenly, aware that he is not alone, and sees a group of poor, bedraggled children, all sorrowful, all terribly thin, with torn, ragged clothes. The tallest and oldest of the children, a boy of about fourteen, speaks and tells him why his hair turned green...and why it is of such importance. The performances are fantastic, and the musical score is superb, a song written by a true original, **Eden Ahbez, the real First Hippie/rebel:

(**he was a legend in Hollywood for his unusual life style. Even after he and Jacobsen had a son, they kept on living out under the stars, with not much more than a bicycle, their sleeping bags, and a juicer to their name. The story may be apochryphal, but it's said that once, when Ahbez was being hassled by a cop who assumed from his wild appearance that he deserved to be hauled off to a mental institution, he remarked calmly, "I look crazy, but I'm not. And the funny thing is, that other people don't look crazy, but they are." The cop thought it over and responded, "You know bud, you're right. If anybody gives you any trouble, let me know.")

and it is called, aptly, "Nature Boy", sung beautifully by Nat King Cole. Haunting melody. It should be required viewing in all schools, and should also be released on DVD. Buy the VHS and see it, you are in for a great night's entertainment and more. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

SAHARA, Bogart's Desert War Classic now on DVD !
It was 1943 and the United States was at war. Humphrey Bogart had just finished "Casablanca" (considered the #2nd greatest Movie of the last 100 years by the American Film Institute (AFI)1998) with Ingrid Bergman at Warner Brothers.

As the war effort continued Hollywood began to use the power of their stars with patriotic themes, against all odds stories to give Americans and the world hope for victory.

Warner Brothers having the greatest stable of stars lent the services of Humphrey Bogart to Columbia Pictures for the making of the Classic Desert War story "Sahara".

This movie had a great ensemble cast which included a very young Llyod Bridges, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish and Dan Duryea. Filmed in the Mojave Desert near the great Salton Sea in Southern California. The filmed was endorsed by the War Department and the extras were supplied by the United States Army (playing the Germans, Americans and Allies).

"SAHARA" became Columbia Pictures top grossing film of 1943 at a whopping $2.3 million and a very effective propaganda war vehicle.

Summary: Sgt Joe Gunn (Bogart) a WWII tank Commander and his crew