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David Lynch's 1990 Wild at Heart is an utterly random and ugly experience with pockets of startling imagery and inspired set pieces. Based on a Barry Gifford novel, the film stars Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as lovers on the lam whose relationship is tested and who meet some truly dangerous wackos (including an almost-simian Willem Dafoe). Lynch's thoughts seem to be everywhere, and he expects the audience to keep up with a story that seems more a collection of avant-garde whims than a coherent vision with the intuitive brilliance of his Blue Velvet. Cage gives one of his more chaotic performances, but then he was just reading Lynch's signposts. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (68)

if you're truly wild at heart, then you must .....
i first saw this film in theatres back in 1990 and i couldn't get the film outta my head. at that time, i knew very little about david lynch or his unique style. needless to say, i fell heart and soul for this maniac film and knew i would probably want to watch it over and over. nicolas cage gives perhaps his best performance prior to the wonderful leaving las vegas and i still think this film was very overlooked by everyone with the exception of true lynch fans. while this is probably his easiest film to date that the mainstream cinema could DIGEST, wild at heart is still very much avantguard as it is excessive in the language, violence, and sex departments. what makes this film so digestible is the ironic humor which surrounds the plot like a second skin. while still not a film for everyone, there is much to like about this david lynch treat. i particularly love the scene where nicolas cage is visited by the good which played by then unknown sheryl lee who advises him that the wild at heart must follow their dreams. shouldn't we all follow our dreams no matter how crazy or chaotic things may be?

Dear Tom Keogh,
Wild at Heart is, indeed, a film with some startling images. Any David Lynch fan will tell you that you should expect no less from him. In this film, Lynch is showing a subtle form of humor, he is referencing the Wizard of Oz (I'll not dare say "remake," he is rewriting it in his own fashion), and he is creating film as art in his typical fashion. You see, you actually have to pay attention to Lynch's movies in order to fully understand them. You likely have to watch them more than once to get his points. That's all part of the fun. If you bother to pay attention to the details of the movie, then you will understand that his thoughts are not all over the place at all, but are telling you a story, in Lynchian fashion. He doesn't take you by the little hand and lead you through a smarmy Hollywood film about life and love then whisk you off to a nice, rosy conclusion with a sunset and cutesy music. Don't expect the point to Wild at Heart to come easily. If that is what you want, may I suggest "Dumb and Dumber." David Lynch combines film with art and Wild at Heart is no exception. If you want a movie to present a simple story line and to conclude with a pretty red bow, then skip this one. But if you want to watch an outstanding David Lynch movie, then Wild at Heart will not disappoint. This is a fantastic movie.

PLEASE RELEASE IT ON DVD!!
David Lynch's Wild At Heart is a masterpiece, it won Palme D'Or at Cannes Film Festival for Best Picture. It has an outstanding cast, featuring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Isabela Rosselini, Sheryl Lee,
Diane Ladd, Harry Dean Stanton, Willem Dafoe and so many other great actors! Why wasn't yet released on DVD in North America? Everywhere else in the world was. David Lynch is one of the best American directors and "Wild At Heart" is one of his masterpieces.
My favorite line from this film is: CENSORED.

Film of the Future
Lynch uses cinema the way it should be used. It's a naturally surreal medium, something only Lynch has truly understood, ever since Salvador Dali made Un Chien Andalou, all those years ago. Wild at Heart is totally coherent, as many reviewers have realised, even if only partly and subconsciously. All I would like to know is this: is the American South really the raw and mindless hell on earth that it seems to be in almost every film I've seen located there?

David Lynch's violent adaptation of the Wizard of Oz
Wild at Heart is David Lynch's violent adaptation of the Wizard of Oz with mesmerizing cinematography, which offers an exceptionally artistic cinema experience. Many scenes are visually packed as they offer much to ponder since they are often surrealistic or full of symbolism. The symbolism and surreal environment enhance the fantastic adventure into love, passion, and righteousness that Lynch provides for his audience. The tale begins with Sailor (Nicolas Cage) who was sent to jail for manslaughter as he killed a man in self-defense that was sent by his girlfriends neurotic mother. Released on probation Sailor is free and loving as he can reunite with his girlfriend Lula (Laura Dern) despite Lula's mothers opposition to their relationship. Lula's defiance upsets her mother who hires another hitman to slay Sailor. However, Lula and Sailor decide to take off to California and break Sailor's probation by following the yellow line on the road to the promise land. ... Read more

Reviews (62)

It's a literary high
Cronenberg's version of Naked Lunch is a brilliant combination of Burroughs' novel and Burroughs' life. He blends the true story of Burroughs life (and his reason for writing) with the surreal dark-comedy 'routines' of the novel until they become one story. The story is a quiet hallucination featuring exterminators, addiction, typewriters in the form of insects, typewriters that grow genitals, a global conspiracy of intelligence agents, the drug trade, homosexual ambiguity, writer's block, accidental murder, and literary paranoia. None of these elements is explored completely. Instead, Cronenberg touches on each one until they form some strange, underlying logic.

This edition of the DVD has enough extras to make it the only version of Naked Lunch you'll ever have to buy. (They won't release a bigger, better edition later.) The BBC documentary is okay. It's about 45 minutes long, giving Cronenberg and William Burroughs a lot of time to speak. (Burroughs is particularly good, with a dry sense of humor and a habit of saying obvious truths that make people uneasy.) The second disc also has stills from the special effects team, showing how the various creatures and organic typewriters were developed.

But it's the first disc --- the movie itself --- that makes it worth buying and watching. The special audio track, shared by Peter Weller and Cronenberg, adds a lot of useful background information. The film itself is bright and sharp, a perfect example of DVD clarity. I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who is interested in the best films of the 1990s. Naked Lunch didn't make as big an impact in theaters as it did in book stores, but it should have.

"It's time to do our Wiiliam Tell Act"
Talking slithering strangely sexual typewriters, addicts of cockroach-exterminating pyretheum powder (who like to breath on cbugs and watch them die while on it), thick-fluid sipping mugwhump creatures, an assortment of strange parasitic characters to represent the sinister parts of you you never knew ere there, and a high as a kite protagonist to narrate it all. What more can I say? This is both a brilliant representation of William S. Burrough's no-holds-barred dark imagination and director Cronenburg's as well, both with the twisted audascity to take all these horrific atroscities of reality and fantasy and breath eroticism & mystery into them...

Impossible to describe or even explain (almost but not quite as incomprehensible as FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS), the movie is not exactly a telling of the book Naked Lunch (even though some characters, namely the vile mugwhumps, show up) as it is a telling of Burroughs writing the book and what he may have imagined while writing it.

THe film starts out with the main character William Lee and his even more "creepy" (if anyone in the Burroughs line ever wanted to label what's inside themselves) wife, Joan, are addicted to the roach powder pyretheum, which Lee obtains thru his job as an exterminator. After playing a drunken William Tell act with his wife and blowing her head off so to say (which actually happened to Burroughs and his wife, and is said to have sparked the writing of Naked Lunch), he escapes to Tangiers, Mexico (with a "ticket" which actually appears to be a syringe). There he flows into a seemingly hallucinatory Interzone--a place populated by all the things mentioned above and tons more weirdness. He also meets the wife of a bisexual author who looks almost identical to his wife...and they engage in a particularly freaky sexual practice in which a typewriter tries to join in. If I say any more, the plot will be totally given away, so just watch, and compared to all the elaborate twists and turns on this unreal path to hell, I've said very little.

Great performances from Roy Sheider (who plays Dr. Benway, another character direct from the book), Paul Weller as Lee, Judy Davis as Joan and the other Joan, and Robert A. Silverman as a truly unique black centipede meat salesman with a disquieting manor (the black centipede meat, as well as Burroughs' thoughts on how centipedes controlled many Interzone lives, were from the novel). You'll either be completely confused or completely tripped out of yr. mind, but you won't leave the film unchanged...just like Burroughs' writings.

welcome to interzone!
In my opinion, Cronenburgs best film, or at least that i've seen. Amazing movie, Peter Weller (robocop) does an awesome job too. One of those joints you pop in the player and are thinking about it a week after you've viewed it. Runaway to Interzone with talking typewriters, giant sea centipedes, and the innermost sanctum of paranoia, bizarre eroticism, delusion, hallucination, and beautifully depressing schizophrenia. It's something else. Tough movie to describe, definitely required viewing for anyone with oddball tastes like mine and a good respect for a true artists unique vision (in this case two artists, Cronenberg and Burroughs). p.s. (just don't ever try the William Tell party trick)

Out to Lunch
If you're going to watch this film then you pretty much already know what you're in for. Take Cronenberg and Burroughs, mix them together and you've got yourself a pretty weird film. And it is weird, but it's also so much more. It deals with addiction like no other film has. Specifically how addiction effects the creative process. This is far from youre average nice Saturday night film viewing, but it's a real treat nontheless. Criterion has once again done an amazing job. I'd be surprised if there's ever a better release of the film.

David Cronenberg's Very Best
Before you even try to watch this movie, realize that David Cronenberg's films are among the most bizarre and perplexing films you will ever see. If you like your films to stick to traditional narratives and standard plot devices you will probably hate 'Naked Lunch' (and any other David Cronenberg film you chance to come across). If, however, you are extremely open minded (as in, "I'm open to watching a movie where people have sex with typewriters that turn into giant insects") you may find yourself addicted to Cronenberg's surreal style of film making.

'Naked Lunch' follows the story of a bug-exterminator-cum-secret-agent who...you know what, forget it...because the plot in 'Naked Lunch' isn't really what this movie is about. I'm not going to say that the movie is plot-less (it's not), but the story (an insane organic blend of sections from Burroughs's novel and episodes from his life) exists mainly as an alibi for Cronenberg's signature style of subconscious imagery; more specifically, for his metaphoric exploration of writing as an erotic addictive binge to "exterminate all rational thought." If that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, don't blame me. The fantastic thing about this movie is that it has a twisted logic that is entirely of its own making, and it sits with you. 'Naked Lunch' is a film that is difficult to deal with. It's a movie that I love, and I don't know if that's going to come across in this review. But, 'Naked Lunch' is nothing if not ambiguous, and that's what makes it great art. ... Read more

Description

In this carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the Fascist period, Fellini satirizes his youth and turns daily life into a circus of rituals, sensations and emotions. Adolescent desires, male fantasies, and political repartee are set to Nina Rota's music in this beautiful transfer of Amarcord. ... Read more

Reviews (32)

The magic of Fellini
Fellini's theme of coming of age memoir works as a beautiful nostalgic piece. The film resonates from an earlier film of his 8 1/2 showing the director's flashes to his seaside hometown. I've watched this film several times and on every occassion find something new. Here's a tip to enjoy watching a foreign film - Do NOT watch the English dubbed version if there is any - so much is lost in the film. Fellini's films work with subtitles because they make you forget you're reading them at all and as always, Fellini pleases both eye and ear and subsequently the heart. The musical score by Nino Rota is something one looks forward to in every scene. His music perfectly sets the tempo of each image, and I mean each and every one. What a duo of artistic genius these two men are! Watching the film on its excellent Criterion-restored DVD version, one can only wonder what the cinema world would be without Fellini.

This work may be well Fellini's masterpiece
This collections of vignettes around his early youth, still remain as an outstanding triumph in the italian cinema.
The Fellini's style still influences in this age. Watch Ettore Scola (C'erovamo tanto amati) ,Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso and 1900)and Kusturica (Underground).
The irreverent moods created by this only surrealistic ambassador italian are a song to the freedom , a true 'ode to the joy' and a monumental rendition to the fertile imagination.
Amarcord in my view, is the peak of Fellini as dream maker, as story teller and above all as natural and organical sense of humor, in all of its possible and imaginable frequencies, since the virginal, poignant, irreverent, bitter and austere till the most no mercy satire.
Watch this unsurpassed film in its genre.
One of the glorious achievements not only of the cinema, but the art widely speaking.

and i thought my uncle was nuts
this is a great cast of characters that intertwine with one another to tell the story of boys growing up. great anti-facist satire, and visual comedy. perhaps the best coming-of-age film ever, amarcord gets a standing ovation at precisely the 100:00 minute mark (check it yourself) as every young mans dream comes true, in this case, 100 times over.

fantastic transfer that shames my old VHS copy. check it out

Fellini's greatest accomplishment
I can't believe how much I love this film. This is a film with splendid visuals: of course, there is the peacock in the snow, but how about the scene of Tio climbing the tree during his outing with the family, the motorcyclist racing through the walls of snow, or the fantasy marriage conducted by Mussolini. Fellini's imagination, and the visuals he produces to match these memories, makes this an unforgettable treat. He looks back fondly, perhaps too fondly, on the pre-World War II era in Italy. But we also see a memoir of a young man, coming of age during one highly eventful year of growing up.

Fellini's Other Deeply Personal Extraordinary Film
Like 8 1/2 before it, Amarcord marks an extremely personal film for Fellini. Like his relationship to Guido in 8 1/2, the character of Titta serves as an extension of Fellini on film. Whereas Guido served as an extension of Fellini's state of mind, Titta serves as an extension of Fellini's childhood memories.

Through the retelling of emotional stories that deal with Titta and his family, Amarcord (which translates into "I Remember") presents a cyclical collage of wondrous nostalgia for the Italy of Fellini's childhood. Starting in the spring and ending their one year later with the return of the yearly "puffballs", we are presented with and touched by the many experiences that Titta comes face to face with.

At the same time, the film is much more than a mere visual presentation of Fellini's own nostalgia, for it also questions the true validity of one's own memories. This questioning of memory by Fellini is made apparent in the manner in which single scenes can go from "reality" based to fantasy-like parody back to "reality" based in a manner of moments.

One of the more noteworthy examples of this technique is the scene in which El Duce visits the local town square. In the scene the serious yet joyous procession of El Duce eventually turns into a comedic/fantasy experience in which schoolchildren are shown happily carrying guns in the imagined wedding of two schoolchildren in front of a giant talking Mussolini head. Moments later the film cuts to nightfall, in which the local Fascists soldiers wreak havoc on the town and afterwards interrogate and beat Titta's father. Depending on Fellini's own presentation of the Italian Fascists, (and just as importantly, the view in Italy towards the Fascists at that time) very different interpretations can be read of them. In using such a juxtaposition, Fellini (in his echoing of Arnheim's formalist theory) is purposely trying to express the impossibility of remembering and re-presenting a true account of the past as a result of the individual nature of memory itself.

Another scene that blurs the real and the imagined is Titta's late-night encounter with a large busty Tobacconist (she is given no true name within the film) just as she has closed up her shop. The woman, who Titta has fantasized about at an earlier point in the film, playfully flirts with Titta, a flirtation that eventually ends in a moment of extreme foreplay between the two. But the inexperienced Titta is unable to please the tobacconist, and she soon forces him to stop. At this time she acts as if nothing has happened, she gives him his tobacco and shows him out the store. How much of this was real, and how much of this was imagined both within the film and with regard to Fellini's own experiences? As is the case with many of the other sequences in the film, the answer is left up to the viewer.

Amarcord is thus not so much about reconstructing mirror images of the past, but rather more about how we would like to, and thus do, remember the past through our own distorted points of view. Andrei Tarkovsky deals with very similar themes in his film Mirror, albeit in a manner that is much less entertaining than Amarcord, which was released shortly after Amarcord.

**** (10/10) ... Read more

Reviews (48)

Very Endearing
The sad life of Tracy Turnblad is explored in this biting satire set in pre-intergrated Baltimore.

Tracy (Ricki Lake) and her best friend Penny Pingleton (Lesley Ann Powers) spend each afternoon watching the homegrown hit 'The Corny Collins Show' on television,dreaming of one day dancing the Mash Potato or the Frug there.

Tracy's mother (Divine) does not really think her child will amount to anything,and Penny is constantly being punished (her parents make her wear a big 'P' on her blouse).

However,the charmed life of Amber von Tussle,the most popular dancer on the Show,seems too good to be true,despite commemts by Tracy and Penny (''Stuck-up little spastic'' and ''She is such a queer''). Amber also has the brass ring,that of teen heart-throb Link,who also appears on the Show.

Amber's parents are power-mad and drive Amber to ridiculous lenghs to be popular.They are played by Debbie Harry and Sonny Bono.

Soon,Tracy does get to appear on the show,and lands her dream-hunk Link.

A great comedy,with a yummy soundtrack and a real edge to it that does not marr the overall story.

Also featuring Mink Stole as the cue-card holder on the Show (''Falsies! '') and Pia Zadora as a way-out beatnik chick.

Soon,Tracy

'Hairspray' full of tawdry, tacky fun
John Waters' first real attempt at "mainstream" fun is a trashy and critically-acclaimed delight. Set in (where else?) Baltimore during the Civil Rights era, Hairspray is chock-full of stars, mini-stars, and people who just wanna give it a go at being a star.

The story follows young Tracy Turnblad (pre-talk show Ricki Lake) on her rise to being "big, blonde, and beautiful" on a popular teenage dance show. Along the way, however, she runs into some friction from high school brat Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick, also known as pop star Vitamin C) and her parents, a racial obscenity-spouting mother (Debbie Harry) and a slick politician papa (Sonny Bono). Add in growing discontentment among the city's black populace over whites-only establishments, and you have an explosive mix made even more explosive by how off-the-wall it becomes.

Dance enthusiasts will appreciate the film for its selection of early 60s fad dances like the Mashed Potato and the Madison. Offbeat and fun, Hairspray also has an excellent soundtrack with some obscure songs you'll be hard-pressed to find in another compilation.

Forever Quotable!
Tracy Turnblad is described by her contempories as "a fat trash can," "teenage Jezebel hair hopper," "a whore, (who *I heard* made out in a car - naked!)," "adopted," "white trash or maybe high yellow" or even "mulatto!"... with "roaches in her hair!".... But they're all just hatin', because Tracy is also "the best white dancer in Baltimore" and "a modern teen" that believes in integration! Tracy competes for the dancing queen crown - and also for the leading man - against none other than Amber von Tussle, a "stuck up spastic" who is "*such* a queer," that she makes Tracy's mom ashamed to be white! There's a lot of (funny) trash talkin' goin' on, because a lot is on the line....

The competition between Tracy and Amber, and by extension integrationists and segregationists, will make you feel good, tap your toes, laugh out loud a lot, and cheer. Hairspray's "bad taste" moments are funny as heck, and piece together for a movie that epitomizes good taste -- kind, empathetic, and with a wonderful heart! The music and dancing are just *amazing*! And the fashions and bright colored sets are life-affirming perfect! (Is it just me, or did these early 60's fashions *strongly* influence the early 80's styles?.... Debbie Harry, Ric Ocasek, and Pia Zadora fit in perfect). In the excellent dvd commentary, director John Waters says the sets and styles are realistic for the times. What a bright, bold, fun, cool (when "cool" was cool), forward-looking time! Tracy's mom has a picture of Jackie Kennedy framed on the wall :-). Mom says, "It's the times. They are a-changin'. There's something blowing in the wind. Fetch me my diet pills, would you hun?"

If Hairspray ended with "Where are they now?", Tracy might be a Senator from Maryland, or the Governor, ... or more!! 5 stars as I stand in my chair applauding. Hairspray's bright fun is worth watching many times.

Very Good
The movie Hairspray is Very good. I watched it when I was about 10 and I loved it. My dad keeped telling me to move so he could watch tv and I didn't so I got grounded and after that I have looked for it but I haven't been able to find it until about two months ago now I have it and watch it everyday. I also went to see it live. It was great.

A campy, feel-good film carrying an important message
I think it's safe to say that Hairspray is a unique motion picture. The film, while providing nonstop fun and laughs throughout, also manages to not only confront but to roll right over prejudice in several of its nefarious guises. I was a teenager when this film came out, and sadly, it was the death of Divine (just before the movie was released) that made me aware of this film. I don't know if that publicity helped or hurt ticket sales - Divine, for those who have never heard of him, was famous for playing female roles, and Hairspray had begun to rejuvenate his whole career. As for the film, it's extremely campy in the best of ways, overflowing with great singing and dancing from the early 1960s, and it is the type of film that makes you feel good after you watch it.

Ricki Lake plays Tracy Turnblad, a big, bold, and beautiful teenager who dreams of dancing on the exceedingly popular Corny Collins dance show. Her mother, played by Divine, isn't too crazy about modern music and dancing - until Tracy auditions and gets a spot on the show. Strutting her stuff in front of the cameras, she quickly becomes Baltimore's newest sensation. This does not sit well with Amber von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick), as Tracy steals her man and then threatens to win the coveted title of Miss Auto Show 1963. Tracy is overweight, but she likes herself just as she is and easily dismisses the fat jokes thrown her way early on. The big issue in this film, though, is segregation. Tracy and her best friend Penny Pingleton (Joann Havrilla) soon become friends with some of the black kids in town and begin working toward integrating the Corny Collins show. Collins is all for the idea himself, as currently the Negro show runs only once each month under the controls of sassy Motormouth Mabel (Ruth Brown). The station manager will not hear of integration, though, and Penny's mother is aghast to find out that her daughter is in love with an African-American. This is 1962, of course. The whole segregation issue becomes the basic foundation of the movie as it dances its way to the end, making Hairspray a wonderfully entertaining film with a serious message behind it.

The film is blessed with many interesting cast members. Divine plays not only Mrs. Turnblad but also the station manager, Jerry Stiller plays Mr. Turnblad, Sonny Bono and Debbie Harry (and Debbie Harry's increasingly interesting hair) come together to play Amber von Tussle's parents, and Ric Ocasek and Pia Zadora show up as Beatniks in a strange little cameo appearance. Of course, Ricki Lake pretty much steals the show as the big girl with big dreams, although I found Joann Havrilla's performance as Penny Pingleton quite captivating in a weird sort of way.

It is very difficult to describe Hairspray; you pretty much have to watch it to get a true feel for its entertainment assets and social commentary underpinnings. It does have its silly moments, but this is not entertainment for the sake of entertainment, nor is this a film you will soon forget after watching it. ... Read more

Reviews (152)

Ignorance is bliss
...Anyone who has done the least bit of research will know that David Lynch has final cut of everything he does. He chose to cut the movie down from its original inception. Please know that this is a fantastic movie, and the DVD IS Lynch-approved. As for the commentary and deleted scenes, Lynch has stated many times that he will NEVER do commentary, and does not agree whole-heartedly with including deleted scenes. He also refuses to use chapter stops (this is good). If you need someone to hold your hand while you watch this movie, and explain how to think for yourself, then I propose you find a different film to watch.

Goodbye Cherry Pie
Remember Laura Palmer? She's the one who was into sex, drugs and..., ended up killed by..., wrapped in plastic, and then it all began. Well here is the oft-times lurid, unsettling and sometimes plain scary film about Laura. This is not the eccentric drama/comedy we know as "Twin Peaks:TV series, and it's not for the fair weather Peaks fans. David Lynch lets us know that this is the flip side right at the opening credits when the violent destruction of a television is followed by a bloodcurdling scream. No wonder they hated it! I love it, and thanks to NewLine who in conjunction with none other than the maestro himself have produced a gorgeous digital transfer of this essential work. Forget the deleted scenes fiasco..with this quality sound and picture, and a good price, this is a no brainer for true Twin Peaks fans. I docked a star because the only substantial extra, the "documentary" is quite a disappointment. If you have absorbed the series and permit the Lynchian universe to enfold you, "Fire Walk with Me" will reveal itself as a coherent,disturbing and beautiful adventure. Great performances by Sheryl Lee and Ray Wise, but the real star is the director who gave us something that we never expected, and it gets better at each viewing.Wow Bob Wow!!

The Reason this movie wasn't as good is becuz.....
In the David Lynch "motion pictures" collection, there are 8 films that have been made since 1978. "Eraserhead," "Elephant Man," "Dune," "Blue Velvet," "Wild at Heart," "Fire Walk With Me," "Lost Highway," and his latest, "Straight Story." The four best are Eraserhead, Fire Walk With Me, Blue Velvet and Lost Highway.

David Lynch's vision of "FIRE WALK WITH ME," is not bad because he wanted it to be. The original fire walk with me movie is romoured to be over 3 and a half hours long. There is PROMISED to be a FIRE WALK WITH ME DVD coming out soon. It should be out later this spring with all the cuts that werent originally in the TWIN PEAKS movie. Please.... dont be disappointed with the original though, it is a good movie. You should try this movie, I THINK, before you watch, rent or buy the TWIN PEAKS TV series.

thanks

garmonbozia, all right.
See, this movie is yet another intentional turkey in the David Lynch stinkography. When will you people believe me when I tell you the man simply likes to make bad movies?!? The picture comes off as a demented episode of Northern Exposure with the plot-wiring torn out and the character development up on blocks. Throw in the obligatory sinister midget and sundry unemployed freaks and... Weee're in business! Oh, wait... we need something for the characters to do... well, they can all just take turns going insane, can't they? Problem solved! David Lynch is a modern freak show operator. The freak show has never gone away. It has just been billed as something else.

Prequel sets the stage for series pilot
Shot after the series was cancelled because there was a demand overseas for more "Twin Peaks" material, "Fire Walk with Me" gives us a glimpse of what occurred just prior to Laura Palmer's murder in the pilot. While it spells out some things only hinted at in the pilot and is a bit more literal than the series, "Fire Walk with Me" also has the benefit of being a theatrical film and, as such, we get to dig deeper into the underbelly of the town.

The first thirty minutes of the film are devoted to a murder similar to Palmer's that occurs in another town. A pair of FBI agents are sent in to investigate (Chris Issak and Keifer Sutherland). When they run into resistence from the local law enforcement, they're forced to flex their FBI muscles a bit. While investigating a clue in a trailer park, one of the agents vanishes. Agent Cooper (MacLachlan)is called in to find the missing agent.

Far more surreal than the series with a number of high profile cameos (David Bowie, Harry Dean Stanton), this is a bit more bizarre as well when compared to the series (and even the pilot). The DVD is chapter encoded (unlike the frustrating "Mulholland Drive"), has an original documentary that's shot in a style like Lynch might have used with the original cast (save Piper Laurie, Michael Ontkean, Jack Nance and a couple of other cast members)about the impact of the show.

It's an excellent companion piece of the pilot (available as of now only as a region 0 DVD from Taiwan)and the series (available as a boxed set for the first season only with, reportedly, the second season coming next year some time). Picture quality is exceptionally good with the sound particularly outstanding in its use of 5.1.

A solid cast with a good script that meanders a bit, "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" plays better than parts of the first season but isn't quite as strong as both the pilot and first 8 episodes of the series. It's still worthwhile for fans of the show. ... Read more

Reviews (173)

Crystal Comedy Sparkles
Billy Crystal writes, produces and stars in a "boy-loses-girl", "boy-gets-girl" tale with a twist or two along the way. Crystal plays Lee the publicist sent to placate the media with a "junket" and get separated "American Sweethearts" Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (John Cusack) back together again. Gwen is the self-centered movie star sister with a Spanish live-in lover with a lisp, Hector, played by Hank Azaria. Eddie is the soon to be ex-husband who has spent the last six months with his East Indian guru, Alan Arkin, getting over being betrayed. Julia Roberts as sweet sister Kiki is Gwen's personal assistant who also happens to be in love with her brother-in-law. Can you imagine a fat Julia Roberts? Flashbacks show us Kiki before she slimmed down. A great cast that also includes Christopher Walken in a pivotal bit part and a cameo appearance by Larry King. Great fun!!

Cute and entertaining
Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the star actress with a diva attitude, Julia Roberts is her ever-so-kind and helpful sister and personal assistant, and John Cusack is the love-sick estranged husband of Catherine Zeta-Jones'. Although they have been living apart for a year, are going to be divorced, and try to avoid each other, Zeta-Jones and Cusack both star in a movie which the movie's producer is anxious to earn big bucks from. Billy Cristal is the PR guy hired by the movie's producer to encourage (let's say, "dupe") Zeta-Jones and Cusack into making a star appearance at the film's premiere and he also orchestrates a series of "scandals" for the reporters and tabloids, just to make more money (as they say, no publicity is bad publicity, or something like that.) In the process, Zeta-Jones and Cusack end up in all sorts of funny, embarassing circumstances which they both try very desperately to extricate themselves from.

Cusack is not at his best, but he's entertaining. Roberts is looking good (and I wonder if she did really put on all that weight for this movie, cos it looks so real!). Zeta-Jones is stunning and ever-so-convincing in these diva roles.

I wouldn't say this is a great movie... but its a good one for renting for those nights in (with lots of crisps and popcorn at the side!). It does have enough unpredictability and gags in it to keep you chuckling, and the nice little happy ending will make you go "Awwww...." with a smile :)

Cusack is America's Sweetheart
This is Cusack at his best . . . quirky, new age, obsessive over Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is the most loveable self-absorbed prima donna ever to grace a screen.

I'm mad about this movie, it is probably the one that pushed me over the Cusack edge.

Star Studded Folly
How did someone take a light-hearted but cute premise, big name stars, and turn it into such a lame and inane film? The talent is obviously there, but the movie simply doesn't work. Alternating between over-the-top (which I think was the point) and deadly dull (which probably wasn't), this film stalls and fizzles.

Won't Win Any Oscars
This movie wasn't amazing, but it was a cute story. It was interesting to think about everything that goes into publicizing a movie, and what the actors are like in real life. Crystal's character was very funny. See it at some point if you don't have anything better to do, but don't spend too much on it. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

WAYNE'S BEST ACTING.
Wayne is ruthlessly overlooked for this one, a heartache similar to the fate of The Big Lebowski. Its one of those sad mysteries of life; one of the truly great, last, and forgotten westerns. If you read enough Leonard Maltlin, you really start to wonder if he was raised by Quakers. Rooster Cogburn is a fast-paced actioner with accessible, beautifully embellished characters. Its not best picture material the way The Outlaw Josey Wales couldnt have been---not enough "morality" spoon-fed in even bites.
Hearing Wayne say,(in an overlooked line by most, I'll bet)"Don't worry son, they'll pay for it," brings tears to my eyes. It throws me back to my childhood memory of what Wayne represented: There's good guys out there you just don't want to mess with. Wayne fuses all his elements to create this masculine, wise, clever, experienced, tenacious, hard dinking, yet respected federal lawman like none ever seen. This time he's got a real director to back him up.
There are incredible lines, as funny as they are character-building:

SCENE:
(Wayne and Hepburn, recently stealing their supplies, are surrounded at night by Jordan, Zerbe and the rest of the bad guys/murderous white trash.)

Richard Jordan, as HAWK:(YELLING) "You may have the gatlin' gun, but you ain't got the know-how to use it!"

Wayne: (to Hepburn) "Deputy,... show-em'"
(Hepburn cranks the gatlin-gun, scattering their startled enemies in the dark, causing destruction. stops.)

Wayne: (with a fierce grin, hilariously sarcastic, yelling)
"AAAIIIN'T THAT THE WAY IT WORKS, HAWK!?!?!?!?!"

Dull plot, wasted superstars
What a tragedy that Hollywood was able to unite two of the powerhouse superstars of cinema in one movie, but then saddle them with a plodding, boring and utterly pedestrian script. The chemistry between Wayne and Kate Hepburn is palpable and their scenes together are a joy to watch. But there are too few of such scenes to justify repeated viewings or to classify this movie as anything but average and a spent opportunity.

Hepburn is miscast as a crotchety, virginal spinster who pines in her heart for the Duke, but is too repressed to act on her instincts. The Duke's reprisal of Rooster Cogburn is interesting, and he delivers an excellent performance, but the script fails him time and again. Ultimately it's frustrating to watch two great stars wallow in this banal plot. One interesting element in the DVD version is the gorgeous Rogue river scenery which seems to come to life in this format.

John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn stand toe to toe
Sometimes a multitude of wrongs can come out right. Hollywood has a penchant for making sequels to successful films, so when John Wayne finally won an Oscar for his performance in "True Grit." Wayne played Rooster Cogburn, a fearless, one-eyed U.S. marshal who never knew a dry day in his life. Fortunately Hollywood waited six years before making this 1975 sequel. However, at that point they not only hired a novice screenwriter, actress Martha Hyer ("First Men in the Moon"), they let her rip off "The African Queen" and turn it into a western. Fortunately, they hired Katharine Hepburn to play opposite the Duke.

That is what "Rooster Cogburn" comes down to, the chance for John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn to do scenes together; it also explains why the film is also known as "Rooster Cogburn and the Lady." Hepburn plays Rose Sayer, no, wait, I mean Eula Goodnight, who is the daughter of a minister (Jon Lormer) instead of the brother of a missionary. The gospel is still being brought to the natives, except this time we are set in the Cascades of Oregon rather than the jungles of Africa. The bad guys are now a gang of thieves led by Breed (Anthony Zerbe) and Hawk (Richard Jordan), instead of Nazis, and this time they gun down the minister. So when Rooster comes along to track them down and bring them to his brand of justice, Eula insists on going along.

The plot is predictable in terms of the outcome and familiar when Kate and the Duke end up on the water. But there is fun to be had in these two standing toe to toe, but not jaw to jaw, and going at it. "To whom do you think you are speaking," she intones frostily. "You is to whom I think I am speaking, sister," he shoots back. She allows that he is bigger than she is, but only physically. He observes in this situation that should be enough and they continue to have great fun with the dialogue. Wayne has great fun hamming it up and Hepburn enjoys having an actor big enough to stand up to her assault.

The stories from the set were that the two great stars had great fun making this movie. Their politics were at opposite ends of the spectrum so they just avoid the topics and enjoyed being in each other's company. Wayne was playing a character he had done before in a movie, but then Hepburn's character is instantly recognizable as well, even if the name is different. The names do not matter. They can call them "Rooster Cogburn and the Lady," but it is the Duke and Kate, and their fans will not be disappointed by their time together.

Nearly as good as True Grit
While this film has more of a tv western feel to it than film #1 did it still totally clicks. It is, like True Grit, a bit of a true story as Judge Isaac Parker who appears in both did exist. Wayne and Hepburn have fine chemistry and the rest of the cast is faultless. Zerbe especially. Good, believable action too. I'm sorry but I feel I should point out an inconsistency or two with True Grit. Judge Parker is played by a different man here and his court room is small and doesn't call to mind the giant court room he had in the first film. Also, Chin Lee is a different guy here too. And the cat of Cogburn's,General Sterling Price, is still alive after all these years?

ausome
this movie is one of my favorates by my favorate actor John Wayne this sequal of the movie True GRIT IS BETTER BY A 3 ON A SCALE OF ONE TO 10 ALTHOUH YOU MAY LIKE TRUE GRIT BETTER BECAUSE ITS ROBER DUVALLS FIRST FILM I THINK AND JOHN WAYNE WON BEST ACTOR FOR IT ... Read more

Amazon.com

A strong candidate for the designation of most thrilling action movie ever made (the turbo-charged exhilaration of its full-throttle highway chases has never been equaled), the second part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic trilogy is also a magnificently imagined movie myth. Like the Star Wars trilogy (by that other George) the Mad Max films draw their inspiration from the works of mythologist Joseph Campbell. In the 1979 original, Max (Mel Gibson) is a policeman, the last guardian of civilization and order in a devastated world reduced to chaos. But when a leather-clad gang of sadomasochistic speed demons mows down Max's family, his remaining connections to humanity are also permanently severed. After brutally exacting his revenge, Max wanders off into the wasteland alone, "a burned out shell of a man" who (to paraphrase The Searchers) is destined to wander forever between the winds. In The Road Warrior, Max rediscovers a sliver of his shattered humanity, and a spark of redemption, when he helps an embattled colony of pioneers fight off the savages who are after that most precious of all commodities: "guzzline." Max is transformed into a legendary hero, just as Mel Gibson was catapulted to international movie stardom. With its final stirring images, The Road Warrior transcends its genre (whatever that may be--science fiction? Western? action adventure?) and becomes something timeless. It's a great movie. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (117)

One of the best action movies ever made.
Movie:
The Road Warrior, set seven or so years after the events of Mad Max. Max is now a heartless man, wandering the wastlands of the outback. The third world war has left the world in total ruin, and many have turned to the cruelness of the gangs that rule the wastland. The few that maintain the humanity are few. Max stumbles apon an little sliver of civilization which is constantly assulted by evil biker gangs. Soon he finds himself involved in their flight for survival. The last chase scean is epic compaired to anythng made to date. This movie as many movie buffs like me say, is possibly the best Action/Scific movie ever made. One might think that it is a very poor movie to the small amont of talking, this just adds to the brillance of the movie! This is kind of like Star Wars: Even if you don't like it, you have to see it at least once.
Movie 5 out of 5 stars
DVD:
Whoever owns the rights to this breakthrough-of-a-movie is out of his mind! Shure the picture and sound quality is good, but look at the extras! Zero, nada, zip. What a good way to ruin a great movie's DVD!
DVD: 1 out of 5 stars

The best, hands down
This is easily one of the greatest action movies ever made (and, personally, I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made, period.) It is also one of those rare movies that defines its genre, and yet, at the same time, transcends its genre. Actually, you have three different genres being represented in this film that, in the years since, have become intertwined as the norm for this type of movie because of "The Road Warrior"'s influence. You have the much-copied post-apocalyptic wasteland, populated by barbaric savages and helpless victims; you have the classic western and the classic western's "reluctant hero," represented here by Mad Max, the drifting loner, scarred by his past, who only comes to the aid of others when it serves him; and, of course, you have the spectacular car chases, amazing stunts and crashes and huge explosions of the modern action movie. "The Road Warrior" brought all three of these elements together, and you can still see them in movies today, such as the much-inferior "Waterworld" and "The Postman" (man, Costner must've liked this movie too--you'd think he'd get it right eventually.)
And, as an action movie, "The Road Warrior" has yet to be topped. All of the stunts, chases, crashes, explosions you see on the screen are 100% real. No computer enhancement, no technical junk -- when you see a guy drive into a car on a motorcycle and he flies about 75 feet through the air, it's real. And when I say this movie transcends its genre, I'm talking about the style in which it's directed. All of the action becomes almost operatic because of the expert direction and musical score. It comes across as a beautiful-looking action movie, in spite of all the violence and carnage.
I wouldn't hesitate to rate "The Road Warrior" as one of the best action movies of all time and Mel Gibson's Mad Max as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) action "hero" in cinema history. If this movie were made today, the writers would probably have him cracking lame one-liners throughout the film, but, instead, Max hardly speaks at all (the strong, silent type that also goes with the western genre) -- his actions speak for him. I wish Hollywood at least attempted to make action movies and action movie heroes like this these days (well, come to think of it, I guess they did attempt it with "Waterworld," and that became one of the biggest money-losers in film history, so I guess the moral is: Don't try to duplicate perfection.)

MEN OF THE WORLD, WATCH THIS
This is quite possibly the greatest MAN movie ever made. Cars, guns, blood, exploding heads. I can't even begin to say how much I love this movie. It is truly a fantastic spectacle and the best sequel I've ever seen.

Not very interesting
I guess the folks who made this movie decided to make an all-out pitch to a mediocre audience: it's all about cars and gasoline and violence.

The way it is put together is mildly interesting, but incoherent. The purported hero, Mad Max, has been subjected to an enormous personal loss (his wife and child) which occupies about ten seconds of the movie. He finds a bunch of liberal-hippie types running a gas refinery (??? huh ???) in the middle of the outback, in a world where gasoline means life or death. The liberal-hippie types are being attacked by a really weird group of folks, including a very obvious gay couple. There is a feral boy with a razor-sharp boomerang who knows more than anyone else.

It seems hard to find any connection between this movie and anything in reality.

Recommended only for curiosity value.

This is what it has come to...
Okay, here's the deal. Mad Max (Max Rockatansky) is THE baddest BELIEVABLE movie hero that ever was and will be. Enough said. ... Read more

Description

Charlton Heston plays humankind's last hope, the last survivor of a hellish, germ-warfare doomsday, fighting off fiendish subhuman mutants that stalk by night. Bonus featurette - The Last Man Alive. Starring: Charlton Heston, Rosalind Cash, Anthony Zerbe Year: 1971 Sound: ENG, FR; Subtitles: ENG, FR Screen Format: Side A: Standard; Side B: Wiedescreen ... Read more

Reviews (101)

Neville's Epitaph
A handful of SciFi movies from the 70s still have a message worth re-examining and the cast, sets, and music worth another view. Charlton Heston was in three of those movies, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and last but not least Omega Man. Don't miss any of them. All three are now available on DVD and well worth adding to your library. Heston did an excellent job portraying Neville in Omega Man. A man who believes all healthy people are dead after a biological war. He lives alone in a penthouse fortress armed to the teeth. He finds a small community of a woman, a young man, and mostly children that are not infected yet. He must battle those that are infecteded to continue the human race. His blood is immune from the disease because of an experiamental drug he used during the holocaust. Can he develop enough serum in time to help them? Those infected use medieval weapons since they believe that Neville's technological weapons are part of the evil that brought about the holocaust of a biological war. Although the clothes and effects show their age it is still a movie well worth seeing. If it was remade today the message would not change much. In fact the age of the movie gives people a view of some of the clothes, furnishings, cars, and music from the era it was made. The quality of the DVD color and sound are great and it includes several extras.

Hippie Science Fiction.
It is the height of irony that Chuck Heston, who has recently raised the ire of numerous liberal do-gooders for his arch-conservative stances on issues such as gun control, was the star of counter culture sci-fi flicks of the late 60's and early 70's: Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and this classic, The Omega Man.

"The Man" has screwed up and destroyed mankind with his weapons of mass destruction. All that remains is a scientist (Heston) who discovered a vaccine against the deadly virus that has either killed people or turned them into mutant psychopaths. Also alive are a handful of children and a couple of adult free spirits; but unless they are vaccinated they will turn into mutants with time. ("Don't trust anyone over 30!") Can the Omega Man use his blood as a vaccine to save what is left of mankind? Can the Omega Man survive the night when all the mutants come out to try and kill him?

This is a fun movie! Sure "The Omega Man" is dated; but that is part of its charm: the music, the clothes, and those afros. Some parts are priceless such as sight of Chuck Heston watching the movie "Woodstock" and knowing all the dialogue by heart. Or a black mutant trying to convince the head mutant, Anthony Zerbe, to allow him to use artillery to blast Heston out of his "honky paradise." (On a serious note: This movie did feature one of the first interracial movie romances in which race is considered inconsequential.) Heston is at his hammy best here, and he does utter his trademark line: "Oh, my God!" The ending is a hoot with Chuck as Christ- "The blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven."

"I was like Charleton Heston in "The Omega Man." Beauty movie, eh?"- Strange Brew

chuck heston battles zombie cultists!!
why are you still reading this?! chuck heston battles zombie cultists!! it don't get no better than that! order this NOW!

"the conclusion of all our yesterdays"
Based on Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend", which was recommended to Charlton Heston by Orson Welles, and one that Heston was inspired to make into a film, is a truly creepy sci-fi/horror classic. Heston is marvelous as Colonel Robert Neville, a scientist who is immune to the plague that resulted from biological warfare, due to an experimental vaccine he injected himself with.

The survivors infected with the plague are hooded mutants that cannot see in the daylight, and are bent in destroying all the attributes of civilization that remain on earth, crying "burn, burn, burn !" as they pile books in a fiery heap. Their leader is a former news anchor played to the hilt by Anthony Zerbe, who warns the zombie "Family" of the evil created by the "users of the wheel".
It is all quite thought-provoking, and has several connotations to terrorism today, and also has symbolism relating to Christianity; at one point Heston is tied up in a crucifixion pose, and his blood, turned into a serum, can save the remnant of humanity. There are a few reminders from the Book of Revelation, where of course, Jesus said "I am the Alpha and Omega".

Rosalind Cash is lovely as Lisa, one of the remnant hiding in the hills, and her relationship with Heston is a rare instance of an interracial love affair from that era. Films from the 1970s fascinate me, with the hair and fashion styles, and 8-track tapes in the cars.
This film has fabulous cinematography by Russell Metty of a deserted, devastated Los Angeles, a good score by Ron Granier, and fast-paced, disquieting direction by Boris Segal that will occasionally make your heart skip a beat with fright.
Total running time is 98 minutes.

Not so funny these days
Although intended as an alegory about conflict between rationality and mysticism, it seemed a little hokey to me for years. Now that the possability of someone concocting and releasing something like air-borne Ebola in Manhattan is a real cocern and not just a bad sci-fi dream, this really creeps me out.

Given the lines, budget and 70's dialog to work with Heston diplays his craft. He carries the movie. If the producers had saved some money and put a B-grade actor in the lead this would be limited to after-midnite re-runs. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Kip Raines (Giovanni Ribisi) is a cocky young car thief working with a crew to steal 50 cars for a very bad man whose nickname is "The Carpenter." Being young and cocky, Kip messes up, so it's up to his big brother, Randall "Memphis" Raines (Nicolas Cage), to come out of car thief retirement and save him. With a cast that includes Robert Duvall, Angelina Jolie, Delroy Lindo, Cage, and Ribisi, it would be easy to say this story wastes all their talents--which it does, but that's not the point. This is a Jerry Bruckheimer film. A good story and complex characters would only get in the way of the action scenes and slow the movie down. No, Gone in 60 Seconds (based on the cult 1974 film of the same name) is not about the stars as much as it's about cars. Fast cars. Rare cars. Wrecked cars. All cars. Too bad director Dominic Sena (Kalifornia) doesn't come across as more of a gearhead; he seems less interested in fast cars than fast cuts. But is this movie fun? Absolutely, and it's fun because it's so stupid. With pointless car chases and hackneyed dialogue in one of the most predictable plots of the year, Gone in 60 Seconds is a comic film that's not quite a parody of itself, but darn close. --Andy Spletzer ... Read more

Reviews (328)

Good Movie...Cage Needs More Sleep
When I first went to see "Gone In 60 Seconds", I had never heard a word of it in previews or word-of-mouth. I never liked or could sit through any Nicholas Cage movies until this one though. Cage plays a rather lathargic Randall Raines, a reformed car theif who is unwillinglly drawn back into his old profession to save his younger brother Kip (The Wonder Years' Giovanni Ribisi) from death. Kip takes a car boosting job for the meanest car-theft ringleader in town (A part which even I could've played better than this guy), and faces the ultimate price for mistakes. To keep the big boss from killing his brother, Cage must round up old collegues to pull off the biggest boost of their lives. Some of his partners in crime include Angelina Jolie, Robert Duvall and my favorite...Vinnie Jones as The Sphinx. Each with his/her own special tallent, they work at moving 50 cars in 2 days to save little Raines. The one thing that kept the movie from running out of gas at the box-office I think, was the fact that they went in-depth as far as methods of boosting the cars...instead of knocking on someone's door and stealing the keys from the kitchen table. And there's a lot of laughs along the way that keep it from seeming like a re-run of CHIPS. Up-beat comedy makes the movie a lot better than it could've been, my favorite part was Nicholas Cage taunting a seriously ghettoed-out rival theif from inside a diner who was out kill him. The movie does have a few corney scenes that were obviously forced by a nerdy director...but the action, the laughs, and all the new stuff you learn about stealing cars these days is what makes it a good pick for me. I think this movies' like alcohol though, if you get in a car after it youre gonna feel like driving like a maniac. Nicholas Cage deffinately hits a mark with this one.

An escapist guilty-pleasure movie
If you're the kind of moviegoer who likes to watch some films without having to do a lot of thinking, loves action and hot cars, and likes to watch a goofy movie without having to think about character depth or surprises in the story, you'll like this movie. I recommend it only to people who like such movies. I don't mind watching such a movie now and then, and there are some things that I thought were pretty cool.

The 1967 Shelby GT-500 Mustang is the best thing about the movie. I've always liked cars and this is a rare classic. The climactic chase is cool and well done. Nicholas Cage actually did 98% of his own stunt driving. Another thing I liked was Robert Duvall. I guess he's the kind of actor who can survive anything. And the opening boost of a brand new Porsche 911 right out of a factory showroom was kind of neat, and funny as well.

But the story is predictable, awfully predictable. You know the hero will save his brother's life. The only surprise is in the final delivery of that Shelby. If you actually saw the original 1974 film you'll recognize a scene in a garage that pays homage to a similar one in the old film. It involves a car, a cop, and heroin. I was also disappointed that the final chase doesn't last longer.

GREAT CAR FILM!
"Gone in 60 Seconds" exists for one purpose: to show off some of the hottest cars in existence. The storyline is kind of hokey, but the cars more than make up for it, especially the GT 500. The car chase at the end is one of the best ever filmed! All the actors (Especially Robert Duvall, who can never give a bad performance) do fine in their roles. All in all, "Gone in 60 Seconds" is a one @#*& of a ride!

Also, don't miss Christopher Eccleston (plays the villain, Raymond Vincent Calitri, in this film) this January, when he resurrects one of the greatest characters of all time, the Doctor, in BBC's new "Doctor Who" series. BBC plans to send it to American TV stations as well.

Movie Grade: B+

Maybe a three star movie, but still...
A waste of great talent is probably the most honest thing I can say about this flick.
Jolie is Academy Award material and she hardly does anything in this movie. Gage is a master, this movie was a waste of what he's capable of doing, but I guess he's a good draw. I actually saw this at the theater when it came out and a second time recently. There are cool cars and some cool chase scenes, so it's not that it isn't entertaining, it's just that I was expecting a lot more.

Great chase scenes- cheesy otherwise
Nick Cage is pretty good in this film- the car chase scenes are wild and fun- the rest of the storyline gets kind of schmaltzy and is really predictable.Good action flick when you need to zone out- if you want something with more substance- go back some years and watch Dirty Harry! ... Read more

Description

One of the most visionary, deeply personal works in the 60-year career of the master behind Rashomon, The Seven Samurai and Ran. Featuring eight episodes rich in imagery and insight (and casting MARTIN SCORSESE as a feisty Vincent Van Gogh), it explores the costs of war, the perils of nuclear power and especially humankind's need to harmonize with nature. You will be enchanted ... and enthralled. ... Read more

Reviews (90)

Breathtaking Beauty. Glorious and a Masterpiece!
I love this Film! It contains eight Dreams, Sunshine Through the Rain, The Peach Orchard, The Blizzard, The Tunnel, Crows, Mount Fuji in Red, The Weeping Demon and Village of the Watermills. Every Dream is unique, beautifull and Breathtaking.

The Dreams shows us how destructive humans are towards the nature and ourselves. Kurosawa criticizes the past, the presence and the future.

Kurosawa (not the real kurosawa) plays in every Dream, from when he was a child in Sunshine through the Rain to when he is old and visits the Village of the Watermills.

All in all This is the best film ever and my personal favorite Kurosawa film. Its Beauty is so splendid and I loved every single Dream. I encourage everyone in the world to watch this film. The Masters Masterpiece

Captivatingly beautiful
I am a huge Akira Kurosawa fan, I love all of his movies that I have seen. I am always impressed at his masterful story telling and cinematography. "Dreams" holds a special place in my heart because of it's breathtaking beauty. Beyond "eye candy", however, this film speaks intelligently of many things, life, death, solitude, guilt, redemption. This is one of those rare movies that can be discussed and analyzed and questioned for hours after viewing.

The Amazon.com review stated that this movie was "slow". How could one notice when one is busy looking at the amazing color, scenery, and imagery that is so masterfully created? "Preachy"? Perhaps, but they are good subjects to be preachy about - nuclear distruction, environmental distruction, not appreciating what one has... These complaints are the weak wingeing of shallow minds.

After every viewing of his films, I feel compelled to bow respectfully and say "Domo Arigato - Thank you very much".

One of Kurosawa's Best
I first saw this on TV and taped it. I was blown away by the visual beauty and terror of it all. The last story about the windmills? That is how I want my funeral. Music and joy, not tears and sadness. We all die, but it is how we live that really matters.

OK, really only for Kurosawa Die Hard Fans
The first short story was really cool. The others were Ok. Not really much to say. This was my first Kurosawa film. Wasn't too impressed. Was impressed with Hidden Fortress and Really impressed with 7 Samurai.
Rent-Maybe
Buy-No

Beautiful
In just eight "dreams," Akira Kurosawa managed to capture my attention and, most importantly, my heart. These many stories, some on the personal level individually and some on the personal level culturally, continue to evoke thought and emotion the whole way.

Amazingly, I can see these dreams in sections themselves. The first two, "Sunshine Through the Rain" and "The Peach Orchard" both involve a young Kurosawa (we can assume). While "Sunshine" may take a dark and very depressing turn, "Orchard" offers some hope in its symbolic ending of the lone orchard and the young boy going after the girl.

The third dream, "The Blizzard," seemed at first to me like a story all its own, but the book "The Films of Akira Kurosawa," by Donald Richie, explains it as the tale of an "adolescent Kurosawa," although I would prefer to guess it as a fictional "mountain man Kurosawa" as the next tale offers a fictional "officer Kurosawa." (again, to quote Richie) Lost in a snow storm, the adolescent Kurosawa sees a "yuki-onna," or snow-woman, who warms him until the storm lifts and it reveals their camp. When I first saw this tale I thought it was the slowest thing I had ever seen, but the second time it was far more fascinating. The sound affects are well done, and the shots of the pure white blizzard and dark shapes of the four struggling men became beautiful in a haunting manner. And, of course, the yuki-onna was a nice touch.

The fourth dream is called "The Tunnel" and shows us an "officer Kurosawa" returning from the war. As he walks through a long tunnel he is revisited by his former comrades-in-arms...who had been lost in the war. This reflects the inner feelings of many Japanese soldiers returning from WWII, feeling as if they had failed their nation and their friends, and the agony of returning defeated with no gain in sight.

The next few films take a young adult Kurosawa in different dream-like circumstances, most often as observer. To me, these are the most fascinating ones, as the Kurosawa character in each is more of an observer, asking characters in his dream at what is happening and why. Starting with "Crows," Kurosawa actually ENTERS an Impressionist painting, heading off to meet Van Gogh in person. He continues to travel through different paintings as if they were real environments, which Kurosawa once explained in person he would often imagine himself doing when he looked upon great pieces of art. I have to confess that this sequence is a double-plus for me...not only is it done by my favorite film maker Akira Kurosawa, but Van Gogh is played by Martin Scorcese, another film maker I adore.

The next two sequences, "Mount Fuji in Red" and "The Weeping Demon" portray nightmares about a Japan that might be. The first is a more possible story about a nuclear fallout of Japan's nuclear power plants - which causes Mount Fuji to erupt and howl like an awakened god. Some consider this as nothing more than another anti-nuclear sentiment from Japan, but I believe it to be instead a classic Japanese nightmare of a horrible event happening on their island and they have no where to run to - a similar type of story was done in a 1960's about Japan sinking into the sea and no one offering any aide to the survivors. "Demon" tells the story of Japan after a nuclear war, combining apocalyptic storytelling with Japanese legend. The Kurosawa character comes across a deformed man with one horn, called an oni but in actuality a victim of radiation. Society has become nothing but demons who eat each other based on a class system, but every night howling in pain caused by their horns. The shot of the entire oni race howling and walking about as humanity's doomed future is perhaps one of the most frightening shots I've seen on film.

The final dream, "Village of the Watermills," is actually fairly positive after the last two. Kurosawa comes across a village of primitive people and has a chat with an old man fixing a new watermill. Much of it is the old man's philosophy on life and how society is going, including the efforts of science and technology.

While this film may not have the narrative storyline or be fast-paced enough for some, I have found this film to be very meditative. Some images, including the blizzard as well as the dance of the dolls, can be very hypnotic, and by the end of the film I even found myself watching during the credits to observe the plants in the water. Obviously this was a very personal work, but it is also a very moving one at that. It was also meditative in sense of emotion, for I feel so many different things watching this: I feel sadness in "Sunshine," I feel sentimental in "Tunnel," I feel horrified in "Demon," and hopeful in "Village." In being personal with himself, Kurosawa has made this film personal for the viewer. I am not Japanese, and I don't pretend to be, but I am also human - and human sentiment is what this film is all about. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Rescue Heroes: The Movie is easily the brawny team's most exciting and entertaining animated story to date. Talk about a bad day at the office: When a volcano in Ecuador spouts an unknown element into the atmosphere, a series of mysterious lightning storms create worldwide havoc, from avalanches in Switzerland to bursting dams in Thailand to fires in American forests. The Rescue Heroes scamper over the globe saving lives, but nothing, it seems, can avert a planetary cataclysm once these storms merge in the atmosphere. Complicating matters is an unknown illness striking team leader Billy Blazes, and a bad case of arrogance and insubordination that grounds Rocky Canyon at a critical time. Rescue Heroes: The Movie is far and away more visually pleasing and dramatic than episodes from the Heroes' television show. CGI animation allows more creative angles, movement, and changing backgrounds--very handy for a story spread over much of the Earth. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Even grown ups will like it! It made a fan out of me!!
I initially bought the movie for my uncle's kid for christmas...ANYTHING to get him out of his psychosis with "bob the builder"!!

It's a surprisingly good movie! I thought it would be cheesy like the previous reviewer described, but it's really not all that cheesy (and mind you, cheesy IS pretty relative when it comes to CHILDREN'S entertainment!!)...Granted, there WERE some parts of the movie that were a bit within the bounds of RIDICULOUS...but those parts weren't any more ridiculous than those of some major Hollywood motion pictures such as "THE CORE" or "ARMAGEDDON"...And the episodes from the tv show are SOOOOO cute!!! (I only wish I had stuff this cool to grow up on when I was a child!!)

So, if you have a kid who's into the toys or the show, he'll absolutely FLIP over this movie!! You will not waste a PENNY of your money on this one (you may even end up liking this yourself, heh heh)...As embarassing as it is to admit, I'll have to return to buy ANOTHER copy of this movie, since watching Rescue Heroes has now become my newest guilty pleasure >;.)

Even grown-ups will like it! It made a fan out o me!
I initially bought the movie for my uncle's kid for christmas...ANYTHING to get him out of his psychosis with "bob the builder"!!

It's a surprisingly good movie! I thought it would be cheesy like another reviewer had described, but it's really not all that cheesy (and mind you, cheesy IS pretty relative when it comes to CHILDREN'S entertainment!!)...Granted, there WERE some parts of the movie that were a bit within the bounds of RIDICULOUS...but those parts weren't any more ridiculous than those of some major Hollywood motion pictures such as "THE CORE" or "ARMAGEDDON"...And the episodes from the tv show are SOOOOO cute!!! (I only wish I had stuff this cool to grow up on when I was a child!!)

So, if you have a kid who's into the toys or the show, he'll absolutely FLIP over this movie!! You will not waste a PENNY of your money on this one (you may even end up liking this yourself, heh heh)...As embarassing as it is to admit, I'll have to return to buy ANOTHER copy of this movie, since watching Rescue Heroes has now become my newest guilty pleasure >;.)

Kids love it, AND Mom loves it!
I am so glad to have found this Rescue Heroes movie and the Rescue Heroes toys! My 4 year old son came home from daycare playing (acting out) Power Rangers, and all he was doing was wanting to kick, punch, shoot, and fight. I was desperate for an alternative which was action packed and definately still catering to boys. This is IT! He and his 5 year old sister now pretend play Rescue Heroes, and I'm much more comfortable with what they're learning. And the Rescue Heroes are great role models for real life. I'd recommend to all parents trying to reinforce non-violence, when so much coming at kids is violent.

Very cool!
I like the movie because it's cool! My favorite part is the earthquake. I like their mission select backpacks. Jack Hammer is my favorite.

Rescue Hero for Life!
This movie was the first exposure to the Rescue Heroes for my two boys, ages 4 & 2. We watched it in our van on a long car trip and they watched it 2 consecutive times (3 hours) without taking their eyes off it! Its very intense, non-stop action and may be a bit much for kids under 3. It is somewhat educational, positive, and very entertaining for the age group. This is one of the best movies I have ever purchased for my kids. ... Read more

Reviews (61)

A Typical and Atypical Western
"Quigley down Under" stars Tom Selleck in the title role as an American sharpshooter who answers a help wanted poster for the best rifleman in the world. The job is in Australia and Quigley travels there not knowing exactly what the job is.

When he arrives in Australia, Quigley meets Crazy Cora, played by Laura San Giacomo. Cora is a slightly deranged American who believes Quigley to be her husband Roy. Cora continues to believe Quigley to be Roy even after he insists his name is Matthew Quigley.

When Quigley finally meets his new employer, Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman), he is disgusted to find out that Marston wants him to shoot Aborigines. Cora has become the self-designated defender of the Aborigines and gets abused by Marston for it. Quigley intervenes and winds up roughing Marston up a bit. Marston then has Quigley and Cora beaten and left in the desert to die.

"Quigley down Under" becomes, after this, a set piece movie about good versus evil. This is typical of the Western genre. In this Western though the good guys are a little "gooder" than usual. Both Quigley and Cora are pure hearts who only want what's right for the Aborigines. Cora is more determined to see it happen while Quigley is only interested in it so far as it gets him out of Australia alive.

The most interesting part of the movie is the relationship b