Amazon.com

Charlie's Angels: The Complete Second Season has no shortage of the good-natured cheese and eye candy that made the primetime television show's debut season wildly popular in 1976. The Angels had a new look in their second year: Farrah Fawcett, arguably the most popular of the show's three actresses, departed before the sophomore season and was replaced by another blonde dazzler, Cheryl Ladd. (Ladd's character, Kris Munroe, was the younger sister of Fawcett's Jill Munroe, whose exit is explained in the premiere episode as a liberated woman's career move: Jill has decided to race cars in Spain.)

No sooner does Kris settle in than a crisis sweeps through off-screen Charlie's private investigation agency. While cavorting on Oahu in the two-part "Angels in Paradise," Charlie is kidnapped by a smuggler (France Nuyen), who demands the Angels break her husband out of jail in exchange for their boss's life. Bubbly Kris, brainy Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), beauteous Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith), and sidekick Bosley (David Doyle) are compelled to soak up rays and sip fruity mixed drinks in Waikiki while fighting crime in various guises, re-establishing, for another season, Charlie's Angels' dramatic and aesthetic game plan for every episode: start slow with lots of idle chatter, put the girls in a ridiculous undercover situation, and get them out of their clothes as much as possible.

The pattern continues in the silly "Angels on Ice," starring old hands Phil Silvers and Jim Backus, in which our heroines join an ice show to find out who kidnapped a pair of skaters. "Pretty Angels All in a Row" finds Kelly and Kris reluctant entrants in a "Miss Chrysanthemum Pageant" (no, you won't find Kate Jackson in a swimsuit this year, either) rigged by organized crime. "Circus of Terror," co-starring James Darren, enlists the Angels in the carney life. If there is anything to complain about regarding season 2, it is that the novelty of Charlie's Angels has worn a little thin, and every episode feels the same. Still, there are surprises: "The Sammy Davis Jr. Kidnap Caper" stars the late rat-packer in peril and much bemused by the presence of three comely bodyguards.--Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (20)

PERSONAL FAV
This is my personal favorite season as my favorite angel is and will always be Cheryl Ladd as Kris Munroe. I find her stunning and a great replacement for Farrah. I like the episodes in this season quite a bit more than the first season.

The picture quality is pretty good, the first few episodes show their age well with lots of scratches in the film etc but don't let that discourage you from buying this set. The sound is very good and the packaging is great! Instead of having to fold out all of the dvds on a couch or the floor you open it like a book here and each dvd flips like a page in a book! Simply amazing set! Can't wait for season 3!

Season 2 At Last...
I have to say that I love Charlies Angels and have all the episodes taped from the TV (even the 4th and 5th seasons) and bought Season 1 when it came out as soon as it hit the shelves so I stumbled onto this little gem by accident an pre-ordered it at once. Does anyone know what the extra's are if any the last box set had very little but the picture quality was excellent and the sound fab!.
as for season 2 i feel of the Kate Jackson Seasons this is the weakest thats not to say it is not excellent but I prefer season 3 and season 1 will always be a classic...
For me there is way to much slap-stick style humor in this season with episodes like "The Sammy Davis Jnr Kidnap Caper" "Pretty Angels All In A Row" and "The Jade Trap" being good examples of this though the latter is not a bad episode.
Also "Angel in the Wings" is truly an awful episode (yes I know Cheryl Ladd can sing but to build a whole episode around it....).
Moan outta the way there are mostly good eps standouts are the baby selling racket of "Angel Baby" the Angels trapped on a Plane with the pilot out for the count in "Angel Flight" The Psyco killers of "The Sandcastle Killer" "Little Angels Of the Night". all in all well worth buying but i cannot wait for season 3....(Will they do 4&5 I wonder)

Imagine Sabrina wherever she goes . . .
The second season of Charlie's Angels is interesting at first because it includes the first change in the series' cast. Once you get over that (and it is not lingered upon by the characters), the second season is much more enjoyable than the first, with the Angels involved in some off-the-beaten-track locales (an antique-car rally, a circus, Sammy Davis Jr.'s Hollywood mansion, a football field) and indulging in some good comedy. The cases seem more varied, though, as in season one, each episode involves a change of venue. The Angels, however, have a wider range of undercover assignments; we expect them to play prostitutes, but Jaclyn Smith's pose as an alien, Cheryl Ladd's disguise as a Swedish film star, and Kate Jackson's turns as a bag lady and a farm boy are true surprises.

The most successful episodes are those that don't follow the usual Angels pattern; that is, a crime followed by a briefing by Charlie, then off to solve the crime. Consequently, the best episodes include The Sandcastle Murders and Hours of Desperation. Some episodes have great setups (Angel Blues, Angels on the Run) that turn altogether conventional, and some (Angels in the Wings, Angel Flight, Angels in the Backfield) are obvious from beginning to end and are perfectly dreadful as a result. The best episode of the season is the season opener Angels in Paradise, with its many twists and turns, its sumptuous locale, and its well-conceived villainess (played by France Nuyen). The first runner-up is the hilarious Pretty Angels All in a Row.

This second season is a showcase for Kate Jackson. Smith, though she does some good work, disappears into the woodwork far too often in this collection. Ladd does some surprisingly good work as well, but Jackson outshines the others in terms of range. She does some outstanding work in Angel in Love, and her French designer disguise in Magic Fire is so obviously bad that it cannot be taken seriously and touches the heights of hilarity. Far more interesting is her come-on to an executive in The Sandcastle Murders -- the writers don't allow us to see how she gets out of what has plainly become a steamy situation, which is unfortunate. She also does the bubble-head routine in Angels in Paradise, a characterization usually reserved for the other Angels. Nobody shakes down a criminal like Sabrina, and immediately following her empty-headed interplay with Mr. Blue, Jackson gets down to business with her customary cool.

Though there are no commentaries, no subtitles, and no extras (except for yawningly boring trailers of the Charlie's Angels movies), I recommend this collection as better than the first season. However, I may have reached my Angels limit; we'll see what kind of mood I am in when season 3 comes out.

Charlie's Angels Rules!
I bought this as soon as it came out. Of all the Angels Cheryl Ladd was my favorite. Reading and earlier review it stated that Kate Jackson (Sabrina) and Cheryl Ladd (Kris) didn't get along. When you watch you can see it. Most of Ladd's scenes were with Jaclyn Smith (Kelly). But still this was a great series. I remember in college rushing home to watch it on WGN who showed the whole series in chronological order.
I can't wait for seasons 3-5.

Once Upon a Time....
Once upon a time...there was this great show with gorgeous Kate Jackson (who received Emmy nominations/not Grammy's), lovely Jaclyn Smith, and cute Cheryl Ladd, and of course, don't forget sidekick Bosely (David Doyle). Even though Farrah left in the second season, Cheryl Ladd, as her sister, filled the seat. Give her(Cheryl Ladd) credit for being the follow up to that! The new DVD set is excellent! Kate shines without the Farrah phenonmenon and Jaclyn is radiant as ever! The new trio in the second season made the show stronger, and it is evident in this DVD set. Only downside is knowing that Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd did not get along with one another. Knowing this now, I'm constantly watching their interaction between each other as actresses. It's subtle...but who cares, the second season know doubtingly deserved higher ratings then the first season. I would recommend this DVD for any TV enthusiasist. I can not wait, and hopefully, the third season, and (yes) fourth season with chic Shelley Hack (I actually liked her character~they should have kept her), and the street-wise Tonya Roberts will be released soon on DVD too. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Sight unseen, it's tempting to dismiss Poison Ivy as a teen variation on your standard trashy erotic thriller, a genre born with such promise in Body Heat that has since been in steady devolution. But while Ivy is no Heat, it's better than virtually any of those movies that star someone named Shannon. Crisp directing is supported by a script that takes a smart look at dysfunctional family dynamics, but most of all, it's the performances. Much has been made of Drew Barrymore's perfect casting as the title character, but she also does a sneaky and subtle job of straddling the fence: is Ivy a desperate, lonely young woman, an evil barracuda, or both? Tom Skerritt matches her step for step, playing the fallen husband as both hopelessly vain boob and genuinely lost soul. Cheryl Ladd delivers a sharp, minimalist performance as his Beverly Hills trophy wife dying of emphysema--becoming the still-life center of everyone else's life. And Sara Gilbert does a fine job in a role that gives her all the heavy lifting, playing tortured straight man to this pathetic and compelling tree full of coconuts. This DVD features both R-rated and unrated versions. The latter shows a bit more skin, although it's still fairly tame compared to the average skin flick. It also leaves Ivy a bit more ambiguous, and is thus a bit more fun. --Geof Miller ... Read more

Reviews (33)

Sara Gilbert & Drew Barrymore Shine...
I rented this movie mainly 'cos I was looking for some Drew Barrymore films. Somehow, I found this one in the drama section. I thought I'd like it, and I was right. This movie first starts off with Sylvie writing about 'Ivy' in her journal. Sylvie wishes they could be friends, because she doesn't have any friend. So Ivy & Sylvie become friends, and Ivy begins basically living with Sylvie and her family. Sylvie's mom is really sick, and throughout the entire movie, you can tell Ivy is trying to take the mother's place. Ivy obviously didn't have anyone that cared about her, and she wanted to be in a family really bad. If I tell you anymore, it'll ruin the movie. In my opinion, the movie was great, and Drew Barrymore and Sara Gilbert made it a very great film. They really know how to act! So if you're looking for a good movie or two to watch & you found this one somehow on this site, rent it or buy it, because it is a great movie if you like Drew or Sara. Hope you enjoy it. =)

great movie!
Poison Ivy is a great movie, starring a great cast of Drew Barrymore, Sara Gilbert, Tom Skerritt and Cheryl Ladd. It's about a young girl named Ivy who doesn't have much, who meets a friend who has 'everything'. Ivy does her best to fit in with the family... END

Little miss naughty. 15th april 2004.
She hasn't got hardly any friends, until she starts chating up a girl the similar age as her, who also hasn't got many friends either. Her best friend as a perfect mother and father until she decides to fall in love with the girls father and starts kissing him. Her mother is ill, she as wanted to kill herself many of times. She is a bad person but the girl dosent realise that until later on when she finds her with her dad, and also pushes her mother out of window. SHE WAS THE PERFECT FRIEND.

Purely vampy
...Drew Barrymore and Sara Gilbert heat up the screen in this vampy homoerotic thriller. Drew Barrymore plays the Lolita-esque Ivy, who will apparently stop at nothing to .... well, it's not that clear what Ivy wants exactly, only that she's willing to seduce quite a few people to get it. The plot is not this film's best asset, but who cares? Not most fans of this film, who are perfectly content to watch the talented and sexy Drew Barrymore in this most unlikely come-back role.

a word of advice
watch poison ivy 1 & 2 but skip the new seduction. trust me, you'll thank me later. of all the erotic thrillers in the nineties, poison ivy comes off clean as one of the most original & well-made of the entire genre. surely there have been many imitiations of poison ivy but none hold up quite so well after nearly 12 years unfortunately as the one which started thegreat trend. who is ivy? is she a very lonely girl whose never had much of a life & simply desires the friendship of another rebellious young girl? or is she a greedy, evil snake in the grass? perhaps both? i'll have to admit it's hard to know exactly how to feel when you first watch this film & even harder to completely hate the character of ivy despite the evil things she does. drew barrymore gives a slick, seductive performance which is only rivaled by her companion coop(played by sara gilbert) & matched through the brilliant performance of verteran actor tom skerrit(who plays coops father). poison ivy, is suspenseful, sad, & often sensual although never really reaches the level of a softcore film like the rating might suggest. there are 2-3 implied sex scenes which may be considered objectionable for viewers under the age of 16. parents may wish to either view this film with their younger children or to screen it first before allowing for mixed family viewing. if you've seen poison ivy & loved it, go ahead & try the sequel which has alyssa milano. the 2nd poison ivy is quite good too although the first one is still the classic. go out & get your copy of poison ivy today on dvd & vote for me!! forget the tnt televsion edit & pick up the new line cinema dvd. ... Read more

Description

A single mother of twin girls, Melanie Adams has done double duty while building a successful news career. What she doesn’t count on is falling in love with eminent heart surgeon Peter Hallam — who lives thousands of miles away with three children of his own. Is it all too much for two people to overcome? Melanie and Peter will find out as they marry, try to let go of the past and build a new life together. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

I Would Really Like to see it on DVD!!
I didn't read the Danielle Steele Book Changes but I saw this movie that is based on the book and liked it and I think Cheryl Ladd and handsome Michael Nouri were very good and I recommend this movie but I'm hoping it will be transferred to DVD! I'm also thinking of going to a used book store to look for the book so I can finally read it.

A Mother From NJ
This movie had everything in it. Cheryl Ladd made me laugh and cry as a mother of 2 twin girls who meet and falls in love with gorgeous Michael Nouri who is a widower with 3 children. The doctor played by Nouri and thenewscaster played by Ladd were the typical couple in the end who had a hardtime bringing to families together and then adding in two more.(They hadtwins in the end)

great movie
changes was a great movie.i watchedit sevral times andicouldnt get enough of it.

Awesome book, awesome movie!!!
Very heartwarming movie, just like the book, no disappointments what so ever!!! Although the descriptions of the characters differ somewhat in the movie, the movie does not miss a beat and does not take away from theoriginal story.A good movie to curl up on the couch to.

PAM DOES NOT LIKE MEL THAT MUCH
PAM DOES NOT LIKE MEL THAT MUCH/VAL GETS PREGNANT BY MARK AND MADDIE IS 8 HE IS THE YOUNGEST/MEL HAS 2 GIRL TWINS JESS AND VAL AND AT THE END SHE HAS A GIRL AND BOY TWIN BY PETER/PAM TOOK IT THE WORST WHEN THERE MOM DIED. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Like the book it isnamed after and based on, Permanent Midnight is a chronicle of downfall. Jerry Stahl, the story goes, showed promise when doing shifts as a porn writer for Hustler and Penthouse, and his promise landed him in the exact center of television's hottest shows of the 1980s. Alas, Stahl also brought with him a gargantuan appetite for drugs, most damagingly heroin. The film begins with Stahl, played by Ben Stiller, working in a fast-food chain on his way back to society from the drug-addled skids and recovery. He's lured away from work, where in a hotel room with Maria Bello (as Kitty) he begins detailing his fall from TV's top (where he wrote for shows like Alf and Moonlighting, among others). Director David Veloz does great work in leading viewers through the episodes in addiction and excess, making the action seem naturally odd. There are priceless shots of Stahl and his coke-smoking buddy on an upper floor of a high-rise smoking and leaping into the windows--which don't break, of course. Stiller does a classy job of staying monochromatically zoomed in on scoring and shooting dope. He's sweaty and freaked out at the right times and grimy and desperate, too. The movie's a sad one, with Stahl's journey taking him through an arranged marriage (which benefited him enormously) to the couple's having a baby to getting busted on a rare occasion alone with the infant. It's a visceral script, replete with lots of intravenous drug use and Stahl/Stiller creating a recurring motif out of shooting the bloody drawback from the syringe onto the ceiling, making a mad little scribble. --Andrew Bartlett ... Read more

Reviews (18)

an overlooked movie for sci-fi buffs
Millennium is one of those movies that has a great story line and even follows through with budget and special effects (for it's time not bad) yet fails to draw the crowd because it's an intricate story of time travel that can be at times hard to follow and even slow. But if you still dig movies like Logan's Run or Communion, you'll probably enjoy Millennium.

It's a unique story of people far in the future who kidnap the bodies of people that are about to die. Their favorite source is planes that are about to crash. An official investigating discovers wrist-watches running backwards in the wreckage, and works with a physicist attempting to discover the truth about these visitors.

Millennium is a thinking man's scifi flick
This movie is actually better than what others might think. But it requires your complete attention, and for a generation of people who are used to in-your-face MTV type short-attention span stuff, then skip this flick. However, I have shown this DVD on several occasions to groups of friends, and everyone enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on, and were surprised as I was, when time - travel was implicated. Cheryl Ladd was quite good as a cynical flight attendant, and Kris Kristofferson was believable as a man burned out on his job. I only with Travanti had more to do. Still, I highly recommend this flick to people who like to think when they watch a scifi flick.

Interesting to a Point -- a Twilight Zone story w/o the feel
You've read the "official" review and to be honest, I don't wholly agree or disagree. First, I like both Kristopherson's and Ladd's performances. They fit the characters nicely. The replay of the same sequence from another angle answers all of the questions about what is going on, and is the only thing that turns a rather short, straightforward featurette into a full-length feature.

Conceivably, more time could have been spent investigating the wreckage (and similar wreckages) before revealing the time travelers from the future. Also, why don't they fix these ripples, instead of trying to escape them?

So there are some questions. If I could, I'd give this one 2-1/2 stars, not three, but I won't drop it all the way to two, mostly because no one else has done this exact story, unless it was Rod Serling in the original Twilight Zone series, but I don't think so... there are similar stories, to be sure, and time travel stories, but not in this combination.

Which puts this film into the "Twilight Zone" category for me. There are so many places where they could have made this one better, I have to wonder why no one has done a remake...

Still, it is part of my collection and if you are SF buff, then don't leave this off your list of films to consider without at least watching it.

MST3K would have had a field day with this!
This movie is *bad*. The "plot" makes no sense, and the ending even less. It is stupid, slow, insipid, and utterny nonsensical. I wish that MST3K had gotten ahold of this film; only they could have mocked it the way it so desperately deserves to be mocked. This movie is *that bad*.

And it's *boring*, too. Kristoferson and Ladd have absolutely ZERO chemistry. No, in fact, they have NEGATIVE chemistry. Kristoferson couldn't act is way out of this script, and Ladd ... well, jeez, what could one expect from an ex-Charlie's Angel?

It's also *ugly*. The costumes, set designs, and special effects would have been bad in 1989, and haven't aged well. Post-apocolyptic futures can look cool (ROAD WARRIOR) or even funky (12 MONKEYS), but here, it's just lame. And the first "effect" in the film--where two planes collide--is a sad effort of blue-screening that my high-school film club could have outdone.

Avoid at all costs. Waste no money. If your boyfriend or girlfriend owns it, break up with them; it will be less painful.

I have to go sanitize my home theatre now.

Not a famous film for good reason
How many movies do you know that replay the same scenes and can still hold the interest of the viewer? Not many, if any. However, the creators of Millennium decided that about one third of the movie should be the same scenes. Total failure. This is a case where the makers of the film underestimated the intelligence of the viewers, thinking that going through the movie twice was the only way viewers could keep track of the incredibly difficult concept of time travel.

Then again, if this was truly a good movie than we shouldn't be disappointed in seeing the scenes twice, since we could then enjoy good acting etc. Not so in Millennium. Kris Kristofferson looks grizzly with a heavy beard and has the skin tone of beef jerky. Cheryl Ladd plays opposite of Kristofferson as the time traveling tough women from the future who happens to know nothing about time traveling, she needs a personal robot to explain "the obvious" to her on many occasions. Maybe she forgot to read the script.

In this movie, the future is a place of rust, the present is a place of ignorance, and the viewer is left insulted. ... Read more

Description

Thanks to the support of a loving dog that he helps nurse back to health, an aspiring young artist never gives up hope, despite being subjected to all sorts of terrible hardships. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

A Boy Meets A (Very Unique) Dog: Classic Tale for Children
It's a long loved story from the pen of the 19th Century then popular female writer Ouida, and now "A Dog of Flanders" is again treated as a movie for family viewing. Though the result turned out a mixed bag, it's not totally a messed job, and if you think about giving something to a kid, this is not a bad choice. And this film displays something very intersting about the cultural difference between Japan and USA.

This famous short story follows a hard-working Belgian boy Nello, whose ambition is to be a great painter, namely this case, Reubens. Through the boy is loved by his grandfather Daas and his girlfriend Aloise, and not least his Bouvier dog Patrasche, his life is not an easy one, bringing milk to the town every day with Patrasche pulling the cart. One day, he is "found" by a graet master of painting Michell (Jon Voight with a hevey accent), and Nello learns from the master that there is an annual contest for aspiring painters. But while he was trying to finish his work, a tragic accident happens to his life.

The film makes great changes to the original short story (especially the ending), but how you respond to that liberty will depend on your judgement. The fact that the critical reaction was at best very luckwarm proves that adults viewers might find this one very ordinary and mundane, and probably the film deserves better treatment. Though the locations are perfect, the story looks too banal, and -- this is more important -- it doesn't know its audience. Parents might be uncomfortable to see a dog is beaten by a drunken guy, or most of all, the secret of Nello's parentage is revealed. In fact, Nello's mother comes back home in the opening blizzard scene with a baby Nello -- clearly an echo of "Oliver Twist" -- but some kids (under the age of 3-6) may find it hard to understand why she think she is "disgraced" (the film uses this word at the end). Strangely Victorian here, but anyway, not a big matter, though.

As a whole, "A Dog of Flanders" is a satisfactry movie for older kids, and though it shows its hands too predictable way, the story itself is good, and it conveys surely its messages to kid's heart. The leading actors are in good form, and the dog is ... er ... very unique. so if you like dogs, you may be interested. And for adult viewers like me, it is a good thing to see Cheryl Ladd (ex-Chalie's Angels) again.

[ABOUT THE DIFFERENT ENDING OF THE FILM: COULD BE A SPOILER ... MAYBE NOT]

The Japanese version of this film has a different ending, which imdb doesn't seem to record. Japanese version doesn't have the last 5 minutes of the American counterpart, making the ending faithful to the original book. This is because this story is a vastly loved one in Japan owing to its very popular TV series made about 20 years ago, and every Japanese viewer knows its original ending. Producers, therefore, must have judged it unwise to "compromise" its ending as its new American version does. The actual difference is as follows:

Japanese version: Nello meets his mother again; they hug each other; (then the film directly jumps to the final cut of American film showing statue of Ruebens); two lights, presumably souls of them, going up to the Heaven; end credit rolls up.

This is a minor thing, I know, but it is intersting to note this differnce between Japanese and American sensibility.

And if you like this one, you may watch older version made in 1959. There is a Japanese animated version (2000) too, and this fact testifies to its popularity of this story. The original writer Ouida (a pen name for Louise De LaRamee, Bristish writer) herself loved dogs so much, and she is known for her life surrounded by dogs in Italy when she was old and impoverished. Check out the book too, if you like.

not as good as the 1959 version
This remake of A Dog of Flanders was a decent movie but pales in comparison to the original version. Jeremy James Kissner was likeable enough as the young artist Nello, but the dog Patrasche was hideous looking. I've never seen an uglier dog in all my years of watching film. My advice is to rent the 1959 version with David Ladd.

Good story - poor performances
The story and photography are quite good, but the acting is some of the worst I have seen, especially Nelo. Besides, why does a poor boy on the verge of starvation have perfectly styled hair and tons of screen makeup. He looks like he should be on Baywatch. Personally, I would give this film one star, but my kids didn't seem to notice the bad acting and other failings. Perhaps it's worth borrowing from a friend, but not worth buying.

Really sweet and winsome
It starts out slow with what looks to be a really boring rainy village dog film but turns out to be a wonderful and original movie. The acting is great on all hands but especially by the lead actor who plays Nello. Adults and children alike will enjoy it. There is a fight scene with a cleaver which though not bloody at all could frighten young children. Also a scene with a gypsy fortune teller that as achristian I zipped over. It is a sweet story that is very inspiring.

Aboaned,Misguied,Blamed ,and worst of all he suffered it!
Young Nello Daas and his mother Mary Daas were very poor they were both aboaned bye the anoymous father of Nello.Soon Mary travels too her father's house .6 years later Nello is now about 6 or 7 his mother is dead and he is living as a traveler milk seller .He is so happy until oddly his world comes crashing down very soon a new chacter arrives on the scene Master Stephens a very sturub man who makes Nello and his grandfather pay the rent.3 years later Nello is soon misguied bye his best friend Aloise's father .Later on the shed was caught on fire in the middle of the night .Nello was blamed soon Nello realize's that he won't become a great artist.With that he looses a art contest ,but things look up when he finds a wallet.knowing it is Master Cogez wallet he returns it then runs .This is not a drama master piece .But in 1999 Kevin Brodie did win a Oscar for this film .No it's not a masterpiece but it did win a Oscar and this is all it needs .1.A Good Title 2.Great Actors 3.Terrific Music 4.Some religon mentioned 5.Action 6.Must be emotional 7.A award 8.Romace is good 9.A good intersing plot last but not least A good feeling.This movie just still sends chills up my spine .Just watching how Nello struggles and how he starts too relize that he is loved and that he does have a father that loves him dearly. This on a scale of 1 to 10 a perfect 10!!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Time-hoppers from the future, led by Cheryl Ladd, are abducting airline passengers about to crash, and transporting them a millennium hence in order to reseed a future blighted by environmental disaster. This is a dangerous business, plagued by the specter of accidentally creating time paradoxes, which could throw the future out of whack. Unfortunately, they've lost a couple of the stunners they use to subdue troublesome passengers, and these fall into the hands of a curious physicist (Daniel J. Travanti) and an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board (Kris Kristofferson). Cheryl Ladd must retrieve these devices before a time paradox wipes out her world, but manages to complicate things by developing a romance withKristofferson. All of which is very intriguing, having come from the short story, "Air Raid," by science fiction luminary John Varley, who also is credited with the screenplay. The part about airline abductions to save the disastrous future is straight from the original story, and the rest is expanded (you wouldn't say extrapolated) from it. The results are not very happy. About a third of the film is maddeningly wasted by repeating action from a different point of view. Seems natural when there are disparate timelines to deal with, but here nothing is added by the conceit. Only Travanti turns in a creditable performance as the physicist, bent on proving his theories about the future. He seems hungry for discovery, which is one of the things you want from a science fiction story, that sense of awe. But here it's just, "Aw, shucks!" --Jim Gay ... Read more

Reviews (18)

an overlooked movie for sci-fi buffs
Millennium is one of those movies that has a great story line and even follows through with budget and special effects (for it's time not bad) yet fails to draw the crowd because it's an intricate story of time travel that can be at times hard to follow and even slow. But if you still dig movies like Logan's Run or Communion, you'll probably enjoy Millennium.

It's a unique story of people far in the future who kidnap the bodies of people that are about to die. Their favorite source is planes that are about to crash. An official investigating discovers wrist-watches running backwards in the wreckage, and works with a physicist attempting to discover the truth about these visitors.

Millennium is a thinking man's scifi flick
This movie is actually better than what others might think. But it requires your complete attention, and for a generation of people who are used to in-your-face MTV type short-attention span stuff, then skip this flick. However, I have shown this DVD on several occasions to groups of friends, and everyone enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on, and were surprised as I was, when time - travel was implicated. Cheryl Ladd was quite good as a cynical flight attendant, and Kris Kristofferson was believable as a man burned out on his job. I only with Travanti had more to do. Still, I highly recommend this flick to people who like to think when they watch a scifi flick.

Interesting to a Point -- a Twilight Zone story w/o the feel
You've read the "official" review and to be honest, I don't wholly agree or disagree. First, I like both Kristopherson's and Ladd's performances. They fit the characters nicely. The replay of the same sequence from another angle answers all of the questions about what is going on, and is the only thing that turns a rather short, straightforward featurette into a full-length feature.

Conceivably, more time could have been spent investigating the wreckage (and similar wreckages) before revealing the time travelers from the future. Also, why don't they fix these ripples, instead of trying to escape them?

So there are some questions. If I could, I'd give this one 2-1/2 stars, not three, but I won't drop it all the way to two, mostly because no one else has done this exact story, unless it was Rod Serling in the original Twilight Zone series, but I don't think so... there are similar stories, to be sure, and time travel stories, but not in this combination.

Which puts this film into the "Twilight Zone" category for me. There are so many places where they could have made this one better, I have to wonder why no one has done a remake...

Still, it is part of my collection and if you are SF buff, then don't leave this off your list of films to consider without at least watching it.

MST3K would have had a field day with this!
This movie is *bad*. The "plot" makes no sense, and the ending even less. It is stupid, slow, insipid, and utterny nonsensical. I wish that MST3K had gotten ahold of this film; only they could have mocked it the way it so desperately deserves to be mocked. This movie is *that bad*.

And it's *boring*, too. Kristoferson and Ladd have absolutely ZERO chemistry. No, in fact, they have NEGATIVE chemistry. Kristoferson couldn't act is way out of this script, and Ladd ... well, jeez, what could one expect from an ex-Charlie's Angel?

It's also *ugly*. The costumes, set designs, and special effects would have been bad in 1989, and haven't aged well. Post-apocolyptic futures can look cool (ROAD WARRIOR) or even funky (12 MONKEYS), but here, it's just lame. And the first "effect" in the film--where two planes collide--is a sad effort of blue-screening that my high-school film club could have outdone.

Avoid at all costs. Waste no money. If your boyfriend or girlfriend owns it, break up with them; it will be less painful.

I have to go sanitize my home theatre now.

Not a famous film for good reason
How many movies do you know that replay the same scenes and can still hold the interest of the viewer? Not many, if any. However, the creators of Millennium decided that about one third of the movie should be the same scenes. Total failure. This is a case where the makers of the film underestimated the intelligence of the viewers, thinking that going through the movie twice was the only way viewers could keep track of the incredibly difficult concept of time travel.

Then again, if this was truly a good movie than we shouldn't be disappointed in seeing the scenes twice, since we could then enjoy good acting etc. Not so in Millennium. Kris Kristofferson looks grizzly with a heavy beard and has the skin tone of beef jerky. Cheryl Ladd plays opposite of Kristofferson as the time traveling tough women from the future who happens to know nothing about time traveling, she needs a personal robot to explain "the obvious" to her on many occasions. Maybe she forgot to read the script.

In this movie, the future is a place of rust, the present is a place of ignorance, and the viewer is left insulted. ... Read more