Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (162)

The most frightening FRIDAY of them all!
After the disappointing if entertaining PART 3 (which was plagued by the kind of "bright" lighting that destroys any sense of terror), director Jospeh Zito came on board to deliver this delightfully downbeat and particularly nasty entry in the series, which at the time (somewhat obviously!) was meant as THE FINAL CHAPTER.

Not only is the film consistently frightening and disturbing (thanks largely to Zito's gritty and very dark vision), it's competently written and very well acted, at least as far as "stalk 'n' slash" movies go! Crispin Glover hints at what a diverse and fine actor he would become (although he seems to have disappeared now!), and Kimberly Beck's performance as the heroine is extremely gutsy and realistic, and along with PART 2's Amy Steel is the most impressive of all 9 movies.

Zito's decision to hide Jason for the majority of the movie also pays big dividends, as he suddenly becomes a terrifying figure, brimming with brutality and immense strength (unlike the lumbering psychopath of PART's 2 & 3). Ted White does a good job in the role (even if he didn't really enjoy it), and Tom Savini's return to the series brings out some of the best make-up and gore sequences ever seen in a horror movie. The only disappointing thing therefore, is that Paramount in their infinite wisdom, are not releasing the DVD in "UNCUT" form - that and the fact that there's no extras (apart from the Theatrical Trailer probably!). At least however, the series is getting released on DVD and in widescreen too.

My only fear however, is that after releasing all the movies on DVD, there will then be a "Special Limited Collectors Box Set" with tons of extras and in "UNCUT form too! We'll just have to wait an see.

For now though, THE FINAL CHAPTER comes recommended as one of the best "slasher" movies of them all, and for me at least, the finest of the FRIDAY THE 13th series. Roll on JASON X!

Finally a good sequel for Friday the 13th
Chapter four was the best sequel of Friday the 13th series since it began.The original was very good and impressive, Part 2 was stupid and boring(The only good thing was that the killer was Jason).Part 3 was better, but still dumb(But we got the hockey mask).

After Part 3 murders, Jason is taken to the morgue.Of course he's not dead.So he scapes and goes back to Camp Cristal Lake.Near the camp, lives a family: The Jarvis.
And across te Jarvis, lives a group of teenagers trying to have fun.Guess what is going to happen?, YES, Jason is going to kill them.

What I really enjoyed here, was the creative and original deads.They were funny and scary at the same time.In my opinion the best dead was Axel's, the morgue doctor.But Tina's was cool too, it was very well done.

The main character was Trish, a nice girl.Her brother Tommy, was a horror fan, he made his own scary halloween masks and liked blood.

This is not the final chapter as it's called.We still got 6 more sequels to go.But this was one of the best.

FINAL GRADE: C+

Oh no, not... doggy defenestration!
Sigh... if only this truly WAS the final chapter. After goin' through the first three films and seein' pretty much the same stuff each time, you'd think I'd have taken the hint by now and not get my hopes up about seeing anything all that new in the next installment. Just like the last three go-rounds, ya see the killer take out an entire group of horny, pot-abusing teenagers (with a few adults thrown in for good measure). Then there's the wide array of dispatchings, most of which are pretty gruesome but score higher on my gross-out meter than on my fright-o-meter. The only thing I found all that scary-- granted you take the rise and fall of this person's movie career following this-- is a pre-teen Corey Feldman as a sorta geeky messed-up kid who gets even more messed-up by the time the closing credits roll. Er, messed up in a psychological sense that is. Also kinda disquieting is the performance of lovable oddball Crispin Glover, who goes almost totally against type by playing a kinda normal ill-fated teenager. Corey & Crispin add a level of scariness to the 'Final Chapter' (*snicker*) that ol' Jason could never even come close to approaching...

On the upside, this booger does feature the silliest Jason-kill I've ever seen when he tosses a pooch through a second-story window of a lakeside house. Now I'm not into animal torture and all that, but after seein' that moment I couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh. Talk about hittin' a whole new low...

'Late

Again, okay for a "Friday" film...
Another decent "Friday the 13th" flick. This one actually has a family involved as well as the usual bunch of college-students. And it was actually the first "Friday..." film I've ever seen!

Splitting hairs
Somebody explain this movie to me.

I get it -- it's not really the final chapter. I have no problem with that. Stop pointing it out.

No, I'm talking the climactic scene, where Tommy Jarvis (the *cough* incomparable Corey Feldman) shaves his head. For some reason, this gives JASON FREAKIN' VOORHEES the heebie-jeebies, allowing Tommy's forty-three-year-old sister to sideline Jason with a machete. Of course, Jason's hand twitches, sending Tommy into a berserker rage hack-a-thon.

Hence the "finality" promised by the title. Jason's dead...or as dead as Jason gets until Part VI.

But stop and think about this for a second. Why would Jason care that Tommy shaved his head? Did he get confused into thinking he was looking at a funhouse mirror? Was it supposed to make Jason think there was a "mini-me" version of himself running around? Did it make Jason hearken back to his days as a weird-looking bald kid, and warm the cockles of his heart? Did he just love Tommy's charming bowl-cut, and get dumbfounded that Tommy would squander such a magnificent hairstyle?

At the end of Part 2 (they were still using Arabic numerals at that point), Ginny (Amy Steele) put on a crusty sweater that once belonged to Jason's decapitated mother. By tucking her hair behind her neck, Ginny apparently looked enough like Pamela Voorhees to momentarily make Jason think his mother had returned. Hey, nobody's ever nominated Jason for MENSA membership, so it wasn't THAT big of a stretch. At least it made sense.

But Tommy's cueball ploy shouldn't have made Jason stop for two seconds, unless it was to double-over laughing.

Ultimately, Jason got the upper hand; he's been in eight movies since that day. I'm pretty sure that beats Corey Feldman. ... Read more

Description

When the mayor decides that the doors of the police academy be open to any and all, the applicants swarm forth like hordes of losers in a colorful assortment of nonregulation sizes, shapes and eccentricities. ... Read more

Description

Mahoney and friends have graduated from the Police Academy and are issued with their first assignments. As before, their cheerfulness and devotion to duty outweighs any shortcomings, but are even they ready to do battle with a band graffiti daubing terrorists? ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A Funny Movie!!
Police Academy 2 is a funny movie, I even liked it more then the first movie and I think Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith and David Graf were great as Mahoney, Hightower and Tackleberry and the rest of the cast is good too. The first movie in this series was good but Police Adademy 2 just made me laugh more and I remember watching this movie with my nephews who liked the Police Academy movies so much they got the action figure toys and besides the toys I think this movie series also got an animated series. I recommend Police Academy 2, it's really entertaining and this and the third movie are my favorites!

If you don't stop that sir, you could go blind.
That line made me laugh soo!!(...)hard, I laughed all night. This is one of the funniest movies ever. Steve Guttenberg and David Graf are hilairous. See this, if it's even the last movie you ever see.

The first post-graduation assignment
This film was theatrically released on March 29,1985 precisely 53 weeks after the release of the first film. Some cast members of the first film have not returned for the sequel,and some have appeared for the first time such as Lance Kinsey as Seargeant Proctor,who'd appear in the next 4 sequels and Art Metrano as Lieutenant Mauser. Mauser's academy is separate from Commandant Eric Lassard's(George Gaynes). Mauser is the watch commander for those who were cadets in the first films(they are now seargeants). Also with an academy of his own is Eric's brother Pete(Howard Hesseman). Pete needed to "get his hands on some healthy young men",as he tells Eric on the phone. So the Metropolitan Police Academy's Class of 1984 are referred to Pete's academy. Pete has a "healthy young woman" also,her being soft-spoken Laverne Hooks(Marion Ramsey). The '84 graduates screw up,aggravating Pete. They are sent to put and end to the raunchy behavior of a dangerous gang who is terrorizing the city. Here we meet two more newcomers,stand-up comedian Bobcat Goldthwait who plays the leader of the gang and Tim Kazurinsky,late of Saturday Night Live,as Mr. Swechiuk,a home furnishings store proprietor. Gun buff Eugene Tackleberry(the late David Graf),while on motorcycle duty,meets the girl of his dreams,and marries in the final scene,Kathleen Kirkland(Colleen Camp). While preparing for his first date out on the town with Kathleen,Eugene splashes gun oil on his face as an alternative to cologne! Also,he gives Kathleen a pair of earrings in the shape of miniature handcuffs. The gang terrorizes a supermarket,knocking down merchandise and opening packages. The gang wrecks havoc at a carnival also. The star character,Carey Mahoney(Steve Guttenberg) goes undercover as a gangster like the gang seen in this film,and brings them to justice with the help of his colleagues,including Laverne,who again angrily yells "DON'T MOVE DIRTBAG!" Then,there's the civil wedding ceremony of Eugene and Kathleen Kirkland Tackleberry with all of Eugene's colleagues present and Kathleen's brother and parents. Another funny scene is where Lt. Mauser is about to shampoo his hair. The shampoo is taken away and replaced with a strong glue,like Krazy Glue. Some of the removed hair ended up on his hands. So Proctor places a wig on Mauser's head. It looks totally different,the wig being straight auburn hair(Mauser's natural hair is black and permed). Also,not seen in theatres but on television,is the scene,following the wedding,where the gang members join the Metropolitan Police Academy. Zed,the gang leader became a new man upon joining and would return for the next two sequels.

The laugh treatment.
when i was a kid we would call this movie the laugh treatment because it was sooooooo funny. You'll love it.

Well done Paul Maslansky
Anyone who says this movie sucks, don't listen to them, this movie rocks. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Documentary is only 40 minutes long.
The Perfect Storm rescues has two parts.
The main part is a disappointing 40 minutes long documentary of six sea rescues off ships and boats.
It does have some spectacular footage of a ship turning on it's side and sinking as well as a rescue from an ice filled sea.
The second part is a 52 minute long documentary about how the recuers are trained to do the job.This may be interesting for some people,but this is not what was advertised.
I was expecting all sorts of rescues(from floods etc),but it only covers rescues at sea and then only a few.

Fun, Exciting True Stories. A Great Value!
We enjoyed the movie but this was even better. Meeting the real people behind actual rescues was interesting and I learned alot about boating and how the Coast Guard finds people in trouble. Don't miss it! ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Police Academy
A new mayor, forces the local police academy to open its doors to all. Naturally a variety of people show up, for training. There's Mahoney, a guy given the option of jail or the police academy, Jones the human sound effects machine, Barbara, the film developer, Hightower, a florist, etc. The Commisioner has Capt Harris, try to force the undeserable people out of the academy. Typical 80's comedy, is enjoyable and funny, and holds up after many viewings. The DVD version of the movie, looks good and sounds good, but there aren't to many extras.

THE MOVIE THAT STARTED THE WHOLE SERIES
A MALCONTENT [STEVE GUTTENBERG] GETS FORCED TO ENLIST IN THE POLICE ACADEMY. VERY FUNNY AND ENTERTAINING ON ALL LEVELS. THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS FILM IS MICHAEL WINSLOW, THE MAN WHO PLAYS LARVELL JONES, WHOSE A HUMAN SOUND EFFECTS MACHINE. A CULT CALSSIC BY ALL MEANS. OF COURSE, THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THE SCRIPT OR ITS STORY, BUT IT'S JUST FUNNY. A MUST FOR ANYONE THAT LIKES TO LAUGH THEIR A.. OFF. FOLLOWED BY SIX SEQUELS, AN ANIMATED TV SERIES, AND INSPIRED A LIVE-ACTION TV SERIES.

Some of the most humourous police work ever performed!
First there was TV's Barney Miller,then the short-lived Police Squad,and now the first of seven POLICE ACADEMY films. Steve Guttenberg,who appeared in DINER two years before this film,is Carey Mahoney,a parking lot attendant who is arrested following termination from his job. At the police station where he's booked he meets Larvell Jones(Michael Winslow) who himself has been arrested for disturbing the peace. Winslow is famous for vocal impersonations of objects in action. So Carey and Larvell join the Metropolitan Police Academy as an alternative to jail. Also joining are Eugene Tackleberry(the late David Graf) who's a gun-lover,Karen Thompson(Kim Cattrall) who becomes Carey's girlfriend,Moses Hightower(football great Bubba Smith) who's a florist,George Martin(Andrew Rubin) who pretends to be Latin to score with women,Doug Fackler(Bruce Mahler) who joins against his wife's wishes(she joins 2 sequels later against HIS wishes!),Kyle Blankes,a mean-spirited fella and his buddy Chad Copeland,also mean-spirited. Carey misbehaves as much as he can to get evicted,because he initially didn't want to join the PA. He later changes his mind. George Gaynes is Commandant Eric Lassard and George R. Robertson is Commissioner Henry Hurst. G.W. Bailey of TV's M*A*S*H,is lieutenant Thaddeus Harris,who with the help of Kyle and Chad,rids the academy of undesirables("scumbuckets" as Lt. Harris calls them). Memorable scenes include Carey teaching Schwarzenegger-ish Hightower how to drive in Chad's car! The car is damaged and Chad and Kyle put the blame on Carey who dare him to "throw the first punch",since Carey was initially scheming to be evicted. Also part of the cast is Marion Ramsey as Laverne Hooks,a short,soft-spoken African-American woman. Take note of how in another scene,she gets loud and nasty towards a criminal("DON'T MOVE,DIRTBAG!"). That quote would be used in the sequels as well. Leslie Easterbrook of TV's Laverne & Shirley is Seargent Callahan who along with Lt. Harris,trains the cadets. Another memorable scene is where a concealed hooker performs oral sex on Commandant Lassard while he stands behind a podium. Carey was co-concealed inside the podium,the hooker emerged,Carey remained,and Lassard thought Carey performed the sexual act! Also,Martin,in drag,sneaks into the girls' dormitory and is finally caught by Callahan,who removes his wig,brassiere and dress. This popular film was directed by Hugh Wilson,who'd subsequently direct THE FIRST WIVES CLUB. Guttenberg stuck around for PA2,3 and 4.

Way better than I thought it would be
When I went to rent this yesterday in the 20th anniversary edition, I wasn't expecting alot, but I liked it so much I ended up buying it. I'm gonna buy some of the other Police Academy movies too.

I still don't own it.
I still want this movie, but I don't got it yet. I know it's funny because I saw it in theatres back in 1984. I almost died laughing. Same with my dad. Yes you heard me right, my dad who let me see any movie brought me into this movie when I was 9. My mom didn't like my dad taking me to any movie out there. Soon or later I will get this movie and maybe get the box set that was just realesed. ... Read more

Description

The graduates of the police academy are now in competition between the two police academies to see which one will survive a state-decreed budget cut. ... Read more

Description

The cadets take to the streets when three inept goons successfully orchestrate a metropolitan crime wave. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Description

Funland Amusement Park is taken over by the DeMaro family, who forcibly buy the deceased owner's shares. The DeMaros only care about the profit margin of the park and begin to cut costs and plan remodeling to a less family-oriented format. Neil "Bruce Burger" Stickney (David Lander of "Laverne & Shirley"), the park's crack accountant turned clown (after a nervous breakdown) plots revenge, and the story turns to the darker side of humor as only Bonnie Turner, the creator of "3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN" and "THAT 70'S SHOW," can create. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Comedy... NOT Horror
This film was an early outing for Bonnie Turner, who would go on to creat 3rd ROCK FROM THE SUN and THAT 70s SHOW. As such, it is a great opportunity to see the roots of this phenominal writer. You can even see her in a bit role as a militant park security guard. However, if you're looking for horror or action, go elsewhere. This is strictly a two note film - the first being a vehicle for Turner's budding talent, and the second to see the phenomenal David Ladner (remember Squiggy in LAVERNE & SHIRLEY?) in an outing as a psychotic clown. Not a great film, but a good bit of amusement for a week night.

Rated by Dustin
This movie may seem like it is worth the money but belive me he only kills one person with the gun. If you had to ask me to by it and recive a million dollars I'd tell em that there crazy. If you don't want to belive me go rent the stinking movie then see what your mind tells you. I am 12 and I love horror but this is not even action. Dosen't come close to horror ethir so please people don't waste your money on a stupid film like this. ... Read more