Amazon.com

Originally broadcast as Legend of Earthsea in December 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel's four-hour miniseries of Earthsea rides the coattails of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with its quest-driven story of humble blacksmith Ged (Shawn Ashmore), a wizard-to-be who is mentored by the magical Ogion (Danny Glover) as he seeks to preserve the realm of Earthsea from the evil King Tygath (Sebastian Roché). Ged's adventures lead him to the priestess Tenar (Kristen Kreuk, from Smallville) and with secrets shared by High Priestess Thar (Isabella Rossellini), they gain the power to prevail over Tygath. As presented by Robert Halmi Sr. (producer of Merlin, Gulliver's Travels and several other fantasy miniseries), this skeletal rendering of Earthsea boasts a wealth of digital effects and semi-lavish set design, but Ashmore's lack of charisma hampers a production already fraught with problems. It provoked the wrath of fantasy fans and a firm rejection by author Ursula K. Le Guin, who had watched helplessly (she wasn't involved or consulted) as her classic novels A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan were racially "whitewashed" (in Le Guin's words) nearly beyond recognition. As TV fantasy goes, Earthsea is admirably ambitious, but best enjoyed by those with no awareness of the classic books it is very loosely based on. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (53)

LeGuin Prophecies.
In her foreward to "Tales from Earthsea," LeGuin comments on the difference between commercial fantasy and real art. Sadly, her remarks are nearly prescient, and clearly illuminate the great difference between the books and the movie:

"Commodified fantasy takes no risks: it invents nothing, but imitates and trivialises. It proceeds by depriving the old stories of their intellectual and ethical complexity, turning their action to violence, their actors to dolls, and their truth-telling to sentimental platitude. Heroes brandish their swords, lasers, wands, as mechanically as combine harvesters, reaping profits. Profoundly disturbing moral choices are sanitized, made cute, made safe. The passionately conceived ideas of the great story-tellers are copied, stereotyped, reduced to toys, molded in bright-colored plastic, advertised, sold, broken, junked, replaceable, interchangeable.

What the commodifiers of fantasy count on and exploit is the insuperable imagination of the reader, child or adult, which gives even these dead things life- of a sort, for a while.

Imagination, like all living things lives now, and it lives with, from, on true change. Like all we do and have, it can be co-opted and degraded, but it survives commercial and didactic exploitation. The land outlasts the empires. The conquerors may leave the desert where there was forest and meadow, but the rain will fall, the rivers will run to sea. The unstable, mutable, untruthful realms of Once-upon-a-time are as much a part of human history and thought as the nations in our kaleidoscocpic atlases, and some are more enduring."

Not a bad adaptation ...
It's just a bad film fullstop. I am a long time Le guin fan, but am not in the least bit purist. I wasn't expecting a faithful adaptation and was prepared to judge this film on its own merits. Unfortunately, with or without reference to the book this is a truly awful movie. Acting is so-so, the CGI is amateurish, the dialogue stinks (particularly so in the region of the denouement) and the narrative thread is an absolute tangle.

The way people seem to whizz from one end of Earthsea to the other by boat in a matter of minutes beggars belief and exposes the sheer incompetence of the screenwriters. Roke University is more Rowlings than Le Guin. The dragon Orm Embar lacked all context and would have been better left out altogether. Possibly the worst feature of all was the "nameless ones"; instead of the ancient beings of immense power and evil that the movie had been trying to build up to, we were given overgrown bats!

One of the Worst Adaptations of All Time
Early in 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel began extensive advertising for an epic TV miniseries entitled "Legend of Earthsea" that was allegedly based upon a series of beloved sci-fi/fantasy novels that had been written by Ursula K. Le Guin beginning in 1968.For many months, people's expectations grew as the December, 2004 premiere night drew close; but disappointment, shock and bewilderment were what the vast majority of viewers experienced upon watching the show.In fact, few who watched the first night of the miniseries bothered to watch the second.

What made the "Legend of Earthsea" miniseries so awful?First, the only resemblance between the miniseries and the "Earthsea" novels that Ursula K. Le Guin wrote was in name only.Essentially, what director Robert Lieberman and writer Gavin Scott did was to create a shallow reworking of Le Guin's original stories.Interviews with Ursula K. Le Guin indicate that neither Lieberman, Scott nor the Sci-Fi Channel was interested in consulting with her to ensure that their film adaptation was accurate.To demonstrate just how unconnected the miniseries was from the original books, here are some (but certainly not all) of the differences:

1. Ged (Shawn Ashmore) was the same age throughout the miniseries, but the novels follow him between the ages of 10 to 80.
2. Ged's solitary search for understanding in the books was replaced with a hackneyed "Lord of the Rings"-like epic, with Vetch (Chris Gauthier) taking on the role of a comic "Samwise Gamgee" to Ged's "Frodo Baggins".
3. In the miniseries, Ged, Vetch, Jasper (Mark Hildreth) and the the Archmagus (Alan Scarfe) were each played by white actors; but in the books, they were all black characters.Only Ogion (Danny Glover) was accurately portrayed.

Next, the acting in the miniseries was stilted and Wooden.Shawn Ashmore's acting was disengaging, uninspired and forced. Equally disappointing in their roles were Isabella Rossellini as "High Priestess Thar", Sebastian Roché as "King Tygath", Kristin Kreuk as "Tenar" and Alan Scarfe.Only Danny Glover was believable, though his part in the story was rather short. Of course, being a Sci-Fi Channel production, there was lots of CGI special effects throughout the miniseries; but just like so many failed sci-fi/fantasy films that predate "Legends of Earthsea" demonstrate, great special effects with a terrible story is still a terrible film.

In the end, the attempt by the Sci-Fi Channel, Robert Lieberman and Gavin Scott to capitalize on the success of such big-screen films like the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "Harry Potter" series of films by taking Ursula K. Le Guin's superb novels and replace them with a watered-down, uninspired and unrelated piece of CGI rubbish was a complete failure.If you really want to know what the "Earthsea" stories are about, read Ursula K. Le Guin's original novels; but don't waste your time or money on purchasing the miniseries on DVD.My rating for the "Legend of Earthsea" miniseries is an unmitigated 1 out of 5 stars.The Sci-Fi Channel should publicly apologize to Ursula K. Le Guin for how they distorted her stories.

Betrayal of Intent
The TV producers bought the rights to the classic Earthsea books, turned the project over to an egotistical production crew who rewrote the plot, added gratuitous figures, missed the point of the book and the evolving series, and had the nerve to broadcast the resulting blood pudding.
They did not bother to consult the author (see her website if you don't believe me)
Almost as bad as the movie travesty of Fritz Lieber's Conjure Wife, from AAA book to sub B visual.

Read the books after viewing the movie
From the looks of it those rating this TV movie negatively, read the books. I caught this on cable TV a couple times and I found it reasonably enjoyable. Not the effects, acting, or music of the level of "The Lord of the Rings" but certainly far better than I have seen on several Fantasy TV series. Danny Glover and some of the other key actors I think turned in decent performances. The F/X aren't bad either, far from low budget ones like those used in the remakes of "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I recommend this if you haven't read the books and you enjoy fantasy movies. Now of course I am sure the books are far better and seeing this movie I can now go read them and be really entertained all the more. I guess that is the down side of reading the books and then seeing the movie instead of the other way around. Suffice it to say I wish people would review the merit of the acting, sets, scenery, music, directing, special effects, et cetera, instead of how it didn't follow the book line for line. Keep in mind people are reading your review to find out if the movie is any good, they actually might not have read the book and it may not matter if the movie is like the book to them. I understand you avid readers being upset, but please don't dash a reasonable movie to pieces. If the movie does well it is more likely they will make more and then hopefully they will try harder to follow the books. If this one fails dismally it is not near as likely they will make more movies for several years. So even if it is only like the book in title, do not be hasty to slam the directing, acting, sets, music, F/X, et cetera. After I saw the movie I wanted to read the books and I intend to do just that. Then I'm sure I will see that this was not a good adaptation. That does not make it have no entertainment value or less valuable for getting peoples interest in the books or being better adapted for future movies. ... Read more

Description

When a harried businessman and a hapless crook collide on the biggest day of both their careers, the only road seems to lead straight to comic disaster.A workaholic advertising executive (David Paymer) is stuck driving the neighborhood carpool on the day of a make-or-break presentation.A down-on-his luck carnival owner (Tom Arnold), fleeing a bungled robbery, takes the exec and his vanful of kids hostage and begins a comic day-long chase through the city streets where the two men learn some unexpected lessons and forge an unlikely friendship. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Hey this is not garbage its Carpool
What a hilarous movie carpool was. Tom Arnold acted good but the skinny guy was better. Carpool has the best comedy parts a movie has ever had. Carpool is worth more than 5 stars!
Carpool rocks.

a good movie for a family
the movie is exceptable,i liked it and my little sister likes to watch it.the kids in the car were so cute and funny except for rachel leigh cook,she is so boring and a bad actress,she should get more training to be a good actress.the 3 stars were for the kids in this movie.

Fairly Good Comedy
8/31/03 The video was a "better than average" video with many action scenes of "police car chase" due to a robbery interceded by Tom Arnold who was just looking for a "donut" and ended with the money instead of the real robbers..Arnold's character also ends up with a hostage (who was carpooling and had come into the store just to get bread and roll and Danish buns)with no casualty,just more demolition work for the mechanics..Emphasis was on "small town" which had a Mall,a Sizzler,(mention of a Denny,a Gourmet Food Market,a Carnival(belonging to Arnold which had closed),a very active Barber Shop-Beauty Salon(where the hostage(a middle management executive),the kids he's car-pooling:(5): adolescent to teen) and of course the man with the gun "Arnold" purchased hair dye in aerosol cans to spray the "Van" purple vs its recently commercial paint job of green) and almost as many employees who are "policemen" as were those who would need "one'.Even the meter maid had a "state of the arts vehicle" : both her vehicle and the vehicle being pursued cars maneuvered right up the steps inside the Mall..It ends with a teen reminding the "Mogul" that the adult population in the "small town"is getting old & "moving to Florida" or "permanently exiting to Forest Lawn Cemetary" [exception being those toteing their own gun like one of the very gutzy little "Arsenic and Old Lace" ladies in the Gourmet Shop /or like Arnold's mother whom he talked to on the Beauty Salon phone and warned her not to go to the Sizzler's.She is 'solo' in the last scene in the movie with background music of the "rock song" "Tell Mama What You Need" single handedly demolishing a Sizzler ripping out its furnishings and throwing them through its window ....she hadn't been pleased with the service]and that the stores should focus on the adolescent,puberty and teen groups as the consumer to please(the business meeting at a Hammermans Gourmet Shop corporate quarters dismissed the idea of their being enough population in the the adult age gap from 30 Something -to- "the Aged" to need focus on them as consumers).The other plots are routine to most family movies:(dad puts "job/career" second to getting home early for supper when he reqalizes the kids like the man whose taken him hostage betten than himself,truly bad guys get caught,estranged people meeting again due to fate(the meter maid and the top police officer), a stong woman(Arnold's mother can beat a fleet of police officer via biteing and punching,middle management gets a chance to befavored in place of upper management) .There is novelty in the "car chase scenes" and "background music".So many issues to make you say "hmmmmm" in a movie that gets you to also say "this is unbelieveable".

when doughnuts go wrong!
this review is named what it is because theres five kids in an SUV, a criminal, a guy late for his meeting, and the crook is holding everyone hostage! What could be better! The crook is new to it, so hes asking everyone if hes going a good job and the kids are hgelping get away by painting the blue SUV purple!!!!!!!!! If I could rent it or buy it, I would buy it on DVD, but rent it on VHS.

Fun for a While but Deflates Toward the End
We thoroughly enjoyed the first part of this movie and had a lot of laughs. Tom Arnold makes a convincing "good" bad guy, and the kids help the plot along with the grumpy dad. The movie loses steam when the car chase ends and they end up in Tom Arnold's carnival, and then to the dad's executive meeting. To be honest, I gave up on the movie at that point and let the boys play the X-box, as my interest was completely lost. ... Read more

Description

THE WINNING SEASON tells the story of a legendary baseball player's struggle to choose between the love of his life and his love of the game. In the film, 12 year-old baseball fanatic Joe Soshack finds a mint condition Honus Wagner baseball card that magically takes him back to the 1909 World Series. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In this would-be noir thriller, Black Point is the name ofthe fishing village where ex-navy guy John Hawkins (David Caruso) meets upwith Natalie (Susan Haskell), an angelic blonde with a dangerous,domineering husband (Thomas Ian Griffith) with criminal connections.Caruso tries to rescue her, only to be sucked into a series ofdouble-crosses that leave a lot of dead bodies in their wake. If thatdescription sounds generic, it's because Black Point isgeneric--it's cobbled together from made-for-cable thrillers and dimmemories of much better movies. Fans of Caruso will enjoy his dependablyearnest machismo. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Recycled Crime Drama
"Black Point" was an enjoyable watching experience. Thomas Ian Griffith from "Hollow Point" and "Excessive Force" plays the heavy Gus & also gets a screenwriting credit. The plot is intricate enough to keep our attention, but not unique enough to be memorable. David Caruso as the ex-Vet John Hawkins displays his usual intensity. Currently riding high as Horatio on "CSI Miami," Caruso never really seems to play a different character, but is certainly good at the gritty realism which he brings to the role. "One Life to Live"'s Susan Haskell is beautiful and comes across as innocent and crafty, which is an interesting mix. It was never clear to me why she winds up in jail since all of her actions were done in self defense. Thus, the ending was not satisfying for me. The issue of brutality against women where the husband beats her and rapes her is used more as a plot mechanism than a real issue in the film; for me that is a major flaw. The smaller roles are well done, the sheriff, the deputy, and Bear, the best friend. For those who like the crime genre, David Caruso is the reason to watch. While the film is not the most original one you're likely to view, it's a good evening's entertainment. Enjoy!

How Come I Never Heard of this Movie????
I picked this movie up as a rental because nothing else in the store caught my eye at the time. I have always liked David Caruso for his on-screen believability and I was not disappointed here. This guy is a terrific actor who gets the viewer on his side, in spite of his sometimes outrageous behavior. I also remembered knowing that Susan Haskell had been (maybe still is) a soap star and thinking that she was attractive. I was right about that too...she is WAY attractive and also a very compelling actress.
This movie takes place in Alaska and Washington state and the Washington scenery is beautiful and the image quality of the DVD is superb. There are other great characters and several significant and totally unexpected plot twists that are pulled off without a hitch. The actors all work well together. Unlike many of today's movies, the plot, while somewhat far-fetched, is plausible and provides for some great opening action on which one side of the story hinges (3.5 million in stolen money.) The other story line involves an abused girlfriend (Haskell) and a broken ex tactical munitions expert (Caruso) who's 6 year old daughter was kidnapped 2 years previous. These two clearly need each other and how the money story becomes integrated with the beaten Haskell and Caruso make for the movies high tension level. Enough said of the story. If you want to see a very good movie with a taught plot, great acting, believable characters, several awesome twists without a fairy-tale ending, then this one's for you. With all the overblown, over-hyped, overly violent fare out there, I was happy to find this unexpected pleasure which far exceeded my expectations. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent classic film based on classic novel
While classic films do not often live up to our cinematic aspirations, the strength of the story (which is based on the classic by Anthony Hope) makes this an exciting and enjoyable film.It is one of my all-time classic favorites, right up there with Beau Geste and Lawrence of Arabia, etc.It has all the necessary well-choreographed fight scenes and a compelling love story.The story is about a man who must pose as a drunken prince when the Prince is made too incapacitated to assume the throne.His nemesis plotted to take the throne but was foiled because he could not proclaim the imposter without revealing his scheme.The story follows from there.I highly recomend this.

JJ rules
I love this movie. It's also known as "Prisoners of Zenda, Inc" which is what i've known it to be. Jonathan Jackson put on a greatpreformance as two different characters. JJ is an amazing actor. ... Read more

Description

She was an eyewitness to murder. He was the cop she thought she could trust. But, when they fell in love, she discovered that no one is... "Beyond Suspicion." Morality, justice and obsessive love are combined in this chilling psychological thriller loaded with deception, double twists and double-cross. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Stepfanie Kramer is hot !
Ms Kramer has always been a gifted actress, and this movie only scratches the surface of her imense talents...still, she is so beautiful to watch, and she is so hot in this film! Sexy love scenes with Scalia.Even with the limited material, Stepfanie manages to jump off the screen.She can hold her own against the best of the best as far as Im concerned.

Entertaining cop movie for Scalia lovers
Quite an entertaining movie for a low production film. A "must see" film for Jack Scalia fans. He looks "HOT" in this film and is very sexy. There are several "steamy" love scenes that shocked me never having seen an R rated film with Scalia in it. Overall he does a good acting job playing a character that's rather twisted. One huge negative about this movie is the music. It's obnoxious and very dated.

TC Review
Beyond Suspicion was an entertaining movie, it's not going to win any awards but Stepfanie Kramer looked great and the plot was well done. If your a Stepfanie Kramer fan then it is well worth watching.

not bad - but not worth pay $80 for.
so so movie - not bad as a rental, but not worth $80 to pay ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A great movie for all ages!
It's a great tale about a young boy who becomes a friendly hostage of a grizzly bear while on a bear hunting expedition with his father in the northwest. Things go awry and the boy is taken by the bear only to be chased by his father and his team of men. The rugged adventure is only the beginning of this entertaining and relationship bonding movie between man and animal. It's perfect for all ages. Kids can watch it as the movie offers good moral values without hard language or adult situations.

A wholesome family movie.
We rented this movie two nights ago, and our whole family thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the story of a boy and his father who go on an expedition in the Rocky Mountains, to catch a grizzly bear and bring it back alive. Along the way, the boy gets separated from his father and ends up with a momma grizzly bear who has taken a liking to him. She takes care of him as they journey together to find her cubs. During this time, the father is on a desperate hunt to find his son. The scenery is beautiful, the animals are wonderful, and the entire movie is excellently produced. The father and son learn a lot about what love and respect for nature really means. I was impressed with this movie. It is rated PG for what they called "nature violence", which is some animal attacks on other animals, and one time where the grizzly attacks one of the men in the hunting party. This may scare small children, but my son is 7 1/2 and he loved it. He was so interested in the story, that he didn't talk all the way through it, he just watched as amazed as I was. I also didn't hear a foul word in the whole movie. There may be a "damn" in there somewhere, but I didn't catch it. I never saw this movie come out in the theaters, but it sure is worth renting. I would recommend it to any family with school age and above. My husband and I liked it just as much as our son. We give it an A+.

Prime Family Entertainment
Grizzly Falls makes for an excellent form of entertainment for the family. Everything that is needed for a good, wholesome, and exciting storyline is present in this movie. Pop the corn, pour the soda, and sit back and enjoy! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Recycled Crime Drama
"Black Point" was an enjoyable watching experience. Thomas Ian Griffith from "Hollow Point" and "Excessive Force" plays the heavy Gus & also gets a screenwriting credit. The plot is intricate enough to keep our attention, but not unique enough to be memorable. David Caruso as the ex-Vet John Hawkins displays his usual intensity. Currently riding high as Horatio on "CSI Miami," Caruso never really seems to play a different character, but is certainly good at the gritty realism which he brings to the role. "One Life to Live"'s Susan Haskell is beautiful and comes across as innocent and crafty, which is an interesting mix. It was never clear to me why she winds up in jail since all of her actions were done in self defense. Thus, the ending was not satisfying for me. The issue of brutality against women where the husband beats her and rapes her is used more as a plot mechanism than a real issue in the film; for me that is a major flaw. The smaller roles are well done, the sheriff, the deputy, and Bear, the best friend. For those who like the crime genre, David Caruso is the reason to watch. While the film is not the most original one you're likely to view, it's a good evening's entertainment. Enjoy!

How Come I Never Heard of this Movie????
I picked this movie up as a rental because nothing else in the store caught my eye at the time. I have always liked David Caruso for his on-screen believability and I was not disappointed here. This guy is a terrific actor who gets the viewer on his side, in spite of his sometimes outrageous behavior. I also remembered knowing that Susan Haskell had been (maybe still is) a soap star and thinking that she was attractive. I was right about that too...she is WAY attractive and also a very compelling actress.
This movie takes place in Alaska and Washington state and the Washington scenery is beautiful and the image quality of the DVD is superb. There are other great characters and several significant and totally unexpected plot twists that are pulled off without a hitch. The actors all work well together. Unlike many of today's movies, the plot, while somewhat far-fetched, is plausible and provides for some great opening action on which one side of the story hinges (3.5 million in stolen money.) The other story line involves an abused girlfriend (Haskell) and a broken ex tactical munitions expert (Caruso) who's 6 year old daughter was kidnapped 2 years previous. These two clearly need each other and how the money story becomes integrated with the beaten Haskell and Caruso make for the movies high tension level. Enough said of the story. If you want to see a very good movie with a taught plot, great acting, believable characters, several awesome twists without a fairy-tale ending, then this one's for you. With all the overblown, over-hyped, overly violent fare out there, I was happy to find this unexpected pleasure which far exceeded my expectations. ... Read more