Reviews (3)

Excellent dramatic reinterpretation of an even more dramatic
This is a movie focusing on well known facts from the Def Leppard 197901986 period.

It starts with Joe Elliot auditioning for Atomic Mass, the band including Sav and Pete Willis, and goes all the way to their first performance with Rick Allen after his accident.

The casting directors and vocal coaches did a fantastic job.Also, the director was able to pull off the personal background that affected highs (their first EP funded by Joe Elliott's dad) and lows (Steve Clark drinking his father's demons (literally) to death) of the band without overdramatizing them.

Also, the movie shows us the influence that Mutt Lange had on their carreer without forgetting the fact that the Lepps had the skills, the talent and the commitment to make it happen with his producing genius.

If you are a fan of Def Leppard, stop reading and buy this movie immediately.If you were a casual fan of the Pyromania and Hysteria albums, you might as well enjoy a nicely made movie that gives you a glimpse into the history of a hugely popular "pop" metal band.

What do you want??? I WANT ROCK N ROLL!

This a MUST for all Leppard Fans!!
This is really good movie, every DL fan should own it. It starts from the beginning, including the old drummer, and it ends at the peak of Hysteria.

DEF LEPPARD IS THE GREATEST BAND GOD EVER MADE!!!

DEF LEPPARD ROCKS
This is a very good movie and I definitely recommend that ANY Def Leppard fan buy it. The actors in the movie look pretty similar to the members also....and it's a good way to learn more about the band if you're a new fan. ... Read more

Reviews (41)

Powerful
"Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it from a different perspective"- John Keating, 'Dead Poet's Society'. School Ties is not your typical story of Anti-Semitism. It gives you both sides; the Jew and those who can't get beyond it.
David Greene is accepted by his peers at Prep School, but he is never truly at ease because he can't let his guard down. This movie is excellent at showing how fast people can turn on you, and how true it is that people put up facades. This movie really tests true friendship. It tests loyalty as well. Once his secret is out, most of his friends turn on him... he is almost expelled from school because of the injustice of having no one believe him. Finally, one person is able to see how wrong it is... but the movie is just a series of powerful moments about betrayal, love, honesty, and differences. Everyone should watch the movie once to see how ugly hate can be.

good cast and story
Brendan Fraser stars as David Green, a 1950s working-class boy from Pittsburgh who has the chance to attend one of the best prep schools in the country on a scholarship, thus giving him a shot at attending Harvard. When he arrives, he is surrounded by a bunch of great guys whom he deems his friends ... as long as he hides the fact that he is Jewish.

David Green becomes the nemesis of Charlie Dillon (Matt Damon) early in the movie by being a better dancer and capturing the interest of Charlie's blonde thoroughbred date, Sally, played by Amy Locane in one of her only big roles. Charlie, who has attended the school for years, feels put out by this popular newcomer and when he finds a chance to bring him down, he goes for it full-force.

When racial slurs and hate crimes abound, the boys are divided between their personal friendships and loyalties and doing the right thing. This is made more interesting by the fact that they are only teenaged boys, who have all lived a privileged life amongst those exactly like themselves, so their struggle to empathize and feel from someone else's perspective is more difficult, and their varied responses are interesting, especially when David's personal and social future at the school hangs in the balance.

good message..good movie
Brendan Fraser(Mummy 1 and 2,Glory Daze) in one of his more better roles, plays David Greene, a Jewish kid who gets into a wealthy college as a star quarterback..there he meets his new friends, Dillon-MattDamon(Dogma, Glory Daze, Good Will Hunting), Randall Batinkoff(The Peacemaker and Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Anthony Rapp(A Beautiful Mind), Ed Lauter(Pythopn, Not Another Teen Movie), Ben Affleck(Glory Daze, Dogma, Good Will Hunting), Jayce Bartok(Suburbia, Spider-man, Swing Kids) and Chris O'Donnell(Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, 29 Palms) and David hides his ethnicity and then Damon finds it out and then chaos ensues...Fraser delivers a promising performance and so does Damon as the evil preppy rich kid who wants it his way..some good moments and not so much good moments..all in all its a movie not to be missed

Everything and Nothing
"School Ties" provides an excellent tale of the truth about the nostalgic past--about the polite and not-so polite hostility towards those perceived as inferior, dressed up in elegant as well as not-so-elegant surroundings. It is a story dealing mostly with people who appear to have every advantage in life and every opportunity for generosity towards others, but who are empty and bigoted. They choose to hate and to influence others in their circle to rail against the object of their hatred.
Through it all Brendan Fraser carries himself with grace and dignity. He plays David Greene, a poor Scranton, Pennsylvania kid who is given a rare opportunity to better himself at a Massachusetts prep school in 1955. The film begins with a view of his tough neighborhood, and an alleyway brawl between himself and a few local anti-Semites. Soon afterwards, with last-minute advice from his father he arrives at St.Matthew's, a calm and stately academic environment where he becomes fast friends with the popular students, which include a congenial Chris O'Donnell as Chris Reece, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in an early joint appearance as Charlie Dillon and Chesty Smith, Andrew Lowrey as the vulnerable McGivern, Cole Hauser as the charismatic Jack Conners, Randall Batinkoff as the courageously honest Rip Van Kelt, and the cold and distant Anthony Rapp as Richard "McGoo" Collins.
The boys enjoy music, football games, and playing pranks on the French teacher together(An early scene of Fraser making noises like an ape during one such prank seems to have paved the way for him to play George of the Jungle a few years later) . But Greene is soon exposed to his classmates' feelings about Jews, as well as those of Headmaster Dr. Bartram, played by Peter Donat, who barely covers his feelings with polite and restrained turns of phrase.
David proves to be a worthy classmate and student, standing up for his friends when they are wronged, even by authority figures, winning friends with his unprentiousness and wit, helping his team win football games, and winning the heart of Charlie Dillon's friend, Sally Wheeler.
An ethereal and angelic Amy Locane, who has the classic looks of a '50s model, has this part. During her initial appearance at a school dance, her striking beauty stands out from that of the other girls, and she is definitely at her most radiant and most demure in her scalloped off-the-shoulder velvet dress, dancing at a country club to a Rodgers and Hart (not Rodgers and Hammerstein, of course) tune . But in a way, her role is one of the most tragic because she leaves one with the sense that she might have been willing to accept David or anyone who has earned the right to be liked, regardless of origins, but has to surrender a potential love interest because of the predjudices of her family and friends. If we had to imagine a future for her, we might find her in a loveless marriage with someone whose religious background met her family's approval rather than a happy marriage with someone whose religious denonimation they were vehemently against.
We see the academic pressure put on these students and how their strong desire to live up to their families' expectations results in their stooping to subterfuge. David suffers various setbacks after he is exposed as a Jew, which happens partially because the envious Charlie Dillon lashes out in frustration. He challenges his schoolmates to face up to their real feelings about him, inspiring some of them to overcome their predjudices, and standing up to one authority figure who covertly and not so covertly encouraged the students to adopt such an attitude.
Greene's biggest moment of triumph in the film comes as he walks across the campus after a profound moment of truth, rather symbolically adjusting the collar of his coat against a cold world, having battled a few of its injustices, and looking a little taller than the many young men from whom he otherwise appears no different, with his future vast before him.

Disgusted!
Anti-Semitism, an evil that has killed millions, is an extremely serious subject. That this silly film claims to deal with it, is disgusting. All this is, is a cute little story of good-looking young American boys in their perfect American world. And more than that, it was just an excuse to have some soft erotica in the completely non-sequitir and perplexing nude shower fight. (Are men who are militantly proud of their heterosexuality really going to hold each other naked in the shower?) ... Read more

Amazon.com

In the mid and late 1980s, Def Leppard was the biggest-selling rock band around, and the two programs on this DVD collection hark back to the British quintet's commercial heyday. Historia is an 85-minute look at the band's videos circa 1980-1988, from its debut, "Hello America," to its huge radio hits "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Love Bites." These videos, either silly "concepts" or lip-synched performances, are par for the early-MTV course. In the Round, in Your Face is a 90-minute concert culled from the 1988 Hysteria world tour; the excited fans are as much the show as the band, especially when hit after hit, from the opening "Stagefright" to the closing "Photograph," is played. --Kevin Filipski ... Read more

Reviews (46)

Like a Def Leppard ice cream sundae..........:)
What a treat to discover that Def Leppard was releasing some of their best VHS tapes onto DVD. Although Def Leppard may have been slagged unfairly as a "hair band", they truely had some of the most ear candy songs with a healthy sprinkling of melodic guitar solos from the eighties. I was lucky enough to see a couple of their live shows back then, and if you are a fan of over the top metal concert spectaculars, as there were back then, you will like the DVD (especially if you like lasers). As a fan of DVDs, I particularly enjoy the concert DVDs because of the fact you can virtually turn a room into a concert hall-DVD's are that good. My personal favorite, although all the tunes are great would be "Turning On The Heartbreak" with the acoustic intro. As a last note, this performance includes the late,great Steve Clark, who along with Phil Collen created that wonderful twin "wall of sound" melodic guitar attack for the Leps. Steve, you are still greatly missed. Lep fans, I hope you enjoy this treat as much as I do whom miss great shows and music from alot of the crap that is out today..........

Def Lep DVD Review
OK, there are so many great features about these DVDs but I will try to shorten this since there is a limit. For one thing, a full collection of ALL Def Leppard promo videos, along with a ton of additional features adding up to almost 8 hours of Def Lep entertainment for [some money] is an absolute steal!!! Another special feature is that you can watch (over and over) videos that we've been waiting up to 6 years to see...Slang, Work It Out and Promises among others!! This can be watched on a DVD player or on the computer while writing a review on Amazon (Goodbye just finished)!! Since MTV (And VH1 hopefully only until the X album is released) never show DL, this is the perfect chance to get our fix!! As an owner of all 4 videos, I no longer worry about wearing out my tapes since I have them on the almost impossible to ruin DVD format. Almost all fans will recognize the songs on Historia - In The Round DVD combo, but don't overlook the material on the Visualize - Video Archive DVD, especially the accoustic show at the end!! The deal of the year for Music DVD, and hopefully a springboard to big things for Def Leppard in 2002 and beyond!!!!

Def Leppard in its PRIME
First of all, this DVD is split into two halves--one has a collection of DL's videos and the second half is a 1988 live show from Denver, CO. For those people that are pushing the big 3-0 and were growing up when DL was big, this first half of the DVD will bring back some MTV memories for sure. It's fun to watch the videos one more time, but they seem a bit so "glam" and 80's cheesy. I remember them being very cool when I was in high school, but they seem awfully lo budget now.
BUT, the concert is where this DVD starts picking up! I never thought that DL got the respect it deserved and this DVD backs up my opinion. They really are a good rock and roll band in its PRIME in the late 80's. The DVD is worth having just for that fact alone. Also, they really start to cook in the 2nd half of the concert. Very underrated band that definitely give an excellent high-energy performance in the live show.
Oh, also the video is good and the sound is surprisingly strong for a late 80's video. Great bass for those with subs.

Almost perfect
I am a huge fan of Def Leppard and when I first seen this DVD, upon looking at the video tracklisting on the back, I knew right away I had to get it. It has (nearly) every video I've ever wanted from the band that I've only been able to catch on MuchMusic/MTV by chance. The DVD quality is decent even on the older videos.

As far as the videos go, I am impressed to see that they actually did a video from thier 1980 debut album (Hello America) despite the fact that they seem embarrased by thier early years. It was also a nice treat to see the U.K video version of Pour Some Sugar On Me, which i've never seen here in North America, as well as the Bringing on The Heartbreak remix version 2 (with Phil Collen instead of Pete Willis on guitar) which arent aired on North American music TV, or at least not that I've seen. And my personal favourite, "Work It Out", this video I've never been able to get my hands on until now and I think seeing that alone on the back of this box grabbed me and I had to own this. The additon of 1996-1999 video era is great too, but....

Why are the 5 videos spanning SLANG and EUPHORIA tacked on as "bonus" material? In think they should have been added on in the same chronological order as the rest of the videos were. Hell, the card within the DVD box lists them as being right along with the other videos, but upon viewing the disc, you see that they are bonus material and thats not really where they should, though I guess considering how rare "Work It Out" is.
The other problem I have with the videos is the quite noticable lacking of videos from 1992-1995 (gems like "Tonight", "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad", "When Love and Hate Collide", etc..) I mean true they are featured on Visualize but come on, why break it up like that?

The live performances are nice to have as well, I wouldnt watch them often though because I am not a huge fan of live stuff. I think my only other beef is lack of some really other special bonus material, and I was a little disapointed that there wasn't more interview time dedicated to the band, or past interview segments to feast on. Oh well this DVD is still top notch and I recommend it to anybody, it has tons of great videos, some you may have not seen before, the live footage is decent too, it only really lacks in the "bonus" section but then alot of DVDs do anyway.

I'm going to check out VISUALIZE to further add to my Def Lep DVD collection. You should add this too.

My girl gets all tingly when I put this on
Def Leppard was a weird band. Yeah they rocked and had a recognizable sound that was all theirs, but they changed after Pyromania. Their first three albums they were a 'guys' band. Starting with 'Hysteria' they became a 'girls' band. After Pyromania and the accident that caused the drummer to lose an arm, it seemed like forever before the Def Leps had their new album. In fact they were all but written off and forgotten about and then 'WHAM'! Hysteria came out and they were on the radio and MTV every 10 minutes.

The videos are good (Photograph), some are cheezy (Rock of Ages) and some gave you an idea of what the Hysteria Tour would be (Pour some Sugar on Me). The Hysteria concert is very well done. The film crew did a great job with the rotating stage and all. Def Leppard weren't for everyone, but we all remember the girls who went nuts for their new 'Hysteria' sound. Even today my chicks gets all weak in the knees when 'Pour some Sugar on Me' is blaring from the TV set. ... Read more

Description

In this riveting, high-energy suspense thriller, special effects wizard Rollie Tyler (Brian Brown) is enlisted by the Justice Department to stage what will be the most elaborate assignment of his lifetime--if it doesn't kill him first! ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Refreshing Suspense Movie
F/X is an abbreviation for movie "special effects." Bryan Brown plays a special effects creator who unwittingly becomes part of a conspiracy. He is supposed to be a pawn who is to be eliminated. Instead of despairing and panicking, he uses his wits and his effects to elude his pursuers, who are not even identified until the end. F/X was produced in 1986, long before the sophisticated computer generated effects ubiquitous today. Yet the movie is not outdated. Rather, it is a classic that will leave you smiling. The clever, maze-like plot, and the great team of Bryan Brown and Bryan Dennehy add up to a refreshing, surprising classic of the 80's.

Sadly, the sequel - FX2 - is a big letdown.

Good Low Budget Fun!
Me and my brother were flipping through the TV channels, and nothing was on, I mean nothing. Anyway we got to the Movie Channel (STAR Movies) and saw what looked like the opening credits, and then big blue words came across the screen reading "F/X." So we watched it, saw if it was any good. Let me say we were pretty surprised! It was pretty obvious that it was shot on a low budget. That made me like it all the more! Becuase you usually get a famous rich director and writers to put together a good action/suspense movie. But those movies, sience the director has alot of money he just figures he'll blow the hell out of everything. It gets pretty annoying. But that is what I love about this movie. Sense they didn't have a lot of money they kept the movie good was the writing and directing. Dispite the name (F/X) it is not what the movie reliys on. It relies on a smart plot and even smarter plot twists. You never know who the villian is. Plus the well mantled suspense is a plus. I cant say the biggest part of the plot, but I can sya what it starts with. This aussie dude who makes special FX for movies (hense the name) is assigned to stage an assination on a gang member (but not really kill him, just make it look like he got killed with his special effect tricks. But after that it just takes so many turns, it makes it into a fantastic whodunit. I reccomend this for anyone who enjoys a well written and directed whodunit that will keep you thinking and guesing till the last bullet is shot.

F/X is a great movie with clever ideas in plot and action!
F/X starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy is a great Action/ Suspense thriller! This is about a special effects man who is hired by the Witness Protection program to stage an assination of a crime lord. Rollie Tyler(Brian Brown) was baited to take the blame for the assination and now he must prove his inoccents and must confront the man who framed him. Mason is the guy who hired Rollie Tyler (Brian Brown) to take the fall. Leo McCarthy(Brian Dennehy) is the tough Cop who must find Rollie and figure out who resposible for these deaths. A very ingenious movie! Clever plot with suprises and tricks! Highly Recommended!

A lot of fun
F/X was one of my favorite thriller of the '80s, a genuinely fun action film that takes itself just seriously enough to make its story credible but at the same time remains blissfully free of the delusions of grandeur that have led to so many overproduced, ultimately empty headed and painfully dull "thrillers" over the past couple of years. In short, F/X is the type of unpretentious, engaging film that could never be made by a Michael Bay or most of the other directors produced out of the Jerry Bruckhiemer School For Technocrats Who Like To Blow Things Up Real Good.

The always underrated australian actor, Bryan Brown, plays Rollie -- an independent special effects artist who specializes in creating gore effects for cheap horror and action films. Indeed, when we first meet him, he is working on a film that bares a hilarious resemblance to Brian DePalma's Scarface which, whatever its qualities, is most definitely represenative of the type of film that F/X strives not to become. Brown is recruited by an uptight but reassuringly paternal federal agent (Mason Adams) to help fake the death of a mobster (Jerry Orbach) about to go into the federal witness protection program. Once Brown agrees to help, he finds himself being targeted and pursued by mysterious killers who might be the government, might be the mob, or might be something else.

The film's main selling point is that, in order to protect his own life and clear his name once the police become convinced that he's a murderer, Brown is forced to rely on his expertise in hollywood special effects. While that certainly is true, it also makes the film sound a lot more gimmicky than it actually is. As opposed to its sequel, F/X never allows itself to become reliant solely on that gimmick. Instead, the film concentrates on presenting its fast-paced plot which, over the course of many twists and turns, avoids the common action film fate of collapsing on the wieght of its own complications. That said, the F/X sequences are pretty cool and the film's conclusion provides perhaps the wittiest advertisement for superglue that I've ever seen.

The film's main strength comes from the cast who all seem to be having a good time on screen and bring a surprising sense of conviction to roles that could easily have been played as B-movie stereotypes. Bryan Brown is one of those charismatic, obviously talented leading men who rarely gives a bad performance yet for whatever reason (though making movies like Cocktail probably didn't help) has never become a bona fide star. Playing the lead in this film, he proves that he did have the talent and the charisma to be a leading man and indeed, his low-key but likeable lead performance is reponsible for a great deal of F/X's strength. As the gruff police detective who becomes Brown's ally, Brian Dennehey is -- well, he's Brian Dennehey and, as always, that's more than good enough. That said, he also brings a welcome sense of humor to the proceedings and he proves once again that nobody in the '80s delivered profanity as wittily and skillfully as Brian Dennehey. The rest of the cast is full of character actors who all turn in nicely quirky performances with the standouts being Diane Venora who is sweet as Brown's girlfreind (whose ultimate fate -- if predictable -- is also well handled and rather sad), Cliff De Young who gives perhaps his best variation on his standard Yuppie henchman role in this film, Joe Grifasi as Dennehey's put upon partner, Mason Adams who perfectly captures the essence of everyone's kindly but kinda strange uncle, and the great Jerry Orbach who, playing a mobster with an all-important pace maker, overacts as if the world depending on it but is still a lot of fun to watch because, afterall, he's Jerry Orbach. They all come together to create (without any trendy angst or computerized special effects to show us what animated human beings look like when they get blown up) one of the most purely enjoyable movies of the '80s.

Starts well, meanders into blandness.
Bryan Brown is a special effects man who is caught up in a government conspiracy after a major mishap. This "high-tech" thriller begins fairly well before falling apart with badly choreographed action scenes, predictable twists, and a very underwhelming finale. ... ... Read more

Description

Restaurant owner Sam Paxton has witnessed a mob hit. Now he's being pressured by the DA to aid the prosecution - and pressured by the mob to lay off. With his wife and child at risk, Sam is trapped - the perfect witness whose time has come to take the stand. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

"The Substitute" Review
Tom Berenger is the head of a top-secret team of mercernaries, who decides to infiltrate a Miami high school after his girlfriend is beaten up, Nancy Kerrigan style, by one of the students. As it turns out, the school is being run by drug dealers and gang goons who answer to the principal, a former cop who runs a high-grade drug lab out of the basement in the gym. Any movie with Ernie Hudson as an evil high school principal, a wacked-out William Forsythe, and Latin singer Marc Anthony as the juvenile leader of a gang creatively titled the "Kings Of Destruction" can't be all bad, can it? Think of it as "Dangerous Minds" written for Steven Seagal.

A Guilty Pleasure
Those of us who teach for a living enjoy a guilty pleasure in "The Substitute." While we'd never dream of ever harming any of our students--well, at least I'd never dream of it--the catharsis from a fiction about a good guy mercenary cleaning house of all the bad influences in an urban high school--violent punks, drug lowlifes and sociopath gangbangers and the evil adults who indulge their self-destruction--is just too wonderful to pass up. Tom Berenger eschews the angry racist persona he brought to life so ably in "Platoon" for a different man of action, in this case, Shales, a professional soldier with a heart and a brain. Besieged and assaulted by teenybopper thugs who work for the local drug kingpin, his teacher girlfriend turns to the only man who might be able to stop them, forcing Shales to go undercover as a substitute teacher to root out the source of the problems. While the script is fantasy and has very little to do with teaching, and the production values are on the "B" side, the able cast--including Ernie Hudson, William Forsythe, Richard Brooks, and many other familiar faces--plays it with just the right amount of humor and zeal. Director Robert Mandel infuses the production with a pace and wit that has helped other low-budget productions make it to cult status (think "Alligator"), and "The Substitute" deserves an audience. If you teach, put this one on your shelf for those days when you feel like you could use a mercenary to put some order back into the classroom for you!

Awesome
Nothing beats a teacher putting a bunch of wannabe tough guys in there place and making it look easy. Starts out with a former mercanary/marines girlfriend being assaulted by a gang from a local high school she teaches at. Completely fed up, Shale decides to take the matter into his own hands and fakes some credentials and becomes a sub at her high school. Highly recommended. You'll find yourself rooting for Shale the whole way.

let me tell you
the only reason i saw this movie cause it was filmed at my high school miami senior high.i wasnt going there at the time but my sister was. so i saw it and didnt like it much but it was cool to see the school on film and know ive been there millions of times. p.s the school is not all f**ked up like they showed it they spray painted it and messed it up for filming.

THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE TOM BERENGER HAS EVER BEEN IN
A TOUGH MERCENARY [TOM BERENGER] BECOMES A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER FOR A CRIME INFESTED SCHOOL. VERY INTERESTING. THIS IS PROBABLY AS GOOD AS A TOM BERENGER MOVIE IS GONNA GET. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, MARC ANTHONY [WHO'S BEST REMEMBERED FOR 1998'S ''I NEED TO KNOW''] ACTUALLY HAS A ROLE IN THIS MOVIE AS A GANG LEADER. THIS IS DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING. FOLLOWED BY THREE DIRECT-TO-VIDEO SEQUELS. ... Read more