Amazon.com

The vampiric Stephen King tale returns to the small screen, 25 years after the first made-for-TV Salem's Lot, a Tobe Hooper-directed ratings hit. This time it's Rob Lowe as a successful writer who returns to his haunted hometown. As a kid, something awful happened to him in the spooky mansion on the hill; now that he's back, the mansion is once again buzzing with evil portents. The physical production (shot in Australia) is convincing, and it's fun to see old pros such as Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, and James Cromwell cutting up in juicy roles. The storytelling, however, feels oddly disjointed, as though King's sprawl had been arbitrarily hacked away rather than adapted (a few big moments are bewilderingly left offscreen). The approach misses the basic assets of a vampire story:the disbelief, the lore, the sex appeal. Instead, it feels like a random collection of bits for short attention spans. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Description

New York, the City That Never Sleeps, is trapped in a nightmare of horror and destruction when a massive earthquake rocks the unsuspecting city.Countless lives are lost, families are torn apart, and chaos runs rampant as the Mayor (Charles S. Dutton) and former Fire Chief (Tom Skerritt) race to enact a city-wide emergency plan.The two men also face personal devastation and uncertainty as their own family members lie buried in the toppled infrastructure.Sharon Lawrence, Lisa Nicole Carson and Cicely Tyson also star in this incredible story of undying courage in the face of unimaginable human tragedy. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

COMMENDABLE MOVIE
It's ironic that in this 1999 film. the Twin Towers remain standing after the devastating earthquake that tumbles the powerful city to its feet. A t.v. movie originally aired on NVC, AFTERSHOCK is directed well by Mikail Solomon and has a fine cast. The script is typical vignettes of several people and how they deal with the quake, but it is well written and performed, and adds the requisite human touch to the film. The overall acting is very good: Tom Selleck as the disgruntled fire chief who is having an ongoing political battle with Mayor Charles S. Dutton; Jennifer Garner as a ballet wannabe who meets up with a Russian cabby; Sharon Lawrence is very good as a mother whose carelessness rendered her little boy an invalid; Lisa Nicole Carson as an up and coming lawyer who gets an alleged murderer off the hook only to doubt his innocence; Cicely Tyson as the feisty mayor's mother who turns a street kid into a young man; and many actors whose names I can't recall who did a fine job in the storyline.
The earthquake sequence is devastating and very convincing. The movie is one of those "feel good" movies, that works.
Not your average made for TV fare.

The Big Apple can have the big shake
If you are in any doubt as to how good this film is, then ask yourself the question "why are people discussing the scientific fact behind the storyline?" The special effects are more than convincing and you really do get the feeling that you could be watching an earthquake in progress. If anyone out there questions the possibility of earthquakes in Manhattan, then maybe you should refer to the following ...I live in the United Kingdom, where earthquakes can not happen, tornados never happen and the possibility of hurricanes is "laughable" as one 1987 forecaster said. In 1987, we had a hurricane, in 1998 we had tornadoes and this year, we suffered a minor earthquake. Never say never.

Earthquakes will get you!!!
Okay so my title sounds like some kind of horror movie but who cares. As many people have writen in their previews that earthquakes don't happen in New York. Survey Says... ERRRRRRRRR!
Earthquakes can happen anywhere! Okay so manhatten hasn't had an earthquake for a while that doesn't mean that there's a switch to turn earthquakes on or off in New York. So Earthquakes happen in California more often. It's because they lie on a huge fault line. Earthquakes have happened in North Carolina and Missouri that doesn't mean New York is safe. And although September 11 was bad that doesn't mean that god will suddenly protect New York from Earthquakes because of Two Towers Collapsing. Earthquakes can hit New York and they will. Same with Canada last year Toronto had a 5.2 Earthquake! Anyway this movie is great and the special effects are A W E S O M E! (P.S i'm not some science geek). Defintaley worth 5 stars

Twin Towers Rock Before 9-11
As an avid sci-fi/action genre maven who likes special effects, I was very surprised that a low budget movie did so well in cinematography. A well written and acted script,and very good special effects lends some credibility to having a powerful earthquake in a relatively low risk zone. It was eerie seeing the Trade Center again (as so many movies do), suffer damage other than terrorist driven. The main complaint about the DVD is that it is not widescreen. Being a TV movie, one would not expect widescreen, but the jewelcase description says "formatted to fit your TV", thus it leads one to believe that a widescreen exists. Still, I enjoyed the film and actually believe the special effects to be better than in "Earthquake".

AFTERSHOCK - thoroughly enjoyed -- great surprise!
I enjoyed the VHS version and was greatly surprised - and pleasantly so - when I discovered the DVD had a more complete version of the movie -- I really liked the interaction between Tom Skerritt and Charles Dutton's characters -- Action was nicely paced and the characters were great to follow in their individual story lines - a great blending of characters -- loved the ending -- really need to see it. ... Read more

Reviews (43)

A Gem In All Respects
Mikael Salomon's "A Far Off Place" is a marvelous example of how skilled direction and production can turn a good story into a great film. Performances in the major roles are all excellent, and Ethan Embry's portrayal of the disgruntled, fish-out-of-water city boy forced into the wilds of Africa walks a delicate line (between authentic teenage muddle-headedness and just plain obnoxiousness) beautifully.

Critics may claim the film is a little two-dimensional, and in fairness, they are right. But by not trying to make the film too grand through obvious artifice, the good performances and great scenery let this film become memorable in a simple, direct way that's very much in harmony with the essence of the story: we don't always get to choose our circumstances, and how we react in those times may literally become a matter of life and death.

Two other minor themes help make this a favorite: the Reese Witherspoon character is a great role model for any young girl - sensitive and feminine without being a wimpy or dependent ingrate; and a rare and even-handed portrayal of the firearm as a tool - no better or worse than the purpose to which it is put by a human master.

Story of Courage, Hope and Love
A Far Off Place is the sequel to the bestseller by Laurens Van der Post, 'A Story Like The Wind'. Hunters Drift is a farm in Matabeleland (today part of Zimbabwe)

It is the home of Pierre Paul Joubert known affectionately by all who live there as 'Ouwa', where European, Matabele and Bushmen live in harmony with each other , and with the great flora and fauna of Africa.
This is before the forces of destruction and death, Marxist terrorists, massacre the whole population of Hunter's Drift , as they carve a path of blood through Southern Africa.
The only survivors are Ouwa's teenage son, Francois, Nonnie, the young daughter of a colonial governor and his Portuguese wife, both murdered by the terrorists and Francois' beloved hunting dog, Hintza. They are joined by a young Bushman, Xhabbo, and his wife, Nuin Tarra.

The four young people and brave dog , must pass through bush and desert , to safety , while pursued by the cold-blooded killers.

'A Far Off Place' is a heartwarming story of love hope and courage, and of survival against overwhelming odds. It is about the fine balance between all living creatures.
Not least it highlights the death and suffering caused so many times by those forces of evil that hide behind the slogans of revolution and 'Liberation'.

I loved this movie, it was great. And am thrilled . . .
I loved this movies and am thrilled about its release on dvd. Unfortunatley, as I have been noticing a lot lately, the cover advertises this as an "early" Reese Witherspoon film. Give me a break! All I see lately are DVDs being advertised for the people who star in them, as opposed to the film themsleves. An actor is important, but so is content, and in this case, so are the other two leads in this film, Sarel Bok and Ethan Randall/Embry. Being an early Reese film should not give her automatic top billing because she has become so popular lately. The original cover for the video release years ago was much better. Anyways, I've whined enough, the cover is just anoying, but the film is quite good and one of my favorites. Although reading some other reviews, it is sorely lacking from other perspectives. I bought the books for my neice, and I guess will have to get them for myself so i can draw a proper comparison between the two mediums. Good film, good acting, lack of reality not withstanding.

Warning! Spoiler: The irony of the Disney world view
Disney does it again! They manage to turn two beautiful, compelling books into a story of squabbling American adolescents. I find it supremely ironic that Disney felt it necessary to turn a murderous troop of Marxist guerrillas into a murderous, greedy mining agent - this from one of the most devouring, money-hungry corporations in the history of capitalism! Did they perhaps believe that depicting a troop of black soldiers ruthlessly slaughtering the boy's family wouldn't be as politically correct (or as comprehensible to a pre-teen or early teen audience) as showing a greedy white mining agent ruthlessly slaughtering the boy's family? Of course, Francois Joubert simply has to be transformed into the obnoxious Harry Winslow (to make the movie more appealing to an American audience). And must every story involving young people of opposite sexes be turned into a "Girls are stupid! - Boys are stupider! - I love you! - I love you too!" tale of teenage battle of the sexes turned to love? It's been many years since I read the novels, but I don't remember that particular twist to the story, perhaps because Van der Post wasn't necessarily writing for the 11-14-year-old American market. If you're at all disenchanted with the world as Mickey sees (and sanitizes) it, skip the movie and read the books ("A Story Like the Wind" and "A Far Off Place").

A great family film
I saw this movie about two years ago! it captured my heart and kept my attention the hole time! the characters are well made and you gotta love the little dog... i had never thought about looking here for this movie... "A far off place" is a must see for all! ... Read more

Amazon.com

It may not be a disaster movie, per se, but this terminally silly thriller is certainly disastrous, and would be pointless without the novelty of its setting in a flooding Midwestern town during a torrential rainfall. Physically impressive but idiotic in every other respect, the movie pits an armored truck courier (Christian Slater) against a smart leader of thieves (Morgan Freeman) and a corruptible town sheriff (Randy Quaid) who are vying for possession of $3 million in cash. A waterlogged game of cat and mouse, the plot is so contrived that even the most impressive action sequences--such as a jet-ski chase through flooded high-school corridors--are robbed of their already tenuous credibility. Before long you'll be yawning as incompetent accomplices are systematically dispatched by their own stupidity, in the kind of movie where the use of power boats inevitably leads to at least one death by outboard motor. What's impressive here is the physical production itself--the effect of flooding was created by building a huge replica of downtown Huntington, Indiana, in a huge, watertight aircraft hangar in Palmdale, California! --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (47)

Ace Action
This movie made me drool at the cinema. The action scenes are incredible and this movie is very well made. The bouncing, shaking, wobbling camera was very impressive on the big screen. And the music was just totally awesome too. Randy Quaid and Morgan Freeman were very good in this film although I don't think Minnie Driver was good at an American accent.

Don't be to hard on this film. It wasn't made to move CITIZEN KANE off its throne. Christopher Young's score is hugely action packed and very loud throughout the film.

The film was originally called THE FLOOD and had numerous other characters in it and had many daylight scenes. But because of an abundance of disaster movies at the time it was reshot as an action movie that was set totally at night. And practically in real time too.

The DVD is in Dolby 5.1 and is letterboxed at 2.30:1.

Twisted plot, but still a good movie
Hard Rain might have a twisted plot, pitting an armored truck guard against some robbers who are trying to steal 3 million dollars, but that doesn't really make it a bad movie. All the while, they're surrounded by a massive flood as their main obstacle. Hard Rain has some of the best actors such as Morgan Freeman and Randy Quaid playing the leading roles and they all do great jobs. Hard Rain also has some good action sequences and a lot of suspense throughout the film. It's like a wet and wild goosechase with everybody trying to catch Christian Slater in order to get the money. The special effects with all the water and rain couldn't have been done much better. Hard Rain is just another usual action movie until Morgan Freeman joins Christian Slater and they both team up and try to survive against the other robbers. That's when this movie gets a lot better with all the suspense and action.

If you like good action movies with some suspense added in, you will probably like Hard Rain. The only drawback is the twisted plot, sometimes you might wonder what the movie is really about. But watch it and you'll figure it out without a problem.

Quite Entertaining Nonsense
It's set, entirely at night, in the small Indiana town of Huntingburg which is being evacuated as a serious flood develops. But there are a few folk still around: Christian Slater and Edward Asner, the drivers of an armoured truck with $3M in the back; Morgan Freeman, the leader of a small gang of thieves with their sights set on the same 3M, Randy Quaid, a sheriff with some unappealing character traits; Minnie Driver, a churchwarden who has lingered rashly to protect her beloved stained glass windows; Richard Dysart and Betty White, an elderly couple stubbornly refusing to leave for fear of looters, thrown in for comic relief. Slater escapes from Freeman and his pals with the money which he hides in a cemetery. They pursue him on jet skis... Everyone gets very wet. Explosions. Gunfights. Hair's breadth escapes by lead characters trapped in rising floodwater. General mayhem. Credulity strained to breaking point. Significantly above average American action movie. More original than most. Quite good fun. Nothing special. But worth a look if you like this sort of thing.

TERRIBLE
Absolutely awful. Poor script, plot and acting was stagey. It looked more like a Jr. High School play rather than a full length feature film. Christian and Morgan are two great actors but you couldn't tell in this chaotic mess. Skip it and save your money.

a wet ride
begins good put the end with Quaid is sorta a letdown but all throughtout its a hell of a ride with Slater running back and forth being chased by Freeman and his 3 henchmen after his uncle got killed(Edward Asner) and then he has to deal with Driver's safety and then Quaid and his pals and they all want the same thing. the bags full of money. the flood sequences are the best with all the rising water and the fires and the gunplay. Solomon directs a nice flood thriller. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The most sullied figure of the American Revolution receives partial redemption in Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor. Produced for the A&E network, this factual drama reveals the lesser-known circumstances of Arnold's dishonor, beginning in 1777 and chronicling his fall from greatness. The conquering hero of Saratoga and other victories of the Revolution finds himself in an impossible predicament, his allegiance torn between his British loyalist wife (Jane Brennan) and his paternally devoted commander, George Washington (Kelsey Grammer), as his Colonial detractors cast him into a tragic no-win scenario. Authentically detailed and blessed by playwright William Mastrosimone's poetic period dialogue, Benedict Arnold successfully explores the personal and political facets of a great soldier's downfall. Aidan Quinn's expressive melancholy perfectly suits his title role, and Grammer transcends Frasier, lending appropriate gravitas--and some physical resemblance--to his portrayal of America's future president. Like A&E's earlier film The Crossing, this is compelling historical drama, entertaining, intelligent, and emotionally complex. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A total waste of time....
If I could give this movie a -1 star rating I would emphatically do so.

With a poorly written script, mediocre acting (not the least of which is James Caan doggedly referring to sailors as "soldiers"), inacurate uniform details and an amazingly incompetent misportrayal of both Clayton Hartwig and Kendall Truitt this is easily the worst movie I have ever seen.

I have often watched "real life dramas" made into movies and wondered how much is true and how much is "Hollywood". Well - I can say with absolute certainty and first hand experience that this movie is 99% Hollywood and 1% Truth.

If you really want to know about what happened aboard the USS Iowa and why it may have happened you are much better off reading the book, "A Glimpse of Hell" (which still has its faults and problems, of course) and forgetting about this farce of a movie.

Who am I? I am GMG3 Kendall Truitt's ex-wife and I lived this movie. Take my word for it - this movie stinks!

Very Good
A very good movie overall. An outstanding view of men standing up for what they believe in the face of those that would oppose them and ruin their careers.

James Caan turns in a fine performance as the Captain of the USS Iowa and Robert Sean Leonard another fine performance as the ensign that sometimes opposes the Captain and questions the Navy, even though his father is a Navy legend. These two strong personalities clash over the explosion on the Iowa and its causes.

The men of the Iowa have their own ideas of how to impress the Captain, who is on a career upswing, possibly the next Admiral and they hope to ride his coat tails. The mixture of their ideas and the Captains seeming aloofsness to his men make for a disaster when while trying to stretch the limit of the machinery a gun turret explodes. Many men die but the Navy seems content to brush it under the rug.

But the question remains, was it a horrible accident or a dereliction of duty. The facts presented here weigh in on both sides of the argument. What is the final choice? What happens when the brass get involved? Will they find a scapegoat? Will they hold someone accountable? Or will they use the faulty machinery excuse? Was there a cover-up? A whitewash? Or does the Navy tell you the truth?

Watch this excellent movie to find out.

A dramatization of the mysterious explosion on the USS Iowa
Told from the point of view of a young ensign on the ship, it attempts to show that the Iowa was a dilapidated ship whose command structure was ignorant of anything except self-promotion. Fearing that newer high-tech gadgets would make its own guns obsolete, the gunners take increasing risks in an effort to come up with more spectacular results. Possibly they took one risk to many or possibly there was a mechanical failure but something went tragically wrong and killed 47 people. To this day there are many unanswered questions about the incident.

I did not find this movie to have any spirit, nor did it succeed in showing any new plausible theory about how the accident happened or why the Navy would think that a cover-up would be in its best interests.

There were no special features on the DVD of note. ... Read more

Description

New York, the City That Never Sleeps, is trapped in a nightmare of horror and destruction when a massive earthquake rocks the unsuspecting city.Countless lives are lost, families are torn apart, and chaos runs rampant as the Mayor (Charles S. Dutton) and former Fire Chief (Tom Skerritt) race to enact a city-wide emergency plan.The two men also face personal devastation and uncertainty as their own family members lie buried in the toppled infrastructure.Sharon Lawrence, Lisa Nicole Carson and Cicely Tyson also star in this incredible story of undying courage in the face of unimaginable human tragedy. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

COMMENDABLE MOVIE
It's ironic that in this 1999 film. the Twin Towers remain standing after the devastating earthquake that tumbles the powerful city to its feet. A t.v. movie originally aired on NVC, AFTERSHOCK is directed well by Mikail Solomon and has a fine cast. The script is typical vignettes of several people and how they deal with the quake, but it is well written and performed, and adds the requisite human touch to the film. The overall acting is very good: Tom Selleck as the disgruntled fire chief who is having an ongoing political battle with Mayor Charles S. Dutton; Jennifer Garner as a ballet wannabe who meets up with a Russian cabby; Sharon Lawrence is very good as a mother whose carelessness rendered her little boy an invalid; Lisa Nicole Carson as an up and coming lawyer who gets an alleged murderer off the hook only to doubt his innocence; Cicely Tyson as the feisty mayor's mother who turns a street kid into a young man; and many actors whose names I can't recall who did a fine job in the storyline.
The earthquake sequence is devastating and very convincing. The movie is one of those "feel good" movies, that works.
Not your average made for TV fare.

The Big Apple can have the big shake
If you are in any doubt as to how good this film is, then ask yourself the question "why are people discussing the scientific fact behind the storyline?" The special effects are more than convincing and you really do get the feeling that you could be watching an earthquake in progress. If anyone out there questions the possibility of earthquakes in Manhattan, then maybe you should refer to the following ...I live in the United Kingdom, where earthquakes can not happen, tornados never happen and the possibility of hurricanes is "laughable" as one 1987 forecaster said. In 1987, we had a hurricane, in 1998 we had tornadoes and this year, we suffered a minor earthquake. Never say never.

Earthquakes will get you!!!
Okay so my title sounds like some kind of horror movie but who cares. As many people have writen in their previews that earthquakes don't happen in New York. Survey Says... ERRRRRRRRR!
Earthquakes can happen anywhere! Okay so manhatten hasn't had an earthquake for a while that doesn't mean that there's a switch to turn earthquakes on or off in New York. So Earthquakes happen in California more often. It's because they lie on a huge fault line. Earthquakes have happened in North Carolina and Missouri that doesn't mean New York is safe. And although September 11 was bad that doesn't mean that god will suddenly protect New York from Earthquakes because of Two Towers Collapsing. Earthquakes can hit New York and they will. Same with Canada last year Toronto had a 5.2 Earthquake! Anyway this movie is great and the special effects are A W E S O M E! (P.S i'm not some science geek). Defintaley worth 5 stars

Twin Towers Rock Before 9-11
As an avid sci-fi/action genre maven who likes special effects, I was very surprised that a low budget movie did so well in cinematography. A well written and acted script,and very good special effects lends some credibility to having a powerful earthquake in a relatively low risk zone. It was eerie seeing the Trade Center again (as so many movies do), suffer damage other than terrorist driven. The main complaint about the DVD is that it is not widescreen. Being a TV movie, one would not expect widescreen, but the jewelcase description says "formatted to fit your TV", thus it leads one to believe that a widescreen exists. Still, I enjoyed the film and actually believe the special effects to be better than in "Earthquake".

AFTERSHOCK - thoroughly enjoyed -- great surprise!
I enjoyed the VHS version and was greatly surprised - and pleasantly so - when I discovered the DVD had a more complete version of the movie -- I really liked the interaction between Tom Skerritt and Charles Dutton's characters -- Action was nicely paced and the characters were great to follow in their individual story lines - a great blending of characters -- loved the ending -- really need to see it. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A slightly new direction, but strong as ever
The fourth season of 'Alias' had the distinctive misfortune of coming off the tail end of the show's much maligned third year.Add to that ABC's decision to change its timeslot from Sundays to Wednesdays and to hold off on airing the season until January, almost 8 months after season 3's finale aired.To say the least, Season 4 had its work cut out for it.

That said, I must declare that I was never of the persusion that Season 3 was a weak year.I thought that, like the two previous seasons, there were obvious faults, but overall, I think the show managed to sustain itself beautifully through the loss of the beloved Lena Olin.And on that note, it seems clear to me that the first half of season 4 suffered bad fan reaction for the same reason season 3 did: Spymommy go bye-bye!

I was able to get over that rather quickly.And thank God!Because I found so many reasons to enjoy Alias's 4th season that it's almost unbelievable to me that so many fans dismissed the first half without much thought.Yes, the first half of the season focuses more on individual episodes than a larger story arc, but fear not, for many of the pieces presented in the earlier episodes show up during the second, more cohesive half of the season.

In retrospect, Season 4 really offered fans a lot (whether they were willing to take what was offered is another story, of course...).First and foremost, the return of Lena Olin in the last two episodes of the season.My, oh my, was it good to see her again.We also get a decent amount of sisterly action and tension, both between Syd and Nadia, and between the sisters Derevko.The return of two things I missed sorely from season 1: Anna Espinoza and the big red Rambaldi ball. "In Dreams" (which marks Garner's directorial debut) provided a haunting appearance of Sloane's wife, Emily.And speaking of Sloane, who could not love the concept of Sloane Cloane? And Lastly, the old mix of emotional complexity, throbbing action, heartbreaking drama, artful storytelling, fantastic fight scenes, fabulous wigs and outfits, Marshall's infamous rambling, romance (that's not without its problems), and yes, Rambaldi, is all there for you to enjoy.

Finally, to those who brush off the first half of the season, I only have to say that you probably missed the point.'Alias' rebuilt itself because it had to.Whiny fans and the need for higher ratings forced these changes.The way I see it, everything that happened had to happen in order to get to where we're going.Anyone doubting the incredible power of this show, however, need only watch the last minute of the season finale to realize that, as most good Alias fans *should* already know, everything can change in a single instant.With perhaps the greatest cliffhanger the show has ever offered, "Before The Flood" will bring even the nitpicky whiners back to their knees in worship and praise of the most thrilling television show airing today.

Ending Begins: Season 4 of One of the Greatest Shows on TV
At the end of Season 3 of Alias, most fans considered it to be the show's weakest year.Even though I also thought that it wasn't as strong as the brilliant Seasons 1 and 2, I didn't think that it was as terrible as many people were complaining (although a lot of people just didn't like the fact that Sydney [Jennifer Garner] and Vaughn [Michael Vartan] weren't together).However, whether or not people liked S3, I think that most people can agree that the cliffhanger ending made us wnat to see what happened next.Sloane (Ron Rifkin) and his newly-found daughter Nadia (Mia Maestro) ran away from CIA custody to find one of Rambaldi's most powerful artifacts, while Sydney discovered something that her father Jack Bristow (Victor Garber) did not want her to find.Meanwhile, Vaughn had just discovered a Rambaldi prophecy stating that the Chosen One (Sydney) and the Passenger (Nadia) would fight to the death.So it is understandable that most fans couldn't wait to see where Season 4 took our characters.
Unfortunately, for the first half of the season, they didn't go far.In the season premiere, "Authorized Personnel Only", events pick up a few months after the end of S3, instead of right where things left, which has been done in all previous years.In the first episode, we do find out what was written on those papers that Sydney had found, but there is something not quite right about the answer we get.Furthermore, we don't know what it was that Sloane and Nadia found (at least not until the end of the year), but whatever it was, it was powerful, because the CIA gave Sloane command over a new black ops division in exchange for the artifact.The division was named APO (short for Authorized Personnel Only, which is the DUMBEST name for a black ops division that anyone can think of; personally, I'd have called it SD-0 or SD-X, but that's beside the point), and its members include Syd, Vaughn, Jack, Nadia, Weiss (Greg Grunberg), Dixon (Carl Lumbley, who was very underused this year), and Marshall (Kevin Wiesman).Another problem with this is that Sloane has somehow betrayed pretty much all of those people in the past, and many of them actually worked for him before at SD-6, when they were really working for terrorists against their knowledge, so it is very hard to believe that they are now all voluntarily working for this man again.After all, Sloane killed Syd's fiance and best friend, he had Dixon's wife killed, he injected Nadia with a serum to force her to find the Rambaldi artifact, and he betrayed Jack's trust.
And then, for the first half of the season, the episodes are completely self-contained (this was the first season in which every episode didn't begin with a "Previously" montage- in fact, very few episodes did this year).This wouldn't have been as much of a problem as it was if the episodes weren't sub-par for Alias standards.I mean, one of them even had pseudo-vampires!There are no vampires on Alias!!The dialogue, plots, and jokes were all below the quality they've been in past years, and I almost gave up hope for this show.
Then things started picking up again in the second half of the season.Major story arcs began developing, old characters were brought back (sadly, Sark [David Anders] was only in two episodes this year, and Will [Bradley Cooper] didn't appear at all, but it was good to see Anna Espinoza [Gina Torres] again), and the Rambaldi storyline was reintroduced.Also, we finally got some answers for questions that have been around since the first season.
If you are willing to look past the terrible first half of this year, the second half is a very good block of episodes.While they still aren't as good as the first two seasons, I doubt that any new episodes will be able to live up to those years.Until Season 5...

alisa season 4
HELL EVERY SHOW HAS ITS BAD SPOTS, WHAT THEY COULD NOT THINK OF ANY GOOD PLOT TWIST AFTER SEASON 3 OR ARE THEY JUST TRYING TO SLOW IT DOWN. NOT AS HOT OR ACTION FILLED AS SEASON 1 & 2 BUT MAYBE THE WRITERS HAVE A PLAN MOST DO OR SHOWS FLOP. FRIENDS TELL ME IT IMPROVES AFTER WEEK 11 I FEEL A TAD LET DOWN BUT IM A FAN AND ENJOY THE SERIAL PLOTS AND TWIST THAT ALWAYS CROP UP GOOD JOB. (I'M STILL WAITING FOR THE SPICE.) I WOULD ADVISE ANYONE TO WATCH THIS PROGRAM IF YOU ENJOY WILD RIDES AND FAST RACEY PROGRAMS ALIAS HAS IT ALL WATCH AND SEE I CHALLENGE ANY HARD CORE FAN TO DISAGREE EVEN IF SEASON 4 IS A BIT SLOW. BUY ALL THE OTHER 3 AND ENJOY ME AND MINE HAVE.

Alias Season 4 DVD set:An anachronism (like Rambaldi)?

Click on the "customer reviews" link to the left, and you'll see the following statement by Amazon near the top of the page:

"Availability: This title will be released on December 31, 1969. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives"

Is this strange message Rambaldi's attempt to communicate with future generations?Or is the Rambaldi artifact actually an imperfect time machine?Hopefully this will all be explained in season 5!

Warning to people of 1969:Don't waste your money buying this item!DVD players won't be around for at least 20 more years (though, under the right light, the discs are very shiny and pretty to look at!).

[Of course the World Wide Web doesn't exist in 1969 either, so why am I bothering to warn them?]

================================================================

ORIGINAL REVIEW (March 7th, 2005): Sydney goes so deep undercover that you can't see her AT ALL (or anyone else for that matter) on the Season 4 DVDs!

Any semi-verifiable ideas as to the release date?

first half was ok, 2nd half was just like old times.
The first 7 or 8 episodes of this season aren't what we've come to expect from Alias. Its very procedural with no real "goal" like there was in the other seasons. The major reason for this is because the network wanted the show to be more accessible so more viewers could jump on the Alias bandwagon. It worked and the show's ratings have gone up. But the cost was loyalty from the majority of Alias fans. I'm in the minority in that some of those stand alone episodes were GOOD to me. I love continuity as much as everyone else, but it was nice to get some breathing room for 2 months.

Also to add even more horror to fan loyalists was that ABC aired the first 9 episodes out of order so that even character development seemed non-existant but ITS THERE1 Just watch the episodes in production order. Hear me ABC? Put the first 9 episodes BACK IN THEIR CORRECT ORDER PLEASE!

After Rambaldi makes its return in the awesome episode "Echoes", the season picks up with "The Index" when Vaughn begins his quest to find his dead father and the arc for the season kicks off and leads straigh through the final 12 episodes of the season. This season has had some of the best episodes of the entire series run: In Dreams, Mirage, Another Mr. Sloane, Nightingale, The Orphan, The Index, Echoes, A Man Of His Word, Nocturne, Ice, and Welcome to Liberty Village. All great episodes! Sure this season has some obvious clunkers like "The Road Home". But the great gems like Mirage and Nocturne just make you forget all about it.

This season is a welcome after the awful romance storyline in Season 3 which focused the show on Lauren and Vaughn's marriage instead of the spy plots and family drama which is what made EVERYONE fall in love with this show in episode 1.

And we haven't even gotten to the final 3 episodes this season which promise to be UNBELIEVABLE with the return of a beloved cast member.

Alias Season 4 is definitely recommended by me. You won't regret it! ... Read more

Reviews (9)

COMMENDABLE MOVIE
It's ironic that in this 1999 film. the Twin Towers remain standing after the devastating earthquake that tumbles the powerful city to its feet. A t.v. movie originally aired on NVC, AFTERSHOCK is directed well by Mikail Solomon and has a fine cast. The script is typical vignettes of several people and how they deal with the quake, but it is well written and performed, and adds the requisite human touch to the film. The overall acting is very good: Tom Selleck as the disgruntled fire chief who is having an ongoing political battle with Mayor Charles S. Dutton; Jennifer Garner as a ballet wannabe who meets up with a Russian cabby; Sharon Lawrence is very good as a mother whose carelessness rendered her little boy an invalid; Lisa Nicole Carson as an up and coming lawyer who gets an alleged murderer off the hook only to doubt his innocence; Cicely Tyson as the feisty mayor's mother who turns a street kid into a young man; and many actors whose names I can't recall who did a fine job in the storyline.
The earthquake sequence is devastating and very convincing. The movie is one of those "feel good" movies, that works.
Not your average made for TV fare.

The Big Apple can have the big shake
If you are in any doubt as to how good this film is, then ask yourself the question "why are people discussing the scientific fact behind the storyline?" The special effects are more than convincing and you really do get the feeling that you could be watching an earthquake in progress. If anyone out there questions the possibility of earthquakes in Manhattan, then maybe you should refer to the following ...I live in the United Kingdom, where earthquakes can not happen, tornados never happen and the possibility of hurricanes is "laughable" as one 1987 forecaster said. In 1987, we had a hurricane, in 1998 we had tornadoes and this year, we suffered a minor earthquake. Never say never.

Earthquakes will get you!!!
Okay so my title sounds like some kind of horror movie but who cares. As many people have writen in their previews that earthquakes don't happen in New York. Survey Says... ERRRRRRRRR!
Earthquakes can happen anywhere! Okay so manhatten hasn't had an earthquake for a while that doesn't mean that there's a switch to turn earthquakes on or off in New York. So Earthquakes happen in California more often. It's because they lie on a huge fault line. Earthquakes have happened in North Carolina and Missouri that doesn't mean New York is safe. And although September 11 was bad that doesn't mean that god will suddenly protect New York from Earthquakes because of Two Towers Collapsing. Earthquakes can hit New York and they will. Same with Canada last year Toronto had a 5.2 Earthquake! Anyway this movie is great and the special effects are A W E S O M E! (P.S i'm not some science geek). Defintaley worth 5 stars

Twin Towers Rock Before 9-11
As an avid sci-fi/action genre maven who likes special effects, I was very surprised that a low budget movie did so well in cinematography. A well written and acted script,and very good special effects lends some credibility to having a powerful earthquake in a relatively low risk zone. It was eerie seeing the Trade Center again (as so many movies do), suffer damage other than terrorist driven. The main complaint about the DVD is that it is not widescreen. Being a TV movie, one would not expect widescreen, but the jewelcase description says "formatted to fit your TV", thus it leads one to believe that a widescreen exists. Still, I enjoyed the film and actually believe the special effects to be better than in "Earthquake".

AFTERSHOCK - thoroughly enjoyed -- great surprise!
I enjoyed the VHS version and was greatly surprised - and pleasantly so - when I discovered the DVD had a more complete version of the movie -- I really liked the interaction between Tom Skerritt and Charles Dutton's characters -- Action was nicely paced and the characters were great to follow in their individual story lines - a great blending of characters -- loved the ending -- really need to see it. ... Read more