The Wild Ride (1960) Review

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(More customer reviews)In only his second top-billed role, Jack Nicholson already shows some of the commanding presence that would eventually make him a star, playing Johnny Varron, smart-mouthed, arrogant punk and "top man" in a gang of would-be hot-rodders (an "anti-hero" ten years before they were popular?). In the first scene, Johnny's questioned by police at a party after 'chicken-running' a motorcycle cop (who later dies) into a tree. Johnny rules his gang with an iron hand, dictating activities, designating girlfriends as 'in' or 'out' ("She doesn't 'fit', man"), and scoring booze from a crooked liquor store owner for their makeout parties at the beach. When 'second lieutenant' Dave appears to be going "shallow" over his girl (because he "chickened" to an oncoming truck and ran his bomb off the road when she screamed) Johnny demands that he drop her ("First thing you know you're gonna be sittin' on a sofa watching TV, and that's the end, you might as well be dead.") Later, in his first legitimate race (featuring some actually quite decent track footage), he wins through dirty tactics and is immediately fired by his furious sponsor (the entire gang goes "on the town" with a twenty in winnings from a bet he had one of his boys place on him). Interestingly, the 'square' chick is the only person who dares to stand up to Johnny, labeling his win at the track "disgusting." Ultimately, his obsession with controlling the gang leads to a high-speed chase and ensuing tragedy. The Wild Ride is short (only 60 minutes) but sweet, featuring lots of groovy hep-talk (count how many times they use the word "man"); a reference to Marlon Brando in The Wild One; some way-cool wheels (gearheads will be drooling); and a nice'n'sleazy, jazzy score heavy on sax, vibes, flute, and bongos. If you're into the late-50s JD/Hot Rod/AIP scene, this should be on your must-see list, daddy-o.
Unfortunately, the source print does have some problems: it's a bit contrasty, and exhibits the usual light speckling and blemishing throughout, plus a few mild jump cuts, some sporadic blotching and lining, and noticeable grain. That said, the picture is bright enough, with generally very good tonal scale and shadow/highlight detail, and acceptably sharp. Basically a pretty solid 16mm TV print, eminently watchable, and benefiting from the superior resolution of DVD. There are a few points where it seems that some footage may be missing, but I noticed no major gaps in continuity. Overall, it blows away the other two Brentwood discs I've purchased: both Hot Rod Girl and T-Bird Gang suffer enormously in comparison, both looking very flat, faded, and dupey. Extras (Casper cartoon with terribly balanced, faded color; movie trivia quiz; DVD Dictionary) are negligible; buy this one for the feature. Besides Brentwood, only Sinister Cinema currently offers this movie on disc (in DVD-R format), and from the few SC DVD-Rs I've purchased I'm not exactly overwhelmed with their overall quality (at several times the cost of this commercial DVD). Since there appear to be no plans for legitimate DVD releases of the bulk of Corman's Filmgroup productions, I highly recommend this disc to JD/hot rod aficionados, especially at the dirt-cheap price.

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Mermaids (1990) Review

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(More customer reviews)Cher plays a free-spirited, uninhibited and saucy mother of two. Charlotte (Winona Ryder) and Kate (Christina Ricci), who are about 15- and 8-years old respectively, are her daughters. Cher's behavior and appearance is an embarrassment to Charlotte who is trying to think "pure thoughts" on her way to becoming a nun. Ironically (considering Ryder's recent troubles) the part she plays has no interest in new clothes and even refuses new shoes, content with her old square boots that look like they were made in the former Soviet Union during the reign of Stalin. This is a nice (but increasingly familiar) switch on the mother who is embarrassed by her daughter's precocious sexuality, and Cher and Ryder play their parts well.
The story, from a novel by Patty Dann, begins with the trio moving into yet another town, this time somewhere in New England. They are always on the run, so to speak, because Cher is afraid of commitment or of staying around long enough to lose her heart to some guy. Enter predictably a man (Bob Hoskins) with the right stuff to win her over and a cute guy (Michael Schoeffing) to rearrange Charlotte's priorities. Director Richard Benjamin plays it as a romantic comedy ... coming of ager with wit and charm. Ryder is adorably cute as a conservative Christian miss goody two shoes who is always lecturing mom while Cher is voluptuous as the kind of woman who says yes, early and often, but underneath it all has strength and a kind of intuitive wisdom about herself and the people around her. Little Ricci really is the mermaid since she likes to practice holding her breath under water.
Part of the strength of the film is in the dialogue and the sharp repartee between Ryder and Cher. My favorite line is from Charlotte who is always dialoging with God. After seeing Schoeffing, who drives the school bus, and realizing what she is feeling, prays "Oh please God, don't make me fall in love and want to do disgusting things!"

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A Few Good Men (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)How much critical thought can the military allow its rank and file? Certainly most orders must be followed unquestioningly; otherwise ultimately the entire Armed Services would collapse. But where do you draw the line? Does it matter how well soldiers know not only their military but also their civic duties? Does it matter whether trials against members of the military are handled by way of court-martials, or before a country's ordinary courts?
I first saw "A Few Good Men" as an in-flight movie, and after the first couple of scenes I thought that for once they'd really picked the right kind of flick: A bit cliched (yet another idle, unengaged lawyer being dragged into vigorously pursuing a case against his will), but good actors, a good director and a promising storyline.
Then the movie cut from the introductory scenes in Washington, D.C. to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Jack Nicholson (Colonel Nathan Jessup) inquired: "Who the f**k is PFC William T. Santiago?"
And suddenly I was all eyes and ears.
Director Rob Reiner and Nicholson's costars describe on the movie's DVD how from the first time Nicholson spoke this (his very first) line in rehearsal he had everybody's attention; and the overall bar for a good performance immediately rose to new heights. Based on my own reaction, I believe them sight unseen. Or actually, not really "unseen," as the result of Nicholson's influence is there for everybody to watch: Never mind that he doesn't actually have all that much screen time, his intensity as an actor and the personality of his character, Colonel Jessup, dominate this movie more than anything else; far beyond the now-famous final showdown with Tom Cruise's Lieutenant Kaffee. Nobody could have brought more power to the role of Jessup than Nicholson, no other actor made him a more complex figure, and nobody delivered his final monologue so as to force you to think about the issues he (and this film) addresses; and that despite all the movie's cliches: The reluctant lawyer turning out a courtroom genius (as lead counsel in a murder trial, barely a year out of law school and without *any* prior trial experience, no less), the son fighting to rid himself of a deceased superstar-father's overbearing shadow, and the "redneck" background of the victim's superior officer Lieutenant Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland, who nevertheless milks the role for all it's worth).
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who adapted his own play, reportedly based the story's premise - the attempted cover-up of a death resulting from an illegal pseudo-disciplinary action - on a real-life case that his sister, a lawyer, had come across in the JAG Corps. (Although even if I take his assertion at face value that assigning the matter to a junior lawyer without trial experience was part of the cover-up, I still don't believe the real case continued the way it does here. But be that as it may.) Worse, the victim is a marine serving at "Gitmo," the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, where *any* kind of tension assumes an entirely different dimension than in virtually any other location. In come Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) and co-counsels Lt. Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollack) and Lt.Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore), assigned to defend the two marines held responsible for Santiago's death; L.Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison) and PFC Louden Downey (James Marshall), who claim to have acted on Kendrick's orders to subject Santiago to a "code red," an act of humiliating peer-punishment, after Santiago had gone outside the chain of command to rat on a fellow marine (none other than Dawson), attempting to obtain a transfer out of "Gitmo." But while Kendrick sternly denies having given any such order and prosecuting attorney Captain Ross (Kevin Bacon) is ready to have the defendants' entire company swear that Kendrick actually ordered them to leave Santiago alone, Kaffee and Co. believe their clients' story - which ultimately leads them to Jessup himself, as it is unthinkable that the event should have occurred without his knowledge or even specific direction.
By the time of this movie's production, Tom Cruise had made the part of the shallow youngster suddenly propelled into manhood one of his trademark characters (see, e.g., "The Color of Money," "Top Gun" and "Rain Man"); nevertheless, his considerable skill (mostly) elevates Kaffee's part above cardboard level. Demi Moore gives one of her strongest-ever performances as Commander Galloway, who would love to be lead counsel herself in accordance with her rank's entitlements, but overcomes her disappointment to push Kaffee to a top-notch performance instead. Kevin Pollack's, Kevin Bacon's and J.T. Walsh's (Jessup's deputy Lt.Col. Markinson's) performances are straight-laced enough to easily be overlooked, but they're fine throughout and absolutely crucial foils for Kaffee, Galloway and Jessup; and so, vis-a-vis Dawson, is James Marshall's shy, scared Downey, who is clearly in way over his head. The movie's greatest surprise, however, is Wolfgang Bodison, who, although otherwise involved with the production, had never acted before being drafted by Rob Reiner solely on the basis of his physical appearance, which matched Dawson's better than any established actor's; and who gives a stunning performance as the young Lance Corporal who will rather be convicted of murder than take an unhonorable plea bargain, yet comes to understand his actions' full complexity upon hearing the jury's verdict.
"Unit - corps - God - country" is the code of honor according to which, Dawson tells Kaffee, the marines at "Gitmo" live their lives; and Colonel Jessup declares that under his command orders are followed "or people die," and words like "honor," "code" and "loyalty" to him are the backbone of a life spent defending freedom. Proud words for sure: But for the "code red," but for the trespass over that invisible line between a legal and an immoral, illegal order they might well be justified. That line, however, exists, and is drawn even in a non-public court-martial. I'd like to believe that insofar at least, this movie gets it completely right.
Also recommended:
Basic
Rules of Engagement
The Firm
The Border
Guantanamo: 'Honor Bound to Defend Freedom'
The Caine Mutiny (Collector's Edition)

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The Shining (1980) Review

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(More customer reviews)I own both the 2001 and 2007 DVDs of this film. I really don't have any interest is who is 'right' with the aspect ratio argument, I compared both versions and found that you're missing some of the video image regardless of which version you buy. I took screenshots of both DVDs and overlayed them on top of each other. I found that with the 2001 release, you get the 1:33:1 aspect ratio where the far left and right of the screen image is clipped. With the 2007 release, you get the 1.78:1 aspect ratio where the top and bottom of the screen image is clipped off. You can see what I mean by viewing the 'customer image' I posted, above. The blue border is for the 2001 release and the red border is the 2007 release.
Both DVDs are 'digitally restored and remastered', however the 2007 release is noticeabley brighter and more vivid. The 2001 image seems faded and dull.
This release has all the other special features of the 2001 DVD release, with the addition of optional commentary by Garrett Brown and John Baxter and three new featurettes.

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?Heeeeere?s Johnny!? In a macabre masterpiece adapted from Stephen King?s novel, Jack Nicholson falls prey to forces haunting a snowbound mountain resort with a macabre history.

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The Batman Legacy - All 4 Feature-Length Films (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)This review is for the "Batman Anthology" set, where each movie is packaged in a new, 2-disc special edition. There is also an older, "Batman Legacy" set with the bare-bones editions, and Amazon seems to be grouping the two reviews together.
It's about time that Warner Home Video has finally given these superhero films the two disc, special-edition treatment they deserve. Each film comes with restored/enhanced video and audio, and all the special features one expects from a current dvd release these days; we get commentaries, archival music videos and trailers, making-of featurettes, interviews, retrospectives, and deleted scenes. The last bit will be of special interest to some fans, especially because the Batman Forever DVD finally includes those missing sequences we saw in the storybooks and trading cards (though they appear here in rough form). Also of interest to fans of the animated series is the abandoned "Robin sequence" from the original movie, where they got Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil to bring the storyboards to life. Overall the special features are excellent, and these special editions are not a cheap double-dip.
The big question is if you should shell out for the box set, which includes the generally reviled "Batman and Robin." Personally I completely love the first three movies, and since the box set is about the price of buying them seperately or even cheaper, I'd say go for it. The Batman and Robin edition has enough special features to be worth the investment, and besides that the complete box set just looks nicer on my shelf. If you only like two of the four movies, it's a harder decision. If you can guarantee to yourself that you'll never be tempted to pick up more than two of the films, grab them individually. But if you're a collector who might eventually cave-in and get the others for completion's sake, the best bet is to buy the box set now.
Either way, it's nice to finally own these films with all the trimmings.

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This 4-title boxed-set contains all of the titles in the Batman series, including: Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin.

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Something's Gotta Give (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)Something's Gotta Give is one of the year's best films and best comedies as it teams up Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, who seemed to love every minute they shared onscreen. Nicholson plays a man who only dates girls under 30 and is shocked to find he can fall in love with a woman his own age, played by Diane Keaton, who has never looked better. She gives her best performance since she won an Oscar for Annie Hall and should be on her way to another as a very career sucessful woman who has no confidence with men. It is great to see her reaction to both Nicholson's and Keanu Reeves' character. Nicholson and Keaton light up the screen with every scene they are in and Amanada Peet and Reeves do very well in their supporting role, as does the underused Frances McDormand as Keaton's sister. Nancy Meyers, who had a huge hit with What Women Want, does a much better job here and makes for a great adult romantic comedy featuring actors over 50. A great film that will be remembered.

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Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'll admit that the price is cheap. Having all four films for less than $10 is great, but upon watching the first disc, I find that the quality of the transfer is absolutely terrible. Lots and lots of pixelation artifacts, especially when there's black on the screen, and let's face it, BATMAN was not a brightly lit film. The quality is barely, BAREly above VHS. I feel like they hooked a VCR up to a DVD recorder and had at it. I'm not even talking about grain (which I would expect from an older film transfer), but rather poor resolution. There are no solid diagonal lines, everything is blocky. The video looks like an SVCD that was poorly upconverted to DVD.
It's good value, if you're just looking for an affordable way to complete your collection, but if you're used to DVD-quality video, you will be disappointed...

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