Atkins, Tom

Escape from New York

In the future, crime is out of control and New York City is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President's plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables. Kurt Russell put his Disney days behind him as the nicest bad guy in the picture. All comic-book sensibilities and macho posturing, this is one of writer-director John Carpenter's better brainless escapes. There are snappy one-liners and explosive action scenes. However, the film lacks tension and some believability even within the realm of SF fantasy. Even when it fails to gel, though, it always manages to amuse, thanks in great part to a varied and unusual supporting cast (watch for Ernest Borgnine as a cabdriver). Followed in 1996 by Carpenter's overdone and campy Escape from L.A. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Kurt Russell (Stargate) stars in a high-velocity sci-fi action-thriller from director John Carpenter (Co-written by Nick Castle) that sets the screen ablaze with heart-stopping suspense outrageous stunts and imaginative special effects. Bristling with riveting chases and hard-hitting fight sequences Escape From New York is your passport to nonstop excitement! In a world ravaged by crime the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a prison which houses the world s most brutal inmate. And when the President of the United States (Donald Pleasence) crash lands inside only one man can bring him back: Snake Plissken (Russell) a notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero who in exchange for a full pardon descends into the decayed city and wages a blistering war against the captors. But time is short: in 24 hours an explosive charge planted inside Snake s body will end the mission and his life unless he succeeds!System Requirements:Starring: Kurt Russell Lee Van Cleef Ernest Borgnine Donald Pleasence Isaac Hayes Season Hubley Harry Dean Stanton and Adrienne Barbeau. Directed By: John Carpenter. Running Time: 99 Min. Color. This film is presented in both "Widescreen" and "Standard" formats. Copyright 2001 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 027616854773 Manufacturer No: 1001186

Lethal Weapon - The Complete Series

The explosive and edgy Lethal Weapon introduced America to its favorite modern buddy team: Mel Gibson's suicidal firecracker Martin Riggs, a Vietnam vet whose reckless stunts earn him a reputation as the Los Angeles Police Department's least desirable partner, and Danny Glover's aging family man Roger Murtaugh, a veteran detective who wants nothing more than to gracefully live to see his pension. Richard Donner's smash movie is sleek, stylish, and practically nonstop action, but it's the chemistry between the combustible energy of Gibson and the paternal reserve of Glover that makes this combination so lethal. A sequel was inevitable, so Lethal Weapon 2 sent Riggs and Murtaugh after a South African drug syndicate, tossed funnyman Joe Pesci into the mix as a comic foil, and upped the ante of explosions, car chases, and apocalyptic property damage. Kung fu-kicking Rene Russo signed on for Lethal Weapon 3, a "mad genius run amok" adventure rushed into production without a finished script (and it shows in sloppy ad-libbed scenes) and crammed with wild high-speed chases and spectacular explosions. When Lethal Weapon 4 hit screens in 1998, the starring cast had ballooned: hot comic Chris Rock joined Gibson, Glover, Russo, and Pesci to take on a Chinese counterfeiting and slavery ring led by Hong Kong martial arts superstar Jet Li. Director Richard Donner helms every installment of his series, topping the frenzy of action and pyrotechnics with each new feature; watching the arc of the Lethal Weapon franchise is like a crash course in American action cinema of the '90s: bigger, faster, louder. Yet at the heart of every film is Riggs and Murtaugh, mismatched partners who become unlikely buddies, ready to lay their lives down for one another. By the climax of Lethal Weapon 4, as they team up against the fighting fury of Jet Li, their friendship has become the defining drive of the series. --Sean Axmaker

All four of the Gibson/Glover buddy movies in a neat neurotic bundle.System Requirements:The DVD release includes production notes Dolby sound theatrical trailer optional full-screen and widescreen presentations optional French soundtrack and optional English French and Spanish subtitles. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 085391702924

Where's Poppa?

Carl Reiner directed this wild exercise in bad taste, an explosion of dark comedy starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon. Segal is a beleaguered New York lawyer and mama's boy who still lives with his senile mother because he promised his late father he'd never put her in a home. So he spends his time alternating between work and trying to give his mother a heart attack so that he'll be free. That becomes more urgent when he falls for the nurse (Trish Van Devere) he hires to take care of his mother. Reiner and writer Robert Klane are equal-opportunity offenders, with jokes about rape, racism, and caca (yes, caca). But if you're in the right mood, it can make you howl with laughter. --Marshall Fine

George Segal ( Just Shoot Me ) and Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude) give the funniest performances of their careers in this outrageous comedy that 'stomps gleefully on the idea of devotion to Mom above all (Newsweek)! Featuring some of the boldest gags ever to hit the screen, Where's Poppa? is a riotously funny film (The New York Times)! Attorney Gordon Hocheiser isa man with a problemhis mother. Gordon promised his late father that he d take care of her, but when Gordon finally meets the girl of his dreams, his batty, eccentric mother is intent on turning his dreams into one huge nightmare. Soon Gordon becomes obsessed with getting rid of her before she gets rid of his girlfriend!

Escape from New York (Special Edition)

In the future, crime is out of control and New York City is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President's plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables. Kurt Russell put his Disney days behind him as the nicest bad guy in the picture. All comic-book sensibilities and macho posturing, this is one of writer-director John Carpenter's better brainless escapes. There are snappy one-liners and explosive action scenes. However, the film lacks tension and some believability even within the realm of SF fantasy. Even when it fails to gel, though, it always manages to amuse, thanks in great part to a varied and unusual supporting cast (watch for Ernest Borgnine as a cabdriver). Followed in 1996 by Carpenter's overdone and campy Escape from L.A. --Rochelle O'Gorman

"Dark and dangerous!"Kurt Russell (Stargate) stars in a high-velocity sci-fi action-thriller that sets the screen ablaze with heart-stopping suspense outrageous stunts and imaginative special effects. Bristling with riveting chases and hard-hitting fight sequences Escape From New York is your passport to nonstop excitement!In a world ravaged by crime the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a prison which houses the world s most brutal inmates. And when the President of the United States (Donald Pleasence) crash lands inside only one man can bring him back: Snake Plissken (Russell) a notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero who in exchange for a full pardon descends into the decayed city and wages a blistering war against the captors. But time is short: in 24 hours an explosive charge planted inside Snake s body will end the mission -- and his life --unless he succeeds!A war hero turned outlaw is catapulted into an explosive adventure in which he must rescue the U.S. president from a brutal island prison in this high-octane thriller that bristles with action and excitement.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 027616899514 Manufacturer No: 1005690

Striking Distance

A Pittsburgh homicide cop who testifies against his partner and cousin is demoted to river patrol and mysteriously, old girlfriends become the latest of a serial strangler's victims.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-MAY-2002
Media Type: DVD

Halloween III - Season Of The Witch

The one Halloween sequel in which He doesn't come home, Halloween III: Season of the Witch was producer John Carpenter's attempt to get the series away from the original's psycho-on-the-loose story line and turn it into a vehicle for more far-fetched Halloween-themed horror tales. Incredibly, the fans voted for more of the same and Carpenter walked away for others to rehash the Michael Myers plot line in a succession of look-alike movies that are still turning up every few years.

After the mysterious death of a toyshop owner, a doctor (Tom Atkins) and the man's daughter (Stacy Nelkin) investigate the Irish-dominated Northern California community of Santa Mira, a company town owned by the Silver Shamrock Novelty corporation. Atkins and Nelkin are typical low-rent horror movie protagonists, dim bulbs who discover an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style conspiracy involving sharp-suited corporate robots. But guest star Dan O'Herlihy steals the film as a Celtic joke tycoon who hates the way American kids are despoiling the religious spirit of Samhain and decides to teach them a nasty lesson. His scheme, which involves a stolen Stonehenge megalith and a techno-magic spell that turns the heads of TV watchers into writhing masses of snakes and insects, is value for money, and O'Herlihy mixes enough serious malice into the charm to come across as a great screen bad guy. --Kim Newman

No Description Available.
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-OCT-2003
Media Type: DVD

The Heist

There's a different kind of race going on at the track in San Diego but you'd have to be on the inside to know about it. After serving four years Neal Skinner is out of jail but he's put time behind bars to good use- planning his revenge. It was Neal's partner in track security Ebet Berens who framed him in an emerald smuggling deal. Ebet took Neal for everything he had-including his woman-and now Neal wants it back! His plan-- to holdup the track; get Berens put behind bars; and win back the love of the woman he lost-seems simple enough. But Berens knows Skinner is up to something; and Skinner knows Beren knows. Hot on both their trails is Leland an angry cop who a figure there's something crooked going down. It's a brutal game of cross and double-cross with $5 million a car full of emeralds and the love of a beautiful woman at stake.Running Time: 97 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359036323

Lethal Weapon/Lethal Weapon 2/Lethal Weapon 3

Reckless cop Riggs (Mel Gibson) and family man Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are partners whose work routine is never routine in the first three films of the series that reinvented buddy-cop action, all here in exclusive-to-DVD Director's Cuts adding footage not seen in theatres. Lethal Weapon (Disc 1/Side A) pits our squabbling heroes against a death-dealing drug ring...and Riggs takes a plunge with a would-be suicide jumper. Joe Pesci - Okay, okay, okay! - is a motor-mouthed witness needing protection in Lethal Weapon 2 (Disc 1/Side B, the series entry with the booby-trapped toilet!). And Rene Russo plays a femme alter-ego match for Riggs in Lethal Weapon 3 (Disc 2) as the cops target a colleague dealing guns to the street...and Riggs steps onto the ice to rough up a pro-hockey game. The puck stops here!

Bob Roberts

Written and directed by actor Tim Robbins (who also plays the title role), this 1992 mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate is smart, funny, and scarily prescient in its foreshadowing of the Republican revolution of 1994. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the filmmakers follow his campaign, Robbins gives needle-sharp insight into the way candidates manipulate the media. While the film follows Roberts's campaign, it also covers a fringe journalist (Giancarlo Esposito), who may have dug up the kind of dirt to push Roberts's campaign off the rails. Robbins captures the chilly insincerity of this right-wing populist and fills his cast with terrific supporting players, including Alan Rickman as the campaign's shadowy financier and Susan Sarandon and Peter Gallagher as a pair of airhead TV news anchors. --Marshall Fine

Tim Robbins stars as BOB ROBERTS, a radical folksinger turned senatorial candidate, in this satirical comedy that blends his campaign trail with singing, music videos and scandal. BOB ROBERTS is a hilarious film that will change the way you look at American politics!

Lethal Weapon (Director's Cut)

Mel Gibson set aside his art-house credentials to star as a crazy cop paired with a stable one (Danny Glover) in this full-blown 1987 Richard Donner action picture. The most violent film in the series (which includes three sequels), it is also the edgiest and most interesting. After Gibson's character jumps off a building handcuffed to a man, and Gary Busey (as a cold, efficient enforcer) lets his hand get burned without flinching, there is a sense that anything can happen, and it usually does. Donner's strangely messy visual and audio style doesn't make a lot of aesthetic sense, but it stuck with all four movies. The DVD release includes production notes, Dolby sound, theatrical trailer, optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, optional French soundtrack, and optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Mel Gibson set aside his art-house credentials to star as a crazy cop paired with a stable one (Danny Glover) in this full-blown 1987 Richard Donner action picture. The most violent film in the series (which includes three sequels), it is also the edgiest and most interesting. After Gibson's character jumps off a building handcuffed to a man, and Gary Busey (as a cold, efficient enforcer) lets his hand get burned without flinching, there is a sense that anything can happen, and it usually does. Donner's strangely messy visual and audio style doesn't make a lot of aesthetic sense, but it stuck with all four movies. The DVD release includes production notes, Dolby sound, theatrical trailer, optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, optional French soundtrack, and optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Two LA police with divergent personalities are unwillingly teamed in a fight against an international heroin ring.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-FEB-2004
Media Type: DVD