Ingle, John

Death Becomes Her

This 1992 black comedy by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Back to the Future trilogy) features some of the most eye-popping special effects of the '90s in its story of a narcissistic star (Meryl Streep) who steals the husband (Bruce Willis) of another woman (Goldie Hawn) and continues her rivalry with her even after death. A magic potion keeps both women going despite the punishment of murderous bullets and fatal plunges, and the joke is that even as they rot they remain vain about appearances. Though he's fashioned a one-note movie, Zemeckis gets a lot of mileage out of such impressive sights as Hawn walking around with a hole in her chest the size of a basketball, and Streep--her head and arms twisted 180 degrees--moving like a broken crab. It's weird, it's sick, it's hilarious, and the stars push the whole project to a classy entertainment. Isabella Rossellini is great as a scantily clad witch who sells the immortality brew. The DVD release has a full-screen presentation, optional French and Spanish soundtracks, optional Spanish subtitles, and Dolby sound. --Tom Keogh

The Jetsons - The Complete First Season

The Jetsons (1962) was the third primetime series from the Hanna-Barbera Studio, after The Flintstones (1960) and Top Cat (1961). Although the show was cancelled after its first season, it proved a durable Saturday-morning favorite, running for more than 14 years on all three networks.

Like The Flintstones, The Jetsons borrowed heavily from live-action sitcoms, notably The Donna Reed Show and Hazel. The 21st century became a Futurelux vision of a '60s suburb. George Jetson (voiced by George O'Hanlon) pushed buttons for the penny-pinching Mr. Spacely (Mel Blanc). Judy (Janet Waldo) was a typical teenager with a crush on rock & roll singer Jet Screamer. Elroy (Daws Butler) was a bright little boy whose experiments always blew up. Astro (Don Messick) was one of the first anthropomorphic dogs that became a Hanna-Barbera standard. Jane (Penny Singleton, basically reprising her role in the Blondie films) kept everyone and everything on course. The Flintstones used rocks and animals to approximate everyday appliances; The Jetsons had high-tech gadgets that invariably malfunctioned and clobbered George.

Aside from two commentaries by Waldo and a short making-of video with old footage of Hanna and Barbera, the DVD set has little in the way of extras: no bumpers, commercials, etc. The Jetsons hardly ranks as great animation, but for anyone who grew up during the '60s and '70s, these discs are the comforting video equivalent of a slice of yellow cake with fudge frosting and a glass of milk. (Rated G: alcohol and tobacco use, minor cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

"Meet George Jetson...Jane, his wife...daughter Judy...his boy Elroy..." The catchy tune of The Jetsons ideally captures the lighthearted essence of the show, a futuristic counterpoint to The Flintstones that reflected the space-age optimism of the times. The Jetsons were the very first family, animated or not, to have a big-screen home entertainment system decades before it became a reality. They also had flying cars, floating cities and androids, all commonplace scenery of today?s most popular sci-fi blockbusters. Now this beloved series teletransports onto DVD, all 24 hilarious Season-One episodes - plus Soaring Extras, both newly-made and vintage rarities drawn from the Hanna-Barbera vaults.

The Land Before Time: The Wisdom of Friends

Get ready for lots of laughs with your favorite prehistoric pals and their new friends in their funniest journey ever! Featuring memorable new songs and the hilarious voice talents of Academy Award® winner Cuba Gooding Jr. and Golden Globe® winner Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy) it's an adventure filled with dino-riffic fun and heartwarming friendship!Littlefoot Cera Spike Petrie and Ducky are excited to meet two goofy and lovable yellow-bellied Beipiaosauruses Loofah and Doofah who have lost their way while traveling to the distant Berry Valley. Loofah and Doofah seem to be too clumsy to find the way back so Littlefoot and the others decide to help their new friends while sharing important life lessons called Wisdoms along the way. By the time they reach Berry Valley Littlefoot realizes that even though the Yellow Bellies don't follow his Wisdoms very well their silly techniques work just fine.System Requirements:Running Time: 76 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: G UPC: 025195008471 Manufacturer No: 63101017

Every species passes down certain guiding wisdoms from one generation to another in hopes of preserving, prolonging, and bettering the lives of their offspring. While Little Foot and his dinosaur friends Petrie, Cera, Spike, and Ducky are only young dinosaurs, their elders have taught them that they must always stay with the group, be home before dark, and keep their eyes and ears open. When three strange yellow belly dinosaurs show up in the valley, it is quickly apparent that they are hopelessly ignorant of the wisdoms Little Foot and his friends hold true and it seems their quest to find Berry Valley and join the rest of their herd is destined to failure without the aid of Little Foot and his friends. Striking off toward new lands, Little Foot and the gang save their new friends Doofah, Loofah, and Foobie from certain death at the hands of the sharp teeth several times, but eventually the young friends realize that although the yellow bellies may not heed the wisdoms they're familiar with, the yellow bellies have some instinctual habits of their own that safeguard them very well. Lots of catchy music permeates this fun, animated, 76-minute adventure and the wholesome message about heeding the lessons of parents, grandparents, and other elders comes through clearly without seeming didactic. Bonus features include the television episode "The Hidden Canyon" in which Little Foot's and his friends' failure to tell the other dinosaurs about a secret place full of tree sweets endangers the entire herd's existence, two interactive DVD games, and two sing-along songs. (Ages 5 to 11) --Tami Horiuchi

The Land Before Time XII - The Great Day of The Flyers

Fun takes flight with prehistoric pals Littlefoot Cera Petrie Spike and Ducky in this all-new soaring adventure Parenting Magazine call "Charming and fun and dino-liciously darling!" "The Day of the Flyers" an important event for the flyers in the Great Valley is approaching and free-style Petrie is having trouble flying in formation with his siblings. His friends try to help him but a "fuzzy" newcomer named Guido gives the most helpful advice -- that it's always best to just "be yourself." No one has ever seen anyone else like Guido and when the gang tries to figure out what kind of dinosaur he is their questions lead them on a thrilling journey to the Mysterious Beyond.System Requirements:Running Time: 81 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: NR UPC: 025192964220 Manufacturer No: 63029642

Young dinosaur friends Little Foot, Cera, Spike, Ducky, and Petrie are content with their lives in the Great Valley, but things keep changing and sometimes the friends just feel like they don't quite fit in. As Petrie struggles to perfect his flying for the very important Day of the Flyers, he realizes how different he is from his brothers and sisters and, while he and his friends value his uniqueness, it's causing big problems in the family's flight formations. Meanwhile, Cera is struggling with the arrival of a new baby sister and the resulting lack of attention from her father and Tria. When an odd creature named Guido shows up in the valley, Petrie befriends him and learns an important lesson about how to maintain his individuality while still contributing to his family's collaborative flight. A courageous act by Guido saves Cera's sister from peril, helping Cera realize how much she really cares about her new sister, and sparking a personal revelation that gives Guido a much better sense of his own place in the world. This is an entertaining animated show with a wholesome message about the importance of friendship, adaptability, and uniqueness. (Ages 3 to 7) --Tami Horiuchi

The Great Valley Adventure- The Land Before Time II

Young brontosaurus Littlefoot and his pals venture out of the Great Valley into the Mysterious Beyond and encounter a T-rex and a pair of omnivores who just want to be friendly. (Gulp.) The gang learns how hard it is to be a kid on one's own in a scary place--what with landslides and ferocious "sharptooths." This first sequel to The Land Before Time mostly holds up the visual quality of Don Bluth's original, though the story is narrower and less interesting. Music by the Roches and James Horner. --Tom Keogh

The Land Before Time X - The Great Longneck Migration

Dreams--or "sleep stories," as these talking dinosaurs dub them--inspire Little Foot and his grandparents to begin a journey to see a climactic event in the 10th installment of this consistently high-quality series. Along the way, they discover that other longnecks have been having similar dreams, thus providing the opportunity for guest voices (Bernadette Peters as "Sue" and James Garner as "Pat") and Little Foot's reunion with his long-lost father (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland). In a subplot, Little Foot's other dino friends decide to follow him, but this story really belongs to the young longneck. He gets to view a solar eclipse--and take credit for saving his species--but has to make a decision between traveling with his newfound dad and returning with the grandparents who raised him. It's a tough decision for a little one, but children who have gone through divorce will identify. (Ages 2 to 7) --Kimberly Heinrichs

Robocop 2

With the surprise success--both critical and commercial--of Robocop, it was inevitable that a sequel would emerge (actually, two sequels). But this follow-up lacked the dyspeptically funny vision of filmmaker Paul Verhoeven and wound up skimming the surface to repeat only the most superficial elements of the original: the big, clunky hero (played by Peter Weller), the ultra-violence (minus a dark sense of humor), and the plethora of action sequences. What plot there is deals with the corporation that runs the cops and its two-pronged attempt to squeeze every dime out of the populace and the city: create a new drug crisis (with an incredibly addictive synthetic drug the corporation manufactures, spread by a charismatic drug lord) and then attack with a bigger robot, one that eliminates Robocop at the same time. Would that they had. --Marshall Fine

When Detroit's descent into chaos is further compounded by a police department strike and a new designer drug called Nuke, only Robocop can stop the mayhem. But in his way are an evil corporation that profits from Motor City crime and a bigger and tougher cyborg with a deadly directive: Take out Robocop. Containing the latest in gadgetry and weaponry as well as the brain of the madman who designed Nuke, this new cyborg isn't just more sophisticated than his predecessor...he's psychotic and out of control! And it's going to take everything Robocop has- maybe even his life-to save Detroit from complete and utter anarchy.

True Stories

Truly quirky, this mock documentary is part musical, part farce, and completely, oddly innocent. This is a one-man-band job for David Byrne (lead singer of the Talking Heads), who writes, stars, and directs, It's ostensibly about the sesquicentennial celebration of a small Texas town, but it's really about strange characters and strange attitudes. Byrne is our guide, driving us around and giving tour information about Texas in an innocuous patter, frequently running into Louis Fyne (John Goodman), a lonely man looking for love. At various times, and with little provocation, the film swoons into a Talking Heads number with preachers and bar patrons belting out tunes. If you make room for it, however, True Stories can surprise and delight with its inventiveness and its unconventional treatment of the residents. A scene in which a construction worker launches into an aria, on a makeshift stage when no one else is around, is but one example of numerous such moments in this bizarre, delightful, and benign film. Any Talking Heads fan who doesn't own it should. --Keith Simanton

The Land Before Time IV - Journey Through the Mists

Littlefoot and the gang meet a shy newcomer, Ali, but the pleasantries stop there. There's a dire environmental theme to this third sequel in the series, in which the world's weather changes beyond the Great Valley, and what had been dry land is now a "land of mists." The shift brings new creatures who push out older inhabitants, and Littlefoot sees these radical changes for himself when he has to venture into the area to find a medicinal flower for his sick grandfather. While the animation is slow and contained the way direct-to-video cartoon releases often are, the story is sound and the now-familiar characters are memorable. --Tom Keogh

The Land Before Time III - The Time of Great Giving

This direct-to-video sequel (the second) to The Land Before Time suffers from less ambitious animation, but the story is superior to the last film. This time, a meteorite has cut off the water supply to the Great Valley, causing inhabitants to bicker and bully among themselves. By contrast, Littlefoot and his friends are getting along just fine, and they leave the valley to go in search of a new water source. Directed by Roy Allen Smith, who made the The Land Before Time II. --Tom Keogh