Toy Story 2 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by John Lasseter
from Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Woody, a puppet cowboy, is taken by a toy collector and must decide between being a prized collectable or an under-appreciated child's toy.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: NR
Release Date: 26-DEC-2005
Media Type: DVD
Dirty Dancing (20th Anniversary Edition)
from Lions Gate
The summer of 1963 innocent 17-year-old Baby (Grey) vacations with her parents at a Catskill's resort. One evening she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she meets Johnny the hotel dance instructor who is as experienced as Baby is naive. Baby soon becomes Johnny's pupil in dance and love.Special Features: DISC ONE: Commentary with Writer/ Co-Producer Eleanor Bergstein Trivia Track Newly Remastered Audio DISC TWO: DIRTY DANCING with Patrick Swayze Tribute to Jerry Orbach Deleted Scenes Alternate Scenes Extended Scenes Outtakes Original Screen Tests Multi Angle Dance Sequences The Classic Story on Stage Interactive Photo Gallery Jennifer Grey Interview Eleanor Bergstein Interview Kenny Ortega Interview Emile Ardolino Tribute "Hungry Eyes" Music Video "She's Like The Wind" Music Video "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" Music Video TrailersSystem Requirements:Running Time: 105 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 012236212775 Manufacturer No: 21277
Jurassic Park (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
by Steven Spielberg
from Universal Studios
A wealthy man has created an island amusement park filled with dinosaurs cloned from fossilized DNA. When he invites experts to endorse it, nature takes over.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 24-AUG-2004
Media Type: DVD
Steven Spielberg's 1993 mega-hit rivals Jaws as the most intense and frightening film he'd ever made prior to Schindler's List, but it was also among his weakest stories. Based on Michael Crichton's novel about an island amusement park populated by cloned dinosaurs, the film works best as a thrill ride with none of the interesting human dynamics of Spielberg's Jaws. That lapse proves unfortunate, but there's no shortage of raw terror as a rampaging T-rex and nasty raptors try to make fast food out of the cast. The effects are still astonishing (despite the fact that the computer-generated technology has since been improved upon) and at times primeval, such as the sight of a herd of whatever-they-are scampering through a valley. --Tom Keogh
Dirty Dancing (Ultimate Edition)
from Lions Gate
An innocent young girl is introduced to the sensuality of dance when she meets the dance instructor at her resort hotel.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 9-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD
As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by today's standards--or 1987's--it does take place in an era (the early '60s) when it would have. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey, daughter of ageless hoofer Joel Grey) has been vacationing in the Catskills with her family for many years. Uneventfully. One summer, she falls under the sway (as it were) of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Baby is a pampered pup, but Johnny is a man of the world. Baby's father, Jake (Law and Order's Jerry Orbach), can't see the basic decency in greaser Johnny that she can. It should come as no surprise to find that Baby, who can be as immature as her name, learns more about love and life--and dancing--from free-spirited Johnny than traditionalist Jake.
Dirty Dancing spawned two successful soundtracks, a short-lived TV series, and a stage musical. It may be predictable, but Grey and Swayze have chemistry, charisma, and all the right moves. It's a sometimes silly movie with occasionally mind-boggling dialogue--"No one puts Baby in a corner!"--that nonetheless carries an underlying message about tolerance and is filled with the kind of exuberant spirit that's hard for even the most cynical to resist. Not that they'd ever admit it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Tarzan (Special Edition)
by Kevin Lima
from Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Tarzan was raised by apes since birth, but after he is discovered living in the jungle by humans, he must decide which world he belongs in.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: DISNEY
Title: TARZAN
Street Release Date: 09/18/2007
Genre: CHILDREN'S VIDEO
After viewing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote to Walt Disney about adapting his novel of an ape-man into a feature animated cartoon. Sixtysome years later, the tale is finally told with brilliant design work that looks unlike any previous animated film. The story is a natural for Disney since the themes of misunderstood central figures have been at the heart of its recent hits. Disney's Tarzan doesn't wander far from the familiar story of a shipwrecked baby who is brought up by apes in Africa. What gives the film its zing is its clever use of music (the songs are sung by Phil Collins himself rather than onscreen characters) and the remarkable animation. Deep Canvas, a 3-D technology, was developed for the film, creating a jungle that comes alive as Tarzan swings through the trees, often looking like a modern skateboarder racing down giant tree limbs. The usual foray of sidekicks, including a rambunctious ape voiced by Rosie O'Donnell, should keep the little ones aptly entertained. The two lead voices, Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan and Minnie Driver as Jane, are inspired choices. Their chemistry helps the story through the weakest points (the last third) and makes Tarzan's initial connection with all things human (including Jane) delicious entertainment. Disney still is not taking risks in its animated films, but as cookie-cutter entertainment, Tarzan makes a pretty good treat. (Ages 5 and up) --Doug Thomas
Space Jam
by Joe Pytka
from Warner Home Video
Although at first glance it looks like a movie dreamed up by a marketing committee (and in some respects it probably was), Space Jam actually defies the odds against it to become a dazzling display of family entertainment. There's a kind of demented genius to the idea of casting NBA superstar Michael Jordan in a live-action and animated movie costarring the beloved characters from Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes cartoons. They play off each other like seasoned veterans of vaudeville, and Jordan never falls into the kind of awkward, amateurish showmanship that you might expect from a sports idol. He's comfortable in the cartoon land of his costars, who include Bugs Bunny and sexy newcomer Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, the Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam. They've all been hijacked to an outer-space amusement park run by the Nerdlucks, who strike a Faustian bargain with the Looney heroes: if Bugs and Co. can defeat the Nerdluck "Monstars" in a basketball game, they'll win back their freedom; if they lose, they'll be doomed to stay there forever as enslaved entertainers. So they kidnap Jordan as their coach and "secret weapon" while the nefarious Nerdlucks suck out the basketball skills from such stellar victims as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. It all leads to reckless abandon on the basketball court, and Bill Murray pops in for some hilarious support. Combining traditional animation and computer-generated Nerdlucks with its live-action cast, Space Jam was made in the anarchic spirit of the Looney Tunes cartoons, where anything goes as long as it's funny and off-the-wall (or the ceiling, or the door, or the floor...). Technically astounding, it's also witty enough to entertain adults and kids alike. --Jeff Shannon
For Richer or Poorer
by Bryan Spicer
from Universal Studios
Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley are New York scammers on the lam from the IRS--they got framed by their slimy accountant, Wayne Knight of Seinfeld--so they hide out as fake Amish farmers in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. As parodies of Witness go, For Richer or Poorer can't compete with the Woody Harrelson-Bill Murray flick Kingpin, by the creators of Dumb & Dumber. Allen and Alley are directed by the creator of McHale's Navy. But wait, come back! The true test of talent is a capacity to romp right through weak material, and while this story is hopelessly lame and formulaic, Allen and Alley are credible candidates for the clown prince and princess of broad TV comedy. When somebody wonders how come alleged Amish guy Tim Allen has no beard, Kirstie says, "Lice." Of course, his face has no lice on it either, so Kirstie adds, "Minute lice!" --Tim Appelo
Basic Instinct - Director's Cut (Ultimate Edition)
by Paul Verhoeven
from Lions Gate
This steamy thriller to end all steamy thrillers stars Michael Douglas as Nick a boozy San Francisco police detective who finds himself drawn to the prime suspect in a murder case--manipulative sexually uninhibited novelist Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone). Catherine's latest book features a murder uncannily similar to the one Nick is investigating and as the pair engage in a mating dance of dangerous one-upmanship more murders occur all described in her current work about a boozy cop in love with a killer. Nick's psychiatrist (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and cop partner (George Dzundza) are both worried about him and Catherine s jealous lesbian lover (Leilani Sarelle) may be trying to kill him but Nick is just too turned on to care.Director Paul Verhoeven shows an admirable lack of restraint in this ludicrously enjoyable thriller a sort of postmodern noir with Joe Eszterhas s script coming off like Mamet by way of Penthouse. Stone and Douglas exhibit fine chemistry (and most of their bodies) and there's some lovely Bay Area scenery courtesy of cinematographer Jan de Bont (who went on to direct films such as SPEED and TWISTER). Wayne Knight (Newman from SEINFELD) and Mitch Pileggi (Skinner from THE X-FILES) are precinct heads who question Catherine in the infamous leg-crossing scene.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 012236188483 Manufacturer No: 19688
The take-no-prisoners sex thriller from 1992 now stands as a milestone in the career of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, but in the hands of director Paul Verhoeven Basic Instinct is an undeniably stylish and provocative study of obsession. In the role that made her a star (and showed the audience a little more skin than she intended), Sharon Stone plays the cleverly manipulative novelist Catherine Tramell who snares San Francisco detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) with her insatiable sexual appetite during the investigation of her boyfriend's murder. Tramell is the prime suspect, but the plot twists and turns until Curran is trapped in a dangerous cycle of dead ends and unsolved murders, never sure if Tramell is committing the crimes or if it is some other, unknown suspect. With a plot that keeps viewers guessing, Basic Instinct is the work of a director who is clearly in his element. --Jeff Shannon
Jurassic Park (Full Screen Collector's Edition)
by Steven Spielberg
from Universal Studios
Steven Spielberg's 1993 mega-hit rivals Jaws as the most intense and frightening film he'd ever made prior to Schindler's List, but it was also among his weakest stories. Based on Michael Crichton's novel about an island amusement park populated by cloned dinosaurs, the film works best as a thrill ride with none of the interesting human dynamics of Spielberg's Jaws. That lapse proves unfortunate, but there's no shortage of raw terror as a rampaging T-rex and nasty raptors try to make fast food out of the cast. The effects are still astonishing (despite the fact that the computer-generated technology has since been improved upon) and at times primeval, such as the sight of a herd of whatever-they-are scampering through a valley. --Tom Keogh
Dead Again
from Paramount
British thespian and sophomore director Kenneth Branagh follows up his adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V with this abrupt change of pace, a slick, stylish thriller evocative of Hitchcock, classic film noir, and gothic shockers. Sporting an exaggerated American accent, Branagh stars as L.A. private eye Mike Church, a hard-boiled but softhearted detective who takes on the case of a mysterious amnesiac (Branagh's then-real-life wife, Emma Thompson). With the help of an offbeat furniture dealer and part-time hypnotist (Derek Jacobi), Grace (as Mike has named her) dredges up her hidden memories. Little do they realize that her recollections are of a past life in L.A.'s recent history, and as she recounts the details of a famous marriage that ended with a notorious murder (played out as black-and-white flashbacks starring Branagh and Thompson), events of the present begin to mirror the past, as if fate were pulling the two into fatal replay of history. Branagh's flashy, flourished direction echoes with an array of '40s and '50s classics and near classics (most notably Hitchcock's Rebecca and Spellbound) and drives the story with an edgy urgency, all the better to distract from some of the sillier elements of the plot. But while this film may not make literal sense in the harsh light of day, in the twilit, shadowy world of classic Hollywood this slyly inventive thriller is a bravura bit of old-fashioned entertainment, done up with modern flair. --Sean Axmaker
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