Overboard
from MGM (Video & DVD)
A bored super-rich woman falls off her yacht and into the life of a carpenter with four children in need of attention.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 30-JUL-2002
Media Type: DVD
Real-life couple Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn star in this enjoyable 1987 comedy by Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) about an imperious heiress (Hawn) who loses her memory after a boating accident and is identified as the wife of a handyman (Russell). Russell's character brings her "home" to his messy house and unruly kids, and the laughs follow as the aristocratic Hawn tries fitting in. Marshall delivers the comic goods, the leads are entertaining (Russell needs to do more comedy), and the supporting cast is made up of happily familiar faces, including Roddy McDowall, Edward Herrmann, and Marshall favorite Hector Elizondo in an unbilled bit. --Tom Keogh
Big
by Penny Marshall
from 20th Century Fox
A perfect marriage of novel but incisive writing, acting, and direction, Big is the story of a 12-year-old boy who wishes he were older, and wakes up one morning as a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). The script by Gary Ross (Dave) and Anne Spielberg finds some unexpected ways of attacking obvious issues of sex, work, and childhood friendships, and in all of these things the accent is on classy humor and great sensitivity. Hanks is remarkable in the lead, at times hilarious (reacting to caviar just as a 12-year-old would) and at others deeply tender. Penny Marshall became a first-rate filmmaker with this 1988 work. --Tom Keogh
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
by Joe Johnston
from Walt Disney Video
A deft balance between special effects, comedy, and family dynamics made this 1989 film a hit for Disney and spawned both a string of video sequels and a subsequent TV series. Moranis is endearing as the bumbling inventor/father of the Szalinski family. He inadvertently shrinks his own children then throws them out with the trash. They, along with the neighbor kids, must journey back across their own backyard, now an enormous, dangerous distance, to get back to the right height. Much is done with the perils of the lawn, from a wild deluge from the sprinklers to a nasty encounter with the lawnmower and numerous encounters with gigantic insects. A generally kid-friendly, inventive (no pun intended), and entertaining outing. --Keith Simanton
An experimental invention accidently shrinks the inventor's and his neighbor's kids, who spend the bulk of the film ant-sized and trying to navigate their own back yard.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 5-APR-2005
Media Type: DVD
Big (Extended Edition)
by Penny Marshall
from 20th Century Fox
Have you ever had a really big secret?A young boy makes a wish at a fairground machine to be big. He wakes up the following morning to find that his wish has been granted and his body has grown older over night. But he is still the same 12 year old kid on the inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown ups including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman. What will he find out about this strange world?System Requirements:Run Time: 120 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 024543381570 Manufacturer No: 2238157
A perfect marriage of novel but incisive writing, acting, and direction, Big is the story of a 12-year-old boy who wishes he were older, and wakes up one morning as a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). The script by Gary Ross (Dave) and Anne Spielberg finds some unexpected ways of attacking obvious issues of sex, work, and childhood friendships, and in all of these things the accent is on classy humor and great sensitivity. Hanks is remarkable in the lead, at times hilarious (reacting to caviar just as a 12-year-old would) and at others deeply tender. Penny Marshall became a first-rate filmmaker with this 1988 work. --Tom Keogh
Dead Man's Walk
by Yves Simoneau
from Lions Gate
Set in the Texas Republic in the early 1840'sia time in which three cultures - Anglo Hispanic and Comanche were in furious conflict over the same harsh land we are introduced to Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call the heroes of Lonesome Dove.Gus (David Arquette) and Call (Jonny Lee Miller) are young rangers ripe for adventure and they get it with the Texas-Santa Fe expedition an ill-conceived effort on the part of some freebooters and adventurers to capture Santa Fe and annex New Mexico.Led by the land pirate Caleb Cobb (F. Murray Abraham) and guided by the legendary Bigfoot Wallace (Keith Carradine) and his mountain-man friend Shadrach (Harry Dean Stanton) the group fights several engagements with the great Comanche warchief Buffalo Hump (Eric Schweig) is whittled down by the silent Apache Gomez (Victor Aaron) and is captured without resistance by the Mexican army. Marched south by a resolute Mexican officer Captain Salazar (Edward James Olmos) they survive bear attacks ice storms and the rigors of the barren desert known as the Jornada del Muerto.In the end they arrive at the leper colony of San Lazaro where black and white beans are drawn to determine which of the invaders will die. Accompanying the men on this trek is the colorful amply fleshed whore known as the Great Western - Matilda Jane Roberts (Patricia Childress).In Austin Gus meets the love of his life Clara Forsythe (Jennifer Garner) and in San Lazaro they encounter the great English lady Lucinda Carey (Haviland Morris) who in the startling climax helps them survive a last encounter with the wild men led by the great Comanche Buffalo Hump. br> SPECIAL FEATURES :Full screen version 2.0 Dolby surround Scene selection Digitally Mastered System Requirements:Running Time: 283 Minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 707729113751 Manufacturer No: 11375
Pet Sematary Two
by Mary Lambert
from Paramount
After the death of his wife, veterinarian Chase Matthews (Anthony Edwards, TV's ER) and his 13-year-old son Jeff (Edward Furlong, Terminator 2: Judgement Day) move to Ludlow to rebuild their lives. Antagonized by the neighborhood kids, Jeff befriends another outsider, Drew Gilbert, who lives in fear of his cruel stepfather Gus (Clancy Brown, Highlander). After Gus cold-bloodedly shoots Drew's beloved dog, the boys bury the body in the local Indian burial grounds - a place rumored to have powers of resurrection. When evil is awakened, the boys realize that sometimes you should just led dead dogs lie.
Big (Full Screen Edition)
by Penny Marshall
from 20th Century Fox
A perfect marriage of novel but incisive writing, acting, and direction, Big is the story of a 12-year-old boy who wishes he were older, and wakes up one morning as a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). The script by Gary Ross (Dave) and Anne Spielberg finds some unexpected ways of attacking obvious issues of sex, work, and childhood friendships, and in all of these things the accent is on classy humor and great sensitivity. Hanks is remarkable in the lead, at times hilarious (reacting to caviar just as a 12-year-old would) and at others deeply tender. Penny Marshall became a first-rate filmmaker with this 1988 work. --Tom Keogh
Lady in White (Director's Cut)
from New Century Vista Film Company
An impressive labor of love from independent writer-director Frank LaLoggia, this low-budget supernatural thriller was a sleeper hit in 1988, deservedly praised by critics and horror fans for its effective combination of ghostly terror and small-town charm. The influence of Steven Spielberg can be felt in the movie's imaginative scenario, but it's also got the affectionate appeal of autobiographical nostalgia, mixing details of LaLoggia's own youth in upstate New York with a frightening tale of Halloween horror. It begins when young Frankie (Lukas Haas) is locked in a grade-school cloakroom on Halloween night of 1962; he witnesses the ghostly image of a little girl and is nearly strangled to death by an unknown assailant. From that point forward, Frankie is convinced that the ghost is somehow connected to the Lady in White, a haunting vision of local legend. A black janitor is tried as Frankie's attacker and suspected in a series of unsolved murders, but recurring apparitions lead Frankie to the truth of the case--a revelation of real-life violence and supernatural wonders. This plot may be a bit too cluttered for a conventional ghost story, but the movie's ambition works in its favor by providing an emotional subtext for its youthful sense of wonder. There's an abundance of charm and humor, but this also a moving story of grief and loss, tracing young Frankie's adjustment to the death of his mother. This gives Lady in White more depth than is typical for horror thrillers, and the movie further benefits from the obvious care and compassion that LaLoggia brought to its creation. --Jeff Shannon
Big
A perfect marriage of novel but incisive writing, acting, and direction, Big is the story of a 12-year-old boy who wishes he were older, and wakes up one morning as a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). The script by Gary Ross (Dave) and Anne Spielberg finds some unexpected ways of attacking obvious issues of sex, work, and childhood friendships, and in all of these things the accent is on classy humor and great sensitivity. Hanks is remarkable in the lead, at times hilarious (reacting to caviar just as a 12-year-old would) and at others deeply tender. Penny Marshall became a first-rate filmmaker with this 1988 work. --Tom Keogh
+++
