Vidler, Steven

Napoleon

This live-action feature follows the adventures of a golden retriever puppy who chafes under his given name of "Muffin" (much preferring his own choice of "Napoleon") and who travels through the Australian outback in search of his canine roots. Plopping, as puppies will do, into a basket suspended by balloons one day, Napoleon drifts from the home of his mother and human family, eventually landing on the rocky shore of Sydney Harbor. There he becomes acquainted with a chatty parrot named Birdo Lucci (say the name aloud, you film buffs) and encounters all manner of animals in the wild: a cagey koala, a maternal kangaroo, an irritated lizard, and the dingoes with whom he wants to bond. The film was produced with an eye toward pleasing young audiences practically anywhere on earth, and the sight gags and visual thrills have a broad, universal appeal, while the many creatures in this film are given human voices on the soundtrack (any language would do, but the English-language actors include Joan Rivers and Dame Edna). On the downside, the dialogue can be a bit coarse ("shut up," "stupid," that sort of thing), though it's never obscene. And while no animals were hurt during the making of the movie, some of them certainly look as if they're placed in stressful situations. --Tom Keogh

Join a precocious golden retriever pup as he takes off on a magical journey to the wilds of the Australian Outback in this wonderful all-animal adventure. Napoleon is a wonderful treat the whole family will love! Life as a house pet isn't much fun for young Muffin, a puppy who dreams of being a "wild dog." So when he gets his chance to escape his suburban backyard in a helium balloon-powered basket, the pup hops on board, changes his name to Napoleon and sets off on the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way he meets some very special friends a chatty parrot, a wise owl, a clever koala and more who help him on his journey for excitement. But fun isn't all that Napoleon discovers on his quest for adventure...he also learns more about the world and himself than he ever thought possible.

See No Evil (Widescreen Edition)

Produced by World Wrestling Entertainment mogul Vince McMahon, See No Evil a standard-issue death-fest designed for maximum gross-out appeal, and in that sense it delivers the goods with crushed heads, multiple eye-gougings, throat-rippings and other grisly fates that gore fans will want to discover for themselves. If your idea of a good time is watching a mangy dog urinate into the vacant eye socket of a corpse, this is just the movie for you! In an attempt to create a new horror icon like Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees, former porno director Gregory Dark and less-than-stellar screenwriter Dan Madigan have dreamed up a routine plot that's hardly original, but deviously addictive to anyone who digs this kind of stuff: Eight troubled and not-very-bright teens, fresh out of a detention center, are given a second chance when they're taken to the decrepit, filthy Blackwell Hotel and told to clean the place up so it can be turned into a homeless shelter. What they don't know is that the hotel hides a secret, axe-wielding resident named Jacob Goodnight (played by WWE superstar Glen "Kane" Jacobs) who's got a knack for plucking the eyeballs from his hapless and ill-fated victims. He's basically an evil kid in the hulking body of a wrestler (call it type-casting, if you will), and See No Evil is more sick than scary as Jacob does his handiwork, which includes the rather hilarious and grimly ironic dispatch of an animal rights activist, to name just one item in the movie's smorgasbord of splatter. At a brisk 85 minutes, the movie's over before you can work up any genuine terror. Still, a sequel seems likely (even if it's straight-to-video), and devoted horror fans will want to check it out.--Jeff Shannon

Seven feet tall. Four hundred pounds. A rusty steel plate screwed into his skull and razor-sharp fingernails that pluck out his victims' eyes. Reclusive psychopath Jacob Goodnight is holed up in the long-abandoned and rotting Blackwell Hotel alone with his nightmares until eight petty criminals show up for community service duty along with the cop who put a bullet in Jacob's head four years ago. When one of their own is kidnapped by the killer and her fate uncertain the remaining lawbreakers must fight this indestructible force of nature who has a violent score to settle.System Requirements:Run Time: 84 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 031398201434 Manufacturer No: 20143

Salem's Lot - The Miniseries

The vampiric Stephen King tale returns to the small screen, 25 years after the first made-for-TV Salem's Lot, a Tobe Hooper-directed ratings hit. This time it's Rob Lowe as a successful writer who returns to his haunted hometown. As a kid, something awful happened to him in the spooky mansion on the hill; now that he's back, the mansion is once again buzzing with evil portents. The physical production (shot in Australia) is convincing, and it's fun to see old pros such as Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, and James Cromwell cutting up in juicy roles. The storytelling, however, feels oddly disjointed, as though King's sprawl had been arbitrarily hacked away rather than adapted (a few big moments are bewilderingly left offscreen). The approach misses the basic assets of a vampire story: the disbelief, the lore, the sex appeal. Instead, it feels like a random collection of bits for short attention spans. --Robert Horton

Two Hands

A young man is on the run from gangsters who are trying to collect money owed them; meanwhile, the missing loot is found by two street smart kids who go on a shopping spree.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-DEC-2005
Media Type: DVD

The Crocodile Hunter - Collision Course

This first movie from the Discovery Channel favorite opens with a plot of international intrigue over a downed satellite, but within four minutes Steve Irwin is belly flopping after a baby croc on the outback floor. Steve and his nerves-of-steel sidekick wife, Terri, are asked to relocate a cattle-chomping crocodile before it's shot by a local rancher. This same reptile happened to swallow the intelligence-gathering device that fell to earth, and so begins the goofball premise of this lark of a movie. The feds believe the Irwins are appropriating their classified info, and the Irwins think they're running from poachers. Quibblers may object to Irwin's frequent interruptions to introduce a bird-eating spider or paw through croc dung, but Crocodile Hunter fans wouldn't have it any other way. This 89-minute film is rated PG for action violence/peril and mild language. But unless you consider "crikey" an obscenity, it's a safe bet for family viewing. (Ages 4 and older) --Kimberly Heinrichs

The Crocodile Hunter mistakes some CIA agents for poachers and sets out to stop them from capturing a wily croc which unbeknownst to him has swallowed a tracking drone.System Requirements:Starring: Steve Irwin Terri Irwin Magda Szubanski and David Wenham. Directed By: John Stainton. Running Time: 90 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2003 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG UPC: 027616880567 Manufacturer No: 1003946

Wrangler

The Good Wife

Unbridled passions sear under the hot Australian sun in this smoldering tale of desperation, betrayal and redemption. Breathtakingly beautiful to watch, this "well made and well acted" (Leonard Maltin) drama stars Rachel Ward (Against All Odds), Bryan Brown (Cocktail) and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) in a haunting story of lost opportunities and unrequited love. Marge (Ward), a sensuous but proper wife, lives with her quiet lumberjack husband Sonny (Brown) in a remoteAussie town. Lonely and unfulfilled, Marge develops an attractionand then an obsessionfor thetown's sexy new bartender, Neville (Neill). And when Neville acts on Marge's desires, he unleashes her insatiable sexual appetite. But word of her infidelity catches and spreads like wildfire throughtheir small town leaving Sonny with no choice but to squelch the flames or lose everything he's got!

Burned Bridge

Napoleon [Region 2]

This live-action feature follows the adventures of a golden retriever puppy who chafes under his given name of "Muffin" (much preferring his own choice of "Napoleon") and who travels through the Australian outback in search of his canine roots. Plopping, as puppies will do, into a basket suspended by balloons one day, Napoleon drifts from the home of his mother and human family, eventually landing on the rocky shore of Sydney Harbor. There he becomes acquainted with a chatty parrot named Birdo Lucci (say the name aloud, you film buffs) and encounters all manner of animals in the wild: a cagey koala, a maternal kangaroo, an irritated lizard, and the dingoes with whom he wants to bond. The film was produced with an eye toward pleasing young audiences practically anywhere on earth, and the sight gags and visual thrills have a broad, universal appeal, while the many creatures in this film are given human voices on the soundtrack (any language would do, but the English-language actors include Joan Rivers and Dame Edna). On the downside, the dialogue can be a bit coarse ("shut up," "stupid," that sort of thing), though it's never obscene. And while no animals were hurt during the making of the movie, some of them certainly look as if they're placed in stressful situations. --Tom Keogh

Two Hands [Region 2]