Young, Keone

Crank (Widescreen Edition)

Action anti-hero Jason Statham is competing with himself to make the most relentless, non-stop action flick imaginable. In Crank, Statham stars as a hit man named Chev Chelios who's been poisoned by some Chinese toxin; the only way to stave it off is to keep his adrenalin flowing, which requires him to drive at top speeds through crowded traffic, start fights in bars, and run pell-mell down hospital corridors while wearing one of those humiliating smocks that tie in the back. In other words, Crank is high-end pop-trash, filled with many preposterous/ingenious stunts and over-the-top performances (Dwight Yoakam, Sling Blade, is downright droll as a doctor offering Chev assistance), marred by an unpleasant attitude towards women (Amy Smart, Outside Providence, will not look back on this as one of her signature roles). This is a movie for the audience who enjoyed Transporter and Transporter 2 but wanted Statham's perpetual scowl to become a kind of theatrical mask, a perpetual signifier of intensity that begs--nay, demands--that everything around it rise to a mutual level of absurdity. Fans of Luc Besson (Leon/The Professional, District 13) will find Crank to be simpatico. --Bret Fetzer

Professional assassin chev chelios learns his rival has injected him with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Jason Statham Jose Pablo Cantillo Run time: 87 minutes Rating: R

Surf Ninjas

Made at the height of the pint-sized Ninja comedy craze, this fast-paced adolescent adventure stars teenage black belt Ernie Reyes Jr. as a California beach boy with a royal legacy. One minute he's a smart-mouth surfer and high-school jester, the next he's battling Ninja assassins, romancing a teenage princess (former Miss Teen USA Kelly Hu), and leading his subjects in a rebellion against a vicious metal-clad colonel (Leslie Nielsen). At least it gets him out of class. Real life karate kid and former Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuntman Reyes has a winning (if somewhat loud) screen presence and Rob Schneider offers a few laughs as Reyes's clueless buddy. Nielsen, however, mugs his way painfully through a glorified cameo. More frantic than funny, with slapstick liberally sprinkled through the many bloodless martial arts battles, this one is strictly for the kids. --Sean Axmaker

Two southern california brothers discover that they are actually princes from a south sea island but must face an outrageously evil despot in order to win it back. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/27/2005 Starring: Leslie Nielsen Nicolas Cowen Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Pg

Jack

Jack is Francis Coppola at his most pointless noodling, looking for the film he wants to make instead of just making it. Robin Williams stars as 10-year-old Jack, a boy with an inexplicable disease that ages him at four times the normal human rate. Kept at home like a contemporary Boo Radley, Jack becomes a neighborhood legend until his parents relent and send him to school. In time, the other kids befriend him and stay loyal as his hyperdevelopment puts a strain on his body and emotions. The idea is sound, but the execution is a bore. The best the script and Coppola can come up with are painfully long scenes in which Williams's character proves himself on the playground and in gross-out contests in a tree house. Coppola fishes around for signs of life and spontaneity in these scenes, but the film is actually best when Jack has to cope with certain feelings in his mature body (such as his attraction to a character played by Fran Drescher) that he isn't prepared for emotionally. Jack would have been a lot better if Coppola had embraced a plan from beginning to end and stuck to it. --Tom Keogh

Jack powell is about to tackle his biggest adventure ever the fifth grade. Jack is a 10-year-old boy who just wants to go to school with all the other kids his age. Theres just one little problem he looks like a 40-year-old man. As jack embarks on the greatest journey of his life he takes us on a ride of laughs. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/02/2005 Starring: Robin Williams Fran Drescher Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Teen Titans - Trouble in Tokyo (Original Movie)

Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo is the first feature-length animated adventure for the popular superhero unit, and its producers pull no punches in delivering a stylish and crowd-pleasing story for the Titans' considerable fan base. Trouble takes the Titans--Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy--to the Land of the Rising Sun after the ninja Saico-Tek assaults Titans Tower. Once in Japan, the team discovers that a mysterious figure known as Brushogen (who is considered only a myth by the authorities) is behind Saico-Tek and a horde of anime-inspired creatures that are laying waste to Tokyo. Will the Titans locate Brushogen before his monsters cause more havoc? And will the long-simmering emotions shared by Robin and Starfire finally come to a head in this exotic location? The answers, of course, are all to be found in this 75-minute blast, which gives the Titans faithful all the action and smart scripting they've come to expect from the weekly series, as well as a few pleasant surprises and numerous nods to Japanese pop culture. The DVD is fleshed out by two supplemental features: "The Lost Episode," which aired only on the Postopia.com site, and an interactive game, "Robin's Underworld Race Challenge." --Paul Gaita

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 75 minutes Rating: Nr

Alien Nation

They get drunk on sour milk. They have two hearts and bald, spotted heads. They're highly intelligent, but if you drop them in seawater they'll melt into a puddle of goop. They're "Newcomers," and they arrived as refugees in a massive alien slave-ship, quarantined for three years and then reluctantly accepted as citizens of Earth. To some humans--including seasoned Los Angeles cop Matt Sykes (James Caan)--the Newcomers are unwelcome "slags." Sykes's own virulent "speciesism" intensifies when Newcomer thugs kill his partner, but he sees logic in teaming up with Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin), the first Newcomer detective in the LAPD. Francisco's Newcomer knowledge is vital to their investigation of an alien drug ring, and a friendship grows from life-or-death circumstances.

A routine cop thriller with a comedic sci-fi twist, Alien Nation> has two things working in its favor: Caan and Patinkin form a memorable duo, and the basic premise--as conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon (who later developed the film as a TV series)--intelligently accounts for the sociological impact of an alien population. The subtle point is made that humans are extraordinary beings who squander their potential, and the evil of drugs--as dealt by a social-climbing Newcomer played by Terence Stamp--leads to a crisis that threatens to generate global intolerance. These points are well presented in a context of overly familiar plotting and standard-issue sarcasm. It's entertaining for a brisk 90 minutes, but in its attempt to be widely appealing, Alien Nation glosses over issues that might have made it more uniquely provocative. --Jeff Shannon

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/06/2006 Rating: R

Crank (Full Screen Edition)

Action anti-hero Jason Statham is competing with himself to make the most relentless, non-stop action flick imaginable. In Crank, Statham stars as a hit man named Chev Chelios who's been poisoned by some Chinese toxin; the only way to stave it off is to keep his adrenalin flowing, which requires him to drive at top speeds through crowded traffic, start fights in bars, and run pell-mell down hospital corridors while wearing one of those humiliating smocks that tie in the back. In other words, Crank is high-end pop-trash, filled with many preposterous/ingenious stunts and over-the-top performances (Dwight Yoakam, Sling Blade, is downright droll as a doctor offering Chev assistance), marred by an unpleasant attitude towards women (Amy Smart, Outside Providence, will not look back on this as one of her signature roles). This is a movie for the audience who enjoyed Transporter and Transporter 2 but wanted Statham's perpetual scowl to become a kind of theatrical mask, a perpetual signifier of intensity that begs--nay, demands--that everything around it rise to a mutual level of absurdity. Fans of Luc Besson (Leon/The Professional, District 13) will find Crank to be simpatico. --Bret Fetzer

Professional assassin chev chelios learns his rival has injected him with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Jason Statham Jose Pablo Cantillo Run time: 87 minutes Rating: R

Alien Nation/Enemy Mine (Double Feature)

Alien Nation: They get drunk on sour milk. They have two hearts and bald, spotted heads. They're highly intelligent, but if you drop them in seawater they'll melt into a puddle of goop. They're "Newcomers," and they arrived as refugees in a massive alien slave-ship, quarantined for three years and then reluctantly accepted as citizens of Earth. To some humans--including seasoned Los Angeles cop Matt Sykes (James Caan)--the Newcomers are unwelcome "slags." Sykes's own virulent "speciesism" intensifies when Newcomer thugs kill his partner, but he sees logic in teaming up with Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin), the first Newcomer detective in the LAPD. Francisco's Newcomer knowledge is vital to their investigation of an alien drug ring, and a friendship grows from life-or-death circumstances.

A routine cop thriller with a comedic sci-fi twist, Alien Nation has two things working in its favor: Caan and Patinkin form a memorable duo, and the basic premise--as conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon (who later developed the film as a TV series)--intelligently accounts for the sociological impact of an alien population. The subtle point is made that humans are extraordinary beings who squander their potential, and the evil of drugs--as dealt by a social-climbing Newcomer played by Terence Stamp--leads to a crisis that threatens to generate global intolerance. These points are well presented in a context of overly familiar plotting and standard-issue sarcasm. It's entertaining for a brisk 90 minutes, but in its attempt to be widely appealing, Alien Nation glosses over issues that might have made it more uniquely provocative. --Jeff Shannon

Enemy Mine: Lizard-like Draconian Louis Gossett Jr. and his mortal enemy, earthling Dennis Quaid, crash-land on a hostile planet during a brutal space battle. Forced to rely on one another for survival, they overcome their differences and become fast friends. You can almost hear them break into an off-key version of "It's a Small World." German director Wolfgang Petersen, so brutally honest with his film Das Boot, turns warm and cuddly on us with this intergalactic buddy movie. Much of the problem, though, is that the script sets us up for an intriguing encounter, then settles for a simple and sentimental resolution. Noteworthy set design and strong performances, especially by Gossett, push this beyond mere mediocrity. His performance is fascinating, as he must speak in an alien tongue, which he maintains with artistry and consistency. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 12/04/2007

The Even Stevens Movie

Capitalizing on the popularity of the Disney Channel's long-running series Even Stevens, The Even Stevens Movie follows the Stevens family in a rare moment of good fortune. Seems they've won a dream vacation to the tropics, but even a free vacation isn't always a dream. There's the usual bumbling by Louis (Shia LeBeouf), but also the family seems to be getting split up and turned against each other. Sure enough, the Stevens family is actually the unsuspecting victim on a reality show called Family Fakeout, and everyone back home in Sacramento is watching every minute of their frustration and misery. Worst of all, Ren (Christy Carlson Romano) seems to have finally met a nice boy, unaware that he's just an actor hired to romance her. The Even Stevens Movie is typically lightweight Disney Channel fare, but it should entertain fans of the series and provides a good showcase for its two young stars, LeBeouf and Romano. --David Horiuchi

The stevens think that theyve won an all-expenses-paid trip to an island thats halfway around the world. When their house is destroyed their food stolen & their bacon eaten the family breaks apart in front of all their friends on live national tv while the island itself is only a short distance from sacramento Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/28/2005 Starring: Shia Lebeouf Donna Pescow Run time: 94 minutes

Jem - The Complete 1st & 2nd Seasons

Honeymoon in Vegas

Writer-director Andrew Bergman is capable of funny, funny stuff, but this movie runs out of jokes long before it runs out of comic ideas. The result is a series of comedy concepts that never get past the one-liner stage and are distinctly unsatisfying. Still, there is plenty to be amused by in this story of a reluctant bridegroom (Nicolas Cage) who finally agrees to marriage, only to lose his fiancée (Sarah Jessica Parker) in a crooked poker game to a professional gambler (James Caan). The rest of the movie deals with his frantic attempt to get his fiancée back, while coping with a Vegas in the throes of an Elvis-impersonator convention. That's the funniest thing about the whole movie (most notably the team of parachuting Elvises at the end), but even that is drawn out in ways that are more clever than laughter inducing. --Marshall Fine

A comedy about one bride two grooms and 34 flying elvises. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 01/15/2008 Starring: James Caan Sarah Jessica Parker Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Andrew Bergman